Quotes from the Kids

So I was trying to think of something funny to blog about and this is what I came up with. We have a quote board at work where different teachers right down funny things that the kids say. Sometimes I feel bad, but sometimes it's so funny, and when learning a new language we all mess up and it's funny. They laugh at my Korean all the time. So read and enjoy...

The students learned the proper responses to different things that happen. One of the things they learned was sneezing. The teacher gives the prompt and the student is supposed to say the correct response.

"Achoo" - Erik Teacher
"That's ok" - Kevin

"What is 11 + 12?" - Teacher
"Twelben" - Rachel

"I eat hermit crap." - Ace

We had pepero day and I gave all the students these chocolate covered bread stick things. Well one boy licked all of the chocolate off of his and proudly announced...

"Teacher, my pepero is nude!" - DJ


I was asking my students to name the parts of a bug's body. I was trying to get them to say thorax and told them it was the middle part of the body. They pulled out their electronic dictionaries and began yelling the words they read...

"Breast!"
"Boob!"
"Chest!"


"Santa's not coming this year." - Joy
"Why not?" - Erik Teacher
"Because oil is too expensive." - Joy


"How long have you been bad tempered?" - Erik Teacher
"Since you arrived." - Jane

"Are you cute" - Teacher
"No, I'm beautiful" - Holly

"Teacher, I want to change my name." - Sarah
"To what?" - Kristin
"Bling-bling" - Sarah

"Jun-Young, we voted, you have to bring all the snacks for the snack party." - Harry

"What are two things we get from trees?" - Kristin
"Christmas and Mother's Day" - Jason

"Hey guys, what did you get from your girlfriends for Valentine's Day?" - Kristin
"Jun-Young can't get a girlfriend." - Harry
"Oh, why not?" - Kristin
"Because of his face." - Harry
"You're not very nice." - Kristin
"I am being kind, because I made him aware." - Harry

Promotion, Prospect, and Purple Fingers

I guess it's been a while since I've blogged. Two months in fact. My sincerest apologies to my adoring fans. Ha. I will start where I last left off. I was able to go to the States for a week long visit and it was marvelous. I saw my family, met my nephew and my best friend came down from PA to see me. I felt like I hadn't missed a beat, I owe a lot of that to modern technology. Without facebook and skype things would be drastically different. It was a very refreshing trip packed full of catching up and gearing up for the last leg of my Korean adventure.
When I got back to Korea I was rather quickly thrust into my new position as head teacher. A role that I was nervous and excited about taking on. I've never really thought of myself as a leader, but I saw it as an opportunity to be stretched, and it has proved to be just that. My first day back to work my best friend e-mailed me with the most beautiful and heart warming letter of affection. I was completly caught off guard but clearly see the work of Christ in our lives and in our relationship. It is truly incredible when things are done in His way and in His timing. I feel as if blessed isn't a strong enough word to express the favor the Lord has shown to me in the past few months and even year. And although long-distance is hard and at times frustrating, I trust the Lord to cultivate this relationship into one that is pleasing to Him.
Many people have asked me what is next for me. I've never been one to make plans, I just kinda go with the flow. Initially I was going to stay another year in Korea, but in light of the recent developments in my relationship with Jud, I've decided to reconsider, and do my best to factor him into my plans. I'm currently looking for a job in the Pittsburgh area in order to be closer to Jud and try my hand at the Northeast, pray for me, cause I feel an adjustment coming for this Southern girl. I've also had spurts of fear about not being able to find a job, but then I remember that He will provide. So I'm doing my part, and waiting to see what the Lord will surprise me with next.
Here is a funny story to end with. Yesterday I was sitting at my desk making some samples for an English Village we are going to have at school. It will include a bank, police station, store, and library. The kids will go to the different places and participate in different activites. Well one teacher thought it would be a good idea to do fingerprinting at the police station. So I was gonna make a sample to show in a meeting. I found an ink pad on a shelf in the teacher's room and decided just to use it. I got a scratch piece of paper and fingerprinted my fingers, then I went to the bathroom to wash it off. I expected it to rinse off easily however I was sadly mistaken. I scrubbed and scrubbed and to my dismay every one of the fingers on my right had was stained purple. All I could do was laugh and be thankful that I was done teaching for the day. So the moral of the story is, don't use ink you find on a shelf to fingerprint yourself. :-)


