Annyeonghaseyo!!!

Annyeonghaseyo!!!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Story time!

A few weeks ago Taylor had been teaching an elective class that wrote and illustrated children's stories. (Taylor's creative idea!) Taylor invited Corin and I to join in as the audience for the final reveals. So after Corin's nap, we packed up and headed into town to meet Taylor up at the middle school on a beautiful Friday afternoon. Upon arrival the students, which consisted entirely of middles school girls, were putting the finishing touches on their projects. I took a few snapshots throughout the visit to give you a glimse of the experience.
Finally it was story time! We all gathered into a circle at the back of the room as the girls argued over who would be forced to read first! For the most part... the girls seemed very shy and hesitant to read out loud. Once everyone was seated, Taylor just pointed to girls and informed them they were reading! haha. The first story, Corin was unsure of... the girl reading sat beside him and showed him the pictures as she read. Corin soon began pointing to the pictures and asking questions. The girls all giggled throughout his interigations and we somehow made it through all three stories. At the end of each story, Corin's response varied between a "hooray", a hug, and a handshake! He also passed his sucker around... the girls just held it a laughed! The conclusion resulted in a round of high fives for all who threw their hands in the center of the circle. It was a great experience for all involved! Corin walked away with about three or four suckers and three stories, written just for him! :) I will let the pictures tell you the rest...




Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Jagalchi Fish Market in Busan, South Korea








For a full line up of the pictures we took, please consult my album on Facebook.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Jagalchi


A couple of weekends ago, Taylor and I took Corin to the World Famous fish market in Busan called Jagalchi. It is a huge three or four story building flush up against a large harbor on one of the many Busan coast lines. (I have provided a link for those intrigued beyond my descriptive visual representations!) I must admit that I had been dying to go with my camera in tote! We walked in not really sure what to expect and were pretty impressed with the aisles and aisles of vendors with their treasures on display. Most of the fish were live, crammed into smallish aquarium tanks resting on the floor. The number of unidentifiable creatures was outstanding. Everything from sea cucumbers to shark to gigantic horned crabs. It was a seafood lovers paradise! (I do not fall into that category, but I sure do enjoy looking!) Each vendor hosted about 6 different tanks with baskets or trays of random immobile creatures rested on the ledges. You had the options of taking it to go whole, prepped, or even eating it there in the market. They would simply chop off the head(if it had one) debone and clean out the innerds, then cut it into cook ready slabs/fillets/cubes... whatever. The floor above would then cook the meat for you and dish up some sides as well. Taylor and I were unaware of the cooking part until after we left though, so we did not partake of this luxury.

Corin loved walking through the aisles as vendors would pull fish, octopus, crabs and other unknown species out of the tanks for him to touch or look at up close! One lady pulled a crab out and Corin's fingers got a little too close to the pinchers... the lady at the booth across from her ran up and pushed the crab back, said something in a stern voice to the lady with the crab, and then pet Corin's hand. He has a way of charming the ladies here with his good looks! :) Another woman handed him a sea creature that was bright red and looked like it had a major case of the warts near the tops, not to mention "roots" at the bottom. She showed him how to hold it, then suddenly she squeezed it resulting in a squirting action. It reminded me of a bathtub squirt toy, and I guess the same for Corin because he had the hang of it in no time! Some of the creatures handed to Corin were even too wierd for him. He threw a few "unknowns" back into the tanks... unfortunately it was usually the wrong one. The vendors would simply laugh and look for something else to hand him!

Out the back doors of the market on the floor level, we stepped out onto a huge patio. It ran the length of the building and overlooked the harbor where both fishing and freight boats chugged along. Corin enjoyed looking through the railing at the boats before he discovered the seaguls... then he attempted to go through the railing! It was rather funny to watch all the older Korean women gasp and fret as Taylor held him by one arm and let him lean a bit over the rail. Before long it was time to make our way back to the entrance and walk to the nearby shopping district to meet up with our friends, but Taylor and I fully intend to go again! This is where I tend to think it would be nice to own a small video camera... but I think for now, pictures speak loud enough! :)The colors and variety in the sea life were amazing to me. It was such a vivid illustration of God's creativity and attention to detail through His creations!
LL



