AndyinKorea: 04/09/05

Daniel (from Vietnam), another of our fine international students. As you can see, he works part-time at the school cafeteria delivering pizza and chicken around campus.

Sunlin Hospital: Class 3 of 10

Last night, instead of taking the 7:30pm Handong bus to Pohang (free shuttle buses are provided both ways-about each hour), I took Kim Dae Oak up on his offer last week of a possible ride to Sunlin Hospital. (Also known as "The Good Samaritan Hospital in English"!) Who is Kim Dae Oak you ask? He works at the Handong Chaplain's Office. He teaches a course on "Bible and Life", does a lot of counseling and manages several small group bible studies. He teaches the larger group of more than 20 doctors/nurses at Sunlin Hospital on Friday nights from 8:40 to 9:30 pm while I teach the smaller, more confident high-level students.
Today our class looked at multi-culturalism and how it relates to cross cultural mission work.
Our warmup ? was "What is the gospel "in a nutshell"?"
After several wonderful answers and good discussion, we looked at 1 Corinthians 15:1-8:

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

(The Apostle Paul)

It's important to remember that the cross is at the center of the gospel. Jesus died for our sins and rose again ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE.

We looked at this verse "according to scripture" to see where it was indicated this would happen hundreds of years and even thousands of years in advance. (Gen. 3:15, Gen 22, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22...)

I noticed that some of the students were more confident and bolder to speak in English tonight, Praise God!!

We looked at a few simple cultural info quiz sheets to get us thinking about other cultures.

Here are some of the ?s: (Check how you do yourself: answers to follow)

In Burma, the _____ is worn as an amulet for protection against evil. (fish/cat/frog)
In India, holy men and women usually wear the color _____. (orange/yellow/white)
In Thailand, a monk wears a(n) _____ robe. (orange/green/white)
A Moslem place of worship is called a _____. (mosque/church/synagogue)
The day of week of rest and religious observances is called ___. (Independence Day, Sabbath, Dave Day)
Among Arabs, the common headdress is called a _____. (Panama hat, Fez, Kaffiyeh)
What are the official languages of Kenya? (English & French, German & Swahili, English & Swahili)

(Answers:1-frog, 2-white, 3-orange, 4-mosque, 5-Sabbath, 6-Kaffiyeh, 7-English & Swahili)

We then took turns sharing cross cultural experiences we've had and then thought of one word (adjectives) to describe how the situations felt. (For example: strange, moving, frightening, sad, disgusting, funny, interesting...) Some of my students interesting cross-cultural experiences:

In Cambodia, seeing wild pigs running around through the garbage on the streets.
In Sri Lanka, having no toilet paper....
In Cambodia, many families only able to provide one meal a day of noodles
In the mountains of Mongolia, only having one cup of water with which to wash your entire body.
In Nepal, being devoured by parasites that left scars for over a year and not being able to shower for 15 days.

Wow! I was so surprised to hear the personal experiences of my students.

We then ended the last few minutes with continuing our responses to possible ?s people on the mission field might ask us. (Keeping 1 Peter 3:15 in mind...) So far, the students are doing VERY well and I pray that God will truly prepare them to witness to those around them; not only on "the mission field" but each day to the individual people Our Sovereign Lord chooses to put in our paths.

Kim Dae-Oak, professor/chaplain at Handong Global University. Also a fellow teacher at Sunlin Hospital Medical Missionary Center on Friday nights and beloved brother in Christ.

Kim OkSoon, pharmacist, loves going to the bookstore and listening to music. Her goal in life is "to walk with God and to know God more and more!"(She is married to a Handong Law student!)

Oh Eun-Hee, head-nurse, whose goal is to become slimmer, loves reading her bible. Her motto of life is "Doing good, smiling and positive thinking."

Lee Hyo-Jung, nurse, whose goal is "well being". She, though only 25, has been on mission and loves it.

Kwon Ji-Hyun, nurse, who enjoys hiking and walking. She has not yet been on a medical mission and really hopes to soon. Her entire goal of life is God's love.

Lee Kyung-Sook, psychiatrist/doctor, who loves cooking and therefore really loves going to the market to see all the vegetables, fish and so on.

Kim TaeKun, acupuncturist, who enjoys reading the news through the internet. His goal is to be a good bible teacher in any place. His philosophy of life is "To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." (Matthew 6:33)

Torture chamber cleverly disguised as a dental clinic

Treatment or Torture?!

