JESUS LOVES ME

I’ll do anything to spend time with people. Today was a new low for me. Usually when bible thumpers come to the door, I chase them off in a not too pleasant manner. Today there was a knock on my door so I answered it. There were 2 Korean young ladies standing there. I expected them to say, “I’m sorry”, and leave. But they were here on a mission.

Their English was terrible but they tried. “Do you know Passover”?, they asked. “Yes”, I said. I don’t think they understood my answer. They tried to figure out how I knew Passover. I told them it was last month. While they’re searching for the words to use, one of them brings out a bible in Korean with the corresponding English. I told them I was Jewish. They didn’t know what that was. So I drew a Star of David for them and they claimed to understand. I don’t think they’d ever seen a Jew before.

They asked me on what day the Sabbath was. I’m always up for a quiz and since they had a “new testament”, I said Sunday. They told me that was wrong so I said the real answer which is Saturday. They nodded in confirmation. They asked me if I would go to their church (Church of God) on Saturday. I said that I don’t believe in God. They looked surprised and asked me why. I told them it was a long story. I really didn’t want to have a religious discussion with people who wouldn’t understand anything I said.

They then sought out passages in their bible to show me. They asked me if I knew what baptism is. I told them but they didn’t understand what I said. I was quite comfortable with all this and was enjoying it. Entertainment is hard to come across. After a few minutes of them pointing out passages to me, and them stumbling with the few words they knew, they asked me to come to church again. Again I said no. Again they asked why. Again I told them it was a long story.

All in all we spent about 10 minutes at my front door. I respected their effort if not their message. Over 50% of the country is Christian so I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked by people coming to the door, but I was. I would have loved to talk to them but the language barrier was too big.

I called Kelly this afternoon to see if she had deposited my money in the bank. She goes into a song and dance about how she has to work and she doesn’t have time to be always doing things for me. I never thought getting paid was something that you did for an employee. I told her that she had promised to pay me this afternoon and that I was going to the bank. She asked me when I was going to the bank and I told her. She said she didn’t want to commit to a time and she’s so busy because I’m leaving and wah, wah, wah.

I’m getting annoyed at this point and she says she’s talking to her mother (or maybe it was a mother) and she would call me back. I said fine and hung up loudly. It came time for me to head to school and she hadn’t called. I figured I would go to the bank, see if the money is there, and if not go to the school and say I’m not teaching. As I leave the apartment she calls me to tell me that she made the deposit and the details are in an email she sent. I said thank you and hung up. I came back upstairs to look at the email and there was no email. That was 3 hours ago and there is still no email.

I went to the bank and saw she made a deposit, but it was short. I went to the school but she was talking to a parent and I didn’t want to be rude. I did my class and then went into her office and asked why there was a discrepancy. She didn’t pay me the money (about $145) that she took out of my last pay for my phone bill that I had already paid her for. I asked her why and she said Miss Moon was going to verify the amount. I told her AGAIN that the amount was fine, but I had already paid it. She said she would deposit that amount tomorrow. I could say she’s a moron but that would be overstating the obvious.

I left and as I left I saw the student who I used to have at 8PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We said hello and he looked surprised that I was on my way out. I didn’t say anything and just went home. I figure Kelly forgot to tell him that classes were cancelled and I wanted out of there because I had no desire to teach.

I bought my bus ticket to Seoul for Friday and someone from the employment agency will meet me at the bus station and drive me to Paju to get me to my new apartment. This is good because I had no desire to make my way around lugging suitcases. I also asked the agency to arrange for Internet to be hooked up Friday afternoon. They said they did but we’ll have to see.

On my way to school in the taxi this evening the driver is talking to me in Korean. I keep telling him I don’t understand Korean. He keeps jabbering away and I finally understand what he’s saying. He’s telling me where I live. It’s a shame to be giving up my celebrity status when I move. The sacrifices one has to make.