Though I have been feeling lonely this Christmas, I am reminded of the promise of Christmas. Immanuel. God is with us. I am not with my family tonight and they are not with me. However, the thought that God truly is with us, and how he really came to us, fills my heart. I have this strange loneliness and joy at the same time. He is with me and he is with you, wherever we are.

…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).

I have been doing other things besides baking cookies, I promise. I have been spending as much time with my friends as possible. My work life has been pretty crazy. My boss keeps changing things and I think it would be safe to say that my coworkers are all frustrated. The kids are still great though.

I have a cute kid story from this week. One of my favorite students is a boy named Evan. He is a fourth grader and he is kind of a punk, a loveable punk! J Evan is really smart and I can joke around with him in class. We have a good rapport with each other. He never does his homework and I bug him about it. He also likes to share his snacks with me during break time and he asks me all sorts of questions. When Evan doesn’t do what he should, I tease him and tell him that I am going to throw him out the window into the big food trash dumpster outside. (Believe me, this only sounds cruel. I say it with a big smile and he knows I am only kidding. And my window is too small!!) I also like to tell him that I cry after he leaves because he never does his homework. On Monday, I was joking with Evan and I told him that I wanted homework for Christmas and that I would cry if I didn’t get it. And I added that if he made his teacher cry, Santa would most surely bring him reindeer poop for Christmas. Last night, Evan showed up for the extra writing class (a miracle in itself) and he was beaming. He asked me if I checked the homework. I told him I hadn’t yet. He kept smiling. “Evan, did you do your homework?” He nodded. And so, Evan did his homework for me for Christmas. I was elated. Could a teacher receive a better Christmas gift? Oh, I love that kid!! Ha ha!

Besides working and baking, I have been still spending a lot of time at church and with my church folks here. I have a new friend too. His name is Derrick and I found him on facebook while I was looking through the people I might know list. We had fifteen friends in common, he went to Lee, and he had his name written in Korean. I was intrigued. Click. So, I messaged him and he actually wrote me back. As it turns out, he lives in the same town as I do and we have been hanging out ever since. So, I am a bit of facebook stalker. We have only known each other for a couple of months, but the common background we share has made us fast friends. He is going home for a couple of months and then he will hopefully come back toKoreaafterwards.

Let’s see… I also got to see Handel’s Messiah last weekend. One of my friends (Ginny) from church was singing in it and she invited us. It was in an old church in downtownSeoul. Wow. The whole thing was gorgeous. My favorite was the bass who had amazing eyebrows. I’m serious; this man’s eyebrows seemed like they were alive. He made me smile. The other singers were really good too, but the bass was the best! When the choir started singing, “Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,” I got goosebumps. I love scripture set to music. The choir seemed to enjoy singing the “We Like Sheep” song; they were all grinning during that one. Anyway, we all had a really nice time hearing the music and spending time together.  

Today was also eventful, though not as eventful as I would have liked. Michael’s birthday is in a few days. I tried to arrange an outing to Lotte World (his favorite theme park) today. Lots of people came out for lunch, but not many people could come to Lotte World with us. The others were preparing for a big church Christmas event tomorrow. The group that went had a good time though. It was so crowded!! It was kinda crazy in there. So, though I liked the rides, I was glad when we decided to leave. I hope he had a nice birthday. Happy 30^th to my big brother, Michael!

Another thing I am excited about is called Help Your Suwon. I have been helping a group of volunteers take food to homeless people in Suwon Station (a big subway station outside ofSeoul). Derrick (new facebook friend) has been going with me too. We are doing the same thing that the group does in Seoul Station, only with fewer people. This week is the sixth week for us and I have gotten to go most weeks. I am excited because we go on Sunday nights and we are going tomorrow for Christmas. We are going to wear Santa hats and go out to sing karaoke afterwards. I am taking the cookies I baked tonight for the volunteers, so I think everyone will be happy. I am hoping to start taking more of my church friends with me every week… We’ll see who wants to come with me next week for New Year’s Day.

Also, please remember to pray forNorth Korea. I have no idea what the news has been saying at home (probably all kinds of crazy stuff). Things here in SoKo have been pretty much the same. Everyone was shocked by the news though. I tried to get my students talking about Kim Jong Il’s death, but they had surprisingly little to say. They were glad he was dead, but that’s about all I got out of them. I sincerely hope that their new leader will do more for the people there (I know that is doubtful, but I can pray and I can hope). I will try to update you all if anything happens here.

As for now, life is normal. I am counting down the weeks at my current job (8 more!). In March, I am supposed to start working at a public high school near here. I am going to be moving closer to where I want to be. I will have a daytime schedule again too.  I am pumped! I really cannot wait to make my own lesson plans again. Now I only need to survive the new changes and the extra holiday classes and get all of my visa transfer paperwork done. Eight more weeks!!

I think that is about all I have in me for tonight. Merry Christmas to all of you. God is with us.

Much love, peace, and joy,

Rachael

 Some photos from the past couple of months:

 Halloween!

Thanksgiving!

Fun day in Hongdae with Sarah (Trick Eye Museum and Charlie Brown Cafe)!

So, about the getting ready for the wedding… I went to Sara’s so that she could help me get ready. Jazzy was already at home. And I invited Gurpreet to come along. Well, I got Gurpreet, Jose, and Nerry all and they all followed me to Sara’s to see me get ready. Gurpreet did my eye make-up for me and it looked really good. I can do basic make-up, but the Queen is a master. Sara helped me by making me a hair appointment and by steaming my dress for me. And, Nerry and Gurpreet also helped me with the purchase of some double sided tape, that helped me feel, um… more secure in the dress. The dress, though not indecent at all, definitely showed more skin than I am accustomed to (unless I am going swimming). Anyway, the end result was a very nice looking Rachael.

The band at praise team was a little shocked. I think everyone was a little confised about what I was doing. Praise team was good and then we went to eat some dinner. And then, I got to stay about thirty minutes at karaoke before I had to leave. I wanted to make sure to get home in plenty of time to see Gwyn getting ready. You have to see the bride getting ready. It’s part of being a bridesmaid!

So, Michael (my wedding date) drove me home and then returned to the karaoke party for awhile. And, I got to see all of the bridal party getting ready. And I got to talk to my friend Teena too. She was a nice bonus. I haven’t seen her in a long time. Gwyn looked incredibly beautiful. Her dress was so pretty! And it was so nice to just talk to her like I would if I could have been there in Ohio with her.

Let me tell you about the bride. Gwyn is a very close friend. We have talked and shared so much over the past few years. I met her in college during our senior year. And, when I met her, she was going through hopefully the most difficult time of her life. She has been through so much and I am not sure if anyone else could have come out of it as well as she has. Last year, I remember talking to her on skype while she was working three jobs and desperately praying for something better. Her prayers were answered. She got a call from a Christian school and they offered her a job as a Calculus teacher. And the same week, she met Josh (her husband now). What I have seen in her life is a testimony of God’s goodness and faithfulness. We have hard times, yes, but he is so very good to us. I am so happy for her and my heart felt like it was about to explode with pure joy and mushy sentimentalness during her wedding… Truly, I could not be happier for something so wonderful to happen to anyone, even myself.

