Apart from being my day off, ahhhh… today… was an awesomely historic day!  Even those words cannot do it justice enough.  Thanks to my girl, Rachelle!!!

…oh and the retreat was really good too…

<><
Will

POWER-WALKIN’:  I was walking back to the dorm and as usual my mind starts ramblin’ away at the unanswerable questions that come up, say like… “If I could have super powers what would they be?”  Now that is a question that has plagued me most of my life because there are just so many cool superheroes out there.  Who wouldn’t want to have razor-sharp claws jut out of their hands like Wolverine or a powerful optic blast that could punch a hole through solid steel like Cyclops?  Well, as cool as the fantasy is, the whole issue boils down to how practical these powers would be in every day life?  Yeah, there’s not much good in having those super powers if you can’t use them on the students every now and then but one can always dream…

AVRIL SHOWERS BRING…:  I read in the paper today that Avril Lavigne is coming to Seoul March 23rd.  I haven’t heard all her music but I like some of it and would be tempted to go but I’ll be leaving for Beijing 3 days later… hmm… Great Wall or another moody Canadian female singer? 

RETREAT!:  Tomorrow starts the Dorm Spiritual Retreat at TCIS.  It’ll go from Friday – Sunday… I’m praying God will do great things.

<><
Will

MAILBOX SURPRISES:  During one of my excursions to Songtan I convinced myself to get a Clemson football jersey made and the guy said he would make it and have it shipped to me, but that was like friggin’ two weeks ago (good thing I kept the receipt), Roger went to another guy and had his made in two hours!!!  Soo I go to check my box every day anticipating the arrival of my orange jersey with the Tiger paw  However, despite not having a jersey I did get three belated Valentine’s day cards, one from Nana, one from a friend of my parents, and one from Rachelle (the special, well-grounded girl with the new coffee maker).  Its always nice to know you are loved.  A very happy day fo shizzle.

LOOKING AHEAD:  Its hard to believe that in one month’s time I’ll be in Beijing!!!  Holy cow!  Great Wall, Forbidden City, the square… can’t hardly wait.  If you’ve never planned your own international trip… its pretty nervewracking especially with making sure you have your hotel/hostel arrangements all lined up and making sure you can get there from the airport when your taxi driver won’t know a word of English.  Who knows what will be thrown at me on this trip but that’s why they don’t call it a subventure.  I’m sure it’ll be memorable in a good way… 

I’m the king of the woooorld!!  *glub glub*

Riiiiiiiight…. so feel free to share any traumatic traveling experiences/nightmares… love to learn from them all.

<><
Will

My day off, ahhh…

GOOD TIMES:  Sunday, we have this thing at CIC called prayer pairs, and every Sunday there are two people who go off to a room to pray for the sermon, the people… everything.  So this guy, Ben, who’s been my prayer pair partner twice now is a nice guy.  Though he be Canadian, he’s alright in my book .  After church Ben invites me to go to this other Korean-English service that he goes to near Hannam University… so why not?  It was neat, there was us, Mimi and Jennifer (English hogwan teachers as well as Ben) and everyone else was a Korean student at Hannam or just graduated.  It was pretty nifty and everyone was so friendly… I will definitely look forward to going back soon. 

Today I’m just kickin’ back and reading… life is good!  Tomorrow starts up the week for me.

<><
Will

LADY LUCK:  A great time with Neesa, we looked all over for an E-sue-rok restaurant (a chain of Korean food restaraunt) but for once they were not to be found.  You see them all over the place but for they were obviously hiding from us, however we stopped at this place expecting Korean food but turned out to be Japanese sushi restaraunt… it wasn’t half bad, I had this shrimp on a roll of rice… but I was craving mondew like none other.  After a trip through dog alley, we ended up at a Lotteria and had a great time sharing life stories for almost 3 hours!  Should you receive the honor of getting to know this lady then truly you are in for a treat.  Something is always happening with her, hang around her long enough and you might end up with anything from a free cab ride, getting witnessed to in Korean by local Jehovah’s Witnesses (already happened to me) or being upgraded to first class on a flight (I pray every day for this to happen).