Public Transportation

Over the past few weeks, Taylor and I have become rather familiar with the various forms of public transportation. From planes to trains, subways to buses, and taxis to bumming rides from friends! We have yet to take a ferry, which I think closes out the various forms offered here in South Korea... well besides the people and horse drawn buggies, but those are not considered modern forms! :) It is amazing the freedom there is in catching the subway to just about anywhere in the big city. I had never ridden one before... okay, let's be honest... I had never ridden a large airplane, or train, or city bus, or intercity bus, or really even a taxi ever before either. Called me sheltered if you must! (I have ridden the DART train!) Anyways, Taylor and I are enjoying public transit... that is until this past Sunday.

We had only about ten minutes before our bus departed for Yeongsan from the Busan bus terminal and Taylor and Corin were both fairly hungry. With a McDonalds at the terminal, it was hard for them to resist a "Cheegee Buguh" and fries. So Taylor headed for the checkout line, while Corin and I bought the bus tickets. We met in the terminal and then headed for the bus. After we settled into our usual seats at the rear of the bus, Taylor and Corin opened up the brown paper bag and began to chow down on their burgers and fries. I had requested a "cider" or Sprite as we like to refer to them since my tummy was a little upset, but the cashier must have misunderstood... or maybe just a mix up at rush hour... either way, I got coke. Corin and I were going to be sharing, since his sippie cup had run dry. (Perhaps I should backtrack just a bit by telling you that Corin had been up half the night before, with an upset tummy and weird foamy diarrhea. Oh, and this story is not for those with weak stomachs themselves!) So as we started off towards home, the bus was a rather rigid ride with lots of bumps and bounces for the first 25 minutes or so. Corin was finished with his meal within the first 15 minutes if not sooner and began squirming around as usual. Corin was sitting in the seat between Taylor and myself as he shot at cars out the rear window, using his sippie cup for a deadly weapon. I thought perhaps he had "run out of ammunition" when his "bang bang"ing stopped, but as I looked at his face, I noticed he had a funny expression. Two seconds later, before I had a moment to process it all, he burped extremely loud and then proceeded to projectile vomit all over the back of the seat. It ran down and puddled in the dip of the seat cushion as his flow of bodily fluids kept coming. Taylor and I were both in a form of shock as we just watched him until he had finished. It only took a minute and a half to fill his little seat full up and over onto the floor through the crack in between the cushions. Corin came up crying... we both knew why as soon as we saw the halves of french fries in the midst of the puddles. (We will be working on chewing the food... not just biting!) Taylor soon had Cor's shirt and pants off and I had wiped up what I could without vomiting myself, which is a true feat! Then... Taylor and I just began to laugh out loud. We rode the rest of the way home in "fear" of the chair and tried to keep Corin from climbing into what he referred to as the "yucky chair" and "oh gross." Not knowing how to say in Korean what had just happened, and knowing we had only moments to exit the bus before the driver would simply take off in an effort to keep the bus on a timely schedule, we left a McDonalds bag full of vomit filled napkins on the floor in front of the "scene of the crime" and hoped it would all work out in the end. I had been able to wipe it down with wet wipes, but that is not exactly sanitary. We can only hope they clean their buses regularly! :) The end.
LL

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Not everything is bigger in Texas...

The new Lett tradition falls in line with our new church's: Sunday lunch with ICC members and visitors for fellowship and food! Last week we went out with our friends Jeff and Eunji and another couple. Jeff and Eunji have the upper hand when it comes to picking a restaurant, since Eunji has grown up with the food and is familiar with the local menus. They decided to hit up a Korean joint where they griddle fried "bacon" at your table served with various veggies and warm kimchi. As they brought out the meat and raw veggies, Taylor and I were amazed at the size of the cut of meat. We have seen thick sliced bacon... but man oh man was this THICK! Sam Gyup Sal is the proper name. (You can google if you'd like) It is served with a tray bearing 6 different dipping options. Some of the sauces I have no idea what they were, but the taste variation ranged from sweet to salty to spicy to savory. There was a Bean dust which you were to dip your meat in first. (Finely ground dried red beans) Then you chose the dipping sauce of your choice... one of which is the Bulgogi BBQ sauce, famously linked to Korean cuisine. Then you layer the meat on one of two grean leaf choices along with marinated fresh onions, griddled veggies, and if you are lucky... thinly sliced layers of rice cake. (they looked like deli sliced cheese when we first saw them, only in varying colors including green! ) It was so tasty we ordered an extra round! :0D ****** Later on this week, Taylor came home from work with a small bag of goodies he had picked up in town, one of the goodies being Korean Bacon! I did not have all the sauces to make and authentic dish, but I used what we had and it turned out pretty good! Corin and Taylor cleaned their plates that night! I was so impressed with the size again, that I thought to catch a photo of the Bacon in my 12 inch frying pan... check it out!



