This is home :)

Gabe was so funny. He says that I am in Kowea. Danny and Sarah have taught him the song "Soul Sister" by Train. Danny plays it on guitar and Gabe sings, "Heeeeeeeyyyyy. Hey S(e)oul Sister...la la la......tonight!" So cute!

Home for Christmas

Ah, it is so good to be home. The flight wasn't bad actually! I slept a lot and it went pretty quickly. It's really kind of strange being here. Being here, it seems like I never left. I feel like I live in two worlds right now... It's so good to see my family :) Thankfully nothing has changed much here. Today I get to play with my little nephews! I will go to Waverly probably Tuesday and Wednesday this week to visit with grandparents. Too bad it's such a short visit :( I head back to Korea on Friday. I'll add some pictures from home soon!

"1 more sleep until Christmas" as my students say

Today was our school's Christmas party. The kids were SO excited!! Santa came to visit our classrooms, we decorated cupcakes, made Christmas cards, we had a Christmas carol contest and I gave out presents in stockings to the kids. It was so fun to see them excited. They were afraid of Santa, which was so funny. When he walked in, they said, "It's an English Santa!" Haha.

Tonight I went to a catholic Christmas Eve Service. My favorite part about Christmas is always going to church, but my church's service wasn't till tomorrow. And, I just think Cathedrals are beautiful. When I walked in, I saw Becca Sauers from home!! This was beyond weird because I'd seen her the week before, randomly at the nutcracker. Out of 25 million people in the city, I've seen her 2 times in the past week! So crazy!

Tomorrow I will leave here about 6:30am to head home for Christmas! I am so lucky, I get to live two Christmas days, both here and home because of the time difference. I'm dreading the flight, but I'm sure it'll be worth it. I'm so excited to see my family :) Well, I suppose I better go to bed... Merry Christmas!

Christmasy Weekend

It's funny that I see some Christmas trees and lights, but it doesn't really feel like Christmas here. I guess it's because Christmas is not an official holiday here and it's not as hyped up as at home. Maybe it's because there is no snow on the ground. I'm trying my best to get in a Christmas mood!



Yesterday I went ice skating with Angie. It was kind of spontaneous! It was so beautiful to skate outside!














Last night I went with some of my co-workers to the Nutcracker! Sure enough, the Nutcracker comes to Korea too :)

Tonight after church is the whole church Christmas Party. That should be fun too. Well, only 6 days until I come home for Christmas!

Oh the people I meet

For not having anything to write about last week, I sure am windy this weekend. I thought I would tell the funny story about church. Well, I sat down for church and this very awkward Korean man (probably 30) came up and sat 2 chairs away from me. I smiled, but that's it. Then a few minutes later, he scooted 1 seat away. Next thing I knew he was right next to me. I said hi and asked his name. He was Korean and didn't speak much English. After he asked my name, the first thing he asked was if I had a girlfriend. He asked how old I was. The guy in front of me was from America and was laughing because he heard this conversation. The Korean only knew a few English words and kept saying, "Beautiful, beautiful." It's only because I have blonde hair and white skin. It's interesting being a minority. Anyway, throughout the service (picture this), he would lean sideways so that his shoulder would touch mine. So as he leaned uncomfortably closer, I leaning farther away. Oh, it gets funnier. Then, as my head was bowed and eyes were closed for the prayer, he leaned over to look at my face while I was praying! Oh man. I could feel him really close, so I peeked at sure enough, his face was like right by mine. AH, so strange! The whole service he was giggling because he was sitting next to me. It was an...experience.

On the subway home from church I was carrying my Bible because it wouldn't fit in my purse. This frail old man came up to me and said something in Korean and pointed to his watch. I figured he was asking me the time, so I took out my phone to show him the time. Later he pulled out his phone, so maybe that's not what he was asking :) He, too, only knew a few English words. Every few minutes he would ask me another one word question, like "USA?" After a few minutes of silence, he said, "Bible?" He said some things in Korean (or what I thought was Korean). Then, he said something that I recognized in Chinese! From what I gathered, I think he was Chinese. It's awesome that he said one of the only Chinese phrases I know. He said, "I love you as my sister in Christ." How cool is that?

Another quick interesting fact about today. I bought a bundle of bananas at the store yesterday hoping they would last me for the week. Wishful thinking. They don't have the preservatives or something here, because they were green yesterday and today all six of them had brown spots. I ate three today and I'll probably have to eat another 3 tomorrow or they will be mush. I'll be all set with potassium for the next few months!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I have snowflakes, a stocking, a tree, a bow, so Christmas streamers AND...paper chains! I was singing, Deck my Apartment with balls of holly, fa la la la la la la la la.

