Things we love and miss

Since we've been here, we have found so many things that we really love about this place. And still, there are things that we miss about home. Since I love lists, I have compiled a list of things that we love and miss. In no particular order.

Things we love:

1. Noraebang! This is Korean karaoke, and it is amazing! You go to this place, and there are all of these private rooms with nice couches, chandeliers, disco balls, big screen tv's, microphones and tambourines! So you get to just sing in a room with whoever you are with. And there are lots of English songs, thankfully. Tim and I have gone twice, and we pretty much think it will be a weekend staple for us.

2. Dolsot bibimbap! This is our favorite Korean dish so far. It's a big bowl of rice that is served to you while the rice is still cooking, so it gets nice and crispy. It has carrots, brussel sprouts, egg, and pepper paste in it. It's really good, and super cheap!

3. Korean BBQ! We've been to a few different BBQ places now, and they are awesome! You sit at a table that has a big round skillet or grill in the middle, so the food cooks right in front of you. We've had chicken and pork BBQ. They are both really good. They both have veggies, rice cakes, and spicy sauce all mixed in together. Yum. But really spicy, at least to me. I always feel like I need to eat something cold and sweet after I'm done eating Korean food.

4. Our new guitar! We just went into Seoul the other day to check out this music store we had heard about. It is amazing! It's this huge store that is just packed with all the musical instruments you could ever dream of. It was great! We found a good deal on a guitar, and I am excited to learn how to play. I've mastered A and E so far, and am trying to build up my finger callouses. I love having finger callouses. Tim is a pro already, and we're hoping maybe he can play on the worship team at church.

5. The mountains! I've never lived anywhere but Indiana and Michigan, so I'm used to flat farmland! It's really pretty to see the mountains on the skyline. At some point this year, we're going to hike up a mountain! Pretty excited about it. And also pretty sure that I will complain the entire hike. I've already prepared Tim for this.

6. Our church. It is amazing. See previous post.

7. Our students. Even though sometimes we know that they have no idea what we're saying. And even when explaining a vocabulary word is sometimes like playing the game, Taboo. You try to give a definition of the word, and they don't understand the words in the definition! That's when my acting skills have come in handy! I've done all sorts of crazy things to get them to understand vocabulary words. But really, the kids are amazing, as we've described in previous posts.

8. The way people treat us. The other day, we were a little confused about what exit to use at the subway. We were standing there staring at the signs, when a man came up to us and said, "Can I help you?" It was so nice. Last week, we were at the bank setting up our bank accounts. It was difficult because nobody there really spoke English well, so we really needed our boss to be there to help translate. But we eventually figured everything out. Anyway, it was funny because the person who was helping us kept apologizing for not speaking English! We were like, "No, WE are sorry that we don't speak Korean!" We're in Korea for goodness sake! But he was really nice and patient. And we had to wait for a while, so he brought us cranberry juice on a tray. It made me want to cry, it was so sweet.

9. Walking everywhere! Everything we need is within walking distance, including the subway station. Awesome.

10. The park and river walk. We live really close to a river/stream, and there's a really nice walkway that we have started to explore. It goes pretty far into other cities, and a lot of people bike and rollerblade on it. Two things that we want. Bikes and rollerblades. Also, there is this amazing park in that area too. It is gorgeous, and really well-kept. It has a nice soccer field, tennis courts (which makes Tim very happy), a basketball court, a rollerblading track, work out equipment, and badminton courts. I feel like badminton is one sport that I might be able to be kind of good at. So I'm working on that this year. So watch out! :)

11. Our apartment. It's really starting to feel like home.

12. Skype! Whoever invented Skype was a genius. It has been great to keep in contact with people through Skype, and to be able to see them when we are talking. It makes it feel as if we aren't halfway across the world.