When does a Chinese guy go to the dentist?
Answer: "Tooth hurty" (Get it?! "2:30")
When does Andy go to the dentist?
Answer: When he realizes it's been a couple of years!

Jeannie Chang, a DLE colleague, offered to take me to the dentist today. We were both unimpressed with a previous dentist several of us had visited about a month ago. At that time, they just did a quick surface check and said my teeth were fine. There were no x-rays or anything!
It's a good thing we got a 2nd opinion as the dentist today said that I had a few problems that needed work. The main point was that I would need 2 crowns at 400,000 won (or about $400US) each. The dentist said that crowns last only about 2 years...
Today was just a check-up and "scaling" (cleaning with a drill like instrument). My gums were bleeding like a stuck pig and I needed to be given some medication to help my sensitive gums.
"Sensitive gums, sensitive skin, sensitive heart; that's me!"
Well, nothing like a violent dentist to get you focused in prayer with the Lord!
Made me recall something I had heard-That dentists, of all professions, have the highest probability of committing suicide. Now, I myself don't believe every statistic I hear. Like Mark Twain said:
"There are 3 kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics."
The high rate of dentists committing suicide may have something to do with the fact that no one wants to visit them as everyone despises dental visits. After today's visit, I can truly understand, for the first time, why this might be so...

Anna Kim being both naughty and hilarious by taking my photo while getting my gums hacked to pieces by the dentist!

Jeannie Chang; one of my wonderful colleagues! (Can you believe a woman like this is still on "the market"? :-))

What a beautiful smile! This is Anna Kim; one of the most wonderful, godly Christian women I know on campus. She is now in her 1st year at Handong Law School after graduating last year.

Jeannie Chang and Anna Kim just outside the dental clinic!

Spring-Sprang-Sprung

Well, spring certainly has arrived!!!
With spring, cherry blossoms too have appeared in full bloom!!!
I have heard it explained that:
Cherry blossoms represent the Japanese people in that they spring up suddenly for a short spell. Whereas, the willow tree represents the Korean people in that they have weeped and hung low for many years due to the oppression from the Japanese in their past.
You can add whatever symbolic nonsense you wish to flowers and trees-I'll simply enjoy them and magnify God for His great creative genius!!!!

The camera does not do justice to the beauty that the naked eye may behold with the coming of spring on Handong campus! (Main Administration building)

gorgeous cherry blossums in full bloom with the DLE building/Hyoam cafeteria in the background

Cherry blossum trees just behind my dorm (#4)

Anwar; a really great guy! He is one of our cherished international students (from Uzbekistan). Don't let the "An" fool you-He is 100% Uzbek!!!

The "famous"-Why-not-change-the-world-Handong-University-entrance-rock"!!!

Paul (Young Kil) Kim; 2nd year graduate student of the translation deparment. (Was on his way home to Taegu for the weekend when he saw me and stopped to chat!)

MinSu (M.S.); graduate student from the translation department. Great English student and great in class debates!

Why not indeed? AND Why not in deed?

View from top of chapel stairs towards the main administration building with the DLE (Department of Language and Education) building seen in the top right corner.

View from top of chapel stairs looking straight forward toward the soccer field and the Student Union building (which contains the main student cafeteria, snack bar, barber shop, student club rooms and more!) just behind it.

View from top of chapel stairs looking towards the dorms.

The main chapel entrance. (Can seat a few thousand.)

plaque on the side of Hyoam Chapel...can you read that?

Hyoam cafeteria with the chapel just above and behind it.

Jung Hay-Won, one of my grammar practice students from last semester. She was the 1st student to tell me I look like David Beckam...I believe she got an A+, ha!ha!

Tell-Me-More

Our Language Department has been using a 2nd language acquisition program called Tell-Me-More which we have been using with EF (English Foundation) and EC (English Communication) since March of 2004. Overall, it's a very nice supplementary learning program. This is the 1st semester we have designated "lab profs" (or "lab rats" as my good friend, Peter, has called us....) to supervise and run the lab classes. I am one of them. Lynn has set the whole thing up and she has been such a marvelous help!!!
Some times I think I'm losing my mind though as I hear students repeating over and over again such statements as:

"Sorry? I didn't understand."
"My sunglasses. I need my sunglasses."
"Do you have your bikini?"

It is a wonderful opportunity to get to interact with some of our freshman students though as I don't have any EC or EF classes this semester. Each week I have 5 lab classes, which means that I see almost 150 EF/EC students in the computer lab.