Lord Forgive Me When I Whine!

I have had a special place in my heart for people with physical challenges ever since I worked at the, then named, Ontario Crippled Children's Centre. It has since been renamed - more politically correct - The Hugh MacMillan Centre. I worked as a Recreation Counsellor when I finished High School and during my 4 years at University studying Physical and Health Education. Most of the kids that I worked with had either Spina Bifida or Cerebral Palsy. I met some very inspiring people there who did not let their physical challenges hamper them. They were always inspiring and always made me appreciate my own good health. Sometimes I think I am paralyzed in other ways!!

That intro brings me to the point of the title of this instalment. On Saturday, I was in Gwangju just walking (on two strong - and perhaps a little extra "beefy" - legs)around the shops in the downtown area. I love it there. As I walked I couldn't help but hear some music being played - instrumental only and definitely a hymn - in English it is "Jesus Paid It All". I looked around to see from where it was coming and.....I had to look "down" because it was coming from the front of a wooden "dolly". On that "dolly" was a man I had seen once before on the streets of Gwangju. He lies on his stomach on this wooden "dolly" and pushes himself along using only his arms because he is an amputee as well as (from my limited knowledge to diagnose)having cerebral palsy. At that moment, I was overwhelmed by his determination, courage and lack of pride. He was not just sitting, begging, he was out pushing himself on his belly with a little plastic bowl in front of the "dolly" that he had to keep moving along as he slowly moved forward. Begging is such a normal practice in large cities and one that I find particularly hard to deal with for various reasons but this man and his plight really touched and broke my heart!! I immediately reached into my wallet and gave him some money. I sensed that he had cerebral palsy because he just smiled a little and nodded his head but didn't speak which is very common with those who have CP. I walked away being profoundly affected by him. He wasn't complaining - he was out doing what he had to do! God bless him!! What REALLY touched me was when I went by him a little later and he, obviously, recognized me, he lifted his upper torso off his "dolly" and gave me the biggest, crookedest smile as if to say "THANK YOU"!! That made my day! It also reminded me of a poem that I knew about and I did a search on the internet to find it. It is entitled "Lord Forgive Me When I Whine!" and hence, the title of this instalment. It is a great reminder to those of us who are able-bodied to be thankful for eyes, ears, legs, hands, etc. If you are not familiar with it and even if you are and want to read it again, go to: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/hblim/passages/whine.htm

That was a very important, inspiring part of my Korean Adventure and I wanted to share it with you. Be thankful!!

2 Months in Korea

I can hardly believe it! Two months in Korea. The time, for the most part, does fly although the nights are a little long. It's pretty bad when you have to go for an hour long bus ride to another city to feel like you have something to do. Oh, well, I love downtown Gwangju where I was last night. I went in to get my nails done - ah, yes, vanity of vanities. I know! Man, did I get soaked too. 105,000 WON. That's about $120. I figure I have noting else to spend my money on and my nails are important to me. They are very behind the times here in artificial nails. They did a process called nail sculpture - very laborious and time consuming - to the tune of 2.5 hours. YIKES!!! I was tearing my hair out. I have a hard enough time sitting for 2.5 hours let alone sitting in front of 3 girls who only speak Korean. They are really sweet and I had two of them working on my nails. Very interesting experience. Next time a fill will only be 25,000 WON which is more like it. That is if I understood her correctly!!

The 13th Annual KOTESOL conference has come and gone and I won't be back to Seoul for a while probably. I met some great foreigners and wonderful Korean university students there. I was one of the Guest Services Team managers responsible for the student volunteers. It will be great to put on my resume. Great opportunity for networking.

2 of the people I met are a woman from Australia and a man from Welland, ON. They are going to come down to the "south" to visit Sheilagh and me sometime in the near future. They teach together at one of the universities in Seoul.

Last week I was taken out for lunch 2 days in a row - once by my co-teachers at the Middle School who said they really appreciate my teaching their kids and once by 2 of the science teachers and the VP. The one science teacher speaks very good English so she did the translating for the VP and the other teacher. The teachers are all so worried that I don't eat enough!! Oh, brother, I keep saying "take a closer look, I'm certainly not starving!!" However, the food is a real problem. Almost everything they serve at the school cafeterias is spicy and I JUST DON'T DO SPICY!! It's either spicy and /or seafood - neither of which is good for me!! I will survive. I will include some more pictures.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Sookmeong University - KOTESOL venue 2005 

Tired Volunteers 

One of the great student volunteers - Jae Won Kim 

KOTESOL Volunteers extraordinaire - Michel, Sheilagh and me  

My VP - Mrs. OH 

Oh Canada my home and native land - home away from home 

Thanksgiving Dinner - YUM! 

One of my co-teachers Mi-Na. She's great! 

Middle School teachers 

Field trip to see the "Song Saw Wha" 

Thankful for friends and family

A few more pictures of friends and family for whom I am thankful!! Missing all of you and those of whom I don't have pictures.

