Off and Running!!!

We have arrived safe and sound in our final destination of Daegu!!

 

Sarah and I in Daegu waiting to meet our co-teachers and schools

 

Friday we spent the day traveling to our new home, and then in the evening our schools helped Sarah and I settle into our apartment. It is HUGE! It is basically a 2 bedroom apartment with a huge living room and a bigger kitchen than Sarah or I could have ever hoped for. It has beautiful wood tile floors and was basically fully furnished when we arrived. It even has air conditioning! The previous teacher who lived in the apartment also left behind some really cool stuff, including kitchen appliances, a vacuum cleaner, bed sheets, pillows, blankets, and tons of hangers…to name a few items. The only drawback was that there are only 2 double beds in the apartment, so Sarah and I have not really been able to sleep in the same bed since arriving. That’s been difficult. We’re looking into that though. Needless to say, we are extremely EXTREMELY blessed!

 

 

                                                           Sarah inside our new apartment!

Today was our first day of teaching at our respective schools. I teach at Seodaegu Elementary School . I met my co-teacher today. Her name is Naye, but she prefers to be called Nana or Koko. She is hilarious and fun, and I have a pretty good feeling we are going to work well and have a great year teaching together.

 

Sarah teaches at a different elementary school (I'll get back to you with the name...haha!), and she has several co-teachers who are also wonderful! She says they are great to work with, and it sounds like they get along great.

 

Today we both spent the day settling into our new offices, getting all of the final paperwork taken care of, stopping by Immigration to apply for our ARC (alien registration card), and a little bit of preliminary lesson planning. Tomorrow we will most likely begin some more serious lesson plans, and Wednesday we hit the ground running in the classroom. I’m anxious to get started!

 

Daegu is incredible so far! We are a few blocks from the subway line and very near many affordable restaurants and a Home Plus, which is like the Korean equivalent of Bed, Bath , & Beyond or Target. Yay!

 

Yesterday we visited a new church. We really enjoyed the people we met there. We will be looking at several more churches over the next month before we decide on a place to regularly attend.

 

This past Saturday we also had a chance to spend some time on Camp George military base, where our good friend and fellow teacher Chris lives with his wife, who is currently serving in the U.S. Army. We were able to enjoy some Western food and hung out with a group of our good friends in the region. It’s nice to have those outlets of friends. However, I’m really anxious to build my Korean community of friends.

 

All in all, it’s been a great first few days. God has truly been good to us, and we take comfort in knowing He will continue to take care of us as He always has.

 

More to come later this week….CHEERS!

The Adventure Begins!

Our last karaoke outing in Jeonju with some of our friends (Huy & JR) who came

Today marks the end of our 8-day EPIK training here at Jeonju University. What an adventure this has been in itself, and what an exciting journey that awaits us!

This morning we will be boarding buses to take us to our specific provinces/cities. Upon arrival, we will meet our co-teachers and be taken to our apartments. Sarah and I were given the name of our schools in Daegu last night, and we will both be teaching elementary level students. We're very excited about this and are anxious to get settled into our apartment and hit the ground running next week when school begins.

Last night EPIK held a closing ceremonies banquet and dinner. It was a blast! The food was incredible, and each class (we were divided into classes of 40-50 for our lectures) performed an act during a talent show segment. Ours was a dance mash-up of the Macarena, The Electric Slide, The Shuffle, and finished off with a KPOP dance from the popular song "Nobody But You". During the KPOP portion, Sarah came to the front of the group and led the dance on stage. She was incredible. In fact, a native Korean staff member was so excited that she came up on stage and performed the dance with Sarah. So cool!

We finished off our time here at training by going out last night to a karaoke bar with some good friends for one last hoorah! I am so thankful for this time in training as much for the friendships we've built as well as in the invaluable lessons we have learned in the classroom.

Our next blog will come from our new hometown of Daegu, and I look forward to updating you all once we have settled into our apartment and had time to explore our new neighborhood.

As my European friends always like to say, CHEERS!!

Field Trips, Church, and a Craving for Pizza!

It's day 4 here at Jeonju University and the teacher training has been going extremely well. We've spent the last 2 days in class from 9:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. learning all kinds of incredibly beneficial tools that we as teachers can use in the classroom. Among the classes we've attended, we've learned about curriculum in the classroom, unique ways to engage your students and enhance learning, implementing age-appropriate story into reading activities, mastering effective multi-media use in the classroom, lesson planning, Korean language class, and the history of Korean culture and society...among other valuable insights.

Last night we attended a worship service here at the campus for any and all Christians to gather and have church. It was pretty late at night (following a 12-hour class day), so we were pretty tired but really wanting to be a part of some worship. It was a pretty low-key service and the sermon was just ok, but we were able to pick up valuable resources and brochures about local area churches in Daegu where we will be living. That made the night worth while in itself. One thing I do realize we may find a difficult time dealing with is the lack of selection of where we are able to worship on a weekly basis. Many Christians here are very stand-offish and want to have all the Christians hanging out together but away from everyone else. That's NOT how Sarah and I function, and not how we feel Christ would be in the community in which we find ourselves. We want to be in the midst of people, not isolating ourselves away from those who are different than us.

Today we went on a field trip to a Korean cultural center on the opposite side of Jeonju. We saw many traditional houses and buildings, learned a traditional Korean dance, learned how to paper-mache decorate a traditional Korean fan, and watched a traditional Korean wedding...not to mention we ate some delicious bee bim bop...some of the best I've had yet.

