This school year is off to a good start. I am really enjoying being in my second year at PICS. Things are always so much easier the second year around--you are familiar with the school, the students, the curriculum, and the area. One of the biggest challenges that we have is that we do not have an administrator this year. We have no director and no principal. As you can imagine, that makes some things very interesting. All the teachers have had to take on extra roles to make sure the school still runs smoothly. We have an elementary and a high school lead teacher that are part of an administrative team. This team is the administration for the current school year. Thankfully, we are part of a larger network of schools that allows us to get support from the home office during this time. There is some good news in all of this, however. We have hired a director for next year! He can't start until next school year because he is currently the director at one of the other schools in the network, but he has already been so supportive of our school and teachers. He may not be physically in Korea right now, but he's been great already. He should be really good for the school. But, in the meantime, pray for the endurance and strength of the teachers this year, especially as the school year goes on. It's a lot of extra work not having a director, and I know that by the time June rolls around we will be absolutely exhausted.
In September we had Chusok break, which is Korean Thanksgiving. We had three days off, and I spent the time relaxing and taking a break, as well as visiting one of the palaces in Seoul. I went with some friends to see Changgyeonggung Palace, also known as the Queen's Palace. It is called the Queen's Palace because it is the palace where the queens traditionally lived. It is one of the smaller palaces in Seoul, but it is still very beautiful. Because it doesn't have anything really "special" about it, it is not as big of a tourist attraction as some of the other palaces. However, that meant that it was not crowded, which made it even more enjoyable to visit. My favorite part was the pond in the back that was surrounded by trees. It was a really beautiful area.
September also brought the return of Kids Quest, the children's church program at the church I attend. I have been heading up the program since last spring. Right now we're trying out some different curriculum options that other churches have posted online. They have different videos and some skits or dialogue as part of the lesson to keep the kids interested. We've had just a couple weeks of trying one curriculum, and the kids seem to really like it so far.
October brought the end of the 1st quarter and parent teacher conferences. It also brought the beginning (or should I say return) of another ministry--Awana! That's right, I have started helping with Awana again. If you know my family and our involvement in Awana at all, you're probably not surprised that I would find a way to help with Awana even in another country. The Awana program I have started helping with is through the chapel on Osan Air Base. It is held at the elementary school on base on Wednesday nights. Because it is on base and I don't have base access, I have to get someone to sign me on every week. It's a little bit of a hassle, but it's been working out so far. Because it is sponsored by the chapel on base, they have to be really careful about the ratio of kids to adults. Sometimes they have to turn kids away because they don't have enough adults working with that particular age group. If you want to guarantee that your kids have a spot in Awana, as a parent, you volunteer to help with their group. Because of ratios and the number of parent volunteers, they are always looking for volunteers, especially ones that have previous experience with Awana. Everyone was really excited when I started helping. First of all, I am not a parent with children attending Awana; I'm just an extra volunteer. Second of all, I have Awana experience, especially with T&T, the age group I am helping with (3rd-6th grade). The T&T director even asks me questions to make sure that they are doing things correctly. I am really enjoying helping with Awana again. It's nice to put on the uniform on Wednesday nights and listen to verses and have a child explain yet again "why God gave us the Bible."
I have also been busy studying for and taking two different GRE tests. At the end of September I took the GRE subject test in Literature in English. While this test is not necessarily required for all grad schools, some require it for admission, and it may help me get into others, even if they don't require it. I had to do a lot of studying for that test because it could test anything in English or American literature, as well as some topics in world or European literature. The scope for the test was just massive! The most challenging thing about the test was that it would give you a passage to read and, just by reading this paragraph or two, you were supposed to be able to identify the author and approximately when it was written and even sometimes what work it was. All by reading this one random excerpt from one random work of the authors. And the test makers were not big on giving hints in the excerpts, like names or something like that. It was one of those tests where you're not expected to know everything. At the end of the day, I walked away from the test feeling comfortable with what I did not know. I did not know everything, but I was comfortable with the amount of material I did know. And, it paid off. I got a good score that should help me get into grad school. At the end of October I took the general GRE test, the one that everyone has to take if they want to pursue grad school. Again, the test went well, and I walked away with some really good scores that should help me get into grad school.
All of that leads up to a couple weeks ago when we received our invitations to come back next year. These aren't contracts (we sign those in the spring) but an opportunity to communicate to administration what are plans are for next year and whether we want to stay at the school in our current position, stay at the school in a new position, leave the school but transfer to another NICS school, or just leave the school and the network all together. We have to respond with our intentions for next year by the end of November. This year, they are due the day before Thanksgiving. I can almost guarantee that the decision of what to do next year (and what others are doing) is not far from the front of all the teachers' minds right now.
But, it is something I have been thinking less about recently because I have made my decision. (insert drumroll here) I have decided to stay in Korea at PICS for another year. I am very excited about this decision and how God is going to work through me while I'm here for another year. This does not mean grad school is out of the question; it just means that for now, God is calling me to remain in Pyeongtaek. He still has things He wants me to do here, and I can't wait to find out what that is. Grad school is still an option for the future, and something that I will probably revisit again next year. But, for now, I'm staying in Korea!
