Where is God on Good Friday?

Korea has been overwhelmed with sadness, anger, confusion, and frustration over the recent tragedy of the ferry boat accident. Many are outraged by the guilt-ridden captain of the ship, the unreliable press, and the incompetent politicians along with the president. The reality of the situation hadn't hit me until I finally saw a video of the ship completely submerged under water. The man sitting next to me on the subway was also watching the same news channel on his phone and sniffling and fighting back tears. I've never mourned with Korea like this before. Where is God in all of this?

Less than a week ago on Palm Sunday, our church sang and gave a lot of attention to the word, 'Hosanna,' which means 'save us.' That word carried a lot more meaning after hearing about the Korean high school students crying out their own hosannas as their ship was sinking into the water. Desperate for rescue and safety, the country has joined in their cry for any form of help they can get. God, where are you in all of this as we're crying out for salvation?

Tonight, our Good Friday service had a record attendance of 11 people. After a time of scripture, hymns, and prayers, we were asked to leave in silence with a sense of solemnity just as the disciples had after Jesus was arrested. Funny how our number of 11 happened to match the number of disciples who had scattered and abandoned him that night. But before we separated and went our own ways, we read through the psalm that Jesus quoted while hanging on the cross: Psalm 22 that starts with "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

We've all prayed that same prayer before. God seems to be M.I.A. Unaware. Unresponsive. Uncaring. Silent. Distant. I will repeat the same question a third time: God, where are you? But the psalm Jesus quotes does not end with that question; it is merely the introduction to a cry that ends in praise. What appears to be a psalm of despair actually turns out to be a psalm of hope. He knew pain and suffering. He knows our pain and suffering. Our God is deeply and heavily involved with every situation and will not let death have its final say. As it says towards the end of Psalm 22, "All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive."

The Lord hears. The Lord knows. The Lord died. The Lord resurrected. The Lord is working. Where is God in all of this? He is right here deeply and heavily involved with us.

Thought of the Day: Good Friday
Song of the Day: Third Day-Medley

Basketball and Powerpoints

My students will walk into my classroom and find me either working on a powerpoint or watching basketball. As they've grown accustomed to watching the NBA, I've grown accustomed to hearing some funny comments about various players and teams.

Denver Nuggets = Chicken Nuggets

GS (Golden State) = Gangnam Style, GS25

Gasol (Mark) = Gasoline

Mister Jung = MJ

And of course, every basketball player they see is automatically Michael Jordan.


I should get back to my powerpoint.

Thought of the Day: National Siblings Day
Song of the Day: Gillian Hills-Zou bisou bisou

S(pr)ay

Two different teachers accidentally spit out rice while chewing and talking during lunch. That's a new record.

But that's okay because it's FRIDAY!


Thought of the Day: Rainer
Song of the Day: Darude-Sandstorm

5-0

Look how happy the cop is.

Thought of the Day: Birthday Party
Song of the Day: Ann Margaret-Slowly

Lego Future

I don't know when, but at some point Legos started taking steroids and produced a line of amazing Star Wars (and now, Simpsons) figurines. One of my friends has a nephew who is dying to get this Simpsons house. Unhindered by its $200 price value, he is actively looking for anyone in the U.S. who would be willing to ship it to him here in Korea. I wonder if I'll have children someday who will beg their father to buy them $200 toys. Yikes.

But I gotta admit it's pretty cool.

Thought of the Day: Calvin & Hobbes
Song of the Day: WHOwho-Her

Waiting for "Superman"

This is the only documentary that has ever brought me to tears. I need to learn to become a teacher of excellence.

Thought of the Day: Sick

It was fun, girl

Tomorrow is my last day of Winter Camp, which means pizza, Pocari Sweat, and prizes! Out of all the English Camps I've taught, I prepared the most for this one and feel like all the brainstorming and hard work really paid off. I received three student evaluations so far, and they all chose 'Very Satisfied' with the camp. I wonder what the other six will say, but whatever they write...it was fun, girl.

Here's the music video we made in class for our final activity that I'll be showing tomorrow.

Thought of the Day: Milk
Song of the Day: Bruno Mars-Marry You

Fighting!

Here's my first post for 2014. With all of our hopes and wishes for this year, how about we start it off with some 화이팅?