And Gwyn asked me to be a part of her wedding, even if it had to be on skype. She made a special podium for me on the stage and had members of the wedding party cart me around and plug me in throughout the whole day. I was very well taken care of. And I had a great view of everything!

Side story: The funniest part of the wedding has to be when I had to go to the room with the groomsmen. Gwyn had me on mute, so they couldn’t hear me, but I could hear them. The ringbearer, a little boy of about five or six, was very amused with this whole virtual bridesmaid business. He just laughed and laughed. Then, Michael made it even better. He got my bear and put in front of the screen and then they boy was really excited. “GRRRR!” He made a growling sound to scare the bear. Michael moved the bear. “I scared it! I scared it!!!” he laughed. This went on in a cycle for about ten minutes! I was laughing so hard! ha ha! The groomsmen were not so amused. We had to stop so we wouldn’t get the kid in trouble.

Now, speaking of Michael.. I don’t know if you know any people like this or not… But, do you know anyone who is just SO NICE?I mean those people who are so naturally good that they make you want to be better and even though you know you could never be as kind as them, you have to try… Michael is just like that. He agreed to be my wedding date, just because I thought it would be funny to have a date for an online wedding. So, he went out and got a new suit for the occasion (a three-piece suit at that–gotta love a man in a vest). He even managed to get a purple tie to match my dress. Then he drove me home, went back to sing karaoke with our other friends, and came over about 1:30 to be my date. Then, went back out again at 3:00 when we were starving to get us McDonald’s. And then stayed until 4:30AM when he was about ready to pass out from being so tired. I don’t know why he is so good to me, but I appreciate him so much.

I finally got to sleep around 6:00. I was so keyed up that it took me forever to wind down even though I was physically exhausted.

And so, that was my virtual bridesmaid experience…

And since then, my new co-worker has arrived from Canada. His name is Simon. He is very laid back and gentle with the kids. He has done so well with adjusting to everything so far. I have been trying to take good care of him…although, the first week of work was rough for him and now he has a nasty cold. At least we have had a four day weekend (Korean Thanksgiving) for him to recover. I have fed him lots of Korean food and I am trying to introduce him to my friends and make sure he knows how to get around and such.

And yesterday, since I had a four day weekend, I went to Everland with my friends. Everland is a themepark about forty minutes from my house. It’s a pretty good one too. We had a lot of fun and the weather was perfect.

Today, I am going to be cleaning up and cooking some shepherd’s pie for the peeps. We are going to cram into my little apartment and hopefully more good times will be had. Thank God for holidays! I needed one.

And that’s all for now. I’ll try to write again soon. Much love to you folks at home.

This is my new furry rodent friend from Peter and Irina. His name is Gupta, but I have been calling him Critter.

Well, I suppose I should start by updating you all on the job situation since I mentioned wanting a new job in the last blog. It’s been rough. I am still at my same ole job. I will tell an abbreviated version of how that happened. So, I was looking for public school jobs. And out of the blue, I met this lady with an international school. So, I interviewed with her, but I didn’t expect to hear anything back. So, I kept looking at public schools and my friend Irina is leaving, so I interviewed at her school. I really liked it. I had made up my mind to sign a contract at her school…when international school lady called me back. She made me a really good offer, so I thought about it and decided to take it. I went in and signed the contract and was told that their CEO was out for the day because of the flooding in Seoul. So, no big deal, or so I thought and I was going to pick up the contract the next week. Well, the next week came and went. I was on vacation and went on a mission trip (I will tell about that one too) and I emailed the lady the next week. She didn’t email me back. I called. She didn’t call me back. So, finally, I called last Monday at 8:00AM on her cell phone and asked her what was going on. My position had been eliminated and they just didn’t tell me. And, I only had one more week at my job. Thanks a lot international school lady! :/The good thing is that my current boss said he would like me to stay. Otherwise, I am not sure what I would have done. So, I passed up a good job with better hours to get an international school job only to end up with the job I already have… A three month job roller coaster that I am so glad to be off of, at least for now. *sigh* Maybe that wasn’t abbreviated enough. My apologies.

I am not sure how long I am going to stay where I am. I can go home in three months, or six months, or nine months, or next year. I don’t know what I want anymore, so I am just praying for a little clarity. You all can join me in that prayer. I’d appreciate it.

In less disappointing news, the mission trip this year was great. We went to Pochun which is only about an hour and a half from Seoul. It is a smaller suburb/town north of here and many of the people who live there are people who were living in Seoul and had to move because of financial problems. We were working with the people at the Eun Pa Church, a small Methodist church. The pastor and his wife and daughter started a ministry to help the neighborhood kids. So, they built a small building next to the church and have been tutoring the kids there and teaching them traditional drumming and Tae Kwon Do.

My team was working with the kids. We also had some teams working with the elderly people in the town too. The kids were so loving. They latched onto us quickly, especially Michael and Jose. We had a lot of fun together. We did the cha cha slide. We played dodge ball. We played chubby bunny. The kids ate it up. There was this one little kid who got so excited about everything. We would finish playing a game and he would get the rest of the kids to help him chant, “One more time! One more time!” So, we would play one more time. My team was great, we had Michael, Jose, Jesse, and a newer girl named Karen. We worked together well and I am happy to report that there was really no conflicts or irritations that are so common on mission trips. We were all there to do our part and everyone was serving each other. I was impressed with my church folks.

Ahh, a funny thing about thechurch where we went was that everyone was really nice. But, when we first arrived none of them were smiling. They looked a little angry or unwelcoming. We sat in the santuary for about thirty minutes while everything was settled. During that time, they had some rather ominous church bell music playing. I thought Quasimodo was going to pop up any moment and run his hunchbacked self through the sanctuary. I told everyone to be watching out for him… I was relieved when the music stopped. They played it again later on in the trip, but it was just creepy sounding. They should invest in some Hillsong or something less creepy, even Don Moen would be preferable…

I also went to the beach for a day when I came back. A one day getaway was just what I needed. Actually, I could use another one. Maybe I will go somewhere for Korean Thanksgiving later this month. Fifteen bucks for a three hour bus ride to the beach cannot be beat. Feeling sand in between my toes is worth it. The beach I went to is called Boryeong. It is famous for mud and they have a big festival there every year where people go there and drink too much and cover themselves in mud. I have not been to the mud festival, but the pictures always make it look like Panama City Beach over Spring Break, only people are covered in mud too. The festival is pretty popular. I didn’t even make it to the mud pits, but I did get some mud masks and mud soap for my friends. (Would mud soap be effective? Why do they even make such a thing? It doesn’t make any sense …which is precisely why I bought some!)

Umm…Other things happening…. My new co-worker from Canada arrives on Friday. I am excited about him coming and I am praying that he is wonderful for the kids. All I know is his name and that he majored in Philosophy. Honestly, I hope he is more exciting than what I am picturing. Was I the only one who hated Philosophy class? All of that time spent on searching for the answers to life’s biggest questions and never reaching any conclusive answers… It makes my brain hurt just thinking about it. It is also 2:00 AM, so that could have something to do with it. The Korean teachers are excited because he is supposed to be handsome… I’ll let you know! Ha ha!

