Working in Textbooks

This post has been a long time coming. I apologize for the delay.

So at the end of October, I was moved to the textbook office to edit new junior English textbooks. This experience has taught me five things: 1) patience, 2) that I must never choose a career in the publishing field, 3) that editing is solely a hobby for me, 4) that God's timing is perfect, and 5) that God may answer our prayers as we desire in order to teach us that we don't know what's best for ourselves.

My first cubicle experience. Seventeen of us work in this room.

Months before coming to Korea, I prayed for this opportunity--to work in the textbook office here so that I could decide whether or not publishing should be my chosen career. At the time,  I was considering a graduate degree in publishing.

When I was first moved to the textbook office, though, I was upset. I had not wanted to leave my school and students that I had come to love. Still, God had reasons for putting me in this position at this time, and I am thankful for those reasons. But now I know.....editing can only ever be a hobby for me. As a full-time job, it is painstaking. I recall that Samuel Johnson, the writer of the first major English dictionary, once called himself a "harmless drudge" in his definition of a lexicographer. For the past several weeks, that's what I have felt like--a harmless drudge.

I sit in the desk where you see the green coat.

Still, there have been some fun parts about editing all day. One is the Korean exercise routine that we do for five minutes twice a day. It is quite enjoyable and hilarious. I tried to record it, but my camera would not allow me to record the whole thing. Another pleasant part of the job is the food. Several days a week, people bring in snacks--tteokbokki, rice cake desserts, ramen . . . I don't always eat what they bring, but it always provides a nice break for everyone to stand around the small snack table and chat while eating. Truly, though, my favorite part has been noticing hilarious mistakes that occur through translation. Since the book writers are all Koreans, I and my foreign friends edit and rewrite a lot. One of the Korean writers, who is my favorite (but don't tell anyone), tends to say "Wow...." whenever I rewrite an entire passage and questions and answers in front of him in such a short amount of time. One day he asked me for my secret, and another day he said, "English is your mother tongue. I cannot catch you up." Clearly he meant to say, "I cannot catch up with you." It was a cute mistake.

In any case, I gradually have been making up at list of amusing things for this particular blog post, so enjoy! :)

She looks nice on her outfit.

"Would you pass me the napkins, first?"
"Well-done, please."

"Then we all enjoyed walking on the beach and having a sun bath."

Green Hair Salon (I changed it to Sally's. Images of Anne of Green Gables could not escape my mind when I saw this name.)

new spapers

He lost his parents at the amusement park, and one man took him to Lost and Found.

What is the main purpose of the email?
To look for steak and hamburgers at the restaurant

A family is planning a travel to India.

You can learn insect watching and also observing wildlife.

Steak is made with meat.

Sometimes I forget to turn off the oven and burn the cookies. (Kinda sounds like you forgot to burn the cookies....)

Tomorrow he is going there to get a perm. He is so excited. (Sad part: this is not a mistake. Korean men get perms and wear makeup...)

What do you have to do to take care of your pets?
I clean their house once a week. (talking about hamsters)

She made snowmen and had snowball fights with them.

I have a toothache.
Put a Band-Aid on it. (This was actually intentional.)

The Lost and Found Family

growing pets

Why does the girl like going to the bookstore?
Because she can read freshly printed books there.

"Once I used a spoon to stir the food, and I put it in the microwave."
"Did you see many lightening storm?"

I love how language is so diverse and how humorous it can be when we try to translate from one to another without one of them being our native tongue.

And now for a few coworker pictures....

And here is a short clip of our exercise routine. Enjoy! :)