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DAY LIKE THIS:  It seems the more I learn about Korea and its culture the more it confuses me, yeah my world is upside down… Roger and I saw this map in Seoul, it totally reflects the world from a different perspective that just throws you for a loop.  We stared at this map for probably a good couple of minutes just in total awe… yes, Roger and I easily amazed.

…so where in the world IS Carmen Sandiego?

THESE GUYS ROCK!:  On Friday I was heading over to the train station to see the students off when I saw a unit of R.O.K (Republic Of Korea) soldiers.  Its weird to see these guys in Daejon because almost all are posted up in Seoul or along the DMZ.  I was taking this pic and these two officers started walking towards me, and I was afraid they were going to confiscate my camera (comeon guys if you wanted to do this secretly, don’t take all these guys dressed in fatigues to a public place) but they only were going to the bathroom *phew*.

There was little or no fear of North Korea invading the hallway on this day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY:  I was not able to celebrate my sister’s birthday with her.  I haven’t been able to be with her on my bday (Feb 18th)  in a couple years… sorry Lindz, Lord willing, next year I’ll throw you a nice shindig.  Miss you lots! (Git ‘er done!)

<><
Will

AWOL RP:  An RP is a trailer classroom that is used here but at our school, I suppose “trailers” sounds pretty backwater, so awhile back one of the math teachers proposed the term “rectangular prisms” in its stead and thus it has been ever since.  Yours truly was out hunting to check on his guys after school.  I informed one guy that he had after school assistance in RP 11.  So I go hunting to check on this student to make sure he’s where he’s supposed to be…  and lo and behold I discover that rectangular prism 11 does not exist!  Welcome to the Twighlight Zone, folks, its right here!  Four questions immediately sprang to mind: 

1) There are 15 RP classrooms, what happened to #11?  
2) How was it that I didn’t know about this after working here for a year and a half?
3) Does anyone else know about this?
4) …Oh yeah… where was the student that I’m responsible for?

     The student went to the teacher that he was supposed to, alls well that ends well… I guess.  So with my great detective instinct complete with magnifying glass and pithy hat I set out to uncover the mystery of the RP.  I traveled the vast parking lot, interogated one guy only to discover two things:  he didn’t speak English and didn’t work for TCIS.  Hmm… this will be tougher than I thought…

<><
Will

A SPECIAL & WELL-GROUNDED GIRL:  To my dearest friend Rachelle, who got for herself a brand-spankin’ new Gavalia coffee maker, this lil’ jingle is dedicated to you.  May you always enjoy your delicious cup of Folgers every day because it really is the best part of waking up . 

<><
Will

WORLD EVENTS:  Seems like N.Korea is trying to get more money for stopping their nuclear program which they’re threatening.  Is it me or is it just the fact that they are hanging this over everyone’s head a clear and present danger?  Nuclear plants for energy my behind! 

FAMILY UPDATE:  My sister Kim is home from the hospital, she’s pregnant with twins and is due not for a month but started having contractions around week 27… technically that’s not good, the “safe time” is around 31-32 weeks.  The doctors gave her something to control the contractions and is now home.

WEATHER REPORT:  Its still cold with a sure 100% chance of cold tomorrow. 

SPORTS!:  Uh… since I had this newsie thing goin’  …erm… I cannot wait for college football to start once again where Clemson is better and Illinois sucks (sorry Kyong).  I have given up on our bball team… we always choke when we  run through the conference *sigh*. 

PHOTO CHALLENGE:  This weeks theme hosted by Bourdon Music, “pictures of home” … hmmm.  Sad to say that I am currently living in my third apartment in two years.  So what do I do in my apartment when I’m not in Songtan or working and pretty much don’t have much else to do…

Yep, my happy collection of PS2 games & DVDs.

