Old News

This blog is old news. This is all stuff that happened over 3 years ago! For what's really going on, go to www.jasonruggles.com.

I'm not dead

Just so you know, I haven't dropped off the face of the world. If you want to hear what I'm up to, I'm more likely to be updating my Xanga site these days. You can see it at http://www.xanga.com/aprildawn225 The short summary is: I've been in Merrill for a week, and now I'm going back to Fort Wayne. :)

Independence Day

Here I am at home, finishing up my last few days at my parents' house. I love sitting out on the deck enjoying the sunshine every morning. Over the weekend we went to an outdoor concert. During high school that was always a big part of my summer, but I haven't done it in awhile. It was fun. Tuesday, of course, was the 4th of July. Most of the day I spent going through boxes and packing up stuff to take to Fort Wayne. That evening we went out to see fireworks at a nearby town. Once that was over, Tim, Joy and I lit sparklers in the back yard. We enjoyed playing with the long-time exposure on my camera and trying to write words and stuff with the sparklers. Tomorrow I head to Fort Wayne! Time to take care of myself like a "real adult" again :) 

I'm Home!!

And I enjoyed a lovely first weekend at home with Jason and my family. I've had a certain amount of jet-lag, but mostly just plain ol' lack of sleep. I'm starting to catch up, though. My first time to do certain things (like wear shoes in the house) was a little strange, but things seem to be coming back pretty easily. I have, however, been caught bowing to people to say "thank you" or "nice to meet you" :). Today after shopping for Paula's wedding dress, we stopped at a Korean-run Asian food store. It's full of Korean and Japanese foods in brands I totally recognize from Korea. Even Milkis. We also got directions to a Korean restaurant further into the city. I'll take the family there sometime... maybe this weekend. 

Homeward Bound

For the past week I've been in heavy duty preparation mode for my departure. I spent Saturday cleaning my room and going out for some "lasts" with my roommates. That evening I went to my last young adults service. They invited me up front, sang a song to me, and asked me to say something. It was sweet. Then several came up to me and told me not to forget them. That's a great group of people. Sunday was full of more goodbyes at church and afterwards. Soo-young, "Jane", "Rainy" and I went out for one last noraebang session, and sang all the traditional songs :). Good times. I tried to go to sleep really early that night, because of the soccer game Monday morning. More specifically, at 4 am Monday morning! Yes, my last crazy late-night stunt in Korea was going out with Abra and Se-rok to see the Korea vs. France soccer game. It was fun. The best moment came when Korea finally scored a goal in the last 10 minutes of the game. All of the Koreans went NUTS screaming and hugging each other. You would've thought they had just won the entire competition. But no, they had just tied up the game :). As you might imagine, I was rather dead for the rest of Monday, but so was most of the country. It was especially nice that many of the naughtier boys were tired, and thus not so noisy ;). Today began the goodbyes to all my students. Each class today and tomorrow is my last of that particular class. My second graders were quite excited about the jigglers I brought them. My third graders were quite distraught that I was going to the US and that there was no plan to return to Korea. My fourth graders also enjoyed jello (one of them changed her name to "Tracy" when Tracy left, and I think another one has threatened to change her name to "April" when I go). My fifth graders put on a party for me- they decorated the room with balloons, bought treats, bought me earrings, and each wrote me little notes. It was so sweet. My 6th graders were a little more greedy- just hoping that it meant a party for them. Tonight I hung out with "Brian" for quite awhile- just talking about everything. We've had a lot of good conversations over the year honestly comparing Korean and American cultures. Tonight was no different. Other activities of the past few days have included bank chores, going out to lunch, packing suitcases, weighing them, repacking suitcases, and sending a package of all my heavy stuff home :). Tomorrow is my final day of teaching. Unfortunately, all my favorite classes were today :). My final class of the day is adult class, and rather than normal class we're headed to a student's apartment for a party. Hooray! Thursday I believe us roommates are going out for lunch, and then I have to catch a 3:20 bus to Incheon. Once there, I'll stay in a hotel near the airport. I'll be there ridiculously early, so maybe I'd better bring a book. I'm also thinking about going to sleep right away to get started on readjusting my time zone. Friday morning I'll go to the airport. My flight leaves at 11:15. From there I head to Tokyo, have a 2 hour layover, then onto the LONG flight to Atlanta, where I have another 2 hour layover, and finally to Cleveland. Then begin reunions and late night conversations and paper work and other chores and wedding shopping (for Paula) and appointments and phone calls and travelling and weddings and more reunions... Yeah, my system is in for a shock when my pace of life suddenly speeds up. :) Thank you for your prayers as I head home. Not only for travel details, but also for all the adjusting when I get home. In some ways I really don't know what to expect from the transition. I will talk to you again when I'm back on the other side of the world!

