November 22, 2006

• I was going to write some other stuff, but decided to just copy my journal entry for today.  Its really long, so I understand if you decide to not read it and look at another xanga site.  I figure maybe someone out there is curious what a full day for me is like.  I didn’t write every detail or every conversation (of course), but I did still write a lot.  Happy Thanksgiving and God bless!!!

  Wednesday, November 22, 2006:  I got up a little late and had breakfast and got ready.  At 10am I went outside to join the staff in “Kim-jang.”  Kim-jang is “kimchi preparation day.”  And since we were making kimchi for 100 people to last a year, this would take two days and a ton of vegetables.  Since I was one of the few guys (Dong Min dorm father, Yong Soo, and Mrs. Lee’s husband) I mainly carried crates filled with either cut up vegetables or with the trash (bad parts of the vegetable).  I also helped clean a lot.  It was a lot of work.  About 14 of the female staff were busy chopping the vegetables.  It was pretty cold, so I wore a thick headband around my ears.  The staff found that amusing, along with the pink dish gloves (the only color they come in) I had to wear over smaller gloves (it was really cold).  We took an hour break at noon for lunch.  Since I’m still a little sick, I came to my room after lunch and had some hot chocolate and rested a little.  At 1pm I went back out and did a lot more carrying crates and loading trash into a cart and dumping the trash on a compost heap.  A bunch of volunteers came to help out, and we definitely needed the help.  Kyung Mi guided me a little in telling me what to do in English.  The guys mainly just grunted and pointed and I, most of the time, understood.  The kids started to come back from school in the afternoon.  A lot of them laughed when they saw me and some of the girls (Soo Jin, Young Eun) teased me calling me, “ajoomah” (older Korean lady) because of my gloves and since I was helping the dorm mothers and older ladies.  I chased them around a little.  We kept working and working.  We finally stopped for the day at 6pm.  It was getting really cold out and everyone was exhausted.  I ate dinner in the cafeteria with Do Hyun (high school boy).  I tried to explain Thanksgiving to him… about how it’s a big holiday in America where family gets together and we eat a big feast including a turkey.  I was struggling to explain, and then I remembered Do Hyun’s past.  He was found at the front steps of an orphanage for babies.  The staff there gave him his name (part of it comes from that orphanage’s name) and also made up his birthday.  He came to Geon when he was young and has always lived in the orphanage without any known relatives.  As I remembered that, I stopped trying to explain.  I don’t think Do Hyun was bothered at all by me talking about a family holiday, these kids don’t seem bothered by that stuff.  I stopped because reflecting on his past was a reality check for me.  Tomorrow for Thanksgiving Day I’ll be making kimchi at an orphanage.  And at night, like every other night here, I’ll be eating dinner with my family of 100 (kids and staff).  That amount of people is more than my whole extended family (and I have a huge extended family).  I have to say, I miss my family right now because of Thanksgiving.  I of course miss the food, but much more than the food is who I am eating with.  My family.  Crucial.  But I know God has given me another family, this orphanage.  Help me love them the same God!  And help me enjoy them the same too.  After dinner I showered, shaved, and then went to Wednesday night worship. I sat near the back and little Sun Jae (4 years old) talked to me a lot during the sermon.  He kept going on and on (whispering) in Korean.  I understood a little, but a lot of it just seemed like randomness.  I tried to get him to be quiet, but he just kept talking.  Cute kid.  After service I went to Shalom room and took pictures of the boys.  Neither Chae Ho nor Do Hyun wanted their picture taken.  I got Chae Ho to pose after a little pleading, but Do Hyun required a ton of pleading and he still wouldn’t face the camera.  I finally took somewhat of a side shot.  Both are insecure guys.  In Chul was upset about something so he didn’t want his picture taken, I’ll get it tomorrow.  Soo Min came late from tae-kwon-do class.  He was his usually smiling, fast-talking/hyper self, but he told me he wasn’t happy.  His tae-kwon-do instructor had been hard on him tonight.  He didn’t want his picture taken either because of that, but promised I could take it tomorrow.  He talked to me about some other stuff too.  I tried to help Yong Hee, Yo Han, and Choong Hyuk with their math.  I succeeded in teaching Yong Hee and Choong Hyuk some.  Yo Han’s stuff (some weird Algebra with all variables and no numbers) confused me.  Weird to think its been over 10 years since I studied that stuff.  Soo Min then brought out a mini ping pong set and set it up on a table and challenged me.  We both were sitting/reclining on the floor as we played.  He was pretty into it.  Soon other boys were gathering and wanted to play.  I played Soo Min, Choong Hyuk, Chae Ho, little Dong Chan, and played teams with Yo Han and Dae Chul.  My competitive nature got the best of me and I won every game, but a few of them came down to the last point and I really had to give my all.  Soo Min was pretty funny… he kept saying in Korean, “Okay, now I’m playing for real” at the beginning of each game we would play.  During my last game I played two on two with Dong Chan (4^th grade) as my teammate.  I encouraged him a lot and we ended up winning with him scoring a few points.  I think he was really blessed from the time.  He called out goodbye to me from the window as I was walking outside.  The dorm mothers have encouraged me to get rest.  They are all sore from today, and they say tomorrow will be even tougher.  We’ll be starting at 9am.   I came back and journaled and prayed some.  Time to rest.  God bless!!!

   

  Oh, and I’ll post pictures of the Shalom room boys along with a few kim-jang pictures on Saturday…

  • 9:56 am
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