missing home....

lately i have been missing home. not in a sobby kind of homesick way, but just little things about houston and texas that make me smile and miss it.

here are the things i miss:

• kolaches from the bakery on bingle in spring branch---the kolache bakery
• my family
• my mom's banana bread
• my mom's homemade biscuits
• hamburger steak with lots of brown gravy
• hanging out with friends and having good conversation
• small group
• diedrich's
• my close friends
• my "tree house" garage apartment in the cool, artsy part of town
• the ecclecticness of inside the loop
• the warm weather for flip flops and sitting outside
• hanging out with josh
• being with friends during big moments---having babies, loss, rough times
• the mad potter & girls nite out
• sending evites :)
• crocheting
• halo night
• sunday mornings
• onion creek--yummy mochas and tasty sandwiches
• my friend's kids :)
• sharing meals
• the black lab
• being able to find a fun craft store for artsy stuff
• listening to friends play their music

paul is moving to....

san francisco at the moment. he will be there until roughly the middle of june when he comes back to texas to get married. yeah! only 137 more days!!!

his visit here in seoul was great! he was able to meet my kids, hang out, and meet other folks too. i loved it when he was here and it was great to do "nothing" together.

school has been really busy these days. last friday the 4th grade went on a field trip to the national folk museum of korea. it was good and i think the kids enjoyed it. this week we have lots going on and we start the big fundraising efforts for year. each year SFS raises something like 12 million won for a TB care center in north korea. it is really amazing. there are many events and things planned to get the money. i have been helping to organize it all which has been fun, challenging, and time consuming.

my kids are finishing up reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. it has been great to read it with them and i am becoming a fan of the book more so than the movie. don't get me wrong the movie is great, but i think i prefer the book.

life has been ok for me lately. i have been a bit down since paul left on saturday which is to be expected. i am currently trying to sort out my life..............i need to get motivated to get in shape and better health is #1 on the list. this has been one of the most difficult adjustments for me in korea. the fact that watching what i eat is much more difficult than in the states. i know that some of you may think i making more of this than it is, but it is true. i am not the only one that claims these kind of feelings about it. i am hoping that on march 14th to kick off my "getting healthy" campaign for myself. this is 4 months prior to the wedding and i am hoping to make a change.

next week i am headed to hong kong for a teaching class on braingym. it is using motor acitivites to activate different part of a child's brain before working. it has been proven to work for lots of kids and so i am going to learn more. this will also be my first official trip around asia and i am really excited about it.

i am completely addicted to grey's anatomy. it is really the best show. i finished watching the dvds for season 1 & 2. then i logged into itunes where i get the new episode downloaded each week with a season pass. wow! i don't get to see it until the wee hours of the morning on saturday, but i get to see it. i do have to say that last week's show was a bit odd and unrealistic. i am hoping this week brings us back to normality. :)

in addition, my kids have clued me into the "thing" to do as a fourth grader. last week they all kept talking about this online game called "club penguin". so being the person i am, i wanted to know more and check out what all their rave was about. friday night i went to the site: http://www.clubpenguin.com. i soon found myself creating a penguin and playing the game. it is quite fun. since friday i have met some of my kids "in" the game online and played connect four and mancala with them. good times! i know can talk the lingo with them which has been fun to share with them.

paul has arrived......

he has been here since thursday night and things have been great since he arrived. the night he got here was a bit wild, but we finally made it home. the last airport bus to yonhi-dong left the airport at 10:30pm and we saw it pull away. i did not realize at the time of seeing the bus it was the last one, but soon after did when the guy said "finished, no more bus". then i kind of internally got a bit nervous as i was not sure how we were going to get home. a taxi all the way to the school is almost 50,000 and i did not have that much cash on me. so i thought quickly and realized that there was another bus leaving for itaewon, which is area close to the base. a taxi from there is only 10,000 or so. we got on the last bus to itaewon at five until eleven. it took us a while but we finally made it home. whew!!!!

friday we went back to itaewon for lunch. we had dolsot bebimbap which is rice, veg, and some meat with an egg on top in a very hot stone bowl that cooks it all when you get it. it is super yummy and one of paul's favorites. then we walked all around itaewon. i showed him all my favorite places---koreana furniture, eden pottery, joy jewelry. then we made our way to sinchon where we had a starbucks and made a quick trip to grand mart (the grocery store).

saturday we were kind of bums and ordered pizza in. paul had to work and i needed to complete some school work as well. we just hung out at my apartment and then later in the evening when down to sinchon for dinner. we ate at omuto tomato which is a fusion kind of place that serves omurice. it is like a giant egg omelette shell filled with rice and then topped with all kinds of stuff on top. i had one with a tomatoey sauce with a pork cutlet on it. it was tasty. paul had one with cream sauce, sweet potatoes and pumpkin on it. he was not a huge fan and neither was i after tasting it. after dinner we went to starbucks again.....surprise, surprise! it was good although i quickly figured out that i was drinking too much caffeine as i was not sleeping well.

