In major need of prays

As some of you may know, about a year ago I started getting really depressed. I reached my breaking point in mid-November and reached out to my therapist from years ago.  Through our time together, she strongly suggest I go a therapy workshop at Onsite.  While I was not financially equipped to attend the Learning to Love Yourself program, The Lord made a way and I was able to attend.  Anyone who knew me well before and after the program could easily see the dramatic change in me.  Honestly, even people who knew me from a far would come up to me and tell me they noticed the change.  The Lord used the experience at Onsite changed my life drastically.

However, in the past week, I have felt myself being effected by everything here in a very negative way.  I continue to look towards God for guidance and he has put many wonderful people in my life to help.  It's just been with EVERYTHING that keeps going wrong with this transition, I start questioning if I am really supposed to be here.  Don't get me wrong, with all that has been going wrong, there are so many blessing from God.

He is answering prayers I've had for years left and right.
He is working on both Tom and I spiritually and leading us into very similar directions at the same time.  It's so incredible to see Him answer prayers, at what seems like, the moment I pray them.  Once I spent hours praying about very specific things in our relationship.  Tom and I didn't talk for about 2 days after that, due to my lack of internet.  When we finally talked he started telling me all these spiritual things that have been happening with him and the timeline lined up with my prayer session.  All I could do was smile.
Also, I have found a great church where I can get poured into spiritually.  The women's bible study I've started attending seems to have been built by God for me. (I know the class is not just for me, but it fits everything I've been seeking for years.) Then, there are wonderful ladies around my age I hang out with from church.  Most are ex-pat teachers or Korean who are really with English.  One of the American girls is into knitting and she will help me get connected with her group of knitters within the next 2 weeks.
At school, I feel as if I am improving by leaps and bounds everyday.  I have finally learned all the students names and am getting better and better at my problem areas.  My students get excited to see me which makes me feel as if I am doing something right.
All in all I feel like I am settling in very well.

(I am about to share something I've never talked with anyone about until I told Tom the other day.*)
However, with all the issues getting here, from delayed paper work to my physical journey here(read about it) and my housing and medical issues, I am feeling very attacked.  I have been hearing about a lot of spiritual warfare(Christiany verbiage) and have been digging into scripture to set my mind on things above.  However, with me getting really spiritually fatigue lately, I think it has started to open up a lot of old issues.  The depression seems to be slowly coming back, so I ask for you prayers about this.
On top of that I had a visit from an old demonic being I used to deal with as a child.*  I honestly don't remember when was the last time I had a visit from him, but I know it was the same one from before.  That entire night I could not sleep for more than 30-45 minutes and which has thrown off my sleeping pattern.  Also, the growth of the depressive feeling/ weight has been growing at a quicker rate.
I had Tom pray right after it appeared.  Once Rachael returned from her Chuseok trip, she prayed as well.  And I have been praying about it since the moment it appeared.
I can feel it taking a toll on me and all relationships around me.  I can also feel myself slipping into my depressive tendency to want to be by myself.  Before I went to Onsite, I was terrified to sleep in a place by myself.  God used Onsite to rid me of that fear.  Well, since that night I have been growing increasingly frightful of moving into my place and sleeping by myself. (Don't get me wrong, I am also very excited about have my own space.)

I have been praying without ceasing about these issues and The Lord has given me a few ideas.  One, to get me out of the apartment, I might start Geocashing.  Unlike when I lived in Europe, I have had zero desire to explore this place.  Everyone who knows me knows new experience and learning about other cultures are two things that excite me most.  But for some reason, I feel numb towards this city.  So, I am praying Geocashing will force me to leave the apartment and also get me excited about Seoul.
Secondly, and this is IMPORTANT, I want to ask everyone to join me in praying for my apartment and my space TUESDAY 24 SEPT 2013.  Pray this demon does not step foot in my apartment, my school, my church or any other space I frequent.  It does not have permission and in the name of Jesus, he is NEVER welcomed around me again.

(photo from the bridge on my way to work, this was not meant to look design-y)

Gotta get ready for work now.

Laters Ya'll,

miss Phyl

Happy Chuseok

Chuseok is "Korea Thanksgiving."  Many Koreans head back to their hometown and spend time with family.  According to visitkorea.com, many partake in Beolcho, weeding your ancestors grave.  This year Chuseok fall on a Thursday, but the day before and the day after are also considered as part of the holiday.  Thus, I have a FIVE DAY WEEKEND!  If you'd like to read more about the holiday check out Visit Korea's page about Chuseok.

