Now that the US and Korea are out...

... I'm all about BRAZIL! In solidarity with the people of Haiti, I will be supporting Brazil for the remainder of the World Cup. Don't quite follow the logic? I'll explain. Since deciding to go to Haiti, I've been keeping up with the blogs of volunteers who are currently on the ground with the organization that I'll be working for. Here's an excerpt from a post by one of them describing Haiti's enthusiastic support for Brazil and the reason behind it:

I began asking around about why the Haitians LOVE Brazil soccer so much and the answer was really touching. On January 12th when the earthquake shook this country upside down, the entire Haitian soccer team was killed. Apparently they were meeting at the time at their practice facility and the coach stepped out for a moment when the quake hit and the building fell, crushing all of them…leaving the coach to endure the loss completely on his own... With the death of the team also went hope and an image of Haiti that was strong. A team that represented courage and passion for these people. So when they lost their team, they needed a new one to rally around. And according to the locals here, they have always loved the Brazil team because they creamed the Haitians-and if you’re good enough to cream the Haitians, you’re good enough to have their support. So it was no question then who the Haitians would rally around for the 2010 World Cup. And that they did. At the bar on Sunday when Brazil scored each of their 3 goals, it felt like I was in South Africa-watching a celebration worth sharing.

Dysfunctional

I'm a week late in posting this Father's Day tribute, but I recently came across the following quote on Don Miller's blog and was moved to write about it. I don't necessarily entirely agree with the whole premise of the post, but this quote stuck out at me in a pretty profound way.

"If God has something specific for you, you’ll know, I promise. But if He is setting a box of crayons down in front of you (a box of crayons called life) then by all means draw. He’s taught you right from wrong, good from bad, beautiful from profane, so draw. He will be with you, proud of you, cheering you on, so draw. He loves you, so draw in the inspiration of the knowledge of His love. Draw a purple horse, a red ocean, a nine-legged dog, it doesn’t matter. Lets stop being so afraid. Lets live, and show the world what it really means to be grateful we don’t live in a dysfunctional family."

By a lot of people's standards, my earthly family would easily qualify as a dysfunctional one. My family has fought and struggled my entire life. But we have also LOVED one another immensely. And the quality of my Heavenly Father described in the quote above is one that has been modeled and taught to me by my earthly father throughout the course of my entire life.

Time and again my dad has preached this same message over me. Just last month, when I was falling into doubt after making the decision to go to Haiti, questioning whether it was really God's will and desire that I was seeking in going there, or if it was actually my own self-will, my father was there to speak this exact truth into my life-- he reminded me that God wants me to live, to follow my passions, to be bold and fearless. That I have been given the freedom by my Heavenly Father to love and serve in crazy ways. And that in light of that, nothing else matters.

And it turns out that this is a truth that I can hold to and believe, in large part, because my father here on this earth has impressed it upon me so heavily. For this and for so many things, Dad, I'm thankful to you.

And cheers to our dysfunctional family, because God sure has blessed me richly through it!

PLANS!!

After MUCH debate, a few complications, and a flight change, I have finally set firm dates for my plans in the upcoming months. I can't say for sure that these won't change, but at this point I certainly don't intend for them to!

THE PLAN:

July 31st- Aug. 11th HOME!!
Aug. 12th(ish)-15th GEORGIA
Aug.15th- 22nd Back in Durham/Chapel Hill for a week
Aug. 23rd- 27th CHARLESTON
Aug. 28th-31st St. Petersburg, FL with my parents and brother
Aug. 31st Arrive and get settled into my compound in HAITI!!
Sept. 1st Volunteer orientation
Sept. 2nd- Nov. 27th Work in the IDP camps
Nov. 28th Back home in time to spend the holidays with my family

There is not a single part of the plan that I am not literally jumping-out-of-my-chair excited about! I'm beside myself with gratitude to my beautiful family and friends for your continual prayers and support-- I can't wait to see many of you *very* soon!!