Also this weekend is Gwyn’s skype wedding extravaganza! I have a purple bridesmaid dress that makes me look like a box, a shapely box, but a box nonetheless. And, I will be staying up til the crack of dawn to attend this event. It’s going to be fun. I bought cheddar today so I can have cheese cubes. (Cheese cubes are a wedding necessity-it’s true!) And, I have a date too! My friend Michael is going to dress up and hang out at the wedding on skype with me until we are too tired to stay awake. I’m pumped. I feel like I am going to the prom or something. And it’s going to be so funny to watch everyone’s reactions at the wedding. Ha ha! I can’t wait!

And, I think that is all the big news for now… Write to me soon. This job fiasco has made me pretty homesick. I just want to run home. But, I don’t think that is a wise move nor is it what I think God would have me do. I am praying that if I stick it out a month or so, that the homesickness will fade a little bit. Let me know how all of you are. I still check my email all the time. I don’t always reply right away, but I read every one, I promise.

Much love to you all,

Rachael :0)

I cannot believe I haven’t written a thing on here for three months. I did start another entry about a month ago, but I never finished it. Sorry all!

Well, it would be too much to try and update theee months worth of blogging and it would just be really long. So, how about I just catch you all up on what’s been happening recently.

I am job hunting again… I am in my last term at my job. I could sign another contract with my school, but I am teaching the same books for the eighth time. I am officially bored with the material. I don’t know how those teachers I had could teach the same material for twenty years without going insane! Ha ha! I am ready for something fresh and I would like to make my own lesson plans again. And more time off, that would be grand… I’m going to be home for Christmas this year if I can make it happen!

So, pray for me to find a good fit for next year. I really want a daytime schedule and to be closer to some of my friends here. I want to have a place where people can hang out in the middle of the week. And I want to cook dinner for people again. As for my friends here, they are all doing fairly well. Some of them are finishing their contracts and thinking about going home. August-September is going to be an interesting time of people coming and people leaving. I am not looking forward to the goodbyes. I do think that being so far away from home together really binds people together. I may not have known the people here for very long, but I think I will keep up with some of them forever.

The past two weekends have been so nice. I finally got to go to the Seoul Zoo which is inside Seoul Grand Park. The park also has a theme park, so it is pretty grand. It’s massive, actually. I think it would take someone at least two days to walk through all of it. I spent all day there with Heather, Peter, and Irina, and Stephen joined us for a little bit. It was so sunny and beautiful. We ate kimchi jeon (kimchi pancakes–well, that’s how they’re translated on menus, but they aren’t sweet like pancakes…they are really good). I also got to see the seal show. They called it the dolphin show, but the seals were better. It’s just a fact. Seal tricks are better and seals are funny. Andre trumps Flipper, every time. And then I got to eat fresh cotton candy! I felt like a kid. (I have seen the movie Andre a million times… I never get tired of that movie!)

Then, that Sunday, Heather and I had to go to the Suji church to sing for the global service. My theory on why we have global services: The global service is when the head pastor of our huge megachurch decides to think about the name of the church (jiguchon–Global Mission Church) and then he decides we should join all the services together. This idea is a great one, but it also takes a lot of work. And sometimes, I think they just want foreigners there to make them feel global… Anyway, the global service was actually four services and we sang at all of them and listened to the sermon three of those times. (I learned a new Korean word from that sermon. Ma beop. It means magic and it’s fun to say. Ma beop, ma beop, ma beop.) It was a pretty good day. The nice pastor who was taking care of us took us to lunch at a nice place and kept trying to give us chocolate and coffee. He was so kind to us. I was glad to go home that night though.

Last Saturday, Heather and I went for a much needed and much anticipated trip to the Indian restuarant in Gwangju. Ahh. Curry! That restaurant is so far away, but it’s just so good. Going to the ones nearby are letting substituting a burger grilled in my backyard for one at McDonalds. I’m spoiled now. Then, we went to look around at all the foreign food stores. I tried woodapple nectar for the first time. It was interesting. As far as food experiments go, not too bad. I don’t really know what a woodapple is. The nectar tastes kind of apple-like and also kind of fermented and it is a thick juice, like mango juice. Not too bad.

Sunday was a really nice day too. We had a special guest at church. She was a lady from New York and she had a lovely voice. I think I enjoyed her music more than anyone else. She sang several songs for us and my favorite was “Total Praise”. I really like that song and I remember singing it a long time ago with the choir from my home church. Good memories. I didn’t get to talk to her very much after the service, but she has been in Korea for a few weeks. I think she sang at forty churches. She was six months pregnant and she was being taken around by this seventy year old Korean pastor. So, between being away from her husband, eating all Korean food, and sitting on the floor everywhere she was so ready to go back home. I hope she is resting easy at home now. That’s a lot of singing and a lot of Korean food and culture for someone not used to it.

 If any of you come to visit me, I promise to make your trip better than hers. Really, I think I could be a good host. I am hoping that with my new job for next year comes a bigger apartment with a couch and a real bed. So, I will be able to offer a real bed or a couch instead of a floor and a bed that is much like the floor. So, make your flight reservations for after September!

Speaking of visitors, we have one in town now. Gurpreet’s mum is here from London. She is having a good time meeting everyone and I cannot wait to get her talking about embarrassing stories from the Queen’s (Gurpreet’s nickname) past. Maybe this weekend will have some good stories for us.

I have yet to plan anything for this weekend. I want to go somewhere nice on Saturday. I STILL haven’t ridden those swan boats… Maybe. And, I am glad that I don’t have any obligations on Sunday after church.

I found a group that goes to feed the homeless on Sunday nights. I can’t always go, but I really enjoy it when I do. My friend Sarah is usually there and I get to meet all kinds of other new people who live around Seoul. And, we get to give out bananas and soy milk to the folks sleeping in Seoul station. I am always really touched when one of them says thank you, especially if he says it in English. Wow. It makes my heart smile just thinking about it!

I haven’t been able to find another place or day to organize my own group. I am hoping that I can go on Friday nights when my schedule changes and maybe take some people from the church with me. Those people would really love something hot and filling like kimbap (Korean rolls with seaweed, rice, ham, egg, and veggies inside) or something. And I want to learn some more phrases to talk to them a little more. Goals for the future…

As for now, I am going to start a new story. I have started a little writer’s group with some people who were here and have moved back home. One of my writing buddies is writing stories for a book called Machine of Death. It’s an interesting idea for a book. The machine has to predict how people die and it cannot be wrong. Anyway, he wants to be published in the new book, Machine of Death 2, and his story is really good. So, I just want to try and write one myself and see what comes out of it. I’ll let you know if I get published. ha ha!

Here’s the website for it. It’s not as gory as it sounds, I promise.

http://machineofdeath.net/ 

And this is the lady who sang for us at church on Sunday. Her name is Willana Mack.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GracelynMusic?blend=3&ob=5#p/u/0/8V7TpqHTNEY

And here are some random photos from the last several months. I haven’t put up any pics in a long time…

Bloodtype keychains! Only in Korea! Seriously, they think there are different personalities for different blood types.

