Journal Excerpts From 09/2012, part 1

September 4:  A Religious Cult Tries to Recruit Me

Two women from the Worldwide Church of God who believe in God the Mother, caught up with me when I was on my way to the community center to get a class schedule.  Neither spoke English, but they were relentless in trying to communicate.  They asked for my telephone number, but when I told them that I had no phone, they wanted to know where I lived.  Wasn’t giving that info so they could start popping up at my door.  Finally, they gave a tract in English and gave up.  Got the schedule, but none of the classes I was interested in were given at a time convenient to me.  :/   I’ll have to keep looking for an exercise class. 

Edited to add:  check them out on Wikipedia.  I wonder what makes Korea so susceptible to religious cults.  They have way more than the average country. 

September 5:  Disco Hair

I wore an afro in the afternoon because I had washed my hair during the mid-day break.  When ten-year-old ‘Ben’ saw me, he exclaimed, “Teacher is disco hair!”  He’s so fat and cute. 

September 14:  “You have Friends?!” 

Jongsu, and adult student, and I were talking about Hongdae.  I mentioned that I’d gone to a café there with some friends.  His response was utter surprise “You have friends?!”  I laughed and said “Yes, three or four.  How long should I be here before I make friends?”  Embarrassed reply:  “I don’t know.”

September 15:   An Innocent Man

At church I lead out an informal class where we read and discussed a short, inspirational article.  ‘Paul’ was stuck on the name of the article’s author, McLarty, because ‘Mc’ doesn’t make a sound.  He said that it’s very irregular.  I explained that it’s an Irish name, and in Ireland names beginning with ‘Mc’ are very common.  His Bible is from Central Prison in North Carolina.  Said he was not guilty of what he was sent there for.   Good to know?  If he WAS guilty, I hope it wasn’t for a violent crime.

After lunch I went to Yeonan Pier on bus 33.  It turned out to be a warm and sunny day, not cool and cloudy like I’d expected.  There was an open air trot concert.  Trot sounds very similar to Japanese enka.