Wow. So much I want to say about today, but I know my eyes won't stay open long enough to get it all out, so I am just going to give you some highlights that come to mind right away.
First, I broke into the can of Pine Bud Drink tonight. Wacky weird, I tell ya! It smells like Pinesol but the taste is sweet and vaguely reminiscent of the green nyquil (only without being nasty). I would like to tell you it is like Christmas in a can but that would be misleading, however, it does smell like a freshly cut pine tree. Wacky thing, it grows on you. I am half way through the can and I find myself picking it up more frequently.
This morning Michelle Cox and I went to Samil Church in Seoul. It is one of (I think) 6 locations where services are held for this church since there are over 30,000 members. ( Here is the web page translated.) I tried to video the choreographed praise song, but I couldn't figure out the camera in time. Oh well, maybe next week. They had translation available for us through wireless headsets which was great. The pastor (Jeon, Byung Wook) spoke on 1 Corinthians 13:4 - 7. I want to write some thoughts on his message, but I will save that for another post.
I did learn an interested cultural tidbit. I had asked our friend Emily, who took us to church, to write down the pastor's name for me. I handed her my copy of the bulletin and a red pen (because it was the only one I had with me, and the one which I had used to take notes throughout the service.) She kind of paused and said, "Just so you know, in Korea we only use red pen to write a name when the person is dead. Most younger people will understand, but elders still think about that and it will not be good." Oh, well, um....*frantically searches head for whether I used my red pen in any of my classes this week* Good to know. She did go ahead and use the pen to write the pastor's name, but I felt as though I was disrespecting him by even asking her to do so. As though such an action would threaten him in some way. So silly, but once you know that is the superstition, it is hard not to feel strange.
After church we went and ate lunch with some friends of hers and then had coffee. We went to a bookstore and I bought a beginners book to teach me how to write Korean letters. I should mention that we road the bus for an hour to get into Seoul then walked to the subway and rode it to a station close to the church. When we left we walked to lunch then took the subway to the bookstore then walked to the street level and ended up heading toward Cheongwadae, or The Blue House, so named for its blue roofs. It is the Korean equivalent of the White House in the United States as it is supposed to be the residence of the S. Korean president. We did not get to see it (even from a distance) as it was hidden behind this strange building.
On our way we passed the U.S. Embassy (which was closed) but it was nice to see where it is. I would like to take this moment to comment on how unhospitable and frankly ugly the U.S. Embassies seem to be in every country I have visited. In Bangkok you could walk right up the lawn and into most of the embassies. The U.S. Embassy however had barbed wire around the top of 8-10 foot high fences. This one was the same. They even had this complex gate system to search cars.
This picture is of a frozen fountain. Just to show that it really IS that cold here.
I have much more I want to tell, but I am so tired that I am going to stop making sense soon, so I will leave you with this picture as a teaser.
P.S. I finally found postcards so hopefully I will get them out this week!
P.S.2 - Sorry for the formatting craziness. It is hard to read and not aesthetically pleasing, but I am too tired to continue to tweek my html.
Instead of waking me up in a way that will get her in trouble, Pila just bounces on the bed - scratches herself, lays down, gets up, turns a few times, tries to lay down again, licks her paws, etc. for about 45 minutes before I finally can take no more and get up and get her some breakfast. Rachel made pancakes and eggs this morning and they were fantastic. We are both getting quite adept in the kitchen and learning time-saving tricks. I made pancakes yesterday and put the remainder of the batter in the fridge so today she made breakfast in the less than 10 minutes I was outside reading: I just started "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges. I am going to try to read a chapter a day for the next two weeks. I am not sure I will agree with all of his interpretations, but he does discuss several questions I have about what holiness (as seperateness) entails and the feasiblity of it in our Christian walk.
Rachel just left for church. I am staying in. I need to do laundry (which did not get completed yesterday for various and assundry reasons) and organize some things...but mostly I need to have some quiet time and mourn the fact that I am away from my church home and community for almost 6 months. Sundays are the hardest days because I know that my friends are all together at church, hearing the same messages, sharing lunch and laughs and conversing about the things they are learning in and out of church. Sunday was my favorite day when I was stateside. Here it holds the least encouragement or joy of any day of the week. When I do attend services here I cannot understand the message. The hymns (when they are familiar) are nice, but largely they are not familiar. I don't go to lunch and fellowship with others. Stores here are only open Sunday morning instead of sunday afternoon, so if you do need something you have to go during the protestant church services. All in all Sunday is just my least favorite day.
I was chatting with Steph this morning before church and she asked how she could pray for me today. Truly, there are so many things that I feel I need help with that I don't know where to start, but the number one thing is that I just need to be able to put aside myself and focus on the Father. But, myself seems the most tangible and familiar thing here sometimes, and it is hard to set that comfort (no matter how vain) aside and accept that there is a reason that God has me here and not there. I know it is for my own good. I know that He is faithful - I know that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father who does not change like shifting shadows...I know this, but here, it feels...forgotten.
