Weekend Update: 2nd Week of November

So yesterday, due to a supply chain issue, we had our Halloween party in my class. It was really good, in my opinion. We carved pumpkins, decorated our trick-or-treat bags, coloured a little bit, dressed up like mummies, watched an Angry Birds video about Halloween, and trick-or treated! I hope the kids enjoyed it, they all seemed so greedy and poorly behaved :S I guess that's just the stage they're at.

Here's some photos. All my grades were together for this class.

In the background they're turning into mummies. In the foreground they're
getting their pumpkin and trick-or-treat bags ready. Ga-Young (standing on the chair)
doesn't look thrilled.

My naughty grade 3's were at the front 2 tables.

Troublemakers, but when they cooperate they're my favourite
people in the world :)

The other half of my grade 3 class.

My three grade 5 students, left, front, and bottom right,
looking at me expectantly. "Teacher, what?"

Ted (front) who never comes to my class but who I figured would
come once he knew candy was being served. In the background
are my favourite grade 4 boys.

Some more of my grade 3's acting all cute-like :) Ga-young maintains
her unenthusiastic expression (she's actually a terrific student, haha)

The mom who invited herself to the party did in fact show up, and thankfully didn't cause any trouble. In fact, she helped during the trick-or-treating part, which was nice. I still think she might go away when she finds out that none of the kids in my classes receive grades.

So a funny thing happened to me on Wednesday. I was walking to the bus stop from the dormitory when two Korean men came from the corner of my eye towards me. I could tell I was being approached, and to my surprise, they spoke English! Unfortunately, I was on my way to work and since I run on a tight schedule, a 30-second delay can mean I have to wait 10 more minutes for the next bus and that bus could possibly be the one that people want to get off or on at every single stop.... either way, I don't have a lot of leeway time.

Regardless, I told them that I was on my way to work, and so they walked with me. Turns out this guy is a pastor from a local church. I didn't know there was an English speaking church around campus, so this is welcome news. He told me they have an English service on Sundays at 5pm and that I was more than welcome to come. He then asked where I was going to work and I told him the name of my school in Damyang. He then said, "Well, if you'd like, I can drive you to your school." Sweet deal I thought, but I made sure that he could get me there by 2:20. I wasn't sure if he realized how out of the way Damyang was and I didn't want him saying he would do it and then drop me off on the side of the highway or something. He insisted it was perfectly fine, so I went with him and he drove me first to his church (which is actually really close by) so I could see where it was for Sunday. At this point, the thought flashed into my head... What if this is a big cult? Apparently there are quite a few cult-like churches in Korea, and people should be wary. I managed to get WiFi in his car so I quickly Wikipedia'd the church and it seemed legit. Whew. We then went to my school and chatted along the way. He invited me to lunch on Friday (which is today), so I went to meet him and we had a great chat. I'm surprised he was able to meet with me, he must be intensely busy. After all, he's the senior pastor of this particular UBF church and he told me that he's publishing his 3rd book next month and preparing to speak at a conference in Spain in December.

Regardless, I now have a connection to a local, English-speaking church which is exactly what I (and God, because He's the one who's reaching out to me) wanted. Happy day.