Things we miss:

1. Our family and friends. Totes. (That means totally).

2. Carrabba's!!! Our favorite restaurant! Seriously, the day we get back, we are going there. Seriously.

3. Hacienda! Chips and salsa. Yum. There isn't a lot of Mexican food here, but we did go to an American chain Mexican restaurant in Seoul a few weeks ago. It was really good. And we have found some chips and salsa and some tortilla shells at the grocery store. But still. Nothing beats Hacienda.

4. A dryer! We have a washer, but dryers aren't really popular here, for some reason. So we have to use lots of fabric softener, and hang our clothes to dry them. It makes our clothes feel kind of weird.

5. My clothes! I really miss all my clothes. It seemed like I had a lot of them when I packed them all up in my suitcase. But now, not so much. I know my sister is enjoying many of them this year. And she better give them back! :)

6. A dishwasher! I have to wash dishes now, Mom. Aren't you proud of me?

7. An oven. We have a stove top, but no oven. It's weird. So we've had to plan a bunch of meals that can be made on the stove. We're making it work. PLUS, more excuses to go out to eat. :)

8. Me: Singing and acting! It's hard knowing that I won't be performing for a year. But I have friends who keep me connected to it all, and I'm still working on things on my own. Plus, the new guitar will help! And Noraebang. :) But yeah. I do really miss performing, and will be excited to get back into it after the year is over. Thankfully, I have really found a love in teaching, and am happy to be doing that right now.

9. Tim: Tennis! He was playing tennis every day before we came here. And coaching. I think it will be hard, especially when the girls' tennis season starts because part of him will want to be there. I told him he can coach me in tennis. It's not quite the same. :)

10. Movies and TV. A few weeks ago, we did go to the movie theatre that is nearby, and saw "Public Enemy." It was in English and had Korean subtitles. They usually have a couple movies in English at that theatre. So that will be nice. But since we can't rent movies or watch tv, we have been watching lots of "Office" episodes that we brought with us! It's pretty great. We have all our movies that we brought too, so it's actually not that bad. :)

It really bothers me that there are 12 things that we love, and only 10 things that we miss. I feel like it should be even. I guess it's good, though, right? It means we love more things than we miss. We are still in the "honeymoon phase" of living in Korea, though. At least that's what people tell us. So I don't know, maybe in a few months, I'll post a blog titled, "Things we hate!" Haha! I don't really think so. But I guess you never know. Stay tuned. :)

One Month!

Well, we have officially been in Korea for one month now! We now have our alien registration cards, bank accounts, and soon we will be getting cell phones. We feel like we're getting into the swing of things here. We both have had so much fun with our classes! But now that September is starting, we will have new classes and kids, which is kind of sad. This past month, both of us really enjoyed our Intensive classes the most. They are the kids who came every morning for 3 hours. I have gotten to do some really fun things with my kids. They are all really good artists, so I tried to incorporate art projects in whenever I could. They are really amused by everything, so I could pretty much do anything, and they would love it. My favorite day was last week when we were reading a story about kids at a dance class. The story was talking about ballet and tap dance, so I decided to teach them some moves. :) They loved it!! They thought I was a really good tap dancer, which is humorous. They kept saying, "Teacher, again!" And watching them learn the combination I taught was priceless! Those kids just made me so happy. They are so funny. And they brought me snacks every day, and drew pictures of me, and taught me Korean, and made me laugh all the time. I hope that my new classes in September are this amazing. Tim had a fun time with his Intensive class too. One day, they were reading about how people used to use buffalo dung for fuel! HAHA! Obviously, the fifth and sixth graders loved this topic. They even wrote a hilarious skit about the first person to discover dung as fuel, and performed it for my class. It was amazing. It's really fun because Tim and I learn things every day too!

