Be the Change You Want to See

Hey all~

Quick update on an important life-issue. If you've talked to me/had to listen to me at all over the past couple of months, you probably heard me being indecisive about, well, several things in life, including church. First, I have to apologize for any drama-queeniness I've exhibited this spring/summer and thank you for sticking with me. Life is looking much clearer now, and I am very thankful that God has put such loving people in my life who carry me through when I can't think straight.
Back to church...as many of you know, I was thinking about switching churches. And as decisions very rarely come easily to me, this one became a major question for me. There were things at Jubilee that were kind of pushing me away, and things at another congregation that seemed very welcoming, and yet I felt committed at Jubilee and yaddayaddayadda. A couple of weeks ago I thought I had reached some sort of compromise where I could just go to both...but that decision still kind of trouble me, and yesterday I thought, girl, you just need to decide.
Decision made. I am staying at Jubilee. It is far from perfect, and I think the church has some issues bubbling to the surface that it is going to need to deal with. However, like literally, God directed me to Jubilee, and it changed my life and affected my whole year here. It has been my home for the past year, and if I only have 6 months left, I want to spend that time at Jubilee, *hopefully* glorifying God through my service there.
In talking with my friend Kristen tonight, who has been in a similar situation, she said "Be the change you want to see." And I think this is what's needed at Jubilee. There are things that bother me, but instead of grumbling about it, I need to start praying about it and doing what I can to build up the community there and help to create an environment where brothers and sisters are loving each other, not pushing each other away.
SO, friends and fam world over: 1) forgive me for complaining about this church/being so indecisive over the past several months 2) Please pray for Jubilee. Pray for the leaders and members and just...we can't make ourselves be more spiritual or more dedicated or more loving. I hope God would just send the Holy Spirit in waves over the congregation, and that we would be open to it. 3)Pray for Kristen and I and other members who feel similarly. I have been proud in this situation, thinking I know what exactly is wrong and what needs to be fixed. Forgive me for that attitude, and pray that we would humbly work to "be the change" we want to see.
I come home in February...there's a lot to be done until then!

Seoul: Housekeeping Matters

To the whole fam-damily (b/c friends, you ought to know, I just consider you family),
(Note: I have included several maps on this post, so it's kind of long...just keep scrolling!)
I am back in Seoul after a 2 week vacation back home. Vacation was amazing in several different ways and helped to kind of guide my outlook/goals for the rest of my time here. If you don't know, I am staying on another 6 months at LCI. For those who thought I was staying another full year -- well, that plan has been vetoed. God willing, I will be home in February.
In the meanwhile, I wanted to give a "refresher" on my life over here. I created this blog to share my experiences with you all, but there are basic things I probably never mention...like, where exactly do I live? What do I do all day? What kind of food do I eat? Also, I have some new ideas for the bloggyblog here...mainly, in addition to sharing my adventures, also sharing some infos on life in Korea and Korean culture and such. I am totally in love with here, and I want to share that love!

SO, first things first...Korea? Where is that? How did you end up there?


I'll be honest and say...it may be started with a little show called Coffee Prince (thanks Maurietta) and a hankering I generally have to not only see, but truly live around the whole world. I mean, that's what I thought. I got over here and learned, ahhh, maybe God had something greater planned and maybe He's behind all these hankerings I get and wants to use them somehow? I mean, we'll see, but it's something that my mind's been opened to over the past year.
Anyways, so I was ready to get out of the Midwest...and I thought, hm, Europe, I've done that before (plus, high taxes, few available jobs, preference given to EU citizens, etc.) ...but Asia! Aha! In Asia, they seem to love English-speakers and have no ending of jobs available for them. And somehow (or not somehow, it was God, but I didn't know that till later) Korea just clicked in. I had no desire to go to any other country in Asia aside from Korea. It was an often overlooked country, and that in itself was enough to make me think, there is something there worth finding. And here I am!
Where is here?
Home is Seoul.

I've been to big cities before, but never really lived in one...but I found myself diving right in as soon as I got here. Sometimes I look around me and think, me? Little ole' me from Indiana? Here, in Seoul? You've got to be kidding me. And yet, here I am. I live in a neighborhood called Yeoksam (역삼)which is inside of the district of Gangnam (강남). Gangnam is the financial district and known to be pretty swanky and a generally happening place.  

I feel like my little neighborhood is perhaps a little ways off from that, but it's good to be close to a good subway line and plenty of stores. :)

I live in the LCI House with all the other teachers from our school. Like pretty much every other English teacher in Seoul, it's a studio apartment...Nothing glamorous, but the ondol (온돌 -- floor heating) works in the winter and AC in the summer, so I have few complaints. I work at a Kindergarten called LCI Kids Club (http://www.lcischool.com/). Its about a 15 minute jaunt to work, including a stop for coffee. :) Life as a teacher in Korea is a story all its own, so I'll save those details for later...

Here is a closer map of my neighborhood...if you scroll around towards the left, the LCI House lights up and over at the right of the map you can scroll around and find LCI Kids Club.


There's the digest version of my life. I will be adding more and more details and adventures, so I hope you enjoy reading!

Why does it always rain on me?

Tales from my first weekend back in Seoul...
It's been a long week, and I've been working like 11 hour days at my school and coming home straight from work, so I was ready to get OUT this weekend. I didn't make any big plans, but I thought doing something outside would be nice. Originally, I had thought about hiking...but as it was so hot and so humid this week, I thought, veto, let's go swimming. My friend Hoonee and I arranged to meet up, I got a maple latte, and away we went.
I did not bring an umbrella, hoping my enthusiasm for the pool would surely ward off any rainclouds. It had already rained enough this week, right? Surely, it will not rain on my 1st day at a Korean pool. Surely not.

