A Katie's-Eye View

The World the Way I See It

Archive for category South Korea

Debriefing is a weird word that has nothing to do with underwear

Aug 21

Posted by Katie in Mission Trip, South Korea | 2 Comments

I got back from Korea a little over a week ago, and can say with full confidence that I am glad to be home. However, I am still feeling the effects of my trip.

When I say effects, I don’t just mean jet lag, although that is a very real and powerful phenomenon that has held me at it’s mercy for the past week. No, I also mean the memories of Korea, all the people I came to know and love, the way of life I embraced, the scenery, the smells, the sounds. There is so much about Korea that I miss. I really miss all of my kids, even the ones that gave me trouble. I miss the way that Clara (morning TA) and I had to wrangle kids, and the way Jinny (afternoon TA) and I talked on our breaks. I miss Angelina running up and hugging me the way kindergartners tend to do, I miss talking to Ray in the mornings before my most stressful class began, and I miss trying to teach grammar in a way that is interesting and understandable to fifth graders who are learning English (okay, so that one is a challenge).

I miss quality time with the team, riding in the van everywhere, having interesting moments where no one is quite sure what’s happening. I miss how my host family gave us sandwiches, kimbap and cake for breakfast, and how every once in a while, the cafeteria would have good food.

However, as I stated before, I am definitely glad to be back home. I’m happy to be around my friends from work and my roommates. I’m glad I can talk to my family at normal times, and I’m glad that I can see Mark every day. I’m glad that I don’t have to wonder what’s going on every other minute, and I’m glad that I have a comfortable bed, a real shower and AC. I’m also glad that after this trip, I know more people than I did before, and that we will always have our trip memories. :)

I guess the point is that while Korea was amazing and wonderful and fabulous and memorable, home is here, with family and friends.

There’s No Place Like…Homestay?

Aug 12

Posted by Katie in Mission Trip, South Korea, awesome, fun, learning, life | 5 Comments

Homestay (n): A foreign student staying in the home of a citizen of the country the student is visiting for a set length of time. Commonly experienced by study-abroad participants, and sometimes by short-term mission trip participants.

As you may recall from earlier posts, I had a little trepidation about staying in the home of a Korean family. I really didn’t want to offend anyone, and I was slightly afraid of what I might encounter. However, you may also remember that I was also excited at the prospect of learning a new culture firsthand. When we arrived in Korea, we were promptly deposited in an apartment a few minutes away from the church, our base. We had been told about homestays, but they never materialized…at least until last week. At dinner one night, Pastor Ryan (our liaison with the church)mentioned that he needed three of us to volunteer for a homestay. You could have heard a pin drop. None of us wanted to leave the home that we were used to and the friends that were now more like family. Brave Kristine finally asked if she could think about it. Later that night, she and I discussed our feelings about it, and decided we might be interested, but not enough to bring it up again. Fast forward to last Saturday. We are back in Suwon after a day trip to Seoul. Pastor Ryan has taken us to Pizza Hut (as mentioned in my last post) and he is sitting on the opposite end of the opposite side of the long table. Near Kristine. I don’t know how it happened, but somehow, she and I ended up committing to do a homestay for one night, then we would decide whether to continue. I was more informed than asked, but hey, that’s how good experiences happen, right?

So on Monday, we packed our bags and got ready to go that night after Kristine was done teaching at 9:00. I got done at 5:00, so I had to walk down the mountain hill that leads to the church alone. As I went, I wondered if they would like me, if I would like them, and what the conditions would be. It turns out that I shouldn’t have worried! Mr. Park has been coming to America fairly often for the last ten years or so, and speaks really good English. His wife, Mrs. Lee, is functional in English, and good at getting her point across. They have a nine year old daughter who is very beautiful, but also shy.

Mr. Park picked us up and drove us the 15 minutes to the apartment. When we got there, we were greeted by his wife and daughter, as well as a married couple with whom they are very close. That couple invited us all to their apartment the following day for Korean food after we got back from teaching. So much for staying one night! We are now staying until Friday morning, with our last night and family dinner scheduled for Thursday. :)

It is an interesting experience to say the least, but one that I am so glad I am having. There probably isn’t a better host family out there, as they have done nothing but make us feel welcome. Kristine and I have had some great times already…especially the delicious dinner prepared for us by the neighbors! We had crab, noodles, pumpkin soup (yummy!), rice cakes and more, making it the best meal we have had in Korea! I was really full for the first time since I’ve been here!

I know that I will remember this experience for the rest of my life, and I know that next time I’m offered a chance to spend some time with locals, I’ll say yes immediately!

