Tuesday, September 26, 2006

here's the scoop from the last time i have posted....

thursday sept. 14th i went to edae and got my first hair cut in korea. quite an experience.....thank goodness i had suzy to translate otherwise who knows what would have happened.....i just got a trim nothing major. after school on this day i also got to tour my new classroom........WOW!

friday i went on an adventure with my good friends, the dornbachs! we went to costco, tesco and then to hongdae which is another area of town that is pretty funky and cool. we had a bit f trouble parking the van there, but amy was able to solve the problem leaning out the window asking "do you speak english?" i have never laughed so hard in my life. we finally parked the van and walked around. it was vivid, colorful place on a friday night. lots going on and people having a fun time.

saturday there was a breakfast for all the women on campus. we got together shared information about where to find this and that. great fellowship among the women! that afternoon i went to insadong with the dornbachs. they needed a full size violin for george. insadong is the part of town where you can find a lot of traditional korean art and stuff. there is also a HUGE music market there with all kinds of instruments! all my musical friends would have a party in a building like this! i never seen so much stuff in one building. we walked through the streets too. i ordered a chop which is a stone stamp with my name carved in korean. i cannot wait to pick it up. i also got one that said peace. it was interesting to communicate all that to the little guy in the shop. there was a party on the roof of my building this evening and "the band" played. "the band" is made up of some teachers on campus that get together and write music, hang out and have a good time. they are pretty good and made the night really nice. the weather was great!

sunday was the usual----starbucks, church, hotdawks, napping, and dak-galbi!!! :)

monday began my birthday week and i was invited to dinner at ken's with my church crew and pam. WOW.....he made some great dinner-----homemade quiche, bread, asparagus, salad, and dessert! he set a high prescedent for the week! AMAZING! we had a great time hanging out and sharing our hearts this night too. good times!

tuesday was a rather rough day----just felt wrong all day. had a run in with a teacher for the first time and that was difficult. BUT buffie and helen took my out to dinner for my birthday! fun fun fun! we went to a small cafeteria like place on yonsei university which had korean! no english at all......it was really fun to stand there and decide what to eat. thankfully this guy asked if we were in line in english and buffie says, "hey you speak english can you help us?" too funny! i ate a soup like dish with noodles in it. it was quite tasty!!! then we had ice cream. yummy!!! we had a great time and it was nice to hang out and visit with them after a long day and to celebrate my birthday!!! :)

wednesday----my birthday!!! i had many phone calls and emails when i woke up! yeah for fun family and friends. i got ready and left for school and found a sign and balloons on porch. yeah!!! then i get to school and bump into one of my parents in the hall and she gave me a birthday hug and said that her daughter had wanted to get some flowers for my birthday. i rounded the corner to my door and found a balloon bouquet hanging from the ceiling in front of my door. it was amazing! then i open my door and find 2 more larger balloon bouquets hanging from the ceiling at the front of my room..........wow!!! hanna also had brought me a beautiful bunch of flowers. :) it was great! my kids were great and brought me homemade cards and other small gifts. then at noon right after lunch a mom brought me a chocolate cake with candles. it was so awesome and my kids all sang and we celebrated. it was awesome! i could not believe it. i was blow away by the generousity. after school i tutored and then suzy took me to dinner at this cool place that had omelette like deals that were filled with rice. then they put sauce on top and meat. it was yummy! we then went to hang out in starbucks until Bible study. Bible study was good and there are some changes happening in leadership so things will be a bit different during the transition.

thursday after school i had a language arts meeting which was really good.....the meeting was productive so that was great! i had discipleship with the 9th grade girls and i actually lead the time with them. we had butterscotch bars to celebrate my birthday! the time together was good and i just spoke from the heart. i came home and was ssssooooooooooo tired......i laid down after suzy and i had cheese toast for dinner and slept! i took a long nap and then went to bed. i needed some major rest......obviously! :)

friday school was good........it had been a long week with all the celebrating! i had swim squad after school which was really awesome! for the first time in a long time i missed swimming. i was timing my kids so that later they can make the goal to beat this first time. as i watched them swim down to my end of the pool i had this feeling of i wish i were in the pool swimming. i came home and ordered a simple speedo so that i can start to swim again. i had dinner at helen's with sarah and then we went down to this little jazz bar in sinchon. it was not live music, but it was cute and fun to sit and visit. the beverages were pricey though. we each had one and then went to starbucks to people watch. while we were at the jazz place though we heard all this commotion in the street down below so all peeked out the window to see a group of people banging on drums doing the farmer's dance which is a traditional korean art. it was awesome and wild that they were just right there in the streets performing. they walked around the area. i got to take some pictures so that was cool.

