Monthly Archives: May 2011

LStan, this is your time to shine.

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I never thought it would be possible. Korea has turned normal. Or my brain has turned Korean. The first year I lived here my e-mails home were a lot like LStan’s page Only in Korea.  Then I started a blog about my adventures, but that has turned more into me reflecting on my first year of teaching and living life abroad in general.

Laura does the “living in Korea blog” perfectly. And this page (the one linked above) is amazing , please read it and you will gain even more understanding of my life here.

Feel free to check out the rest of her blog too, because it is HILARIOUS. I myself feel like I do (or have done) an awful lot of exploring in this country, and then I read/hear about my friends doing so much more. I need to get on this!

psshh, I want a cool blog header tooooo.

the simple life

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The countdown has begun. I am almost halfway through my third to final week of my first year teaching. I simply can’t believe it. I know everyone says this, but I have learned A LOT, mostly through the mistakes I made^^. My poor students. They were the guinea pigs… but they will always and forever be the first loves of my teaching life. I may even miss their daily nagging of me finding myself a husband (maybe). Watch me say that and then next year they wander down the hall from third grade to peak in my classroom and say, “got a ring on that finger yet?” GAAAAAHHHH!

My mom sent me and email today about the family vaca I am going on this summer with my parents and youngest brother (2 out of their 9 children tagging along to go out west? that’s actually a pretty good percentage!). As I read the message from her I realized how quickly my summer is going to go by.

First the Grand Canyon with the parentals. Then out east (Boston, Philly, New York, Baltimore, and maybe even D.C.!) with a group of besties. Then Michigan (you know, where I am from) and a friend’s wedding! Then back to Korea where I will leave to go to Nepal (mission trip-woot, woot!) before I come back again to start my second year of teaching. Did I mention that during that time I also have to complete two grad classes online? Part of which includes writing the first 3 chapters of my final thesis… Yup, that all hit me today and let’s just say I had a minor heart attack.

Now I just need to pack up and move apartments… what a simple life I live :b

driving miss daisy

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I lost seven thousand won today…

I have officially turned one year older since my last post. I am no longer a quarter of a century old. Though, to be quite honest, I often forget how old I am due to Koreans having a different system of keeping track of their age. They are one-years-old when they are born, and then everyone turns a year older in the new year. Which means if I were to go by the Korean system I would be 27, and on January 1st I would turn 28? Yeah, I still don’t get it… there are times in this country when someone asks me how old I am  (trust me, it happens a lot) and I have to think about it really hard, because sometimes I can’t remember.

I don’t think I will be forgetting my 26th birthday anytime soon though. Not only did fb give my secret away to my students (I may or may not sometimes have fb up during my break times at school… I am a hard worker, leave me alone!) when an invite to an event popped up and said, “Melody’s 26th Birthday!” … “Umm… Ms. Welton, I think I know how old you are.” I turned to see one of my girls smiling at me as she got out her notebook to start her morning work. MAN, I was able to keep it a secret ALL YEAR. Back to “not only did” (top of the paragraph), but I also had an amazing two full days celebrating my birthday (times zones, parties, love it), which is so cool, who wants just one day? It should be your birthday week!

There was this one summer back in college when I had to go home and live with the parents again (oh, the dorms…). I found a way to cope with my loss of independence (okay, my parents were very trusting, I really didn’t lose that much) through bike riding. I met my friend, Chris Howarth (you are so cool), every morning to go bike riding down a trail that ran through the heart of our small town.

I met him on a borrowed bike from the fam, since my purple ten-speed bike from my younger years always had something wrong with it. The day after I bought it I am not sure if a sibling was jealous or a hummingbird was really mad, but it had what could be described as sharp nail marks all down its brand new painted surface. It made me so sad to look at. It also had a flat tire for about five years and I didn’t know how to change it.

After that summer of bike riding love I took a bike my dad found in one of his empty apartments (that he rents out) back with me back to Kalamazoo with the hopes of riding more, then I realized how dangerous the area I lived in was (a gang fight may or may not have broken out over my car, men leaping, me screaming, fun times). That dream died.