"Heaven is a wonderful place" :)

I had this great realization the other day- When I'm reunited with Korean friends and acquaintances in heaven one day, there won't be a language barrier!!! There are so many people I'd love to know better, but I can't because of our limited communication. But in heaven, we'll be able to communicate perfectly! Wow!! I got so excited just thinking about it :)

The most patriotic country in the WORLD!

Seriously- I think Korea's gotta be it. For those of you who don't know, the World Cup started this past weekend. For weeks now, posters and products in support of the Korean soccer team have been everywhere here. Then came the t-shirts. Every clothing store has its own version of a red "Go Korea" shirt. And now EVERYONE is wearing them!! It's pretty much accepted uniform no matter what your job is. All the cashiers at the grocery store are wearing red shirts and bandanas, as are all the toll booth workers, and plenty of other people, too. Tonight was Koreas first game- against Togo. Our tv is currently out of commission, so we weren't watching. But we knew everytime Korea scored by the shouts we could hear outside! So pretty soon Abra had her computer out so that we could read the play-by-play. It was so funny, because we could tell by the noises outside what had happened before it was posted :). And, Korea won. So now, at 12:30 am, rather than relatively quiet streets, I get to listen to cars honking their horns in time with the "Dae-han-min-guk" cheer, and people yelling it on occasion. I'm excited for Korea, but if they keep up this honking at late hours, I'm going to start hoping they lose! ;)

Cook-out!

Tuesday evening we had a sort of farewell party for Pastor Moon and me. The "Oh" family was super generous again by hosting it at their house and providing TONS of food. Benjamin even came over from Chonan to join us. It was a great time. There was plenty of Korean and English being spoken, and lots of joking around and just enjoying each others' company. It felt like a big family cook-out (even with watermelon). I really enjoyed it. After eating when it was getting cold outside, we went inside for a bit. There we sang a few songs (one in English, one in Chinese and one in Korean), Juliet spoke for a bit, and we prayed. I was on the verge of tears. It's a lot of goodbyes and everyone has been so loving to me. Here's the house and yard we were at: Susie, "Rainy," "Jane," and Tracy: "Juliet," Benjamin and Pastor "Moon" Sam-gyap-sal and side dishes- typical Korean cook-out food :) 