on saturday i woke up early to join a few ladies for a trip to dongdaemun where the fabric market is. oh my, so many fabrics! a crafter and sewer's dream come true! this building was many floors and each one just jammed full of all kinds of fabrics, ribbon, beads, buttons, etc. you name it, i am sure it could be found there. it was wild and crazy! i bought a couple of necklaces and some cotton webbing to make a few belts. i did get a few swatches of fabric because i want to have some pants made. after the market we all went our own ways, so i made my way back to sinchon on the subway and walked around. i went in the stationary store and got some little things. i went to visit my little friend who sells food on the street whom i have bought from. he makes toast which has eggs and veg that he grills like an omelette and then grills bread to put it all on. it is yummy! i say hi to him whenever i walk by and when suzy is with me he does talk to me. he does not speak much english at all, but he always smiles when i order in korean. :) he is the this little old guy. i will have to take a picture with him some time. i love buying food from him. i then went to starbucks for an afternoon drink and to eat my toast. i ran into geoff, another 4th grade teacher who is also new this year. we were able to visit and hang out. then tim and kieran came by as well. tim is the head teacher of the british school and kieran is his son and is in the 10th grade. it was great to run into these folks and visit. then we all headed back to campus as the lysos were having an open house. i went down to the field to watch the youth soccer for a bit before going over for the open house. some of my kids were playing so i cheered them on and said hi to the parents! it is nice to be right here and able to see the kids playing. then i headed over to the lyso's for dinner. they had yummy food and i was able to visit with my little friend, florence. she is soooo cute! much of the staff was there so i got to visit with lots of people. then i went over to suzy's for my party. she had made lots of snacks.....includinig homemade kimbap (like sushi rolls, but better). she also had bread, cheese, fruit, a cake, and dips. WOW! it was awesome! lots of people came and we just got to hang out and visit. we played taboo towards the end of the night which was lots of fun! i had a blast visiting and laughing with all the people who were able to come. yeah for new friends!

sunday we went to starbucks and then to church. church was really good this week----we were reading nehemiah. reading about his commitment to pray. it was good to stuff. i am also going to start small group leader training this next week at church. i would love to start a small group for the ladies soon. i need that time of fellowship with other women. i am also praying about going to another small class on the mercy missions at onnuri. onnuri is involved with three orphanages here in seoul and they go to minister to these children. they play with them and hold babies. i think this would be a great experience and i would love to get involved. the training is in a few weeks so i will see what happens. after church i got my hodak treat at the corner. yeah for treats. then we went to lunch at KFC. yes, kentucky fried chicken. wyatt had a craving so we all decided to let him have it. i had a twister which is a couple chicken tenders wrapped up in a tortilla with lettuce, sauce, and peppers. it was good. western food is moe expensive than korean so i just got the twister and not the meal deal. we sat outside on a bench and were able to see the riot police come out in swarms for something going on at city hall. there was no problem, just lots of riot police. wild scene. when we walked down to get back on the subway a whole pack of the riot police were walking in the underground. it was crazy but i was not worried at all. jamie needed a hair cut so i went with her to edae to get her hair done and ended up getting my hair colored too. it is fun. really dark brown with a big blonde streak in it. very different but i like it. lots of comments and compliments. :) when jamie and i got back to campus we went to eat dinner at suzy's. she had lots of leftovers from the party. then i went to work for a little bit to get somethings sorted out. i came home and worked some more on my computer and then jamie came over for tea. we got to visit some more and hang out. i also wanted her to not stay at work any longer. she has a habit of being in her classroom all the time so i had to entice her to leave. :) yeah for hanging out!

monday was just monday! my allergies have been really acting and by the end of the day i felt pretty crummy. i did not feel good and felt pretty cold. i had to go out for a bit as i promised melissa i would show her where the hair place was. i had toast on my home to get some sort of food in my body and warm me up a bit. i was really cold walking home. once i got home i felt yuck so i asked to feel my head and tell me if she thought i was warm. she said that i felt a bit warm. i called phil, the sub guy, to request a sub and the went down to my classroom in PJs to write down some plans for tuesday. viola, i was going to stay home. i hated to, but knew i needed it.

tuesday i stayed home. i have slept most of the day. my friend amy told me to drink lots of fluids so any time i have been awake today i am drinking something. i feel better from all the rest i got so i am hoping that will do the trick for the rest of the week. next week i have inservices monday and tuesday and then the rest of the week is holiday for chu-sok, korean thanksgiving.

i also learned this morning that on monday (my tuesday) mom had to put Little Bit down. complete sadness. she had gotten much sicker over the weekend and the doctor said her lungs were really filled up with fluid. so mom had to make a decision and one she said was the most difficult in a long time. pray for mom and little bit! i know that she is in a much better place. she is the only dog i know who knew how many licks it takes to the get to the center of a tootsie pop. :)

sorry it took so long to update the blog. i know i still have pictures to put up as well. it is coming......

1 comment:

Diana Foster said...

Thanks for the up date it is always interesting. Sounds like you are doing alot and staying busy. Have you even thought that you don"t have to be on the go all the time. Love you lots and glad that you had a great birthday celebration. Hope that some of the things that you want to get involved with pan thriugh. They all sound great.
Mom