Mornings and Wednesdays

Morning

"Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:21-23

I was awoken this morning unusually early. It must have something to do with the fact that I went to bed last night and was tired.... unusually early.

Since the very first day I arrived in Korea, anything resembling a consistant sleep schedule has all but dissolved. It started with the jet lag, now as I've settled in three months later, it means staying up until 2 a.m. at least and waking up no earlier than 10 a.m. It's so glorious to not wake up to an alarm clock!

I admit though, it makes me feel lazy and so this morning, as I sit here and watch the sun make its way into the city, I feel refreshed and am reminded of how the Lord's mercies are new every morning. I'm reminded again of why mornings are so special. I'm intrigued at the idea of this "morning" I'm experiencing and the afternoon (precisely 3:38 p.m.) that everyone back at home is experiencing. Now I just wonder which vendors and which stores would be open if I were to venture out before 10 a.m. Not even E Mart opens until 10 a.m. But it certainly closes at Midnight! It's just the way things operate here, I guess. My teaching schedule consists of working from 4 - 10 p.m. on Mon Tues and Thurs Fri. It's for that reason the new nocturnal schedule has been awakened.

Wednesdays

I have become particularly fond of Wednesdays - this is for a few reasons. 1. It's the middle of the week. Commonly referred to as "hump day", Wednesday often reminds us that we are THAT much closer to the Friday and the weekend we so long for. (Even though, I'll admit, I am a fan of Mondays)

2. I have this day off. Yes, it's true, I work for 2 days, have a day off, work for another 2 and then have the weekend. And I wonder why I feel like I'm on a long term vacation?

3. This is truly the reason why Wednesdays have become so special to me: it means small group meets. This is truly a highlight of my week, my time here in Korea, and my life.

The Lord has really done amazing work in bringing each of us together. The group was already alive and kicking when I first came, but I have already seen the Lord draw so many more people to the group. It has become so large, in fact, that a decision was made last night to split the group into two, but continue to meet at the same place. There are nearly 20 people! Praise God!

Fellowship with each and every one of these people is a tremendous blessing and I'm definitely strengthened and encouraged by the desire each one of them has to pick up the cross and follow Christ with reckless abandon. Not only this, but to serve.... to lay their lives down and to do whatever He has called them to do.

I look forward to walking and running the race with these people. I'm excited to see that there are others in this group that share a passion for China.

There's a great book that was actually mentioned to me by Cathy Caldwell right before I left called "The Heavenly Man" It's been on my heart sometime to read and I was shocked when Jess Crew mentioned it about a week ago. She has ordered this book and so once she's finished, I will get to read it, but until then, she loaned me their copy of "Back to Jerusalem". I'll write more on this already amazing book on another entry.

Until then, please continue to keep our Wednesday night small group in your prayers. I am so thankful for each of them and pray that Christ's love would flow through each one of us in our lives with the different areas we work at and different people we have in our lives outside of church and each other.

This group has been used to comfort me during my times of unrest and homesickness. For that, I am extrememly thankful.

Blessings!

Namsan!

This last Saturday I headed out with some friends to hike Namsan (where Seoul tower is located) - we had a really good time and I can't tell you how excited I was to be ouside and running around. I felt like I was back at home. Everyone said I had too much energy... I thought it was a good thing though. : )

And a view from the top of the tower

The group trying to figure out which direction to go... how many people does it take to figure it out? Hmmmm.....

Group shot! Ruda, Jess Becker, myself, Jess Crew, Nate, and Justina

Ahhhh. The awesome city of Seoul behind me - part of it at least.

I just couldn't resist. They were so easy to jump and climb on!

Another Group Shot! Jess Becker, Jess Crew, Nate, Ruda and I.

Later on that evening, after coming back to a friend's house to eat (FRIED CHICKEN... yum) and warm up, Ruda and I ventured out to Dongdaemun to do some shopping - this is along the Cheonggyecheong area - absolutely stunning - I can't wait until it gets warm...

Yes... I'm in the middle of that "river" of water.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures! I had the opportunity this morning to talk to a few of you back home and while it was so wonderful to catch up, I think I experienced my first real dose of homesickness. It was almost heart aching and I just really didn't know how to deal with what was going on! So thank you all so very much for how much you sincerely care about me and for the ways you all love me in so many different ways. I am truly blessed.

Love you all and hope to hear more updates from all of you back at home!

Blessings!

Another Shot

Here's another great shot taken by Kyle last weekend :

www.flickr.com/photos/kyleweller

http://www.wellerfoto.com/

So it's been a while... and?

Greetings from Korea! (I know, I know.... it's been a while)

The fact that my computer was totally lost has kind of put a damper on things. I just try to not think about it : / because I really did lose so much and it's kind of depressing! This will be the last time I don't back everything up on an external hard drive. You'd think I learned my lesson the last time! On a lighter note though, I BOUGHT A GUITAR!!! YEAH!

Ruda (aka - Gangsta) and Jess Becker were awesome enough to venture out with me last weekend to make one of the greatest purchases so far in Korea. (Ruda has pictures of the guitar adventure... so I'll wait on him to post) Afterward, we headed to a nice little tea house in Insadong and had some good fellowship and some time to pray together - I really enjoy these two a lot!

gangstas doing what they do best :

Anyhow, things have continued to go well. We just finished up Week 9 of our 13 for the first term. It's hard to believe that I have almost been here for 3 months already. Feb 17th will mark 100 days in Korea..... Koreans are really big on the whole 100 days thing. Feb. 9th will mark 3 months.