(courtney's kraze burgers & my chicken and rice | chuseok eve meal)

(we made a chuseok mean together)

Courtney and I also made some decorations for your apartments.  I'd been eyeing this project on Pinterest for over a year now and I finally did it.  It was fun watching the two of use work.  I am such a perfectionist and I wanted EVERYTHING to be perfect.  Where as Courtney is more loose with her approach, but I think so far both are very lovely. I however injured myself and now probably have a scar with the hot glue.

If you want to know how we made(are still making) the flowers, here is a link to the blog I found through Pinterest.  Her directions were a little confusing so if you want some clarification just ask me. Hint: make sure you draw the petal with the lines on the paper going up and down.  If you don't the petals will come out limp.

(balloons with paper mâché)

(cutouts of petals 1-4)

(my injury from the hot glue)

(half way there)

Laters Ya'll,
missPhyl

The week in review: vlog

(my door | the phytoncide people are in there cleaning)

(bacon, spanish & mushroom omelette and OJ )

(got caught eating with rachael at 11:45pm)

(american pizza at bonny's after church with the ladies)

(went to the han river after church)

Two Weeks Down

This week was my first week teaching.  All in all its good.  I already have a favorite student, it's ok for me to say that, right?  His name is Alex and he is in one of my one-student classes.  He is so incredibly smart and such a joy to be around.  I end my Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with him.

All in all the kids in my class have fully warmed up to me.  Some are more talkative than others, but I think a lot has to do with comprehension levels. When they see me in the hall they smile and say, "Hi, Jande Teacher."  That's how the students address the teachers.  They call us by our first name and add the word "teacher" after.  It's really cute.

I have one class, my Nina class, that I am still working on figuring how to get a handle on them.  They are a larger class for our Junggye campus, 10 students.  I need to figure out a better way to check their homework and keep order in the classroom.  I have to check their homework in class because they need to take their books home after class to do homework for the next day.  I wish I could rip the pages out and check them not in class, but that is not an option.  I am working on an idea for a new approach this week, if anyone has any ideas, let me know.  Pray I figure out something soon.

Other than that, the week was great with the students.

*****ROOM DRAMA*****

I am in a bit of a situation with my apartment right now.  I am still living on Rachael's couch because the guy who lived in my apartment before me smoked.   Eunice, My Asian, and I spent a very long time woking on getting the smell out of the place.  We sprayed Soju all over the walls.  We scrubbed down the place with bleach.  We also covered the mattress with baking soda.  I even paid to get rid of the couch he left hoping that all this would help get the smell out, but still smoky smelling.

(the mattress with baking soda for the odor)

(my welcome package from the school)

(so glad to have my asian in my life now. don't know what i would do without her during this time,)

Those of you who know me know I CANNOT live in a smoky apartment.  I have been trying to get the school and HR to re-wallpaper my apartment and possible get me a new mattress. It's been a bit of an ordeal and I ask you to join me in prayer about the situation.  I cried for the first time I can remember at work on Tuesday partially due to the drama over the situation.

When I talked to the school and told them all the work I'd put into trying to get rid of the smell, their suggestion was for me to burn a candle.  Seriously???? I almost laughed at first because I didn't think that was their serious suggestion.  Apparently, they were serious.  I told them, I will do as you suggest, but I WILL NOT spend anymore of my money on this issue.  It is their job to take care of this.  So, they got me a candle.  I wish I'd take a photo of the candle but forgot.   As of this morning, the candle has completely burned out. I have also had the window opened for a week.  On top of that, I borrowed someone's air purifier.  Still the place smells smoky and is NOT livable.

Keep me and this situation in your prayers please.  I truly believe The Lord has me here for a reason and I don't want Satan's distractions to get in my way.

Laters Ya'll,

miss Phyl

For those of you who don't have facebook, this is what Rachael and I did last week.

If you remember, last Monday, we both wore black and white striped dress.  Well, Tuesday morning, we bother pool out coral dresses.  When we got to school, one of the Korean teachers laughed and commented on our dresses look similar again.

Then on the way back from school the security guard started speaking Korean to us.  Since neither of use speak the language... yet, we just did a lot of smiling and nodding.