Then I came to Korea. Last summer I discovered that you can rent bikes near the Han River by the hour. I made different people go riding with me every Saturday (for some reason the same people didn’t want to spend EVERY saturday waking up early to beat the crowd…weird!), it is my ultimate favorite thing to do in Seoul.

jee young and me biking along the han river last fall.

I kept telling myself that I needed to buy a bike. I wanted to buy a bike. I found the PERFECT bike. I named her driving miss daisy (I like uncapitalized names, don’t hate). I took a picture of her on my iPhone (which has successfully been returned to me! did you hear??? LOVE KOREA) and showed anyone who would look at me. This is her! And yet… I didn’t go buy her. I thought about the college loans I still had to pay off, and my next credit card bill. And so, I didn’t buy her.

THEN I GOT HER! Along with many other amazing gifts from family and friends (my awesome plaid scarf from a best friend back home who had no idea I was doing a plaid themed birthday, a colorful apron from mama k -by the way, what are you trying to say? I need to learn how to cook?!- beautiful jewelry my momma bought for me to support women who made them in Uganda, an inspirational artistic book from my sista, cards, flowers, pencil cases, magnets, nail kits… SHOOT what more could a girl ask for?).

I am ridiculously blessed!

before she was mine! I saw her hidden, not on display or anything. now she has a home.

the seven thousand won fell out of my back pocket when I took driving miss daisy out for her first spin today (it finally stopped raining!). I was looking forward to buying some pizza school pizza with that, but totally worth it ^^.

what happens next…

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………………………………………….dead air……………………………………………….

……………………………………………guilt…………………………………………………..

………………………………………….silence………………………………………………….

It’s kind of like this. You know when you do something dumb? And you think, “Wow, I am an idiot. I don’t deserve nice things. I need to take better care of what I have if I ever want to be blessed with more.” But the reality is, sometimes you just make mistakes. It happens. It doesn’t make you less of a person or a horrible human being. You learn from your mistakes and you do better next time.

For example… the next time I am on a train down to Suwon and I have a box of cupcakes, a bouquet, a huge basket of flowers, a big purse, a heavy backpack, and my station is coming up (like RIGHT NOW) so I should actually be standing by the door and not sitting down… I WILL make sure that my iPhone makes it from my lap to my purse and not from my lap to the floor/seat.

See? We learn from our mistakes. Oh, and I will also make sure that whatever country I am in, even if I don’t speak the language, to triple check that YES I do have insurance on an expensive electronic device that once lost feels like you are missing an appendage.

a shared revelation

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On an average day, my purse contains the following items:

  • lip gloss + chapstick
  • very flowery large wallet
  • planner
  • Bible
  • notebook
  • Nikon D5000
  • 3-5 pens
  • lotion
  • candy +gum
  • many, many receipts
  • random jewelry
  • book club book (that’s right, I am in one)
  • cell phone (that is before I lost it, [loud wail])
Needless to say, my purse is never light. When I was on Jeju Island last month my two girlfriends and I decided to rent scooters (some may call them mopeds in the States) for the weekend. While riding around we were free of all bags since they were in the compartment under our seats. Feeling nothing but the wind on my back and wearing nothing but my helmet, sick new shades, (and clothes-obvi), throughout the day I kept feeling like I was missing something. I didn’t have this extra weight around my shoulders and it felt weird… I loved the feeling of not being weighed down,  but it also made me feel paranoid. I always felt like I left something behind, and I didn’t like that feeling.
         At one point throughout the day I expressed these feeling to my girlfriends. We woke up the next morning to return our scooters to the lovely (and very trusting) lady we rented them from and afterwards one of my girlfriends turned to me and said, “Something you said yesterday gave me a huge revelation. I was thinking about it in the shower.” The shower  is usually where I get my huge revelations as well, so this made sense to me, but I had no idea what I had said.
       She reminded me of what I shared and then went on to explain how  people walk around with this weight, a burden. Then, God takes it away. We are free! And yet we feel like we need to have it back. We feel like we are missing something when it is not there. Which could be why so many people pick that burden back up even after God has released us from it. 
        It was an amazing revelation for me too. Thank you for sharing it with me R.

