Growing Pains

Last Thursday, I had two different students coming to me about their teeth moving. Jonah, in traditional Jonah-fashion, faced this new development with excitement and wonder. And being the boy that he is, just couldn't wait to make his teeth move more. Every 5 seconds, he was touching his teeth, touching his teeth, touching his teeth. At one point, I threatened to tie a string to his tooth and yank it out then and there if he didn't get his hands out of his mouth (I practice tough love in the classroom.)
The other little tooth-mover was Cathy. Cathy is small, and while very lovable, also prone to whining, especially when faced with ways of the world that she just doesn't understand. Everything that happens is like the end of the world because she just doesn't know any better. For instance, "I'm hot!" Well, dear, it's because your grandma makes you wear 3 layers of long-johns before putting on your real clothes and then adds a sweater on top of htat. "Tummy hurt." Well, dear, that's really your intestines and you're probably lactose intolerant..just give it a while. "Tooth moving!" Poor gal, teeth are supposed to move. But she was not aware of this, so she was pretty sore about her moving tooth and the fact that Jillian-Teacher was not doing much to fix it.
Friday, 3 students came to school missing teeth! Jonah & Cathy both lost a tooth from the bottom and Aaron lost both of his front teeth. (Aaron tends to be a little out of touch with reality, so his teeth were probably also wiggling on Thursday, and it just never occured to him that something was happening with his body or that he could share it with the rest of us.)
Anyways, as a teacher, this is the first time all year my kids have started losing their teeth. I felt really proud of my little Kinder, losing their baby teeth AND realizing it's not a bad thing, but just a rite of passage into the big-kid-world. My little monkeys are growing up!!!


Jonah



Aaron





Cathy

Bring on the 온돌 (Ondol)!

A good night's sleep: I've got my "thin mattress," a comforter,
and improving circulation. ^^

Before I came to Korea, in an ill-fated attempt to cheer up a friend through the use of bad comedy, my friend KTB and I were watching a Kdrama called SuperRookie. We watched as one of the main girls returns broken hearted to her little 1-room studio apartment and rolls up her blankets off the floor. While this seemed all perfectly normal to me (note: willing to accept cultural differences and be totally oblivious to the fact that it's different = helps me to better adjust to new environments!), KTB turns to me a says, "Jillian! You're going to have furniture, there? Aren't you?!"
I really couldn't understand why this worried her so. I figured, if the Koreans apparently can live without furniture, so can I. So I think I probably shrugged and said, "Yeahhhhhh....I think I'll have furniture."
Turns out, I do have furniture. Some pieces that are fairly good compared to the other teacher apartments (like my giant couch).
What I have recently discovered, though, is how good life can be without furniture. Koreans, being the forward thinkers that they are, traditionally (as in, for the past 2,000 years or so) heat their homes with 온돌 (Ondol), a system of pipes that run hot water under the floor. A couple of weeks ago, in trying to combat a sore back, I tried sleeping on the floor and thought, huh, that was ok. Now, a couple of weeks later, the temperature has dropped several more degrees and sleeping on the floor has become really good.
Here is how you do it: you put down a thin mattress called a Yo (thin mattress, thick quilt, same-same). And then as you sleep, your mattress and pillows soak up all the warmth and it's like being in an incubator. It's fairly amazing, and I never want to stand up in the mornings. Except, even standing up is not bad, because I don't have to worry about my feet hitting a cold floor. The floor has been heating up all night!
I've done some research as well, as to why 온돌 is so ingenious. 1) It perfectly illustrates the Korean mindset that opposites can exist in harmony with each other. Warm feet, cold head? What? It makes perfect sense here and apparently is the Korean recipe for well-balanced health. They also think it increases your circulation. Apparently, this sort of heating also symbolizes the "coziness and camaraderie" of family. A Korean home without 온돌 means a family is missing warmth.
Physical and emotional health and a good night's sleep all through tiny pipes under the floor? I'm sold! I want this in all of my future homes!

Thanks E.E.!

SO, I hope to be writing some more this week and sharing some pics from autumn in Seoul, but for now, I just wanted to share a passage I was reading this evening that I found refreshing:
"Here, I think, lies the answer to the barrenness of a single life, or of a life that might otherwise be selfish or lonely. It is the answer, I have found, to depression as well. You yourself will be given light in exchange for pouring yourself out for the hungry; you yourself will get guidance, the satisfaction of your longings, and strength, when you 'pour yourself out,' when you make the satisfaction of somebody else's desire your own concern; you yourself will be a source of refreshment, a builder, a leader into healing and rest at a time when things around you seem to have crumbled."
~ Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be a Woman, commenting on Isaiah 58:10-12

I Must Get Organized!!!

