now, sometimes routines are good, but sometimes they are bad and need to be broken . . .
in all honesty lately its been been bad routines that i have been needing to break out of, but have not known how i got in them, or how i could get out of them.
i think a BIG reason why i have found it so easy to fall in to the same "bad" routines is because in so many ways i feel really comfortable here in korea. we have been so lucky to have great jobs, and a great apartment that every now and then we kind of forget that we are in another country.
then comes the past couple of weeks where i have been reminded that i am definitley not in america :-)
in korea teachers "meetings" are very important. its a time where the teachers kick back, relax and enjoy each others company. these parties, oh i mean meetings :-p can get very lively and they are a lot of fun, even when you dont speak korean and have no idea whats going on.
last week i went to one meeting where i was talking with some teachers and when they found out that i was married for over four years and didnt have any kids the tone changed in the room. they were all concerned for my health (both physically and mentally) and they couldnt understand why i didnt have kids yet. (you should have seen their faces when i told them the reason was because i was too young :-p )
then for my classes i had to proof read pen pal letters from 360 of my students. one student wrote in his letter "my girlfriend is very cute, but overweight, sometimes i worry cause she eats lots" my co-teacher said "this is the first time you are going to talk to someone in america, do you really want to tell them that your girlfriend is overweight" and without even thinking the student said a resolute "YES!"
then at another teachers meeting i had another table full of co-workers concerned as to why tova and i dont have kids, and then someone "read my palm" and told me that i would have two kids :-p i was informed later that this person always reads palms when they have had too much to drink :-p
then today is chuseok . . . chuseok is koreas thanksgiving, the 2nd biggest holiday. its so big that the schools give the teachers bonuses to cover their travel back to visit family cause EVERYONE visits family on chuseok.
so tova and i went to have a bbq with some friends on chuseok. when we got there, our normal place of grilling had a couple of korean families there enjoying the beautiful day. when they saw that we were there to bbq they were naturally intrigued why some foreigners would be grilling. they came over and introduced themselves and asked us what we were cooking . . .
they did this all in korean . . .
we tried to talk with them and tell them we had full spreads of food (chicken ka-bobs, potatos, pasta salad, hot dogs etc). apparantley something got lost in translation and they thought that we didnt have any meat (they were very concerned that we would grill and eat and not have any meat). they left and we thought it was nice that they came and said hello.
two minutes later a man from one group came with a HUGE plate of sliced pork and took my tongs from me, took over my grill and started cooking pork for us! then another woman from another group came and gave us a huge bottle of soju (korean whiskey) this is a HUGE sign on acceptance and it showed that they respected us. then a woman from another group came with even MORE traditional korean food. squid, fish etc . . .
then the man who is still taken ownership of my grill yells to his daughter. two minutes later she comes by with cups for us to drink from, traditional korean pears, and then asked us if we wanted some kimchi (no meal is compelte without kimchi). a friend of ours and myself like kimchi so we said yes. the girl comes back with a bowl full of the most delicious kimchi EVER (seriously, it was soooooo goood!)
we talked with this man, exchanged cups with him (very traditional korean thing) and had a great time as he helped us cook some food.
then i realized, again, that i love korea. sometimes its takes moments like the ones that i have said to kind of gently remind you that you are in a different place. (even in another country you need that sometimes)
at that moment God reminded me that some people move to change things in their lives, others take big changes that have happened in their lives (being laid off, death in the family etc) to make even more changes in their lives. i was gently reminded about the complacency that has been in my life over the past couple months, and God really spoke to me (yes He spoke to me while the korean man was grilling on my grill :-p)
God reminded me that i am in a different place and i can really take advantage of things being different to make the changes in my life that i want for the better. it could have been over a loud speaker and it couldnt have been clearer. i was reminded that i have an opportunity that very few people have, and that i can either take full advantage of it and come out so much richer as a person, or let this opportunity slip through my fingers and have nothing to show from this experience other than some cool pictures and a couple of funny stories of people reading my palm, and random strangers hijacking my grill. parable of the talents anyone?
maybe this will be the needed kick in my pants to gently remind me to get things back on track.
so i will quote a famous theologian who i empathise with. this theologian was plucked from a very normal life and then transported to a very different situation, and had a moment of understanding when she realized things were different . . .
"yes toto, this isnt kansas anymore :-)"
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