Church Today

Today I went to church and there was Communion. My roommate came with me and we washed each other's feet. Pastor Kim of the church is leaving for another parish and we are getting another pastor.
We later had a fellowship meal. I had a good meal. I met some new people. I was amazed that one of the new female teachers had lived in my area and knew some acquaintances of mine.
I later met a friend. I was nice to see him again. I thought that maybe I had to bring something up that happened, wondering if there was anything that needed to be said about it. I wanted to speak to him about it, but then someone else came by and that ended that idea. I guess there was no reason to bring it up. If it isn't broken, there is no reason to fix it. Thank God.

And So It Goes, and so it goes...

I found out that my friend Cornelius is being moved to Daejon. I know he liked Ilsan a lot. Well, he's going to a school that's mostly juniors. I do feel disappointed about that because we had a few good times together in Ilsan recently. He is a nice friend. He was in Daejon for a long time before, so I do know that he is familiar with that city. It's not something I can change so I will just have to accept that.
When I came back to Korea I was looking forward to rekindling friendships that I left behind, as well as meeting new people. When in the USA I was very lonely. I really wanted to spend time with friends as I did before. Most of the people I knew were too busy or just weren't my type (liked to get drunk or high).
I am greatful for the new people I've met over here and the people that I've met before that I've seen again. I want to be a good friend and love them as I wish to be loved. I do need to not come on too strongly, which is a habit of mine that is partly related to my personality.
I am so happy that the Sahmyook University church has accepted me. I am glad that I am near the campus so I can spend time with the other teachers there. I would like to plan activities to do with them and students there.

Church.

Last Sabbath I went to the Sahmyook University church. I am glad that many people have returned from vacation. A supreme court justice from Uganda was there. He gave the sermon. Later I had dinner at Peter and Wendy's place along with Gary, Jenny, Paul, and John. It was nice. I went to vespers the night before and Gary said that the crowd needs to get to know me better as well as James, a Kiwi teacher that was there. He said that we should do vespers sometime. I will be doing it on March 6.
I went to the Ilsan SDA church the week before to meet my friend Cornelius. He fixed my computer's microphone for me. I met some friends of his named Brian and Maike. They are also from South Africa like he is. They were very nice. Brian offered to take me sightseeing, so Cornelius and I went with him to Paju. Paju is a town that's very close to North Korea. We also went to an artist's village. It was fun. Too bad it was a bit foggy. He said we should go back there when the weather is nicer. It's always nice to make new friends. I would like to go back to the Ilsan church, but it's far away so I'll only go if I get invited.

Valentine's Day Science

This video is fun. After seeing this, I had to become a subscriber! 8-) Happy Valentine's Day!

Hanging Out With A Friend

I felt lonely over the weekend so I decided to give male friend of mine a call. I hadn't seen him since Sept. 2006 at a teacher's retreat. I met him in Ilsan at about 2:45pm. We walked around a very large park there. We walked around for a few hours. We saw a greenhouse with lots of cacti. The cacti and succulents were nice. I like those plants. I saw some interesting succulents I had never seen before that had some pretty red-orange blossoms. We also went into a small toilet museum. It was funny. It showed lots of pictures of toilets from around the world and different ages. There were even little small displays of people dumping and such. There was a display of a pig sty and a toilet nearby, where the dumps came out a chute and the pig would later eat it. There was also another one of some villagers that was letting a baby boy dump on the ground and offering it's bum to a dog to lick it clean.
We later went to a Korean restaurant. I got some kimchi bibimbap. I had originally ordered chomchae kimchi dolsat bap, because I momentarily forgot that "chomchae" is fish. I eat mostly vegan. I am glad he later caught it and told them that I don't want the fish after all. I was mixing "chomchae" up with "yachae" which is vegetables. The dolsat bibimbap was good. Unfortunately, there was still pieces of fish in the kimchi. I picked some of it out, yet I did end up eating little pieces of it. He later helped me pick some of it out too. I eat slow, so he was already done. We later went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. I got some "box of chocolates" flavour. We talked for a long time there. I had looked at my watch and it was almost 9pm. I didn't want to stop hanging out yet. We kept talking about various things like work, our home countries, jjimjilbangs, and martial arts. He said he would have a black belt in karate if he had stayed in South Africa. He said he learned the Japanese terms quite well and I will learn Korean terms quite easily in a Korean dojang. I later looked at my watch and it was a few minutes to 11pm. I know that the trains stop in Seoul at about midnight. I was alarmed and we went to the station, hoping I could get home. I offered my hand to give him a handshake, and he looked a bit confused. I felt it was awkward and we gave each other a quick hug. I ran to the train and prayed to God that I would get to Jongno-3 by midnight so I could take a bus from there. The train came into Jongno-3 at midnight sharp. I thanked God and got on a bus to Cheongnyangni. From there I took a taxi home. It cost just over 23,000 won. I was so thankful to get home. It was just after 1:30 am.

Sometimes I Feel Like This Rose

I have been living at Namyangju-si in Gyeonggi-do for just over a month now. I don't mind the job at all. I just wish the children were less rambunctious and loud at times.
There are some things I miss about teaching for the SDA Language Institute:
I miss teaching some classes with adults. The students would sometimes take me places. Now my students don't take me anywhere because they are all small. I see some of them playing outside in the apartment complex and they say "hello" and keep on playing. I smile and wave at them. That is still sweet nonetheless.

I miss having lots of other foreign teachers around. The only other foreigner I see is my roommate. I have been going to the Adventist university over here for church. There are nice people there. I have been happy to see them. Many of the other foreigners are not in Korea for noa and will come back in a few weeks. I will be glad when they come back so we can have fun together.

I am missing the Bible camps we had, the teacher's retreats, being near the subway and visiting friends easily. I miss having my weekends packed with appointments to see people and going lots of places.

***
I have also been accused of stuff I didn't do. It hurt a lot. I will be glad when it's all put to an end. I want things to be like it never happened.

Nooooooooo

I just broke my eyeglasses. I was wiping the steam off them with my towel after I got out of the shower. They were on the side of the sink. Now I have tape on them. I am upset because I still don't have any insurance since my alien card is in the mail. I can't wait to get that alien card!
I should wear my T-shirt that says "NERD" on it this weekend. Nerds rule!

Stuff

I took the mandatory drug testing again over a week ago. I found out that this time the drug testing came out negative. I am very glad. If it hadn't, there would be no choice but for me to go back to the USA. I had taken the drug test a month ago, but it came out positive because I was on medication. I got ill after arriving in Korea. I don't take conventional medicines often, but I was feeling very bad. That is one answer to prayer. I can finally get my alien card so I can stay in this country, get a bank account, and a cell phone.
My boss' wife says that she will help Bernedette and I find a good dojang for March. We both want to take up taekwondo. I know I need to work on my flexibility. It isn't bad, but it could be better.
I still have one prayer request that's on my mind. I'm sure that God will work things out. I just wish I could hear from someone to know what's going on.