This is a great one. I have become even more dorky in Korea. And I love Settlers of Catan. This picture is from my first victory! (I always use the brown pieces because they remind me of Lincoln Logs.)

This one is just a picture that I like. It’s springtime and there is a couple hiding behind an umbrella… Aww.

Here’s a funny one! This one is from our church trip to Shinshido (an island somewhere and it has a really big dam, I think). Anyway, we sang karaoke on the bus and this is Jazzy rapping for us!

Look who I found in Korea!?!

Can you find the error on this sign? We did. And even though they’ve fixed it now, we still call it…

Ahh… Korea in the springtime! So beautiful!

This one is another gem from the Shinshido trip. Some of us decided not to hike (the smart ones! Jimmy, Heather, and me), so we played some worship music in a park. The kids were there doing a photo shoot for a calendar. They all came and sat around us… They were so precious!

And now, I am going to scurry off and write a little more. I hope all of you are well. It’s been such a long time since I’ve had updates from you all too. Please send some my way.

Much love,

Rachael

Becky and Sun decorated my classroom for my birthday and got me some gifts (a pretty green necklace, a scarf, and a scarf hanger) and an ice cream cake. I was so touched. I didn’t think they would do anything and they surprised me. And since my classroom was decorated with a huge happy birthday banner, the kids kept asking me all day, “Teacher, birthday?” And I told them yes. They were as excited about the balloons as I was.

After work on Friday, I met a few of my friends at the bus station. We went on a weekend getaway to meet some more friends in Sokcho. I have been to Sokcho before, but I got to see a different part of it this time. All together, there were ten of us on the trip and we stayed in a hostel that Peter and Irina found for us. It was really a quaint, little place that was owned by a man and his mother. I really enjoyed the homey feel of it.

We stayed up really late on Friday night after we arrived;the boys were wired for sound and they kept trying to tell us about the different hiking options for the next day. There were not as many options as usual. Earlier in the week, it snowed three feet in Sokcho and a couple of the trails were still closed because there was too much snow. And though they were supposed to tell us about four options, we only really heard about one of them. The waterfall trail.

On Saturday morning, we slept in and finally found some food at a coffee shop on Rodeo Street. It was a strage coffee shop, but they had hot wings so I wasn’t complaining! After our strange lunch, we caught the bus and rode about thirty minutes to Seoraksan (Mt. Seorak). There was so much snow up there! We got to the hiking trail and there was only a narrow path. The path was too narrow to walk in pairs and when people were coming back down the mountain, we had to get a little creative with our movements to avoid being knee-deep in the snow. We took the waterfall trail which Peter assured us was beautiful. The hike up the mountain was lovely. I am not much of a hiker anyway and I still think hiking in the snow is kinda crazy, but I enjoyed myself. Finally, when I was really tired, we got to the main waterfall. It was frozen and covered in snow, so we couldn’t see it very well. The moutain trek was kind of like that time that Pastor Bob took us all the way to the other side of the island in Jindo to see the sunset and we couldn’t see anything because there was such a dense fog. However, sometimes I think the fogs and frozen waterfalls make for better stories and memories anyway.

We made our way back down the mountain and we went to an all-you-can-eat meat place. They had all kinds of meat and fish to grill at your table. It was pretty good, but near as good as the pizza that Irina and I had later! The group wanted Korean bbq, but Irina and I wanted some greasy pizza! We went back to the hostel and played cards, drank my mountain wine (I’m not normally too fond of wine, but this wine was so sweet. I am saving another bottle in my fridge for an occasion worthy of bringing it out…), and enjoyed some good conversation.

I left the group early to come back for church on Sunday. I was hoping to make it for the whole service, but I missed all the music. After church, a big group of people took me out for a nice dinner at Outback. Red meat! I hadn’t had a steak in months and it was delicious. Then we went out for noraebang. I am not sure how I managed it, but there were six gentlemen in attendance and only four ladies. So, I was serenaded for my birthday, more than once (one of those being really awkward, but I won’t get into that one)!

So, that’s how the birthday festivities ended up this year. All I wanted was to have a good time and not eat birthday cake. There was so much cake in January! I probably won’t want cake again until May. Ha ha! So, I got my wishes!

I haven’t done too much since my birthday. Last week was incredibly busy at work. We had PTA meetings on Tuesday and Thursday and I had to give the other teachers a workshop on Wednesday to go over all the updates that started today. And, I had to go to more training for work on Saturday. Whew! I am so glad that last week is over! I’m tired just thinking about it!

This week is the start of the spring term at school. Spring and fall term are my favorite ones! And my schedule for this term is sweet! I have a bunch of little kids on Monday/Wednesday/Fridays and the older, studious kids on Tuesday/Thursdays. Most of my little kids are brand new to our school and they are so cute. I get new favorites all the time, but this week’s are definitely Robin and Danho.

Danho has two missing front teeth and his lips curl up a lot on both sides when he smiles, and there is one little freckle right above his little curly lips. Add to that the fact that he smiles all the time and you’ve got the cutest kid ever! Robin lived in Germany and his teachers there got really mad at him for speaking in English, so he is a little shy, but he’s coming around. His little face lights up when he gives the right answer and I smile at him.

I only have one kid with a strange name this term. His name is Undertaker. I am guessing his mom doesn’t care too much what he calls himself at English school. He’s a nice kid though.

Most of my bad students have ended up with the other teachers this term. I am quite thankful! I needed a break from a couple of them. One kid that I have had for the past six months has a voice that could shatter glass and I just cringed when I had to check his speaking homework. Sun thinks he’s cute though, so the change should be good for him too!

There’s not much else to report. All of my friends here are doing fairly well and all of my friends at home are getting pregnant. Oh my! Congratulations to all of you mommas to be out there! May all of your chillins be as cute as Danho and not have voices like that other kid, who will remain nameless!

I have been reading some good books lately. Sara got me The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis and it was excellent. I feel like I need to read it again for it to fully sink in. And, I have The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time which has a weird title, but is holding my interest. And, the parents in North Carolina sent me a new Kindle, so I will be reading some new classics which I downloaded for FREE! Free books! Such a beautiful thing. I can’t wait to put the Bible on it! It won’t be free, but it will be much lighter in my bag.

Speaking of the Good Book, I was reading ealier about the greatness of God. I know the idols we make for ourselves now are not made of wood or silver, but they still so silly to think about in comparison to God. They are impermanent, only temporary… And yet, I still let them steal my time and attention away from reality, my Number One.

“God made the earth with his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgement comes, they will perish. He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the maker of all things…the Lord Almighty is his name.” ~from Jeremiah 10

“Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakeable remains.” ~C.S. Lewis The Great Divorce

And I guess that’s all for me tonight. Send me some updates of home.

Much love,

Rachael :0)

Oh, these are some photos my friend Kaitlin took while we were in the mountains. They are gorgeous and much better than I could have taken.

I hope everyone at home enjoyed their snowdays. I read about them on facebook. I also read about football on facebook. I still don’t really know what’s going on with football, but I do read what people post. I like reading about everyone’s lives and checking out their new pictures.

So, what’s been happening in Korea?