I teach a class of first graders and they speak little to no English. We usually have fun, but sometimes kids disagree for silly reasons. Well not being able to understand what the problem is makes it difficult to resolve and so as I was helping some girls with their assignment two boys were having a fist fight behind me. I turned around and they are just wailing on each other. I had already warned them twice about not hitting and staying seated, so I promptly grabbed their hands and marched them to the front desk. While we were standing there and the two boys were explaining to the "desk teacher" a.k.a. secretary what the argument was about the bell rang. So she scolded them and sent them home. Later I asked her what the problem was and she told me that Tredjor had put the tip of his umbrella on Peter's shoe. Peter got mad and hit Tredjor in the chest. Then Tredjor explained that the umbrella on the shoe could not have killed Peter, but Peter's punch in the chest could have killed him, so he hit him back. Then he proceeded to use the analogy of a cartoon he had seen to better explain the situation. We both kind of laughed about it, but I was a little concerned. I know kids fight, and I've seen it before, but this was serious. After some thought I came to conclusion they learn this from their fathers. I have seen grown men in suits fighting on the subway. It makes me sad that children are taught from such a young age that this behavior is acceptable or appropriate for dealing with conflict. Pray that the little ones will have a better example of how to resolve problems.

An Update

This post is going to be just a general update. I don't really have any funny stories to share, sorry.

So, I got a promotion at work!!! I will be head teacher beginning in March. I'll basically be in a more administrative role, but still teaching quite a bit. I'm excited about it. We are changing a lot of things for the next session including textbooks, classes and teachers, so I've been really busy lately. I'm excited for the next few months and I think it will be a good growing period for me.

I've also changed churches. Many people have been a little unsure about this decision, but I assure you I have no qualms about it. When I've told friends about this new change many of them were weary and cautioned me, which I much appreciated while at the same time was frustrated by. I understand that my friends care about me and that they want the Lord's best for me, and for that I'm thankful. However, I've always been a fan of church and so when presented with the danger of church-hopping and how the tendency is to stop going altogether, I was kind of annoyed. I fully understand that this is the case many times, even the author of Hebrews warns us to not give up meeting together, so I don't want to be so arrogant to say that it can't happen to me, but as a general rule, it's not something I struggle with. I love church. I also want to say that the church I previously attended, Onnuri, is a wonderful church, I had no problem with the theology or the people I simply didn't fit. I guess the way I view the situation is that I'm just changing pews. God is at both churches, I'm just moving to a place where I'm more comfortable. I also don't want to make this about me, because I know that worship isn't about me, but there is a reason that a community of believers comes together and I want to be able to build relationships not because I'm forcing them, but because I have things in common with people and because we connect. Sometimes it requires more than the bond of Christ to build a deep friendship, God did give us personalities. Making friends has always come natural to me and so why should that be any different in Korea? That being said, my new church is called Jubilee. It is a bit younger demographic than Onnuri, and people are just so welcoming. My friend Erin goes to this church and she raved about it for months so I decided to give it a shot. Well, my first week there I met so many new people, I joined a small group, and the choir that will sing at a special Easter service. During my small group we were talking about how we can worship all the time, and what are some practical ways to worship the Lord throughout our day. So we went around the room and each told about a way we would worship the Lord during the upcoming week. My plan was to keep my ipod on Christian music all week. Our leader also encouraged us to check on each other throughout the week and see how we are doing, well all week I've been getting facebook messages, e-mails, and texts encouraging me to keep up my worshipful lifestyle and I've found that I have been much more joyful this week. I'm excited about this new church and all that the Lord will do in me and through me.