sunday we went to church and then went to insadong for lunch and to piddle around. jen came with which was fun! we had lunch at a korean place and we all had dolsot bebimbap again. this place was not as good as the place in itaewon, but it was ok. paul tried some korean taffy like stuff and also a sausage like thing on a stick. we just looked in the shops and watched the people. it was good. we ended up at the starbucks in insadong. this is the only one in the world that has starbucks written in korean on the outside of the building. we sat for hours just talking and visiting. we had three young korean ladies about our age ask us to read a page and a half of questions to them in english. they are interviewing to become flight attendants for asiana airlines and needed to listen to the english for practice. it was fun and we enjoyed helping. after they treated us to muffins. so sweet! we then went back to the apartment and jen came with. we had quesadillas for dinner and jen and i faced off at scrabble while paul kind of worked. it was fun! jen and i thought the game was over a hundred times it seemed and then all of a sudden we would work out a word to build more off of. we were really kind of playing together versus against each other. we had fun and laughed lots. i think we were even entertaining paul at some points. :)

monday paul was all about walking around and seeing what we would see. to be honest, i wasn't really thrilled with the idea, but went along. we walked down the front hill into yonhi-dong and walked around. then we took a taxi to sinchon. paul had his computer with him so he could work. the mission was to a find a coffee place with free internet. we tried the coffee bean, but no luck. walked a bit further to a new place called caribou coffee. yes......free internet! i have had coffee from this place in an airport in the states so i was excited. it just opened in the last week or two. then we went to order and paul says, "look they have decaf." i instantly was like where?!?!?! i was beside myself. then i asked if they had decaf espresso.....yes! oh my goodness, i felt as if i had hit the jackpot! crazy! so i ordered a latte that was decaf! so exciting! paul and i sat for hours---he working and i was reading. i was reading the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, the bible, and the marriage book that paul and i got for christmas. he worked and i read. it was a great afternoon. later i got another coffee and this time i got a marshmalllow latte......YUMMY! i am in heaven! paul and i ate sushi at niko niko for a late afternoon snack and then took a taxi home. we went to the mills' for dinner and had a fun time. we played rummikub with the kids. then we ate dinner and after dinner we played my new game, rat-a-tat cat, that i got for christmas. the kids loved it! they went to bed and we played a game called articulate for kids with david (dad), arthur, paul and i. the funny part is that it is like catchphrase, but it is in made in england. so some of the phrases we did not get. it was fun though and we laughed a lot. after arthu went to sleep, paul and i stayed and visited with jane and david for hours. it was really wonderful!

today paul and i went to lunch at kraze burger and are back at caribou coffee. he is working and i am blogging. i am enjoying another DECAF marshmallow latte which is just lovely! the weather has been absolutely fantastic since paul got here! it is sunny and currently the temperature is 52 degrees. paul and i are really enjoying the weather. :)

yes, i am ok.........

i know many of you have thought i have fallen in a deep Korean hole since i have not posted in nearly a month. i am sorry.........things here with school have been really crazy, stressful and non-stop. i think about posting, but somehow in the craziness of the day it gets overlooked. by the time i get home i am usually shattered tired and do nothing more than lay on my couch. exciting, eh? moving 7,047 miles away from friends and family leads me to laying on my couch more?!?!?!? anyhow, here i am again...........resurfacing to the blog. thanks for the thoughts and emails asking where in the heck i am............i am glad to know that people wonder and are curious about my life here. thanks!

so the most thought provoking thing i have done since last blogging was see the movie, Blood Diamond. it is about the conflict in sierra leone in the 90's which is western africa. the movie is intense and from the people who i know who know africa pretty realistic. i was completely moved by this movie in many ways. for the first time i found myself praying for the continent of africa. it is hard to wrap my wee head around the idea that an entire continent is riddled with instability, disease, crime, AIDS, and poverty. i have never been there so to some degree i feel like i should not be allowed to draw such conclusions having no such real first-hand experience. part of me though is moved enough to wonder how the entire world can stand by and watch africa's issues get to the magnitude they have. in the past few years i have met people who are making issues more public with the save darfur campaign, one campaign, and then most recently the invisible children. it amazes me how as one of the world's super powers (the US) that people can be ok with letting things just happen or looking the other way thinking that someone else will solve and/or help the problem. recently i had to help my kids create a chapel for the elementary school. we chose the theme of compassion as it was the Christ-like attitude of the month. in doing this my kids learned verses, songs, and skits that all had to do with compassion. in sitting here writing this email one of their readings comes to mind. it was titled "Excuses, Excuses". the reading was about the excuses that people use for not helping others such as "Someone else will help....", "I will be ridiculed for helping them....", "I don't have the time...." to list a few. In response to the excuses some of my kids read verses from the Bible to justify why we should help. so i have to wonder why we just sit and go about our daily lives without even thinking about what is going on in the rest of the world around us. when i first decided to write this email i knew what all of you would say, "Here she goes again on her 'save the world idealist' kick". i know it is a movie, but i have to wonder what i can do, as a Christian, to help or contribute to the bigger picture of helping others. God specifically says that we should help each other and love our neighbors and Jesus even gives the good samaritan story (Luke 10:30-37) as an example of how to live our lives. so i ask myself........am i going to be the samaritan that helps the other or the pharisee that moves to other side of the road?