Well, the past three weeks have been filled with birthdays and that means PARTIES! Michael’s was first. Heather and I stayed up all night before the party making some cookies and brownies in her wonderful oven! By saying that we made them, I mean I made them and she was in charge of quality control. Then, the night of the party we went to TGI Fridays and ate way too much. Then, we stayed out too late at the noraebang. There was singing and dancing. And snow! While we were singing it began to snow outside. It was beautiful! I was glad that I had someone with a car to take me home so I didn’t have to walk though. Yay for friends with cars.

Nerry’s birthday was last Thursday and we threw her a surprise party which means we had to have two! The girls went over to her house on Thursday night to throw her off the scent of the surprise. I think it worked. We had cake and sang together on Thursday and then did it all again on Friday night, only with more people! I must say that on Saturday, I felt partied out… Two nights of karaoke can wreak havoc on the vocal cords!

Soomeen and Chris have also all had birthdays recently. I got Soomeen some new books to read before she becomes a college gal in March. I’m so excited for her. I think I just like school too much. I get jazzed about hearing about what other people are learning about too.

And speaking of birthdays, I think mine might be next! One month to go until I turn 26! Twenty-six doesn’t seem like an important birthday to celebrate, but I am sure I will be getting into something fun.

In other news, last Saturday (as in the one before the one that was two days ago) was the best Saturday since I’ve been back in Korea. I got up really early and walked out to the Suji church for the kid’s retreat! We ate some breakfast and packed up the bus and then we headed to the Yongin Korean Folk Village to go SLEDDING! I haven’t had much opportunity to go sledding before, so I had a blast!!

The kids were all great and well behaved. I was in charge of four girls. I had little, headstrong Anna… Eewon and Eeju, the sisters from Florida… and Rose who is from Beijing; she is half Chinese and half Korean and knows English fluently too (she could take over the world!). One thing that I love about cold weather in Korea is the hats that the children wear here. They are like stuffed animals to wear on your head. I have two of them myself! I look ridiculous, but hey, my head stays warm! So, my group had a pink bunny, a panda, and Hello Kitty (me!).

We all wanted to go down the bigger hill, but Eewon was just a tad too short. So, we went down the little hill until lunch time. Lunch was served inside a big heated tent. We ate kimbap (rice, veggies, egg, and ham wrapped in seaweed) and mandu (Korean dumplings) which are the Korean church trip staples. And then, we hit the hills again for two more hours of fun! Eewon stayed with one of the other teachers for a little while, so I got to enjoy the big hill.

The big hill was much more fun except the one trip down the hill when I was going really fast and I was about to plow over this little kid. I tried to slow down and then I ended up rolling down the hill! I had snow everywhere!!! Ha ha! But I am happy to report, that there were no sledding casualties. That little kid got to the bottom of the hill safely!

And then, it was time to go back to the church. There were some tired kids on the bus, especially the big kids like me from the college and career group.

Church has been going great still. I am really enjoying the new service. I got to lead worship for the new service for the first time two weeks ago. I was a little nervous. Leading in front of all of my peers is a lot different than leading in front of the old people and little kids in Suji. I really had a good time in worship that day though. I am usually too worried about messing something up to really enjoy His presence, but that day was different. I am going to try and lead once a month now. We’ll see how it goes. And, I have to lead the next two weeks because Michael is going to Thailand with Jacob and Peter and Irina (a new couple from Oregon) are going too. (Yes, I am horribly jealous– and I am sending them with some Thai travel tips! I need to get that email started after I finish this blog.)

Oh, I learned a new Korean phrase. Ha ha! “Eop shi noon mo sala.” It means, “I can’t live without you.” I should use it to shock unsuspecting Korean guys on the bus… That would make for a fun blog entry, huh?

In other news, I am gearing up for achievement test week at school. I am working on the scheduling for our speaking test because the kids have to switch rooms and it’s confusing for them and for us! All of that starts next week. And then, VACATION time! I actually don’t know what I am going to do with my vacation. I was going to go to Hong Kong with Sun, but I don’t think it’s going to work out. How I would love to visit part of China for Chinese New Years! Maybe next year… I just want to go when I have more extra money to spend buying the family stuff. I am sure I can find something to do here to keep me busy. I really want to have a night at my apartment when I can cook dinner for my friends. My friends here get a different version of Rachael who never cooks and has gross sweet pickles lurking in her refrigerator… Let’s hope they’re not afraid to come over!

I can’t think of anything more to report, so I will just end by posting more pictures.

Love to all of you at home. Write to me! Email would be delightful! And if you sent me a Christmas card, thank you so much! I have them hanging on the fridge (the one with the sweet pickles)!

Love!

Rachael :0)

And these are some photos from Christmas Day and Michael’s birthday. I don’t have Nerry’s birthday up on my computer yet. For Christmas, we went to visit Andrew. He’s like our little brother. We all miss him so much. He was so shocked and happy to see us. I think we made his Christmas!  And, I have one shot of the New Year’s service at church. I had to read a scripture at the Korean service. I only understood four words of the sermon, but the choir was excellent! They sang “Holy, Holy, Holy” in Korean.

P.S. Happy New Years to all of you! It’s a fresh, clean year to do things better than we have in the past. Not that we really need a new year (His mercies are new every morning), but I think it does help to think about a fresh start. Since the New Year, I’ve been really thinking about how jealous God is over us. He doesn’t want us to love anything or anyone more than Him. I really want to put Him first this year and always.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” ~Proverbs 3:5

“Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven and on earth below. There is no other.” ~Deuteronomy 4:39

It’s been so long since I’ve written a blog that I actually forgot what my password was. Eek! That doesn’t mean that I don’t think of oodles of things to write about… And then, when I get here to finally write something. I can’t remember what it was that I wanted to write.

So, it is December. It’s a nice time of year here for me as a teacher. We started our winter term on Monday and so far it is going really well. My students are drinking magic koolaid or something. They’ve been so good this week! Even one of my students who is normally as participatory as a rock, turned in an awesome project today about sharks. I must be a teacher because that kid just made my entire day. And because it is vacation time, many of our students drop out for a month or two for the holidays. Less students is bad for business, but great for me because that means fewer tests to grade and less homework to check. Hooray!

So, people have been asking me about what’s going on in the news here. My students have been talking more about hating North Korea, for one thing. And, I am getting worried phone calls and emails. As far as I know, from what I have read on the news, is that this attack was the worst since the 50′s because North Koreans fired on civilians. It was tragic and it shouldn’t have happened. I am not certain why they did it. Some think that the Kim Jong-il wants to show his power before he dies (and his health is supposedly failing). Others think that he is trying to get things moving on talks with other counties here in the East. The South Koreans I have talked to are going about their lives unconcerned. Most of the South Koreans have lived with thid kind of tension their entire lives, so they don’t look at it as anything different than what has already happened in the past. I am not sure what to think about it. I do wish that you would lift up this little peninsula in your prayers. Korea is my adopted home for now and I would love for peace to be restored here, especially for the people in the North. They are a poor country in every sense, a land full of darkness and despair. So, pray for them and pray for us in SoKo too.