Today is Valentine's Day which means that I have only 12 days until I come back to the States for a visit. I'm elated that the time has gone by so fast and I can barely contain my excitement. Everytime I talk to my sister's on skype I do an 'excited to come home' dance. I just can't wait!! Also, a little Korean fun fact for you... Korean's have 2 Valentine's Days the first is February 14 and on this day the women give gifts to the men they are in a relationship with. The second is White Day it is March 14 and on this day the men give gifts to the women. Now so as not to leave out the single people there is also Black Day, April 14 and this day all the single friends have get togethers and hang out with each other. I think it's a great idea.

Anyway, I probably won't post again until I get back from AMERICA, unless something real funny happens between now and then.

Continue to be in prayer for Korea and that they would see the truth of Christ's love for them.

Korean Spa

Last night some friends of mine, Allison and Sally, came up to Seoul for a visit.  The plan was to go to a show called Nanta which can only be described as Stomp but with kitchen stuff.  There was very little talking and lots of music and choreographed drumming. Well, the plan was to meet at the subway station and then go to the theater together.  Well as it turns out there was confusion as to which subway station is was.  At first we thought Gangnam which is on line 2 but the other option was Gangnam-Gu Office which was line 7.  So through a series of phone calls we discovered that Allison and Sally were headed towards Gangnam and I was headed towards Gangnam-Gu Office, and not to mention it was only about 20 minutes before the show was supposed to start.  Finally we realize I'm headed the right direction, but they have got to turn around.  Then to make matters worse we all decide to get in cabs and meet at the theater, should be easy enough, until I try to tell the cab driver where I wanted to go.  After 10 minutes of driving around and one phone call between my cab driver and Allison and Sally's, my cab driver informed me that he couldn't find where I wanted to go on his GPS and that I should change cabs.  So I get out, look for another cab and check the time, realizing that I'm supposed to be there now.  I hail another cab and this guy just rolls down the window and asks me where I want to go, I tell him and he tells me that he doesn't know where the theater is either.  Finally, I get a third cab and have Allison's cab driver tell him where to go.  Halfway through the conversation my cell phone dies, so frustrated I pull out my American phone and hope that the $2.50 a minute will be worth it and get me where I need to go.  Thankfully the cab driver stops and tells me we are there.  I very appreciatively thank him and get out, except I don't see a theater anywhere.  There's a huge Galleria with lots of designer stores, but no Nanta sign.  I call Allison once again and she says she's still in the cab too, and doesn't know where it is either.  So I proceed to walk up and down the street stopping in a 711 and ask if the two girls working speak English, they said a little, and so I ask them where the theater is, but they don't know.  So I thank them and continue my search.  I stop a family on the sidewalk and ask them if they speak English, they said a little and I ask them if they know where the theater is, success, they do and they tell me to turn oruncheok, which means right.  I head in the direction that they instruct and still don't see it.  Once again I call Allison and she says she's there and she gives me directions.  Thirty minutes after it's started we all arrive and head to the ticket counter, which is now closed.  We go inside and the sweet Korean ushers tell us to wait a little bit and then they'll let us in.  About 2 minutes later she walks us into the small dark theater to the third row!  My reaction was yay third row and at the same time, embarrassing third row.  From this point on we enjoy the show, funny and really cool.  Allison even got called up on stage to make Mandu, which is like a korean dumpling, and that was really funny.  After the show we decide to go to the jim ja bong which is the Korean Sauna.  Now, the Korean Sauna is somewhat similar to an American Spa, except it's only women and everyone is naked.  You go in and get a locker and put your stuff in it; then you undress and put on a robe that they give you.  Let me just tell you what all this specific jim ja bong has: 6 hot tubs one that is outside and one that is salt water, 1 cold tub because they think going back and forth between the hot and cold is good for your circulation or something.  They have 2 saunas that are super hot, as well as lounge rooms to just sit around and watch tv.  They have 2 rooms for massages and a nail salon, they also have this one area where they put this mud stuff on you and scrub you down.  Then there is a room that is like a primping room where you sit and dry your hair or do your make up.  There is also a snack bar and a restaurant and also 2 sleeping rooms, one of them is just mats on the floor, but for less than $5 more you can pay and get a bed, which is what we opted to do.  So after a sports massage at 1:30am I got into the hot tub for a little while longer and then went to bed.  The next morning I got up and got back in the hot tub for a bit before showering and heading to the orphanage.  I knew before I came to Korea that I wanted to visit one of these spas but just hadn't had the courage to go alone and so when my friends came up and took me I began kicking myself for not going sooner, and I think until it gets warm outside this might just be a weekly ritual.  If I hadn't gotten the massage it would have cost a total of about $12 to sit in hot tubs for 12 hours and enjoy the most relaxing evening I've ever had.  So if ever you get the chance to visit Korea, the jim ja bong is a must!

