Seoul Train

Today is Sunday and so I was planning to go to a church that I had seen on my walk yesterday. I asked the house person about it and he said that they went to that church and that we should go together.

(Side note about my apartment, to get in you type in a number and so the couple that I stayed with the first night come in to this place several times a day any time they please to do laundry or check up on me or some times I don't know, I just assume it's part of Korean culture) (Stock photo)

So we did, it seated probably about 3000+ people and it was almost full. Thankfully they has a translator so I could understand it. Also of note an old lady in front of us passed out or worse and was piggy backed out in quite a hurry. Architecturally it was fascinating because the seating only started on the fifth floor, the bottom four floors were just wide open stairs.

After church it was home for lunch and then I decided to check out the subway and head towards Seoul. I read about a Palace called Gyeingbokgung which was right off of the subway line that I took and so I got off at the stop and looked for it. On the way I passed a sign that said free tours from the youth corps and so I stopped and asked about it. Sure enough it was not to good to be true and Da Yea agree to be my tour guide.

She was great, she told me all about the different buildings at the palace, what they were used for and what the different colours and statues meant. This made it ten thousand times more interesting than if I would have to walk around by myself guessing the purpose of the different areas. (this is something I would have loved to have in Middle East as I often found myself unknowledgable to much of what I was looking at)

It was fascinating as the original buildings were built in 1395, this was the main location of government for all of Korea. It was mostly burned down in the 15th century and then again later, then when it was rebuilt for the last time it almost bankrupt the government. We caught the changing of the guard and then I made my way back to Ilsan. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend it, to get here take subway Line 3, the free tours take place from 10:00-4:00 every 15 minutes or so. Entrance to the Palace is 3000 won.

I found a grocery store and bought some bananas and oranges and then headed home for a quiet evening at the apartment.

Korea!

My flight arrived at Incheon Airport at 3:45 AM Korean Time which is 1:45 PM Central Standard Time, and as good as the flight was I was tired. Just as I had been told there was someone with my name on a sign waiting to pick me up, it was a taxi and he did not speak a lot of English. It was about an hour drive from the airport to Ilsan(north of Seoul) where I will be staying until I finish my training.

The first thing in Korea to amaze me was their GPS, it knows the speed limits and where the photo radar, fantastic. My driver took me to an apartment building and took me up to an apartment and a lady showed me a room where I could sleep, 5:15. To not get to far out of sync I set my alarm for 9:00, I ended up waking up at 8:30 and so I got up, reorganized my luggage and read until the lady who had greeted me in the night showed up and welcomed me to her apartment and said I was to move to another room.

In the afternoon I decided to go for a walk and explore the area in which I will be spending the next bit of time. It is a little cold here, about -10 and very windy, but sunny which is nice. On my walk I found out that Lake Park is right across the road from me, which from what the internet told me, is a great place to go on a date. In summer the area is full of flowers and other plant life, suposed to be very beautiful. I'll keep that in mind.

In the evening the owner of the school and her daughter came by and picked me up and we went out for supper. We had beef bulgogi which is sliced meet that is fried with vegetables and like any typical Korean meal it came with lots of side dishes and was delicious. It was also neat to learn more about my boss and the school I will be working for. Turns out there are two schools one in Ilsan and the one that I will be teaching at in Geoje City. On the way home we stopped by the school here in Ilsan and looked around, they are suppose to have a similar set up and design so I now have an idea of what to expect in Geoje. It looks like it will be a neat set up.

All in all it was a great first day in Korea.

Prestige

Korean Air is great to begin with and then with the Prestige ticket it only got better.  I ended up getting a lay-flat seat with varying degrees of reclining as well as a 15 inch television and, what I was most excited about, slippers! Once we were airborne knowing that it would be a long flight I washed my feet and put on the slippers, and settled in for the flight.

At the beginning of the flight the flight attendants came by with menus and took our meal orders. For supper I had the cod, which came with soup, angel hair pasta with sauce, garlic bread and vegetables.

For breakfast I ordered the omelet which came with yogurt, a croissant and a fruit platter. I was a little worried, as I am every time I fly, that I would sleep through the food being served but flying Prestige comes with it's perks. As I was looking through the magazines offered I found stickers that you put on your head rest that said "Wake me for Food". It worked like a charm!

On top of the meals there was an unlimited beverage service that I used to it's fullest having a several cups of guava juice, orange juice, and pineapple juice. All in all it was quite a trip and even with out the upgrade I would throughly recommend flying with Korean Air, their flight attendants are very professional, their fleet is up to date and offer superb service.

Surprise?

The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

    The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

    The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!'

       The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

       The king summoned the man and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt." Matthew 18:23-35 (Message)

This may be a familiar story to many of you as it was to me but today it means something more to me. As you already know I am going to Korea to teach English, that adventure embarked this morning at 5:15 from Winnipeg. So instead of driving in at an unearthly hour we came in the day before and had a nice family dinner at The Olive Garden and the stayed the night at a hotel near the airport. This made for an unappreciated but bearable 4:00 wake up call.