Soon I will burry myself in work, in grading papers and doing lesson plans. In cooking and housework. Walking. The things I do to keep me from remembering how far I am from home, and all this will start to seem familiar and normal again instead of foreign and unnatural. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday will pass in whirlwinds of Medieval history, WWII and the geography of Africa. I will see friends on Saturdays. Occassionally go to Santiago or to a waterfall or some other distraction. But on Sundays - Sundays I will always remember that my body is somewhere in the Caribbean, but my heart is at home with my community even when they don't remember it is there. And I will sigh whistfully and pray for sundown when my day of rest is over and God doesn't seem so far away and busy other places.
...just don't stumble on the waves we all wanna go there something awful but to stand there it takes some grace. - Rich Mullins
There is so much that i want to tell, and it is hard to know where to begin. so first, basic updates on sickness, school stuff, etc.
Nancy Fluth, the director's wife, who first came down with Dengue is back to teaching! It took over three weeks for her to heal sufficiently and she still gets tired, but THANK GOD she is healing well and is back to teaching the PK-3 class. Kimberly, one of our roommates, went back to the States about two weeks ago. She was very sick, and had some other complicating health issues. Derrick, who had Typhoid, is back at school and doing well. There was alot to catch up on after missing the first two weeks of teaching his 5th grade class, but he seems to be adjusting. Rachel, my roommate, was out of school for a week - we are not sure what she had, but last week she was back and taught and though the week has been stressful, she survived. Christy Elmer, a second grade teacher, has Dengue. She was in the hospital last weekend but has been recovering at home this week. She had several really uncomfortable days because her internal organs were swollen making it hard to breathe, be comfortable etc. She appears to be on the mend. I don't know what her ETA is for returning to school. Regan Hess, the third grade teacher, was taken into Santiago on Wed (?). He had been sick all week and they finally determined he has Dengue. He is still in the hospital. They are still waiting for his platelets to start rising instead of falling. Please pray for him. So the running total is 15 American teachers. 2 with serious stomach ailments (one returned stateside and one recovered). 3 teachers with Dengue (Nancy recovered, Christy Elmer & Regan still sick.) That is a 3rd of the Americans. Some of the Dominican staff have been sick as well. Rough way to start a year...but God knows all about it, and we are clinging to the trials/perseverance/character/hope promise.
A week ago Emmanuel, one of my tenth graders, was in a car accident (along with some relatives of his) coming back from the capital where he was playing in a baseball tournament. The car blew a tire and crossed the line or hit something (details are still unclear to me.) His uncle and his grandfather were both killed. He returned to school midweek and seems in good spirits. TOO good. He lost his father 6 months ago, and the accident and loss of family members again is more than any average 15 year old could handle. I think most of the teachers feel pretty certain that he is not handling it at all - just repressing - and hence the happy-go-lucky attitude we have all been seeing. Please pray for him. Sometimes you wonder why God allows such catastrophies to pile up in people's lives.
I keep forgetting to take pictures at school of more of my classes. Days are full and it feels we bounce from one thing to the next constantly. By the time I get home from school I am flat worn out. Many nights I am in bed before 10 - some nights by 8.30 or so. But, classes are going well. 4 of my 6 classes had tests this past week - overall it seems that they did pretty well. I am head over heels about the 10th grade class where the lowest grade was a "B". Tuesday was an interesting afternoon. I got home from school and one of the 10th graders (Heidy) came over to study, then one of my 8th graders (Dariel) who had missed school that day (due to being tardy) stopped by begging to take his test. Then another 10th grader (Katherine, my upstairs neighbor) came down and joined Heidy and Rachel and I for dinner. Friday night several of the 10th graders stopped by and we made cookies and salsa. Then Katherine and I walked Ebony home and I met Ebony's mother, Eunice, and then Katherine and I walked back to our house...and that is where the puppy really enters the pic. It was after 8 and quite dark. I had ignored the puppy all afternoon (ugg, tore my heart) but at 8 my defenses were down and I decided to at least bathe it and give it some water...and so, because I am a big push-over I have to decide what to do with this:
Yesterday after Clarissa and her daugher Marlenis (sp?) finished cleaning, we went to their 'house' outside of Jarabacoa. Clarissa cleans at the school and Rachel was talking to her one day and learned a little of her circumstances so we wanted to figure out a way we could help her. She has 5 girls ranging in age from 15 down to 3. Shortly after the three year old was born Clarissa's husband was hit by a car. She has been supporting her family by herself. They live in a small building (maybe 10' x 12' if I am estimating generously) which is sub divided into two rooms (there is some wall and alot of curtain to divide the rooms). All 6 members sleep in the larger half of the dwelling and there is a pretend kitchen/dining space in the smaller side of the dwelling. Truly, there is NOT much room. They were very excited to have us over and fixed arroz y pollo for us to have for lunch. Clarissa also invited her mother-in-law and her brother-in-law and his wife over. (and two of their kids). He was primarily there to drive us back after we ate. It was so humbling to be so graciously received by a family who has so much less than what I consider the bare minimum for survival. We are praying for the funds for Clarissa's youngest to get to go to JCS. It costs about $400.00 US a year. Here is a picture of her family (Clarissa is wearing the hair net and tank top. The older woman is her mother-in-law. Her youngest is sitting in Marlenis, the next to oldest (14) lap. The girl on the far right is Clarissa's neice (I believe). Their house is only as wide as the window, etc. they are in front of - the one you see to the far right is the neighbor's house. The doorway on the left is the left wall of her building. You can see the space is not very large.)
