Goodbye

So, I said goodbye to the students at a Farewell Ceremony.

In these ceremonies, they introduce the outgoing teachers, such as myself, and then they introduce the incoming teachers who come from other schools. The girls were "oooing" and "aweing" about who was leaving and who was going.

I was genuinely sad today as I walked out the gym, three my years of my life in a foreign country...yet life goes on.

What impact have I made on this school? Have I done anything special for this school? Who knows. I can't tell.

Yet I am reminded of one verse...John 3:30.

"He must become greater, I must become less." This is in reference to John the Baptist, who paved the way for the Savior to come. Jesus was on a mission, John was his messenger. John had absolute joy (verse 29) that He was coming.

Even though I'm was not the perfect teacher to begin with and made many mistakes as a person, I hope that Jesus Christ was represented in my time here. I hope the students understand that English is the way not to a prosperous future. Rather, English should be a tool to communicate with new friends.

My father told me to never look back in life, bu to keep moving forward in Christ. I will not dwell on the past, but being reminded of the past is not a bad thing. I hope and pray that I'm being shaped into His image more and more. I had a fun, grand time here. Its the perfect time to leave.

The memories, the hopes and dreams of my students, the fun times...I will never forget. The pain and the struggles of being a foreigner in my mother's country...priceless. The conflicts with myself and with others only to discover what God wants me to do in these situations...great. The total mission of being a representative of the Kingdom of Heaven...eternal.

If you want to see how I want to be remembered, check out this song by Steve Green.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRK2Y1cZaME

You'll get the point.

The New Look Washington Wizards

My favorite team in the world, the Washington Wizards, recently blew up the core of their team to make way for a new start and new era.

Out is one of my favorite players, Antawn Jamison, the captain and leader of a franchise who made the Wizards come back to respectability after being mired in the NBA doldrums for untold decades. He is now going to the Cleveland Cavaliers for a chance to play for a championship.

Caron Butler, former Heat and Lakers player, and third option to captain Jamison and former franchise face and non-stop prankster Gilbert Arenas, is now with the Dallas Mavericks. Butler, known for his toughness and going strong to the basket with bull-charging drives and mezmerizing dribbling skills, is now having his chance to play on the NBA radar again.

Then there is Gilbert Arenas, who was given a $111 million contract two seasons ago who was busted on gun charges after pulling an ill-fouled prank on a fellow teammate, Javaris Crittenton. Both players are suspended for the rest of this season, and Arenas is in danger of losing his contract and possibly his career.

So General Manager Ernie Grunfeld knew it was time for a change. In sports, Grunfeld is a man that I like and respect. He was the man who brought Antawn Jamison to our talent-depleted franchise to help us move back into the playoffs. It was he who locked in Jamison and got Butler to make a trio of scorers. They made it to the playoffs from 2004-2008 and the city was loving basketball again (before that, Marylanders enjoyed rooting for the Terps for DC fans loved the Georgetown Hoyas). Grunfeld is known for bringing in players who can contribute immediately, without spending time on draft picks who take years to develop.

But he also knew it was time to a put a halt to proceedings when the whole gun scandal went down with Mr. Arenas. Gilbert, "Agent Zero" as he is called, is an all-star caliber player who puts up points and can bring fans to the seats. Yet, his arrogance and lack of prudence for his actions plus consequences forced me to re-think about his importance to the team. He may be back, and I hope he learned his lesson, move on, and focus on basketball as a mature man.

So, we bring in through trades players like Josh Howard, defensive specialist and former all-star, Al Thornton, all-around decent player with loads of talent, Quinton Ross, a journeyman player, and James Singleton, the tough man, and we got a motley bunch.

These were four players that matched the talents of Caron Butler and former captain Jamison. You would think that fans would just sit back and let the season continue to go downhill, as Grunfeld said that the previous group of players were "stale."

Yet our team has won two straight games in a row! Now a reader would think, "hold up Mark, its just two wins buddy, they are only 19-33."

But hey, if they continue to work hard and put their talents together with the remaining talent on the team, we could make some noise for the near future.

So I continue to be a long-suffering fan of the Wizards. Its easy to be a fan of the Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs, winning is part of your formula. Yet for the Zards, its a matter of patience and building, or sometimes, rebuilding a formula for a winning attitude. For me, I love these kind of re-building franchises. I love watching the final product (unless your a LA Clippers fan).

Go Wizards!

