Christmas Party with Missionary Teachers

Not too long ago, many teachers met in Daejeon for a Christmas party.  Teachers traveled from Seoul and other areas to celebrate the holiday.  Some Korean students attended the party as well.  On the way to the party I was craving some American party food.  I didn't know what to expect at this event but when I arrived I found...

Baked Macaroni and Cheese, and, yes, that is spinach dip!!

 Carrot sticks and RANCH DRESSING, and Planters peanuts!

 It had been a while since I had seen Hawaiian Punch.

 Apple Pie!

 I said "Woot Woot" for pasta salad and tortilla chips!

Taco salad, and another lovely shot of the Ranch dressing!

Oh, I should mention that this party was held at a Taekwando facility that someone rented for the evening.  Interesting to say the least.  It worked out really nice. Along with amazing food from home we played the white elephant game for presents!  It was such a blast.   Also, we played some Korean games and met new people.

 Interesting and humorous heating unit

I won these awesome aqua fuzzy pants in the White Elephant game!!

Christmas Adventures!

 For Christmas I traveled from my city up to Seoul to celebrate my Savior's birth. I saw some decorations similar to home during the trip. I also saw a very large Methodist church.

 I thought of my sister when I saw this polar bear playing the saxophone.  :)

Street food is a very common thing in Korea.  I have been very cautious about what I eat, especially being careful about food from the street vendors.  However, I heard many positive things about something called Hoteok and decided to try it.  It is a delicious winter snack!! It is kind of a mix between a pancake and an elephant ear you would get at the fair.  The dough is filled with brown sugar, sesame seeds, and sometimes peanuts, crushed into a powder.  It is absolutely wonderful and a treat I now greatly enjoy!

Christmas in Korea this year was definitely not the same as it is at home.  I really missed being at home with friends and family, as well as the holiday traditions.  I was very excited to talk to loved ones a couple times on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  It was a blessing to see their faces and share good conversation.  I am very thankful for family and friends this Christmas season!
Here in Korea, I spent time with some wonderful new friends. We went to a delicious Italian restaurant, "The Spaghetti Factory," which wasn't exactly my typical Christmas meal.  There were beautiful Christmas lights and such all over the restaurant.

 Celebrating with friends

Later on, after dinner, many teachers and I delivered clothing and shoes to homeless people in downtown Seoul.  We gathered the items from our students who were willing to donate.  We looked up the laws in Korea that pertained to the activity, talked to some Korean friends, determined places to go, and sorted the items into different sizes.  My friend made signs for us to show the people because of the language barrier.  We did, however, use universal language to speak to the people. That is smiles and other friendly gestures.

 Sign reads: "Merry Christmas. They are free gifts."

Before, during, and after we prayed for God's help.  We prayed during various situations we encountered. We prayed that our minds would stay focused on Christ and not on ourselves and that God would lead and guide us.  
As we approached people, they tried to talk to us and we determined what particular things they needed.  Many looked very cold and run down.  We found that when we began interacting with one person, others came out of the woodwork.  All of a sudden we had tons of people gathering to see what we had.  We tried to donate things in an orderly fashion.  One of my friends was looking out for our safety the whole time.  We needed to be very careful, yet friendly.
One man needed a pair of shoes, as his current pair was in horrible shape.  We opened our bag of shoes and searched for a pair that might fit him.  We tried to asked him his size and soon he began to write with his finger on our suitcase the number.  We could tell what he wrote and found his size.  He tried on a pair of work boots.  They fit him quite well.  We were SO happy!  I still have a clear picture in my head of him as we walked away.  He was standing with a huge smile, pumping his arms in the air, saying thank you!  We could see God in the experiences. He definitely led the way in serving His people, kept us safe, and made many people very happy, including us!!  I reaffirmed my belief that "In giving, we receive."  It was such a blessing on Christmas day.

My Frequent Mode of Transportation: The Subway

In Korea the subway is not the back up way, the uncommon way, or the "stereo-typically untrue" uncomfortable way to travel.  The subway is quite an efficient and reliable way to get from place to place.  I have saved a lot of money using the subway system.  It is much cheaper than driving, which I cannot do anyways!  Also, I  am getting a lot of exercise walking from place to place.  Taking the subway doesn't always bring you right to your destination so it is often necessary to walk a short distance.

First, you walk into the station and need to scan a money card with these machines.

 Then, take the escalator or stairs (stairs for more exercise, lol) down to where the subway train picks you up.

 Next, you may have to wait in this nice area for the subway train to come.  This was at a not-so-busy station.

While you wait you can grab a book, yes a BOOK, from the vending machine for under $2.00.  You need to learn Korean first though.  Also, there are delicious beverages to choose from for under $1.00.

On the train there is reserved seating for senior citizens, pregnant women, or people with small children.  Notice the handles above, including orange handles for shorter people, for those who need to stand.  The subway in Daejeon announces the stops along the way in both Korean and English.  This changes depending on the city.  Not all cities announce in English.  People are very friendly and polite on the subway.  I have had people point me to a seat and give up their seats for me to sit down.

This time of year the subway stations are filled with beautiful Christmas trees, lights, and other decorations. 

The subway system is so nice.  It's very clean and has small stores in the stations.  Traveling made easy!

