Summer Vacation With Mommy Bear

Grrrrr...summer break is over, back to the grind tomorrow:( My mom came here for the break. Was awesome. We packed a TON of stuff in. Perhaps too much. By the end of each day we were so exhausted. But I LOVE spending time with my mommy bear. Let's see, what all did we do? We did TONS of shopping. I took her to markets, malls, you name it. I drug her all over Seoul, poor thing. We went to Dragon Hill's jimjilbang. I thought she might be 'weirded out' by all of the naked people, but nope, she was fine. We got a body scrub & an oil massage! NICE! I had her try ALL kinds of Korean food. SHE DIDN'T LIKE RICE CAKES!!! She said she didn't like the "texture"...what the heck? We went bike riding along the Han River. We got a 2 seater bike! Was sweet! We went to Jeju for a couple of days. I had no idea Jeju was so big! It was hard getting around because everything was so far away! We didn't get to do a couple of things because we ran out of time. The people were SOOOO friendly & helpful! We did, however, manage to get fried at the beach, see some beautiful waterfalls, do a TON of walking, go through a maze garden, eat some of the local delicious food & see practically the entire island by bus.
We also got to go to our first Korean wedding. My boss got married. Was "interesting" to say the least. We were in & out in 1.5 hours. I found it odd that we were eating while they were walking down the aisle & saying their vows. But it was an extremely nice wedding. She got to eat some Korean BBQ. We went to the Seoul Tower & Lee & I took her out on her last night out on the town! We went to Hongdae & had a great time. I'm pretty sure I have the best mom in the entire world. Yep, even better than your's;) She is an incredible woman & I'm so blessed to have her as my mom. She is the most selfless person I know. I can only think of 1 flaw...she can't use chopsticks for the life of her. I've been trying to teach her for YEARS! I don't understand how she can't use them. It's like it's physically impossible for her to use them. Oh yeah, & she doesn't like rice cakes. Other than that, she's pretty amazing. I think this trip opened her eyes up to what asia is like. She found Koreans to be very friendly & respectful. I miss her already.

iSponge Kids

World's Best Birthday Cake. It's an actual rice cake 'cake.' Heavenly. It's ALL made out of rice! Guilt free cake! Can you say delicious??!! Unfortunately that was still during lent, so I couldn't have any. But a couple weeks later I got one for Dianne for her birthday & I got to induldge on hers:)

Dorothy's Birthday Party

Sandy, Angie & Lion...precious.

Easter/Pajama Party
Don't ask me how the 2 fit together, but for some reason, we made a day of it. Celebrated easter in our pajamas...nice.

St. Patty's Day
Morning Kindergarten

Cancer Kids

Pisces Kids

Parting of the Sea Festival in Jindo

Sounds pretty incredible, huh? And it was! The sea 'actually parted.' And we were able to walk through for like 1.8 km. But you have to make it back in time before the tide comes & the sea closes. A group of us headed to Jindo, the very southwestern tip of Korea on a weekend at the end of April. It was about 4 hours or so by bus. We took a midnight bus & arrived SUPER early the next day...in fact too early, about 4am. The bus that would take us in to Jindo wasn't for another 2.5 hours. We thought about trying to sleep at the bus station, but ended up taking a cab to where the festival was. We totally lucked out & found a hostel right smack dab in the middle of the festival. So the peeps that went were Rueben, Megan, Tara, Lee, Ashley & Bonnie & we ended up seeing people we knew so they stayed with us too. The hostel consists of one big empty room for the 9 of us...& we sleep on mats. Not too comfy, but grateful for a place to sleep!

So we were right on the coast, overlooking the water, beautiful view! The festival was a bunch of tents with all kinds of activities, foods, craft type things, etc.

The sea parted Sat & Sun, we went to it on Sunday. Basically there's this gap, where the water parts & you get to walk through. It was really crowded, but it was really cool. Everyone was in good spirits. You put on these really high rubber boots & start treking through.

