Lofbomm.com

First, I want to let you know that my Grandma Rau passed away on Saturday morning (night here). Dad called while we were having dinner with and hanging out with some friends in our apartment. The news came with a sigh. She lived a great life, and she loved so well. My Grandma is still loved by a big family that had the blessing of her influence and smile for a good long time. She was a good mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and we will all miss her. She had cancer for a long time, but she was only dying for a month. Her birthday is June 26, Adam’s and my anniversary. This summer, the day after her birthday, we were in Illinois, and Adam interviewed her on video about her childhood. We have been editing that video this weekend, and as soon as I figure out how to do it, we’ll post it in chapters on this site. Working on this interview film and choosing the right music has been a really nice way to spend some time with her as we say good bye.

It has been a nice weekend to rest and spend time with Adam… when I talk about the weekend, I’m usually referring to Sunday night through Tuesday night since Monday and Tuesday are now my days off. Sunday night was the 6 month celebration of when the English Village opened and the majority of the teachers here arrived, so there was a big party. It was a bit crazy, but it was nice to have the chance to talk with a lot of different people and get to know them even more.

On Monday, Adam and I slept in and then rushed to catch the train to Bucheon since Adam had to work on Monday afternoon. It was “street fair” day for his students, so they just played board games and got to shop for trinkets with the points they’ve earned over the summer. I played games with the kids in his first period, but then I went back to the Bucheon apartment to work on Grandma’s video and sleep. I’m still recovering from my cold that I’ve had for over a week. When I get sick, it holds on forever, and I think it’s exaggerated here since I’m always “on” at work. When Adam got off at 9:30p.m., we walked down this cool avenue in Bucheon. The nightlife in Korea is amazing. Everything is open reeeeally late, and there are people out to fill every space until even later. We had a great dinner of some sort of huge fried pancake filled with seafood and wild onions, I bought some earrings from an Indian street vendor, then we checked the Baskin Robbins for my favorite Peanut Butter & Chocolate to no avail. Baskin Robbins has successfully infiltrated every city in Korea, but not a single one has PB&C. It’s such a tease. So, we found a market near the apartment and bought some fruit instead. Fresh fruit is a little hard to come by at the English Village.

Today we got up at a reasonable hour and took the subway into Seoul. We went to a bakery and met Stanton, our friend who hired us at the English Village and had a nice chat with him. After we left Stanton, we walked around this great area called Insadong. I talked with my parents for a while on the phone, then Adam and I had lunch. After lunch, we did a little shopping. If any of you visits us in Korea, we are taking you to Insadong. I told my parents that a lot of Seoul feels like New York with funny writing, but Insadong feels like Korea. The architecture and everything being sold on the streets and in the shops fits what I imagined Korea to be. It’s a great shopping area. We mostly looked around today, but I think that’s my favorite place here, and I’ll be going there again soon. Check out some of Adam’s arty pictures from today. Adam had to get back to Bucheon to finish his last week at the hogwan there, and I got on the cab, subway, train, bus, walk back to the clean, smogless air of the English Village.

Time for a new week. It seems like I’m always writing recaps, but I’ve got some insights brewing in here somewhere. Unfortunately, I’m still nursing my cold and need to go to bed. I’m thinking of you, friends. Take care. I’ll be in touch.

-Jessica

Goodnight to you,
City of Endless Hunger.
You’re on the prowl, of course,
how could you sleep
with that aching, endless searching of yours
to contend with?
City of Endless Hunger,
you are restless tonight, like all other nights,
your veins and arteries
coursing with steel, and noise,
and light.
O your lights-
with your thousands, maybe millions of miles of neon
it seems you want
to vie with the Sun tonight.
All of your lights spell out the hunger
line by flashing line.
Endless hungers,
be they spirit, liquor, sex, games, fashion or food-
all of them insatiable.
One is never wholeness for you,
City of Endless Hunger,
and Enough is never, ever enough.
Piping hot is never enough for your tongue,
it must be scalding, painfully hot-
whether it’s your noodles, your air, your temper,
City of Endless Hunger,
all of these betray the seeming infinite depths of
your empty belly.
Written in twelve-foot tall hangul letters.
Good night, City of Endless Hunger,
I am no match for you tonight.
As you go about your hungry business beneath these stars
I will sleep.

