Night Class

           For about four months now I have looked forward to Tuesday nights.  Every Tuesday night for two hours I have the privilege of sitting down with 8 to 12 adult Koreans in a conversational English class.  This has been a blessing and has given me a better insight on Korean culture.

           Each class we read a story about challenging life situations.  Questions regarding vocabulary and comprehension are then discussed.  Halfway through the class we take a ten minute break. We all sat back down after the break this week and had a short discussion about their day before returning to the topic of conversation.  I asked all ten of my students (ranging from mid 20s to early 50s) how their day was and for one positive thing that happened during their day.  Maybe a simple compliment on ones hair or that they were doing good work in the office that day.    

           All but one of my students had a terrible day.  They were tired, had too much work, someone was rude to them.  These all seem like normal complaints of a bad day, which we are all entitled to.  Korean society has children that are over schooled and adults that are over worked with little reward.  None of them had one positive thing to say except for Dr. Lee.  He started by saying he had a long day, but when he so his daughter before night class he was re-energized.  Dr. Lee is a kind gentle man and I feel honored that he is enrolled in my class.

          We can all learn a thing or two from Dr. Lee.  When I was in Sierra Leone with the founder of Seven Hills Foundation Dr. David Jordan we ended our day with a short discussion about one pearl from our day.  A pearl is something that made you smile or made you stop and cherish the moment that presented itself.  I am grateful to Dr. David Jordan for this simple activity because I have carried that with me till this day.  Something I will carry with me forever.  Life poses several challenges and yes everyday is not going to be peachy, but if you find just one ray of light then that day can end on a positive note. 

            Today is a good day.  My pearl for today would be talking to a best friend for an hour on Skype.  Friendship is something to cherish.  I cherish the friendship I have with Matthew Opanowski and several others.  I will end this post with a quote I really like by the Dalai Lama.  “If you want to be happy practice compassion if you want others to be happy practice compassion”.  

New Connections

        I am now a resident of a foreign land.  Living amongst and interacting with the locals as well as the foreigners that reside in the “small” town of Muju.  After five months I feel like a have made a bond with the community I live in.  The people that work in the grocery store I go to, the people that sell produce at the local market, the bar owners, the local pool hall owner and many others.  I walk down the street with a sense of comfort and acceptance.  Muju is majestic in so many ways from the mountains that tower over this small city to the several thousand people living here.

         It is 9:34am on September 19^th, 2010 and I have just missed the bus by four minutes.  There is a thick mist in the air from the rain that just passed.  I wait and read a book till I can catch the next bus at 11am to Deoguysan National Park.  My mind is wondering.  Attempting to keep myself occupied by my book, but the butterflies in my stomach are too powerful, so I just look out the window and take in the beautiful scenery.  I would compare my nerves to a first date.  You have had conversation with the person, but have never met them or had one on one conversation in person.  A phone conversation ends with hanging the phone up, but the ending of a meeting 45 minutes away with a stranger has an unknown ending. 

         The bus pulls up to a large parking lot with a small building the size of my bedroom.   I am greeted by this young looking 40 year old named Kim TaeWoo.  We go to the KNPS office, sat down and had a broken conversation for about ten minutes fallowed by lunch in another building.  After lunch I waited for Mun Kyu Park, the superintendent of Deogyusan National Park reading pamphlets about the park and then back to my book.  He arrives back red cheeked (from the drinks he had at lunch with his colleagues) and with a large welcoming smile on his face.  We say our hellos and he escorts Kim TaeWoo and me into his beautiful office.  We sit down and I tell him about myself and my intentions of getting involved with the Korean National Park Service.  He then pours me a glass a tea and tells me in descent English about Deogyusan.  After the meeting Kim TaeWoo and I went around the park on mountain bikes talking more about the park.  When I return from Vietnam and Cambodia I look forward to furthering my relationship with the KNPS.