Kimchi, not for me

The week has gone amazingly well, considering all things. My meeting with my pastor went exceptionally well, and he introduced me to some possible ministries I was either unaware of, or too afraid to venture into on my own. He was very easy to talk to, and I actually forgot about the point of the meeting (the recommendation) and was more real and genuine than I probably would have been if the recommendation had stayed in the front of my mind the whole time. I was excited about the church, and about the possible ministry opportunities there even before I got to meet with the pastor, now it's even more so.

I went to the doctor also, and seriously, this was his name: "Inho Kwak." Kwak. I was distracted and spent half the appointment trying to make sure I was reading his white coat correctly. And I was. His last name was Kwak. Anyway, he prescribed me some medicine, and I'm going to have to have a test done. I've had stomach problems since high school, so it's probably slightly overdue. The clinic is located inside this huge medical center though, and the earliest they could schedule the test for was August 1. I was perfectly fine with that, as it's going to be incredibly invasive and absolutely NO fun. However, when I told one of the Korean teachers at work (because depending on when our vacation is, I might have to take the day off) she said that it was too far away and said she could schedule it for sooner. I agreed, thinking sooner might be early June. Yeah, how about next Saturday. And speaking of Saturdays, tomorrow is the day of our staff picnic. The staff picnic somehow morphed from an actual picnic to a day of fun-filled adventure at Everland, an amusement park about an hour away from Seoul. Theoretically this could be much fun, and truthfully it is on my list of places to go and things to do while in Korea. However, it's mandatory fun with people I spent too much time with during the week. I'm not dreading it, and my attitude isn't as bad as it sounds (through that last sentence), but part of me would much rather prefer to sleep in.

Today was Teacher's Day (anyone notice that Korea has oodles of holidays?) and I got a few cute little presents. Of course the cute first grader that gave me a present also called me "mama" and pretended like he was NURSING when we were doing flashcard games on the floor. Creepy. I don't care if he's eight and he's kidding. Still creepy. And just because I feel like what I just shared might have been inappropriate, I'll tell you something exciting and good about work. My kindergarten class is learning to read. They've been working on phonics and such for some time now, and the all-important connection of the sounds of letters is being learned right now. And it really is so exciting, because a month ago, these kids couldn't read. And now, though they can only read certain words (three letter words ending in either "-at," "-ap," "-am," or "-an") they are getting it. And this is their second language! It boggles my mind! But my kindergarten class is rapidly moving into the "favorite class" category just due to the overwhelming cuteness contained therein. Seriously. And I, an admitted not-enthusiastic-lover-of-elementary-aged-children, realize more everyday how much I really like what I'm doing - in a way. Teaching kids English as a second language...I have varied feelings about THAT, because it's catering to a very elite (ahem, usually spoiled and bratty) crowd. Anyway, the moments when they are all so excited that they know what the flashcard says, and jump into my lap/on top of me/tackle me so that I too will know that they know...it's usually a very cute time.

I finished Brothers Karamazov, finally, and bought another book by Dostoyevsky tonight. We'll see how that works out. I think I might have a thing for Russian writers. Anyway, I need to go take more of the freaky-dream-inducing Korean nyquil and get to bed so I can be at least semi awake in the morning. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share with you after tomorrow. Night!