SO, sometimes when I go to clean my apartment, I start in one corner and then discover something  I don't like about it and instead of getting to the rest of the apartment, I find myself alphabetizing all of my books and color-coding my stationary or something like that...apparently, this trait also carries over into my digital life. ^^ I have some blogs I've been wanting to write: stories from the fall, explanations about some Korean cultural things...and a couple of videos I wanted to put up...
But first I realized, my pictures are not efficiently organized...SO I spent much of the afternoon rearranging and trying to condense my photos so that they would upload into Picasa in an organized manner. Except, Picasa does not organize albums by folder & subfolder, so my attempts at streamlining have been somewhat thwarted. Anyways, suffice to say, I now have a new goal to organize my online photos. Lucky for me, I love organizing things.
Anyways, so some updates to start with:
1) My Jubilee album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jlluttrell/Jubilee#
This includes all photos from Jubilee & Ecclesia events, except for last year's rafting trip, which is in its own folder. If you talk to me for any amount of time, you know how much time I spend at Jubilee, so if you're interested to see where and with whom I see at church, this is the spot!
2) Seoul Albums: I have 2. The first one, "Life in Seoul" http://picasaweb.google.com/jlluttrell/LifeInSeoul# is a mix of my life in the city up until my 2010 summer vacation. The second one "Seoul, SarangHaeYo" http://picasaweb.google.com/jlluttrell/SeoulSarangHaeYo# is general pics of life and adventures from August until I am home again.
Other pics of the city tend to be organized by neighborhood (Dongdaemun, Hongdae, Gangnam, etc.)...I'm not sure how to streamline all those, but I'll look into this week.
OK, sorry for the boring post. But keep an eye on the pics, they are being updated daily!!!

Mosquitos-12, Jillian-0

A letter~
Dear Jillian,
You may think that it is nearing late fall and that temperatures are dropping and that this allows you to sleep in peace, but we at the Foundation for Traditional Korea Mosquito Rights (hereafter FTKMR) would like to respectfully disagree. You are forgetting that you are not in America; we are not American mosquitoes. Unlike our American brethren, we do not succumb to your Western ideals of weather and temperature and "correct" season for "bugs." We maintain the right to withdraw your blood all throughout the year, not just during the "summer" months.
We would like to thank you for leaving your mosquito net open the other night, thereby enabling us to infiltrate the space you have kept so carefully guarded through the summer months. Because of your actions, many hungry mosquito youths will now have prime feasting for several days. We would also like to recognize your attention to animal rights when you decided to leave your repellant burner unplugged. This gave us a valuable opportunity to try out some new tactics and spend some quality time with our fellow FTKMR members without fear of spontaneous fainting or invisible forcefields.
In closing, I would like to assure you that we know it can be tough living in a big city alone, but we will not leave you unattended. When you are typing, eating, or sleeping, we will be right there, ready to remind you that you live in Korea and that you are not alone.
Sincerely,
the Foundation for Traditioanal Korean Mosquito Rights

I've never made so much foam before!

Sunday afternoon in Ecclesia.
It's like eat, pray, & love on a chai tea latte.

In case you ever wonder what I do on my weekends, because I'm so mysterious and surely must be up to chicanery in the big city, well....at least half of the weekend I spend at Ecclesia...creating as many shenanigans as I can while also trying to make a good latte, making sure people know that that dollop of foam contains just a little bit of the Holy Spirit. (joking joking...kind of...)

Ecclesia is the cafe inside of Jubilee. It's on the 4th floor of our new building. I much prefer the new location, because in the old building, there were no windows in Ecclesia and you could never tell what time of day it was or anything. In our new set-up, we have a whole patio AND sliding doors, so the whole cafe gets infused with fresh air!
Anyways, today was an incredibly busy day. INCREDIBLY! It was crazy. The whole day it was pretty calm and then right about 3:55 BAM! suddenly the whole church is up in Ecclesia and everybody wants a latte! (or americano, or iced americano, or cafe mocha, or caramel macchiato, or chai tea latte, or green tea -- WAIT! WHERE'S THE GREEN TEA? DID YOU FIND IT YET??? IS IT THE SAME AS HERBAL TEA? CAN WE JUST GIVE THEM HERBAL TEA AND HOPE THEY DON'T NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE? That was only one of our drama today!) It stayed really busy until about 4:15. (Note: There is a 4 o'clock Bible Study. So you know those 3:55 people are the "punctual" ones and the 4:15 people are the late-comers. :P ) During this time, we ran out of milk (but thankfully Jodie ran down to a grocery store nearby) and house coffee (hey look guys! You get an americano! surpriiiiiiise!) and had no time to clean anything up (food safety training on the spread of bacteria? whaaaaa?).
So our counter ended up looking like this:

