Little House on the Monday

I think I first started to enjoy reading after I started the Little House series in third or fourth grade. It didn't occur to me for a long time that these books were more geared towards a female audience. Looking back, I can't believe I had actually asked my mom to buy me all the Rose Wilder Lane books too. But in my defense, I wasn't reading these secret series out of enjoyment; it was more out of a stubborn persistence to be able to say that I had finished all that there was to read about Laura Ingalls. I think I didn't know what I was trying to prove really.

Anyway, I recently found myself having to read The Long Winter, which is one of the books in the original series. It's fascinating to read about the naivety and innocence of these farm girls who have never lived in the midst of anyone outside of their family. Once they move in to town and start going to school, the book says:

"Mary and Laura and Carrie were all enjoying school so much that they were sorry when Saturday and Sunday interrupted it. They looked forward to Monday."

I personally cannot remember the last time I ever looked forward to a Monday outside of holidays and school breaks. While Korean students, or any person today for that matter, would think that the Ingalls girls are crazy, I think there was something right and proper in their attitude and approach to the weekday.

God did not intend our studies or work to be dreadful or burdensome. But somewhere between the fall of creation and now, Monday became the epitome of the worst thing to look forward to in the average person's life. In fact, Office Space even coined the expression, "the case of the Mondays" as if it were some disease or sickness. Today happens to be Hump Day. On Friday, we thank God that it's finally here! How is it that man has turned Monday into something so terrible?

Thought of the Day: 판다

Song of the Day: 재주소년-춤추는 대구에서

This week's persecuted church: Uzbekistan

Mid-May in Eastern Uzbekistan police badly beat a woman, attacking in her home, in front of her daughter, for having taken part in Christian religious activities. Several hospitals have also refused to treat the woman, frightened by the police.

In the country, even owning a Bible can be a serious crime. The appeals court in Tashkent ordered the Christian Baptist Galina Shemetova to a fine of 2,486,750 som (about 1,015 euros, 50 times the minimum monthly pay) for having given a children’s Bible to a colleague. For this reason she is accused of proselytizing. The woman was also beaten by the police, but the court of appeals did not want to discuss the issue.

On April 14 the Protestant Anvar Rajapov was sentenced to a fine of 80 times the minimum wage because the police found religious books in his house. The Tashkent court did not notify him of the sentence, but the police confiscated his passport and threatened him with death if he appeals the decision.

On 26 May Tashkent police arrested the Baptists Amir Temur and Sergey Shilnikov: they had a Bible, two Gospels of John and two other religious texts. They were charged for having introduced and illegally traded improper religious literature.

Seinfeld & Scott Pilgrim

I didn't really start to appreciate Seinfeld until I got to the middle of the third season. It's funny because so many people can relate to the things that happen in the show.

Terrance recommended Scott Pilgrim vs. The World to me almost a year ago. I finally watched it yesterday and freaking enjoyed it. WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB!

Why do I like so many things that aren't necessarily for everyone?

Thought of the Day: 63 Building

Song of the Day: Sex Bob-omb-Threshold

Kimjongilia

I just finished watching an amazing documentary on North Korea. Make time to watch this.

"Since I've tasted freedom, I need to share it with my people."

Thought of the Day: North Korea

Song of the Day: Tchaikovsky-Swan Lake

All of the Above

11:35 AM - Phil buys a new umbrella in case current ghetto one breaks or gets stolen/lost/forgotten somewhere during this monsoon season.

5:20 PM - Phil stands underneath a building passageway to avoid rain while killing time before 5:30 class. He holds his umbrella with one hand while the newly bought one is held inside his bag.

5:21 PM - Pretty girl comes out of nowhere and stands underneath the passageway without an umbrella.

5:22 PM - Pretty girl contemplates when to run across to the other side while rain is still coming down.

5:23 PM - Phil contemplates whether or not to offer Pretty girl his (spare) umbrella.

5:24 PM - Phil contemplates awkward reaction from both parties.

5:25 PM - Pretty girl runs across to the other side in the rain and enters Mister Donut.

5:26 PM - Phil regrets not being a gentleman to Pretty girl.

