Emotions

I thought I was a pretty emotionally stable guy. Not too many highs and not too many lows. Someone you could call steady. That's until I started taking pictures of myself throughout my daily life. Here's a snapshot of a day.


This first picture is of me in the morning. As can be seen I'm eager and ready to tackle the day. I would call this an emotional high.

If the last picture was an emotional high I would call this an obscene emotional high. The day has just begun I'm stoked and ready to mold the minds of the little ones.

This is me realizing that my computer is acting up. I'm thinking though that I can figure it out. No big deal. It's just a little internet problem. It'll hook up pretty soon. I'm emotionally level. Neither high nor low but focused on the task at hand.

Here is where it starts to get ugly. I don't know what's wrong with my internet connection. I start blaming Circuit City, and Microsoft, and the chord to my computer. I am in an emotional depression.


This is an emotional rock bottom. I am disgusted. How am I supposed to make it an evening without internet! I mean I have e-mails and sports and videos that can't be ignored. At this point I began muttering unintelligible words. My own language of curse words never before spoken by humans. Gibberish to you, but to me the venom spewed as I sit in my pit of despair.

These pictures are me calling on a greater source of power to help me. I am in an emotionally humbled state.

This is me when my internet works. I have now reached emotional euphoria. This is such an extreme high that I'm pretty sure there is adrenaline involved. This stage is also generally marked by a vocal exclamation of some sort. Perhaps a loud "Yes" or "Awesome" or even "Woo Hoo." In this stage one may find oneself making these exclamation no matter their surroundings.

This is just me taking a meal break. I love to cook. I'm emotionally content and about ready to go back to my computer for some more internet access.

This is me after coming back from the meal. The internet isn't working again. I am in the most severe emotional zone. This zone is called emotional explosion. At this stage I consider throwing my computer out the window or drop-kicking it across the room. It's best that I'm by myself during this stage otherwise someone could get hurt.


This is me after I jiggle the chord and the internet begins to work again. I am emotionally euphoric. This is the stage where one wavers between laughing and crying.

This is a slight exaggeration of how much my emotions differ through the day, but in some ways its not to far from the truth. Isn't it amazing how such simple things can cause such great raw emotion. A car cutting us off, slow service at a restaurant, a snubb by an acquaintance, poor internet connections. Small things that we perceive to be huge slights and inconveniences. Things that in reality are just not that big a deal.

It's humbling to thing that an internet problem can be the reason for such great mood swings. It's embarrassing when I think about it but also challenging.

By the way I'm great here in Korea. Thanks for your prayers.

Life is going well

I've been here now for about 10 days and am getting settled. My days look something like this.

• I leave my apartment at 8:15am
• Have devotions until 9:00am
• Prep for afternoon classes until 9:45am
• Help in the preschool until 12:15pm
• Lunch duty until 1:00pm
• back to preschool stuff 2:00pm
• Get ready for phonics class and mess around on the internet until 2:45pm
• Teach phonics until 3:35pm
• Teach first leadership from 4:00-4:45pm
• Teach second leadership from 5:00-5:50pm
• Go home to eat, sleep, type, prepare

On Tuesday's a local military base does artillery fire across the hill and the whole building shakes when mortars go off. On Thursday nights all of the teachers go out for pizza.

I am especially learning to adjust in how the school works. The preschoolers seem to run the show in the class and I'm really trying to help with class discipline. I've taken on kind of a support role in the preschool. A new school year starts in March and then I'll really have a lot more control of the preschool. I'm hoping to help implement.

Also break duty isn't really an assigned job for me, it's just that there is no one outside with the kids and it kind of drives me crazy. I'm sure someone would go out there if I didn't, but its kind of fun.

Here is a video of the preschoolers I work with. They are pretty cute in this video but the video is a little deceptive. In reality they don't listen to much of what I say. They are kind of testing me a lot so I've been having to lay down the smack.





Also worth noting is that I will be moving into a new apartment. I very nice place that I will be sharing with a fellow teacher. The man who is in one one of my previous pictures giving me bunny ears. It should be a fun transition.

Thanks for your continued prayer support.

I'm getting settled

Although I only had two days at the school this week, I got a pretty good flavor for what it's like and I like it. The preschool kids are smart and spunky and I'm excited to be working with them. The afternoon kids who are a little bit older also look to be a good fit for me to work with.

The school is changing its curriculum in March and therefore things will be in a bit of a state of flux until then. But for now I help in the preschool from 9:45-2 and then do afternoon classes roughly from 3-6.

I spent Saturday in Seoul and soaked up all the sights, sounds, and smells that it had to offer. It was tiring but fun. I experienced perhaps the most incredible hand drying station at the Outback Steakhouse bathroom. It's kind of hard to explain but I'll try and get a picture of it sometime. I also indulged in the sweetness of some Krispy Creme donuts, and they did not disappoint.

The first picture is of some of the students eating spaghetti out of a waffle cone. Which I will never understand.

The next two are of me on my first train ride, and me riding a tram up to a viewing post overlooking Seoul.

The second to last picture is of my dinner from Thursday, real live spaghetti. It tasted good and I was kind of proud that I ate something that wasn't cooked in a microwave. To be honest I thought I'd lose weight in Korea, but I'm starting to doubt that. The foods good and I have access to some pretty good groceries as well.

The next is the Seoul sky line and the last is the preschoolers, piled on top of each other. I couldn't tell you why they are piled like that, but at least they weren't punching each other.

I'm here

After some sad goodbyes and a lot of travel I'm here in Korea. Its cold but clear. I got in last night after flying in the nicest plane I've been in. I flew Singapore Airs and it was awesome. After landing I went to Pizza Hut, with a fellow teacher and the school director. Meeting the director of the school put me at ease. He is a strong man of God.

I got to my apartment and went to bed at around midnight. That was last night, and today was spent hanging around my apartment and sleeping in. The accommodations are great. Even hot water and strong water pressure.

The pictures attached are of my apartment, both from inside and outside the building.

Not much more to say except that everything so far is good. I'm jetlagged but getting rested up for meeting the students. Keep me in your prayers.

The Precipice of Adventure

Here I sit just two days before leaving for Korea. I'm both excited and nervous. Excited for the adventure and challenges that await me. Excited for the people I'll meet and the opportunities I'll have. Excited to be in such a spot that I will have to rely fully on God everyday.

Yet at the same time there is a level of nervousness that accompanies my excitement. I will be leaving the familiar people and places that I love. I will be stepping into a situation full of unknown and I will no doubt be stretched whether I want to be or not.

I don't know what exactly I'll be doing, I don't know what life will be like, I don't know what the rest of my life holds, but I know God's in control and I'm good with that.