word o' the day.....

surreptitiously

this word was found by one of the my kiddos in the book titled The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke. i went to dictionary.com to find out what it meant:

here is what we learned:
sur·rep·ti·tious /ˌsɜrəpˈtɪʃəs/ [sur-uhp-tish-uhs] IPA –adjective
1. obtained, done, made, etc., by stealth; secret or unauthorized; clandestine: a surreptitious glance.
2. acting in a stealthy way.
3. obtained by subreption; subreptitious.

sur·rep·ti·tious·ly, adverb
sur·rep·ti·tious·ness, noun

quietness.....

here i sit on a saturday morning long before the time gets to the double digits soaking up the quietness of my apartment. it's cold out.....19 degrees....and there is snow still on the ground. i went to bed at 9:30 last night. big, exciting friday night in korea for me! i got a good 10 and a half hours sleep. crazy! i have fed the four-legged friends and now just sit on my couch looking out into the trees across from my apartment from the dining room window. india is laying on the end of the dining table near the window and sam has cozied up on the wool blanket on my bed. the second hand of the clock in the kitchen ticks without fail. i am hungry, but have yet to decide what i will eat for breakfast this morning. i brew over the choices at hand......cereal, french toast, or an omelette with tomoatoes, feta, and cheddar. i could always choose something in the non-traditional arena--sandwich, pizza, etc. the idea that sounds best is to curl up on couch with sam and india reading a great book and get in a nap. :)

i have been reading a lot this week. in fact thursday night that is all i did. i read from the time i got home until the time i went to bed. it was great! i finished messy spirituality by michael yaconelli thursday night and then started here's to hindsight by tara leigh cobble. i recommend both........GREAT READS! last night i began a book i want to read aloud to my kids this coming week which is missing may by cynthia rylant. on january 23rd my kids and i will begin reading the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by c. s. lewis. i have never actually read the book so i am also reading that. i am thrilled about being able to teach such an incredible story that parallels with the Bible. i hope it will be a great adventure for my kids and myself.

i began swimming this past week in an effort to get in shape. although the sound of the alarm clock buzzing at 5:30am does not excite me in the least, i am excited about it. on the mornings i swim i have found that i am more awake and have more energy. that part alone makes it worth while. i am trying to eat healthy and manage my portions, but that is where it is difficult here in korea. this is the one area that is the most challenging even more so than the exercise. prayer in this struggle is much needed.

it's wednesday.....

the week is half over and it feels as though i have been back at this school stuff for weeks now. the weekend by way too fast for me. i have been feeling pretty tired early in the evening all week. i have been fighting to stay awake until at least 9pm. hee hee. i never thought that would happen to me. i am trying to get myself on a normal sleep schedule though. so that has been the goal all this week.

monday i woke up at 5:30am and joined my neighbor, buffie, at the pool for an early morning swim. i realized that i need to be proactive about getting into shape. i swam for about 30 minutes or so but only swam 400 meters. back in the day that would have just been a warm up not an entire workout. :) times have changed and so has my body. i did it though and that was what really mattered. it was great to see my kids on monday and i had fun getting to catch up with all of them and hear what they had done over the break. some went skiiing, others went to different countries, and some just had a simple holiday at home. they all seemed to enjoy whatever they did. upon telling them my news they were quite excited. :)

tuesday the entire 4th grade took a field trip to the GM Daewoom plant that is located about an hour from school towards the airport. it was an interesting day and i had a great time. i learned many new things that i did not know before the trip. we leraned a lot about the company, got to sit in new cars and tour the assembly line plant where they put the cars together. some of the facts that i learned on the trip are:

