Little Bits and Pieces of my Life

Dear Family,

I hope you are all well!

As for myself, I’m enjoying a short break between semesters. Level 2 has risen, wrestled, and been defeated. One week from now level 3 will raise to the challenge, and attempt success where levels 1 and 2 have failed. That conquered, I will be half way through the language program. Which is baffling to realize!

Meanwhile, I’ve been teaching myself to write with my right hand. From writing so many hours of Korean vocabulary (the most effective way I’ve so far discovered of stimulating memorization), my left hand has begun to cramp and to be rather weak and shaky. I find that icing it for a few hours, after studying, helps a lot, but what a way to spend a cold winter evening! So now I’m training my other hand to obey me, and am happy to be able to report that my right-handed penmanship is becoming stronger and more readable each day.

My head, as well as my hand, is aching for relief, and as a means of clearing from it the cobwebs of Korean, a Chinese classmate and I have begun meeting, once a week, for Chinese lessons. I have been enjoying these heartily, and find them relaxing, since (both of us having busy schedules and full heads) we’re taking it pretty easy. I’ve been amused, however, by the two responses that I generally receive, when I tell my friends of it. In one camp, well wishers are concerned for my sanity, and caution me not to over do it. In the other, I’m unofficially classified ‘genius’, and wondered at from afar. So far, the most rational responses I’ve received have been from the Wilkes and Amy Horn, which is no real surprise, considering our relative situations.
Titus and Ruth: That sounds really good! Do you think we could do it with you?
Amy: Glad to hear about your Chinese lessons...that sounds like a blessing, and a good way to relax your head from Korean.

Namdaemun (Great South Gate), which was South Korea’s No.1 National Treasure (compliments to it having been built in the 1400’s), was set fire to, a few weeks ago, by a disgruntled citizen, who was dissatisfied about the outcome of a decade-old land dispute. It was a shame, and when I first heard news of it, I was floored. There has been so much destruction to Korea, over the years, by other countries, and so little of her history has been preserved, that this senseless damage really upset me. So I called Rebekah, who (having wandered with me through the streets and alleyways of that ungainly market which sprawls at it’s feet) could sympathize with my dismay, and after talking for a little while, felt quite better enough to apply my mind to other things.

There was another fire in this area, a few weeks ago. Standing cold and formidable on the hill behind my house, a public high school caught fire, and proceeded to be consumed. It was late in the afternoon, so there were no crowds of people in the halls, and the fire seemed to catch slowly enough to allow plenty of time for laggards to make good their escape. I was studying, and hadn’t heard the crowds gathering outside my house, from where there was a clear view of the action. Shouting men, and flashing lights aren’t out of the norm enough for them to really claim my attention, so I gave only half an ear, and wasn’t diverted until a siren screamed just outside my window. That surprised me, and throwing on my coat, I stepped on to the front step just in time to witness a fire engine backing up (apparently the driver hadn’t realized that my alley is something of a dead end) to the computer-generated tune of Fur Elise, in lieu of that more generally accepted series of beeps which one would expect to hear in association with the backing up of a large and cumbersome vehicle. My very intimate understanding of the Koreans’ love of bells, whistles and random tunes notwithstanding, this caught me off guard, and regardless of circumstances, I was hard put not to laugh at the absurdity of that pleasant melody warbling imperturbably forth, from such a vehicle and at such a time.

I’ve begun attending a small to medium sized church on the campus of nearby Yonsei University. My attendance is really more a matter of form, than otherwise, as it’s been difficult for me to find my niche among them. They’re trying to form a small group that will meet after services, which I’ll begin attending as a means of getting to know the people there better. Meanwhile, my main source of fellowship comes, rather, from two other small groups, organized by a different church, that meet in my area, one on Thursday evenings, and the other on Fridays. Outside of the time I spend with Titus and Ruth, these evenings are the highlight of my week, stimulating, creative, and challenging. And English. ^^

Yesterday and all last evening it snowed. I was going out to meet some friends, and my first reaction, as I stepped outside, was to reach for my umbrella in imitation of then native inhabitants of this country, to protect myself from becoming white with the world. Stopping myself, I gave a little laugh, left my pink umbrella on it’s accommodating hook, and put on a pair of black gloves instead. It was beautiful snow. It flitted about in perfectly symmetrically flakes, clinging to the bare limbs of the trees, and setting gently on the sidewalks and streets in little flurries. I held my hands up, exulting inside that something so small could have been fashioned be so perfectly. All evening it continued to fall, and I stopped near my house, on my way back home, and patted together a very little snow man (passers-by at first seemed concerned by this irregularity, but when they saw that it was just a foreigner, they exchanged comprehending glances and passed on), which I set on the curb, thinking all the while of Amy Horn, of course.

Well, this email makes up in length, if nothing else, what my last lacked. I enjoy telling you all little bits and pieces of my life on this side of the world, and look forward to hearing back from you...

With much love,
Elisabeth