My Apartment

 My apartment. Finally!
Welcome. ^_^

The front door. I think I have the entree way somewhere...

The bed

The living room. ^_^

The laundry room.

The kitchen

Ah, here we go. The entree way.

The bathroom

My bicycle.

The view out my main window.  Aaaand,

the study.

Thus ends the tour of my luxury apartment. What is the rent for such an extravagant place, you might ask. Well, I have no idea (though I've heard it's around 400,000 won or $370). I work for rent.
I hope you enjoyed yourself. Come back again soon. Bye!

Some of the entertainment of being ADHD

Being ADHD is one of those unique experiences that it's difficult even to describe unless you have it. I can understand why so many people are skeptical. However , it's very real. And, at times, very entertaining.
As I work with people who aren't ADHD I see the differences between us. It's the little things really.
For example; it's the fact that I monitor one of my classes by sliding around in an office chair and using the desks for leverage rather than walking. It's in the fact that I'll sprint up stairs or run a block just because I get bored walking, that I ride a bike quickly because even a bike seems too slow.  It's in the way I forget almost everything once before I remember and and loose my trains of thought almost as often as I have entire trains of thought. It's in my fidgetyness and up-and-down-ness and emotionalness and my quirky jokes and that I'm the only one who colored my name tag.

Still, I like to think that those things make me stand out and aren't too annoying. I managed to get my job done and get to work on time. And that, to anyone who knows me, is an achievement.

Opening thoughts with A Grief Observed

I must admit, I'm only a few pages into Lewis' A Grief Observed and I already feel the need to say something. In my life I have no experienced grief in the way most have. That is; none of my loved ones have died. Perhaps God has been gracious to me, perhaps I haven't loved well enough. I don't know which is more truth. Whatever the answer, death has not touched me so intimately and yet I feel as though I have spent most of my life in mourning for a thing I could not define. That feeling of bereivement has been an almost constant companion in my life since my early teen years. In some ways I feel as though I have mourned more than most, though I believe I have lost less.
All that being said, I fear the reality that has not come to me. At the same time I hope to one day love someone with such a strength that the grief of their loss would allow me write an entire book. It would be a privillage to love like that, no matter the cost.

After a month

I've been in South Korea for a month now. Hard to believe, I know.
The yellow sand has begun.
And I have a wonderful bike to get me around town.
I went to church in Sangju for the first time last week. That was interesting. Presbyterian. I'm having to adjust to different denominations in the same church. It's one thing to say "yeah, I'm happy that you're my brother/sister with different ideas" and another thing entirely to live with it.
The church is quite small (12 members, maybe) and they sit on mats on the floor. They all eat lunch together but from last year I figure that's normal.
Other interesting cultural occorances.
I got taken out by some of my sweet coteachers for doksomethingoranother, not dokgalbi, not dokbegi. Darn, forgot. Anyway, it's spicy rice cakes and kimbap. And, over the course of the meal I was informed that men will like me more if I get my ears  pierced and straiten my hair...because men find pierced ears and straitened hair more beautiful. It was definitely one of those cultural things that I had to take a second and step back for. I told them I thought guys often had different tastes in what they preferred and that maybe the magazines lied. They were quite surprised by this.
Other cultural things:
Principals asking favors of me.
Things not happening until the last minute and feeling like I can't prepare.
Working extra hours. Surprised? No way.

I found the local community gym. It actually looks quite nice and if I can force myself up at 6am regularly than I should be able to go work out.
Right now I have a headache, actually the hungover feeling is probably a migraine. Particularly because I didn't drink anything last night, or yesterday, or the day before.

I'm curious, what do you think of the social and cultural differences between different denominations and/or countries? How should they be responded to? How do you give grace to people you disagree with while still voicing your disagreements?

I'm back in South Korea

Well, I was planning to go to Seoul today. One really must visit Seoul as soon as possible once you arrive in Korea. It will give you the neccessary contrast. However, I didn't finish doing my weekly cleaning until almost 3. Largely because I played on the internet for a couple of hours. So, I'll go tomorrow.
I thought about going to Gumi but since I've never been there before I'd rather go knowing I'm meeting someone so that was out as well.
Instead I went to the nearest bike shop and bought a used bike for 60,000 won (roughly 55 dollars). The tires are new and the chain is good. The breaks also have good tread and it's clean. The back break is good though the front break is pretty mushy. I don't know whether I should tighten the break myself or take it back to the shop (which is also a bike repair shop) to have the break tightened. It has a basket and a place on the back for bungee cording boxes. It also has a little horn and it came with a lock. The handlebars were loose at first but I showed the shop owner and he tightened them.
I then rode to Emart where I bought a small plastic drawer for my socks, a pillow, a place mat, and some wall hooks. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I haven't ridden a bike in probably two and a half years. Haha, I was rather embarrassingly wobbly for the first ten minutes or so.
I'll go to Seoul tomorrow morning. But, I can't spend as much because I chose to buy the bike today. I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Now, for all of you who know me, and for those who don't. The tooth feels fine. I'm still amazed that I even had to have an emergency root canal. I spoke with some other EPIK teachers yesterday who also go to the same dentist and said he's very good and his prices are quite reasonable. I think reasonable is an understatement, they're fantastic.

