Saturday, December 15, 2007

Back By Popular Demand!

Well, the "Random Korean Facts" have been absent from the blog as of late but no more. Back by popular demand I give you, Random Korean Facts:

It's election time here. There are 12 candidates for mayor in the city of Daejeon. Now campaigning looks vastly different here. There are trucks with the picture of the candidate on the side of them that park at street corners and blast music while a dozen campaign workers (all dressed in the same outfit) dance a choreographed routine while singing the candidate's jingle. It's a truly amazing (and entirely humorous) event.

The city is digging up the road parallel to our dorm. There's some pretty heavy machinery involved in this process. They block off part of the road with a very small sign that says something in Korean but you are still allowed to walk through the gravel and danger. The other week, I came very close to a claw digging up concrete as I passed on my way. Can anyone say unsafe? In the same way, they were working on the power lines last week. But this time, nothing was blocked off. I walked by and something fell from the man working above me. Let's just say, I barely escaped the falling cable and all the workers acted like nothing happened....oh crazy Korea.

When a store has a grand opening here, there are dancers and live music accompanied with confetti and fireworks. It's a HUGE affair! (oh and the sign always says "Grand Open"...because English isn't always translated properly here). A Papa Johns just opened here...it was a big deal.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Monterey Jack Cheese

I didn't really have a great title for this entry. I'm tired and decided that the first words to enter my head would be the title. In true Wisconsin style, the name of my favorite cheese came to mind, reminding me how much I am craving a hunk of it at this very moment (despite the fact that it's 2am). Cheese knows no time barriers.

Even though I took the semester off from learning (I'm starting seminary courses in January), I've learned more about myself, faith and the Lord's will during the past few months than anticipated. Therefore, I still consider myself a student. But aren't we all still students anyway? My dad is going to give his oral defense for his doctorate this week (good luck, Dad!). He's going on 56 years old and is still a student. One of my students mentioned to me this week that he can't wait to get out of school so he could stop learning. "Oh boy" I told him, "you are going to be very disappointed with life then." We never stop. But I believe that can be an amazing encouragement to believers...especially if we are retaining what we learn instead of relearning the same lessons over and over. If you complete a unit in math, you move on. If you pass the class, you go onto the next. You gradually learn harder and more complex theories and equations. That's how the education system works. Does faith work like that? Once we learn something, can God throw something harder at us? Definitely. It's clear that the Lord teaches us through the Word, others believers, trials and more. If we can learn something about His character, plan or even about our relationship with Him (and retain it), He can throw much more our way. I'm grateful for the spiritual education available to those who ask for it (James 1:5). I hope that I'm a student for the rest of my life...