• there are 30,000 parts that have to be on the car in the assembly line
• it takes about 17 hours for a car to be completed on the line
• there are four different parts of the car building process----press shop, body shop, paint shop, assembly line
• the safety standards vary from country to country
• GM Daewoo sells cars in 190 countries around the globe
• the new Saturn Vue is acutally a GM Daewoo Winstorm in Korea

it was an interesting trip and i think the kids had fun!

today started with another trip to the pool for 25 minutes of swimming. i could not believe that i really got up to go again. i managed to make the workout 500 meters this time which was nice. i was proud. the day was just wednesday. i have felt really out of the groove this week since i was away for so long. i am hoping that this will go away soon.

i am currently sitting in starbucks in sinchon with suzy "working". i think she really is doing work when i am just updating my blog and looking at wedding stuff. i tried to pull out some school work, but could not bring myself to do anything with it. i sit here in a place that is familiar but am surrounded by sounds of a language that i don't understand. it is so weird to me. although at times i find it socially liberating as i don't feel obligated to say hi or make small talk. the culture here lends itself to not being as friendly as texans are. no one really says hi to each other, excuse me does not translate, and people tend to keep to themself. odd at first, but i am also finding comfort in just "zoning out" and thinking about whatever i feel like. the only downfall to the starbucks in korea is the absence of decaf coffee. it is a bummer. i love the taste of coffee but have to sleep too. ugh! that is one thing i miss about starbucks from home.....the decaf option. :) instead i sip on a caramel cream frappuccino that has enough calories to claim meal status. the things we indulge for comfort!

fun times....

suzy and me.....reuniting :)

me in the snow outside my apartment.....so much of it!

more pics.......

i have just finished uploading all the pics to date............click on the link at right and have a look! hope you enjoy them as much as i do :)

happy hope bear family....

holy snow batman!!!

saturday morning.....

i sit in my apartment basking in its quietness. so different from being at home in Houston where things seem to always be on the go. i went to bed last night around 10:30 after arriving home to korea. i awoke this morning at 5:20ish and thought there is no way i am getting up this early. dragging myself out of the bed shortly thereafter i realized how different life is here. i stirred around wondering what to do as no one is awake yet. i finally decided i would read my book even though that did not seem that exciting. i made some coffee and got comfortable on the couch. i read and read. excited that taking the time to read was abundant here. i looked outside and realized it was snowing……..everything is covered in a soft white. so beautiful! i am hungry but not sure what to eat as in Houston we just go and get something. i really appreciate the slowness of life here at my apartment in seoul. i finally thawed out a bagel and created my very own “simple breakfast” like the one at brazil that i love. a bagel with butter and jam, orange juice and coffee. i glance outside to see the snow and am reminded of God’s amazing glory. it is such a great feeling. the tree’s branches all covered in a blanket of white. sam is asleep on the couch next to me and the only noise i hear is the second hand ticking on the clock in the kitchen and sam’s occasional snore or whimper. life here is slow and simple and something until now that i did not realize how much i loved.

the story of paul's proposal

the story begins when paul asks me to mark three dates on the calendar for dates with him when i am home for the holiday--dec. 19th, 21st, and 23rd. all i know that the first date is all day and casual, the second in the evening and dressy, and date three is casual and most of the day. this is all the information he would share with me.

upon arrival in houston, he picked me up at the airport and it felt so wondeful to see him and be able to give him a hug. it had been 4 months and 14 days since we were last together in person as he left korea on august 6th. it was a great moment as i stood at baggage claim waiting for my bags wondering where he was and then to sopt him in the crowd, exchange smiles, and walk quickly toward me.

tuesday was date #1. the plan was to hang out and do lots of nothing really. we started the day at rice village just walking around and peering through windows. we did drop my much violated birks off for repair at the village shoe shop. :) we did a little shopping and a lot of walking. it was nice to be able to meander with no real schedule holding hands with one another. after rice, we headed for the galleria. another place to do little shopping and lots of walking! we had fun just walking around and people watching. we just really enjoyed our time together and being able to hold hands and talk. all he would tell me is that we had dinner plans and had to be there around 7:00ish and it was near the galleria. we left the galleria and i had a pounding headache. upon sharing this with paul, he immediately asked what he could do to "fix it" which made me smile. i said that aleve should do the trick so we found the nearest CVS. he just kept driving around and around in no one direction so i had no idea where we were headed. at this point his only comment became "maybe" to all my interrogation. :) finally we were headed west on westheimer and i said we are so going to la vista and he said.........yep, you guessed it "maybe". then finally he turned on fountain view to which i quickly remarked we are going to la vista, but they don't take reservations. hmmmm..........he parked and then we walked to la vista. i was so excited! i was smilng ear to ear. my favorite restaurant with my favorite guy what more could i ask for. we were walking up to la vista when i spotted allen moody from our home group and thought why he is here. then i noticed more people i knew----our entire small group was there. when i walked up to the table they all stood up and were holding mini hope bears. each of them gave their bear to me which had a little sentiment written to me on a tag attached to the ribbon around its neck. so sweet! 8 bears total and an entire small group of people including katie. CRAZY! paul had arranged for everyone to meet us there for dinner. the most amazing part is that NO ONE spilled the beans AT ALL the night before at small group. it was an awesome night and i was so glad to be able to fellowship with each of them and share a meal together. paul is such a blessing. even though i did not realize it at the time, the word of the night was "hope".

