Final thoughts for 2007...

I know there's still half a month left before the year ends, but I'm going home for Christmas and doubt that I'll be posting much during the trip! I just wanted to share a little bit about what's been going on in my life and heart lately.

I am so thankful that God has led me to Korea and I'm so thankful for the people He's placed in my life here and the experiences I'm having. Yesterday at a ladies brunch, I shared a meal with about a dozen women from places like South Africa, Russia, Canada, Korea, the Philippines, and America. As I listened to some of them give testimonies, I was just amazed by God's sovereignty in bringing together women from all over the world to share life together in Korea. He's placed us in church that has a passion to see His name proclaimed throughout the world. I am so blessed by my brothers and sisters there.

In my time here, I've discovered that even through my faith is very small, God is faithful. As I've travelled to "the ends of the earth," I've experienced Christ fulfilling His promise: "I am with you always."

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and I hope to see many of you soon!

Happy Birthday to the Greatest Dad Ever!

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Dad
Happy birthday to you!

I Hope I Remember...

I'm coming home for Christmas! While I'm home, I hope I remember...


• it’s okay to walk in the house with my shoes on
• how to use a dish washer, an oven, and a clothes dryer
• I don’t need to bow to Americans
• to tip the waiter
• my age (in Korean age, I’m 25, not 24)
• how to use a knife and fork
• it’s okay to throw the food trash in with the regular garbage
• I don’t have to use simple sentences and body language to be understood
• to say “thank you” instead of “gamsahamnida”
• movie theater popcorn isn’t free
• how to drive
• and if I remember how to drive, I hope I remember stopping at red lights is not optional

Kim Chi

Kim Chi is a very popular Korean food. Today my church had a Kim Jang Festival to teach foreigners like me how to make this dish. In addition to kim chi, we made kim bap (similar to sushi) and dak doritang (spicy chicken chunks). Before and after the cooking, we also watched a variety of traditional Korean performers.

Making Kimchi is Serious Business.


Kimchi (spicy chicken). It's good when it's fresh (once you get used to it); I'm not a huge fan of the fermented stuff.


Kimbap making. I had a good coach. Oh, and I got to keep the apron.

Martial Arts

Mad Gab

Sometimes reading Korean feels a little bit like playing Mad Gab. In the game Mad Gab, you read a nonsense phrase and try to figure out the real words that phrase sounds like. For example, "pier steers" sounds like "pierced ears" (thank you wikipedia for that example).

Many words in Korean are borrowed from English, but don't sound like exactly like English once they are put in the Korean alphabet. Join the game and see if you can figure these out:

When you read it in Korean it sounds like:

dohminoh pija









But it comes from the English for...

Domino's Pizza


When you read it in Korean it sounds like:

Kehee epuh shi


















But it comes from the English for...

KFC (which also serves hamburgers in addition to fried chicken)

Isn't this a fun game?

Saturday

10:30 Went downtown to watch one of my coworkers perform in a YWCA end-of-the-year talent program that included singing, dancing, and a fashion show featuring global outfits recreated in newspaper,

2:30 Met my friend Kang Na and her boyfriend for ice cream.

3:00 Had my picture taken with a Korean man (see photo)

4:00 Saw a Japanese movie with Korean subtitles (yep, that was tricky).

6:30 Ate samgyeopsal (pork) at a traditional Korean restraurant. By traditional I mean you take your shoes off and sit of the floor, cook the meat yourself at your table, and enjoy lots of side dishes.

9:00 Met my Korean coworker Mi Hwa and went back to my apartment for snacks and make-up fun (girls from any culture can get excited about make-up)

Thanksgiving

Today I had Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of the singles in my church. It was great to have American style food (biscuits, pasta, mashed potatos, pumpkin pie....) and great to eat a lot of it! All the same, I'm very happy that I'm coming home to share Christmas with my family. Less than a month now!

Mountain Top View

This is a mountain top view of my city.




For the regular readers who are wondering if that ubiquitous pink hoodie is the only one I have the answer is yes, yes it is. I've realized I didn't bring enough winter clothes with me. I did some shopping this weekend trying to add warmer items to my wardrobe. It's a good thing I did because it was 30 degrees today...

Cotton Candy

This is Mi Hwa. She's a science teacher who I share office space with. She doesn't speak much English which is too bad because I don't speak much Korean. We are both Christians, teachers, and piano players. She has a warm, fun personality. I know we'd have a lot to talk about if we could speak the same language.

