A New Feature!!!

If you look to the top right on the blog page or the left hand side on my Facebook page, you can simply click on this box:


and start typing IMs to me when you can see I am connected.

Thought it would be another good way to stay in touch!

Our Trip to America…

Well sorta…

 

How bad off are you when Taco Bell sounds awesome?  How long have you been away from your own country that seeing Chevy, Chrysler and Ford vehicles make you stop and stare?  How far from home have you been that hearing English being spoken in a bowling alley by the majority of the local clientele seems strange and a bit wonderful? 

 

I don’t know that I can answer all those questions, but thanks to a wonderful military couple from church, the Dooleys, my wife and I were able to appreciate all the oddity of being in America in the middle of South Korea for a short period of time on Saturday the 30th.

 

First, it should be pointed out that the Army base there in Ichon does constitute American sovereign soil and all that it entails.

 

Second, Mr. Dooley is not Army.  He is Air Force.  Nothing against the Army, but I just feel it should be said that he is an Air Force man.

 

The Dooleys invited a few of the teachers to come to Ichon and visit them on base.  The activity planned was bowling!  I haven’t bowled in over 8 months and found the time to be incredibly cathartic.  I sat there and allowed English to surround and envelop me.

 

Once done there, we also had the first Taco Bell meal in 6 months.  Also, so very good and somewhat odd that we missed it so much.  Needless to say that we all chowed-down heartily and everyone left the table with a very full stomach!

 

When then had the opportunity to tour the base a little and it looked and felt, for the most part, like we were back in the States.

 

This is my thank you post to Mr. and Mrs. Dooley for the generosity throughout the day as well as their kindness in inviting us.  We appreciate you all so much!

 

More to come…

As Promised…

We are back on the blog. 

 

Let me see if I can bring you up to speed. 

 

First, Daniel’s birthday was the 14th and in celebration many of the teachers went to On the Border for a Saturday dinner.  Not much of a cultural shock but I thought I would take a few minutes to publicly thank so people for the gifts.  Thank you Mylinda and Lisa for the Korean/English Bible and the other cool little things.  Thank you to Linda, Merilee and Holly for the ₩!  Thank you Jason for the Gift Certs. for Outback.  Thank you Joanna for the coffee, tea and mug. Thank you Jessica for the variety of teas. 

 

I also want to thank all my students that worked so hard to surprise me on my birthday as well.  Thank you to the students that posted their notes and well wishes on my door.  Thanks also to Kevin for his gift of aftershave.  Also, thank you to my wonderful wife for all that she did on my birthday to make it special. 

 

Second, Charity also celebrated 23 years on this earth one week later on the 21st.  We had the opportunity to go to TGIFridays, really good to have American food once again, and enjoyed yet another wonderful birthday of fellowship with our new friends here. 

 

For Charity’s birthday, I suggested a day at the spa.  Mylinda, Charity and two of the other teachers went to Spavis, a really nice water park and spa resort thing.  The ladies all said they had a wonderful time relaxing at the spa.

 

Third, we had graduation here at school.  It was a bit of an odd feeling.  I really didn’t know many of the graduates well, so on one hand I wasn’t too sad.  However, I  saw amongst the attendees and the graduates emotions and sentiment that reminded me of my graduation day and I was a bit affected by it.

 

I should keep with the spirit of this blog by telling you some of the more interesting happenings that night.  As honor to the molders of the children’s minds, the parents took the teachers and administrators of the school to a really nice buffet restaurant.  Now, buffets, I am pretty sure, were started and have reached their epic proportions through good old American adoration.  American’s love buffets.  However, there are very few buffets here in Korea (or at least in Seoul).

 

The food there was good!  They had American classics such as prime rib, salad, french fries and fruit bar, but they also had a sushi bar, a desert menu that included do it yourself cotton candy and dduk and a couple varieties of kimchi.

 

Aside from the food, I noticed that none of the fathers were at the meal.  I am not sure why.  It may be culturally based but it might have been as simple as they were not off work yet.

 

Ok, there is more I can say, but I think I will save it for the next post. 

 

What you can look forward to in coming posts:

• Updates on Mia.
• More on summer school
• Korean classes, fun or failure?
• Summer day trips…

 

More to Come…

Sorry For the Long Absence…

But Charity and I have been busy and although this blog is important to us, it is hard to put it above other things going on in our lives right now.

 

Fear not though, I have many things to share and need only the time to sit and write (there is a good chance that is coming this weekend!)

 

So fear not, this will…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

Looking Back…

Ok, so this has been an only marginally interesting week.  I say marginally because we have been in school in the routine for most of it, but we did get Children’s Day off.

 

I cannot say that we really did much on Tuesday.  We did go to Yongson to get a power supply for one of the other teachers for her laptop.  What you have to love about Yongson is the ability to ask on “flea market” style vendor and if you don’t like the price, simply barter.

 

One cool thing we saw (and I couldn’t resist trying) was the “Kkultarae” (꿀타래).  You can see it being made in the video I found on YouTube below.  It is basically honey that has been fermented and then pressed with a small hole made in the middle of the “pancake” which is then pulled like taffy and folded.  Unlike taffy though, the individual strands are kept separated by malt.  The finished little cushion of fine strands is wrapped around nuts and sesame seed oil which makes a wonderful treat.

 

I can’t say that we have done much interesting since then.  We both have been getting ready for summer.  That may sound like a simple statement, but it involves the installation of a air-con for the apartment, reading up on Hangul, figuring out our Master’s degree correspondence classes (yes we are both trying to get our Masters in Education) and preparing for summer school.  It has been a little difficult to know that we are only going to get a week or so off before we have to be back and teaching again.  Also, the week school is over is the same week that our Hangul classes start at Seoul National University (aka Seouldae or 서울대).

 

So, we are looking forward to a pretty busy summer! 

 

Also, pretty soon on the horizon we are going to be “debt free.”  What a blessing it has been to be here in Korea!  I am doing what I love in a new country while experiencing new aspects of the culture and all the while I am paying off debts back home.  I am profoundly at peace with the world it would seem.

 

Ok, so may 10th was Mother’s Day.  I thought it would be good to talk on the differences between Korea and America on this important holiday. 

 

First, Korea has new true “Mother’s Day.”  Tuesday was Children’s Day and Friday (which is actually carried over into Sunday) is Parent’s Day.  Now I think to understand Children’s Day fully, you would have to understand that Christmas in not nearly the marketing mayhem that you have there in the States.  It is actually very low-key and sedate comparably.  Children’s Day is comparable to Christmas in that Parents will spend most of the day with their children.  Also, this tends to be the time of doting and presents. 

 

For us, we went to Outback (I know it sounds a little strange, but Outback restaurants are quite prolific here) and they gave us “service” (ie something free) of those mini brown bread loves with their signature butter in extra tubs. 

 

Parent’s Day is actually Mother’s Day evolved.  I have been told that in Korea “every day is Father’s Day” and now so is Parent’s Day.  The holiday is geared more to the mother and the father does take a back seat.  The usual gifts are a carnation along with some other small gift like, *snicker*, a necktie for dad.

 

I wish I had more to say, but if there are any comments or thought, please drop me a comment on the blog for all to see and I will respond accordingly.

 

Otherwise, more to come…