date #2 on thursday was a dressy date and somehow i had managed to squeeze the place that were eating out of paul prior to coming home. we were going to the melting pot. another place that paul took me while dating that i had never been before he took me. i was thrilled and i knew i would be stuffed by the end of the night. i had found the coolest shirt at new york and company the day before to wear. i wore the black and white flowey like shirt with black wide leg pants and black sandals. i felt great and paul said i looked hot! he looked awesome too. he work nice jeans with his green long sleeved shirt and his black jacket. such a hottie! all i knew is that we were going to dinner at 5:30 and then had plans to be somewhere else at 7ish. we went to eat and ate so much food. we had a yummy cheese dip that was wonderful followed by a large selection of meats---beef, chicken, shrimp and lobster. it was really good, but we both agreed less is better. we had a hazelnut chocolate dip for dessert which is paul and i's favorite part. :) after dinner we headed down westheimer again and i got this weird feeling we were going to grace, our church. not sure why although i though paul might have arranged to play for me in the chapel, but that was from what happened. we did end up at grace in the chapel, but for a different reason. paul had arranged with bryan, one of the pastors, to meet us at the chapel so that we could share communion together. it was amazing and yes, i cried. the lighting in the chapel was just right, the candles were lit, and bryan had the kneeler out too. bryan played a derek webb song on the CD player and then we read Hebrews 11 together which speaks all about faith. then we prayed and shared communion. it was so special as paul and i got to serve communion to each other. then bryan prayed for us again. it was a really special night for me and i was pretty much in awe to what lengths paul would go to make the night extra special. i still cannot believe it. wow! again, not knowing it at the time the word of this date was "Faith". he had planned each date with a theme.

saturday brought date #3 which started out by running last minute errands for christmas. we had stopped at starbucks to get some gift cards as well as izze beverages for us to enjoy. we were sitting there enjoying our drinks, talking about things, and he asked me if i had figured out the clues yet about the dates. i immediately said no and then without a moment's hesitation realized what the theme was. i smiled ear to ear and was wow-ed by his thoughtful planning. that meant that this date was about "love" but there was not any plans until "around dinner time". after figuring it out i was really anxious to get the date started. i kept pestering him...."can we start now???" we headed in the direction of his apartment and he pulled into the central market parking lot. i was a bit confused as central market was not on the list of places we needed to go. i asked what we were doing and he said we were starting the date. to be honest, i felt not sure of what he was doing. he then told me how he loves to do nothing with me. one of his favorite times we share is getting bread and cheese and then renting movies to watch at his apartment. "is that ok?" he asked. i was like of course. he knew that my trip home would be really busy and he thought the best way to hang out was to plan a night of nothing. yeah! we meandered through central market getting the items we needed for our picnic----fresh french bread, brie, gouda, mustard, fresh genoa salami, and some jam. yum! then we went to hollywood video to rent some movies. we wanted to watch scrubs episodes but they did not have the season we needed. so instead we rented little miss sunshine and click. we went back to his apartment and i took the groceries upstairs. i was unpacking the bag when he walks into the kitchen with his guitar on. i asked him what he was doing and he told me he wanted to play my favorite song for me that he wrote. earlier in the day i had mentioned that i wanted him to play this song for me while i was home. it is the first song he played for me at my apartment right after we started dating. yeah! he led me over to the couch and he played the song for me. i started crying about half way through. i could not stop the tears. after he finished he asked if i was ok and my response was "i don't want to go back to korea". he then started talking about hope, faith and love. he knew that these three words had become really important in my faith journey over the past 2 years but he said that they were important to our relationship as well especially since i had moved to korea. he then stood up and took off his guitar and said....."mandy....." then he pulled something out of his pocket and got down on one knee in front of me on the couch, opened a little box........."will you marry me?" then i started crying more and said yes!!! we spent the next hours on the phone calling our families and friends. it was the best night ever!!!! we did get to our picnic and watched the movie--little miss sunshine.

we are getting married on july 14th, 2007 at 2:00pm at grace presbyterian. the reception will in the fellowship hall there at the church. we are both really excited and appreciate all the words of support and encouragement!

home for the holidays......