Japan

I made it back from Japan safe and sound and with lots of pictures. Not as many as I might've had, though.... Remember the nightmare about not having batteries for my camera? Well, I bought extra batteries just in case, and then left them here. Even worse, though- halfway through our trip I dropped my camera on the cement and now the lens won't open!! Arrgh! That was worse than my nightmare!! Thankfully, Tracy still had her camera, so our experiences didn't go unphotographed. I'm not going to go into a huge detailed account of our trip, but here are the highlights. We spent 2 days in Kyoto, 1 day in Himeji, and 1 day in Nara. It was immediately interesting to notice the differences and similarities between Japan and Korea. At first we were really excited to see how clean things are there and how much greenery they have. Later we got really tired of how expensive things are and how bland the food is. The Japanese also seem much more reserved than Koreans, and thus less fun. Of course, Ben will probably disagree with my take on Japan... ;) Both Tracy and I agreed that we would have enjoyed our trip much more if we hadn't already spent a year in Korea- there's so much that wasn't new to us anymore. Still it was a good trip- I'm glad we went. Here's a list of some of the "bests" from Japan... - Best Souvenir: Yukata (summer Kimono) - Best Restaurant Experience: Conveyor belt sushi -Best Tour: Himeji Castle with the coolest tour guide ever - Best Transportation: Bicycle (it was great through the pretty back streets of Kyoto) And again, be sure to check out my other pictures- there are many more details there. I've also updated the "May" folder with pictures from the end of last month. 

Another roommate, another week, another day

This past weekend was quite relaxed. Saturday we lazed around most of the day waiting until evening for our trip to the airport. We met Mrs. Baek and Mr. Kim at 5 to leave. Unfortunately, we ran into a lot of rain and traffic on our way, so we were almost late. However, we made it just in time. After a looooooong day of travel, Susie arrived here safe and sound from North Carolina. One of the first things that struck us was her cute southern accent. Tracy said it would make hers come out, too :). I remain the only "northerner" here to convince people that Minnesota winters really aren't 6 months long ;). So we've gone right into "Korea 101" classes- introducing Susie to everything and everyone here in Dangjin. I've become so accustomed to life here, that it's interesting to see how new it all is to Susie and try to remember what it was like.... everything tastes funny, looks different, and often doesn't line up to the way you imagined it. We took Sunday pretty relaxed and went up to Namsan park and ate bibimbop for dinner with our friend, Sam. I'm really happy to be able to introduce Susie to the people I've gotten to know at church, etc who I know she can count on for help. It's always good to have Korean friends to learn from and to get help from. This week is a lovely week for me- only 2 days of teaching! And I've finished the books in all my classes, so we'll be playing a lot of games and having parties and stuff. Wednesday we're talking about going to the sea (if the weather's nice) since we have the day off. Then on Thursday Tracy and I head off bright and early for Japan! Yikes! I don't feel fully prepared, but we have our plane tickets and our accommodation lined up, so we should be ok. Since we don't have a very rigid schedule, we'll make a lot of decisions of what to do once we get there. I had a funny dream about Japan about a month ago when we were nailing down details and reading a lot from Lonely Planet. I dreamed that we were eating at a ramen shop, with tall chairs and counters, and a black interior. The woman at the shop was really friendly and excited to have foreigners in her shop, so she was giving us free food and stuff. Anyway, I decided that I needed to take a picture of this very Japanese experience. So I stood up and pulled out my camera, but my batteries were dead! Then I realized that I didn't have any more batteries and hadn't brought my charger! It was very sad ;). A nightmare that only I would have. hee hee Well, I don't expect to be posting before we go, so I'll post again when we get back! (with plenty of pictures, of course ;) )

