Koreans, at least the ones that I have met at Kosin, are some of the most generous and giving people I have ever met. Saturday morning Justin and I arrived in Busan; we were met at the airport by one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. Professor Park (one of many, many Parks) is the Dean of International Affairs and had the job of welcoming us and showing us around Kosin a little bit. During the car ride from the airport he informed us that we were going directly to the university where President Kim was eagerly waiting to meet us. The first thing that we learned about President Kim is that he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Dordt College. Along with that, he loves the reformed worldview that Dordt teaches; this meant that our first job was to edit the english version of a pamphlet about Kosin, correcting gramar and adding reformed perspective.
After our editing session and some conversation, which involved the Dordt Diamond, Justin and I teaching Bible study and preaching, and a possible trip to the Philipines, we went out for lunch with the President, Dean Park, and two Mongolian students: it was amazing food! The rest of the day involved some shopping for necessities, more Korean food, and settling in to our hotel room.
On Sunday, President Kim and his wife brough us to a church that wanted Justin and I to teach English Bible study at. We recieved flowers during the service, ate lunch in a special room with the pastor and elders, visited the church retreat house, and had a meeting in a special room of the church coffee house. This meeting consisted of the men speaking Korean and looking at Justin and I. About 45 minutes in to the meeting we were informed that, because the church was a 2 hour bus ride from the university, the church would buy us a car and give us gas money to come and teach at the church every Sunday! Yep, Justin and I recieved a car after being in Korea for less than 2 days! That night President Kim and his wife took us to a big fish market where the fish are swimming around in tanks and buckets. He proceeded to point to 2 kinds of fish and 2 lobster; yeah, we had lobster with the President! It was really good (well, the fish were raw and had a crazy, chewy texture), but President Kim told us to eat the meat where the legs connect to the body; that pasrt tasted like pond. :)
On Monday we showed up at the university at 9, recieved our class schedules and textbooks, and then discovered that classes started that very day! Oh, and we couldn't plan at all because we had an assembly at 11 to welcome the students and introduce the new faculty. When Justin and I were introduced the Vice President said we were both bachelors from Dordt College; this was responded to by applause, screams, hoots, and hollers! We had no clue what he had said, but we definately felt like rock stars. :)
The assembly ended at 12:30: Justin went straight to class, I went to lunch and went to class at 1. My class was a freshman general English class consisting of about 25 freshman Korean girls who giggled A LOT and only spoke English to ask if I had a girlfriend and tell me that I am handsome. :) I was a little surprised and very unprepared; class was very short.
Monday night we moved in to an apartment, but we will be moving into a new one in about a week. The one we are currently living in is about a ten minute walk up hill to Kosin, the new one is located directly beside the campus. We are really looking forward to the new apartment as our Tuesday morning walk caused immense amounts of perspiration and resulted in enormous back sweat marks and pitting out! :)
On top of all the other amazing acts of generosity, Justin and I each have our own offices (each twice the size of a faculty office at Dordt), leather computer chairs, brand new Samsung desktops, and an ocean view! The details surrounding classes and lack of planning have been frustrating, but overall everything is amazing here and I am loving Korea.
Alright, time to prepare for class.
Yours truly,
Professor Van Gelder (It still makes me laugh.)
Wednesday, August 29
Saturday, August 25
Off to Korea!
At this moment I am crossing over the Bering Sea on my way to Tokyo Japan. I know, it's crazy After returning from Spain 2 months ago I am off to Asia with my best friend to teach English at a university! We have no clue about our classes and we begin teaching on the 27th (we think). Excitement is welling up inside of me. I wonder about the food, the people, the experience of being a professor, the friendships I will form, the lessons I will learn. There is so much that lies ahead of me that I have no clue is coming, that will change who I am and how I live my life. It's crazy.
Of course, moving to Korea to experience new adventures means saying good-bye to friends and family once again. I am not an extremely emotional person when it comes to good-byes; perhaps it is because I have done it quite a lot, or perhaps I am just cold hearted. :) I feel like most of my good-byes are simply 'see you laters' and that some day I will see all of you again in a joyous reunion when we can share stories and laugh and delight in one another’s presence. Because of that, now, at this moment, sorrow is not present. That being said, I do care about you all as I leave and would love to receive emails about what is going on in your lives. [adamvangelder@gmail.com]. That is also crazy; I'm going to be half way around the world and can still cultivate and deepen relationships with friends in Iowa, Arkansas, Spain, and anywhere else in the world.
But the craziest thing about this all has not been mentioned yet. The craziest thing is that I am sitting inside of this giant metal object full of hundreds of people, bags, and who knows how many pounds of fuel, cruising at 37,000 feet at a rate of 500 mph. Now that is crazy! The fact that something this big can actually stay up in the air is amazing; a lot more amazing than some college graduate heading off to Korea.
Anyway, Justin and I have the important task of making friendly conversation with the stewardesses so we can get our hands on a piece of the first class cheesecake that is sitting in some cooler in the back of the plane. Mmmm!
Of course, moving to Korea to experience new adventures means saying good-bye to friends and family once again. I am not an extremely emotional person when it comes to good-byes; perhaps it is because I have done it quite a lot, or perhaps I am just cold hearted. :) I feel like most of my good-byes are simply 'see you laters' and that some day I will see all of you again in a joyous reunion when we can share stories and laugh and delight in one another’s presence. Because of that, now, at this moment, sorrow is not present. That being said, I do care about you all as I leave and would love to receive emails about what is going on in your lives. [adamvangelder@gmail.com]. That is also crazy; I'm going to be half way around the world and can still cultivate and deepen relationships with friends in Iowa, Arkansas, Spain, and anywhere else in the world.
But the craziest thing about this all has not been mentioned yet. The craziest thing is that I am sitting inside of this giant metal object full of hundreds of people, bags, and who knows how many pounds of fuel, cruising at 37,000 feet at a rate of 500 mph. Now that is crazy! The fact that something this big can actually stay up in the air is amazing; a lot more amazing than some college graduate heading off to Korea.
Anyway, Justin and I have the important task of making friendly conversation with the stewardesses so we can get our hands on a piece of the first class cheesecake that is sitting in some cooler in the back of the plane. Mmmm!
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