5:27 PM - Phil goes to class.

Phil is...

a) selfish

b) a coward

c) not a gentleman

d) all of the above

Thought of the Day: Visa Picture

Song of the Day: M.I.A.-There's Space For Ol Dat I See

Out of Context

My favorite TV show these days is Modern Family. I think the brilliance of this show comes from the use of ambiguity in different contexts. The misinterpretations are timed perfectly so that words and behaviors are taken out of context, thus leading to some hilarious misunderstanding. Unfortunately, many of the misunderstandings in our lives are also "timed perfectly" in a way that doesn't always lead to so much laughter. But speaking of the matter, here's a quote I recently heard by Lawrence Krauss:

"If one believes that homosexuality is an abomination because it says so in the Bible, one has to accept the other things that are said in the Bible including the allowance to kill your children if they are disobedient or a validation of the right to sleep with your father if you need to have a child and there are no other men around and so forth."

How would you respond to this statement to put everything in its proper context?

Thought of the Day: Humid

Song of the Day: 2PM-Hands Up

남이섬 and 춘천

Martin and I took a Friday off to escape life and work in Seoul to go to 남이섬.

The train to 춘천 area is awesome. 급행 and everything.

My favorite sandals finally broke on me when I tripped out of the taxi. My mom was happy I finally thew them away.

Going abroad

to Nami Republic.

We thought this was a pretty cool looking bridge

until we realized those were flattened soju bottles.

Christmas tree

made out of more soju bottles.

We wanted to explore some more, so we headed over to 춘천, home of everyone's favorite 닭갈비.

Here is a map at the station showing a number of restaurants to visit.

But we just asked the taxi driver to take us somewhere not too bad. Not bad at all.

We asked our next taxi driver to take us to the fun spot of 춘천, so he took us to a place called "명동"

which happened to be like two streets.

The End.

Thought of the Day: Closed Haircut

Song of the Day: The Submarines-Love Notes/Letter Bombs Album

This week's persecuted church: Pakistan

Police this month tortured a young Christian woman into revealing the whereabouts of the legal team helping her family after an influential Muslim family kidnapped her and her sister. Police also helped the Muslim family beat the relatives of the Christian woman on court premises and attacked the offices of the organization trying to help her family.

This family is a very influential family of the area, and they had been threatening a repeat of a Gojra carnage if their girl was not returned to them. At least seven Christians were burned alive by Muslim mobs in Gojra after the spread of a rumor of blaspheming Islam on August 1, 2009.

Thought of the Day: Wedding

Song of the Day: f(x)-피노키오 (Danger)

Just in case you were wondering,

I didn't get the job.

Thought of the Day: Cosigner

Song of the Day: Nada Surf-Inside Of Love

Daily Bread

"The most important thing in your life is your personal devotional study each day. If you fail there, you will fail everywhere. If you fail there, you will fail everywhere."

-Ravi Zacharias

I don't remember too many of my youth group Friday Bible study nights, but there was one night where our director, Allen Lee, challenged us to read the Bible once or twice a day for one week. When we regrouped the following Friday, it turned out that everyone had failed the challenge...everyone but me.

Today, sometimes people ask me how I am so "disciplined" and consistent with things like daily devotionals. I understand where they're coming from as I have my share of difficulties with setting aside time each day for the Lord. But I think more than anything, the problem begins when we view these precious times as "discipline" or even "time FOR the Lord" as if God needed us to read and pray to make Him happy. While there is worship that goes to God, we are the ones who receive the benefits and joys of being near Him.

I know that my devotional time becomes a burden as soon as I see God's Word as just some book or if prayer feels like an obligation or duty. But I also know that when I choose not to read or speak to God, I am being blatantly arrogant and living as if I don't need Him in my life. Man, devotionals are the easiest and the hardest thing to do in the world.

Thought of the Day: Happy Birthday, Snugs!