Sarah and I in some of the traditional Korean wedding garb

One of the hilarious things I began to notice today is that Sarah is so often the person picked to volunteer for crazy things throughout our training. Today, she was asked to come up and perform the Korean dance solo because the instructor liked how well she was doing it. She has been great at all of it, but it has sort of become the running joke that Sarah ends up in front of the class at least once a day. :)

Sarah and I with one of the traditional dance instructors

Later in the day we went to an ancient temple area up higher in the mountainous part of the region. We got to see a bunch of Buddhist temples and artifacts. One of the funniest parts of our day happened here. Two of our good friends Tom and Lisa decided to go up and bang a gong that was on display in one of the small temples. Little did we know nor did we see the signs indicating that this area was off limits. Around the moment that they hit the long-resounding loud "GOOONNG", we realized the area was actually closed off. Off in the distance we saw a lady running towards us screaming "No, no!". After walking away sheepishly and receiving hundreds of stares from other tourists at the site, we laughed it off and realized we had just created an incredible (and incredibly hilarious) memory.

Inside one of the temples in the Jeonju mountain regions

Tonight we are going to go out with some of our good friends that we've made here during the training, most of whom will most likely be living within walking distance of us when we head out to Daegu later this week. It's exciting to already have a community of good friends, and I cannot wait to see how that expands.

Some of our good friends: (from left) Tom, Lisa, Ahmee, Jen, Sarah, and I

One side note about something I am learning VERY quickly here in Korea. As much as I LOVVVVEEE Korean food, I am incredible sick of much of it already and can barely stomach rice and many of the fermented side dishes we used to enjoy. I've also found that I'm craving weird things that I didn't even really crave back in the states, like pizza, bread, burgers, fries, Taco Bell, and any other American food I once took for granted. While Korean food is one of my favorite ethnic cuisines, I have realized that the variety of selection we had back in the states is something I'm REALLY craving right now. I know I'll get over it, but it is an interesting observation nonetheless.

More to come later this week. Tomorrow we begin our small group lesson planning for the mock presentations we will be giving to our peers and instructors at the end of our training week. Yikes! Should be good practice.

Tae Kwon Do, Karaoke, &...(oh yea) Teacher Training

Anyone that tells you that learning to be a teacher is boring has obviously never been to South Korea...

Yesterday we had our EPIK Orientation Opening Ceremonies, which included several cultural performances that included a traditional fan dance, a Korean percussion group, and a Tae Kwon Do finale that would have made Jackie Chan pee his pants (see video below).

We officially finished our first full-on day of teacher training here at Jeonju University, and we are already learning quite a bit.

Today's lessons dealt with the Elementary level curriculum we'll be using as well as some helpful reading companions and fun in-class games and activities used to enhance and spark learning.

But nothing could prepare us for what we would experience in our first ever Tae Kwon Do introductory class. These guys are the cats pajamas when it comes to skill and discipline. Needless to say, we were all sweating quite a bit and tending to our wounds after this 90 minute intensive session (see photo below).

One of the other highlights of our time here so far has been meeting all of the other incredible teachers from all across the globe. From Ireland, South Africa, England, Canada, and beyond, our group of friends is growing and our understanding of the world around us is quickly becoming more global.

Sarah has already become a residential rockstar. From being the most fluent Korean speaking teacher in our group to being the ring leader of a late night Karaoke excursion last evening, she has already made quite a name for herself among the other teachers. I'm quite the proud husband these days. :)

All in all we have been incredibly blessed by the friends we've made here and the preparation we are receiving prior to going into the classroom. I am definitely seeing the immense value of this time in training and being in constant and intentional fellowship with people in the same boat as us. It's comforting, to say the least.

Tonight we have our first Korean language class, something I am very much itching to get cracking at.

More to come, but all this to say that God is good, life is good, and this training in so many ways is good.

The Henrys Have Arrived!

Well, Sarah and I have officially arrived in South Korea! A friend's car breaking down in Chicago, a $50 cab fair to O'Hare, a 13-hour flight, and a 4-hour bus ride later, we are now safe and sound in the dorm hall of Jeonju University. I believe Jeonju is about an hour or 2 away from our final destination and new hometown.

It was pretty clear God was right there with us from the moment we got to Chicago O'Hare airport, as we stood in line next to 2 other EPIK teachers and nice people, Chris & Jen. We spent much of our 90 minutes waiting to board getting to know them and finding excitement in our conversation. Incredible people!!!

Once we got on the plane, we sat next to another teacher, Chong, who we got to spend an overseas flight getting to know. It was just an incredible journey from the moment we got to the ticket counter in Chicago, and it hasn't stopped yet.

When we arrived in South Korea, this was the incredible view we had during the landing...

It's been very humid here, and air conditioning is not exactly...well...um...on. We're sweating a lot at the moment (I know...TMI!!), but I'm sure our bodies will acclimate in the next few weeks.

The jet lag was pretty fierce, but we managed to stay up most of the flight and bus ride and crashed hard when we checked into our room at the college. Woke up at 5:30 this morning, but got a good 6 1/2 hours of sleep...we'll see how today goes. :)

Today is pretty low-key. We have our medical exams this morning at 11:00 a.m. (and we can't eat until afterwards...AHHHH!!!). At 3:00 today we have an "opening ceremonies" and then a brief overview meeting and dinner. I'm thinking we'll get some time to explore tonight...should be fun!

Starting tomorrow we have 8-hour long lecture days until August 26th. We're very grateful for a low-key day today.

Looking forward to looking back on this blog and seeing how God works in our lives and how this journey pans out. It's exciting and new, and ba da bap ba ba, we're loving it!