Break

We just started a 5 day break for Korean Thanksgiving (Chusok). We are going to head out to the east coast to meet up with our friends Andy and Lindsey. It should be an interesting trip because we here that driving can be nuts around this holiday; like freeways as parking lots nuts... I hope we are not making a mistake wanting to drive this weekend. We shall see. Either way we are going to make it out there so hopefully the roads cooperate.

Korean Hair Cut

Well, I took a risk last night and went and got my hair cut. I was pretty nervous about this because of the whole communication barrier and the fact that Korean men don't really cut their hair like I desire mine to be cut. I think it turned out alright though.

american diner

This new gem of a diner, the Daily King American Diner, was a new find for us tonight. We had breakfast for dinner and it was great. I had some french toast that was ginormous (see picture above) and Tom had a great omelet. I don't usually eat french toast with my hands but I was trying to give some sort of scale for how big these halves of french toast were. These breakfast items are a rarity for us, so it was wonderful.

That being said, there is no comparison between this place and HyVee breakfast and/or Blue Moon in Columbia. The Mid-West knows how to have a glorious breakfast.

hm...i've never seen this before.

Hunger Banquet

This past Thursday the Global Issues Network (GIN) club hosted a Hunger Banquet at our school. The GIN Club is a group of kids at our school that want to make a difference in the world. The club takes certain global issues (i.e. hunger, poverty, child soldiers, lack of clean water, global warming, etc.) and seeks to find an end to these problems facing humanity. Practically speaking, the club raises awareness, fundraises, and serves in ways that bring a positive change to the world. And Todd Martinez and I get to be the sponsors of this club (see us below).

Last year, the club decided that we wanted to start off the year with a Hunger Banquet. The main goal is to raise money and awareness for hunger and poverty in the world. We sold tickets in advance and at the door, and when participants walked into our event they were given a new ticket that told them that they were either in low income, middle income, or high income. If you got a high income ticket you were 10% of the population and you ate a great meal:
If you got a low income ticket, which over 60% of participants did, you sat a basic white table and just ate a bowl of rice.
These were two of our waiters for the high income table. So funny.
Some of the GIN club kids. Many had left by this point, but these were some of the volunteers for the night.
Our three student Event Coordinators.
The Hunger Banquet was a way to give people a somewhat real life experience of what hunger is like in the world. Many of the people that just ate rice were begging us for more food or trying to steal some from the middle or high income groups. And many people went across the street right after the event (sorry the picture is dark) to eat kimbap (think Korea's version of fast food) and I went to McDonald's.
But while I was eating my cheeseburger I couldn't help reflect on the fact that for over 60% of the world they eat a bowl of rice and that's it. There is no kimbap. There is no going to McDonald's.

How should we respond to such inequalities in the world?

Meyer Babe Video

During SEW there was a team video competition. This was my (Bonnie's) team video. We made it in a little over an hour...not too bad considering the time constraints. The girls did a great job.

Meyer Babes

This week is SEW for our high school. SEW stands for Spiritual Emphasis Week. Basically, we run a camp for a high school kids during the school days from Wednesday to Friday. Each teacher is given a team of kids to lead for the week, and I got a great group of girls (two of them are in the picture above). One of our first SEW activities was to make a team t-shirt. The students designed it and then I got to wear it. They named our group the Meyer Babes (a slight variation from last year's Meyer Babies) and then they made an awesome shirt. I can't believe how well it turned out. Tom's kids named his group the "kuh-in" which means GIANT!

So far we've had a great time with students. This is one of my favorite times of the school year. I love just getting to hang out with kids.

three strikes you're out...

(Strike 1: see my post about a week ago titled "oops") Sunday morning we got up early to go on an adventure. We were heading up to Anyang to pick up Bonnie's old Young Life girl Emily who is teaching English here. After picking Emily up we planned to go up to Seoul and go to Catholic mass at the Myeongdong Cathedral in downtown Seoul. We accomplished all of those plans but it was an interesting day. Let me begin...