Our slices measured almost 12X3 inches and was over a centimeter deep!
The cut of meat comes from the belly of the pig and should consist of at least three layers alternating between meat, fat, meat. Some butchers are more liberal with their cuts. The "bacon" also will have the belly skin still remaining on the meat... but no hair! :) I know some of you with weak stomachs just heard yours churn a bit, but much like fried chicken... the skin is the best part! (sorry mom) Well, I will close this Korean cuisine post with a dedication to my food loving friends! (you know who you are! AGY)
LL

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Jean Mata... my local friend.

I know when some of you read the title, you were thinking I was refering to a local citizen perhaps. Alas, I was making a phonetic reference to the local grocery store. Pronounced jean mata, it translates to Jin Mart. Before discovering Jin Mart on a walk last weekend, I had been using the only market I knew to be in our small town... Moeling Mart. I found it rather odd that the store was so small, hosting only a few isles of grocery items as well as a few coolers full of meat and produce. More than half the store was dedicated to non-food items... again odd. Last saturday though, I caught my first local bus into town upon learning the route schedule and decided to walk around for a bit before visiting Tay at work. Only a block or so up from the Moeling Mart, little flags waved in the wind catching my eye and drawing me in. It was another market! A bigger market! An actual grocery market! I was elated as I entered Jin Mart! I was not prepared to do any heavy shopping with Corin in tow so I decided to walk around the store and see what they had, so that when I came back it would make shopping slightly easier. (Meal planning has been slightly more challenging in not knowing the availability of ingredients.) After perusing the contents of the store, I walked out with high spirits!*******
For our family, milk is our grocery shopping indicator. When you run out, you run out!(to the store) I thought I might attempt using my hiking backpack as a means of getting the groceries home this time, since I only needed a few things to make it through the week. After getting Corin and I ready, I grabbed my wallet and key and headed out. We arrived at the bus stop with about 5 minutes to spare and so Corin and I sat down on the bench provided. A moment after, Corin scooted to the opposite end of the bench and just froze. He had a strange look on his face and I was anticipating perhaps an attemped run for it as I slid down the bench nearer to him. Instead, I realized what he was doing after catching a potent whiff. Great. The one time I leave the house without his diaper bag would be the one time he poops before boarding the local bus. Disappointed, I picked him up and began to carry him back to the apartment. The next bus would arrive little over and hour later, though the time lapse between that bus and the bus out of town was much longer. I would have almost two hours to fill while in town. Around 10, we packed up again and headed out for another try. The bus arrived on time and we boarded after about 7 little elderly ladies. They were all so cute as they shuffled their feet to the nearest seats. After Corin and I had sat down, I observed the fellow passengers. They consisted mostly of older women, all with short permed hair, kind smiles, and purple coats. I laughed to myself as I was rather struck by the number of coats in various shades and tints of purple. It was amusing to watch them chatter away filled with smiles and laughter. Several attempted to make Corin smile at them or shake thier hands. All failed but one, as he played a shy game of hide and seek with her using me as his refuge. They flirted back and forth for several minutes before she got off. A short time later we were in town and off the bus ourselves. We walked slowly towards Jin Mart as I looked for places I might like to look around, knowing there was plenty of time to kill. We looked through a couple of stores before I decided to go ahead and just get the shopping done while Corin was still content. Walking up to Jin Mart, I stepped off the sidewalk to cross the parking lot heading toward the entrance. That step happened to be glazed with ice, which I did not see since it was a shaded area, and so down Corin and I went. Corin was on my right hip and so I turned to my left in an attempt to guard him from impact as we fell. We went down hard, but the fall was broken slightly by my backpack. Not thinking, I stood back up to retreat off the ice and made it to my feet only to crash again. This time I did not have the cat like reflexes. Corin and I landed with a thud. Fortunately Corin had only hit his little hand on the ice. He whimpered for a moment then said "momma, you fall on ice?" Relieved for his sake, I smiled and replied" Yes, momma fell on ice. You okay?" Corin smiles back, "I'm okay, you not okay momma." Kids just seem to know, even when you try to hide it. I had in fact busted my hip pretty bad, twisted my ankle a bit, and bruised my hand across the entire bottom half of my palm. My pants were now soaked in cold muddy water and we had yet to get any shopping done. I took a deep breath, scooted us off the thin layer of ice and rose to pick him up once more. We hobbled into Jin Mart, with several onlookers taking notice of my soggy pants. I grabbed a cart, sat Corin down in the deep basket, and began rolling down the isle. I quickly made my way through the store grabbing only what we needed to get us through the weekend, then made my way to the checkout. The cashier immediately began giving Corin snacks she had stashed behind the counter. (This happens everywhere we go... People love to feed Corin!) He gladly recieved the crunchy veggie puffs and began to munch away as she swiped our groceries. As I was signing for the card, another cashier walked up to Corin with candy in her hand. Corin appeased them with a round of high-fives and thank-yous in english. He waved bye-bye as we rolled away from the giddy cashiers to make our way home. After glancing at my watch, I realized we had almost a whole hour left before the next bus would go out to our apartments, so I made the executive decision to hail a taxi. Although Taylor and I are tring to save money by using the buses, I was in pain, cold, and wet. I just wanted to go home. So I made the short trek to the taxi hot spot and climbed into the first in line. A few minutes later we were home. I unloaded the groceries, made Corin a quick lunch, filled his sippie cup with milk, changed his diaper and then put him to bed. I was now free to change out of my wet jeans into my warm sweats. I made a warm cup of mocha instant coffee, and sat down to relax. The end.
LL