No More Jelly Belly Fear

I received a package of candy today from my sweet family (thanks Mom!). It included some of my favorite candy, Jelly Bellys. I love Jelly Bellys and I think there are few foods in the world that can top the juicy pear flavor. But my problem with Jelly Bellys is that I don't like the root beer flavor. At all. Ideally I should just be able to pick out the root beer ones and give them to a root beer lover. But the tricky thing is that root beer looks a lot like chocolate pudding and some other really good flavors. Usually I eat the brown ones carefully, cautiously taking a small bit to test it. But today, I realized that it's really a not a big deal if I accidently eat a root beer flavored one. Since I've been here, I've had pig intestine, squid, pig feet, fermented cabbage, and other things I would never have tried at home (and some I'll never try again). Coming after all that, a root beer jelly belly seems pretty tame.

Fall

One good thing about knowing you're living somewhere for only one year is that you really enjoy the moment. I know that this is the only fall I'll have in Korea. Because of that, I'm staring down the yellow trees and enjoying the mild chill of the autumn afernoons as I walk to school. I spent yesterday helping harvest persimmons. It's similar to picking apples. For lunch, we had pork that was grilled on a sort of hot plate. You put the cooked pork in a large lettuce leaf, add some grilled garlic dipped in a Korean sauce, and voila! Korean barbeque perfect for a persimmon farm picnic.


Pastor Troy (the Canadian pastor) grilling lunch


I was cold. Later in the afternoon, I added a borrowed sweatshirt jacket and fleece pullover on top of what you see in this picture. I think it's going to be a long winter for this Arkansas girl...

Happy Halloween!

Most people in Korea don't celebrate Halloween; I'm pretty sure no one goes trick-o-treating. Today I brought candy to work and had my students (and some coworkers!) say trick-or-treat before they could have any. But that's really all for today, no costumes, nothing too exciting except some kit-kat bars. It's so strange how something that's such a big deal in your own country isn't even on the radar in other countries. I think Thanksgiving will be hard because it's even less acknowledged than Halloween. Koreans can get excited about candy, but nobody except Americans gets excited about Pilgrims.

Naejangsan is a popular mountain to visit in the fall. It's supposedly the best place to see autumn foilage. I spent the day with a group from my church hiking the mountain and enjoying the fresh air. I don't realize how...ummm...unfresh the air I'm breathing in my city is until I'm in the mountains. These pictures are a few of the many I took today.

Naejangsan, "Many Secrets" Mountain

Friday Night

Living in a city has some advantages over living in a small town. There are actually places that are open past ten o'clock which comes in handy because I don't get off work till 9:30. So this Friday we went to an arcade and then a Nori Bang. A Nori Bang is basically a karaoke-style singing room. It's so fun!

Moaksan

Today my coworkers and I hiked up Moaksan, a mountain just a short drive out of my city. The colors of the trees are starting to change and the weather's a little bit chilly, but it's just right for a hike. At the top of the mountain is a Buddhist temple. A monk was chanting inside the main temple while we were there. The monks actually live in one of the buildings on the mountian.

Moaksan and Temple


Buddhist Monk Chanting in Temple


Me, My Coworkers, and the Hat They Lent Me

How do you eat bugles in Korea?

With chopsticks of course! At least, that's how you eat them when your having a party with the middle school class. That's Alice in the picture. She's a little shy.

Another bus ride...

Today I rode the bus to church again and DIDN'T end up in the bus parking lot this time. However, the bus we thought would drop us off by the church didn't turn down the church's street (note to self: don't take #554 next week). We got off and walked the rest of the way. We were about ten minutes late, but--compared to last week--we didn't do so bad.

I think I'm gonna like it here...

To save a couple thousand won ($2) on taxi fair, I decided to ride the city bus to church today. I don’t know all the routes yet, so I got the bus numbers from someone yesterday. Since my friend Toni and I were both going to have to transfer downtown in Geksa, we decided we meet downtown at ten o’clock and ride the last bus together.

To play it safe and give myself plenty of time, I was on the bus by 9:30. Things were going great until we pulled into what looked like a bus parking lot. Clearly not downtown. I had to get off the bus because it was the end of the line. I stood around then decided to ask a group bus drivers milling about drinking coffee if they spoke English. Negative. After I tried saying “Geksa,” one driver pointed to the bus I needed to take. It was parked, and no driver was moving to take it to Geksa anytime soon. I waited. Eventually, a bus pulls out of the parking lot, and the driver I’d talked to before motioned for me to get on.

Finally I was on my way downtown. But when we got downtown, the driver turned off the main street that goes through Geksa. He might have been going to circle around, but at this point, I wasn’t taking the chance of another parking lot, so I got off and walked the rest of the way to meet Toni. By this point, I was out of W1000 bills (the bus fare). I only had W10,000 bills. Since you just drop your money in a box, I wasn’t sure I could get change. Fortunately, Toni bailed me out and we made it the rest of the way to church without event (albeit twenty minutes late--glad I got an early start).

Waiting for the bus after church, Toni realized she only had one W1000 bill. There were no little stores around where we could get change. As we got on, I flashed my W10,000, but the bus driver didn’t take it. He just waved me back. Free ride! After eating American fastfood downtown, I waited for the bus to carry me back to my apartment. Sitting at the downtown bus stop, I realized this: I like it here.

