Friday, May 22, 2009

The Road Not Taken


by: Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the tother, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy ans wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

11 weeks

Emotions flow as the ocean tide pulls them toward another west coast
Cultural views are accepted, hoping they are different but equal
Elders are to be respected; the young have to prove their worth
Life revolves around age, school at 5, college till 27, marriage before 30
Creating new bonds, pushing at the strings of fate and travel that bring us together
Finding hope in the love and trust of 7 year olds
Seeing distrust in 80 year olds
The distance between the long hairs and short hairs

I’m finally settling into life in Seoul, the normal routine is down pat (but got to get my butt out of bed these mornings to go the gym!), have to study more Korean. The past couple weeks have been great.
Two weeks ago I joined a church called Onuri English Ministry, it’s the biggest church I’ve ever gone to. It has three ministries in Korean, English, and Chinese. The service is powerful, hearing more than 300 whispering voices gathering in prayer and worship. The small group I’m now apart of is made up of about 15 people, mostly Korean women and American men who are teachers and graduate students. A couple of the Koreans I can relate to and hopefully build lasting friendships with. I was invited via text to go ‘hiking’ Namsam and out to dinner afterwards on Tuesday. I was excited because I’ve gotten able to go hiking a lot over the past couple weeks and was glad to do more. But the hike turned out to be a 30 minute stair climb to the top of a lookout mountain, swarming with people taking in the view of the city. So much for a second climb this week, but it was great to talk with new people and find out who they are. An American, Jason, and I tossed around a football in the middle of MyeongDong, the busiest shopping area of Seoul, at peak shopping time. It was great! All of the curios/glaring looks we got from Koreans. I got ask, “Why” by three Korean high school guys, my response was, “Why Not.” They walked away, not really satisfied with the answer. We played catch with a old man and a clown on silts, one of the guys got pictures of the ‘game’ so hopefully I can post them later.

This weekend three of my friends came up from Deagu to celebrate my birthday and take in the sites of Seoul. It was a crazy 30 hours filled with Palace visits, Baseball game, an underground aquarium, and getting kicked out of a jimjabang at 3 am because two people wouldn’t be quite. So we call came back to my dorm size apartment and squeezed all 4 of us on to sleeping pats and my twin size bed. Classic!
On Saturday, Brian, Sarah and I hiked the tallest mountain near Seoul, Mt. Book Han. It was a tough hike, taking 6 hours to go up and down. The problem I have with hiking in korea is there is no switchbacks up the mountain, were the path is a Z, making it easier to climb. In Korea, you walk straight up the mountain and at really hard parts your aided by metal stairs which are brutal on the knees! Ahh and lots of rock face, which is sweet. The views are some of the most beautiful I’ve seen, and defiantly better than what I imagined from seeing pictures of korea.

My pour digital camera has finally told me its on its last legs, so I’m going to get a nice SLR camera. I can’t wait, but I’m not excited about going to Techno Mart (4 huge floors of every electronic devise you could want) and looking at cameras. Definitely going to do my research at home, before I go out and by a camera in Korean. They don’t do returns here.

Away you go to the… Philippians
A couple weeks ago, my best 8-year-old student, Metis, came to class ecstatic and beaming. She said her older sister was coming home from the Philippians that day, where she had been for the past two years. I asked why she was there, to study English she said. The next day Metis was absent, which was a rare occurrence. My co-korean teacher told me, her mother had pulled her from the school. Both of us were bewildered, wondering why our best student had dropped. Her mother told us a couple days later that she had decided to send Metis and her sister back to the Philippians to study. Metis will leave fifteen days after her mom told her she was leaving the country! Amazing the lengths Koreans will go to insure their children know English and insure their place in global society in later years. My heart aches for Metis’s mother who sent her two young daughters to live with their aunt for the sole reason of a second language.