I googled the contents of a woman's purse and I got this image. Can't believe I forgot to mention nail polish!


To you it may seem like a letter… to me it’s a year-long hug.

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All the times I walked up that dreaded hill in Myeong Dong towards Namsanwon Children’s home; in the rain, in the snow, in the absolute freezing cold… and every time I showed up only to learn that Han Wool wasn’t there (mis-communications can be common among people who speak different languages, FYI). It was always worth it when I did get to hang out with him, honest. He makes me laugh, he makes me feel young (because I am getting so old, you know), he makes fun of me (how is that possible when he can’t speak English? oh… it’s possible!) and he has finally started trying to learn English.

It has been several months over a year since I started tutoring Han Wool. During that time we haven’t actually had a “real” (in the sense of verbal) conversation. I never knew how he felt about me hanging out with me once a week, did he just like the snacks I brought? Or playing games? Or getting presents?

Then, last Monday, my life changed.  I received a letter.

I love the stationary in Korea.

A rough translation of what this letter says (keep in mind his grammar even in Korean is still not perfect, he is only in 6th grade):

Dear Melody Teacher,

Hello, I am Han Wool Lee. It’s always fun to be with you, and one more. It’s always fun to play games with [insert several Korean names here, I don't have the power to switch my keyboard to Korean]. Study English is a little tricky, but because Melody Teacher teaches me I am thankful. Also thank you for helping me read English books. Thank you for buying me the soccer ball for my birthday. I really enjoyed eating the soft ice cream with you and [insert friend's name]. But there is something I am really sorry about. When I was playing soccer with the hyungs (Korean name younger boys call older boys they are close with) the ball went over the fence. And every time you smile at me and I wasn’t smiling back, right? From now I will study hard. You know you buy us snacks right? Thank you.

THE WELTONS

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If there is one thing I like to talk about more than talking about myself, it would be talking about other people! :)

Especially when those other people being talked about (by me) are my family.

Before the days of big family reality TV shows there were: THE WELTONS.

My youngest brother is the only one left at home right now and he has this amazing artistic ability that I am just now recognizing because I didn’t think it was possible to have THREE really amazing artists in the family. A spotlight on J2* is much deserved, this is his blog that he has to do for school, and he does it so well!

The second to youngest brother (I decided to go in reverse order, normally you start from the oldest, but I feel like spicing it up by mixing it up, don’t get too confused) has just finished his first year at Michigan State and he recently shaved his head. He also wrote me an email telling me his hopes and desires (in a “dude, what’s up yo?” sort of way) and let me tell you, T is mad smart and witty and strong, even without his hair.

G, she is the baby sister of the family (poor thing) and she is mad talented musically. My sis can sing you into tears of happiness/joy/sadness, you name it. She makes you feel. And even though she goes to my university’s rival school Central (because sometimes I pretend to care about such things), she is still cool.

H. Psshhh, she is going to take over the world at the age of 27, calling it right now. Not only did she graduate in 3 1/2 years (from Michigan State) and get a job in Chicago right out of the gate, she now works in Ann Arbor (back in the home state!) for GOOGLE. Don’t hate.

A2 is, in essence, a rock star. She took my advice (I like to think) and studied abroad, so she is extremely cultured. And yet, she is rocking the home roots of our small one stop-light town, loving the comfortableness (how can that not be a word?) of  cowboy boots and jeans while living in the oldest farmhouse in Barry County (raising cows to slaughter) and getting promotion after promotion at her job. She has to manage a lot of men in the truck rental industry and she does it with class.

The first wave of mad artistic ability came from my older bro, S, who went to U of M (yeah, we are spread out among the universities in Michigan, we like to play fair) because he is a very intelligent human being. Check him out on Vimeo. He is ridiculous.

As the oldest sister of the fam, A1 produced the two best looking children I have ever seen (link to her blog where she posts many pictures of the two best looking children). Honest. I am not just saying that because I am their Aunt (okay, I very well could be saying that because I am their Aunt). They are the cutest, most adorable, most beautiful, children on the face of the planet. For real. Anyway, back to A1, she is also talented (go figure), she can sing, she can play the piano (really well), she composes music (she composed a piece for a friend’s wedding dance song- WOW), and she is supermom. She is also married to this cool guy who is the brother of my oldest brother’s wife… K is super talented as far as lights and sounds systems go.

