Just in case...

Just in case you forgot what type of party you were attending...

how much would you pay for the conviences of home?

This is how much we payed at a store called, "I love cookie" here in Korea.

Jimmy Deans Sausage 8,000 won
1 box of Pop Tarts 7,000 won
12 oz of Sour Cream 6,000 won
1 can A&W Rootbeer 1,000 won
1 can Refried beans 5,500 won
1 Sam Adams Beer 3, 300 won

The conversion is roughly 1,200 won = 1 US dollar. So the sour cream was about $5 US.

Trust me, it's worth it.

weighing in

We have been trying to drop the handful of pounds that we gained this summer. In an attempt to keep ourselves accountable we bought a scale. It was only $7 what do you expect? We had no desire to spend $30 on a scale and this was the next cheapest. Is it bad that we didn't even hesitate to buy such a tacky item? What has Korea done to our standards...

round 3

This past week we officially committed to a one year contract extension. We will be staying here in Korea for at least one more year (making it 3 total). We are excited about the decision. It will give me a chance to finish the grad school program that I am taking. It will also give us the opportunity to see the first graduating class from GSIS, keep building some relationships we enjoy, and do a little more traveling too.

krispy kreme

Nothing like a pre parent teacher conference Krispy Kreme!

parents at conferences

We are finishing day two of parent teacher conferences. So far they've gone okay. There have been a few bumps along the way, but overall we're surviving. Now, we don't have children of our own, but I feel like I am learning a lot about parenting through these conferences. There are many parenting styles one could take:

1. The Brown Noser: This parent loves to suck up to the teacher. Parents that fit into this category make comments like, "Mrs. Meyer you are so beautiful." "Mr. Meyer, I like your new facial hair." "You are my child's favorite teacher." "Mrs. Meyer, here is a gift for you." "I want my student to be like you." Now many times these parents have great intentions and these comments are enjoyable, but every now and then these comments are made to gain grade favors. Thanks for the compliment, but your sweet talking gets you no where!

2. Identical Twins: Every now and then there are parents and students that look EXACTLY a like, like they could be twins. Parents like this are fun because it is easy to remember who their student is. It's always a bummer to meet parents but not remember who they belong to later on. Twins make it easier.

3. The Oblivious Parent: Parents in this category think their child is perfect but in actuality, they are not (who is, right?). If you are oblivious you may say things like, "My child studies all the time." or "My child works very hard." or "My child does not socialize too much. He/she is very focused." But what we see at school is a different story...a lack of effort, too much socializing, and/or a major lack of motivation. These are painful parents to deal with because if their perception of the student does not match yours it may lead to some awkward/intense moments. Parents in this category may be shocked by what the teacher says, may think the teacher is incompetent, and/or they may go on with a misconception of their child. On a rare occasion, the opposite may happen where an oblivious parent may think their child is not very successful, when they actually are quite bright.

4. The Shocked Parent: Parents in this category will say things like, "I had no idea!" or "My child never mentioned this to me!" "This is horrible. I just don't know what to do. This is not okay." This can be both in good/bad situations. Either way, there's been a communication breakdown between child and student. And the teacher must stand in the gap.

5. The Encourager: Parents in this category love their student no matter what. If told, "your child struggles to focus," they may just laugh and shake their head. If a student tries hard but they are not super successful, the encourager will be proud of their student just for trying. These parents are great to chat with because they are quick to love their child (and the teacher too) just for being themselves.

6. The Realist: This parent has a good grasp of who their student is and where they should be. They understand their child strengths and weaknesses, and they're a healthy mix of being okay with where their child is at but also pushing their child to be more.

7. The Angry Parent: This parent smiles at the teacher (sometimes) but then turns to their student and yells at them in Korean. As the conference goes on you see the student cower in their seat and you see the parents face get more and more red. Maybe it's for the better that we can't understand what the parent is saying to their child?