More Memories

Continuing with some funny and cool students from the past year:

1. The Sacramento Queen, Seo Ji-min, 3rd year, Hanyang University

"The Sacramento Queen," the infamous joke that Shaquille O'Neal once called the rival Sacramento Kings during the Lakers-Kings California Shootout years (2000-2004), I apply to my girl Ji-min, one of the only few girls I have taught who is actually talented in sports. We spent time out there on the court with her two friends, Ji-won and Ji-sun (aka, the "Ji Unit"), and we went over basic drills such as dribbling, shooting, and the basic pick and roll. She has it all: smarts and a kind heart, and an affinity for sports. She's a rare student because in Korean culture, only certain femalions are chosen for sports and cultivated. Most girls are just geared towards study and becoming a future Korean lady. Don't get me wrong, many Korean women keep in good health in terms of fitness: jogging, walking, badminton, health clubs, and martial arts. Yet it was rare for me to encounter a student who was good at ball sports at a girls' high school. I taught her the basics of defense and running off the ball...and later she ended up beating me at my own game. Miss ya girl, go study hard, and keep balling with the best of them boys!

2. Yang Ah-young, 3rd grader, Inha University

Absolutely one of the most grand girls I ever met in my teaching career. By the way, you like my Kobe Bryant smile? Ah-young never, EVER complained in front of me and always had the brightest attitude one teacher could wish for. A hard worker, she is now entering one of the top universities in Incheon, South Korea. She was always smiling, always greeting me "hi teacher!" and never complained about her life. Even though she disclosed to me some tough things about her life that would really hurt her personally, she always kept positive. Maybe its the faith inside her that gave her joy.


3. Terry, Lee Yun-ju, 3rd grader.

Terry is a soft-spoken girl with a good heart. Fiercely loyal to me and my class, she attended my extra classes since junior and senior year. As a junior, she could not have my regular classes, so she signed up for the one they offered me. She was always polite. Many of my girls are very loud and always screaming at me "HIII!" in the hallways, or not saying anything at all because of the shyness disease that they catch and spread to other students...Terry was right in the middle. She wasn't too shy, but at the same time she was brave enough to come and visit my office and try her English. She was humble enough to be taught. Sometimes I had problems with the students who had a high level of English because they thought they were "too cool" for my class and they thought they knew enough. So I always enjoyed having students like Terry who know their limitations and at the same time were confident with what they did know and used it.

4. Kim Da-hee, 1st grade, Class 1-9.

This girl NEVER talked. She was ALWAYS scared of me and my class. Every time I would approach her and her friends during activity time she would cower in fear, literally. She would hide behind her hands. Perhaps I was the scary foreigner she heard about on TV...or perhaps I was ugly? OH NO! I remember one time saying hi to her in the hallway she recoiled in trepidation! Ha ha, despite her shyness, I always try to help and encourage her to try English. Sometimes, even during class time, she got a boost to raise her hand and give the answer, much to my pleasure. Yet other than that, she was extremely shy and never talked. Then came her sister's graduation (whom I also taught briefly in 2008). I was just walking around, glad-handling the kids who I taught, and then all of a sudden, up pops Da-hee! In Korean: "I want to take a picture with you." I was surprised, because no where near once she made the initiative to talk to me and or greet me. Yet at the same time, perhaps finally she knew this was her last chance to talk to me since I'm moving on. A very low "thank you" in Korean, and I proceeded to take pictures with both girls (her and her sister). It was a nice surprise from a student who hardly said anything at all. Perhaps inside she wanted to say, "I want to talk to Mr. Soni." Or perhaps, "he's not that ugly." :-)

5. My "student" parents.

As a part of my teaching schedule, I taught a free class to the parents of the students or anyone who could participate from outside of school. It was free. Free English you say? Yeah, so from the outset, about 20 people signed up from 2008. Then the numbers dwindled, and then Gideon dwindled (read the book of Judges for that reference). Why? Because some of the parents' realized that English ain't that easy, yo! They dropped like flies. By the start of 2009, my numbers petered out to 10, then 5 loyal parents. Some people at this point are like..."well, Soni, you must have stunk up the joint with your goofy teaching tactics." Nope, these ladies can vouch for me. Parents, with their busy schedules as well as depending on their English ability, came and went from my class. But these ladies in the picture (plus a few more who couldn't make it to my final class), were always coming out every week for their dose of English. We had such a good time: not just fun classes and having good conversations with one another, but lunch and dinner outings. We became real genuine friends, and they being on the outside of school, I could share some things about my school life that I can't normally share with teachers. They also sympathize with the burdens of a native English speaker among hordes of Korean students who rather watch their P2P joints than take shots of English vocab to the brain. When I was tired of teaching goof-ball boys and girls, these parents were consistent and gave me the joy of teaching again. With them, I could REALLY teach because they ate it up. It was like an MC at a hip-hop club with real hip-hop heads.

