The People I've Met

Before I left San Antonio, the director of the school I work at, David, sent an email to me listing the phone numbers of contacts for me here in South Korea. He would be going back to the United States as I would be traveling to Korea. Since he was the only person I had actually interacted with or spoken with on the phone and he wouldn't be here, I needed another group of people to help me transition.

Among the numbers sent to me was Lauren's. The first time I spoke with Lauren was when we were trying to figure out my luggage situation. The first time I met her was at 1am Sunday night. The woman who had helped me with my luggage, Gwen, had sent a text message to Lauren letting her know when I would be arriving in Chungju. Not minutes after I stepped off the bus, Lauren approached me. When we arrived in Chungju Sunday night, the bus driver dropped us off at a street corner because the terminal itself was closed for the night. I was completely clueless. I had met two young women on the bus who spoke English. As I started walking down the street, I tried asking them what was going on but they ignored me and walked off. At the same time, a frantic young woman and man were walking towards the disembarking crowd. "Are you Jenny-fer?" she asked me. "I'm Lauren. This is my boyfriend Michael." I could not believe how quickly she had found me! She drove me to my new apartment, showed me in, and promised to come pick me up at 2pm the next morning.

What I like so much about Lauren is her selflessness. She must have been tired that night, but she was still willing to pick me up and take me to my room. She was also willing to pick up my luggage for me. The following day when my luggage arrived, she handed a box to me. "These are pots," she said. Among them was a small tea kettle--I appreciated that so much. It looked like all the things given to me were new. She didn't have to go through all that trouble to buy me those things. She's a very hard worker. The other teachers, Andy and Brandon, remark sometimes that they don't ever not see her at school; it seems like she's always there. She's also very supportive and does a lot to make our teaching experience easier, like giving us detailed lesson plans. She's eager to help.

Joshua's was the second number given to me. The first time I met him was Monday afternoon at school. Together, he and Lauren (along with the director, David) make up the administration team. He doesn't know English very well, but he tries. He speaks quite loudly when he does talk in English, however. Sometimes he reminds me of myself when I'm practicing Spanish: it's always a few decibles more than normal. "He-lloooo," he says. "How are youuu?" I try to speak slowly and clearly when I talk with him. Usually, though, my questions go to Lauren. Both he and Lauren also conduct classes at the hogwan (private language school).

Pam is another teacher with us. She is an older woman and a local of Korea. She teaches regular school as well as school at the hogwan. She works full-time at a public school and when finished comes to Learning Well Institute (our hogwan) part-time. Her vocabulary in English seems to be advanced, but she speaks very quickly and does not enunciate properly. It is sometimes hard to understand her; I have to ask her to repeat what she said almost always. She seems very nice and friendly, however.

There are two other Americans working at Learning Well with me, Andrew (Andy) and Brandon. They have each been here two months. We seem to connect because we are all three from America and have that in common. They're from the Northwest and I'm from the South. I probably wouldn't have met them if I had not gone to South Korea. The three of us make up the full-time teaching staff. Andy lives next door to me, in room 610, and Brandon lives upstairs. I remarked to both of them when we went out to eat Monday night, "I'm so glad I have contacts here in Chungju. It's like I have instant friends!" It really feels that way; this week, we've been hanging out a lot after work, which usually ends at 8:30. They've been the people I do things with here.

Andy likes to go out to eat almost every night and he's really good at directions. He seems to have done his share of exploring the surroundings of Chungju. He always has an idea of where he wants to go. The first night we were out, he said he was going to E-Mart (which is like a Super-Target) and asked if we "would like to come with." I like to have him with me when I order food because he knows just enough Korean to be successful. Last night, he and I went to a Korean barbeque place. The waiter understood us until Andy tried to order rice. He said later that his pronunciation might have sounded like someone was saying "erce" in English. I admit I would not have been that good had I tried.

Brandon seems to enjoy a lot of different interests. He was telling me about a backpacking trip through Asia that he wants to take in a year. I told him it sounded like fun. He seems to be very helpful. He has really good classroom suggestions. Two days ago, he printed out some role-playing ideas for my high school class. Of that, I was quite appreciative. He also helped me plug in my stove (whoo-hoo!) and seems to know the quirks of my apartment. He said that he had actually lived in my apartment for two months. He moved out three days before I arrived because David thought that it would be better for the girl not to have to live upstairs. From what Brandon tells me, the upstairs only has two apartments and you can walk onto the roof from them. Interesting.

I'm looking forward to getting to know the people in my life now. I can't wait to see what the LORD will do.