the latest...

hi to all..........
sunday i went to church and the message was amazing! the guy who spoke was an onnuri pastor who has spent the last year starting a church in NYC. his name is mark choi and his sermon was about turning the world upside down. he referenced acts 17 when paul and silas "stir things up" in thessalonia. it was really inspiring and thought provoking. after church as always i had my favorite after church treat--hotteok.

jamie, suzy and i then headed to carrefour for some groceries and things. carrefour is a shopping mall area that is attached to the world cup stadium. inside there is tons of stuff---movie theater, wedding hall, doctor, shopping area, grocery store, two food areas, etc. it is wild! first we had lunch at lotteria, which is a korean version of burger king or mcdonald's. the burgers taste a bit different than american ones, but they are good. they also have a wide variety of types of burgers you can get. for example, they have bulgogi burgers, bulgalbi burgers, rice and kimchi burgers, shrimp burger.....the list goes on. it was really interesting to figure out what to eat.....i went with a cheese burger. :) then we went shopping. the place was sooo packed with people. they were everywhere. we finally finished and made out way to the very crowded register area. jamie had been all checked out when her american credit card did not go through. agh! it was so frustrating for her. thank goodness we had suzy to translate some. jamie grew up here in korea and she speaks better korean than most americans, but when the conversation gets our of her vocabulary range it can become challenging. suzy was able to fill in the blanks. :) suzy and i then checked out while jamie tried to call the company. she had to leave all her stuff there to go home, make the call, and hope to go back to pay. we had to walk to the street to get a taxi and we ended up walking in the middle of the road to try to get one....it seemed like there were none to be found. we were laughing since we were walking in and out of cars the whole time. finally i spotted one and we managed to make our way over to him. he took us a back way through neighborhoods which was nice considering i had not seen many neighborhoods. then we arrived home, jamie used my skype to call her credit card company which was also frustrating for her. no one seems to quite understand when you mention that you live in another country and are trying to get things straightened out. they always want you to call back during normal business hours which is always when we are sleeping....ugh! she managed to get someone who could help her and then we headed back to carrefour to make the purchase. the whole way we are praying that it will work this time. we got a taxi, made it inside, found the basket with jamie's stuff that they were holding for her, and then made our way to the same register. thankfully we did not have to wait in line again. she slid the card and........YES it worked! jamie was so thankful. we gathered the stuff and made our way back to the street to get a taxi home........yeah!

once we were back at my apartment i made the three of us dinner----grilled chicken breasts, green beans, and some rice. they liked it a lot. i made some extra chicken so that i could have lunch for a couple days. yummy! then we just all hung out at my apartment----jamie did school work, i organized my book case, and suzy replied to emails. it was good times!

monday and tuesday were pretty normal days. each week i am feeling better about school. friday is the end of the 1st quarter which is nice. i am nervous about the report cards and then parent conferences. i am already starting to pray about them. they will be on nov. 2nd and 3rd. we are already thinking about next year. we have to make the overseas order by the middle of november for it to arrive in time. i am trying to manage to organize some materials so i can decide what things i need to order that we dont have.

monday night i hosted a group of ladies for a book study small group. we are reading The Self Confident Woman by janet congo. it is the same book that my ladies group did back home last spring. it is an awesome read and one i think that we can learn a lot from. i had 4 ladies show up and another one will be coming on monday. so 6 total including me. makes for a nice size group. we had some great discussion this week and it went well. i was nervous about it before b.c i have never lead a group before and i did not want it to be "too" structured, but wanted more of a casual, laid back kind of vibe. they all enjoyed it and appreciated the fact that i took the initiative to get a group started. that was reassuring.

before they showed up i was buzzing around picking up my house. then i sat down on the couch with my dinner and was listening to some music when i just had this sense of peace and quiet. it was nice to be able to reflect on where i have been in the last two years and think how God has brought me to Korea and the other great things that are going on. it was really enjoyable to just sit here on the couch and be able to really have a moment. :) yeah for those kind of undistracted quiet moments............

tuesday after school we had a long faculty meeting............it seemed to never end. it just amazes me how people complain and frown at decisions that are made about things. i dont always agree, but i am trying hard to be able to just aceept it and be proactive rather than just to react about it. it amazes me how people get hung up on such little things when they are just "small fries" in the bigger picture.

i made some pizza when i got home. then i tried to hammer some curriculum stuff out on the computer. it did not go as well as i had hoped but i did make some progress. suzy came around to hang out and chat some. that was nice and a good time of conversation. then i prepared a salad for the rest of the week for lunches. yummy! she had some hot tea and we continued to talk. wyatt also showed up later and we all got to just hang out and talk about lots of stuff. good times! i like that my house has become the "hang out" zone. :)

today i was really tired all day. in fact after school i came home to lay down for an hour before going to dinner and i ended up sleeping for WAY longer. i slept from 4:30-7 and i woke up moved to the couch and slept a few more hours. wow! i guess i needed the rest. i had some cheese toast for dinner.

all this week i have been coming home for lunch at my apartment. it has been really nice to get away in the middle of the day and eat lunch at my table. i get to fix it up and have some quiet, down time. i feel really "on top" of things when i do this. i wash the dishes and go back to school quite refreshed. i never imagined that 30 or 40 minutes at home can do that to you. i love living 4 minutes from my job. :) definitely has its bonuses!

59 more days until i come home for christmas!!!!!!! i am looking forward to the time i will get to spend with family and friends. i really understand how important you all are to my life and how i miss you. i like life in korea and enjoy the adventure, but i miss the people from my life that i am have sometimes taken for granted. thanks for being my friends and the support and encouragement you all give!

until next time...................................................