Teachers In-Service

Well, the past 2 days have been incredibly long. We have been at an all teacher/staff training both Monday and Tuesday from 8 am to about 9:30 pm. 90% of the training was done in Korean and about 50% of it was translated for us. We had these neat little headsets with multiple translators- some were better than others but we appreciate all of them for trying to help! We are learning more about Korean culture every day. As Americans, we can hardly see the point of stretching these meetings out for days on end with repetitive activities or things that "just don't make sense" in our minds. You see- we're all about finding the quickest and most efficient solution to a problem. Korean culture is different. From what we understand, it seems that they don't care so much about efficiency, just as long as the ultimate goal or message is delivered. In short: they take a really really long time to explain, evaluate, discuss, lecture, etc....at least triple the time it would take Americans.

Not wrong. Not bad. Just different.

We are learning.

At the end of tonight's session we took a group picture. It doesn't have everyone in it yet- actually I don't think either of us is in this one but here it is anyway:



We also had the opportunity to hear from the founder of the school: Reverend Nam. He shared from his heart about what the purpose and mission of the school is and his vision for the future years. It was a challenging message. He is such a visionary! God has given him great responsibility and he has managed the things well that God has entrusted to him. We were challenged to not only teach these precious children academics and to be successful in that realm, but to become global leaders that go out and change the world and serve Christ. We are not just here to teach but to encourage the students to follow God wholeheartedly, wherever He may take them.

Some other random facts....

Koreans love corn on the cob. At least all the faculty at our school does! The corn is very different here. There really isn't much flavor to it and it tastes like it's been boiled for hours. I (Ashley) am from Kansas, so I do know what good corn tastes like. However, I think even someone from the Northern States would agree with me on this corn. Still...it's something fun to do and it passed some of the time during one of our afternoon meetings today.


You can't tell but they are all eating corn behind me too. Here's another picture to prove I was not the only one:



We went to Costco this past weekend! The closest one is about 1 1/2 hours away by train. I should have taken a picture of us bringing back a suitcase full of stuff- we didn't have a trunk to put it in! I got a couple pictures of Costco though:


This is the biggest Costco I've ever seen!
2 Stories!!
Where's Taylor?

My favorite purchase of the day!