I thought this little guy was so cute. He has on an old man hat and a pea-coat. The parents always try to out-do each other by dressing up their kids so nicely.

First Christmas Party of the Year

Today I met with another girl from Dexter. She was in my German class in high school for 3 years and I hadn't seen her in 4 years! I met with her and her friend for coffee. After that, we went back to her apartment for a Christmas party with some of her friends. The day was so much fun! It was so good to see her and we picked up just where we left off four years ago. Her friend is from South Africa! She had a sweet accent. At the party, we played the White Elephant present game and I came home with a bunch of hand sanitizer! Somebody knows me too well already! Everyone brought lots of good food too. It was a really fun day with her and her friends.

Today I saw a nun wearing "shape-up shoes". It was so funny. No one was there to chuckle with me though...

The time I made cookies in a frying pan...

This weekend I wanted to do some baking. I don't have an oven, so my options are limited. I thought pudding would be easy enough to make. Well, not exactly. I couldn't find vanilla anywhere in the store. I searched forever trying to find it. Finally I gave up, trying to think of a substitute. I made a bad choice, maple syrup. Why I chose syrup, I don't know. The pudding was not good and it tasted like (believe it or not) syrup. Yuck.

I have also been in search of powdered sugar to make french toast. I bought what I thought was powdered sugar. It said vanilla on the package, but I just thought that was the korean way of saying powered sugar. It sure looked like it. I made my french toast, piled on the "powered sugar" and sat down, so excited to eat. It was not powered sugar. It tasted like flour all over my french toast. Yuck again.

Tonight on the way home from church, I stopped by this tiny little convience store to buy a snack. I looked around and I found vanilla AND powered sugar! Who would have thought that I couldn't find them at the supermarket, yet I found it at a hole in the wall convience store! I also bought a cookie mix.

I had this great idea to make cookies in my skillet. Well it turned out to be not such a good idea. I guess it says put them in the OVEN for a reason. I burnt up the cookie dough and now it smells like smoke in here...bummer. But, I salvaged some of the dough to save for later!

I've been thinking a lot about the big things in life lately. The moral of my cookie story is that if God cares enough about the details in my life to help find vanilla and powdered sugar, He'll take care of the big things in my life all the more!

The most fun I've ever had getting my haircut...

This morning I went to the church to help wrap presents for both the orphanage and missionaries. I thought it would be a good way to get involved and meet people too. It was really fun! I talked to a lot of people while we were wrapping too. Man, I never knew wrapping could be so complicated! We had to match like items for each family and then label who gets what item and the number. It was stressful! Just kidding :) I talked a lot with a young woman and her husband. They are living here on an american army base. She was so nice and fun to talk with. It's really nice to go to a church with almost all young people. Everyone is very friendly. I'm starting to get to know people now and it's cool to have people call me by name. I found out the English part of the church is about 1,500 people and then the Korean part of the church is MUCH bigger. They didn't say how many.

I just got back from getting my haircut. All of the other girls at my school go to a far away place to get their haircut where the hairstylists are trained in London and it costs $30. I'm not too particular about haircuts, so I just went to one of the three salons on the way to my school. It is called "Kim Jungs Hair Art." I wasn't so sure I wanted them making art with my hair, but I figured I would give it a try anyway.

I just chose the one that was the least busy. When I walked in, the place had about 5 women in there. It turns out there is only one lady cutting hair and the other middle aged ladies just sit in there all day to talk! When I walked in, they were very excited to say the least! They tried to speak to me in Korean but when they realized I don't speak Korean they just laughed. The whole time I was getting my hair cut they were talking about my hair, the color, the texture, my body, my age, everything! They just kept starring and giggling at me. They were such happy ladies and they enjoyed having me! The gave me coffee and a heated seat. They took care of me! After she'd cut my hair, she styled it. She gave me ringlets! Haha. I think she just wanted to play with my hair longer. I almost fell asleep while she was playing with my hair because it felt so good.

The best part is...it was only $5! Score. I'm pretty sure they told me to come back soon (that's what I interpreted from their giggling and thumbs up as I went out the door). I will be going back!

This week one of my students asked if my hair is really black and I dye it blonde! They have no concept of having naturally blonde hair! He said I would look better with black hair... I don't think I'll try it.