Good times! I'm so glad spring is here, tons of trips & festivals to attend!!

Jubilee Spring Retreat

So this past weekend was our church's Spring Retreat. I've been attending Jubilee Church for a couple of months now. I love it. Pastor David is absolutely brilliant...and hilarious, radical "normal", and very charismatic. He brings so much energy to the church. His little bro leads worship & it's incredibly amazing. So the retreat this past weekend was awesome. I'm still not exactly sure where it was (I'm not sure if anyone knows where we were exactly). I really didn't have any expectations about the retreat mostly because of the lack of info. I didn't know what to expect. I just knew God wanted me to go. The theme would be on missions, so of course, I was in! So the campus was beautiful! It was in the mountains, surrounded by trees & hiking trails (which Megan & I totally took advantage of!). The speaker was Michael Oh, he's Korean, raised in America & he's a missionary to Japan. I had no idea that Japan was the least evanglized nation in the world! When I think about Japan, I think of expensive & highly intelligent people! The thought of praying for Japan really hasn't crossed my mind (I'm embarrassed to say). But it's true! The Christian population in Japan is .02%!!! That is NOTHING!!! Wow! He also talked a lot about the 10/40 window and that we basically have 3 choices (2 really): Go, Send, or Disobey. Going is not hard for me. I've felt called to missions for many years now. I committed to going on a short-term mission trip & also to go for at least 1 year. I'm pumped! But it wasn't a hard commitment for me, I've know I was going to the mission field for long-term anyway! The hard part for me was the sending. I've always thought that since I feel called to missions that I would just 'go.'....but I was really convicted this past weekend, I need to also 'send' others to 'go'! So I made that commitment to God this past weekend. Now I just need to be faithful & trust that God will provide.
But it really got me pumped about going to school after Korea to study Islamic Studies & then to 'go'!!!

Spring Time in Korea

Well hello there. Long time no blog. How the heck are you?? Why am I so bad at blogging? I think about blogging every day, but when it comes down to it, I don't do it. I know why...it's because my laptop is painfully slow these days. Dell is getting old, not running like he used to. It may be time to put him down soon. He's had a good full life though. We've been through a lot together. I'm actually surpised he's lasted this long. All of the airports, countries, mission trips (not to mention the many times I've dropped him). Yep...he's been good to me. Am I still talking about my laptop? Anyway...
let's see, what's been going on? A lot actually. Been super busy. Now that it's spring time. There's so many trips, festivals, activities, etc. I LOVE spring in asia! I just got back from a trip to Taiwan (will post picts soon), a group of us went to Jinhae for the Cherry Blossom Festival (picts coming soon), & another group went a couple of weekends ago to Jindo for the Parting of the Sea Festival (pics soon). I'm finally getting a chance to get outside of Seoul & explore Korea. Get out of the pollution, crowds, hustle & bustle. It's been nice to actually see green grass & flowers.
I'm pumped for this weekend. Our church is having a spring retreat. I'm not really sure exactly what all is going to take place, but it's suppose to be amazing. The theme is 'missions', so it should be GOOOOOOOOD!
I have some bad news...Reuben has left us. Yep, he went back to the states to work with YouthWorks. He'll only be gone for the summer, he's coming back to Korea. It'll be a sad 3 months though. Meg & I will miss him dearly.
Hmmmm....what else....not much...just working, running, hanging with friends, weekend trips, church, etc. Can't believe I've been almost 1/2 a year!! CRAZY! I can't wait....when my contract is over in Nov, Megan & I are traveling southeast asia for 6 weeks!!!! We're going to Vietnam, Cambodia, Loas, Thailand, Malaysia & Indonesia. If I can squeeze it in I'd LOVE to stop by the middle east & drop in to Dubai & Lebanon!! Probably won't have time though since I should be back in time for Christmas. I absolutely can't wait though!!
Work is going much better now. I was kinda in a rut for awhile. But I asked for the girls in my small group (oh yeah!!...I joined a women's bible study from church!!). I asked them to pray that I would find joy & motivation in my job. And seriously, the very next day was like I did a total 180! Praise God for answered prayers! And it's been good since! So the girls in my study are Megan, Tara, Maria & Joy. We've only met a couple of times. We're going through the book Having a Mary heart in a Martah World. Really good so far. I love the group though, it's very laid back & open. Feels like you can share anything & won't be judged. Girls going through real things....talking it out....love it.
So, that's about it for now. Going on a picnic field trip to the park tomorrow with school! YIPPIEE!!!!!!!!! Oh the joy of teaching kindergarten!!! Peace out!

