2004-07-28 - 2:45 a.m.

June 21 Summer Solstice

This weekend was pretty productive. I got two loads of wash done, despite the monsoon rains which started June 19. (well, we had a shower Thursday, but it wasn't much to speak of.) The rain let up a little on Saturday, so I put out one load. The girl upstairs turned on the heat to drive out the damp, so on Sunday I finished drying them indoors and hung out the second load. (It's still out there.) So far, the rain has cooled the air to a pleasant temperature. It's still shirtsleeve weather in the early morning for me, although Coreans are wearing jackets then. Indoors, it's way too hot for me. I presume she's comfortable with the temp in the high 80s Fahrenheit, about 32 degrees Centigrade. I can't sleep well, even with the fan blowing vigourously right on me. That's why I'm up and writing at 3 a.m. It is a good thing that I don't have to leave for work until 3 p.m.

I bought a new hand phone last week. Neither of the ones I had would hold a charge. I got a good one for 14 manwon (about $120). It speaks English and has a digital camera, too. I'm still experimenting with it. One of my adult students is going to get me an English instruction book.

I'm teaching the adult students in a new style and the students like it. I don't talk much; they do a lot of conversing with each other in English and I just walk around, listen to them and make encouraging noises. I don't feel like I'm teaching, just facilitating discussions, but they're happy to get a chance to practice using English. I vary it a little by having them write short paragraphs, read them out loud and answer questions that I pose. The time goes very fast in these classes,- must be because I'm focusing on listening intently.

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Friday (Kum-yo-il, Gold-day) July 2, 2004 @ 11:20 a.m.

I've spent the morning reading old Grapevines. Only made 2 meetings this week (Sun. & Wed.) and needed to get clearheaded. I'm fighting an infection and feeling very tired as I've been coughing a lot and haven't gotten much sleep. I feel like my life is confused. My room is cluttered. Yet I'm grateful for God's gifts,- a chance to earn an honest living, several good friends here and warm family relationships. (I know part of the confused feeling is a normal symptom of being sick.) The rest is nervousness about taking on more responsibility at work.

My co-worker/supervisor is leaving in six weeks and I'm moving into his position, with responsibilities for supervising other employees and negotiating with the organizations we serve. In addition, I'm adding another teaching class to my schedule,- a group of office workers at a city government bureau. In the fall, I'll be covering or finding other teachers to cover all his classes.

I feel nervous about the extra load. I can't afford to get sick. It's a good thing Gina and Syll will be helping me. They'll be doing the Corean-language negotiations. And the substitute teachers can cover a few extra classes, too. Namsue has a good network, as does Randy, I think. And, if worse comes to worse, I can call on John Broden's network, though his teachers are expensive. That's how this works, through personal connections, a very Corean-style business.

When I look at my history, that is the same way that I found both of my long-lasting and most satisfying jobs. So I shouldn't call it "Corean-style." Maybe it's just "human-style." Either that, or I am "Corean inside" as one of my local friends said.

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Well, I'm getting slowly caught up.

Happy Trails!

~ Sil in Corea

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