What else has been going on? Well, I have been insanely busy since I got back from my vacation home. And what a great vacation it was! I wish that I would have been able to see more people and collect more hugs while I was there… But, I am so grateful for the time and all the ones I got to see while I was home. It’s the normal things that I miss like going to the movies with Becca, visiting people and book shopping with Nanny. Seeing Mom and Glenn and Midgie the chihuahua and eating Auntie Sharon’s homemade dinners. And sleeping on Cathy and Courtney’s couch and listening to praise team practice at church. And going out with a bunch of loved ones on a Sunday afternoon after church. I got to do all of those things and more. I saw Dad’s new home at the beach. And I made it to Chattanooga to see the Pittmans with Nanny and I had lunch with my favorite professor. And I saw friends and new babies who had been born since I left the country. I felt so loved and so refreshed…

And, then I came back to the hustle and bustle that is life in Korea. (Bali, bali means hurry and they say it all the time!) I was a jetlagged zombie for almost two weeks. I got to my apartment at 2:30 in the morning and went back to work that day. My boss has been covering my classes and he didn’t have to let me have a month off, so I wanted to be back at work as early as I could be. He was very happy to have me back as were the other teachers. The kids were happy too! Jay has decided that people over forty shouldn’t teach little kids. Poor Jay! And I felt a little sorry for the kids too.

The time has flown by. I have been going to seminars and giving seminars. I have been teaching non-stop during the week and churching non-stop on the weekends. I haven’t been into Seoul to explore and enjoy it since I’ve been back. (It’s happening next weekend! December 11th is going to be a wonderful day with Sarah Adams. It’s planned! Not that I’m looking forward to it very much or anything.)

Bringing back the topic of churching… Church has been great! The service which I was a part of (the family service) ended at the end of September. And, we started a College and Career service last month. We expected fifty or sixty people to show up. We had around 100 the first week and it has been climbing. Last week, we had 135 for the Thanksgiving service. I am so encouraged that I am getting to help out. And what I am doing seems to be with more purpose. The whole thing is being organized by my pastor and all of the single people at church. It’s wonderful to see people my age really involved. I’m still singing. We are getting some new praise team members too. We now have an acoustic guitarist (Yunee), another guy singer (S.B.), a violinist (Lisa), and a new soprano (Heather!)! I’ve also been put in charge of helping organize mission efforts. I have some ideas and I can’t wait to try them out. And, I hope they let me help plan the mission trips. I love mission trips! Okay, enough church talk for now. I’ve just been so excited about church lately.

Oh, a late Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I celebrated Thanksgiving morning with Sara and Jazzy. They invited me to their new place. Sara made us some breakfast burritos and apple pie. Yeah, we ate pie for breakfast. Then, I had to go to work. Sunday was the Thanksgiving feast at church. I like that my pastor is Canadian (technically) and that we still celebrate Thanksgiving by the American calandar. Go USA! Ha ha! We had five huge turkeys that they ordered from the US Army here. There were so many people! I made 60 deviled eggs which is kind of a challenge in my tiny kitchenette, but I should have doubled that amount. There were no leftovers of any kind! People were full and happy! It was a good time.

Now, it’s getting closer and closer to Christmas. I am going to start the online shopping soon. I am hoping Becca and Mom will do some wrapping for me again this year. There’s not too much to find for the family here. I will be on the lookout for some treasures on the 11th, but I am not expecting too much.

Life is still good. I have a full weekend planned, starting with tomorrow night. Sun’s friend John is coming down to Suji to have dinner with us. And then, I am going to an all-girl’s Christmas noraebang! All ladies singing every Christmas song in the karaoke book! YES! Then, Saturday is to celebrate the ending of the church class with Gurpreet and also to celebrate Heather’s birthday. Sunday, I am going to sing and rest hopefully. Those are the plans anyway. And now, the plan is to get some shut eye.

Wiseblood and Welch’s (the white kind! a special treat) and some Zzzz’s for me.

Send me updates about home and what you all are doing. No promises, but I will try not to get three months behind on writing again.

Much love to all of you!

*hugs*

Rachael :0)

P.S. This a link to my friend’s picture slide show that she made. I’m not in all of the pictures, but I’m in a lot of them. They are from lots of outings over the past year. And there’s some good friends on there too. Nerry is just better at taking pictures than I am. Enjoy!

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00b5-7a36-bf46

This weekend has been mostly excellent. I say mostly because although I have enjoyed, I have done so without a voice. I have been squeaking since Friday at work. I think the voice is on the mend now thanks to lots of hot tea. Today was church day. I was supposed to lead worship, but my voice was not cooperating. It is much better than yesterday, but still not at the level where I sound good when I sing. I felt weird being in the congregation while the rest of the team was singing the songs I had chosen. I felt like I let the team down. But the sermon at church today was very good. Pastor Eddy (the youth pastor) preached today and he always has some way of thinking about scripture that I have never thought of before. So, I will be studying this week. I like when church makes me want to study.

I don’t know why I felt like talking about church… Now onto things that might interest you more.

Yesterday, I went to Itaewon to see Sarah. And, we ate in the brand new TACO BELL! I was so surprised that we could get near it. There was a crowd, but just like the crowd the Suji McDonald’s has everyday at lunch time. We got out meals and had the entire third floor to ourselves. They did not have all of the menu items from home. I didn’t see chalupas and they only had four combos. But, my taco and burrito supreme were delightful! AND, they have Taco Bell sauce packets with Korean writing on them. I know it is the stupidest thing to want to show people at home, but I got some extras to show people. I’ll have to get some Koreans to translate them for me. Ha ha! I am a little disappointed to announce that there were no strange menu items. No fish or shrimp tacos. No kimchi burritos. No garlic tacos. Just normal, American Taco Bell.

Taco Bell was followed by a long trip to find a specifc store to purchase a gift for one of my family members. I am only writing this to make them wonder…

Then, we went to a fancy gelatto shop and ate bingsu, which is a Korean dessert. I am going to describe it for you, but it probably won’t sound appetizing. Just remember, this girl knows her food. Bingsu is shaved ice, covered with sweetened red beans, fruit, and the squishy sweet rice cakes. Sometimes it has fruit and/or ice cream in it and sometimes, they put frosted flakes on top. The frosted flakes kind would be my favorite. I told you it wouldn’t sound that good. I like eating bingsu in the summer time because it is so refreshing without being heavy like ice cream.

We also went to the Cheongye Stream (sp?) to put our feet in the water. There were some cute kids there who had jumped all the way in the water with their clothes on. They were attempting to snorkle with a drinking straw. I made Sarah take pictures because my camera battery was dead.

After the Sarah visit, I made my way to church for music practice. I couldn’t talk, but I thought I could at least help them set up or something. I managed to be there right when the team from the China mission trip got back. I was so glad to see them and hear about their trip. I know they were only gone for a week, but somehow praying for people makes me miss them more. They said they had a good experience and told me a little bit about a town there that was filled with mostly North Koreans. They said that inside that one little town, it felt just like being in Korea. The people were still pure-blooded Korean and spoke in Korean. They also described some dogs for sale in the market, but I won’t go into detail about that…

After music practice I went to Seohyeon to meet some of the single cell people. We ate at another taco place. Tacos twice in one day. YAY! Then, we played Dutch Blitz in a coffee shop. I used to play that game in college and on Ladies of Lee road trips. Ahh…good memories.

