2 Months

Wow, so I've now been here 2 months and man has time flown. I mean it's already been a week since I've last posted and so much has happened in between there. Where should I start?

Well, on Monday for chapel practice I found out that I would be able to partcipate on the worship team this week for chapel. So that made me very excited to be able to play my guitar for worship again. So on tuesday I played my electric guitar for the first High School chapen, and then did acoustic and vocals for the 2nd High School chapel and the Middle School Chapel. It was so much fun.

Also, this week, it's been freezing and cold and we saw some snow as well. Figure that one out. So yeah, I want warm weather now that it is March. But hey, in two weeks I don't need to worry about it as i'll be in Malaysia sweating my butt off.

This week was a little rough in the dorm. Things are changing around here and we are starting to lay down the law a little more than we had. If you can pray for the dorm and just for us as a staff to still Love on the guys and yet crack down a little bit more that would be great.

Wednesday was my day off again, and so I went out to eat at that Duk-Bol-Ki place again and then went and hung out at Paris Baguette for a bit. It was a fun day off again. Gotta luv um.

Ugh...Friday. Friday was my most challenging day here in Korea so far. Let me explain. First off, I tried to cram way too much into my day to be able to acomplish it all. So in the morning I had to set up for the Middle School Spelling Bee. Like setting up sound and stuff. So I set that up and then make sure the sound sounds good during the spelling bee, I go to lunch, come back, and then ask if it's okay for me to leave to go do some stuff at the bank. At the bank I wanted to sign up for internet banking and transfer some money to a hotel I'll be staying at in Malaysia.

So I get to the bank and the point for me to go upstairs to do this. So I tell the lady that I want to sign up for internet banking. I do this in English and she understands a little. Anyway, she has me fill out this form. So she's trying to tell me what each part is because the form is in Korean and for some of the stuff she doesn't know what it is, so she starts to get frustrated because she has to ask the lady beside her. Anyway, I finally fill out the form. Then she takes me to their site on her computer to show me how to register now. The registration process is crazy. You have to fill out all these forms and stuff online. So by this point she becomes even more frustrated. Because she can't explain it to me in English. So a guy comes in (a guy who wanted to do some banking like me, but he's Korean), and she asks him if he knows English. He says a little, and then she talks to him in Korean for like a minute. Then he turns to me and explains a little bit of the form in broken English. Seeing that I don't understand, the bank teller then calls the school and tells the office secretary that I'm there and that I signed up for internet banking and for her to explain the online process for doing internet banking. Phew. So then I try to do my money transfer. I fill out the form, do everything I need to do on my end, and then when she types in Malaysia, she says I can't send money there and that's because there is an Embargo. An Embargo?! I doubt that, but maybe there is. Or maybe she didn't want to deal with me anymore...which I can understand. So best part....

The guy who knew a little English then asks if I'm a Hagwon at Hannam University. That means english teacher. And this bank is very close to Hannam. So I tell him no and that I'm a RA at TCIS. He says, okay, how long have you been here in Korea. I tell him 2 months. He then says "Oh, that's why you don't know a lot of Korean." Then he said "This here, doesn't happen a lot." As in Americans coming into the bank by themselves trying to do banking without knowing Korean. So then I say thank you and sorry to him and the bank lady, and then tell them the next time I stop by I will know more Korean.

So, I need to learn some more Korean for sure.

Then this weekend, didn't really do too much. Watched some soccer games in which our teams dominated the field....sweet. Then on Saturday night I went out to Bennigans and had an awesome sandwhich, went to the Norebong (Karaoke), and watched the latest American Idol. So it's been a good weekend. Today was pretty chill.

Now it's on to another week. Oh, today I painted the rest of my apartment. I'll try to get some photos up of it really soon. I wanted it to be a Deep Red and Grey, but instead the gave me a skyish blue...instead of Grey. The deep red is sweet, but the sky blue is going to have to grow on me. Also, I've been working on some video stuff for the school for Chapel this week. It's clips of the kids here being asked "what is truth", "what is important to you", and "is truth important to you?" Their responses are interesting. Some very post-modern, some very religious responses. Quite a mix. Anyway, chapel this week should be interesting.

Wow, so this post is long. Sorry, I should update more than just once a week.

Keep in touch,

Blessings,

Mike