Many parents are a mixture of these categories. After being an observer of the parent world I think it would hard to be a parent. But if I had to guess, I think my parent style would be: mostly a realist/encourager with a dash of brown-noser.

Parent teacher conferences

Well today we begins our first day of parent teacher conferences. They run this afternoon, this evening and tomorrow afternoon. The upside is that there are no classes to plan for and it is often fun meeting students parents. The downside is that it makes for a long day today.

In the past I have always kind of tried to make things sound like they were okay with every kid. You know, even though the kids is a huge slacker and puts forth zero effort I say something like, "Well, Billy should try to use his class time more wisely and try to participate in class a little more." This is completely accurate but way too nice for the kids like that. I'm going to try to be more real and say something like, "on a scale from 1 to 10 your child's effort, potential and overall societal worth is about a 2.5 at this point in his life." Too harsh? Maybe. Maybe it will be more like, "Your student regularly sleeps in class, fails to complete homework, and he never asks me questions."

That sounds more reasonable. We'll see how it goes.

fall trip

crying x 6 hours

The flight from Seoul to San Francisco was 11 hours. This 6 second video represents what my flight was like for probably 6 of the 11 hours on the flight. I'm not kidding. It was rough.

Bradyn Burrell

Josh and Lacey Burrell are good friends of ours from Columbia. They had a baby boy in August named Bradyn. I got to meet Bradyn while I was home. He is such a cute baby...check out that hair!!!
This was right before he started to cry in my arms. I wasn't very good at the whole baby thing. But Bradyn sure is cute.

Proud mom and dad. They're great parents already.

Polly's Wedding

My wonderful friend Polly got married this past weekend in Columbia, Missouri. I was very blessed to have the opportunity to fly home for the wedding. Polly is a great friend that I have known since I was in high school. I loved all the time I got to spend with her on her wedding weekend.

Here are some pics of the event:
I love the lighting in this picture!
The Council (the five of us have called ourselves the Council since college).
This picture is purposefully awkward. Sara (on the left) and I tried to take the most awkward picture possible. I think it was a success.

i made it

My flight from KC to San Francisco was delayed over an hour and I only had a two hour layover. Yikes! Once my flight landed I grabbed my backpack and sprinted to the international terminal, found my gate, and made it on my flight just in time! My flight had already boarded but I was able to get on without any problems.

I just made it back to Korea. Aside from that one delay, everything went really smoothly. I'm excited to blog about my trip, but it may be a couple of days...right now I need sleep and 1st quarter grades are due on Thursday! This is a crazy, wonderful week.

at starbucks

in this scene I've already ordered my beverage and I'm just observing while I wait for my drink:

starbucks worker: hi, how can I help you?
customer: I would like a brewed coffee
starbucks worker: Sorry, but our brewer is broken. Can I get you an Americano?
customer: I would like a brewed coffee.
starbucks worker: Sorry, but our brewer is broken. Can I get you an Americano?
customer: just give me whatever you are brewing today.
starbucks worker: (looking confused) we don't have any. would you like an americano?
customer still doesn't get it.
bonnie: (i turn to the customer) their brewer is broken. there is no coffee.
customer: what?!!!!! so what are you trying to sell me?! Instant coffee???
starbucks worker: no, it's an americano.
customer: instant coffee???!! you're selling me instant coffee?!
starbucks: no, it's an americano. that means it is espresso and water.
customer: what are you trying to sell me?! This is starbucks and you can't sell me coffee?!! This is retarded. I can't believe this.
(customer walks off disgruntled.)
bonnie: (turning to starbucks work) I'm sorry you had to go through that.

now, the disgruntled customer had a good point...I mean, it is starbucks and they should have coffee. But stuff happens. The brewer broke and they were in the midst of fixing it.

i'm trying to take the "stuff happens" approach right now as I wait for my flight, which is delayed. pray that i make my connecting flight to korea!

Bird crap?