6. Mindy, Kim Min-ji, Class 1-6.

I was telling my parents' class today that you can't really know what happens to a student until years later. How will the fruit of my labors begin to bud forth? Honestly, I try to think about the present and do the good work that Christ has placed in me. One of the great perks about this job is when a student appreciates the work in the work you do in their life. Her name, "Mindy," spawns from an incident where I heard her announce her name, but instead of "Minji," a common Korean name, I thought she said, "Mindy." Laughter dies down, her colleagues spew out their mwa ha has, "your name is Mindy you butthead" and the name stuck. Mindy it was. She genuinely likes English. Not because its fun grammatically. Its just fun to her. She did well in my class and she was always polite. One day, as I was walking to Hapkido practice, this girl was waiting for her ride at the school gate. After exchanging pleasantries, she mentions to me that her English score went up. "Good for you girl," I say. Then she replies: "Well, thank you to you, because of your class I became more interested in English and my score went higher. I want to study hard." Man, that just made my day, that made my week! In a culture where praise and encouragement is lacking (because oddly, that raises self-awareness and pride), this is one of those statements that God was telling me: "you know what kid, I'll continue the good work in you, and I'll be faithful to complete it boy." (Philippians 1:6)

The work is done.

An End of an Era: Good Students

"If you love truth, everybody say Ahhh yea! Ahhh yea!"
Mr. Soni raps at his last, ill-fated rap show of 2010

So, I officially finished taught my final class for the year and for my final campaign of 2009-2010. To be honest, my last classes were mainly a presentation of my time in the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In classes where no co-teacher was present, I actually did my best (of course, I "biffed" it a few times in my lecture) to present the lecture in Korean. My pronunciation was not the best, but I hoped my students understood about my time in the Middle East and that this could be a stepping stone into making presentations into foreign languages in the future. It was actually a huge achievement from where I have come from to make statements in Korean.

Here are some students I would like to brag about for their accomplishments this year and them making my year much more memorable:

1. Jung Yu-jung, Class 1-12: Happy-go-lucky, she never complains or whines. She has a funny sense of humor and is at the same time a receiver alot of jokes from her compatriots in class 12 (she was called "Willy Wonka" by her mates). Always helpful and participating, she does a good job in class to try the English provided to her and participating in every activity. A healthy smile, a positive heart, and a 'can-do' attitude, teaching her and her class was easy and fun. Good for her.

2. Hillary (Chun Hye-yeon), Class 1-5: one of the most intellectual minded ladies I've met at this school. Highly talented in English, but she has an aptitude for other subjects as well. One of my fondest memories was when during exam study period I actually had the chance to actually use my major, economics! The students were studying the basic foundations of trade and production, and so in came the famous economists David Ricardo and Adam Smith, two English pioneers of trade and economic thought. Dusting off that old store-self book from my mental library, I had the chance to tutor Hillary and her friends about when it is appropriate to trade between two countries. Result: her social studies' grade improved. It was real cool for me to actually affect their studies outside of just conversational English. She was so sweet that she sent me a Christmas card filled with thanks taking the time to tutor her and her friends. What shocked the students when I was lecturing about topics like trade and inflation was that I wasn't one-dimensional in being the typical English monkey. Sometimes we're boxed to just speaking English, and that's not a good thing. This was a show that I have a thought life outside English. Hillary and her friends responded to the challenge.

