Ok, yikes. It's been a while again. Apologies. Many of them. Sent to you. Ok, I'm really going to try to keep this better updated. Life's been busy here on the Peninsula. Seth is now teaching 8 classes a day (each about 1 hour) and I (Emily) am teaching 7. And next month doesn't look much better.
I realized that we haven't written a lot about the specifics of our lives here. Here's what my daily schedule looks like:

5:40AM: Seth awakens me from my slumber. I'm usually quite groggy and try to convince him that I really don't need to be up yet.
5:50AM: Seth reminds me that I should be getting out of bed soon. Work-out a bit, shower, and eat a bite of breakfast with my amazing husband.
6:40 AM: At Global (the school we work for) to catch the school shuttle to LG A3 factory.
7:30 AM: Class with Mr. Kim, he's now at an advanced level- he's a good student.
8:25 AM: School shuttle to LG Learning Center. Answer any English questions Mr. Kim (the driver) has. He also is an excellent student (though he's not actually taking any English classes). Get some time in the Word before my next class.
10:00 AM: Class at Learning Center. I teach the "Speaking" classes for this 5-week English intensive course. Tromm class.
11:00AM: Second hour of "Speaking" with the Tromm class.
12:00PM: Eat lunch in the Learning Center cafeteria. Usually the food is wonderful and even more importantly- free!
1:00 PM: First hour of "Speaking" class with the X-Canvas class. This is an intensive 8-week English course. These guys are probably my favorites right now and their English has improved beyond belief!
2:00 PM: Second hour of "Speaking" class with X-Canvas.
3:00-5:00: Bum around the Learning Center, have a Bible study with Seth, work on lesson plans and sending e-mails
5:00 PM: English conversation class with some of the staff at the Learning Center
6:00 PM: Take a taxi to the LG TV factory
6:30 PM: English Conversation Class at the LG TV factory
7:25 PM: Take a taxi back to our apartment building with another native English teacher- Ryan
7:45 PM: Finally home!!!! Start making supper- look forward to seeing my hubby again!


Ok, I hope that helped everyone understand a little more about our daily lives. They days can get a little long sometimes, but I (we) truly enjoy our students. It's a lot of fun, except for the days when I teach about the past continuous. It's hard for the students to understand sometimes.
So Seth and I have been here for 6 months which means that we only have 6 months left in our contract! Wow! Time is going by so quickly! I can't even believe it! Every day I'm learning something new about myself and about Seth. I bet right now you're wondering "I wonder what new thing she's learned about herself?" Well, you're in luck.
Though I've become increasingly accustomed to the Korean culture and way of life, I'm still learning a lot about it. Culture is so complex. It's amazing how much it is a part of us without even being aware of it. For example, honesty is of the utmost importance in the American culture. Honesty is highly valued and dishonestly is definitely looked down up. From everything that I understand about South Korea, "saving face" is of greater importance. Here's an example. Seth was shopping in Dong-a (a nearby grocery/department store) for a comb as I had obliterated mine and was in definite need of a new one. He'd asked (I think) six different people who worked there where he could find a comb. Each person he asked, kept sending him in a different direction. Finally, after he checked where the last person had suggested, the first person finally told him that they actually don't sell any combs. The American in me says, "Geez, if they'd only told him the truth right off the bat, they could have saved him a lot of trouble." I'm learning that it's really really hard for me to remember that just because that is how I was raised doesn't mean that it is true/right in every culture. Maybe it's because I don't fully understand the importance or value of "saving face." Tough call.
Recently, I've also been reflecting a lot on the issue of race. I've spent these past six months as "the minority," constant stares, women looking in my shopping cart to see what I'm making for supper, the double takes, etc. Usually it doesn't bother me. But sometimes it does. The other weekend my husband and I were enjoying an afternoon in Daegu (South Korea's 3rd largest city- only about 30 minutes away from Gumi by train). We were sitting in the park and having a small picnic, and thinking that we'd found a place that was a little "out of the way." Well, kind of. We were sitting there eating and people walking by would walk near our bench and stand there to stop and stare at us. Yep, that's right, we're just sitting eating kimbap and teokbokgee just like everyone else in this country. When they'd started long enough they'd continue their walk. Seth and I moved to another place in the park to study our Bible for a while. Yep, for some reason, two white people sitting on a bench reading is absolutely fascinating. An hour later Seth and I were walking down one of the streets, talking about how everyone was starting at us (seemingly moreso than normal) when Seth looked onto the busy street. A bus and about 5 cars were stopped at the stop light. Every person on the bus was just starting at us. We looked at the cars behind the bus. Everyone was starting.
I never before knew how much I appreciated the diversity of the US. I know that the US still has a long ways to go before racial equality and diversity is celebrated as it should be, but I think I can venture to say that anyone could walk down the streets of most of the US without constant stares. I love the diversity of race and thought that is of the US. Yes, there should be pride in your ethnicity/race, but I think there is also a line to be drawn.
In one of my classes we were discussing various celebrity couples who'd divorced. One couple, rather than having children of their own, had choose to adopt two children, one from a country in Africa and one from a country in Asia. One of my students suggested that the reason why their marriage failed was that they didn't have any kids. Wait, they adopted two didn't they? Adoption is viewed very differently here. Preserving your blood lines is very very important. When you adopt your blood line is not preserved. It hurt me to hear this. Deeply. When I tell my students that my husband tell my students that we plan to adopt a child in need of a better life someday, I get confused glances and hear the approving yet unapproving "oh..." Granted, maybe I would feel differently if my family could trace back it's blood lines for hundreds maybe even thousands of years. I honestly just don't know.
Being from the "melting pot" or "salad bowl" of the United States has shaped me more than I think I'll ever realize. It hurts me to hear a friend say that Koreans are united because of their race and Americans aren't. And I KNOW that he (our friend) didn't mean to harm me by his comment. But it stuck with me- is a black/white person any less American because of their race? I would hope not. I know there's some people who would disagree with me, but I would hope that many would agree.
I guess you could say I'm trying to figure out a lot right now and constantly I'm trying to keep myself in check and not think that I (or the American culture) know what is best. Easier said than done, thats for sure. It's a prayer request. If you could pray about my growth in this that would be great. Ok, that's all I've got. Bed time.