I have so many things I want to write about but my cold induced headache is squelching all the life out of my brain. I’ll have to summarize for lack of concentration. Over the past two weeks my brother Ryan and friend Joanne have both come to visit me. Ryan and I hung out in Seoul for a few days touring around and getting his visa for Japan. We then went to Pohang for a few days and enjoyed a more relaxed life which included a beautiful six hour hike on Saturday (the autumn colors were amazing!) and four hours of volleyball on Sunday. Seriously, running around Seoul for three days was much more tiring than all that hiking and volleyball. It was fun to have Ryan here, seeing Korea and life at Handong. We watched a ton of Star Trek Voyager and ate lots of chocolate chips. Good times.

Ryan left on Monday and Joanne and her brother came on Tuesday. We also went hiking... well, sort of hiking. I would consider it more of a walk but Joanne’s brother insisted it was a hike. Anyway, we “hiked,” ate good food and talked a lot. During her visit Joanne got to see some of her old students, talk to old friends and see new babies. She’s trying to get hired at Handong for next semester. I hope she does, it would be wonderful to have her around again. I haven’t written much about it but I used to have a community of three very good friends here. Joanne was the first to leave about 10 months ago. Joyce and Sandy left during the summer. I was the only one to return. I try not to think about the gap they left here because it’s too sad. Seeing Joanne again was like chewing minty pink gum… there was something so refreshing about it.

On Wednesday, while Jo and her brother caught a movie, I went to the red light district and interviewed some prostitutes about their opinions and thoughts regarding the new law. I brought a long a guy named Sam as my translator and for the first time I really got some answers about things I had been wondering about. For instance, I asked them how the new law has affected their life. They told me that they had to be much more cautious and that their life had become very uncertain. Business was down but they had to keep doing what they did because they had no alternatives. I asked if the government had taken any action to assist them through this transition period. They said the government did not realize the repercussions this law would have but they were offering each brothel about $100 a month to help costs—which was definitely not enough. I asked if they would benefit from free English classes as it could provide them with skills for other professions or at least opening up some alternatives. One woman answered that if she was smart enough to learn English, she would take her English and go work in Itaewon, the major foreigner’s district in Seoul. Then she added the she wasn’t smart enough for that sort of thing anyway. As for alternatives, they were very reluctant to think about the possibility of needing alternatives. I don’t think they really believe that the government is going to shut them down for good, and maybe they’re right. In any case, there only seems to be one option for their life and they don’t want to consider anything else.

It has occurred to me before that if I teach these women English I would simply be aiding them to pursue better prostitution jobs in places like Itaewon. It undoubtedly would happen. However, my goal is to use English classes as a means for attracting the women to a place where I can share God’s word with them. They could take the skills and ignore the message, but at least they would have been exposed to Christ. I hope that as I talk about the Bible with them, God would move in their lives.

Well, this blog did not end up being a summary even though my brain still feels like a wet piece of squid. Speaking of squid and brains, where do they keep theirs?…. they must have brains somewhere. Or are they just flubbery and white all the way through?