3. DJ Ju Min-hee, Class 1-10. Actually, I didn't like her at the beginning of the year. Nope. Her class was notoriously loud and she was one of the ringleaders. Then throughout the year, she started to change. Even though teaching her class was not so successful, at least I started to understand their humor and I started to match their loudness with mine. Since I taught their class at the end of Mondays (great job, Mrs. Schedule Fixer Lady), that's the only option I had as my yelling, Southern Gospel-preaching style was the only way I could get their attention. Min-hee and her gang (girls Ari, Nam-hee, and Kyung-min) were always goofing off...until one day I played hip-hop music. They were just grooving and jamming to my iTunes selections, especially with my Holy Culture Radio DJ podcasts, with head bobbings, DJ air-cuttings, and fist pumpings. These girls were just a riot and hilarious! Using that, I remember using my semi-pro hip-hop skills to do a rap for the girls as a listening exercise. Min-hee and her crew were very appreciative. As a result, from one girl I always had to yell at to be quiet became a very useful ally and friend.

4. The Little Fox (Kim Hyun-ha), Class 1-13

Nicknamed "the Little Fox" by her class 13 crew, she was tough to handle at first when I first met her class. Her class was notorious throughout the 1st grade to have bully girls with strong personalities. She was one of them. In my first day of class, she displayed a little bit of an attitude problem, thinking my class would be a pushover (if they figured out there was no grade, I would think it would be a pushover). My co-teacher and I were concerned that she could be a headache to deal with along with some other girls. Yet two cool things happened that changed the whole dynamic of her class: 1. I broke three of her colleagues when one of them tried to be cool and make fun of me, 2. Little Fox developed a crush on me. Now, not bragging I'm one of those charming, cool teacher-types, its usually a high school girls' emotions thing combined with a lack of a pool of good Korean gentlemen that you have no choice but to like me. (Sigh*) Yet, through "love letters" program that our counseling department encourages students to write to their favorite teachers to express their emotions more expressively, Fox wrote to me how she liked my new style and way of teaching. I appreciated that. So from the Month of May to the end of this month, I never had one more problem with her. She tried, practiced, and did well. She expressed that she was hoping that I would stay till her graduation in 2012...but the Lord has other plans, and I pray that the Lord has His way with her to draw her near the Truth.

5. Korea's Top Model, (Lee Song), Class 1-5. In general, Koreans are short. I'm an example of one of them. Yet what is phenomenal these days is that the stereotype of Asians = short is slowly changing. I had the privilege of last year teaching a future model. She was tall, I would say probably 6'2". We had a girl in the 3rd grade last year about 6'4", I'm not kidding. Her head almost touches the bus roof. This girl here in the picture, is about 176 cm (don't ask me to convert that), and she just towers over the entire pack of kids, who are average around my height. I always make a joke: its got to be the new-powered kimchi that's producing these giants (even at the boys school there were some future b-ball players). This girl, named Song, typifies a Korean girl as well as the difficulties of standing out for being tall: shy, reserved, but kind. When most girls are usually the same height, she feels awkward and speaks very shyly to me. I always encouraged her, not in a stereotypical way, to be actually be a model. I tell her now and then that she is "pretty." Usually saying such comments are very taboo in a girls' high school because a teacher can usually draw the ire of students. Yet now and then, because girls in this society don't get much encouragement for their appearances, or praise from that matter, so I'll drop a "you look nice today" or "you look pretty." I think its good because some students usually tell me they wish they were more this, that, and the other. So while Song has this sheepish smile, an awkwardness to her step, yet I always try to tell her to be confident and kind. She is very popular among her friends, and ironically, her best friend is one of the shortest girls in the class. It makes for a good team.

So, this is one of the first sets of blogs about my time wrapping up my period of teaching here in Korea. Its been real fun.

Derrick Rose Is My Favorite Player

Derrick Rose, a 6'3" guard from the University of Memphis, is officially now my favorite new NBA player. Usually, I have favorite teams, which will always be the Washington Wizards, but with Gilbert Arenas' fondness for guns and internal strife that was the fallout of the incident, I have lost some faith in my Zards (even though they pulled a miraculous victory against the Magic on Caron Butler's last second shot last Friday).

Derrick Rose has slick handles (he handles and dribbles the ball with Spider-Man-like hands), a great shot, and he penetrates the paint with ease and with reckless abandon.

But my favorite thing about him is, for a guard (in NBA standards a relative small player), he can flies with the rest of the United Airlines fleet.

One of his greatest feats in his young career was to carry his young team to almost upset the former World Champions of 2008, the Boston Celtics, in last year's playoffs. If you want, you can order one of the most exciting NBA series on iTunes. Many pundits deem it as one of the most exciting in a long time.

But for now, check out this jam he did against the Atlanta Hawks. I was so stunned that I leapt back in my seat...and I'm not even at the game! Check out the Rose bro!