Last Sunday night, I went to the R-16 B-boy Competition in Olympic Park with Gurpreet. B-boys are break dancers (in case you didn’t know). First of all, Olympic Park was neat and huge! There were hundreds of dyed, pierced, scantily clad, and tatooed foreigners. I didn’t fit in with the scene, but I didn’t really care! The event was inside the tennis building and the seats we got were great. We could see everything. There were eight teams of break dancers from around the world competing. I will try to remember the countries: Korea, China, Spain, France, the Philippines, Puetro Rico, Germany, and one more that escapes me… First, they had the teams come out and do routines individually. My camera died right in the middle of the first group which was Germany. Sadly, the Germans weren’t near as good as the other groups. Then, after all of the groups went they had battles between the teams. The best teams were definitely Korea and France. Korea did better in the first part of the competition, but I think France was a little better in the final battle. Korea won though. I think they had the hometown advantage. I had such a good time. I am so impressed with the ways that they can contort their bodies and how much upper body strength those guys have. Wow. I was entertained the entire time, totally worth the ten bucks.

I have been trying to remember what I did last Saturday during the day, but I can’t. I do remember going over to Pink’s house with Nerry, Michael, and our new frind Hak Joon last Saturday night. Pink is a lady from church (not anything like the pop star). We played Wii with her son and he beat us all at every event on the sports game. I did win one round of bowling, but I don’t think he was really trying. That guy is a champion. I also got the Michael/Nerry boxing tournament on video with Michael’s new camera. Ha ha ha! That should be entertaining for years to come! They were both very funny to watch in the heat of battle.

The weekend before that one, I met a new friend. He is a family friend of my favorite professor from college. His name is Stephen and he’s from Florida. He’s been in Korea for quite awhile. Anyway, he is an interesting guy and I enjoyed meeting him. I feel like I know him well already. We spent a few hours just talking and never lacked for anything to talk about. I also enjoyed exchanging Dr. Jensen stories. (Dr. J, if you are reading this, know that you were remembered well. Talking about you reminded me of Mr. Holland’s Opus when they show all of the different students he taught come together to perform his symphony. I am sure that over the years you have touched many more lives besides Stephen’s and mine. Thank you.) I think we are getting together to do something again next Saturday. I am going to try and convince him to ride the swan paddle boats with me. One day, I will ride the swan paddle boats and it is going to be a fun day (I’ve been wanting to ride in one of these boats since I discovered that they exsisted on the touristy website months ago. So far, I haven’t been successful in finding someone to go with me).  

In other news, school is going well. We have a new manager named JoAnna. She is a lovely, motherly lady. Having her around the office has been so nice. She replaced the dead cactus plants and put a coffee pot in the break room. I know those are small things, but seeing flowers and smelling coffee brewing make work seem more like home. I like her already! I think Jay is also very pleased that coffee is readily available all the time now.

Oh, and this is the last thing, I think. I have a new favorite student. I need to get her picture. Her name is Jody and she’s about eight. Her two front teeth are missing which gives her that sucking in air noise when she talks. She wears pig tails almost everyday. Her speaking homework is so cute that I listen to it two or three times. She hasn’t reached the level of cool that Roren (Full House girl) or Dragon did, but she has lots of points just for being CUTE! I understand those grandmas who want to pinch cheeks now.

The camera battery is charging still. When it is alive again, I might make a whole post of just pictures. I hope the b-boy pictures turned out well! If you have facebook, they’ll probably make it onto there first.

Going to bed now. I made a new bedtime for myself: 2:00AM. And it is now 1:58. I am going to try and pry myself out of the bed early enough to go walking tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Much love to you all and I hope to see some of you soon! August 28th is the day I am flying to Nashville. I am already excited about it and it is over a month away! Yaaaayyyy!

This weekend is going to be a good one. Tomorrow is Stephanie’s birthday which means I have an excuse to cook! I really miss cooking here. I don’t cook too often here because the ingredients are expensive or not available. Tonight I was looking for dill or dill pickles to make potato salad and found neither. I hope it turns out well anyway. I am also making some deviled eggs and some non-baked (I don’t have an oven) baked beans. I’m thinking it’s going to be a fun time. The grocery store was crazy tonight. I am guessing tomorrow must be kind of like America the day before Super Bowl Sunday. Everybody was out shopping at the Suji E-Mart on a Friday evening! I wonder what snacks are popular at a Korean World Cup party?

Last week was the beginning of a new term at school. I am on my fourth term already! Adam and Kristina left the country on the 6th and are now on their trek through all of southeast Aisa. I will post a link for their blog when I get one in case anyone might be interested in what they are doing. They are starting in Vietnam and they arrived there safely and seem to be having a fun time so far. So, we have a new teacher at work. Her name is Sun. I am just getting to know her, but so far my opinion is that she’s very outgoing and very classy. Work seems to be so busy. I think it is because Jay replaced two teachers with one. My classes are full and with the new changes, it has been a very busy two weeks. I only have two classes with the littlest kids this term! YAY! And, I am teaching the most advanced kids we have now. I am loving teaching those classes! I cannot believe how smart they are sometimes. Oh, I have a student named Mighty this term. What a great name!

I have decided to stay at my school for another year. I was wanting a public school job, but it doesn’t seem like the right timing. There are several perks to staying such as…I don’t have to move, paperwork will be easier, and I get to go home and visit my family for a whole month at the end of this term. I am so excited about the trip home. There are so many things that have been swirling around in my head that I would like to do when I get home, mostly involving totally normal things that I can’t do here. I want to watch tv with Nanny and eat popcorn with Mom and Midge. I want to go to church at home and shopping with my sister. I want to have a back yard barbecue. I want to hug everyone at least three times. I want to consume boiled peanuts in mass quantities until my fingers swell up like hot dogs.

I got a little sidetracked there. Please excuse my rabbit trail.

Last weekend was fairly eventful. On Saturday I had such a great day! I went with Stephanie and Soomeen (lovingly referred to as the Super Twins because they are always together) and Lia to Gangnam to a nice cafe. Gangnam is a very nice area of Seoul and it reminds me of Times Square. There’s people everywhere! I enjoy it, but I am glad I don’t live there. The cafe where we went has something special though. I don’t know if anyone at home has heard of this or not, but they have little fish here that nibble dead skin off your feet. They call them Dr. Fish or in Konglish that’s doctuh pishee. So, at this cafe, you get your drink and enjoy it and then, you let fish nibble on your feet. The nibbling goes on for about twenty minutes and it does tickle! I think I needed a pedicure the worst in our group. The fish liked me the most. I’m sure my big feet were the equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet for those little guys.

After doctuh pishee, I went to Hongdae to meet Sara, Jazzy, and Byungsub. Hongdae is an area near a artsy university. It is full of places to buy accesories and listen to music. We grabbed a bite to eat at an Indian restaurant and then Byungsub showed us to one of his favorite music spots. It was called Bbang and they are known for indie/rock music. They had a show with four bands. So, at home live music places are usually bars. This place had a bar, but the chairs were lined up like we were at a concert, so the focus was on music and not drinking. I don’t think they had anything but beer and grape soda anyway.