Monday, March 8, 2010

Taylor... a middle school drama teacher?

As most of you may now know, Taylor is teaching in a local Middle school consisting of 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. He is teaching about 16 hours a week and the rest is spent creating new lesson plans and nicely polished presentations! He seems to be really enjoying his new job. He comes homes with stories of co-teachers and the vice-principal taking him for walks after lunches, interesting dishes served for lunches, and exciting new lesson plan ideas to share. This past week was his first and it ended on a Saturday, where he began composing a screenplay for his upcoming drama class. He will be in charge of an afterschool elective class where he will direct the students in a short drama spoken in English. Taylor shows both hesitation and anticipation as he prepares the script. I am very proud of the lessons he has created thus far and am certain he will succeed in this area if not excel! Taylor will be required to teach two Saturdays a month, both of which Corin and I will be able to join him! The school hosts various elective classes that day including art classes! I am sure Corin and I will be able to make some sort of creative mess there! Taylor's contract with EPIK states that he does not have to work on Saturdays, but we both feel as though his school has been beyond generous in their provisions for us, so we are willing to give up our Saturday mornings as long as we are able to participate at the school together. I admit it is hard having Taylor work normal hours now. I am used to having him home during the week to share in caring for and entertaining Corin, but I think the change is producing fruits in all of us... they are not ripe yet, but the spring is coming! :) Please pray for Taylor that he would be able to create dynamic and intersting lessons for the students as well as praying for his drama class preparations. Also, please pray for both Taylor and I in learning the language as we both now are able to read Korean with fewer mistakes. (Taylor is definitely a step ahead of me with that!) We seem to have a grasp on basics, such as money, hello, goodbye, thank you, and various food based vocabulary. We are improving each day! Praise God!
LL

Growing like a weed... on steroids!

