Hemingway's old man meets Mr. Wonka

After a long afternoon of teaching I love going back to the quiet of my one room apartment, changing out of my nice clothes, eating a tasty snack, and relaxing with a good book. Although I must admit, some nights I flip on the TV and get sucked into an episode from an old season of Hell’s Kitchen or House playing on the English channels instead of picking up a book. I need those mind numbing nights on occasion, I mean, don’t we all?

Anyway, as I snooped through Kristen’s bookshelf one night, I spotted a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Realizing I had never read these books even though I am crazy about the original Willy Wonka movie with Gene Wilder, I figured it was about darn time I sat down and read the two. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a quick and fun read that made me better appreciate (although I still think the older one is better) the newer Willy Wonka movie with Johnny Depp since it truly followed the book. While waiting to swap the Chocolate Factory book for the Great Glass Elevator from Kristen, I picked up Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea from the school’s bookshelf. I was on a Hemingway kick this summer before I left for Korea so I was excited to find it on the shelf. The Old Man and the Sea is short enough that I knew I could squeeze it in between the Charlie series so it was perfect.

Hemingway’s book could not have been any more in the opposite spectrum of books from Charlie’s adventures but both stories were wonderful and inspiring stories in their own, unique way. Ah, reading is great for that, isn’t it?

The Old Man and the Sea is this very realistic story of an old fisherman down on his luck who, by his lonesome, battles a giant fish out at sea. It seems a sad tale at first but in the end is an inspiring story of triumph in defeat. Here’s one of my favorite lines…
“Don’t think, old man,” he said aloud. “Sail on this course and take it when it comes.” Good life advice, eh?

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator can officially be marked the most ridiculous story I’ve read in a long, long time. Trips to space, Wonka-Vites, Minusland, it all had me laughing. Among its ridiculousness I did find a great and inspiring passage that I think we all need to hear and take to heart…
“What if they capture us?” said Mrs. Bucket.
“What if they shoot us?” said Grandma Georgina.
“What if my beard were made of green spinach?” cried Mr. Wonka. “Bunkum and tummyrot! You’ll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that. Would Columbus have discovered America if he’d said ‘What if I sink on the way over? What if I meet pirates? What if I never come back?’ He wouldn’t have even started! We want no what-iffers around here, right Charlie? Off we go, then.”

Now after some lovely reads, I am only left wondering what would happen if Hemingway’s old man were to encounter Mr. Wonka or have a run in at sea with Charlie in the glass elevator…hmmm….a story that needs to be written….

Teaching is going wonderfully, even the few trouble classes that I wrote about previously I no longer dread. I feel like I have finally figured out how to manage the difficult students and may even be teaching them some English. I’ve been able to reveal more and more of my personality as they start listening and behaving in class so I think now they see me less as a strict, frustrated, and angry teacher and more like a person who really does care about their learning.

Over the weekend I went to the infamous karaoke rooms for the first time with Amber, Chris, and Willy, a manager at the new E.L.C. school. What little joys they are! I’m not sure how I’ve survived thus far without that kind of joy in my life. The rooms were tiny, scattered with little sitting pillows on the floor, and hanging on one wall was a large, flat screen TV. Just a few push of some buttons and the music starts blaring while miscellaneous music videos are played in the background. We jammed to some Korean songs done by Willy and a lot of terrible American songs from our childhood like “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls and “I Believe I Can Fly” from the Space Jam movie.

I also attempted to buy a webcam but failed miserably since NOTHING seems to be Mac friendly in Ulsan. Boo! I was feeling pretty down about my failed webcam mission so Edwin and I found a restaurant serving a Korean dish that I’d never tried before but he assured me was delicious. Some cow meat, vegetable, rice cake, soupy, noodle, mix, he said. It was very tasty but the “cow meat” was definitely not “meat” it was most certainly intestine. And the purple “rice cakes” were definitely cow liver mixed with rice cake. After I found this out I just told myself that it had to be extremely healthy and kept eating. Ma-shit-da! Tasty! Oh the adventures with food….
Later that night Edwin took me for a ride on his moped up into the mountains behind the city. Looking down on the city lights was super sweet. Acting just like a nervous parent of a teenager, he let me drive for a brief period of time before turning back and heading home for the night.

The weekdays fly by in the classroom…the weekend is almost here! Saturday I am going to an orphanage in Busan with a group from church. I am super excited to go and will let you all know how it was next week!

Hugs from Korea!