Halfway through and still Learning

Tuesday of this week marked the midway point in my first semester of teaching here at Handong. Time, indeed, does keep marching on. All the more need to take heed to Mr. Keating's maxim in Dead Poet's Society (one of my favorite films) -- Carpe Diem! If there is one continuing life lesson that is regularly impressed upon my thinking here, it is the importance of making the most of each opportunity that you are granted -- that's it: "To Seize the Day!"

And by that I mean not just in the sense of seizing the "big opportunity" to spend a year teaching abroad at a global university -- but even more so, to make the most of those "small opportunities" that come our way each day -- to answer a student's questions about seeking admission at a law school in the States; to write a letter in support of another student's application for a scholarship to a special international summer program in Norway; or, just to listen and give a few words of counsel and encouragement when my teaching assistant is expressing his concerns over the way he has been unfairly treated by another international faculty member.

I must confess. I still feel largely isolated here. No matter how much I have tried to assimilate into the international faculty and into the community of the university as a whole, it appears that I still end up spending large blocks of my time alone. This week, I even went over to the International Law School's (HILS) Wednesday chapel, but found that many of the students and most of the faculty do not attend this service since it is not required of them.

The low attendance at this HILS midweek gathering reminded me somewhat of my own missed opportunities to attend daily worship in morning chapel services when I was studying at Concordia Seminary these past few years. Once I started going, I realized just how much I had indeed been missing of the formative experiences that shape us as a person both individually and in community.

One of the HILS faculty members who saw me walking up the hall commented, "Well, we just don't see you very much around here." (That's right, I'm on the undergraduate law faculty and my office is in another building and my classes are conducted on different floors from the elevated spaces of HILS). Then, I responded, "That's why I determined to be intentionally present at your chapel service today." He cringed and admitted that he would not be attending due to his heavy workload. (I thought that was the purpose of having a time of community worship in the middle of the work day -- to let your work be and acknowledge the One without whom nothing can be done! John 15:5 -- sorry, I've gone to preaching).

There are a few exceptions. Wednesday evening I was invited by my dear colleague Gayle to enjoy a grilled chicken salad with her. She's 73 and taught at U.Cal. Berkley for eight years as well as at a number of other lesser known institutions of higher learning throughout her long career. And now, although she is near the end of that long road, she decided to come to Korea and teach English at Handong this year. She really is an amazing woman! She is sort of the alter ego of Prof. SK.

Earlier in that day, I had asked Gayle if she might help me with my German studies and translation efforts. She was thrilled since her first degree is in German linguistics and she taught German for those eight years at Berkley. (I need to ask her when she was there; it might have been around the same time that Dr. Leary -- Timothy, that is -- was there, too). So now we have a regular meeting scheduled each Wednesday afternoon at 5. I'll need to have my lesson prepared and my translation in order. (Did I say what we would be translating from the German? -- Well, Bonhoeffer, of course! Letters and Papers from Prison).

So the semester is half-passed, and I'm still trying to find my way in this new world. Rather than having any big expectations of others, I simply need to trust each step to His continued guidance and, by His grace, make the most of each opportunity that I encounter along the way.

"My one command . . . is this: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you will be my people. In everything, follow the way that I mark our for you, and you shall have success."
(Jeremiah 7:23 NJB)