Special Moments

June 30th...

Last night brought me something very unique and unexpected. Let me begin by telling you the main purpose of my coming to Korea. My aspirations for participating in this summer school program involve gaining an understanding of what it feels like to be in the minority; the feeling of walking down the street and not fitting in with my surroundings. I have had small accounts of that feeling when I lived in Louisiana and worked at a school that was predominantly African-American and Hispanic. I remember the kids questioning why I talked the way I did; they thought I sounded funny. That experience however, was merely looking different on the outside. I still spoke the language; I still felt comfortable and self-assured. At this point, I want to live in a society that is completely different than anything I have ever known, and discover how well I will adapt.

I am certainly acquiring that feeling. I have briefly described the accounts of the first couple of days that I was here, in which I had nobody to speak to and no way to find out how to live here. Since then I have met some of the students here, all of whom speak english at least at the beginner level. I'm slowly figuring out how things work and how to go about a routine. I have gone from a person who usually knows how to figure things out on her own, to one that sits back and observes others first before acting. I want to make sure that I follow cultural standards in the way they interact with one another both verbally and inverbally, so that I may be a polite guest while I am here. In Jyvaskyla I completely immersed myself within the group of the international students I went to class with, and didn't really take a lot of time to just "be" in Finland, and observe what it would be like to just live there. In South Korea, I am taking a different approach. I want to simply "be" and discover how others regard me as well as how well I am able to adjust to a culture that is so diverse.

Ola Joseph, an author and speaker from Nigeria, once said, "Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another's uniqueness". Last night after dinner I sat down at a bench in an area in which many people pass. I brought a book and just read for awhile. During that time I had a Korean guy, a couple years younger than I, approach me and talk with me about why I am here. He began to tell me that he is getting ready to graduate with a degree in Electrical Engineering because that is what his parents wanted for him, so that he could make a lot of money in his career. He confessed that what he has come to love is teaching, because he finds so much fulfillment in that, because He feels like he would be better able to serve God in doing something he loved. That lead to a great discussion about God and what it means for us to follow His will in our daily lives. It was just an amazing conversation, because I did not expect to have one such as that in Korea...not randomly. Then, maybe 30 minutes later, two middle-aged women approached me and gave me a complement, simply because they thought I seemed nice. I invited them to sit down next to me. Upon doing so, they saw the cross that I wear around my neck. (I recently purchased a small Celtic cross in Ireland) They asked if I was Christian and I proudly said, yes. After that their faces lit up with excitement, and we had somewhat of a similar conversation as I had with the other guy. They stayed maybe 15 minutes, as their english was somewhat limited, and told me how happy they were to meet me. I felt just the same.

I don't know how to explain these random encounters, except to know that God brought me so much comfort and hope because of them. Our world is very large, but through Him we are really brought together as one.