yeah i arrived home safely and was able to get great rest on the trip home. paul picked me up at the airport and it was so wonderful to see him. :) we went to dinner at el gallo with my mom and katie which was fun. that night i actually slept pretty well. sunday morning was early as i wanted to see paul play at church. the normal sunday morning routine was kept just as usual----starbucks on the way to church!!! it was awesome to see everyone and i even started crying during the morning band practice. gosh, i miss my community in houston! church was great and i got to see paul sing the worship song sing to the king which was rocking! after church we went to the black lab for lunch. fun fun fun!

monday i had breakfast at brasil with my mom and then we hung out all day. it was nice! tuesday i had my first date with paul. (more details on that in next blog)
wednesday was girls nite out at the mad potter which was lots of fun! i had a blast hanging out with the ladies and catching up. thursday was the day o' the doctor's visits----ugh! i made all the rounds to get all the check ups and such i needed. later that night i had the dressy date with paul which was awesome! friday katie and i got to hang out and i went to get my hair done....yeah! i love the people who do my hair.....sufi and sufi are the best! saturday was another all day date with paul which was the most amazing day i have ever had in my life! yeah! paul rocks!

sunday was christmas eve and paul and i had a marathon of family visiting to do for christmas. we started at his aunt's in clear lake for lunch and the early afternoon. i got to meet the rest of the family which was really great. they are a lot of fun! we exchanged white elephant gifts which was really funny! then we opened the real gifts. it was great getting to meet his family and spend more time with them. i cannot wait to be able to see them more.

after his aunt's we trekked back to sugar land with dinner and the evening time with my family. it was really nice too. i got to hang out with josh for the first time since i had been home which was awesome! we had a nice time together. we ate dinner and then opened presents. i had lots of fun watching my family open the presents i brought them from korea. then we went to the late service at my brother and sandra's church. it was nice to be together and celebrate the season.

after church we headed to paul's parents for the night. christmas morning started at about 9:30 and we unloaded stockings, had breakfast, and then opened gifts. it was great to spend that time with them. the rest of the day we just hung out and rested. later in the afternoon we went to christina's mom's house to have dinner. the whole maiorana crew was there and we were able to announce our engagement which was fun! we had a great time.

dec. 26th was paul and i's one year anniversary. we celebrated by doing the same thing we did one year earlier on our first date. we ate lunch at pei wei on heights and then went to see a holiday movie. this year we saw "the holiday" at the angelika. even though we were a bit late, it was a good movie. after the movie we had dinner at nicole's house with her family. yeah for friends! paul and i had a great time visiting and seeing the kids. :)

wednesday i got to hang out with josh all day! it was awesome! we went to lunch at earl of sandwich and then saw the movie "night at the museum"----great flick! paul's parents had invited my family over for dinner to celebrate our engagement which was good. it was nice to see our families come together and share a meal together. cream taco is yummy!!!

thursday-saturday i stayed at my brother's house to animal sit while they drove to tennessee to watch the cougars play in the liberty bowl. friday night we went to dinner with the guy paul works with and his wife. we got treated to dinner at the capitol grille. it was good!

saturday i went dress shopping at david's bridal and had fun. it is really exhausting trying on those heavy dresses. finally after about 2 hours, i found the one. we made the purchase and then headed to lunch at central market. yum! one more thing to check off the list of planning.....

sunday paul and i went to church at grace even though he was not playing. it was different to sit next to him the entire service. :) we went to brunch at the black lab and had matt's mom take some engagement photos of us there too. later that night we went to tricia and allen's new year's eve party at their house. we got to kiss at midnight!!! it was fun and kelly documented the moment for us. :)

monday was a lazy day! nothing major....just hanging out. tuesday we met with t. doug, our pastor, to talk about getting married and the dates and such. God was really watching over us because the morning went soooo smoothly. we met with the wedding coordinator at the church and the facilities lady as well. we are getting married at grace pres. on july 14th, 2007 at 2pm with reception to follow in the fellowship hall. yeah!!!! huge stress out of the way!!!

that night we went to dinner with my family at seoul garden, it was good, but not as good as the korean food in korea. go figure. i had a great time sharing new food with them and getting to speak a little korean.

wednesday i finally got rid of my car at carmax! yeah i am officially sans car!!! :) oh what a glorious feeling! i ran last minute errands and then did some laundry. we had dinner at lupe tortilla's which was awesome as always! we ate with katie and my mom which was good too. i had to stay up late packing as i left on thursday. again, i waited to the last minute to pack all my junk. poor paul!