As Rachael and I walked away from him and loaded the elevator, it hit me.  I turned to her and said, "I think we just told him we are lesbians.'  We both just laughed, because it is so easy to communicate something without knowing what you are saying.

When we got to the room we remembered we forgot to take a photo together in our coral dresses.  One thing led to another and this jewel was birthed.

Laters Ya'll,

miss Phyl

Where am I and what am I doing?

The first week was great and a bit of a whirlwind.  I finally went to Avalon English's Junggye campus to work with the LangCon program.  Ok, so what do all those words mean? I know a lot of you don't fully understand what I am doing, honestly I am still trying to fully understand what's going on around me.  Let me explain what I know thus far.

Avalon, is one of the biggest and, according to My Asian, top three English hogwan programs in Korea.  Hogwans, in simple terms, are after school programs.  At Avalon the students can attend a 3 day program (MWF) or a 2 day program(TF).  LangCon, from what I've understood so far, are the lower level students in the Avalon English structure.  However, I have met some students at LangCon with better reading, writing and comprehension skill than many students in the US her age.  I am not entirely sure at what point students move up to Avalon's other program, which I believe is called Champ.  Since I missed orientation, a lot of things are still fuzzy.

Junggye's is one of the five main sections of Nowon(pronounced no-juan).  Nowon is one of the 25 gu(districts) of Seoul. Seoul, in case you don't know, is the "Soul of Asia" and the capital of the Republic of Korea.  I don't know a lot about geographical break down of Seoul, but feel free to check out Seoul Village, a blog I used to help he better understand.

(map of seoul with nowon)

For the first few days several of the students had dramatic external reactions to me.  I was told, but I already knew this, that Korea's have a reputation of being prejudice towards black people.  Apparently it is mostly because of a lack of exposure.  In a few students' eyes I saw genuine fear when they first laid eyes on me sitting in their classrooms for observations.  It was really neat to see the fear, shock and bewilderment melt away and turn into curiosity.  There are still a few student who I have not had the chance to be in their class, so they still look, point, whisper and giggle, but for the most part the student body has warmed up to me.

*****

Sidebar: Seriously, black people, outside of Itaewon, the Black People Capitol of Seoul, are few and far between.  Up until Saturday when Eunice, My Asian, took me to Itaewon, I had not seen any black people outside of the handful at Rachael's church, Onnuri.  So, when saw this group of people at the train station in Ichon, I had to take a picture.  I made Rachael pose for a fake photo just to capture the moment.  Apparently, I was not ninja enough, because it totally looks like that guy is staring into my lens.  Probably shouldn't have had her posing for several seconds while I took several photos.

(black people in korea)

*****

Back to explaining. As a foreign teacher, I try to help young Korean students(grade 1-6) better understand, read and speak English.  At Avalon Junggye's campus there are 4 Korean teachers and 4 foreign teachers and for now we all get along.  Students have one class taught by an foriegn/native speaker teacher and one taught by a Korean teacher.  Right now I am mainly teaching Language Arts, but have one class where I'll be teaching social studies.  We teach the beginners the alphabet and simple words.  As the students progress through the program, harder task are required for them.  The most advance students are writing and communicating so well they make presentations and have debates in English.  It's quite impressive.

Mostly, I teach students the mid range students.  I have only one class where the students are just leaning words in English, my Atlas class (I'll talk about the class names and breakdown the system later). Other than that, most of my students can form very simple sentences in English.  My class sizes range from 1-11.  I teach 9 different blocks of 6 types of classes over 2 days this semester.  Today, I taught both of my one student classes, however I had an extra student in the class that's supposed to be just one boy.  Apparently she's in my class only Monday and Friday this week.  I am extremely excited to teach these one-on-on classes because they are in my wheelhouse.

In one of those one-on-one classes, I have a girl a lot of the teachers say they dread teaching, but I am excited.  She reminds me of all the wonderful times I have had in the past 7.5 years as a private tutor to so many lovely young women.  I really think I can help her focus and push past her attention issue.  Plus, this one-on-one attention might be what she needs to drastically advance her English skills.  I have three months with her this semester and I cannot wait to see how The Lord will use me on her life. 

That's about it for now.  It's really late here and I need to get my brain rested for day two. 

Laters Ya'll,

miss Phyl