Taylor and I had just tucked Corin under his fuzzy little blanket, said a pleasant little prayer, and sang a little song. We were gearing up to watch a movie together when we heard little noises coming from Corin's room. Taylor went to check and found Cor out of bed playing with the light switch. So again, Taylor tucked him in a d whispered good night after having Corin verbally agree to not get out of bed to turn the light off again. Taylor just had time to get the movie set up on the computer before we heard a slightly longer and squeakier sound, one we had not yet heard before. It was my turn to go, and so I went to open the door, only to find it was stuck... but not locked. I pushed a little harder thinking Corin must be sitting up against it, but much to my disbelief I found the BED blocking the door. Somehow, Corin had muscled his way in between the bed and the wall and then proceeded to push it across the room to rest in front of the door. Now granted, there are only a few feet separating the bed and the wall the door is on, but a BED! A BED! Our little two year ols pushed a big twin size bed and frame from one side of the room to the other! As I turned the other direction to laugh and call Taylor, I could see Corin peering at me with a proud little grin. Taylor and I were so impressed and shocked that we weren't quite sure what to do other than tell him not to move the bed again!Haha. **** In other news, Corin and I began doing a bit of "curriculum" at home and he is now able to spell his name... though not willing to perform just yet, I am hoping to get it on video... at least for the grandparents! ;)
LL

No place like home...





As we begin to settle into our spacious new home, we are rediscovering the joys of stocking a house to create a home. Our floors and walls remain bare as we search the web for good deals on furniture and other accessories. The walls are covered in wall paper from floor to ceiling, so painting is sort of out of the question. the walls are made of concrete... so again, hanging is not really an option either. We do however have wood molding lining the seams of our walls where they meet the ceiling, and so I find myself brainstorming ways to suspend wall adornments. (I am envisioning clear fishing wire for most of the house, but I suppose we will have to see what is available to us.) We are in need of curtains, but not having made the top of our priority list, I have made substitutions as needed. Corin's windows are now adorn with newspaper, tourist maps, and vasaline... to be sure, my most cleaver endevor yet! :) Taylor and I are finding storage to be our most urgent concern as we have two wardrobes to hang all our clothes as well as Corin's and then two drawers of which one is loaded with diaper changing supplies. So, I am still living out of a suitcase until we can get a hold of a dresser or perhaps some bookshelves. Our Kitchen is rather bare as well. I had forgotten how long it took to build up my collection of spices and other pantry staples. Groceries here are a bit more expensive and so Taylor and I are slowly introducing new flavors into our diet. We have the basics for now, which is fine by me, but sooner or later we will need to figure out some fun new recipes to try. We have the challenge of cooking without an oven. I find myself longing to bake and when we are in Busan, my eyes... and stomach... are drawn to the windows of the parisan bakeries! Although I plan to purchase an oven while here, it again did not make it to the top of the list just yet. I am looking forward to making our house a home as I add personal touches here and there. I am also looking forward to the night Taylor and I can wind down the day while watching a movie on a COUCH! We will be temporarily planting our backsides on either floor mats, or retreating to our bed with the laptop. And so, let the stocking stage begin!
LL

Thursday, March 4, 2010

A whole week...