Missing my sweeties - Shawna & Timmy 

Andrew & Jo-Anne "Happy together" 

The Burn Victims (wedding food blues)- Paquita & Jo-Anne 

The Girls - Jo-Anne, Cindy & Keerlin 

Greatest in-laws ever - Keith & Nancy & Grandpa Brian 

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

I don't mind admitting that I was feeling pretty homesick this morning when I got up to go to school and remembered that everyone would be celebrating Thanksgiving today or yesterday. I was feeling pretty teary until I heard about the devastating earthquake in Pakistan. That gave me a good dose of reality and put homesickness and everything else into perspective.

I actually got to celebrate Thanksgiving with about 200 ex-pat Canadians at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul on Saturday night. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce of Korea hosted a lovely turkey dinner in honour of Thanksgiving. It was really a beautiful setting and the meal was great - almost as good as being in Canada. It was a good networking opportunity too.

I had a great massage (not too hard this time) and got my hair cut in Itaewon (Seoul) on Friday night and then, on Saturday, was at the Women's University training for the International conference that will be held there this coming week-end.

I also met up with a beautiful young Korean woman, Janice (Sun-mi) who was one of my sister Cheryl's ESL students back in Canada. Janice lives in a suburb of Seoul and came and met me for lunch. It was so good to see her and to get caught up. The last time I saw her was at Easter at Cheryl's home in Thornhill. We had a couple of hours to chat, got our picture taken together and strolled along one of the very quaint streets in Insa-dong. It was hard to say good bye but we promised to see each other again soon. Janice is working very hard, long hours. She is a very hard worker.

After leaving Janice, I took the subway back to the Express Bus Terminal to catch the bus back to Yeonggwang. This was the first time for me to leave Seoul on my own and..........I made it back without getting lost!! Yeahhhhhh!!

Back to school today. The first 2 classes were very unruly and I laid down the law a few times. It seems to go in one ear and out the other. The other 4 classes I had were better and I think we accomplished what I had planned and that was for them to interview a partner by asking "What did you do yesterday?" and then to come to the front with their partner and introduce them and what they did to the class. Hopefully we are making progress.

As of tomorrow, I will have been gone from Canada 8 weeks. Can you believe it?? I can't.

Well, it's almost time for bed. I am always thrilled to hear from anyone at home so drop me a line or two.

Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for??

What Did You Do This Week-end?

The answer to that question for me is: I went to Seoul for the second time in a month and will be going again for the next 2 week-ends - getting ready for the International KOTESOL Conference. Should be a great networking opportunity.

Seoul is a GREAT city!! I LOVE IT!! Lot's of action (which I love), lots of people to watch - lots of Westerners, Europeans, Australians, Africans, etc.

Sheilagh and I had a massage at this place where she has been before. I LOVE MASSAGES but the small Korean girl I had for my massage had hands like a SUMO wrestler. I, naively, thought I could take it but she just about killed me. I am still sore 2 days later. I think I needed to get the kinks out but perhaps next time I should let her know that she can TAKE IT DOWN A NOTCH!! Anyone know how to say that politely in Korean??

Anyway, it was great and we did some shopping, of course. We shopped in the stores in Insadong (suburb) where we stayed Saturday night and then hit the underground market in Itaewon on Sunday where they have Western sizes. I actually had better luck in Insadong and love this one little quaint street there. It has cobblestones on the street and there are a LOT of cute little stores selling all different kinds of things. We had a fresh fruit drink up on a rooftop patio and just had a great time. We even sat on a stone floor of one little shop and had our picture taken (polaroid). We took the fast train to Seoul from Gwangju and took the bus back home to Yeonggwang Sunday night - about 4 hours by bus.

Today (Monday) was a national holiday remembering the birth of Korea, so Sheilagh and I went into Gwangju to get her computer back from being repaired. She, Connie and I went to the public bath. WHAT A PLACE!! I really can't do it justice in trying to describe it but I will try. The actual "bath" area is divided into men's and women's areas. Good thing because everyone walks around "in the buff". The women scrub each other and the children with abrasive cloths to exfoliate the skin and there are different pools of varying degrees of hot and cold - some with jets,some without. You can also pay for a body exfoliating massage (apparently they just about rub you raw though so I decided my body had enough torture for one week-end!) After the pools you put on a Tshirt and shorts (supplied with price of admission - W5000, about $5) and make your way upstairs to an area that is co-ed where everone is lying around on heated floors watching TV or sleeping or chatting. Around the perimeter there are "caves" that are all saunas with varying degrees of heat and there is one cold one that is shaped like an igloo with penguins on the walls. Each hot room is incredible - one has amethysts all over the walls, one has little tiny stones on the floor that are really hot but felt good to lie down and roll around on your back, another one smelled like Christmas cake (O.K. I'm crazy but that's what it smelled like to me - maybe raisins??). It was the most incredible place and experience. One I want to repeat in the not too distant future!! You can even sleep there overnight in one of the little bed "caves" - on the floor, of course. I want to try that some night too probably at one in Seoul.

That's it for my week-end. What did you do this week-end??