The Joy of Christmas

So I've decided to change my attitude and be excited about Christmas. I still miss my family but I will rejoice in the Lord! I wanted to share some of my favorite Christmas song lyrics. I think many times just as hymns and worship songs we forget to realize their meaning. And at least for me, it is what makes this year's Christmas enjoyable.

'Hark the Herald Angels Sing'

Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Deity. Pleased as man with man to dwell. Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Mild He lays His glory by. Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth. Hark! The herald angels sing"Glory to the newborn King!"

Isn't this exciting? In just this one song, we worship the Lord for allowing us to be reconciled with Him. For becoming Immanuel, the God that is with us. We recognize that He has laid down His place in heaven to come to Earth and not only live among us, but die for us and give us new life. Hark the Herald Angels sing, indeed.

'O Holy Night'


O holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining. 'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;


Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever.

This is one of my favorites. It is such a song of hope and joy and love. The world pinning for a Savior, and then a new and glorious morn brings Him into the world. Should not our reaction be to fall on our knees? And how exciting that He breaks our chains, and that all oppression shall cease. And for that reason, I will sing sweet hymns of joy and let all within me praise His holy name.

I'm thankful to be able to say in good spirits, Merry Christmas!

On a side note, something I'm learning. I was encouraged by some friends I have from college to memorize a passage of Scripture Philippians 3:7-9 is a portion of it and it talks about considering all things loss compared to knowing Christ. And at one point the woman heading up the memorization program and encouraging us each week to press on, sent out an e-mail asking us what in our lives to we need to consider as loss compared to knowing Christ. I thought about it, and it broke my heart when the answer was revealed, which is the point I guess. But I responded to her and told her that I need to consider my family loss compared to knowing Christ. And if you read verse 8 it says, 'I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him." That was a hard pill to swallow. But I think the Lord is showing me that my commitment to Him must mean that I leave my father and mother and follow Him, that I must let the dead must bury their own dead and I serve Him, that I consider EVERYTHING a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