Ah, yes, would you like to see where I'm living?
Well, it's Sanju. That would be almost-the-middle-of-nowhere-south-Korea, as opposed to Seoul which is everything-is-here-south-Korea.

My apartment complex. Well, not just mine. It is also home to another elementary school teacher, and three other EPIK teachers. There are a handful of families with children and many singles. Probably because of the size of the apartments. I don't think I'd be able to share this space with even a spouse. In defense of the families here, there are also two room apartments here. And, yes, you read that right, not two bedroom, two room. ^_^ Welcome to Asia.

This is the view of the town to the left of the apartments.

This is the view three or four blocks past the previous image.




I'll show my actual apartment in another post.

There was a prayer meeting tonight but I didn't know where or when so that was kind of out. There's also a party tonight but I was out last night and I try to make it a habit to never drink more than once in a week. Also, I'm waking up pretty early. At least with the bike I can get to the bus station in less than half an hour.

Some powerful lyrics

Stop and take a few minutes to listen to this song if you can.

Abide with Me
Originally written by Henry Lyte
Redone on the Indelible Grace CD by MP Jones

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

A Special Blessing at Starbucks

I've got ideas bouncing around in my mind but I'll try and keep them rather linear and only a couple to a post.

Tonight I went to a Starbucks. I bought a...vanilla something machiato (or toxin-laced sugar-flavored caffeine, as I think of it. Note that this didn't stop me from buying one). I was dissapointed to see that the comfy chair near the bay window was taken, and as I had no interest in impeding on the space of the guy sitting at the window (he'd also taken over the lamp table beside the other chair and the table in front of him, obviously stating with his books that he had a wide bubble right now) I moved to the comfy red chair near the back. Sadly, it was near the bathroom and the escape door. I felt a little like I'd been put in a corner but I wasn't going to sit on one of those hard chairs, if I wanted a hard chair I would have gone to Heine Bros, and it didn't smell.

So, I sit there thinking that I could have my quiet time, but deciding against that because I didn't want to think too hard and quiet times are hard thinking things. You never crack open the Bible for a foray into mindlessness. So, I'm sitting there sucking down my drink, grateful that I can't taste the coffee, wondering if there actually *is* any coffee in this, or just sugar, munching on a cupcake that's not nearly as tasty as it looked, contemplating the sensation of unshaven legs and I overhear a conversation.

Now, all this time I'm trying to get my mind on Dresden Files. Yes, I bought pulp fiction on super sale at Borders. But, despite the entertainment of a magician driving a vw bug I couldn't help but listen. Now, I'd seen this couple as I walked by to my little corner near the bathrooms. They looked like they were studying but I didn't catch the books. I wondered if they were studying the Bible. In this town, if you see someone at a coffee shop studying there's a decent chance they're studying the Bible, but I blew it off because it wasn't a coffee shop near any significant Bible school, Seminary, or church. I was wrong.

So, I'm sitting there and the caffiene hits me and I can feel the blood rushing through my veins. I figure the two are a couple, or studying for school. My skin feels like it's shifting wrong over my soul. This isn't a particularly foreign feeling to me. It's like wearing a jacket that's too tight, or jeans that you've worn every day for a week and are staring to feel a bit grungy. It's that feeling of trying to flex your legs in a cramped space and only being able to shift around a bit. It's the feeling of being in a room filled with bodies and smells and you just wish you could step out into the cold night air and take a deep deep breath. It's all those feelings but it's deep deep down inside, beyond my heart, but in every corner of my mind, deep in my gut but not touching a single organ. There but not, beyond, encompassing. It occurs to me that this is an odd place to feel this way. I thank God that I will die some day and I listen to this conversation that those two are having.

After a short time it becomes apparent that the gentleman (not even my age, probably) is sharing the gospel with the woman. They're studying the Bible. She's asking distracting questions like "so, are you a Baptist?" and "Do you think drinking is a sin then?" and he's rebuffing it all gently and turning it back to Scripture. My heart (wait, when did I switch to present tense?) sores.
I wasn't thinking about anything else anymore, I was eavesdropping on this amazing and unexpected conversation. At first I worried that the Gospel wasn't being being presented properly, or not at all, but those fears were quickly disproven (<-hey, is that a word?) and I felt this deep joy welling up in me. I prayed that she would hear the Word beyond her obvious interest in the gentleman. I prayed that he would speak true, and I listened with a happy heart to the Truth.

I also drew them. I think the girl noticed. It was all I could do to hold back. I wanted to hug the guy for blessing my evening so. I wanted to interrupt to tell him he was brave and gallant and wonderful and I knew that doing that would botch the whole thing and seem a bit odd especially since he was obviously doing fine on his own. So, instead I listened in and rejoiced that the Word was being shared and then I left.

I wonder, that stirring inside me, would I have ever listened into that conversation if it hadn't distracted me from my book? Would I have ever been blessed if something hadn't turned my thoughts Heavenward first? And why that coffee shop? Why that hour? I think God brought me there to pray for those two while the Gospel was being shared, and to bless me with hearing the Joyous News. How serendipitous, how ironic, how wondrous. Where two or more, it says. How interesting then that two were brought together in one Spirit, though we didn't even know each other.