Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Global Leaders English Camp
This past Christmas break I had the great joy of working at an English Camp at a nearby school. It was four days, fourteen hours a day. The first day and the second day I taught in a classroom that look like a restaurant. My job was to teach the students how to order and how to be a waiter. This is what my class looked like:
It had two long tables on either side and a bar and a kitchen. What I did was tell them what it would be like if they were wanting to go to America, and they happened to either go to a restaurant, or work in one. There were two huge shocks to them that I got to inform them of. Koreans love to eat fast and get out. They also only eat in gender groups. It is very common for you to look at a group of Koreans eating and all the wives will be sitting at one table, and all the husbands will be sitting at another. I also told them that in the states, it is proper to asked the ladies what they would like to eat first, and then the men. This is new as well. Men are first in this culture in just about everything. The third day I had to teach about going to a department store. Not something that should have taken 2 hours, but that was my job. They have several department stores around here, and they function just about the same as the ones in the states.
During other times in the camp, we got to talk to them and learn about them. We also taught them some dance moves and steps. Not me of course, because I am 6'6" tall and white...there is no rhythm in my body. They got to write an English newspaper, and learned games like "telephone" or "taboo". We also did some scavengers hunts, and performed a play. My group got to do "Snow White: and the seven dwarfs". They had so much fun, and we were the best group. We were the only group not to use our books or teachers. Our group did the play entirely on their own. On the last night they wanted me to run a good-bye time. We sat in a circle, and the students got to say their good-byes to one another. One girl got up and said something in Korean, and the leader of the camp told her that she needed to say it in English now. She then looked at me and said "I love you Harring". Just to let you know all the students were between 12-15 years old. This young girl was in my group and she took a liking to me. I thought it was cute as she blushed and ran back to her spot. The following day after we did our plays and the final ceremony was over, she and another girl came and hugged each side of me and I wrapped my arms around them and they just cried and cried. I felt so bad, I mean this was only four days, but I guess that i have that kind of effect on women. (just kidding) These were the two girls. Crystal is on the left and Mary is on the right.
All of the campers have our e-mail addresses and I have heard back from a couple of them already. It was a lot of fun, and I am glad I went through it even though it was from 7:00am till 9:00 pm. Hard work, but I have met people that have taught me more than I could ever have taught them.
peace out...later on
Sunday, January 07, 2007
On the serious side, please bare with me.
I am not one to usually take a political stand, however, with a lot of people out there wanting to “Bash Bush” or see him hanging like Saddam, I felt compelled to write just a little bit about my feelings on this war in Iraq.
First I would like to capture your attention by talking about the death toll. It was a huge milestone just a week or two ago when the death toll for the American military reached 3,000. Over the last three years. I want to state very clearly for the record that even one death is too many. However, on 9-11-01, in that one day, the
American civilian death toll was 3,173. IN ONE DAY. In 1944 on June 6th, forces stormed the beaches at Normandy, in that one battle Americans lost 2,500-5,000 troops. Some of their bodies are still unfound on the beaches. The Battle of Gettysburg saw the loss of 46,000 troops. In 1950 US came to the aid of South Korea and were in a war that lasted into 1953, which ended in a cease fire, which technically means that North Korea and South Korea are still at war, but between 1950 and 1953 2.5 and 3.5 million lost their lives. This was taken from an article on the internet when I typed “Accidental military deaths” in the search tool bar…“An inspector general report published this summer shows that 6,790 service members died accidentally in the nine years from 1988 through 1996.” How about a few that need to be talked about that don’t include war…in the year 2000 alone, 435,000 people lost their lives due to tobacco. This includes innocent second-hand smokers as well. Poor diet and physical inactivity deaths were listed at 400,000 in 2000 alone. In that same year drug related deaths toped 17,000. AIDS is responsible for 3 million deaths world-wide.
I know that these are a lot of numbers but there is one more set of numbers that need to be said Adolf Hitler, during his lead of the “Nazi Party” went on a mission of purging the country of 11 million people between 1939 and 1945, in the name of purity of race and religion. Saddam Hussein killed over 250,000 people for the same reasons. These took place from 1979- and the time of his capture. Now I understand the reasoning behind the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” not being there and the “real” reason behind going to war might be a little suspect, however, don’t we as a nation not just have the right, but the responsibility to come to the aid of nations that can’t defend themselves from ruthless dictators.
I have seen comments on sites that say that Bush is the same as Hussein and that he needs to be hanging next to Saddam. Let me point out that in his term of office he has not attacked any part of America, let alone women and children for the sake of any cause. He in fact is coming to the rescue of a group of people that have been put to death for their beliefs. Where is the crime in this? Let me try and put this into a smaller term that we might be able to relate to; you see a child being picked on and bullied by three kids that are much bigger than that child, what is your reaction? You can either go in and break it up, being a much bigger and more mature person, or you can just sit back and see how it turns out. If you go in and break it up, I doubt many people will sit on the side and say, “Wow, why could they just leave good enough alone, and watch and see if that littler child could stand up for themselves.” And if you just sit back and watch you will be blamed for not taking action. We have not just a right but an obligation to stand up for those that can not stand up for themselves. We will lose life, as tragic as that is, however, for the most part, the men and women fighting for our country “Volunteered” to be put in harms way. They signed up; there is no draft at this point. And that is what makes the actions of people like Cindy Sheehan all the more disgusting. After the loss of her son in Iraq, she set up camp in front of Bush’s Texas house in hopes that this would bring a stop to the war. Her son was not forced into action, he went on his own. In my opinion her actions are trampling on the memories of someone who should be remembered for the sacrifices he made for beliefs that he had for a better nation.