That kind of looks like bird crap right? I only wish that is was. The day we left to visit our friends Andy and Lindsey we went down to the parking garage in the basement to our car to go run some errands and found that it was being dripped on by this pipe. You can even see the little water droplets beading up on it. We thought it would wash right off so after going to the store we went and got gas and washed the car. It didn't come off. Now our car that we had only bought a couple weeks ago had a giant bird crap like stain on the hood.

We met with one of the general affairs guys at our school and he helped me talk to the management at our apartment complex. Thankfully they agreed to get it cleaned for us. The brownish appearance of the stain is gone but outline of it is still there. The manager wants to know it is sufficiently cleaned or not. I'm leaning towards telling him thanks and moving on with life. After all it is a 12 year old car, crap happens.

here comes the bride

My friend Polly is getting married this weekend! I'm leaving Korea today to fly home for the wedding. I can't wait to be there for the big event, and to also see other friends and family while I'm home. I'll be home from late Thursday night to early Monday morning. It's going to be a fast trip, but I think well worth it. If I don't get to see you while I'm back, no worries...Tom and I both will be back for Christmas (Tom is staying in Korea for this trip).

it's fall!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Gangneung (the east coast of Korea). While in Gangneung we saw the beach, a lake, and mountains...it was beautiful.

This is us at the top of Birobong Peak. It was a nice hike with great views.
This is the view from the top of the peak. The picture just doesn't do it justice.

While on the trail we were able to enjoy the changing colors of the leaves. Fall is beautiful.

the beach! it was cold (thus, the jackets and no swimsuits).

Here is the lake by the Patton's house. This completes our tour of nature on the east coast. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

visiting the Pattons

A few weeks ago Andy and Lindsey Patton came to visit us. This past weekend was our turn to go and visit them. We live in quite different areas. Our apartment is in Suwon, which is on the outskirts of Seoul. We live in an apartment where if you sleep with the windows open, like we did last night, it is loud; cars are constantly driving, honking, and wrecking (seriously) right outside our home. Life is fast paced here between work and city life. It just always seems like everyone is on the go. And aestically, what you see is concrete. There is concrete everywhere, which means wide open green spaces are few and far between. City life, however, does have some major advantages. A big advantage being, the food. Although I wouldn't call Korea a diverse place, in the Seoul area you can find more food options such as Indian food, Thai food, Mexican, Vietnamese, Western (aka Outback Steakhouse), some Italian, etc. Additionally, there are fun things to do around the city: going to cool restaurants (mentioned above), sight seeing, English bookstores, sporting events, decent coffee shops, etc.

Andy and Lindsey live in the opposite. They live on the east coast of Korea in a place called, Gangneung. They live in a relatively small town (about 200,000 people) and they are surrounded by nature. They have the beach to one side, a lake near by, and mountains on the other side. It is also quiet where they live. Tom and I were astonished when we slept at their place with the windows open because it was incredibly quiet. We were struck by the stillness. However, because Gangneung is a less populated area there are less foreigners, which means we can get starred at more and there are less foreign food options. It seemed like the food choices were Korean, Korean, or McDonalds (nothing against Korean food, there just isn't as much diversity).

I can't really say I liked one of the places more than the other. Both Suwon and Gangneung have their advantages and disadvantages. I love the city life but I love nature. It was great to go to Gangneung and just be surrounded by nature. We went to the beach, did some hiking, read by a lake, woke up to the sun rising silently through the Patton's apartment...it was amazing. My soul needed the stillness.

It was also great to be with Andy and Lindsey. When we hang out with them there is this amazing mixture of being in Korea together but also being from the same place back home. So we can talk about how much we hate the fishy smell of Korea, while also talking about how the Artisan (local cofffee shop) is now the Underground Cafe. One night we were together we had an especially great night of chatting over a bottle of wine about things that only someone from Columbia, Missouri could understand. It was deeply refreshing and meaningful for my heart. (Tom actually snapped a picture of our conversation without us knowing.)


Now we're back in Suwon. We feel more at peace and refreshed in a way that only Gangneung could offer. It's time to get back to work.