A Typical Superstore in Korea

In Korea they have many different kinds of stores: department stores, malls, small convenience stores, the list goes on.  They have a few stores that are quite amusing to me.  They are similar to Walmart or Meijer at home; however, they cover at least 3 floors.  To move from floor to floor you may ask, "How do you take a cart from one floor to another? You surely wouldn't use an elevator." Precisely not! You use an...

 ESCALATOR RAMP!!!

 The cart has small groves that hook into the ramp. This stabilizes the cart.  It's quite an interesting experience!

The stores are set up very much like what I am used to in America.  Some things you buy are much more expensive in Korea, while other things are much cheaper.  For example, an average size jar of peanut butter costs about 6 dollars. From what I have heard, shopping in these large superstores on Sundays is just not a smart idea.  I have found out from experience that it is very crowded!!  That is an understatement!

Pool Experiences Like Home... Yet So Different!!!

After hearing about a very nice workout pool, visiting the pool with pastor, and finding out that it is just across the street from my apartment, I was thrilled to go!  I greatly wanted to take the opportunity that I had, the God-given blessing, to experience something from home. 

My friend and roommate Heidi and I decided to go for a swim.  We walked into the building, struggled to communicate our request, paid the 3,00won (about $2.80), and tried to find our way to the pool.  We knew we needed to go down a floor or two; Heidi managed to read the Hangul and we chose the right floor.  You see when Pastor took us we looked through a large window with the pool down below so we had to figure out the rest of the directions.  We came out of the elevator, found the women’s locker room, thanks to the sign written in English, and walked inside.

We needed to take off our shoes upon entering the locker room.  The thoughts running through my head and out of my mouth included “I’ve never done this before in a locker room,” “We usually wear sandals at all times,” “I could get foot fungus,” and “Now I have to take off my shoes?”  I managed to move on and just roll with the cultural difference.  As I walked in I realized that the floors were heated and they were very clean. 

Next, we questioned if we should take our stuff out on the pool deck to just keep on the benches or if we should use lockers.  In the states, I have grown up putting stuff out by the pool, hardly ever using a locker.  So we decided to try walking out on the pool deck with all our stuff in hand.  As we made our way toward what we thought was the pool door, we received numerous looks like “What are you doing?”  We disregarded the looks and walked by them out onto the pool deck.  As I stood there in my sweats, very quickly I felt like I was on stage with tons of people looking at me.  The pool area was so big and I can’t count on 2 hands the number of stares I received.

We instantly knew we should put our stuff in lockers.  We saw interesting locker keys around everyone’s ankle or wrist.  Going back into the locker room we laughed and discussed how ridiculous we felt.  I put my things in a locker, put the key around my ankle, and was ready to go.  Oh not so fast. I was being talked to in Korean.  I was trying to figure out what the lady was saying to me and I eventually figured out that she was telling me to shower.  Soon after, another lady came and just said one word, “Shower.”  I was laughing inside and we went to take a shower.  It was time to head back out onto the pool deck, this time in swimsuits and caps. 

One thing I noticed right away was something I had been told.  Everyone wears a swim cap.  It is required for men women.  Hygiene is very important here.  I liked the idea; it keeps the pool cleaner.  On the pool deck, it was interesting being in an environment so familiar to me, yet so different.  There were Koreans everywhere and the pool length was measured in meters, just to name a couple examples. 

In the main pool all the lanes were filled with people so we decided to swim in the thigh deep lap pool. This pool is often used for children but we saw adults swimming laps.  It was interesting working out in shallow water; no flip turns at that time.  As I swam I felt like I was at home, in a completely comfortable environment.  It was possible to forget that I am in Korea, that is, until I went above water. The water was very relaxing to me while at the same time I was so excited to be swimming laps.     

Part of the reason that we ended up in the shallow pool was because there was swim team practice going on.  This was not just any swim team.  This was cute little kids swimming laps, practicing their strokes, listening to a coach.  Wow, I missed coaching!  I loved seeing the interactions. I wanted to be coaching!!  I talked to some of the swimmers as a few jumped into my lane.  One girl was talking fluent English; I was so impressed.  Then she said, “I bet you wonder why I can speak such good English.” I said to her, “Yes I do; how?” She told me that she has grown up in Texas and is just visiting her home country for 6 months.  I met her mom as well.  I was so excited to be there!

It was so fun to speak English in this environment, and practice Korean, and I enjoyed meeting new people.  Eventually I was able to move into the main pool to finish my work out.  It was interesting to feel the length difference.  After years of swimming I knew where the end of the pool was “supposed to be” but it wasn’t where it usually was.  I had to swim further.  I could feel the difference.  I guess I just got a better workout!!  Overall, the experience was challenging, humorous, exciting, and confusing!  I truly enjoyed the differences between here and home.  It was one of the craziest cultural experience yet! I will go back soon. :)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Everywhere I go.... (singing)

I've been listening to Christmas music, doing some Christmas shopping, and enjoying beautiful lights in the area.  There are many decorations all around me.  Also, my school is having a Christmas concert in which the students can perform Christian Christmas songs or hymns.  So far three of my students are planning to participate.  We are planning on having poinsettias and candles on the tables.  All the teachers will be performing a song as well.  We haven't chosen which one yet.  It should be very nice.  Here are some of my Christmas experiences so far.

 This is sooooo cute and hilarious at the same time!

A tiny Christmas store near my apartment 

 Another store filled with Christmas decor. It used to be filled with plants.