World Cup Fever

Korea’s got World Cup fever… bad. Back in 2002, Korea had the honor of hosting the Cup AND placing 4th. Since then, the nation has been a particularly soccer crazy one—and I am completely loving every minute of it! I was in China for the last World Cup, in Jordan for the 2008 Euro Cup, and am now experiencing this year’s World Cup in Korea—- and though I’ve haven’t exactly been planning it out that way, I am starting to think I should turn this into a tradition, because it really is GREAT being in a country that actually *cares* about soccer for this event!

Soccer and the excitement of the World Cup, perhaps more than any other single sport, truly brings the world together. But, being from the one country who doesn’t share the rest of the planet’s intense love and passion for the game, I have always felt a bit excluded from that experience. Because while Korea has pop stars and Olympian figure skaters getting together to make special songs just for the event...



....we in American have Stephen Colbert making this:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sport Report - Soccer Debate - Marc Fisher & Mark Starr
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

I personally have always gotten really into the games—and the emotional intensity surrounding me here only fuels my longstanding love for the sport. The US’s lucky draw with England completely wore down my nerves (and kind of made me want to punch things at times), while Korea’s upset over Greece was really exciting, and had me, along with the rest of Korea, feeling pretty elated. Random shouts of “DAE HAN MIN GUK!!” and “KOREA FIGHTING!” could be heard from *literally* every street corner that night, and not at all infrequently even in the days that followed. Ji-Sung Park, the super energetic 5’9” Manchester United midfielder who all of the Korean girls go ga-ga for, and all of the Korean boys aspire to be, is arguably the most loved and revered person in this country right now.



The most personally significant thing about this whole experience for me, though, has been my coming to the realization in watching the first round that I have developed the same sense of ownership and feelings of pride towards Korea’s national team that I feel towards the US. It has made me recognize just how attached and connected I have become to my mother’s homeland in my time here—which is great, because that’s exactly what I had hoped would begin to happen when I made the decision to come.

...And in other related news, I told my students that if any of them could learn this dance and perform it for me before the World Cup is over I would give them a big prize.



No one has taken me up on it yet, but I *have* spotted a few groups of kids practicing :P

Korea fighting!!! v(^_^)v

Babies, Weddings, and Funerals

Seems that lots of monumental events have been happening in the lives of those around me here in Korea lately.

Two close friends of mine have recently gotten engaged and are getting married in just two short months. They came to Korea around the same time I did and met one another here, so I have had the opportunity to witness their relationship from the very beginning, and it's really special. Another two friends of mine-- a really great couple from Nigeria-- are expecting their first baby soon. And, in addition to experiencing the excitement involved in planning for bachelorette excursions and baby showers with my foreign friends, I've recently also had the opportunity to experience both the joy of a wedding and the sadness of a funeral in the lives of two of my Korean coworkers.

I've gotten a lot of questions about these last two events in particular, and it might disappoint some of you to hear me report that there is not much of a difference between a Korean wedding and an American one. Nor is there much of a difference between a Korean funeral and an American one. Undoubtedly this is largely due to the recent westernization of the Korean hemisphere, but I also think that, more significantly and on a more fundamental level, weddings and funerals the world over have certain qualities about them that are simply universal.

For instance, western countries and other "modernized" nations like Korea may tend to emphasize a movie-like version of romantic love in marriage, while other peoples do not believe that to be the institution's main purpose, but I have never heard of a culture in which a wedding does not represent on some level the satisfaction of a human longing for relationship and connectivity. Whether this is framed on the individual level, or on a familial or even communal level, it is still something that rings true throughout every society and culture. Likewise, a funeral-- whether it is done by viewing the body as in the US, cremating it as in India, or by bowing respectfully before a photo of the deceased (no dead bodies involved) as in Korea-- is always a way for the living to process death. Death is a part of all our lives, and it is a universally difficult, complex, and transcendent experience that needs navigating.

I imagine that no matter where in the world I travel, weddings and funerals will never be so foreign as to fail to reflect these two aspects of human need and experience. And all the rest is mere packaging and fluff. It may be beautiful packaging and the differences may be exciting to learn about-- certainly a joy to embrace and experience. But for me, the most beautiful experience of all, and the one worth traveling the world over to have, is to stand in a crowd and feel the same joy and mourning reflected across every kind of linguistic and cultural boundary that should to divide us, and to know that it is our shared identity as images of our Creator that connects our hearts.