J1 KILLS IT as my big brother, I have no idea how I would act if I had to be the oldest out of nine… I feel very protected (except for when he is predicting my death) by J1, who is married to D (you know, the sister of K, A1′s husband, haha and YES totally legal), an amazingly beautiful woman of God who can bring the house down when she opens her mouth to sing. SO MUCH TALENT in my fam! J1 started up his own welding business (Brown Dog Welding) , he creates the most amazing things (the artist who tops them all), check him out.

Where do I even begin when talking about my mom and pops? After working in a factory for 30 years my dad started his own real estate business (with my mom) and is now the landlord of several homes and apartments. He can fix/do anything (include build a log house), he is the most stable man I know, he is (in my opinion) the greatest dad in the world. My mom, after having nine children (home-schooling all  of us, with the exception of little J2, at one point or another…yes we are that stereotypical big Christian family… or are we?!) decided to go to college and graduated at the top of her class (before I graduated from uni even though we started the same year… uh, I took my time to make sure I was really educated???) with a degree in nursing.

Yes, I do like to talk about other people. Especially my family. This picture was taken several years ago (it is kind of hard to get us all together) but its the most recent one I have.^^

*All names have been replaced by first initial, for safety reasons you know (since I am not posting their life stories on this blog, or pictures, or anything…).

xoxo,                                                                                                                                                       M

p.s. I apologize for my love and overuse of parenthesis, I just like to get as much information as possible (and have many afterthoughts/add-ons).

The Lazy River

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For the past couple of weeks at my school the entire elementary division has been working on a little something we like to call… (wait for it)… Write Across APIS. Every grade took a collection of Allen Say illustrations into their classrooms and let the students pick a picture. They took a picture they liked and came up with their own story to go along with it. I teach second grade (for those who may not know) and I had a student come up with a story that I just HAD to share. After she finished this story and read it to me, I almost had tears in my eyes. My students are so talented. First let me show you the picture, and then read the story below it (to keep as much authenticity as possible I typed it exactly as she wrote it).

The Lazy River

I have a little river. I wake it up each day. One day I went to wake her when I saw a man standing guarding her. I was scared but I couldn’t let my river go lazy. So I collected all my bravness and went to wake up my little river. When I was on my way the man caught me and said, “This river is sold.” “It is bought my the richest man in town.” My eyes were now fulled with tears. Everything seen blury. Now I couldn’t hold onto it and cried my loudest. The main could not stand it and finally said you can have the river back. And from that day no one bought the river again.

The end.

Farside

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e-mail that the bestie got from her mama (my Mama Jude!) last week:

“These are for Melody from Mama Jude (I don’t know how to put them on Facebook for her). They are fabulous and she will love them. If you have completed your  Children’s Bible that you got from Mel, you may just understand some of them.”

Later conversation with Kathleen, “I got about the first five.”

These are probably the highlight of my month, laughed SO HARD. Thanks Mama Jude!

a day for the children

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Kids. They deserve to have a day off. To be recognized for who they are: Children. In Korea, May 5th is just the day for that. A national holiday, no school (LOVE THAT), and the opportunity for parents to spoil their kiddies.

Only a lot of children in Seoul don’t have a parent to spoil them. I had the privilege of being able to go visit the boy I tutor at Namsanwon Children’s Home and cheer him on as he competed in a bunch of field day activities with the other children at the home. Four other volunteers/friends joined me and as I became the photographer of the event, a couple of the ladies joined in on the games (to see two foreigners race against each other after Korean children are running across the field as if their lives depended on it was PRICELESS) and we had ourselves a rip roaring good time.

The weather was amazing, the smiles were endless, and the kids were sad to see us go. Thank you God for giving me the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life!

Jee Young and Hye Yun!

my boy ROCKED at this game!

rooting for our team colors... with smiles!

my boy, he is actually reading English now! slowly but surely :)

I WANT HIM.

love the t-shirts, so korean^^

the volunteers.