I hear various people thinking about leaving for California this year. Is it a sign?

Thought of the Day: Dry Air
Song of the Day: 마익흘-The Konglish Song

Smaug

I had put off watching the second Hobbit movie due to lack of finances and interest, but I finally mustered enough will to reserve a ticket and make time before it disappeared from theaters. Although I was limited to a front row seat at a matinee hour, I was able to get a generous discount and appreciate a lowly anticipated movie with an AWESOME dragon.

That is one mean dragon. It's almost disappointing to know that he'll die in the next movie, which I had no idea about. I was sitting through the movie wondering how in the world Peter Jackson was going to wrap up this whole story in the next 30...20...10 minutes! And so when the movie ended with those awesome lines, "I am fire. I am...DEATH," I was half-disappointed that I'd have to watch another Hobbit movie but also satisfied with how this sequel ended. But yeah, I am totally a fan of Smaug now.

Thought of the Day: Jansport

"I wanna be a billionaire..."

Last night, I had a dream that I was in a Simpsons episode that parodied Korean culture in America. I somehow ended up living in that episode and went to an ATM to deposit a paycheck that was just over $200 so that I can buy some lottery tickets for this current Mega Millions jackpot. My paycheck ended up jamming the machine, and I had to leave the machine with many frustrated people who were in line behind me. I went to Hana Bank to tell them about my problem, but their wonderful solution was to wait. The end.

There is a Korean superstition about seeing a dragon, pig, dung, or gold (and I think even money) in a dream that could mean good luck. With the current jackpot nearing a billion, I wonder if I should get a lottery ticket.

Thought of the Day: Christmas Eve
Song of the Day: Bruno Mars-Billionaire

Stuck on States

I'm trying to think of three simple American history lessons that I can teach during my Winter Camp, but it's proving more difficult than expected. At one point, I thought of having the kids learn all 50 states of the U.S., but I'm still figuring out how I would do that. I wish I had the talent to somehow remember and perform the states through a song like Yakko's 'Nations of the World.'

I'll probably need a Plan B.

Thought of the Day: American History
Song of the Day: Study Music Project-Sweet Saturn

That's my team!

Thought of the Day: Creative Juices
Song of the Day: Huey Lewis-The Power of Love

Golden State

I never had a heart for the Warriors until last year's playoffs. Typical bandwagon, I know. But you gotta admit that they are one exciting team to watch. Did you guys see yesterday's amazing comeback?

It's pretty warm for December, and I like it.

Thought of the Day: EBS
Song of the Day: Jay Sean-Down

Melancholy

Are you feeling melancholy with the autumn season?

Thought of the Day: Atmosphere
Song of the Day: Oh Happy Day

Dear Mr. Watterson

Thought of the Day: Proofreading Done
Song of the Day: Canon in D

Holiday Hangover

It isn't easy coming back to school after two consecutive weeks of 4-5 day weekends. It's like a holiday hangover that you're trying to recover from. But thank goodness for Hanguel. And thank goodness we're celebrating it tomorrow.

BTW, Breaking Bad was awesome.

Thought of the Day: Bad Morning Commercials

lol

I see a lot of humor on the Internet, but this picture actually made me laugh out loud.

I love midterms.


Thought of the Day: Windows Updates

Good Afternoon

During lunch...

Teacher: Yummy lunch! 수제비 very yummy! Double yummy!

Me: Yeah. Very good.

Teacher: Crazy yummy.

Sometimes, it's impossible to correct someone who is just so confident...or should I say 'double confident?'

Colorado

I saw this picture of the Colorado floods on CNN this morning. Can you imagine being overwhelmed by so much rain? Incredible.

Thought of the Day: Ringtones
Song of the Day: Sara Groves-Miracles

Monday > Thursday

Here's a picture Nate showed me a while back that I just happened to find online to use for a lesson I'm preparing. As bad as Mondays are, Thursdays happen to be my hardest days. Aside from being so far yet so close to the weekend, a chunk of my worst classes happen to all fall straight in a row right before lunch. Those morning classes truly kill my appetite. It's days like Thursday that make me see Monday on the brighter side. Boat! Land!

Thought of the Day: 닭도리탕
Song of the Day: John Mayer-St. Patrick's Day