More familiar

Well, I am starting to feel more at home. The signs are becoming more familiar, but I still don't understand what I am reading. I am also finally in a place to be able to learn Korean at a more ready pace, but still difficult as I don't have a teacher demanding I learn certain things by a date. That little shove we all need. I have found a couple of friends that I hang out with very often, but it will change because one needs to go off to school, sad, but good. I still love it here and more important I love my job, but there is one thing I don't love and that is the cold.
It was warm for a couple day and I was starting to think to get my spring pants out, but noooo, the winter had to sneak back in. today it is 28 F and it is cold in my apartment. I bought a new jacket to make the pain of cold less, lol.
As for my students they are enjoying my classes more and more. Yesterday we got messy because we were making puppets, the first step anyways. We will also start playing games once their vocabulary is up. I love my students and my employer is really enjoying the outcome of their speaking ability. I guess that is it for now... love you all ^~^

God is Awesome

I thought it was about time to put some new news up. Life here in Korea has finally settled down to a normal flow. This past week was the beginning of a new sememster for my students and have made a lot of changes in my own class to really stretch this minds, but most important is to make learning fun. As for my load of classes, it has deminished about five classes, this is good news. I ama ble to put more quality time into my students and give them the attention that is needed. One diffidulty that I have been having is becoming more familiar with the students names, even after two months still having difficult remember them. I am learning Korean names and have discovcovered that some of the sounds are very difficult for me to say, but the more I practice the more familiar I become with the sounds.
The good news I have saved for last. I have found a church and better yet, some more people who I enjoy being around. One has agreed to try and teach me Korean. I am pretty excited to do so. The church is a big church, but the service I go to is pretty small becasue it is an English speaking service. The funy thing there is only four Americans and the rest are Koreans. I think it is pretty exciting that God provided a church for me in this small town. The funny thing is how God brought me to this church.
It started about three weeks after I arrived here and one of my collegues asked me to go hiking with her. I went and while we were hiking we ran into another American. Now this mountain is about an hour from my small town and to run anyone from my town is very minimal. I found out he lives in Mokpo and works here teaching English. Well we went our seperate ways and had fun. Then about three weeks later I was exploring Mokpo, braving the fear of getting lost. lol I ran into another American and we talked about work and things I may need. We walked to E-Mart, local store, and he showed me some stuff. Then he told me he had to meet a friend and so we went and met his friend. I looked at his friend and we were in shock because it was that guy from the mountain. We were laughing at the irony of it. I ate dinner with them and then they told me about their service. I finally went about two weeks ago during the lunar new year holiday. It was very cool how God brought me to the church.
I think that is it for now. I am doing wonderfully and am in Love with Korea and the people. I also love my Job and students. I am trying to take more pix and will try to post some up. Thanks for all your prayers and support, without it I would be very lonely.
Prayer request that God will continue to provide for me.
I will stay healthy.
I will learn Korean quickly. lol Love you all Cheers Reha

Overwhelmed

It seems like it was long ago that I wrote anything on this blog, or anything having to do with computers. In these last few weeks it seems time as gotten the best of me and worn me down to almost nothing, but that is when God usually steps in and does something amazing.
I have been working too much for the last couple of months and my body shut down. I became really sick with a 103 F fever and still was working. A couple of weeks before that I had been trying to express the stretching thin of my time to my employer. When I was sick I finally was in a state of mind that I didn't care if I lost my job and told him I couldn't work like this anymore. I was dealing with culture shock, working with twelve different level books, creating 2 different curriculums, and teaching 27 classes each week. By the time the weekend would come I was sleeping twelve hours a day and the rest of my time was dedicated to working and eating.
I started to come into a state of mind numbness and was just doing actions of teaching and started to lose heart causing me to hate and despise teaching. After I talk to my employer he seemed to have heard when I told him that I was thinking of going back to America or work for a different English School in Korea. That got his attention and he finally realized that he was spreading me too thin. My schedule has changed for the month of February and I love it. I only am teaching eighteen to twenty classes each week with nine different level and creating curriculum for one class. My life has just become simplier. Culture shock is wearing off and I am sleeping a normal amount of hours, giving more time to do the everyday thing like cleaning and cooking. lol
This weekend I have a five day holiday, it is the last holiday I recieve until July or August, but have made plans to use some vacation time to enjoy life a little but more. In march I am going to Japan for a weekend to visit my best friend. We are both very excited to see each other and to experience a place I have dreamed about for so long. :)
Now, for those of you who are interested in being penpals to my students here are some instructions. I will have my students write you first so you won't have the difficulty trying to connect and get to know them. I first need to know if you are interested, if so please email me at redvwbug@sbcglobal.net marked penpal in the subject. I will then send you an email about your penpal so you will have some information about them. All my students are very polite and love to learn English. This is the first step to getting connected. Thank you for your interest in me and my students. Through writing and internet we can change the world. Love you all Reha