Meeting With the Heavy Hitters

So I started today with sort of high expectations because I knew I was meeting the director of the K-PACE program (Dr. Rhee) and the head of the English department (Patrick Travers). I'm also excited for the end of this week to have a little break from everything. I also ate 3 meals today which is the first time I've done that in a long time. It's weird, I'm just honestly not that hungry anymore haha, unbelievable I know.

Today started with some breakfast. I decided to have some 오므라이스 (Omurice) which is a Japanese dish that is basically a rice filled omelette. They also put the same sauce on it as they put on 돈가스 (Donkaseu) and that made it extra delicious. I was pretty full as Heavy G dropped me off in front of the global lounge more than 30 minutes early for my class.

Our class was almost entirely focused on review and listening, which is something I desperately need. I'm still not quite catching enough of sentences to make sense of them. That's alright though it will come. I just need to get the vocab down better.

After class was a meeting for the arm wrestling competition we are having on Friday. All of the foreign students are working out together all day on Friday. This consists of games and other "fun" things that sound like a complete drag, but will end up being fun after we get into them. Anyways, I was basically volunteered by the girls in our class to do the arm wrestling portion. Thanks ladies.

This isn't exactly my cup of tea. Playing hockey works mostly on your lower body. I was never really a gym rat so my upper body isn't all that strong. So despite being big I wouldn't consider myself all that strong. However being the big guy I of course have a target on my back. It's lose/lose. If I win everyone will think, "oh he's huge he should win", and if I lose it's "wow I can't believe they beat that ogre!". Oh well, I'm just gonna do my best to enjoy it.

At about 3:30 I headed over to the main building for my meeting with the big wigs at 4pm. I went in to the waiting room early and one of the secretaries brought me some apple juice. Man was she pretty too, I wish I had the sense to give her my business card. Yes, I have a business card here. I took some pictures of the waiting room to show you just how nice this building is.

Just kickin' it Korean style. (The open door is Dr. Rhee's office)

More of the waiting room. (The secretary is hiding behind that computer!)

The entrance to the waiting room.

Patrick actually got to the waiting room a bit before 4pm, so I was able to talk to him a bit and introduce myself before the official meeting start. I had seen him around campus, and he even came out and worked with the K-PACE group before but I didn't know who he was. I am very grateful to Dr. Rhee for setting up this meeting.

I basically asked Patrick every question I had regarding the best way to become a university level English teacher here in Korea. I also picked his brain for advice on what I should do going forward. He informed me that unfortunately the rules are pretty strict regarding certification and that you need a few specific things. With a BA you need 4 years of teaching experience, with an MA you need 2 years, and PhD is 0 years needed. The trick is that the experience needs to be AFTER you finish your degree. Also, teaching in Korean schools doesn't count towards your experience.

Wonderful. I'm not really sure what my next step will be regarding this, but I'm certainly going to follow the LORD. He's going to show me where to go, and it may not even be teaching English. I may just stick with special needs. I am absolutely loving it, and I am totally open to staying with it.

A funny thing happened tonight. A friend who I hadn't talked to in years called me on Facebook. We had messaged a few times over the years, but never an actual vocal conversation. Well that ended tonight, and we had about a 45 minute conversation about everything. The news, life, what I was doing over here, etc. He was very complimentary and encouraging in what he said, which I very much appreciate.

He mentioned that it was so honorable that I was giving up my time to help others, and that's more of what we need in this world. While I wholeheartedly agree, I don't see things from that angle. Being the one inside the story, I'm just taking one day at a time doing my best to follow where God is leading me. I'm no hero. I'm not special. I am merely passing on the love that God has shown me over the years.

I know, "but you're taking a year out of your life and basically paying to be there...etc" and you're right! I get it, I really do. I'm just trying to also portray the fact that my focus is elsewhere. Personal accolades mean nothing. They're fun to think about and honestly surprising when they come about, but those fade, and fast. I'm working for the treasure that lasts in heaven, and if that ends up taking me to dangerous places doing dangerous things, then I'll be doing that too.

Otherwise things were pretty tame here, although I had plenty of visitors in my room tonight. The heat bandit decided it was time to crank up the heat and shut my door as usual, only this time he stayed in the room and made me put on some esports so he could watch. Haha these kids are so great, they all have little things about them that make them unique. I love that about them.

Time for me to head to bed. Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!

Bonus picture of the youth service at church on Sunday!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 회사/회사원 (Hwae Sa/Hwae Sa Won) This office/office worker! If you're slaving away at your 9-5 try to take a break and take a walk or something!

TL:DR I'm in Korea.