So Tim and I found a great church that we have been going to for the past 3 weeks. It's called Seoul Union, and it's on the campus of Yonsei University. The church is amazing. It was founded in 1886, and is the oldest Protestant church in Korea. It is an international, English-speaking church. We heard about it through our friend, Matt, who also goes there. The first Sunday that we were there was an incredible experience. I didn't really know what to expect at all. We walked in a few minutes late because we had to navigate the subway system to get there, and it took about 2 hours. When we walked in, they were in the process of introducing new people. So we were instantly handed a microphone. Haha! It made us feel welcome right away. Then, the worship part of the service started. The first song that we sang was, "Here I Am to Worship." It was an incredibly moving experience for me. I became really emotional because I was thinking, "I am here in Korea, surrounded by people from all different countries and backgrounds, and we're all worshipping together. We're all here to worship." It was really amazing. After the worship part of the service, the pastor spoke, and he is so great. His name is Prince Charles, and he is from Africa. The past three weeks, his messages have been about different aspects of prayer. What he has to say is always very rooted in scripture, and goes so deep. After the service, there is always a fellowship and refreshment time where we get to mingle and meet new people. There are lots of families and young kids that attend, as well as young adults our age. We actually joined the young adult Sunday School class, which has been great too. In September, we're going to be starting a really intense Bible Study called "Jesus in the Gospels." It's a 30 week bible study, but I think we are going to stretch it out to 60 weeks. So we won't even finish it in the remainder of our time here! But I think it will be great to have something like that to really dive deeply into, and have people that we can discuss with. We really feel that this church is where God wants us to be, and we feel so genuinely welcome there. We even met several people who are from Indiana! And everyone has just been so friendly and willing to help us with whatever we need. We feel so blessed to be a part of this church. Last week, the closing song was, "Great is Thy Faithfulness," and the last verse and chorus really stuck out to me:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Morning by morning, new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me!

I really feel like our first month here in Korea has been such a blessing. Every day we see new ways of how God is providing for us. There were so many unknowns before we came here. We really did not fully know what we were getting ourselves into. But from the very beginning, God has had his hand in every aspect of our transition. And we see little blessings every day in our students, in the new people that he brings into our lives, in our church... And we are continually amazed at His faithfulness.

Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul

On Saturday, Tim and I had our first experience in Seoul! We hopped on the subway, which took about an hour and half from where we live, and it was really easy. We had to transfer twice, but everything here is really western friendly, so we were able to figure it out with no problem. And the subways are so clean and comfortable! Nothing like New York! We were meeting up with our friend, Matt, who is here teaching in Seoul for the year. He and Tim are college friends. It was so great to see him, and crazy to be hanging out with him in Korea! Anyway, he took us to see the Gyeongbokgung Palace, and it was amazing! He had been there before, so he was kind of our tour guide. I'll give you a little history lesson. :) The Gyeongbokgung Palace was originally built in 1395. It means "Palace greatly blessed by heaven." There were lots of different buildings and halls that all had different purposes. I really liked the Sajeongjeon Hall. It was the "hall where the king should think deeply before deciding what is right or wrong." Smart idea. We saw the Queen's main residence, as well as the scandalous residence for the concubines and the court ladies. One of the most stunning spectacles was the Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, where the King would throw lavish banquets. It was two levels, the top level held up by 48 stone columns. I could just picture the parties that must have been held there. It was great to sort of step back into history, and think about what happened thousands of years ago in the very spot that we stood. After the Palace, Matt took us to a Korean restaurant and I got dolsot-bibimbap. It was a hot rice bowl with lots of different veggies and things I was unsure of. But it was really good! I liked it a lot! And I am a picky eater. So it was a good day. One guy on the street even started singing to us in English. We don't know what song it was, but he wouldn't stop! It was awkward and hilarious. On the way home, Tim and I had our first experience getting lost (I'm sure it will not be our last). And of course I was freaking out and saying, "We're never going to get home!" It really was kind of scary, not being able to communicate and all. But Tim assured me that we would be fine, and we were! A $3 taxi ride saved the day! All in all, we loved our first experience in Seoul, but we were happy to come back to our cozy apartment in the quiet streets of Yongin.