We had a birthday party at school for Christina. Her birthday was right at Christmas. So, we gather all the kids to sing happy birthday & eat some cake. Are you ready??....the BEST VIDEO YOU WILL EVER SEE!!! Watch till the end (very short).It never gets old, whenever I need a good laugh, I just watch this video.


So, we celebrated Lunar New Year at school toward the end of Jan.
We all dressed up in traditional korean clothing (hanboks). The kids bow down to their elders and get money, so we practiced this at school. So cute! So teaching kindergarten is HARD WORK!! Oh my, much more difficult than I thought. My thinking before I left for Korea was, "they're little kids, how hard can teaching english be?" Boy was I wrong. It takes so much energy, patience, creativity, and hard work! We work pretty long hours, but it goes by really fast. I work with all girls & everyone is really cool. Christina went back to the states so we got a new foreign teacher, Catie, from Nova Scotia, Canada. Hyo (one of our korean teachers) is getting married so we got a new one, Ray. And of course there's still Cecilia, Serene & Dianne. We just started a new session at the beginning of March, so we got a lot of new students & new classes. It's been crazy busy! I'm teaching 8 classes/day. But I'm starting to like the kids a lot now! THey really grow on you! I've been staying super busy preparing & teaching. Not to mention, I'm working a 2nd job. It's through the headquarters of my school called Edubox. Basically, I am being filmed teaching lessons for public school students. I'm just talking to a camera though. I have to be loud, perky & really into it, so it takes a lot of energy. But it pays well so it's worth it! Let's see, what else has been going on?...we've been snowboarding a couple of times & I LOVE IT!!!!!!! I found my new favorite sport! I had done it before many years ago, but I didn't give it much of a chance. But now, it's so fun! I learned to turn so that makes it much better! We've been a couple of times here in Korea. I already can't wait till next season!

I've also been doing yoga & I'm really getting in to it! Not the whole meditation part, (it's in korean so I don't understand most of what they're saying), but I've gotten more flexible & it just feels so good for my body! I found a new church that I LOVE! It's called Jubilee. I found out about it through Billy & now Megan & Tara are going too. We're going to join a Women's Bible Study so I'm super excited about that. Pastor David is AMAZING & the worship is incredible! That's about it. I moved in to Christina's apartment & it's SOOOO much better! It actually feels like a home. The bed is huge, I have a couch that folds out to a bed, a kitchen area that's separate from the rest of the apt & a big bathroom. God has been teaching me about patience & to be true to myself & HIM (no matter who I'm with or where I am in the world)...HE is always there.