I'll be Home for Christmas... Then Again, Maybe Not

So I haven't really been excited about Christmas this year. What I love most about Christmas is being with my family. That sounds cliche because most people want to be with their families for Christmas, but up until now I've taken it for granted. It has always been the norm for me to be with my family but this year is different. For most of this month my feelings have been pretty neutral about Christmas this year, but as it draws closer I realize I'd prefer to just skip over it. Don't get me wrong, I'm so thankful for the incarnation. Nothing brings me more joy than to know that God became a man in order to have a relationship with me, and no relationship is more important to me than the one I share with Him. But celebrating our Savior with the people on Earth that I cherish the most adds so much the to joy of Christmas. I knew I would miss out on things when I obeyed God's call to go to Korea. I knew I would miss dinners around the table with my family on the weekends. I knew I would miss friends vowing to love another forever. I knew I would miss other friends beaming with pride as they welcomed new life into the world. But my first Christmas away from home is proving to be difficult. You've heard it said that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but what about absence making the heart break? I spent today Christmas shopping, wrapping Christmas presents, listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies and baking Christmas cookies. All of these things I love to do under normal circumstances. But doing them without the people I love the most isn't enjoyable. During all of this 'Christmas' today I tried to pinpoint exactly what it is that I enjoy doing with my family so much, and I scrolled through my mind and went over all of the seasonal activities that my family shares and realized I could not rank one over another. I love shopping with my mom and sisters, and wrapping presents with them as well. I enjoy purposely making a mess while baking cookies and sneaking cookie dough when mom's not looking, and sometimes when she is. I love the smell that fills the house when we bring home the Christmas tree that took hours to pick out because everyone has an opinion of what the perfect tree looks like, even though we all know we want mom to be the one to make the decision because she loves Christmas trees so much. I love going down memory lane as we decorate the tree and talk about previous Christmas's and look at all the ornaments Granny has given us over the years while I pretend to be jealous that Jon Marc will always have one more than me because he is one year older, even though I wouldn't trade a million Christmas ornaments for the blessing of having an older brother. I miss listening to Christmas music in the house, in the car, in every store I go in, hoping that they will play 'I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' or 'Redneck 12 days of Christmas' I love getting excited anticipating family coming in town and watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' and 'Charlie Brown Christmas' and 'Miracle on 34th Street' and of course 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' I always love driving through town to look at Christmas lights and then up to Lake Lanier for the Magical Nights of Lights. I miss staying up til 4am talking with my mom, sisters and aunts. I miss playing games whether it be Rummikub with Granny, or cards or Monopoly or any of the other thousands of games we own. I love watching the pantry door fill up with Christmas cards from dear friends or people we only hear from once a year. I miss going to church the whole month of December because we sing Christmas songs and it's decorated beautifully and everyone seems to be happier and we spend time reflecting on baby Jesus and the angels that proclaimed His birth and the fact that He is Immanuel. I even miss mom telling us where to park outside the house because there are so many cars when everyone is over that it looks like a parking lot. I will sorely miss spending Christmas Eve 'sleeping' in my sisters bed which really means staying awake and talking because we are too excited to sleep, and mom reading us the Christmas story, what does 'threw up the sash' mean anyway? Oh there is so much more that I love about Christmas and they all involve at least one member of my family. Like when dad makes the world's best Chex Mix because he knows the perfect m&m to pretzel ratio.

I know that the Lord will give me experiences and lessons here that I will take with me for the rest of my life and that will impact the Kingdom. But in the moments when everything is quiet and I am alone, I desperately miss Dad and Mom, Jon Marc and Melissa, Shannon and Eddie, and Ashton