Too much powder! Too much syrup! Makes Jodie a tired gal^^

This is what I think is cool. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, because Lord knows, man, even this morning I thought, I still have sooo much to learn. But anyways, I started serving at Ecclesia soon after I joined Jubilee. I was thinking about joining the refreshing team as a way to get more involved (a wonder of God in itself, b/c I don't remember the last time I was "involved" in a church) and ended up coming to a meeting for Ecclesia. (2md Note: in the old building, Ecclesia Cafe and Refreshing Team were 2 different teams. Now we're all one happy Ecclesia Team) I thought, I've worked in coffee before...even making coffee at church (Mercy House, senior year at Ball State...Ok, I guess I do know the last time I was involved in a church), so this could be fun.
But I didn't have a super good attitude about it. I enjoyed making coffee...because I enjoy making coffee in general. I like trying to make the perfect foam and a 25 second shot and doing things in the correct order, because that gives you a better milk:foam ration and such. I appreciate a well-made drink, and I like to challenge myself to also make good drinks.
Going on...anyways, so my prayer in the fall was that God would change me. change me change me change me. My prayer in the winter was that God would change me. My prayer in the spring was that God would change me. My prayer now (ongoing, really, because there's always things to be changed) is that God would change me. And today I noticed, well, He did, in at least one way.
When I first started with Ecclesia, I tried to make good drinks, but I didn't try to be on the team or really take any pride in the ministry. I habitually came late and missed Sundays without notice and got really frustrated if I had to stay longer than I had planned and I didn't really feel very connected to the rest of the team. I was 27 and still the rebellious teenager. (Honestly, I wasn't a very rebellious teenager, you can ask my mom, so maybe all the rebelliousness has just decided to come out in spurts.)
Fast forward to now...since August I've been the "assistant leader" for Ecclesia. (Yeah! me! the rebellious barista!) And how does this happen? I plan on spending ALL day at Ecclesia on Sundays. And usually I LIKE spending all day at Ecclesia. I like the busy parts, I like the quiet moments, I like adding "extras" to people's drinks just to let them know that we care. I like being on a team and being friends with the people on that team and sharing life with them.


I can't handle the foam!



I like the idea that *somehow*someway*hopefully* our team is building up God's people and serving the church and sharing God's love. It's amazing. And it's all God. Because, obviously, left to my own devices, I would be a very petulent rebellious person. But God somehow takes those sharp edges and wheedles them down to something completely new and different. And I am so thankful for that. Thankful that our God does change us and doesn't just let us wallow in our own deficiencies. Thankful that God changes us and we don't even realize it, in areas we didn't think about. And thankful...just so completely thankful for all that I have in my life. ^^

CoffeeCoffeeCoffee

One time on Gilmore Girls, Lorelei walks into a coffee shop and says "Coffeecoffeecoffee." The lady hands her 3 cups of coffee. And Lorelei says, I only ordered 1. And the lady says, "You said, Coffeecoffeecoffee. That's 3 coffees."

Here's an inside tip: I love getting coffee. I love holding something warm in my hands, slowly bringing it close to my nose, and inhaling the lovely aroma of espresso, steamed milk, and (in tonight's case) caramel syrup. I used to not care for coffee at all...thinking it wasn't sweet enough and such. Then I discovered milk and sugar and the problem was solved.

Drinking coffee as a free time activity was probably solidified when I lived in Germany. Germans make "getting a coffee" last a whole afternoon...and when a mug is only $3-4, why not? Coffee became more than a way to stay awake in class, but a way to unwind, spend time, have deep conversations, think about life, and in today's case: escape from a sudden downpour.

  In Korea, the coffee shop trend has really flourished. Even chain stores specialize in presentation, each one claiming more quality and authenticity than the next. Prior to coming here, I had managed to wean myself off of coffee, but how can I resist here? Coffee becomes not just a drink, but a social activity, a place for quiet, a way to make work more exciting, etc. etc.

Since it is such a part of my life, I thought I'd show some pics of recent outings. Appearance is everything in this country, and coffee never fails to disappoint. 

 

Kristen & Suie introduced me to the Panda Man Cafe. He can do amazing latte art.






 





Caramel Macchiato and waffle at Cafe Bene.
This was some very sturdy foam. I was impressed.

 

The Hello Kitty Cafe in Hongdae.

I found my people!