-A.

Quick update from Mr. Lofbomm.

Things are going much better here in Bucheon. I got to spend the weekend with the Mrs., which was very refreshing for the seoul. (apologies.) She and I rested on Saturday and then went to a fantastic birthday for our friend Olga at a cool, SoHo-feeling restaurant called Bu not too far from the Village later that night. Most of our favorite people from the village and some new faces were in attendance. It was a really positive vibe, and fun was had by all. Olga seemed to really appreciate everyone coming out to celebrate her.

On Sunday, Jess’s voice was trashed from an on-coming cold and overuse, so she took a sick day. We went to church in Ilsan with our friend Neville, and Aaron, a guy we met on the shuttle in. I’ve been going to the youth service, which is in English, and really enjoy it. They always give us such a warm welcome and the teaching is good.

After the service, they serve lunch for 1,ooo won, or 1 dollar, and it’s always tasty and nourishing. When we had all cleaned our plates (a strictly enforced policy there), Aaron broke off and Jess, Neville and I headed into Seoul.

We went to the Hangik University area, which is really cool and arty, to catch some of the Fringe Festival held there. This festival brings together all kinds of music, art, dance, theater and street performance into one place. Some of it was kinda weak, but we went to one totally amazing dance performance that dealt with themes of greed and our relation ship with money and brand identity. I’ve never seen anything like it.

After that, Neville went back to Paju and Jess and I came back here to Bucheon together. We lazed about, feeling crummy and dehydrated from sleeping with the AC (and its powerful dehumidifier on), until I went to work at the hogwan.

Jess met up with a guy named Joe who works at a Christian music distributor. He couldn’t do much for her now, but will be posting her record on their retail site with some samples, which is very cool. She wandered around Daedaemun until we met up and went to see ‘Super Ex-Girlfriend’. Very fun flick.

This morning we lazed about again, and felt better having opened up the windows and hence, not been drained of all our fluids. We sat outside a little ship and drank soda and coffee while reading our current books. Jess is readimg The Constant Gardener and I’m reading Dune ny Frank Herbert. I am way into Dune and just throtling through it. Fascinating stuff in there. Highly reccomended.

Jess headed back to Paju and I to school this afternoon. School was smooth and Jess made it back safely. I ate some dinner at a nearby dive and headed in here to this PC game room filled with the sounds of agressive young Koreans playing World of Warcraft, where I learned today you could get an internet connection for 1,000 won an hour.

‘Bout time for bed. I’m going to try to get up early tomorrow and check out a cool area in Seoul called Insedong. Good night. Anyonghaseo.

-A.

This week I got a chance to venture out of Paju and the English Village. I was asked by a friend of ours if I would be interested in a temporary position working in Bucheon at a hogwan, or after school tutoring center, for a couple of weeks. At $500 a week plus the opportunity to get some classroom experience, it was hard to turn down.

The downside was that Bucheon is a 2+ hour commute from here, so it meant that I would have to be away from Jessi for several days at a time. (The job there is Monday-Friday, and Jessi’s runs Wednesday-Sunday, so 3 days at a time is the maximum we have to spend apart.) Knowing that it would only last two weeks, we decided that I should go for it.

I showed up on Wednesday at around 1pm and was asked to wait around for an hour or so. At 2pm I was called in to the director’s office and was handed a very cryptic schedule of classes as well as status notes from the two (yes two) teachers I was filling in for. I was offered essentially no other information about expectations, what materials to use, etc., except for the fact that my first class was about to start in fifteen minutes! I feverishly decoded the schedule and teacher notes to find out what books to use, located them, and arrived just in time.

The first class was an utter zoo. The kids were very elementary English students of about 10 or 11 years old, and insisted on talking amongst themselves incessantly. Repeatedly, I asked them to stop talking and listen to the person who was supposed to be speaking. One repeat offender who goes by “Bill” finally crossed the line one too many times and I sent him out of class for five minutes of time-out, which sent Bill into a frenzy of pouting protestations, of course.

