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| The view from my hotel room. |
The past six days have been quite the whirlwind. Wednesday through Friday, the Korean supervisors took the Canadian teachers out of the school and brought us to Jeju Island. Jeju Island is very famous in the Pacific area especially for the beautiful beaches, hiking, and the volcanoes. It could probably be compared to Hawaiian Islands… though I’ve never been. We had to take a four-hour ferry from mainland to get to the island. Upon arrival, we met the tour guide and began a marathon of museums, beaches, gardens, volcanoes, hiking, Buddhist temples and an immense amount of time eating. We stayed in a hotel that was lavish beyond anything I’ve ever dreamed, oceanfront view, a down duvet, western and Korean style breakfast and more. I certainly felt like a fish out of water. The views were fantastic and the people were very kind. It still floors me that the Korean government brought me here and is paying my every expense. Amidst all the sightseeing and delicious food, my Kodak moment occurred on the ferry on the way back to mainland.
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| Beautiful beaches... so much to explore! |
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| Volcanic lava solidified and left over from the last explosion thousands of years ago. |
I was sitting by myself at a picnic table on the stern of the boat and was studying Korean when all of a sudden a family of five shows up – one mother and four children under the age of 11. There were no picnic tables left and, as I’m learning ever so quickly in Korea, communal sharing is much more common than in Canada therefore making my table an obvious choice for a family of five. While the mother ran around getting food, the two middle girls looked over my shoulder and my Korean book helping me to pronounce the new home vocabulary words I was learning. I would say sentences like, “This is a chair!” and they would laugh and correct my pronunciation. When the mother came back she opened her bag and gave me a peach. I mustered up all the Korean words I knew to have a choppy, yet meaningful, conversation with her and her children. She kept feeding me from her bag as I kept willing myself to communicate in this unrecognizable oriental language that is becoming more and more familiar to me as days go on. The oldest daughter could speak some English and it seemed that she was overjoyed to practice with me. Between her English, her mother’s English, and my 40 words in Korean, we were able to talk about professions, hobbies, homeland, school, children and more. In the end however, smiles, body language, food, laughter and obvious effort goes further in relationship communication than words will ever go.
Though the bus tour was a generous and an efficient way to see lots in a small amount of time, native Korean families take precedence for me - hands down.
I am not a natural born tourist; in fact though eating Korean barbeque with a group of thirty other Canadian teachers is fun, it compares in no way to sitting down with a family of five to eat “subak” (watermelon) to hear about their lives. Wading through the stunning beaches will never compare with searching for crayfish with a 6-year-old Korean boy. And certainly following a tour bus with a predetermined itinerary compares in no way to standing at the ticket booth in a bus station hoping that you didn’t mispronounce the city name thus resulting in a longer bus ride than anticipated! There are moments in your life when you feel ‘in the zone.’ Moments when you recognize that you are no longer just surviving but rather thriving through this thing called life. I love this feeling. I love knowing that I love what I do. I love the fulfillment that comes from the process of self-emptying wholly for the benefit of another person. Isn’t this what Jesus intended? That we thrive and not just survive? Where do you feel ‘in the zone,’ and what can you do in your life so that you’re thriving through the zone and not just surviving to get to the zone?
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