The New Dork

The Korea Times posted an article yesterday touting Twitter as a significant force in this week's elections. While I knew that Korean people knew about Twitter, because I have often been asked if I was on it-- usually before being barraged with questions about Obama-- I didn't know that many Korean nationals actually use the site. Though the article seemed to possibly be overstating the case-- a 400,000 person presence on Twitter significantly turned the outcome of elections?-- it brought me back mentally to 2008 in the US and to the feeling of familiarity and home.

I suppose, though, that I shouldn't have been as struck by this as I was. After all, one of the top 3 aspects of Korean culture that foreigners here name as most notable is TECHNOLOGY. I was initially surprised when I learned this-- I probably would have said something about kimchi, or the Korean work ethic myself-- but that is probably just because I am completely technologically challenged and so do not have my eyes open to that sort of thing; my grandparents and I relate well when it comes to stuff like computers and text messages. With a little research, however, I came to learn that Korea is in fact the seventh most wired country in the world, and is ranked second only to Hong Kong in Asia according to Forbes magazine, which doles out its rankings not only on based on tech-usage, but tech-friendly government policies. So it seems that Korea and technology experience a mutual loving relationship.

I have certainly seen this mutual embrace reflected by my students. These kids are all about their computer games. It is literally all they claim to do, aside from study, sleep and eat. In my classes, it has even gotten to the point that anytime I am teaching a lesson related to hobbies, I qualify that speaking about computer games is off limits, just so they have the opportunity to learn some new vocabulary. Even so, their resolve to talk about computers is unshakable. Today, I asked a student what kind of house he wanted to have when he grew up, and he answered that he wanted a house with four P.C. rooms devoted solely to gaming. At home, a statement like that might have earned that student a few less-than-kind snickers, but here it garnered a roomful of enthusiastic nods of agreement.

I'm always looking for ways to harness this enthusiasm for technology to excite the students about English. Recently, I've been translating songs into text lingo and having them compete to decode the songs and guess the name of the artist. I've also come across this remake of Empire State of Mind called The New Dork- Entrepreneur State of Mind. The students in my advanced classes completely get a kick out of it, because the lyrics all refer to a world they can relate to well.

Election Day

Two more days off of work this week. It's kind of strange having so many teaching days canceled so close together-- and inconvenient, since we are nearing the end of the semester and there doesn't ever quite seem to be enough time to accomplish all that is required. But, given how busy I am right now both at work and with other responsibilities, it has been helpful in a way to get a little bit of time to devote to planning, prioritizing and organizing. I feel a bit more on top of things, and not as much like I am playing catch-up.

Another perk of the vacation days-- they mark the end of Korea's very... um, Korean?... campaigning process for local elections. Tomorrow is Election day (by the way, try saying that with a Korean accent-- l's are r's-- and that's what I've been hearing all week), which is treated as a national holiday, giving everyone the day off in order to take away any excuse not to vote.

Election season is much shorter here than what we experience in the US, but it packs a bit more of a punch. For the past few weeks, every street corner, subway station and open public space has been filled with people, mostly middle-aged, in various *matching neon-colored outfits* doing *choreographed dances and cheers* in front of giant screens that display the face of their chosen candidate. Yep. I'm really sorry I don't have pictures or video to share this phenomenon with you, but if you are picturing it and it looks more than slightly ridiculous, you are probably imagining it correctly. Now add to that image fleets of oddly designed colorful trucks that drive up and down the streets blaring music and rhetoric, most often manned by a pair of women-- dressed of course in their candidate's signature color-- riding in the back to dance, wave, smile and bow at every passer-by... and there you have a pretty accurate picture of my daily surrounding for the past month.

I've definitely enjoyed it while it's lasted, and I definitely think I will equally enjoy it when it is over.

:)


UPDATE: Here are a few photos of Korean election campaigners that I stole from a friend. They don't completely give an adequate picture of the phenomenon I described, but they do give a small taste.