My kids continue to delight me in ways that I have never experienced before. A good majority of them are just simply fabulous. My intensive class has finally come to an end this week (woohoo!) which means no more 9 hour teaching (10 hour work) days! I won't deny it though - it will be a nice paycheck : )

Here's a video of the kids doing a skit - they basically had to create a dialogue talking about one of their teachers.... they apparently decided to choose me on this day : ) They have a particular fascination with making stories and dialogues about me and Kyle, one of the other teachers. Pretty funny - enjoy!

This is a picture of Rachel holding 'Jenny the Horse' she made me for the last day of class. So sweet! They decided to name the horse Jenny because it sounds good with Jessica. Ha!

Last night we went out to celebrate Sharon's Birthday - Sharon has been a big blessing to my life since I've been here. She is part of the reason why I have been able to get small things done, and "learn the ropes" of Korea - so to speak. Things like getting internet, picking up trash bags (in Korea, you use separate bags for burnable trash and food waste), getting my cell phone working.... I could go on! We have a lot in common - we are neighbors when we teach, which means we can hear each other yelling when we have to yell at the kids- haha. We also live in the same building - me on the 5th floor, her on the 9th. I'll never forget stepping onto the platform heading home from church one night only to see a familiar face waiting for the same train - it was Sharon, headed home from church as well. Not to mention our red coats that we usually wear:

Sportin the red coats and the V - this was after dinner at Nolbo's (They love Sharon at this place)

Can't resist the desire to jump with Sharon - always a good time since it takes me like three tries before I get the timing right.

After dinner we headed to the place we like to call the Bubble Bar, next door to Sharon and I's place to celebrate with cake. This place has bubbles on the wall - I'll get a picture sometime. We continue to brave the dry cold weather here in Seoul. We get some snow every now and then, but nothing like what's going on back home!

I'll be updating the blog again soon with upcoming adventures - I've been kind of layin low lately, but have really enjoyed the moments of rest and I'm so thankful for the Lord's unceasing provision in my life in every single area. Feel free to drop me a line anytime - I love to hear updates from everyone.

Blessings!

Jackpot!

Ok - so I feel like I've hit the motherload! This past week I've had the opportunity to visit Costco. If there's any "Whoa, wait, I'm in Korea?!" moments, it's when I'm in Costco, or when I see a movie at the movie theatre. I literally forget that I'm half a world away.

But I bought some tasty colby-jack cheese. Very excited about this, by the way. Bought a full sized bath towel (Koreans use little hand towels), some pineapple salsa (Halelujah for a little bit of Mexicana in Seoul), and the new iPod nano. 8 gig, green, cute, small and very fun! Also among the great little purchases were the Costco hotdogs.... oh it was so wonderful! In fact, we headed to get food when we first got there, walked around, then ate some more!

I've continued to get more acquainted with the new lifestyle here in Seoul. Some days I love my new nocturnal schedule, other days I feel like death because my body hasn't fully adjusted.

Here's another picture of myself with Amy and Rachel from my intensive class. They are so wonderful! Haha, even though I get frustrated that Amy forgets her books most days. : ) I threatened to call her mother though, so she's started to bring it. These kids are more afraid of their mothers than anything in this world!

The latest news (and the reason why I have not posted in so long) is beacuse my computer was completely broken. I have lost EVERYTHING on my pc notebook. Pictures, documents from my last year in college.... what I felt was pretty much my whole life. So give me some time to build up more pictures to post for you guys.

Some photos

Ok - so in no particular order : ) It's been a while, so bear with me. This photo is of Jessica B, Michelle, (myself), and Ruda. We went to the Van Gogh exhibit last weekend. It was fabulous to see so many original pieces of his work. I say this picture is us making the art look dang good.

New Years! So it was absolutely frigid for New Years. I worked until 10 and then decided to head out and brave it. I mean, c'mon... I'm in Seoul - I needed to do something (or try to do something equally as cool as the Fiesta Bowl last year) So I headed home and put on SO many layers and my co-worker Kyle and I went to Jongno to bring in the New Year. The streets were lined with many people and more roman candle fireworks than you could count!

Also last week Sharon, Kyle and I ventured out to Yongsan at the big iPark mall and ended up really not doing a whole lot, except being silly and having a blast. Both Sharon and Kyle are photographers, so a lot of it consisted of picture taking. Here is a picture of Sharon and I jumpin around outside. This girl has a major passion for jump pictures!

Later on we found a wall... nothing special about the wall... just that it was lit up.... now get the three of us, two cameras, and that wall it came out to about an hour of entertainment.

We call this "Tina Turner Jess"

This photo was actually taken later that night by Kyle in the subway. Feel free to check out some more of his work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyleweller

This picture was taken last Sunday after church when I mysteriously ate my meal into the shape of Idaho... I think it's because I subconsciously miss home!

As I stated in the previous blog, I began to teach intensives.... they are nothing less than, well, intense. Here's a picture of two of the cutest little girls I have for my intensive class: Amy and Rachel.

Lastly, here's the group I spent my Christmas with. They are amazing and I enjoy getting to know them more and more! From L to R: Michelle, Jessica B, Cathy, Me, Hilary, Jess Crew, Rachel (in back), Kimchi (the dog), Ruda, Nate and Trevor.