Where to begin? It has been an entire week since Taylor and I were met by his co-teachers to accompany us to our new home. On the way, we stopped by Taylor’s Middle School to meet several staff members including the principal and vice-principal. One of the co-teachers, Ms. Bah, escorted us in a taxi to our new home. When we arrived, Taylor and I were surprised by the size of the apartment! It was much larger than everyone had been warning us against. We are proud renters of a spacious three bedroom apartment! In addition to the Ms. Bah, the superintendent, vice-principal, and local bus driver were here to help settle us in and were disappointingly shocked at the state of the apartment. It looked as if whoever moved out left the windows open upon departure resulting in a rather grimy mess on just about everything. Immediately they had a lady come and wipe the floors down, unfortunately she only used two hand towels which she rinsed and rung out over the sink ever so often. She tried leaving before tackling the bathroom which was one of the filthier rooms. We were slightly more relieved when she squirted a bit of soap on the floor before continuing with her hand towels. It was a long two hours of waiting, as everyone besides ourselves worked to get things in order. The apartment buzzed with the sound of multiple phone calls, the tinkering of the boiler repair man, and Corin’s sheer excitement to be out of a dorm room! Finally, a point had been reached where we would just have to wait to tackle the rest of the apartment’s needs until the next day. Until then, we were told to pack an overnight bag so that we could stay in a warm hotel until our boiler was in working order. I was not at all disappointed, considering the cleaning that still needed to be done in our home. So off to town for dinner with the superintendent, vice-principal, Ms. Bah, and the local bus driver! I thought it to be a rather odd mix of people but they were all so warm and welcoming that it didn’t really cross my mind that night until after the fact. We had seaweed bibimbop and seaweed soup for dinner along with various pickled vegetables and of course kimchi! It was delicious... even the kimchi, which I admit has not grown on me yet. Taylor has grown more accustom to it now, which makes sense seeing as how he is more adventurous in his eating endeavors. Corin tries it, but usually tears up a bit, then reaches for his water and does not return to the kimchi for seconds. :) Finally our day was almost to a close as we checked into the local hotel with the help of the bus driver. As we walked into our room, we realized it was a “love motel” as Jeff had called it, where they rent the rooms for 12 hour periods of time. We set down our things and quickly headed back out the door to the local “mart” where we bought about $50 worth of cleaning supplies and necessities for the house, as well as some sort of strudel type bread for breakfast in the morning. Before long we were all in bed and fast asleep.
The next morning the bus driver (I feel badly that I do not know his name) met us at the hotel with a taxi to take us home. Not long after we were unpacking our cleaning supplies and I was off! I cleaned like a mad-woman for the next few hours putting most of my energy and dying brain cells into the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen was coated from top to bottom with grease and filth. I went through an entire scrubbing sponge on the kitchen alone... and I only cleaned the top half! (Mind you... it is a small wall of cabinets and countertop. Luckily the stove top was brand new!) Then on to the bathroom, where I polished off a full bottle of bathroom cleaner on everything from the ceiling to the floor and all that lay between. There was mold forming on the walls and ceiling in one corner, which was where I decided to start the battle! We had to keep the door closed so that Corin would not come in, but Taylor kept coming by to check on me with the fumes! I couldn’t smell a thing with my sinus and ear infection which I am not sure was a good thing necessarily. After hosing the room down following the rigorous scrubbing, I decided that to be enough cleaning for the day. Taylor then ventured out to find a nearby mart, which apparently was not so nearby. He returned about an hour and a half later with a couple bottles of juice and some instant noodles to be the base of our next couple meals. We had brought leftover bread, apples, and peanut butter from our stay in the dorms, so meals were a little repetitive the first couple of days.
Sunday morning we headed to Busan for church after a few minor taxi issues. (We had arranged for a driver to pick us up at 7:30, after waiting until 8, we called Taylor’s co-teacher, Mrs. Yang, to help us in calling for a new taxi on the unstable internet connection we picked up via skype. Around 8:30 a taxi arrived at our door step and off we went to the bus station to get tickets.) Only an hour on the bus, and we arrived at the Busan bus terminal with 20 minutes remaining until ICC services began. We hopped in a taxi, showed them the back of the ICC business card with an address in Korean and off we went! (ICC= International Christian Church) With little under three minutes to spare, we drove up, paid our driver and walked into our second worship service at ICC. I must say I was relieved to be able to understand and speak with believing women again. I can’t speak for Taylor, but I am pretty sure he is just as eager to get to know the members. The leaders are currently teaching through the book of James. Taylor unfortunately had a minor distraction, by the name of Corin, which he took upon himself to entertain throughout the sermon. I felt slightly guilty, but it was a bit relieving being able to listen to the entire sermon. As you might have guessed, not many children come to our church. In fact we have only seen two others, a little girl about 7, and Jeff and Eunji’s baby Charissa. Most of the members consist of young married couples in their early twenties with more “reliable” forms of birth control than the Letts! :)
