Happy Birthday, Hubby!

Teaven and I have had a wonderfully relaxing summer vacation. Unlike America where they get a whole two months off of school, our school's vacation was 4 days long, but I am still appreciative. As you know, Teaven got sick on Friday, so we decided not to go to the International Fireworks Festival. Instead, we went out yesterday to celebrate his birthday.

The beautiful mountain just outside our apartment:

We wanted to visit Lotte (lo-tay) Mart, which is similar to E-mart, but apparently Koreans prefer it. In my opinion, Lotte Mart is to Walmart as E-mart is to Target. Naturally, I prefer E-mart. Lotte Mart was much more crowded, but we did find the bus station there, which will be useful later on when we venture out of the city. We bought some of our items and went back to our apartment to drop them off before going to dinner and a movie. We ate at a Korean BBQ place close to our school that we heard was very good. Thankfully, the other foreign teachers told us exactly what to order, so we didn't have any problems with that. I enjoyed the food very much. I mean, how can you go wrong with grilled beef?

 

 




After dinner, we took a cab to TTC, the movie theater here in Chungju. It was a very interesting part of town, and I wished I had taken pictures. However, we didn't have enough time to stroll, and we had to figure out how in the world to get into the movie theater since it wasn't clearly marked. We did see two other foreigners. That's a big deal in our town. We saw Transformers 3, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I had enjoyed it. Then we took a cab home, which is always an adventure because we still don't know how to tell the cab drivers where we live. This time he started driving before I could even attempt to tell him or show him the picture. Overall, it was a very fun day.

Teaven wanted me to mention that Koreans are very healthy people. They eat healthy and walk every where. Except, it seems like everybody here smokes. It's gross.

Oh, and we also attempted to wash our clothes for the first time. We pushed a bunch of random buttons and prayed they didn't shrink or turn different colors. Thankfully, nothing dramatic happened. However, I did learn that I must use liquid fabric softener because our clothes are very stiff and crunchy.

For me, personally, I am still trying to find my place here. Sometimes I have a hard time being content with all this change. For a small town, Texas girl, it's a lot to take in all at once, graduated, married and in a foreign country all in a matter of three months. Somedays, I get very homesick. But no matter what I am thankful for this grand adventure God has sent us on. I am thankful that we both have jobs and that I have an amazing husband who loves me no matter how many times I break down and cry. It's already been an amazing journey for me spiritually,  especially since it looks like our spiritual community will be lacking very much this year. I am excited for all I have to learn this year, for I know it is a lot. I can already feel that God has some phenomenal things to teach me if only I will listen and not fight him. As I sat down to work on some school work, some words from a Chris Tomlin song stood out to me.

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well" 

Grocery Shopping

Have I told you how much I appreciate the fact that the grocery store is right across the street? I have been there so many times that the little Korean ladies who work the registers know who I am. Well, that could be because we are probably the only white people who go to that supermarket. lol. Anyways, for those who know me, I am a very forgetful person. So, when I go grocery shopping, I need to have a list or I will probably forget something. That's happened to me twice since we've been here, and thankfully when I got back to the apartment and realized it, all I had to do was cross the street again.

Well, today was an adventurous trip to the supermarket. Teaven has been sick this morning, so I decided to go get him some sprite and other things we needed for dinner. When I opened the door, I realized it was pouring rain, something that happens often here, but I'm not quite used to this much rain. Well, in our apartment building, the floor and stairs outside the apartment are made of marble or some other type of stone that becomes very slippery when wet. So, picture this, I'm headed to the grocery store, umbrella in hand, Old Navy flip flops on my feet. When I get off the elevator, I know to walk very carefully because it's wet and slippery, which is only made worse by the fact that I'm wearing Old Navy flip flops, shoes with no friction at all.
          Anyways, I made it safely past the marble stairs and quickly went back to listing what I needed to get at the store so that I wouldn't forget anything. As I was watching a young Korean woman try to cross the street without stepping in a puddle, I slip and almost bust my butt. You see, on the edge of some of the sidewalks is that same gray marble. Unfortunately for me, I didn't even think about it until I slipped and caught myself from falling on my butt. So, I quietly laughed it off and looked around to see if anyone saw. The young Korean lady was walking my way, but she didn't let on that she saw anything. So I walked on as if nothing had happened, and when I got back to the apartment, I told Teaven. He laughed, of course. :) Then, I realized I forgot bread and begrudgingly headed back out into the rain on the very familiar path to the grocery store. This time I didn't slip.
  