Lunar New Year in Japan

Megan & I took a very odd trip to Japan. We went during our break for Lunar New Year (Jan 23-27). We flew in to Osaka, didn't really see much there though. We spent our first day in Kyoto which ended up being awesome! We totally loved Kyoto. We read that you may be able to see geishas there but didn't know if we actually would. We were just strolling down random streets and found this one where many people were standing around with video cameras, etc. We asked some foreigners what they were waiting for & they didn't know either. So we decided to stay & check it out. Glad we did because we saw several geisha walking to their 'appointments.' It was kinda sad though because it was so crowded with paparatzi type people. (wonder if that's due to Memoirs of a Geisha)? Anyway, we had time to kill because we were taking the midnight bus from Osaka to Tokyo. So we arrived in Tokyo early the next morning, totally exhausted. I had started getting sick right before leaving for Japan & it started to settle in. I started feeling really bad, had zero energy.
We checked in to our hostel & headed to Odaiba. It was a beautiful way to see the Tokyo looking over the harbour by going on the Rainbow Bridge. Then we went to our hostel, took a nap, woke up & went to Roppongi that night. We ended up meeting this guy on the subway that tried to take us to the final day of the National Sumo Wrestling Competition, but the tickets were sold out. But we did end up taking a picture next to a sumo dude. We were utterly exhausted by that time so we went back to our hostel & took a nap. We woke up & went to Roppongi & saw the Tokyo Tower.
We woke up super early the next day to go to the world's largest fish market. It was crazy! They just reopened it to foreigners b/c it had been closed due to people getting in the way, etc. There were some crazy fish, etc there! Still alive & moving around & fish I had NEVER seen before! We went to a temple that was in our area, close to our hostel. We got did this fortune thing & Megan got the worst fortune ever! Seriously, it was kinda freaky. Little did we know it was a forshadow of what was to come.
After that we wanted to see some Japanese Fashion! So we went to Shibuya & other surrounding areas. Lots of people out & about. Fun to people watch! There was defintely some crazy fashion, but I don't think quite as much as I was expecting. They had some weird hairdos. Oh yeah, we ate sushi like 4 times that day. SO GOOD!!! We stopped by Yoyogi park but wasn't much going on. It's suppose to be really interesting on the on the weekend but it was a Monday. It ususally has alot of outdoor activities like people playing in their bands, music instructions, dancing, sports, parading gothic fashion etc.
So here's were things get 'interesting.' We went back to our hostel to get our things to head to the train station where we were suppose to catch the 'midnight' bus back to Osaka where we were flying out of. Well, we went to the train station, went to check out where we were supppose to catch the bus (just to see where it was), then went back inside to get changed for the night, etc. We were just killing time. Well, the 'midnight' bus left at 11:20pm!!!!!!!!!! We MISSED IT! And there were no other buses or trains leaving for Osaka that night! SO we would have to buy an expensive bullet train ticket the following morning. A pain to spend that money, but that was the least of our problems. Everything around the train station was CLOSED!!! The station was closing & didn't open back up till 4:30am. We thought about getting a taxi back to our hostel but it would have been incredibly expensive. So, we decided to go back to the restroom we changed in & sleep for a couple of hours where it was warm. Well, we got kicked out of there. We were left homeless for the night. So we started walking around, trying to find any place that was open. It was COLD out! Nothing, abosultely nothing. So, we started getting desperate & were going to settle for sitting on some steps going underground, etc. But everytime we tried a place it was 'taken' by homeless people. We didn't understand how the most densely populated city in the world could totally close down! Seoul has 24 hour places all over. Afer walking for hours in the freezing cold, we sat down next to a building & huddled together to keep warm. We couldn't take it anymore & finally found a Kinko's that was open. So we had to pay to use their internet, at least we were warm! It was finally time to head back to the station. We bought bullet train tickets & headed to Osaka. It was a relief to get on the plane! We made it!
The trip was exhausting both mentally & physically! But we both agreed we had a really good time & loved Japan! The food was awesome! THe people were friendly. It was incredible clean there! The subway system was horrible, so confusing! I was greatful to return to Seoul's easy subway system! I want to return to Japan & go to Hiroshima. We liked Tokyo but wasn't our favorite. Megan & I traveling together....I don't know what happens, but something inevitably goes wrong. Even in Seoul, it's weird. We either miss our stop, go the wrong way, miss our bus, etc. I guess it keeps things interesting though. She's awesome & I hope we can take another trip together somewhere!!