I get to Tteoksam Station a little bit early, browse around the environs...where I noticed some sort of mass community flea market going on under the subway. Koreans don't mess with tables or stalls though, they just place down hundreds of mats. Easier clean-up, right? I meander around a little bit and then head back to the station to wait for Hoonee. And what does it start doing? It starts raining. In fact, it starts pouring.

OK, no problem, I'm thinking, it's Asia, it's summer, this will pass in like 5 minutes. It takes a little longer than 5 minutes though. By the time Hoonee gets there, it has let up to a light sprinkle. We decide to go ahead and go for it. It's already downpoured once, so surely it can't downpour anymore.

We get changed and scope out our place on the pavilion. Here is what's interesting...there are no tables or chairs setting out...but there are hundreds of umbrellas and families just spread out mats underneath them. Many people had pop-up tents. Mind you, this is not because of the rain. This is because of the 1% of sunlight actually making it to earth. Koreans take skin care seriously.

So, we're girl-talking, because we haven't seen each other in a while and I have *so much good news!* They announce a swimming break, and we decide we'll get in after the break. Then what happens? MONSOON! Giant mutant raindrops start falling from the sky, and they are cold! We huddle under the umbrella to see if it lets up, but oh, it doesn't. Finally, we just decided to leave.

So again, my plans to be a Coppertone Kid are thwarted by rain. However, the cosmos seems in full support of me drinking endless amounts of espresso-based drinks.

After getting cleaned up, I headed up to Hanti to meet my friend Sui. Hanti is a neighborhood close to my school, but I don't explore it very often. Sui found a knit cafe the other day, and as we are both fans of yarn, it seemed like a promising activity. It was pretty cute. The decor was very relaxing AND the lady gave us free americanos. After 2 drinks there, we headed over to the Panda Cafe. I have heard Sui and Kristen talk for months about this Panda Cafe, so I was pretty excited. And it really is a cafe that loves pandas. There are panda signs and panda toys and panda seat cushions. The owner doesn't speak much English, but Sui goes there often enough that she knows everything about it.

All in all, although swimming was a failure, getting coffee from the Pandaman definitely made up for it. I'm so excited to have such a cute cafe in my part of town!

Mom Quote of the Day

"Keep those butterflies flying in formation!"

I don't even know what this means, but it sounded worth publishing!

More wisdom from Mona

"It's how you play on the inside that counts!" During mini-golf, after it took her 7-8 tries to make the hole. I think she ended up picking up the ball and just dropping it in.

"You're like 2 souls waiting to mate." Mom in response to a recent development in my personal life.
WHAT??? Nat's and my response to mom. WAITING TO MATE? Mom's comment is even more ironic in the fact that I recently purchased a promise ring and "mating" is not high on my to-do list.
"Oh you know. What's that saying? About 2 ships passing in the night? That's you guys."
Mom does not really mean that we should mate, but we all started laughing so hard, she could not think straight anymore. Plus, it was more fun to keep making her flustered about "mating" than trying to figure out the real saying.

"She said, you look like a gerbil." Mom trying to relate something my sister had said about a recent Facebook photo.

"I miss out on everything in life." Mom bemoaning her less than accurate hearing. Natalie did not say I looked like a gerbil, which prompted a conversation about mom's hearing. Apparently, she has had it checked, and the doctor said it was fine. So, either the doctor was wrong and mom has horrible hearing. Or, the doctor was right, and mom just has a horrible attention span.

Things My Mom Says

If you've ever met our (Natalie's and my) mom, you know that she can be pretty hilarious. Spend 10 minutes with the lady, and you will be laughing your face off. Our family vacation proved no different, so Nat and I thought we'd include some of the highlights:
(P.S. This should in no way be taken as slander against our mother. I love my mom with all my heart and respect her as a woman, wife, and mother. Her humor is a great gift that brings our whole family together. If it weren't for her great disposition, family gatherings would be way too boring)

Look at all those baby monkeys. They walk like they're gay.  While watching Disney's Earth, where there are chimpanzees walking across a flooded area.

Whoever says, I want to go to Tennessee on vacation?
This came out about 2 hours into our family vacation, when Natalie and I were discussing where we want to move someday. We were on our way to Tennessee for vacation, as she said this, but she seemed to have forgotten that fact. We promptly told mom, "Our family says that about once a year or so."

I think it would be fun if we all got tipsy on champagne and did Harry Carey impressions.
Mom's plan for our quality time.

Hey, why don't you just drop me off and pick me up next year? I'll be here, sweeping the porch.
Imagine Mom saying this in a Harry Carey voice. I don't know how she came up with it...

What did Harry Carey do anyways?
Mom's remark after already impersonating Harry Carey for 2 days...

Birthday Revisited

So, in a grand birthday makeover, I got to go out with a good group of friends (again), dress up cute (again) and go to a Bavarian restaurant (again). Awesome Awesome Awesome.

I told my friends back home that if we went out, then I'd be sure to wear a dress. My mom did my make-up and then decided we needed a photo-shoot, so I was a little bit late. Oh well. I made it over to the West Side, just a few blocks away from my old neighborhood, and prepared for the Gerst House.

Since my friend Kelly had also just had a birthday, it was like a double celebration. So super! We had a good group at dinner. I got a Philly Kielbase and Hefeweizen. It was so good to be around friends I've known forever and listen to them tell stories and hear about their lives. It was like snuggling up in a cozy blanket by the fire.

After dinner, Mike, Kristen, and I headed to Ri Ra to try and scope out some icecream. It was trivia night, and we ended up sitting right by the stage. Kind of crazy...but eventually our French Press and Guiness brownie-icecream-goodness came out and we were, again, the last ones out of the restaurant. I give the night two thumbs very up! Thanks for such a good time guys!