he had to get me to airport for 5:30am, but we did not get there until 6:15ish. it was ok although the line was sooooo long. it all worked out though. i slept most of the flights here which was nice. i think sleeping makes the time go by faster. :) in san francisco there were 9 other SFSers coming back to Seoul so that was fun seeing people at the airport. we were all on the same flight. i rode the airport bus to the school and then another SFS teacher who was already home came down the hill to get us and our luggage. it was great!!

it is good to be here although i do miss home a lot. i got to love on sam and india and hang out. i went to bed around 10:30 and woke up at 5:30am to snow.....lots of snow.

december....

so i am trying to catch up on my blog and it long overdue. i seem to say that every time that i update after a long hiatus. :)

the month of december seems to be full of christmas shopping as i look back over the notes i jotted down. i ate with tim and joann at this amazing italian place that i LOVE called namaste. it is awesome! i bought my first piece of Korean furniture too. an old rice chest made into a coffee table. jen and i went to a gayageum concert at the sejong arts center after a long day of shopping in namdaemun. the gayageum is an old traditional Korean instrument. the group of women we saw play contemporary works on it---like the beatles and simon & garfunkel. it was really great to see. my kids had their christmas party and i received a gift certificate to get a massage and pedicure....yeah! the memorable moment from the party was when each one of my students came up to tell me why they were thankful i was their teacher. they all had great things to share from their hearts, but the last little girl, hanna, pulled the tears. she said, "miss foster i am thankful that you left all your friends behind to come teach us." i started crying instantly. wow! how amazing God is to have this one little girl share her heart with me.

i stayed up most of the night packing for my trip home the night before i left. this is so me to wait to the last minute. i got it done and made it home safely to spend time with family and friends.

the weekend........

bbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it was so cold! all weekend the temperatures were no higher than the low 30's. it felt much colder due to the wind.

friday after school i had my korean lesson with hanna who is one the korean teachers at school. she is helping me to learn korean which is not that bad. i know all my consonants and vowels and i am able to read more than i understand. :) i started learning some vocabulary this week so that is fun. :) i cannot wait to go to the korean restaurants and shops back home. i am definitely going into komart on gessner when i am home.

after that suzy and i went to itaewon to get manicures and such. i was able to read an Us magazine while i waited which was nice as it was in english. i know it is not intellectual literature, but it was in english so that was the highlight. then we went to starbucks to meet jen and one of suzy's korean friends. then we went for indian food.............yummy! it was so good and i had a great time. i cannot wait to go eat it again soon. maybe sometime this week actually. :) we all did a little after dinner shopping......suzy found some fun silver shoes for the christmas party. jen and i then walked home to my apartment where we had a sleepover. we got to hang out and visit. she showed my pics from home in maine and i showed her pics from home too.

saturday we woke up and had a relaxing morning. i made french toast for breakfast and we had some coffee. then we got moving to go on our outing. we headed across the river to the seoul arts center to the hangaram art museum. we went for the man ray and world history of photography exhibit. it was awesome! i saw many photos that i had studied in my photography class. it was a great experience! afterward we ate lunch at this little Italian place nearby and the food was awesome!

later that night was the SFS Christmas party which was at the Hilton hotel just up the road. it was fun and the food was great. i won a door prize which is a gift certificate to a hotel across the river. it entitles me to have dinner there on the house. yeah! i am saving it for when paul is here in february.

new pics....

click on the link for "My Photos" and check out the new pics....

snow, snow, snow.....

i walked out of my apartment this morning and looked up to realize that it had snowed that night.....how fun! i instantly put down my bag and coffee, dug out my camera, and started snapping photos. i am so cheesy, but i have never actually lived somewhere where it snowed. i giggled and smiled my whol trip to school. i rounded the corner by the field to walk up to a soccer field that is normally green with perfect turf that had a blanket of white on it. the kids were running, shuffling their feet to make designs, and playing soccer. it was a wonderful sight to see. the kids were having just as much fun as i was. i again took out my camera and took more pictures. :) what a great way to start the day!

the morning went well. math lesson was good and productive after have to chat with my kids about having negative attitudes. then i glanced outside to see little white snow flurries dancing down from the sky.....yes, it was snowing!!! as i taught i was able to watch the flurries dance to the ground. how amazing! the kids were excited too as i was teaching and looked over and stopped mid-sentence to say, "it's snowing!" of course they instantly ran to the window to have a look for themselves. we all stood there completely mystified by the flakes. good fun! it doesn't stick to the ground long at this point, but hey it was snowing!