I finally made it through that period somehow, and dashed back to the office to repeat the process of figuring out what I needed next and where to be. I repeated this routine for the next class and the six others that followed that night until I was finally finished at around 9:30. I was unbelievably ragged and spent, I thought I would pass out or puke. Fortunately, I managed to escape both of these fates and was led through the loud, neon encrusted streets of Bucheon to a surprisingly pleasant yugwon, or ‘love motel,’ that the hogwan had arranged to be my accomodations for the night.

The two days after that first one were really much, much better. I showed up a couple of hours early on Wednesday to organize the messy desks and materials I had inherited from the previous teachers and get my head around what was supposed to be happening in class that day. Fortunately, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my schedule only involves six classes instead of eight, so the day was much more manageable.

Likewise with Friday, although I did have major drama with that first class again, and ended up sending Bill and the other boy out of class after thirty minutes for the duration of class after they traded full out punches for no clear reason.

Anyway…it’s nice to have a couple of days off to spend with Jessica here in the English Village. We had a lovely time tonight celebrating the birthday of one of the Russian girls, Olga, who works in the bakery here. We had a nice chance to chat with several folks and get to know them better.

Tomorrow, I’ll go to church in Ilsan with our friend Neville and then catch some of the Fringe Festival in Seoul with him while Jessica is working. Then, when she is done working, we’ll head into Bucheon and stay there at my apartment for a couple of days.

That’s about it for now. Blessings from South Korea.

-A.

Today is the 3rd anniversary of Adam’s and my first date, when we met. I have Mondays and Tuesdays off, so we slept in and had a quiet morning reading. We’re both enjoying some fiction: I’m about halfway through “The Constant Gardener” and Adam is in the middle of “Dune”. This afternoon we wandered around the artist community across the street from the english village. It’s huge. Bigger than our little attraction and much more naturally set in the hills. The architecture is so diverse and beautiful. We have walked there twice before, once late at night and once in the early morning, so it was fun to 1. not get desperately lost and 2. see the shops, galleries and cafes while they were actually open. There is definitely some cool stuff to see around here.

Yesterday we explored two cool area in Seoul. Itaewan is the international corridor with all kinds of vendors, kitchy gifts and foreign restaurants (we were glad to have some Indian food). There is even a Nashville Resturant. We went in and told the Korean staff that we were from Nashville, but they didn’t seem to understand us. They needed more cowboy hats and less bull horns on the wall, but it was still fun to see their attempt. We also went to Yongsan where they have a whole 8 story mall of electronics. It was Adam’s dream. Imagine two whole levels the size of a department store dedicated solely to cameras and mp3 players. The whole cell phone level was our gold-mine. Cell phones sell for $300 (cheap) to $600+ in Korea. We found two $100 used phones that have seen a little wear, but they’re very souped up Asian phones. Pretty crazy that we were excited to find $100 phones, but sometimes these things are relative.

Considering the expense of getting settled in a new place and not getting paid for 1 month, tonight is dinner and movie night at home. :).

Tomorrow Adam is beginning a 2-3 week substitute teaching gig near Seoul. He’s really looking forward to that, even though he doesn’t know quite what to expect. We are also beginning our book study of Blue Like Jazz tomorrow night in our apartment. Next Monday, I have a meeting with a Christian music distributor who likes my music. There is some fun stuff starting to happen.

Have a good night. Talk to you soon.

-Jessica

There is something significant happening in my family, and I didn’t want to just tag it on the end of the last post. My Grandma Rau is dying. She has been my lifelong hero. She is the beloved matriarch of an extraordinary family. I have learned so much about forgiveness, humility, flexibility, love, joy, family, heritage, sacrifice, richness, strength and giftedness from my Grandma Doris Lucy Roberts Rau. She raised five great kids, one being my father. She has loved and been richly involved in the lives of all of her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I love her and treasure her.