This has been a long weekend! It started off on Friday when I went to Christian's for a pajama party. We watched a movie and I baked brownies and had a grand ole' time. It ended at 11 and I went home. When I got home I decided I wasn't tired yet and I was in the mood to go running, which doesn't happen all that often so I decided to take advantage of the mood. I wanted to find the entrance to the park from my side of the river. I had an idea of where it was, but wasn't completely sure. So I jogged to where I used to live when I first came to Korea. The apartment I not so affectionately refer to as 'The Shoebox'. Eventually I found the park which was more of a bike path and some exercise equipment than an actual park, so we use the term loosely in this situation. After wandering around a bit I decided to use the exercise equipment. Most of it looked and felt like it was pretty pointless, that it didn't really work out anything, it just makes you feel better as if you are actually doing yourself some good. Well as I learned today, I was wrong, it does in fact work your muscles, and I felt it. Saturday morning I woke up early, as I do every Saturday, and headed off to see my kids at the Orphanage. We went to the park and the zoo, and for about 5 minutes we lost one little girl. It was so scary. We had been looking at the monkeys and then we walked a few hundred feet around the corner to buy them tickets to ride the miniature ponies and when we turned around, she was gone. We had 5 kids and three adults, I don't know how we lost her, but Christian went one way and I went another and Kelly stayed with the other 4. It didn't take long before I started crying and getting worried. Korea is generally a safe place, but it was my responsibility to take care of her and I didn't. We were only without her for like 2 minutes after we noticed she was gone, Christian found her still at the monkeys and she was crying. He quickly scooped her up and brought her to me. She was still crying but otherwise fine. After a few minutes of me holding on to her she was okay and back to playing with the other kids. I hated that feeling. We saw a few other animals and then headed to the playground. Between me pushing the kids on the swings I decided to take a seat on a nearby bench. Kelly and I were having a conversation about poop of all things, and as I crossed my legs a bird decided it had to poop. Well it landed right on my leg and I immediately busted out laughing. The fact that we had just been discussing it made it even more funny, but really gross at the same time. Christian and Kelly and I laughed until it hurt, and cleaned up the mess with disgust. After a long day at the park we went back to the orphanage. I wanted to go to Insadong to go shopping and Christian wanted to take one of the boys home with him for the night. I decided that would be fun too, so I brought Seong Hyun home with me. She is a fiesty 4 year old. She reminds me of me when I was little. She will test her limits and push your buttons, but is so carefree and fun loving. We went to Insadong and to McDonalds for dinner. The kids got a happy meal and a toy and we sat there and just enjoyed time with them. As we were finishing up a Korean woman approached our table and asked if she could interrupt our conversation. We politely turned our attention toward her and she proceed to explain that she works for a radio station in Seoul that is new and plays English music. She asked me if I would be willing to answer a few questions about music I like and that it would be aired on Friday night. I was like, um... Christian will. After some discussion we agreed that all three of us, Christian, Kelly, and I would do her this favor. She was thrilled. So she got her digital recorder out and microphone and asked us what our top three favorite songs were and what they meant. It took us a while to think, but we skimmed through our iPods and came up with a list. She was so appreciative and greatful. She gave me her e-mail and phone number and said if ever I need anything while living in Seoul, please don't hesitate to call her. So nice! After dinner Christian, Sun Guk, and Kelly went home, and Seong Hyun and I went back to my place. She walked in and was like, 'wow', except in Korean, and I gave her a little tour and she jumped on my bed a little and we ate a brownie and began watching Dora the Explorer. After a couple episodes I turned it off and we said our prayers and laid down. Well that didn't last long. It was only 9pm and neither one of us was very tired, so we got up and I was about to check my e-mail, and she was watching some Korean cartoon on TV. Then Christian called on Skype. He said that Sun Guk was bored and wanted a friend. So we let them talk on skype where they could see each other, they loved it. Then we agreed that Seong Hyun and I would come over there for a slumber party. We get there and the girls were gonna be on the bed and the boys were gonna be on the floor. It started off that way but didn't last long. I was hot on the bed, and Christian was cold on the floor, so we switched. The kids were tossing and turning and the floor was so hard I wasn't doing very much sleeping. Then Seong Hyun woke up and sat up and started crying. I guess she wasn't sure where she was and she saw Christian next to her. He told her it was ok and that I was right there. She came down to the floor and I held her for a little while then laid her down next to me and she went back to sleep. Well between the two kids on either side of me, the cold floor, the hard floor, and having no pillow, I got probably a grand total of 3 hours of sleep last night. The next morning the kids were up and at 'em at 7am. Christian, having gotten more sleep than I got them fed and showered, while I tried to get another hour in, but it wasn't very successful. We planned to go to a different park and ride the skylift across the park and the zoo. It was quite cold, but we dressed them warmly in my scarf and hat and gloves, they looked precious. Well we get there and long story short we get to the top and had only bought a one way pass up thinking we could ride the tram back down. Well the tram didn't go through the zoo which is where the skylift ended, so we had to walk 1,200m through the zoo to where the tram was. The kids were tired and so were we, and all they could say was Choua, which means it's cold. So I carried Seong Hyun on my shoulders and then we got to the exit, fed them and headed back to the orphanage. It took about an hour to get back to the orphanage, and we didn't get back until around 4. It was so much fun having the kids for the day, but so exhausting. I don't know if parenthood is like that every day but if it is, parents are superheroes. I could barely make it up the stairs out of the subway by the time I got home. But when we dropped the kids off, I could see how much they enjoyed the time they spent away from the orphanage and with someone that cares about them. So all in all, it was worth it.

Pray for me as I'm still adjusting to Korean life. This past week was a bit lonely. I had some awesome time with the Lord, but missed being around people too. When I lived in the States, I was social every night of the week, and now living in such a huge city and getting off work so late, it doesn't really allow for that, and so the the adjustment is sometimes hard. Also pray that Christmas will be a joyful time. I'm not yet sure how I will be emotionally for Christmas. I anticipate I will be fine and enjoy time with friends, but I know I will miss home at the same time.