    

Happy Wednesday!

Today is our Friday! Yes, I realize it's only Wednesday (well, Tuesday night for you people in America), but we don't have school tomorrow or Friday! We are very happy about this because it will give us some time to catch up on our school work and go to the International Fireworks Festival! Yes, you heard me correctly.. Fireworks! Last weekend, we ventured into our own little city, and this weekend we will venture out of it. We have to take a bus to a city on the coast and then find a hotel. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

I miss American food. It's true. Teaven has loved everything he has tried here, but I can't say the same. Our school feeds us dinner every night, so we never know what we are going to eat unless we get to order. This has been a huge blessing because we don't have to pay to bring a dinner with us to school. Unfortunately for me, I've only found 3 dishes so far that I actually enjoy eating. The first one I can't remember the name for, but it's pork with some type of seasoning. Teaven said it tastes like fajita meat (that's probably why I like it so much). The second one is Curry, which is just like a curry soup with chicken that you mix with rice. The third, which I had last night, is teriyaki pork. Teaven, on the other hand, actually likes all of the authentic Korean sauces and foods. I really do wish I could say the same. lol I'm hoping that I will continue to find dishes that I like eating. haha. Oh, wait! I like kimbab, which is Korean sushi. kim (keem) is seaweed and bab (bob) is rice. We often stop by the supermarket before school and pick some up to eat for lunch.

Adventure Take 1

Ahn-nyuhng-hah-seh-yo! ("Hello" in Korean)

We have officially been in Korea for a week. It has been a very busy week full of learning and new experiences.

Yesterday we ventured out on our own for the first time. Destination: E-mart. We were told that the best way to get there is by taxi, so we started walking down the street looking for an available taxi. It took us a while to find one, and when we did, we were relieved and slightly anxious at the thought of having to tell someone where we needed to go when we don't speak there language. Alas, we got in the taxi, said "E-mart," and thankfully that's all he needed to hear.

E-mart is to Korea as Target is to America. 

When you first walk in, you have two choices: go left or right. We chose to go left and totally missed out on the whole grocery section, but no worries, we'll be back. We rode moving sidewalks that go up and down like escalators without the stairs. The purpose: So people can take their carts to the second and third floors. It was pretty cool. 

Once we had walked around the second and third floors, found the items we needed, and paid, we ventured back outside to find a taxi. We had successfully gotten to E-mart, but now we had to figure out how to tell the taxi driver where we lived. I tried saying apartment in Korean (ah-pah-tu) and then what is written on the side of the apartment building, LH (l-achee), but I was met with a confused look and a bunch of Korean I didn't understand. So, thankfully, Teaven and I thought to take pictures of our apartment building as well as the road we lived on just in case something like this happened. It worked! We made it back! 

Later that night, we wanted to try a little pizza shop not to far from our apartment. Ordering pizza wasn't too difficult because they had pictures of all the types they had, so we just had to point. Their pizza is a little different than American pizza. One, the sauce is much sweeter. Two, if you don't want just pepperoni, you're likely to get things like sweet potatoes, shrimp, or corn. Three, Koreans always have side dishes when they eat, so they must have something to go with pizza.. Guess what it is? Sweet pickles. Yes, when you order a pizza, you will always get a side of sweet pickles. lol

Here We Are

The time has finally come. Teaven and I arrived in Korea on Sunday night, and have been going full speed ahead since. We were told to show up to work on Tuesday afternoon, and that was considered our only training day, as they had us start teaching on Wednesday. We were stressed at first since we has little to no prep time, but we have quickly acclimated to the way they do things.

This weekend we will be exploring more of the city and finally unpacking our many suit cases. I will update more about our first days here some other time. It's late, and I'm sleepy.

Prayers are always appreciated.