MTI Korea 2011 and 2012: April 1, 2012 Robin and Aileen, Korea

True story:
I was in the MTI office and one of the office staff gave me the small plastic package in the photo.

It contains concentrated apple juice from her father's farm.
"Does your father have a large apple orchard?"
" No. It is not big just average."
"So does he do this with all his apples? Is it a big operation?"
"No. Many farmers do this in a small production for local people. We do it a lot."
" Wow. Good idea."
"Yes we do it with apples, peaches, strawberries, onions......"
"Onions?"
"Yes it is very popular. We boil it until the ingredients are soft and concentrated. We drink it for our health."
"Onions?"
" Sure. Also dog, goat, black goat and ....."
"Okay. I guess you are correct. It must be very healthy"
"We use black goat as a drink after birth. It's very expensive and tastes terrible but...."

Actually I have seen zero black goats but quite a few dogs in Korea so I guess "goat drink" is more popular than dog.

Korean Culture/history
Each day in class, as a speaking activity, one person talks about culture in Korea or some other place.
One of my students spoke of "high school culture" The final year of High School is VERY important as the results determines the university you will enter. In brief she went to school at 7.30am and had classes till lunch.

After lunch more classes and then dinner at about 5.30pm plus 20 minutes cleaning the school.
After dinner more self-study classes and then school finished about 9.30pm. She then attended a private "academy" arriving home at 12.30 am.

This is 6 days a week and usually Sunday as well. Because she is a Christian she was allowed to miss Sunday lessons. After the results of the final year are announced there are always a number of students suicideing.

She says that Uni can be described in one word, "booze". Academically it's easy. Everybody passes. It seems that many pass out as well - regularly.

US

We have been busy with our classes that start at 8.30 am and finish at 9.00pm. We have a couple of hours break in the afternoons, so it is a long day but not too bad. The students are inspiring, their devotion and commitment encourage us to work our faith out each day.

Our Sunday School has quietened down somewhat. We have about 70- 80 kids from grade 1 to 6. It is meant to be in English, but many things have to be translated. We have a lot of young people helping, which is great. Aileen tells the story (with lots of actions and visual aids) and we organise games and activities. The biggest problem is trying to fill in an hour plus with activities suitable for children with limited English understanding and with such a wide age range.

Our "English for EXPO" classes have started and meets on Friday nights. You may recall in our last blog we told you we had 1 sign up. The first night we had 18 starters with 7 apologies. The second Friday we had 19 with 5 new people and it had been raining "cats and dogs" all day. We also had CBS (Christian) Television turn up. This venture has one primary object of out-reach into the community. We do have quite a few church members but also people from the district. We hope to expand each week.

Please remember us in your prayers. Things go well and we are well. Two teachers have not been so well and some students are a little ill. One of Aileen's students was a beginner and finding it difficult. He went to the hospital with a cold. The doctor gave him some medicine and wanted him to leave. He refused as he felt he "needed time" in hospital. Five days later he is still there!

Every night there is a half hour " One to one". Here individual students meet with a teacher in private. They discuss many things including their concerns and worries. Sometimes, it can be quite intense and we need some wisdom.

We think of you all often.