Elections

As I mentioned in a previous post, May 31st is voting day. We will be SOOOOO happy for these elections to be over. It's not a presidential election, but there are plenty of local races going on. There are HUGE (and I mean BIG) banners all over the city promoting different candidates, always with their faces on it. That's kinda strange to me, 'cause in the States they usually don't show faces this much. I think it's because there are so many people with similar names. Each candidate is also assigned a number that is shown prominently on the banners as well. If it were just the banners, this we could handle. However, starting last week, trucks with the candidates' banners started driving around, blasting music out of speakers. Each truck has its own song. So, if one decides to park near our apartment for awhile, we hear the same song over and over again. Most of the trucks are kind of set up as a stage so that the candidate or campaigners can stand and wave, or even use a microphone to speak to people nearby. On my way back from the store tonight, I saw one such truck parked and playing its music, and an old Korean man was on the platform dancing his heart out. That was cute. Today as a noisy truck drove past my classroom window, I commented to the kids on how the noise was bothersome. The kids disagreed with me, though. They said they liked it! Their explanation was that it is arirang, traditional Korean music. That didn't explain to me why we should want it disrupting our quiet.... (but that doesn't seem to be a concern here at all. So many stores play loud music outside, too. And when a new business opens, they have the dancing girls out with loud, loud music, as well. Even outside our academy where kids are trying to study!) Probably the strangest thing to me are the workers for each campaign. As you might expect, they go into different businesses to hand out literature, but you'll also see them standing on a street corner in their matching outfits (complete with visors and t-shirts matching the banners) and bowing to cars that drive past! I'm not sure what that's supposed to do for the candidate... make him look respectful or something?? Anyway, it's strange. In the market on Saturday, one candidate was strolling around, and he stopped to talk to us. His English was quite good, but it didn't make sense for him to talk to us- we can't vote. Oh well. Something that doesn't relate to Korea.... In the midst of talking about elections and stuff, Ben mentioned that in Australia, you're required to vote. If you don't, they'll stop picking up your trash and stuff. Isn't that strange??

And in other news...

My tickets home were booked today! I'm leaving here on Friday, June 23rd- a little over a month away. Crazy. They still don't have a replacement for me, so if you know anyone who wants to teach English in Korea, send them my way! :)

Weekend Report

Sorry that these are out of order. I now see that I can only do 4 pictures at a time this way. I'll do better in the future. But now I don't want to bother fixing it... Down one fork of the trail, we could go down to a little monument marking the very tip of the Korean penninsula. There are islands further South, of course, but this was as far as you can go on the mainland. So, since I've already been to the Northern border, I've been as far as you can go in either direction! :) Here's Tracy and the end of Korea: From there we went up the bazillion stairs (ok, that's an exaggeration) to the observation tower. It was a nice view. And the stairs and pathways were all through trees and stuff and you could hear the water lapping up against the rocks at the bottom. After the observation tower we stopped at a playground and messed around with a basketball, and then we began our journey Northward. Before long, however, we spotted this area that was exposed because of low-tide. We decided to cross the sea by foot and see the islands. The shallow area on either side of this temporary isthmus was populated with women digging for shellfish. I guess there was a lot to be found there, too. Yoo-Jin got lost in digging because it was so much easier to find them than it is up by Dangjin. It was crazy how all the women just stood bent over in half for hours digging. I rounded the bend on the island to find a beautiful collection of seaweed. I got way too excited about it :) And, the rest of the evening was spent driving home. Because of the highway along the West coast, it went much quicker than we expected. That was nice. Anyway, that was the weekend! 

Temple to Beach to Path

After seeing the main temple area, we found our way over to a place with less traffic. We learned that this is the area where people stay when they're visiting the temple. Maybe there are also students there? Anyway, Ben, the eternal child, climbed up on a hill where there was a patch of grass and a nice view. After awhile the rest of us joined him. Then, just as we were getting comfy and enjoying the sound of the birds, a monk kicked us off and informed us that it was a sacred place. In fact, there were wooden stairs over this hill to make certain that noone stepped on it. It just figures that the only patch of grass was a sacred spot. It wasn't even soft grass ;). That evening we kept travelling South. We went almost as far South as you can go on the Korean penninsula. That night we hung out on the beach for awhile, lit a few fireworks, etc. The others had beer while I had orange juice. With the beach and the stupid drinking game combined, I drank an entire liter of OJ before the night was out. Here's a picture attempt that would've been good if I had a tripod :) The next morning I was up earlier than everyone else (I wonder why...) and went down to the beach to read. While there, I saw a bunch of fish jumping out of the water. That was fun to watch. Once everyone was up, we continued our trek South a few minutes to reach the actual tip of Korea. There we took a hiking trail to try to reach the observation tower we saw. Part of the trail was one of these foot massaging paths that are quite popular in Korea. They sure hurt, though!  