When we went down to our car at 7:15 AM it was dead (strike 2). Bonnie had left a dome light on the night before. Luckily our Korean friend and coworker Andrew came to the rescue and jumped us. We ended up getting to Anyang to pick Emily up around 8:15 which was only about 15 minutes late. From there we made it up to the cathedral right at 9:00; just in time for mass. We make it into the parking garage (which was nuts!) and walk to the elevator. As we are waiting for the elevator we catch a glimpse inside the sactuary and realize that we were at the wrong church after talking to a very kind Korean man. He did invite us to stay and enjoy their "protestant service." We declined. We went back to car and had to head down further into the garage to get back up. As we get to the bottom of the last ramp we see this:
There were cars parked on the ramp! Thankfully this is common so the parking attendants got in to the cars, started them (because you're supposed to leave the keys when you do this) and moved them. We finally got out and then we couldn't find the actual cathedral. After about 15 minutes of searching we realized it was up a back alley tucked behind some other buildings. We didn't get there until 9:30. It was an awesome building though: But the mass ended promptly at 9:45 to make way for the 10AM service. We then walked to Starbucks to enjoy a beverage before heading off to the next hot spot, Costco. We return to the car after Starbucks to find it dead again. I turned the lights on in the parking garage fiasco and never turned them off (strike 3). This time one of the parking attendants got a taxi driver to jump us. Needless to say jumper cables are on our short list. We made it to Costco, back to Emily's place, and back to Suwon without incident after that. This was the final highlight of our eventful day. A promotion in front of the new LG store by our apartment:

Oops

We went out to dinner with our friends Eddie and Kim last night. Afterward we walked back to our car and I had left the lights on. It was dead. I think that is the first time I have ever done that. Luckily there was a nice Korean man there who was willing to jump start it. I think the reason I left the lights on is because there is no bell or warning that sounds to remind me. Oh well, at least it started up this morning.

i miss grass

A few weeks ago Tom and I went to Olympic Park in Seoul. It was so fun to lay down in the grass. This park is great because it's a big grassy park right in the middle of Korean cement city. I love it!

Back from Malaysia

Well I was supposed to make a midnight flight back from Kota Kinabalu but that got delayed 2:30 hours so we didn't leave until 2:50 AM. That stunk but I made it back without incident so I can't complain too much.

One final thought from my trip. I loved the resort/hotel that I got to stay at. It was really nice. However I don't think they chose the best slogan:
It may be hard to read. It says "Where There Is No Difference... There Is Only Indiffernce." Does that strike anyone else besides me as odd?

the evangalist

While our friends Andy and Lindsey were in town we took them to the Suwon Fortress. While we were there a lovely Korean lady latched herself onto us...literally. Lindsey and Andy have the pictures of this, but after stumbling upon this lady she grabbed our hands with Tom on one side and me on the other and we went for a stroll around the fortress. While walking hand in hand, she chatted the whole time in Korean, and we kept responding "we don't speak Korean" with smiles on our faces. (The language barrier is a bummer at times). She also insisted on taking pictures together, as you can see. The real interesting part was at the end when we could tell she was trying to get our contact information. We didn't have a pen so she found one and on a piece of cardboard she wrote her phone number and gave it to us, which is odd because we can't understand each other in person let alone on the phone. Then she started to point to us and point to the sky while speaking passionately in Korean. In the midst of this Tom was able to pick out the word church and that she is wanting us to come to her church with her. We tried to communicate we already have a church but she just wasn't taking no for an answer. So we call our Korean friend, Joni, and had Joni ask her what exactly this woman was wanting from us. Joni talked with her and told us, "She is trying to evangalize you. She thinks you're going to church with her this Sunday."

While we appreciated the concern for our souls, the woman wasn't relenting on the fact that we didn't want to go to church with her. Finally, Joni was able to communicate that we have a church and we weren't coming with her. It was a pretty humerous experience, especially because the lady would only look at, hold hands with, and talk to Tom and I. She kept ignoring Andy and Lindsey for the entire 45 minutes we were with her. Have no fears...Andy and Lindsey know Jesus.

the little things in life

When I walked into my hotel room I noticed this curious little box setting on the night stand. I thought to myself..."What is that thing for?"Then I opened it and I was pumped!
The best part is that after I ate them both the first night they refilled it! Two chocolates daily! Nice!