The first band was my favorite. They were singing some of The Doors songs and were very pleased that I knew a couple of the songs. They talked about Sara and me in Korean for about five minutes. I felt a little bit like a celebrity. I guess white people aren’t really too common at Bbang. The next band was terrible! The lead singer had long hair they he liked to whip around and play with like an adolescent girl. And it sounded like he was trying to sound like the guy from Creed. So, imagine a mixture of Taylor Hanson and Creed with strange epileptic seizure-like movements on the stage. I thought he or the bass player might hurt themseleves jerking around like they were. The third band sounded like something that would be on the Juno movie soundtrack, only in Korean. The lead singer was so nervous and kept wringing his hands. He was so nerdy and cute. I had no idea what he was singing about, but I liked him anyway. The last band was not memorable. They weren’t bad, but I just don’t remember anything in particular about them.

Sunday, I went to the Bundang service because we didnt have one in Suji. And then, everybody went to Suji for Sports Day. I enjoyed being outdoors in the sun for sports day, but I never did get the rules down for Korean dodgeball. We all know I have never been athletic! Anyway, it was a fun time and there were bunches of people joining in.

After Sports Day fun, a large group of us went to the Chinese place for a farewell party. The guitarist in Bundang left for California last week. His name is Chany and he is such a good musician–one of those people who can play anything. And, he can sing too. He sounds like one of the Katinas to me. He and his musical giftings will be missed for sure.

What else have I gotten into lately? Well, I’ve been spending time with my friends and working and not too much else. I think that’s an acceptable life for a twentysomething though. I like it!

I cannot wait to come visit in September (unless the date changes). And, I hope to see many of you while I am at home. Send me some updates. The email inbox has been pretty empty lately. I like to hear about what y’all are doing too.

I will probably add pictures to this later, but I am so tired right now. I am going to crash! Then, I am going to get up early (for me) and make some yummy stuff!

HUGS!

Love,

Rachael :0)

P.S. For the readers out there, My Antonia by Willa Cather is a lovely story. I enjoyed it so much and I didn’t want it to end. So, there’s a recommendation for you if you should need one.

So, Mom, if you are reading this. I love you and Becca has your gift. It arrived with her birthday present the other day. I hope you like it!!!

I am trying to think about where I should begin. I haven’t written for over a month now and it has been a busy month. I think I should start with Easter. Easter was WEIRD!!!

First of all, Easter is not commercialized in Korea at all. There are no stuffed bunnies or ducks. There are no Reese’s peanut butter eggs or jelly beans. Nothing is covered in pastel colors. My coworkers didn’t even know that it was Easter until I told them.

Our church decided to have a service all together. The English service in my church isn’t huge, but the Korean part puts American mega churches to shame. They rented out the World Cup Stadium in Suwon and there were about 30,000 people in attendance. I had to be there early because Pastor Bob nominated me to read a scripture in front of all those people. (I love my pastor and I couldn’t think of any good excuses! Speaking in front of adults is not my favorite thing. Kids are easier!) After the scriptire reading, they had different kinds of music and kids dancing in costumes. The best part of the service was this Korean man playing Via Dolorosa on the sax. It was beautiful. The rest of the service seemed kind of like a big pep rally. And the head pastor preached, but there weren’t enough translation headsets, so I didn’t understand any of it. I was glad that the Hope Angel Home kids were sitting in front of me. I played with them to prevent boredom.

After the service, we had a picnic lunch at the Suwon fortress. I have a bunch of pictures of it already, so I mainly took pictures of people.

People galore!

CY, me, Gurpreet, and Jose

Pastor Bob and his daughters plus another little girl from church...

Sara was excited about Weird Easter...

 I have had plenty of adventures since Easter too. On Wednesday May 5th, Children’s Day. everybody had a day off work. So, a church retreat was planned.  We had to leave the church at 7:00 AM, so only three foreigners showed up. We had a good time though. We went to Mungyeong City, which is some kind of place where every one from the south used to have to pass through to get to Seoul. So, it is historical in some ways. And, it was famous for military testing. I didn’t learn as much about it as I should have. There were some interesting people in cotumes acting out tortute methods from long ago. They had giant chairs and big wooden sticks. They smashed people’s legs with the sticks. I’m not sure if they broke their legs, but I am assuming so.  There were also special tables for caning people. There were also ladies dressed in hanboks making tea and a man spinning pottery.  Overall, it was an enjoyable day outdoors. The weather has been absolutely lovely here the past three weeks or so.

I took a bunch of pictures when the cherry blossoms were blooming. When all the blooms fell off, it looked like light pink snow.

Spring is in the air!

This old man looked so happy to be riding his bicycle. I had to capture it.

People in costumes!

Korean ladies making tea

My Korean lessons haven’t come very far in the past month. I need to study more! Sister Anna is so good to teach me and has taught me basically all of the Korean I do know. But on a positive note, I got a taxi to church this morning and got there just fine. (I was running late. I am much more comfortable taking the bus because I don’t have to speak any Korean for that!) And I have picked up a few new words…

What else have I been doing? I’ve been spending a lot of time with friends. I don’t stay in my apartment much, unless I’m sleeping. I’ve been leading worship at church for a few weeks now. I am thankful for a good team. They have been so helpful because I don’t know what I’m doing! They have been so great to change the keys of songs they do know and to learn a bunch of new songs too. What else? It’s not really worth mentioning, but I did manage to watch the entire first season of Glee when I was sick a couple of weeks ago. I like that show a little too much. I love Sue Sylvester’s character. She’s like the Dr. House of gym coaches and her jokes about the other teacher’s hair make me laugh so hard!

I have been searching for jobs for next year. I am planning on staying here. I am looking for a public school job because they have more vacation time. Vacation time is something my job now doesn’t really have. My next break is in July. I am planning on going on a really short-term mission trip with the churchies to JinDo Island. I am excited about the trip already and it isn’t for two more months. If I do land a public school job, I should be home for a lengthy visit in January/February. They have a big winter break here instead of a big summer break. I will update you all when I have more details about the new job.

I have been dreadfuly homesick this week. Seeing videos and pictures of the flood at home has affected me. I just can’t believe it. Floods and horrible things always happen somewhere else, you know? And I am across the world and it happens in my old backyard. I have been thinking of all of you in Nashville and my prayers are with you. The church folks here have been asking me for updates and they are praying for you too.

And also, this week was my sister’s birthday. It is the only birthday I have missed since I’ve been alive! I miss Becca so much this week and I cannot wait to see her again. Yesterday, I just wanted a sister’s day out together so badly. So, Happy Birthday to the best sister a girl could ask for and many more!

That’s about all for now. Methinks I am going to go in search for dinner and catch up with tv shows via the wonderful internet. I hope everyone has a wonderful/dry weekend. Let me know how you’re doing. I have called the family from home, but I haven’t called anyone else. So send me an email or give me a call sometime.

Mother’s out there, I hope you have a beautiful day with your children. Mommy, I love you bubches and bubches. XOXO

Much love,

Rachael