Tags: ,

A Week Left…

Aug 8

Posted by Katie in Museum, Seoul, South Korea, Texas, movies, teaching | 3 Comments

This past week has been, well, a true test for me. Our schedule is as follows:

Wake up around 6:00-6:30, get ready, be at the church by 8:00.

Start Class at 9:00, teach until 11:35. Eat lunch, then climb 3 flights of stairs and spend an hour and a half trying to keep 200 kids in one room when they may, in fact, be ridiculously bored.

Start teaching a different class at 2:00. Continue doing so until 5:00, then have dinner and head home.

Repeat.

Needless to say, this schedule has been a little draining. However, the best part is that my first class is 10 kids, 3 of whom are trouble-makers in any degree, and three who pretty much get in trouble every 5 minutes or so. It’s like they put all of the trouble kids in one class, and I just happened to get it. :( God is really teaching me perseverance through this! I have never wanted to stop doing something that I had to do more times in one week than this past week! But, although it is difficult, I’m learning a lot and getting stronger. I have definitely started getting practice on “the look” this week, as well!

There have definitely been plusses this week, too. The team is really close…we have a lot of fun times! I know that we all bring something unique and necessary to the team, and it definitely shows. When we are together, we come up with all sorts of ways to support each other. I have sent troublemakers to visit more than one teammate’s class! :)

We have had a lot of adventures this week, like going to a DVD room with some Korean friends (you rent a room with a big screen and pick a movie (we watched Seven Pounds)), and traveling to Seoul to go shopping and to visit a palace. Shopping was a lot of fun, even though it threatened to rain the entire time. I got some really neat things. The palace was pretty spiffy, but it was so hot/humid out that some of us just chilled after seeing the main attractions. Normally, I would be exploring the whole place taking pictures, but my camera definitely died. After that, we went to Pizza Hut, where we had some goofy pizza. The really weird thing was that we had to share drinks…they just brought them out with lots of straws in them. Juan and I definitely found sharing a Pepsi to be interesting. If Phillippa was unlucky, she would have had to split her drink with 2 other people. Fortunately for her, she got it all to herself. Also, you only get one salad bar plate per 3 people. A very strange custom, but whatever.

It is so crazy that we’ve been here for 18 days, and even crazier that we only have one week left! Sometimes, I am so ready to be home, and other times I am so sad to be leaving. I guess that’s the way it goes, though!  I definitely have a place for Korea in my heart, but Texas is definitely home!

Tags: , ,

Quick Korea Update

Jul 25

Posted by Katie in South Korea, awesome, teaching | 3 Comments

Today was our first real day doing something, so we woke up early and went to the church, where we practiced our skit briefly before we performed for 2,000 kids. It went pretty well, I messed up one of my lines,but it wasn’t a major deal. I mean, I told everyone Lazarus was dead before he died, but no big. :)

After the play, we got out of our costumes and proceeded to be divided up into groups to helps with different VBS stations. Two other girls, Stephanie and Kristine, went with me to the pre-K/ Kindergarten room. There were around 80 kids there, and they were all adorable! As soon as we walked in, the Kindergarten pastor (they have tons of pastors here) came up to me and started to tell me about how we were going to lead some chants/ songs. In about five minutes. He then took me over to the laptop and let me know that we were going to be singing in Korean first, followed by English. Our song was Genesis 1:1, which looks like this: 태초에 하나님이 천지를 창조하시니라 ! in Korean. Luckily, the pastor wrote it out for me in Romanized form, so that we could pronounce it. Then, they gave us motions we were supposed to do. Well, we went on stage (he came too), where they handed me a microphone! Kristine and Stephanie did the motions and sung, while I and my lovely microphone magnified Korean singing voice stood in the middle and held the paper so we could know what to say. It was pretty awesome. Then, the girls had to leave to go teach at another place, so I stayed in that room as the sole DBU representative. I did make a really cool new Korean friend, so I’m glad for the experience.

After that, I had to have my picture taken with all of the little kids’ classes. It was so precious, but my cheeks hurt after all that smiling!

today was such a great day, and tomorrow we’re going to teach middle school kids, so I’m pretty excited about that!

I’ll try to write again soon!

The Final Countdown

Jul 20

Posted by Katie in God, South Korea, awesome, learning, teaching, update, world | 2 Comments

So, in two days I will be headed to Suwon, South Korea. I’ll be there for 3.5 weeks, teaching English, leading VBS and learning a ton about Korean culture. The last time I went to Korea (last fall break), I learned a lot in only a week. The increase from this experience should be astronomical!