She has had cancer for years. She went into remission, and when it returned, she was told that she would probably be taken in six months. That was a couple of years ago. When the whole family was in New Jersey two weeks ago, she went into the hospital because she had sever pain. She remained there until this Saturday. She has now gone home to aunt Gail’s beach house for hospice care. Today my mom and dad and all of Dad’s siblings are together taking care of Grandma. I miss her. We have gotten to talk to her on the phone every day, but she is no longer able to express herself like she has always done so well. I’m so glad that all of her kids are together.

She won’t be recovering again, so please pray for my family and for her comfort. We all love her so much. It is hard to be away from family right now, but I am so grateful that we spent so much time with her in New Jersey.

I love my grandma.

-Jessica

I had a really nice day today. I like how much I get to be outside in my job. It’s so hot and humid here, but still nothing beats spending half of my day outside, whatever the weather. I also like how I get to move around to different classes all day every day. There is a one week program (OWP) here that is more like English camp for kids, and there is the one day program (ODP, in which I work) that is more like an English theme park. Someone said today that in the OWP, you have good weeks and bad weeks, but in the ODP, you have good hours and bad hours. It’s great. If there’s a bad class, the rest will be better. It can be a little hectic, but it’s interesting.

Here’s an example of a day at work for me:
Today Adam and I got up early and went for a walk around the Village. We came back and got ready for the day and had breakfast in our apartment. We talked to my parents on the phone. At 10:00 a.m., Adam left for church, and I went to the street outside for an hour of “street talk”. In street talk, I just walk around and talk to kids and families, asking about anything and giving the kids a chance to practice their English. Often, the kids want an autograph, and they want to take a picture with me. Today, four teenage girls gave me an iced coffee after I talked to them. It’s wierd to be seen as a celebrity for no reason, but I try to engage people in conversation before I will just take a photo or sign something. It’s fun.

After street talk, I spent 30 minutes in the teacher’s workroom putting together a collage of pictures from home to carry around with me as a conversation piece in street talk. At 11:30, I went to the “immigration” office for 90 minutes. There, a few of us sat in booths and stamped the souvenir passports of children entering the park. I asked each person their name and some other question like: “Where are you from?” “How old are you?” or “What is your favorite color?” Again, this is just giving the kids a chance to practice speaking.

Then I had my lunch break for one hour and came back to the apartment to have a sandwich and talk to Adam’s mom and then my brother on the phone. Adam was still at church. At 2:00, I had one hour of boardwalk games outside where I manned the ring toss booth. During the ring toss game, I ask kids questions about the rings, colors, numbers and simple math.

At 3:00, I went to a 20 minute lesson at the role play clinic which I co-taught with a Korean teacher. We taught 30 kids about symptoms, clinic vs. hospital, doctor vs. patient and body parts. Then we did a little skit about an accident-prone patient coming to the clinic. I was the patient.

We had 20 minutes between classes, and then I co-taught in the role play bank with the same Korean teacher. We taught about opening an account, saving, depositing, withdrawing and adding money. Then we did a skit of a bank robber who comes to rob the bank, but the bank teller teaches about all of the above points. I was the bank robber.

Then, I ran to the UNICEF building and co-taught the tee-shirt making class with two others teachers, an American girl and a British guy. It’s a nice class because there is a little teaching at the beginning about the basics of UNICEF and about all of the supplies to be used in making the shirt. Then we just sat at the front and helped kids as they had need. Afterward, we cleaned all of the brushes and stencils. That was the end of my work day.

I went to the administration building to pick up a package (our new wireless router!) and watched a ton of kids and some of the other teachers playing in the large fountain. The kids play there almost all day every day, but at the end of the day on Sunday, a lot of the teachers join in the fun. I went in the fountain last week, but I didn’t get in today.

Now I’m in the apartment writing this account. Tonight I plan to hang out with my new friend Renee.

So that’s a pretty representative day for me so far. There are many more classes that I have been trained in, my schedule shifts every day, and I’m always with different co-teachers. It keeps things interesting.

I just thought you might be interested in what an “edutainer” really does. Some of the edutainers do more street performance and a childrens musical twice a day on the weekends, but since I came in mid-season, everything was already cast. Hopefully I can get into some of that in the Fall.

That’s it for now. Have a great week. I’ll have a good weekend.

-Jessica