It's All in a Name

We hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season!

OK, I'm just going to start off by saying we didn't make it. We (I), could not go a month without pizza. I caved; on more than one occasion. It's so shameful. At home, I can go weeks without pizza. But here, I just crave it all the time. However, before you roll your eyes I have a theory: At home, SO MANY of our meals have cheese as an ingredient. Be it pizza, cheeseburgers, lasagna, sandwiches, tacos (oh, what we wouldn't give for Mexican food) etc. Here in Korea, cheese does not exist in their diet, except for on pizza. It's difficult to find in stores, and IF you can find it, it's outrageously expensive. So I believe that my pizza addiction is more of a "cheese craving." ...See, totally justified.

We are still going strong on the Bible reading and weekly volunteering! 2/3 ain't bad!

Again, it's been too long since my last blog but nothing is really going on. I'm in the middle of my four weeks of "extra English classes" during winter vacation. It's going alright. I have a class of third graders, a class of fourth graders and a teachers class. The third graders are out-of-control. Without a co-teacher, they have no idea what I'm saying. It's basically a never-ending game of charades.

I let them choose English names if they wanted to. I prepared a girls list and a boys list. Still, some chose to deviate from the suggestions. I have a girl named 'Coney,' yes, like the cheesy hot dog. I asked if she meant 'Courtney,' but she stood firm to Coney. I have a boy named 'Peter Pan.' No explanation needed. And another boy named, 'KTX.' You see, the KTX is a really fast Korean passenger train. I let it go because well, it is English, I guess. Another thing about this boy, KTX, he has severe ADHD. My co-teacher told me that his homeroom teacher gave up on him because she couldn't control him. "Oh great," I thought. "Send him to the foreign teacher." He literally, just in the middle of class, will get up out of his seat, and run around the classroom. When we are playing a game, his excitement is uncontrollable. To his credit, he is a polite kid, and has a decent grasp on English, but the kid needs to r-e-l-a-x. In all seriousness, I know God builds our character through the circumstances He puts us in. Patience is definitely a virtue that I need to work on, He and I both know that. KTX is just a reminder to lengthen my fuse and take deep breaths.

Fourth grade is much better. They understand most of what is going on and they all picked normal English names.

We are really looking forward to our winter vacation! We leave on January 19th for the Philippines and then from there we will visit Hong Kong. Some exciting updates to come!!