Nikki seonsaeng nim 선생 Orphanage

I visit an orphanage on the outskirts of Seoul once a month with a group from my church. It's an amazing cause that is very dear to my heart and I am so happy to be a part of it. Also it is a very unique experience as the children only speak Korean. Since I know about 20 words in Korean I can not exactly communicate very well, but I find other ways to get through to the kids. I usually end up playing with them or being silly and then trying to use the few Korean words I know as they use the few English words they know so we can try to chat. It's so different from working at my school where the kids are not allowed to speak Korean, and here that is all they speak. For this reason I am known as Nikki seonsaeng nim. (Nikki teacher) I kind of love it.

Every time we go to the orphanage it is a fun but difficult experience for me. Working with orphans is something close to my heart, but I hate their situation. But the past few months we have had some amazing themes for our one day with them and it's been a great time for the kids and the teachers!  I wanted to recap these amazing visits.

Last month we had a game day.We had a spoon and ping pong ball race, we played musical chairs,

 And even an eat a cookie off of a string on a pole game:

The kids were laughing and really getting into it! We followed up this fantastic day of games with a pizza party and the kids dug in!

Overall, the day went very well and the smiles on the kids faces made it all worth it. Whatever team won the games would get points and then those points we added up to a monetary value which we would give them this month in pretend money to spend at our 'market day' where they would buy things that they liked.

Well today was 'Market day' and I had a big part in today's events. I had to teach the children an English lesson to give them the phrases they needed to interact IN ENGLISH with the 'shopkeepers' whenever we began the pretend market shopping. I taught them phrases like "How much is this? This is expensive, this is cheap! I want to buy this! Please give me a discount!" I also taught them the money in English like '1,000 won and 500 won' which they did fairly well with. It was a little stressful and I wasn't sure if they listened to the lesson but directly after I taught them they got a chance to practice. They had to go up to 6 teachers and have a pretend conversation in English about buying an item. It went like this:

"Hi."
"Hi."
"How much is this?"
"This is 500 won (or) this is 5,000 won."
"That's cheap (or) that's expensive."
"I want to buy this."

They had a cheat sheet that helped them to remember the phrases and they were eager to practice.  Many of the kids actually did really well, and I felt so proud! I could not wipe the smile off my face as it was so nice to hear them speaking English for a change. To know that I had a hand in teaching them this as well was really special for me. I felt like I was seeing the fruits of my labor and really felt like an important part of the team.

Soon enough shopping time for market day began.We had set up the tables with tons of toys, clothes, stationary, etc. The donation amount truly blew my mind, and these kids were so excited to get things up and running!

The children went and got their shopping bag and began looking around the tables to find something they wanted to buy with their pretend money.

They would have to ask me (or another pretend shopkeeper) "How much is this?" and I would give them an amount. Some of the kids were really into the whole bargaining thing and some didn't try at all. I would have to remind all of them what to say in English and usually if they said it well or were trying really hard to remember the phrases I taught them, I would knock off 200 won or something. ;) It was absolutely adorable and so special to watch their eyes light up with the sight of a new toy they wanted, use their English, give me some pretend money, and then drop the toy into their shopping bag with a huge grin on their face. The sense of accomplishment and gratitude was on every child's face.

My favorite moment was when one little boy only had 500 won left. I told him the price of something he wanted to buy was 1,000 won and he said "Please discount!!! discount!" So I told him 800 won and he said "more discount! more discount....." I looked at him with hesitation as I was trying to play hard to get and he smiled and said, "Saranghae.......I love you!!!!" Hahaha, he stole my heart with that and I gave it to him. He thought he had won a gold medal for getting that bargain. He was so cheeky and so sweet.

Market Day came to a close and we began cleaning up and the kid's starting comparing their prizes. They were all overjoyed with the whole event and so eager to show their friends what they had bought!

The day was a huge success and I am so proud to be a part of the orphanage team. I love showering these kids with love and instilling them with a little hope and comfort that people really do care about them in this world. These kids continue to steal bigger and bigger places in my heart each month and I can't wait to go back. It was a beautiful day doing the Lord's work. 

My prayer partner Moobie and I