Music Festival

Yesterday I attended the opening ceremony of a music festival in my city. The ceremony had a lot of tradiional Korean music. But several of the performances were infused with more contemporary elements such as breakdancing. There were unusual instruments, lots of drums, and colorful costumes. Fireworks marked the official opening, and confetti poured out at the close. Fun times!


Is it a rice cake or the moon?

Motorcycle Ride

There are no pictures to prove it, but I went on my first Korean motorcycle ride today! Since it's a holiday in Korea, I had dinner at a girl's apartment that was a good distance from mine. When I was ready to leave, she offered to take me to the main road so I could catch a taxi. We drove down the road and on the sidewalk (that's what they do here, look out!). It was little scary, but fun.

Seoul

I spent the weekend with a couple of friends in Seoul. Here are some hightlights of the trip:

Traditional guard at Gyeongbukgung Palace



In front of Gyeongbukgung Palace



Where the king had parties



A view of Seoul from the skydeck of the 63 Building.

Kuulpop

This is Kuulpop. The big cup has Pepsi in it, and the little cup on top has tater tots with sauce. I thought I was asking for barbeque sauce, but apparently I asked for hot sauce instead. Maybe they sell something like this in the U.S., but if so I haven't tried it...

American Food!

Tonight I had dinner with an American girl at T.G.I. Friday. Barbeque sauce never smelled so good! There was bread and butter, coke in tall glasses (not the usual juice glass size you find at Korean restaurants), refills, and grilled chicken salad with ranch dressing. I don't think I'd realized how much I'd missed these things in the month that I've been away from them.



That's how I feel.

Tom Cruise

This is Tom.

But for the first couple weeks I taught him, his name was Robbie. One day he told me he wanted to change his name to "Cruise." I tried to think of what sort of English name he was talking about (I have another student named Bradley who pronounced his name "Preberly" when I first met him; sometimes it's a stretch.). When another student chimed in "Tom Cruise," I realized who Robbie had in mind. I explained to Robbie that in Korea, your family name is first, followed by your given name, but in America it's the opposite. Given name, then family name. Once Robbie understood this, he quickly decided he wanted to be "Tom" instead of "Cruise."

He looks more like a "Robbie" than a "Tom" to me, but who am I to get in the way of a middle schooler creating an identity for himself in English class?

Today I had lunch with my friend Kang Na at her former university. There was a job fair there today and one of her friends was preforming in the university's dance troupe. They described it to me as being like a cheerleading team. I guess there were some similiarities. To me, it looked sort of like an aerobics class (there was a lot of jumping) plus some flashy outfits (see above).

Learning My Way Around

Usually, I ride our academy's school bus (pictured above; that's Fredy giving the peace sign.) to work. But today I had to arrive early for a teacher's meeting, so I walked. It was my first time to walk to work by myself and I didn't get lost! Considering how easily I get lost in America, this was something of a miracle! After work I went to the grocery store by myself (also the first time). I said "ye" (yes) when the cashier asked if I wanted a bag and "aniyo" (no) when she asked me another question. I don't know what the other question was, but I think it might have had something to do with a members' card. From the grocery store, I hailed a taxi (I didn't want to carry the groceries for the twenty minutes that was left of my walk home) and had to give the driver directions to my apartment. All and all, it was a confidence-building day for getting around here!

A Cell Phone & Pizza in a Cup

Yes! I've got a cell phone! I really am SO happy to have one. I feel a lot more comfortable venturing out now that I know friends who can help me if I'm lost are just a phone call away. The phone was cheap (free) and I got a pink case and purple phone jewelry!

While I was out, my friend Kang Na and I grabbed a quick piece of pizza. I'm pretty sure that was my first time to eat pizza from a cup...

Luke & Cell Phones

This is the first boy I got to name. He's "Luke" after a sweet brother of mine.

Today, I really get to enter Korean culture, I'm buying a cell phone! They have all sorts of fancy ones; people get really into cell phones over here. A guy I know went to Seoul (4 hours away) last weekend to buy a new cell phone. I'll just be excited if I can get a cheap one....

This is my friend Rachel. We were hanging out at Province Hall, the new state government building. It has a large park-like area in front of it including fountains with lights that change color (behind us). If you look closely at the front of my shirt, you can see a big stain. That's because I'm still learning how to eat with chopsticks.

On Friday night, my office had a welcome party for me. We went to dinner and then on to karaoke. They had English songs as well as Korean ones, so I joined right in and had a blast!

Kids!

This is a picture of some of my students. One of the coolest parts of my job is that I get to name new students. The little girl on the left is the first student I got to name. She's "Mollie."

Some sightseeing around town and my friend Kang Na

Bedroom/Living room

A little bedroom