Song of the Day: Utada Hikaru-Keep Tryin' (Forever Voices Mix)

짝사랑

Leave me alone, 모기s, or else I'll have to break more than just your heart! 1:58AM. !@$%

Thought of the Day: Sprained Finger

Song of the Day: 푸른새벽-Tabula Rasa

This week's persecuted church: Indonesia

An Indonesian court jailed 17 men for up to five months Thursday for burning churches and attacking police, one of the worst religious hate crime cases to have hit the mainly Muslim country.

A 1,500-strong mob of angry Muslims set two churches alight and ransacked a third in the Central Java town of Temanggung in February as they demanded that a Christian man be sentenced to death for insulting Islam.

The incident began when mayhem erupted inside a court and spilled into the streets, where protesters set a police vehicle ablaze and threw stones at officers, who responded with tear gas and warning shots.

Four panels of judges at Semarang district court convicted a total of 17 Muslims in connection with the violence, sentencing 16 of them to five months in jail and the last to four months.

"They are legally and convincingly proven guilty in destroying public properties and carrying out assault," one of the judges said.

The terms were lighter than the 10 months sought by prosecutors as the convicts had been co-operative during the trial, he added.

One of those convicted, Supriyanto, was found guilty of sending text messages to several people a day before the Christian's trial, on the orders of a local Muslim cleric.

"Based on evidence and witnesses' testimonies, Supriyanto incited people to take part in the attack in Temanggung," another judge said.

Nine more defendants, including the cleric said to be the "mastermind" behind the attack, will hear their verdicts next week.

Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect has been escalating since 2008.

Thought of the Day: Charley/Joe Birthday
Song of the Day: Chris Tomlin-Famous One

Out of Time

Many of my students find it very interesting how I always come on time. They ask me if all Americans think keeping the time is important. I've always thought that I was a relatively punctual person (occasional exceptions aside), but maybe it's just the American in me. When I ask about when their other teachers come, they say usually 10-15 minutes, sometimes even 30 minutes late. Freaking Korean Time.

The thing that really amazes my students though is how I don't even come a few minutes early or late; I'm always right on the dot. It's to the point where if I am a few minutes late, they ask me if something had happened to me. Haha. What do they call that again? Type A personality?

I promise I'm more of a Type AB!

Thought of the Day: Match Point

Song of the Day: TheThe-못믿을 사람

My Last Many Weekends

After publishing the previous post, I realized that my life kinda disappeared from this blog at some point. So here are some brief summaries of some of the eventful weekends I had in the near past.
International Festival with Nate and Meen. Korea is the only place in the world where they'll have alcohol as prizes.
Homeless outreach on Sunday nights in Seoul Station.
Informal Samsung penthouse party where I had my first experience of African food. I literally ate like five plates.
One last dinner with my favorite cousin and his soon to be wife.
Finally, a water balloon picnic at Han River. Consider yourself updated.

More Wise Words

"...do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever pictures me there with you...it is your desperate attempt to get some control over something you can't. It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn't even real, nor will it ever be real. You try and play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear."

-Jesus from The Shack

"Don't judge a philosophy by its abuse."

-St. Augustine

"If you have to deal with bad characters, you must come down to them, not in their sin, but in their roughness and in their style of language, so as to take hold of them."

-C.H. Spurgeon

Thought of the Day: X-men: First Class

Song of the Day: Big Bang-Tonight

This week's persecuted church: China

More than 20 members of a Beijing illegal church were arrested May 29 as they tried to gather for an outdoor service in what was the eighth straight week of public confrontation between the congregation and the Chinese government.

Police arrested at least 22 members of Shouwang Church, which has been trying to meet outdoors after the government forced members from their indoor facility. Many more likely would have been arrested had police not placed most of the members under house arrest since Friday, preventing them from even leaving their house. The church has nearly 1,000 members. Twenty-one of the members were released by midnight, and the final one released the next day. All the church's leaders have been under house arrest for weeks, and some members have lost their jobs and been forced from their homes as the government pressures employers and landlords.

Thought of the Day: The Shack

Song of the Day: Erik Satie-Trois Gymnopedies

Spanish Proverb

"A man who loves one woman loves all women. A man who loves many women doesn't love any of them at all."

Thought of the Day: Netbook

Song of the Day: (500) Days Of Summer (Promo Score)-Things Were Going So Well