Kota Kinabalu

I'm here at my IB Conference and the resort that the conference is being held at is NICE! Too bad I am cooped up in a meeting room for most of the daylight hours. Some Pics:This is my room.This is the strange shuttered window that looks into the bathroom. There's no glass so the bathroom is somewhat open air.
That's my hotel and some of the grounds.The awesome pool at my hotel. See the guy at the bar? That is John from our sister school is Taejon. He enjoying a lunch time swim. There are pools like this at each of the 3 hotels on property.That is one of the three total hotels in this resort complex (Komplex as they spell it here in Malaysia). This place is gigantic; something like 800 rooms total.

free to travel

The latest drama in the Korean international school community was how were schools going to enforce a recent law that said any person coming into the country was quarantined from schools for a week. This law would have a huge impact on international schools because it would basically eliminate most traveling and professional development that teachers could do. We would be locked in Korea. This would affect us personally because Bonnie is going to a wedding back in the US in October and we are leading a mission trip to Nepal in the spring.

Well a group of headmasters got together to figure out what to do with this law and their school's interpretations of it. They came out with a plan that still allows us to travel but still kind of quarantines us at the same time.

I leave today for an IB training trip to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. When I get back I must have my temperature taken in the morning and at lunch everyday for a week. Though it sounds annoying I see it as a small price to pay for the freedom to travel at times other than Christmas break and the end of the year.

So I'm off to Malaysia, and Bonnie is left here all by her lonesome self. I guess she does have a car to drive though so it shouldn't be all that bad.

My 5th car

1. 1988 Chevy Corsica
2. 1995 Ford Ranger
3. 2001 Saturn SL
4. 1997 Honda Accord
5. 1996 Hyundai Sonata

If you recall from some of our first blog posts we sold that 1997 Honda Accord right before we left America. So this post would lead you to believe that we just bought a car here. Which we did. We bought that Hyundai Sonata from a very kind soul named Mr. Sunny Park. He is a rock star. He was recommended to us by a friend that purchased her car from him. He was great. We didn't know how to drive home from his shop, so rather than draw us a map or something he got in his car and drove us to the gas station and then led us to the highway. From there I was able to get us back home.

I won't say how much the car cost but I will say that it was 1/4 the price that we paid for that 1997 Accord and 1/3 the price that we sold the Accord for a year ago. Gotta love buying domestic.

We are really excited about adding this degree of freedom to our lives. We can't wait to explore Korea. We are also excited to go see some of the friends that we have here now (like Andy and Lindsey). We hope this car can be liberating for us and a blessing for those around us. Here are some pics:Check out that sweet leather interior!

the great migration

Since Tom and I have moved out to Korea a year ago a few people we know have migrated to Korea as well! It's been so fun to connect with people from Missouri over here in Korea. This past weekend we got to hang out with some super cool people from home, Andy and Lindsay Patton. Andy and I went to high school together and we have a lot of mutual friends from Mizzou and he just got married a month ago to Lindsay, another cool MU alum. They moved here a week ago to teach English at a hogwan (tutoring center) a few hours to the east of us.

Here's some pics of our weekend together. First stop, our favorite dalk galbi (chicken dish) restaurant:
Then we went to the Fortress in Suwon:
The next day we went into Seoul to Namsan Tower, which offers an amazing view of Seoul.

We also went to a part of Seoul called Insadong and ate Juk (rice porridge that tastes way better than it sounds).
Our last big stop was a tea shop in Insadong where live birds fly around the tea shop. It's a really cool place that would never get past the health inspectors in the US. Tom and I got watermelon tea (I bet you can pick out which one it is). It was great!
Overall, we had a great weekend and felt really blessed to hang out with Andy and Lindsay.

Back to school

I don't mean that we are back at GSIS. I mean me. I'm going back to school. I have avoided this pretty much since I graduated college. I knew that if I wanted to continue to pursue a career in education I would have to get a masters degree at some point in time. Well, it appears that now is the time.

I am starting a program this coming weekend that meets at our school and is operated by a school in Redding, CA called Simpson University. I it is a 2 year program. So by May of 2011 I will have a Masters in Education. I want to get a Masters in Administration but the fact that this programs meets at our school is too good to pass up. It will also put me in a position to get a CA administrative credential (with an additional 13 hours of course work). Our school is also going to pay for it. They cover all tuition. I am responsible for books and other miscellaneous fees.

I am excited to get this going. I think it will be really good for me as an educator and as a person. Here goes nothing.

tom said no