Because they're just dead.

In Sabkyo, there seem to be a disproportionate number of old women (65+) to old men. For every elderly man you see there are at least 7 women. What's even more puzzling about this is that about a third of the old women have severe rickets, a vitamin deficiency which bows the spine, and none of the old men have it. So I asked my high-school class why there are so many more old women than old men and they said, "Because they're dead."
"Yes," I said, "I know they're dead, but why?" They held a short discussion in Korean and came to the philosophical conclusion, "Because they're just dead."

Flying Yogurt

A learning experience in Korean discipline:
OK, so one of my classes has some real troublemakers. Yesterday the ringleader of the group threw a full, liquid yogurt at my head. It missed and splattered spectacularly on my white-board, floor, wall etc. So I sent him without ceremony to the director's office. When class dismissed I carried the backpack that he had left to the director. I found the two of them alone in the auditorium. The student was standing stock-still with his hands held out, palms up, in front of him, tears rolling down his face. The director was standing to the left of him holding a cane. He told me; "Umm uh, I call his mother. . . Uhhh. . . she say to me that he is very bad boy. Umm. . . He bad at school all day and . . . Uhh. . . he come here and bad every day.. Mmmm. . . mother said ok to hit him." I didn't know what to do. I sat down his bag and left the room.
Today he showed up for class, gave me some apple candy, and apologized. He acted better than usual, though still not great. We'll see if it lasts, although I don't know if I can bear to send him there again.
-JNP

Posting from Korea

Well,
It has been WAY too long since I've updated and I apologize, but I do have a couple of excuses. (excuse #1) - this website and the page that I use to update the blog were written in korean. I guess the site can tell where we are and use the local language. I fixed that today. (excuse #2) the first two weeks we were here, we had no internet connection and couldn't do anything online. Korea is BEAUTIFUL! We love working with the kids and are adjusting to the culture.
Okay, excuses done I hope to update on a more regular basis. Our hope is to update at least weekly with day-to-day events and cultural differences as we find them. It'll be fun!
Lots of Love
-James, Beth and Abby