어디에서 왔어요?
Sadly, it's the end of a three-day weekend. This weekend Korea celebrates its lunar new year holiday. What that means for a Westerner like me is that we have Monday off work and Seoul is unusually quiet, as many people have gone back to their hometowns. Lately my weekends seem to go by a little too fast. Yesterday and today I went on a 24-hour retreat with my church. It was too short and I didn't get to go mountain hiking like I had hoped, but I still had some fun. Pastor Bill did a great devotion this morning on the Christian life. I've made a few good friends at church in the last few weeks (in addition to Eddy, David and Pastor Bill), and that makes it feel more like home. Life in Korea has not gotten any easier, but I'm feeling much more settled. I hope that makes sense.
I've had a few more opportunities to do music stuff at church. I'm still not ready to do anything on a regular basis, although I feel I'm moving (or being dragged) in that direction. Part of the reason for this may be that in the last few weeks I've become friends with Chung-Eun, the church's music director and a very talented pianist and violinist. He's been an encouragement to me. Part of the reason may also be that I just like playing the guitar and singing, and I'm getting tired of not doing it as much as I used to. Which still wasn't enough, but was more than it is now.
After months of wishing I was exercising more, I have finally been getting back into a semblance of a routine. Two weeks ago Do Jin invited me to go jogging with him on a Sunday night. We met at the Sinchon subway station and went to the Han River which, to my surprise, is closer to where I live than I realized. The weather has been unseasonably mild, which made for a gorgeous night. We crossed one of the numerous bridges across the river and then went by to Yeouido Park to relax and stretch out. I almost died trying to keep up with him, but we had a good workout and a good conversation. We met again last week and it was an awesome workout. By the river we stretched out and Do Jin showed me a few tae kwon do moves. I studied a little tae kwon do in college. Some of what we did was familiar and it brought back some warm memories. I really had a lot of fun. Slowly I'm getting my exercise groove back. I've gone jogging to the river a few times by myself (since Do Jin has been busy with exams and doesn't have much time to run), including tonight since I got back early from the retreat and it was a very nice evening. I'm quite tired tonight, but in a good way.
My Korean study has been getting more interesting. I still don't expect to be able to take any classes for a while, but I have continued with my textbooks and I have met with numerous Korean friends for tutoring--six or seven so far, most of them former students. The most recent was Seung Bum, who actually offered to tutor me on a weekly basis without my asking him to do so. Saturday night we met for dinner and then went to Holly's Coffee. It was a very humbling experience. Here I was in a cafe with a guy that I often used to pick on in class and push to give more detailed responses to discussion questions. Now he was the instructor and I basically let him rake me over the coals. After we went through one of the lessons, he began spontaneously asking me questions in Korean related to that lesson. It was so hard. We went at it for about two and a half hours. I was exhausted by the time we got finished. Actually I'm exhausted after most of the Korean lessons I do with people.
Saturday night with Seung Bum was an awesome and encouraging experience. Afterward we walked around Sinchon for a little bit and sat down and talked at the Sogang University campus. We will probably meet again next Saturday. He gave me homework, and I've been studying away so I can answer his questions a little more coherently the next time around.
Since I've been studying with Koreans and basically letting them teach and drill me, I have a lot more sympathy and patience with my students in the classroom. A lot more.
I've had a few more opportunities to do music stuff at church. I'm still not ready to do anything on a regular basis, although I feel I'm moving (or being dragged) in that direction. Part of the reason for this may be that in the last few weeks I've become friends with Chung-Eun, the church's music director and a very talented pianist and violinist. He's been an encouragement to me. Part of the reason may also be that I just like playing the guitar and singing, and I'm getting tired of not doing it as much as I used to. Which still wasn't enough, but was more than it is now.
After months of wishing I was exercising more, I have finally been getting back into a semblance of a routine. Two weeks ago Do Jin invited me to go jogging with him on a Sunday night. We met at the Sinchon subway station and went to the Han River which, to my surprise, is closer to where I live than I realized. The weather has been unseasonably mild, which made for a gorgeous night. We crossed one of the numerous bridges across the river and then went by to Yeouido Park to relax and stretch out. I almost died trying to keep up with him, but we had a good workout and a good conversation. We met again last week and it was an awesome workout. By the river we stretched out and Do Jin showed me a few tae kwon do moves. I studied a little tae kwon do in college. Some of what we did was familiar and it brought back some warm memories. I really had a lot of fun. Slowly I'm getting my exercise groove back. I've gone jogging to the river a few times by myself (since Do Jin has been busy with exams and doesn't have much time to run), including tonight since I got back early from the retreat and it was a very nice evening. I'm quite tired tonight, but in a good way.
My Korean study has been getting more interesting. I still don't expect to be able to take any classes for a while, but I have continued with my textbooks and I have met with numerous Korean friends for tutoring--six or seven so far, most of them former students. The most recent was Seung Bum, who actually offered to tutor me on a weekly basis without my asking him to do so. Saturday night we met for dinner and then went to Holly's Coffee. It was a very humbling experience. Here I was in a cafe with a guy that I often used to pick on in class and push to give more detailed responses to discussion questions. Now he was the instructor and I basically let him rake me over the coals. After we went through one of the lessons, he began spontaneously asking me questions in Korean related to that lesson. It was so hard. We went at it for about two and a half hours. I was exhausted by the time we got finished. Actually I'm exhausted after most of the Korean lessons I do with people.
Saturday night with Seung Bum was an awesome and encouraging experience. Afterward we walked around Sinchon for a little bit and sat down and talked at the Sogang University campus. We will probably meet again next Saturday. He gave me homework, and I've been studying away so I can answer his questions a little more coherently the next time around.
Since I've been studying with Koreans and basically letting them teach and drill me, I have a lot more sympathy and patience with my students in the classroom. A lot more.
posted by Marc Hogi at
10:53 PM
2 Comments