<><
Will

FROM THE HEART:  Happy Valentine’s day!  As this is a gushy time of the year (yeah it gets me in a little gushy mood too).  There are days when being single sucks… and then there are days where it REALLY sucks (this being one of those days).  Anyhoo, I decided to dedicate this post to the girl who broke… nay, gutted, shredded and did the Mexican hat dance on my heart back in high school.  Okay folks, when Bon Jovi wrote ”You Give Love a Bad Name”, that was her!  To all those who had a bad experience stand with me on this most torturous day of the year.

     But seriously, despite having not spoken with the girl in years but I did forgive her and was even cordial around her before we went our separate ways.  I learned alot from that experience:

1) Just because someone of the opposite sex shows some sort of interest does not mean its meant to be. 
2) I’ve caused more hurt to others than that was done to me… everybody’s made stupid mistakes in relationships that they wish they could take back.  I’m no exception.  Trying to understand how God can forgive and forget all my mistakes… truly amazing love.  
3) Time does heal all wounds, I learned to replace the hurt & bitterness with forgiveness & closure. 
4) Lastly, be cautious… when fools rush in, don’t expect wise behavior.   

I won’t despair about not having someone today, I’ll celebrate with the Perfect and True Lover of my soul and I hope you can too.

<><
Will

The guys return tonight…

A GREAT WEEKEND ADVENTURE:  Where to start?  Friday I was planning a Seoul-searching adventure by myself but lo and behold Roger who’s fresh back from his 3-day trip to Japan decides to come along (Note to fellow travelers: adventures are always better when you have a friend tagging along).  We first set out for Songtan where we went on a shopping spree, Roger needed some clothes and I found a jacket, two pullovers that look great and a phone card.  After about 2 hours in Songtan, we ventured forth onto the bus to Seoul to head up to Coex Mall.  Coex is a pretty big mall when compared to other malls in Korea.  They have a huge bookstore with a huge English section.  I was pleased to discover a DVD copy of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” for only $4.80!!!  In case you didn’t know, this movie was Chaplin’s first ‘talkie’ movie.  Many of the comedians who were famous during the ‘silent’ movies were not considered funny when they crossed over to the movies with actual speaking and sounds.  So Dictator would either make or break Chaplins career and it turned out to be a huge hit and is one of his funniest (in my opinion) because it mocks Hitler in the pre-WWII era.  Yes I was very very pleased to find a copy.  Exhausted and weary from the walking and hustle & bustle of Seoul, Roger and I decided to splurge for the KTX (speed train) back to Daejon.

     Saturday, I got to have coffee at Starbucks with Neesa, who is an English teacher in town.  It was very interesting to learn about the lives of English teachers, they teach between 260-280 something days out of the year (TCIS school year is 180 days).  We shared some good stories about kids and what to expect in behavior… she’s got some really good ones.  Yes, a great person to know!  I learned from her that parents shell out close to $200 a month (price varies between English schools) for their kids to go to a 1 hour a week English lesson.  Yes, parents are absolutely nuts about their kids learning English!  Huge demand for teachers but the schools expect alot.  She shared, its all good but sometimes it tough because you don’t get to travel as much as you would like.  Her next extended break is Chusok which is in September!  Later that night we went out to see the new Keanu Reeves movie, Constantine.  Hmm… its very… different.  I guess you have to be a fan of the comic book to understand it but its religious tones were neat about works and faith.  The story: the main character, John Constantine, tried to commit suicide when he was young but survived so he knows he is condemned to Hell when he dies, however he has a gift to see demons and believes if he sends enough demons back to Hell he can buy his ticket to Heaven thus escaping his condemnation.  Which he is told over and over that Heaven doesn’t work like that, but yet he continues to fight the good fight anyway.  Its an interesting movie, its sorta long at points.  Maybe I would understand it more if I had read the book.  Reeves’ acting overall was okay but I liked him better as the “what’s going on?” type of character we saw in The Matrix, in Constantine he’s more like “I know what’s going on” we saw in Morpheus.  I wanted to hear his “Whoa”, but alas it was not meant to be.  Very sad and yet a long way from Bill & Ted!

<><
Will