Our game plan has changed somewhat over the past few months, but as of today, it looks like we will be flying out of DFW at 10:10 Wednesday and landing in Tokyo around 1:05 on Thursday. The flight lasts 13 hours! Then we have about a six hour layover in Japan, and we will head to Seoul, where we will arive two or three (I can’t remember) hours later. From Incheon International Airport, we will have about an hour-two hour drive to Suwon, my home for the next month.

I am definitely excited, but I feel so unprepared/overwhelmed when I think about it. I have never been so far away for so long, which is exciting, but still challenging at the same time. I know I will miss my family and friends, and Mark, and American food, but I have my team, new places to see, new foods to try and, of course, God. :) I will be just fine, I think.

One thing that does have me slightly on edge is the fact that we might be staying in host homes, maybe even by ourselves. on the one hand, this is a really great, once in a lifetime, worldview shaping event that will be the best way to experience Korea. On the other hand, I do not know Korean, am kinda creeped out by several Korean foods, and a little worried that I may end up offending some nice people due to my lack of cultural knowledge. I think the pluses are undeniably better than the minuses are bad, but still, I am tad worried. :)

I don’t know how much internet time I’ll be able to snag, but I’ll do my best to keep you updated on everything.

Tags: ,

What’ve you been doing lately?

Mar 10

Posted by Katie in God, South Korea, awesome, learning, teaching | 1 Comment

Lately, I haven’t had the urge to blog, which is kind of strange. I guess it’s been because nothing really exciting has happened. At least, nothing that can be of any interest to anyone besides me.

A few days ago, though, I got some news that definitely got me excited. I found out that I am going to be going to Korea for a little less than a month this summer to teach English. Whoa. I still can’t believe it. The process was crazy, consisting of me wanting to go on this trip as soon as I found out about it in November, then deciding I didn’t want to go anymore after asking that a couple letters of recommendation get sent in (and not sending in the application), followed by receiving a call like last month asking me to set up a time for an interview (and please, fill out your application), to interviewing twice and then finding out I’m going. To South Korea. To teach. For three weeks. Again, whoa.

I am super excited about the whole shebang, but I am a little scared, too. I mean, what if I mess this up? What if I somehow get lost? What if someone wants me to eat fish intestines again? The thing is, none of these things are viable fears (except the fish guts). God has this totally under control, and I expect to learn a lot about trusting in and depending on him. So I guess you can say I am confident in my fears, because I know that when I am weak, he is strong.

Tags: , ,

So Seoul

Oct 9

Posted by Katie in Mission Trip, Seoul, South Korea, awesome | 1 Comment

Let me just start this post by saying that I have never experienced anything quite like Seoul before. This place is phenomenal. There are neon signs everywhere you look, advertising coffee shops and banks, as well as any number of other things. There is hardly a blank surface in sight; every building it seems has an unlimited array of signs advertising this or that in Korean, which adds to the amazing rainbow of lights every night.

The people here have been nothing but kind and generous, giving us gifts, providing food and offering us their warmest wishes. From the schools we have taught at to the churches we have attended, we have been received like royalty.

The traffic here is never-ending, with cars weaving in and out, pedestrians jumping in front of buses and motorcycles riding on the sidewalks. There are people everywhere, walking around with their purchases, on their way to work, or just taking a break on the sidewalk. It is quite evident that we are in a city of ten million.

The market places that we have visited have been bustling with crowds, the boutiques and street vendors all trying their best to give such a good deal that you can’t refuse. I can’t adequately describe the colors, sights and sounds that fill them. The money is thankfully different sizes and colors based on the denomination, so knowing that 5,000 won is the orange one makes paying in a currency that we aren’t used to very easy.

When we visit the churches, it is so clear that these people have such a heart for God. They are so authentic in their worship that we can really feel the Holy Spirit at work, regardless of the language barrier.

Teaching in the schools has been a huge blessing. This kids are all so eager to learn, or at least experience hanging out with some crazy Americans! It has been my favorite part of the trip, and every time I’ve taught, I’ve fallen more in love with them.

We still have three days left in our trip, and I can’t wait to experience what they have to offer!

Seoul Power!

Sep 25

Posted by Katie in God, South Korea, mission, teaching | 1 Comment

So in a week and a couple of days, I will be in South Korea. :) I cannot really express how excited I am to be able so say that. There is just an awesome feeling of anticipation that just makes me happy every time I realize that it is almost time.

I can’t wait to just experience what it is like to be able to be surrounded with another culture, and to have the chance to be inspired by the awesome Christians in Korea and to witness to those people that we meet who need Jesus. I am looking forward to being able to teach children English, to love them and play games with them.

I can’t wait to help out at the Passion conference, making friends with South Korean college students who are totally sold out for God. I know that God is going to do so much in out time in Korea and I can’t wait to experience it!