After the service, most everyone meets up at a local intersection to eat lunch together at their choice of local restaurants. Scott and Ashleigh, our new friends, offered us a ride there as well as another couple... it was rather funny to see all 7 of us crammed into their small Honda Accent for the short trip. After unfolding out of the car, we headed to a small “Italian” restaurant for another go at the local recreation of Italiano cuisine. This time... it was actually pretty tasty! Woohoo! Taylor and I cleaned our plates, with the help off our little monster, and were treated to a dessert drink and a small slice of ice cream cake which we found out was included with our meal. It was good... Will probably be going there for our Italian food fixes! :) After our bellies were full, we went with Scott and Ash to their “southern exposure” apartment to get a running list of things we needed to buy while in town, before heading back out the door to “Mega Mart.” We soon discovered that Scott and Taylor are much alike in their shopping endeavors. Scott grabbed a cart, snagged the list from my hands, and off he went with the whole gang speed walking behind him! :) This guy knew what he was doing... we were in, out and on with life, carrying a couple large bags of goodies to boot! We wasted not time in heading straight to Jeff and Eunji’s for a married couples book study, where we had a chance to study God’s words on marriage and then dig into a tasty fried pork dinner! Taylor and I grabbed two of the large bags we had left while at orientation to take home and then headed back to Scott and Ashleigh’s apartment where we were blessed to be able to stay the night in their spare room and get to know them a little better. After a tasty homemade breakfast the next morning, we made our way to the bus terminal to catch a bus home. Luckily, we arrived 10 minutes before the next bus left and so we loaded up and headed out. After catching a taxi in Yeongsan, we were soon home again for a lazy rainy Monday... Taylor’s last day before teaching. I went to town to get some groceries, but other than that, we just kind of vegged.
Tuesday Taylor headed to work around 8 via the local school bus, and Corin and I spent the day hand mopping the floor with wet wipes and windex! It was rather entertaining... I think Corin spent more time watching Korean cartoons than cleaning, but I don’t blame him! :) During his nap, I bleached the bathroom and kitchen backsplash.... I know... very interesting huh! :) Anyways, Taylor came home with a success story for his first day. Apparently he had to stand up in front of the whole school during an assembly and introduce himself in Korean! Impressive! Yah... that’s my husband! :) Mrs. Yang said his pronunciation was very good when she dropped him off that evening. I was very proud to say the least. Throughout the week, he came home each night with a fun new story to tell about the mystery school lunch and his exciting lesson plans. He has some really neat presentations so far... I think teaching is a good fit for him. According to Mrs. Yang, the principal (who is female) hopes that he will be around for a “long time!” Way to make a great first impression Taylor! Of course the principal also said he had a pretty wife and a “naughty” little boy, which apparently is a good thing in Korea?! haha. Anyways, I think we are finally getting settled into our new home, and soon we are hoping to buy a car after acquiring our alien registration cards, which we have to have in order to get a phone and internet too... so it might be a few weeks before we have a clear internet connection to make skype calls. For the time being, we pick up a faint signal in various spots throughout our house. Thank you for all the prayers as we have been settling in. I would ask that you continue to pray for English speakers in our community... so far the only ones we have really encountered are the Jahovas Witness that spoke to us our first morning here! (Which may be an ongoing swap of “Bible Facts.”) I am hoping to convince Mrs. Yang or Ms. Bah to come and give us Korean lessons in exchange for dinner one evening a week. It is very much a rural farm town, so English is not top priority for many of the citizens according to Ms. Bah. So please pray that we would be diligent to learn the language and be a Light to those around us.
Corin and I could use added prayer in that we are a bit stir crazy with no form of transportation. I have wanted to get out and explore with him, but it has pretty consistently rained this week... looking forward to sunny weather! We miss you all at home and enjoy going through pictures when we get a bit home sick! :) Lots of Love from Korea!
(Oh and for those wondering, we are able to get almost everything we are accustomed to in the States. I have a small running list of things I have yet to find, that would make it a bit more like home... such as Lipton tea to make sweet tea for Taylor... Raybob, we may have to call in a favor... you know what the lack of sweet tea does to a man! ;) And apparently real coffee is not big here. Instant coffee has sadly become a new staple of mine. They have whole bean coffee in Busan, so once we are done lugging all our bags back from Jeff and Eunji’s, we will be taking advantage of COSTCO! )
Love from Korea,
LL