No Day But Today

This past weekend I had the opportunity to see the musical RENT in Seoul with several co-workers (yes it was in English). Even though I had previously seen it at least five times it was more amazing than ever. RENT has a way of putting my life back in to perspective and helps keep me grounded. If you have not seen it, I strongly encourage it. While it is very difficult to watch at times, it portrays real life- the real life that fortunately most of us do not have to experience on a regular basis- but a life that is reality for many, nonetheless. There truly is no day but today.

After a great relaxing weekend of feeling like I have so much to be grateful for; Sunday brought one more blessing after another. Before coming to South Korea Christine and I both expressed an interest in finding a church to attend for the year. As soon as we got here the teacher I replaced, Amanda, told us about the church she went to while living here. On her last night in Suji she verbally told us the bus to take to get to the church, the street where the bus stop is, where to get off the bus, and walking directions from the bus station to the church. None of us had anything to write with-so we decided we were going to try and just remember. This was two or three weeks ago. On Sunday, Christine and I decided we wanted to try and find it. Sunday was our first time attempting to go somewhere on our own, without other teachers. We were excited. Christine remembered the bus number and the street where it picks up. I remembered the building we needed to get off the bus at and the length of the bus ride. Christine remembered some of the walking directions from the bus to the church and I remembered others. Great teamwork.

We got to the bus stop and saw the numbers of the bus we needed on the sign. Even though we couldn't read the bus stops, we decided to just trust that we remembered the bus number correctly. The bus eventually came and we got on asking the bus driver if we were on the correct bus by telling him where we were going, but he did not understand of course. I remembered Amanda saying it might take 45 minutes so we knew we needed to be patient. We were told to get off the bus when we saw a mall called Premium Outlets. We frantically searched the area each time the bus stopped. Forty-five minutes later, almost exactly, Christine heard the bus driver say Premium Outlets very quickly and quietly right in the middle of many Korean words. We flew out of our seats and got off without even thinking. Once we got off- nothing looked familiar according to the directions we remembered Amanda telling us. So we just stood there- looking around trying to see if something would jog our memory. But of course, to me, everything in Korea looks the same so nothing did. Out of the blue and man and his wife tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was by any chance going to church. YES! It was as if God was with us the entire time; leading us right there. I mean what are the odds and how the heck did they know?

They told is they would show us how to get there. It was a good fifteen minute walk. A fifteen minute walk Christine and I would not have been able to figure out on our own. Without that lovely couple we never would have found it and would have had to go back to Suji where we started. God truly works in so many remarkable ways. What a blessing. The church was located in a school and there were so many friendly, English speaking faces. It was a very comfortable, and very welcoming atmosphere. So many people introduced themselves, and we received a bag including candy, a coffee mug, and other goodies because it was out first time. The first half of the service was worship and then the Pastor gave a sermon. It was wonderful, especially since we did it on our own (sort of). I honestly feel like God's hands were literally on my shoulders the entire morning guiding my body in the right direction. There were so many steps along the way that were unclear- it is truly fantastic that we were even able to make it to that church.

Work is going great this week. My biggest problems in my kindergarten class are making lines to walk in the hallway or go to the bathroom, following directions, saying "r's" and "l's", whining, tattletales, and asking to go to the bathroom RIGHT after the bathroom break....yup I think I covered them all:) My biggest problem with my older kids is getting them to do all of their homework. Most of them do, but some really struggle. I was in a very good mood today, though, because I received fantastic essays from my third graders. I had to explain my first big essay last Thursday so I was hoping they would write great essays and show my supervisors that I explained the assignment well. The essay was a pro/con essay about wearing school uniforms. They made me one very happy Shauna Teacher today:)

Love love love,
shauna