I know that I don’t usually write things like this, however, I feel that I needed a place to voice my frustration at the people who feel that our government is anywhere close to the level of Saddam or Hitler. I am not in the mind of those in power. I can’t tell you 100% without certainty that this whole thing was for oil. I can tell you that gas prices are still high. And that we have made the world a better place to live in with the removal of Saddam and his ideals.
Let’s pretend for a minute that Saddam or Hitler was still in power and the United States didn’t do anything. Where would we be? How many countries would be in fear of other countries based on one mans desires. Bill Clinton had marines with Osama Bin Laden in their gun sights and didn’t take the shot. Having taken the shot one would have to wonder if the Twin Towers would still be standing. Right now I am living in South Korea, in a place that is often a target for international news based on the threats of one man Kim Jong Il, and he is still up there in the north playing with his little button that could light up several countries around Asia. And this is what we want? We all went to school with bullies, and actually giving the bullies more things to beat people with would never solve a situation. Nuclear power is something that even Einstein himself said that if he could go back and undo he would take away E=MC2. But I lay this question at your feet, who would you rather have the control of that power, the bully or the playground, or the milk monitor? In this case, we are not just a milk monitor, but we are a “God Fearing” mil monitor. We have the power, if we wanted to, to just make an oil slick out of Iraq if we wanted to. But that isn’t what we are doing. We are teaching and setting up a new freedom that the people in that place of the world have never had before. It is new, and being in another culture, I understand the trouble that can arise from trying to make people think the way we do.
One more question and I will close this out, because I feel that I have been on my soap box long enough. If you were in the place of George W. Bush and had the whole thing to do over again, what would you do? The buildings have just fallen down, over 3,000 innocent lives were lost, not counting the ones that could have been lost had the other plane found its mark. You have two mad men Osama and Saddam that have no problem and actually promote things like this. What would you do? Would you sit back and say “Ohhh, that’s terrible, I hope it doesn’t happen again.” I think it’s funny. A mosquito lands on your arm, bites you and then tries to fly away. You have the choice of letting it go or killing it don’t you. I have never seen someone say, “You’re welcome for the free meal, come back anytime. Bars always open.” No you kill it, because it has done something that you deem as wrong. How great it would be to be a country like Switzerland, Canada or France, that have no trouble sitting back and watching the outcome of something and not having to worry about getting involved.
The bottom line here is that we need to get off our Soap boxes and get on our knees in prayer if we have any hopes of seeing the best possible outcome to the situation we are now in. The Lord is not just the answer for what we face today, but everyday. Find His will for your life. Find His will for how you should see the happenings of the world, and find His will for the best possible ways to react under these difficult times. The Lord not only loves us as Americans, but He even loves the Muslims and the Buddhists and any other false teaching. He wants you to lay down your troubles and your crowns and pick up your cross and come and follow Him. No strings attached. And that is a wonderful thing. Every other religion has something you have to do to prove yourself to whoever, but Jesus just wants you, and for you to know Him. Make that choice to follow him today. Believe it or not I do pray for each of you who reads my blog. You are in my prayers a lot. I will write more later. Right now it is the day before school starts back up, and I have a lot of things that I have to prepare for. Blessings to you all, not just at the beginning of the 2007 year, but every single second of every single day.
Peace out…later on.
First I would like to capture your attention by talking about the death toll. It was a huge milestone just a week or two ago when the death toll for the American military reached 3,000. Over the last three years. I want to state very clearly for the record that even one death is too many. However, on 9-11-01, in that one day, the
American civilian death toll was 3,173. IN ONE DAY. In 1944 on June 6th, forces stormed the beaches at Normandy, in that one battle Americans lost 2,500-5,000 troops. Some of their bodies are still unfound on the beaches. The Battle of Gettysburg saw the loss of 46,000 troops. In 1950 US came to the aid of South Korea and were in a war that lasted into 1953, which ended in a cease fire, which technically means that North Korea and South Korea are still at war, but between 1950 and 1953 2.5 and 3.5 million lost their lives. This was taken from an article on the internet when I typed “Accidental military deaths” in the search tool bar…“An inspector general report published this summer shows that 6,790 service members died accidentally in the nine years from 1988 through 1996.” How about a few that need to be talked about that don’t include war…in the year 2000 alone, 435,000 people lost their lives due to tobacco. This includes innocent second-hand smokers as well. Poor diet and physical inactivity deaths were listed at 400,000 in 2000 alone. In that same year drug related deaths toped 17,000. AIDS is responsible for 3 million deaths world-wide.