One tricky thing about this flight was that I needed to interview at the Korean Embassy in Toronto in order to get my visa. This meant having a long enough layover to go to the Embassy and get back to the airport. Thankfully(?) I had 14 hour layover. I went to the Embassy and with a lot of time and little trouble I got my visa, I allows me in to Korea to teach. As you can imagine I made it back to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

In the past week leading up to this flight I have realized that my travel day will be 34 hours which is a very long day. So to ease this I looked in to using miles to upgrade to business class so that I might be able to get a bit more rest. After my flight was booked I was told that I didn't have the right ticket to upgrade so that meant flying in Economy which would get me there but perhaps not with the rest I could have. 

So this is where Matthew 18 comes in, having looked at all the options I resigned to the fact that I would be flying economy, but when I checked in they said that they had a treat for me, I would be flying Prestige which is Korean Air business class! Imagine my surprise! Boy was I grateful... until I found out that it did not include free use the lounge. I threw a fit... well not really but I did not have an attitude of gratitude. Thankfully my story doesn't end with me selling my family in to slavery and getting tortured for the rest of my life.

The golden ticket:

It was just a reminder to be thankful for the things that God does allow in to our lives. What does this look like in your life?

Any sweet stories that I am missing from home?

This joke is about tickets:

Three lawyers and three engineers were travelling by train to a conference. At the station, each lawyer bought a ticket whereas the engineers bought only one ticket between them.
How are you going to travel on a single ticket?. asked a lawyer.
Wait and watch, answered one of the engineers.
When they boarded the train, the lawyers took their seats, but the three engineers crammed into a toilet and closed the door behind them. Shortly after the train started, the ticket collector arrived. He knocked on the toilet door and asked, .Ticket please.. The door opened just a crack and a single arm emerged with a ticket in hand. The ticket collector took it and moved on. Seeing this, the lawyers decided to the same thing on the return trip.
So when they got to the station, they bought only one ticket. To their astonishment, the engineers didn.t buy any. .How are you going to travel without a ticket?. asked one of the perplexed lawyers.
Wait and watch, answered an engineer.
In the train, the three engineers crammed into a toilet and the three lawyers into another nearby. Soon after the train started, one of the engineers got out of the toilet and walked to one where the lawyers were hiding.
He knocked on the door and said, .Ticket, please...

Introductions

Congratulations on finding my blog, this could be the big break you have been waiting for, that is because this is the best blog you will ever read... well maybe not but at least now I have you attention.(*)

I write this because I will be going to Geoje Island, South Korea to teach English. I will be teaching elementary aged children at a private school. I am 23 years old, 6'2", and fit as a fiddle. I like long walks on the beach, watching the sunset and star gazing. You may be saying to yourself, this sounds more like an ad on a dating site than a blog about teaching English but wait for the clincher, I'm single...

Back to the task at hand. Dictionary.com defines a blog as a journal written online and accessible to users of the internet. This was pretty bland so to spice it up I looked it up on Urbandictionary.com where blog was defined as a meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their life. Consists of such riveting entries as "homework sucks" and "I slept till noon today." The second definition may turn out to be more accurate in my situation which may leave you wondering why you would come back. This is a fair question but I have not made any promises I can't keep so you will not be disappointed next time you come, that is a money-back guarantee.

As with any blog you need a title and as I was trying to think of one I realized that this is the first time we have met and so what better way to start than introduction. It turns out I am one step ahead(like usual) as the sharper reader will have noticed I already introduced myself a few paragraphs back but why a blog? Great question, the short answer is because I love my mom, the longer answer has something to do with sharing my experiences with you.

The details: Geoje City is on Geoje Island which is in the deep south of Korea and is connected to the main land by a bridge. It is South Korea's second largest island with an area of 383.44 km squared and is know for ship building and large deposits of granite. Geoje City has a population of 229500. It is a 5.5 hour bus ride to Seoul and a 30 minute bus ride to Busan. All of this information is available on Wikipedia. In addition to this I have also been told that there is an active church on the island and I am hoping to be involved with in some way. Although I am waiting for confirmation it looks like I will be leaving on January 29, 2011.

Ways that you can pray for me: that the move would go smoothly, that I would be able to build positive relationships with my coworkers, that I would be intentional with my time. I am excited to be going and have blown away by the way that I have seen God going before me and preparing the way so I look forward with the anticipation of what he will do knowing that he is, "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." Ephesians 3:20

The End.

This blog is a work in progress, if you have questions or suggestions please share them with me.





(*)(I may have borrowed part (or all) of the concept for the opening from my previous roommate but I hear this type of "borrowing" is common: see Napster or Facebook,  so it must be ok. Plus we shared a bed so I am sure he is fine with sharing an idea.)