there are 11 more days of school until the holiday so i made a deal with my kids today. i let them choose where they sit for the next 11 days. there are 2 tables of all girls and 2 tables of all boys. you would think the genders think that they each have some serious plague! tomorrow i am adding a new spin by letting them come up with a table name and banner. then we will starting earning table points for all sorts of things---homework, parent signatures, cleanliness, chairs being pushed in, group work, etc. it should make for some excitement for the 11 days before break. i felt i needed to do something to "shake things up". they were really being unruly. i am also hoping to implement a fun number game that i am "borrowing" from a great teacher at martin that he uses every year at december time. it should be a real scene to see how it all unfolds, but we are all kind of at the point of shatteredness. we all need a change.

today after school i had discipleship and it went really well. i have three 9th grade girls in my group and they are all friends. they are great! i am really enjoying getting to know them and sharing our hearts about life as a follower of Jesus. they have the same issues i had when i was there age, which makes me seem really old to say that.

tonight i am just hanging out taking it easy. i have worked on a bit of school work, snuggled with the kitties, and sent some emails. fun night at D21!! it is 37 degrees right now and i am wondering if it will snow tonight while i am asleep. it would be a real treat to wake up to snow again. :)

wednesday......that means the week is half over...

this morning was tough to get moving. i have had a hard time sleeping lately and i am trying to remedy the issue by not consuming caffeine. so far there is no change, but i am hoping it will get better soon. tonight i am trying to have some sleepytime tea.........maybe that will do the trick!

i taught a great math lesson today although some of my kids are pushing my buttons. they are all about just knowing the answer. this can be frustrating for sure. oh well, the rest went well and i just prayed for more patience. :) i found out recently that i am going to get an LCD projector and a SMART white board over the christmas holiday! woo hoo! although i have no idea how to use the smart board i am willing to give it a go. suzy has used one for a few years now and she has one in her classroom here. she says that it is a great teaching tool and one that automatically integrates technology. there are so many options when you use it. so that is great news for me!!! i am hoping to learn more so i can make full use of it. the afternoon crepted by and we worked on language arts and science. we have been focusing on genre in reading which is a tough idea for the kids. not so much to get it, but to understand so that they can sort books is a chore. we were trying to organize and sort out the classroom library today and it was much more challenging than i thought. the kids agreed that it was not as easy as it sounds. we had some great conversation and thinking so it made it all worth while. i am hoping that they will get the hang of it soon. i am going to give them an independent reading project that focuses on the different genres to work on.

after school i tutorerd the student i have been working with from the bristish school. i also had one of my students, katrina, and lucy help me sort some things out. they worked on finishing up the classroom library and then made up the book order packets that i am going to send home tomorrow. then the three of us went over to the gym for the basketball games. katrina older sister and brother both play and so we watched from the lobby while they munched on the snacks i treated them to.

i came home to mrs. han finishing up two more pieces of clothing for me and also working on the skirts for suzy. she works really hard. we ordered chinese for dinner which was the first time i have done that at my house. fun! suzy ordered and when they come they bring it in and serve you the dishes. they give you real dishes and then when you are done you leave them outside the front door.....dirty. they come back later and pick them up. no cleaning or anything! it is great and super cheap! i took pics of the experience b/c i was astonished. they never do anything like that in texas. :)

i am compiling my lists for home------places to eat, places to go, things to do............
i am getting more and more excited!!!

18 more days.........

today was a good day! i had a white chocolate mocha from starbucks at 8:15am......what more can you want from life???!!?!? :) today was pretty normal. i taught my kids some math games which was great fun and so much fun we were running late to PE because we all lost track of time. i love those moments in teaching! i got a lot of stuff done during my planning time today which was also nice. after lunch my kids made homemade cards for the middle school craft bazaar. all the proceeds from the sale are going to be donated to the river of grace orphanage to help them pay for the heat. it is a great way for my kids do serve others. they got to cut construction paper and then use stamps (birthday and christmas) to create a design. they each created a set of 4 to be sold. tomorrow we have to create bands to hold them together. it should be fun! the kids really enjoyed making the cards and were smiling during the whole thing. after school i had swim squad which was good......although i ended up pretty wet today. i am trying to teach my kids how to dive off the blocks. after many flops they are betting better. it was good fun though! for the evening i went to hang out with my friends lucy and george.....they are the greatest kids! we ate pizza and then played whoonu, uno, and skipbo!!! we had fun and many laughs! we also talked about where we wanted to go most over the christmas holiday at home. they are from edina, minnesota and are going back for the holiday too!!! it was great conversation and lots of good laughs. yes, i have started a list of food places i want to make sure and eat at over the holiday. i will publish it later as i need to get to bed. i am tired and hope to get some better sleep tonight. i have been drinking more leaded coffee here in korea as decaf does not really exist here. the consumption has really interrupted my sleeping, so i am not drinking it anymore except for on tuesday mornings when starbucks comes to school. that is it........no more! i must just say no. anyhow, 18 more days until i am back in town..........looking forward to seeing you ALL!!! :)