I know that these are a lot of numbers but there is one more set of numbers that need to be said Adolf Hitler, during his lead of the “Nazi Party” went on a mission of purging the country of 11 million people between 1939 and 1945, in the name of purity of race and religion. Saddam Hussein killed over 250,000 people for the same reasons. These took place from 1979- and the time of his capture. Now I understand the reasoning behind the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” not being there and the “real” reason behind going to war might be a little suspect, however, don’t we as a nation not just have the right, but the responsibility to come to the aid of nations that can’t defend themselves from ruthless dictators.
I have seen comments on sites that say that Bush is the same as Hussein and that he needs to be hanging next to Saddam. Let me point out that in his term of office he has not attacked any part of America, let alone women and children for the sake of any cause. He in fact is coming to the rescue of a group of people that have been put to death for their beliefs. Where is the crime in this? Let me try and put this into a smaller term that we might be able to relate to; you see a child being picked on and bullied by three kids that are much bigger than that child, what is your reaction? You can either go in and break it up, being a much bigger and more mature person, or you can just sit back and see how it turns out. If you go in and break it up, I doubt many people will sit on the side and say, “Wow, why could they just leave good enough alone, and watch and see if that littler child could stand up for themselves.” And if you just sit back and watch you will be blamed for not taking action. We have not just a right but an obligation to stand up for those that can not stand up for themselves. We will lose life, as tragic as that is, however, for the most part, the men and women fighting for our country “Volunteered” to be put in harms way. They signed up; there is no draft at this point. And that is what makes the actions of people like Cindy Sheehan all the more disgusting. After the loss of her son in Iraq, she set up camp in front of Bush’s Texas house in hopes that this would bring a stop to the war. Her son was not forced into action, he went on his own. In my opinion her actions are trampling on the memories of someone who should be remembered for the sacrifices he made for beliefs that he had for a better nation.
I know that I don’t usually write things like this, however, I feel that I needed a place to voice my frustration at the people who feel that our government is anywhere close to the level of Saddam or Hitler. I am not in the mind of those in power. I can’t tell you 100% without certainty that this whole thing was for oil. I can tell you that gas prices are still high. And that we have made the world a better place to live in with the removal of Saddam and his ideals.
Let’s pretend for a minute that Saddam or Hitler was still in power and the United States didn’t do anything. Where would we be? How many countries would be in fear of other countries based on one mans desires. Bill Clinton had marines with Osama Bin Laden in their gun sights and didn’t take the shot. Having taken the shot one would have to wonder if the Twin Towers would still be standing. Right now I am living in South Korea, in a place that is often a target for international news based on the threats of one man Kim Jong Il, and he is still up there in the north playing with his little button that could light up several countries around Asia. And this is what we want? We all went to school with bullies, and actually giving the bullies more things to beat people with would never solve a situation. Nuclear power is something that even Einstein himself said that if he could go back and undo he would take away E=MC2. But I lay this question at your feet, who would you rather have the control of that power, the bully or the playground, or the milk monitor? In this case, we are not just a milk monitor, but we are a “God Fearing” mil monitor. We have the power, if we wanted to, to just make an oil slick out of Iraq if we wanted to. But that isn’t what we are doing. We are teaching and setting up a new freedom that the people in that place of the world have never had before. It is new, and being in another culture, I understand the trouble that can arise from trying to make people think the way we do.
One more question and I will close this out, because I feel that I have been on my soap box long enough. If you were in the place of George W. Bush and had the whole thing to do over again, what would you do? The buildings have just fallen down, over 3,000 innocent lives were lost, not counting the ones that could have been lost had the other plane found its mark. You have two mad men Osama and Saddam that have no problem and actually promote things like this. What would you do? Would you sit back and say “Ohhh, that’s terrible, I hope it doesn’t happen again.” I think it’s funny. A mosquito lands on your arm, bites you and then tries to fly away. You have the choice of letting it go or killing it don’t you. I have never seen someone say, “You’re welcome for the free meal, come back anytime. Bars always open.” No you kill it, because it has done something that you deem as wrong. How great it would be to be a country like Switzerland, Canada or France, that have no trouble sitting back and watching the outcome of something and not having to worry about getting involved.
The bottom line here is that we need to get off our Soap boxes and get on our knees in prayer if we have any hopes of seeing the best possible outcome to the situation we are now in. The Lord is not just the answer for what we face today, but everyday. Find His will for your life. Find His will for how you should see the happenings of the world, and find His will for the best possible ways to react under these difficult times. The Lord not only loves us as Americans, but He even loves the Muslims and the Buddhists and any other false teaching. He wants you to lay down your troubles and your crowns and pick up your cross and come and follow Him. No strings attached. And that is a wonderful thing. Every other religion has something you have to do to prove yourself to whoever, but Jesus just wants you, and for you to know Him. Make that choice to follow him today. Believe it or not I do pray for each of you who reads my blog. You are in my prayers a lot. I will write more later. Right now it is the day before school starts back up, and I have a lot of things that I have to prepare for. Blessings to you all, not just at the beginning of the 2007 year, but every single second of every single day.
Peace out…later on.
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