I think I have found a church here. It is the fundamental Baptist church and I am sure that I have some theological differences but I really like the community there and I need to get plugged in locally. The church on Sunday mornings is mostly full of kids that come from the local barrios (most often very low-income/education communities.) The service is in Spanish, but I can pick out parts. It feels good to be in a community and worshipping. Both of the pastors' daughters are in my 11th grade history class. I get to hear/see alot about their families and church even outside of Sundays and that is nice too. This is a picture of the view at the church. You can see the side of the building to the left. I was standing about 15 feet forward and about 10 feet to the side of where I was standing to take a pic of the front of the church.
Rachel and I house-sat for one of the other teachers last night and their house compared to ours is a resort. We sat on their front porch this morning and drank coffee and commented on how amazing it is that we decide we want to live on a tropical island and "poof" we are allowed to do so. (Of course, we all know it is not that simple, but there are moments when the beauty of our location makes us forget for a moment all the other travails we endure.) I try to capture the blueness of the sky, the grandure of the mountains, the lushness of the fruit trees, but I cannot export to you the feel of the air, or the slant of the sun or the sense of where we are. These pictures are just very dim representations of the amazingness we live in. This was a picture that Rachel took from the landing at the top of the steps at the school looking across the sports field. It is the view I see everyday in greater and lesser moments of glory, but rarely do I stop and take it in that I don't still feel some amazement. I truly desire you all to see it for yourselves!
In other news, it has been over a week since they set the field next door on fire. I am growing bored and look forward to the next time they set it ablaze. Watching all the men that usually sit at the colmado on the corner come out and watch the fire provides the residents of this house with much entertainment. Also, no recent goat spottings or chickens in the school yard. (Or maybe I am just getting used to things like that so I don't notice them anymore.) I did stop by the bakery belonging to the mother of one of the 11th grade girls (Elsie) and while standing outside waiting to order heard a chicken and looked and a woman had a huge hen hanging by its feet (they were tied together) from the handlebars of her motor bike. Elsie said, "That is something you wouldn't see in the US." Too true, Elsie, but it is part of what makes living in Jarabacoa interesting!
There is much more to tell, but I need to go ahead and get this posted, so keep checking back. I have every intention of posting pictures of my classes as soon as I can 1) remember to take pics. 2) have time on the internet to post and 3) manage to stay awake longer than it takes to do the bare minimum of necessary activities that fill my day.
Wow. So much I want to say about today, but I know my eyes won't stay open long enough to get it all out, so I am just going to give you some highlights that come to mind right away.
This morning Michelle Cox and I went to Samil Church in Seoul. It is one of (I think) 6 locations where services are held for this church since there are over 30,000 members. ( Here is the web page translated.) I tried to video the choreographed praise song, but I couldn't figure out the camera in time. Oh well, maybe next week. They had translation available for us through wireless headsets which was great. The pastor (Jeon, Byung Wook) spoke on 1 Corinthians 13:4 - 7. I want to write some thoughts on his message, but I will save that for another post. 
After church we went and ate lunch with some friends of hers and then had coffee. We went to a bookstore and I bought a beginners book to teach me how to write Korean letters. I should mention that we road the bus for an hour to get into Seoul then walked to the subway and rode it to a station close to the church. When we left we walked to lunch then took the subway to the bookstore then walked to the street level and ended up heading toward Cheongwadae, or The Blue House, so named for its blue roofs. It is the Korean equivalent of the White House in the United States as it is supposed to be the residence of the S. Korean president. We did not get to see it (even from a distance) as it was hidden behind this strange building. 
This picture is of a frozen fountain. Just to show that it really IS that cold here.
I have much more I want to tell, but I am so tired that I am going to stop making sense soon, so I will leave you with this picture as a teaser.
