making deals with God


I looked at the tentacle pinched between my chopsticks. I silently promised God that I would eat every grain of rice served to me from that point forward - if only He would make all of the octopus on my tray evaporate...

Seems my bargaining wasn’t too persuasive.

What I wish my "school lunch face" looked like, and how our "school lunch faces" actually look
But I suppose if choking down cafeteria lunch is the biggest challenge of our jobs, that must mean we have pretty great jobs.

Andie teaches at two elementary schools, each about a half hour bus ride from the city where we live. Andie’s main school, Pyungchon has about 70 students. Her second school, Ungsan has around 120 students. Andie teaches kindergarten-6th grade at both schools and she mostly teaches her classes solo. Her favorite part of her job is teaching the 5th grade students at Ungsan, who always seem excited to be in English class and have even invited her to play badminton with them after school on Fridays. She also enjoys quiet mornings of lesson planning in her classroom at Pyungchon that overlooks a large reservoir. 

Andie's main school and the lake she can see from her classroom.



Halfway up the mountain near our house,
you can see most of Yesan behind us
Garrett teaches at Guemo Elementary school, just a short walk from our apartment. Guemo Elementary is the largest elementary school in Yesan, with about 700 students. Guemo is situated in the center of Yesan’s “downtown” area, providing a nice view of the city from Garrett’s classroom on the 3rd floor. He teaches 4th-6th grade with a different Korean co-teacher for each grade. Along with his 4th-6th grade classes, Garrett teaches an after school class of ten students Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, as well as an adult’s English class on Thursdays. These classes have proven to require a little more creativity in lesson planning but have also provided space for Garrett to really get to know the students who attend. Garrett’s favorite part of his job so far has been seeing a particular lesson actually go as planned in the classroom. This hasn’t happened every time, but it’s made the classes where the students really connect with the material that much more rewarding.

This morning we attended our third Sunday at Yesan First Methodist Church with Yellow. The more we get to know Yellow, the more certain we are that we met the Korean “Mother Teresa”.

Garrett just finished reading C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, in which the closing chapters feature a simple woman, considered by all to be a saint. She is being parading around by the company of those she knew on Earth. The protaganist in the story asks the Teacher, “Who are all these young men and women on each side? ... What are all these animals? ...”

The Teacher responds,
            “Every young man or boy that met her became her son... Every girl that met her was her daughter... Every beast and bird that came near her had its place in her love. In her they became themselves. And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.”

This is Yellow. Since our first Sunday at Yesan First Methodist, Yellow has introduced us to every elder, the senior and associate pastors, their wives, and we’re pretty sure she even made us official members (our first Sunday).

Enjoying lunch with Yellow, her family,
and our translator after church
Yellow, and the church as a whole, has done so much to welcome us into their congregation. Every Sunday they have provided us with headphones through which one of the kind elders tries his best to translate the service for us. They've provided us with a Korean-English hymnal. They have even invited us to eat lunch with them after the service.

Many years ago, Andie’s mom learned a simple, yet profound prayer:

“God show me that you are with me and deeply connect me to your people.”

We've seen this prayer answered for us here. May this prayer also bring comfort to you, wherever you may find yourself.

Coppee and Church-y

1:35pm Thursday September 5, 2013 – Roughly twenty-five minutes until Garrett’s first teacher’s English class. After a busy morning of teaching 4th-6th graders, he is frantically prepping materials for 9 adult beginner English learners.

Garrett - “Helen, is there a place I could make some copies?”
Helen - “No, I am so sorry. The school only has iced coppee.”
Garrett - “Oh, no no, I think you misunderstood. Umm. Is there a copy machine were I could make copies?”
Helen - “No, we don’t have any coppee machine. I know you love coppee. I love coppee too... You know what I will do? For you, I well tell Hye Yong, who is in charge of the funds, that the school should buy a coppee machine – from Garrett. Yes. I will do that. Now, I can make you an ice coppee? Yes, I will go make you an ice coppee. Wait here…”

We have postponed writing this blog – because we knew it had to be honest. And honestly, we’re in the “frustration” stage of culture shock. 

Andie knows once she sees the cow head,
she's almost to the bus stop
We really like what this great blog on the stages of culture shock said, “culture shock is walking out the door, being greeted by a neighbor and wanting nothing more than to shout obscenities at them.”

We can play charades with the best of them, however, we are constantly being misunderstood – and we don’t have a clue what is being communicated at least 97% of the time.

One of Andie's Kindergartners
showing of her traditional dress.
Every time we buy something, we hope desperately for a register with a monitor that displays the price – otherwise we’re left handing them Korean won until they nod their head that it is enough. 


We peak through restaurant windows, looking for some indicator that they might have an English menu inside, or at least pictures that we can point to.

We get lost at least once a day, totally unable to differentiate one street sign from another (Ok, this is more Andie; Garrett not so much… and actually, this happened even before we moved to Korea, but anyways…)

Students run up to us at every moment of the day shouting “Teacher! Teacher!” and then continue in some quick hodgepodge of sing-song syllables, looking at us expectantly as we just smile and think, “Look, you're really cute, but I haven’t got a clue what you’re trying to tell me”.

Now, we’d be lying if we said we haven’t found any comforts. There are three things we’ve found Koreans love: coffee shops, ice cream, and pizza; all of which we know how to order just fine.

Bingsu is a popular Korean shaved-ice dessert that we've discovered and LOVE
We’d also be lying if we said every interaction was a miscommunication.

This week Andie asked Yellow, the music/art teacher she shares classroom space with, “Are you a Christian?” pointing to the translation on an English to Korean app.
Upon realizing what Andie was asking, Yellow exclaimed, “Yes, yes, yes!”
Before Andie could finish getting out the words, “Me too!” Yellow grabbed both of Andie’s hands, started rubbing them and saying “Church-y, church-y, my church-y you come?” Andie, nearly in tears, told Yellow she would love nothing more than to go with her to church-y.

So tomorrow Garrett and Andie will go to church-y with Yellow.

We have continually found hope in that, though we are strangers in this land, God is with us and is ever present in the life of the Church here in Korea. And although we feel disconnected from the people of Yesan, we, in some mysterious way, are connected to the thousands of our brothers and sister in Christ who live and worship here.

Through that short interaction with Yellow we are reminded that we are members of the Body of Christ, a very global body that spans all generations and cultures, a body that transcends time and space.

Each time we see a neon-red cross atop a church building here or a wooden cross on a back wall at a family owned restaurant, we find comfort knowing that we, through God’s grace, are connected.

It is our hope and prayer that throughout our time in Yesan, we become a part of this vibrant community both spiritually and socially. 

(Stay tuned for our next post with a more in-depth explanation of our jobs, daily life at our schools and photos of our apartment.)