Haeinsa

We left Dangjin late Friday night (actually, technically it was Saturday morning-12:30am) and drove south. It was a pretty leasurely journey from my point of view. We stopped at plenty of rest areas :). Our first destination on Saturday was Hae-in-sa, one of the most famous Buddhist temples in Korea. It was beautiful. However, we certainly weren't the only ones there. It was pretty full of people, including this group of kids from the YMCA. Tracy pointed out that their hats were reminscent of Madeline books... And I rode a dragon. ;) What this particular temple is especially known for is a collection of wooden tablets they have. They're from long ago when they did printing with them. They're all kinds of important Buddhist writings. If I could read Korean, I might be able to tell you what some of the info there said about them :). Oh, and paper lanterns are pretty.  

Weekend Pics

I'll tell you more about it later, but for now you can see pictures from my roadtrip over the weekend in the May folder.

A month of holidays

May has many little holidays here in Korea. Not many of them are days off of work, but they're cute little celebrations nonetheless... May 1st is "Labor Day" in Korea. Many jobs get the day off of work, but not teachers. On May 5th two holidays overlapped- Buddha's Birthday and Childrens' Day. Buddha's Birthday is calculated by the Lunar calendar, so its date changes every year. It's a public holiday, so we didn't work that day. Some people had to choose between Labor Day and Buddha's Birthday for their day off- they couldn't have both since they were so close together. This was the first year that Childrens' Day isn't a public holiday, but because it fell on Buddha's Birthday, kids were off of school anyway. Many children get gifts, and many families take little trips to amusement parks or the beach or something else for fun with their kids. One of the main purposes is for fathers to spend time with their kids. May 8th was Parents' Day. They've combined Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day into one here. It's not a public holiday, either, so no one gets off of work. Kids make or buy gifts for their parents, though. The most common seems to be carnations- baskets of real ones, fake corsages, or paper carnations that they make. Adult children might give money or something more substantial. May 14th is "Rose Day." This seems to be only a commercial holiday. It's not even written on the calendar. I guess it's when sweethearts give each other roses. Coincidentally, it falls on American Mothers' Day, which I associate with roses as well. May 15th is Teachers' Day. Regular school doesn't have classes that day, but we do. Actually, last year I guess the Mirae teachers cleaned the school on Teachers' Day. I haven't heard what our plans are for the day. I'm guessing there will be at least a few little gifts from some of the students. May 24th is some sort of "Education Day" or something. According to the Korean teachers, school teachers don't work that day, either. But we do. May 31st is voting day. I guess it changes each year. It's not written on the calendar, and we didn't learn about it until yesterday. We actually don't work that day. We have the whole day off for voting. While it's nice that we have the day off, I'm actually a little miffed about it. No one told us earlier, and the next day is when Tracy and I head to Japan. We could've had an extra day there if we had known we had the day off!

My last trip to Seoul

(This is kinda long.... Check out the pictures in the "May" folder on my pictures link. Be sure to also see the ones I've added to the "April" folder from last weekend) And what a trip it was! :) Friday I got going a little late-ish, and got to Seoul in the afternoon. Once there I wandered down the underground shopping area which, I discovered, is absolutely HUGE. And I ran into Rainy from Dangjin, too. After seeing half of it, I jumped on the subway and found my way to Yoido Full Gospel Church. There I got on the bus to "Prayer Mountain"- a fasting and retreat center they run. I had heard about it back in September when Jason and I first visited the church. It's an hour bus ride North from Yoido. The bus played this really bad norebang-esque hymn music. Anyway, once there, some guy pointed at the little building by the entrance and said "Information!" So, I went in- all the Koreans who were also on the bus were filling out little forms with their names, phone numbers, etc, but nothing was in English. So, I waited for them to be finished and asked the people working there what they know in English. One woman knew a little, but she still didn't seem to know what to do with me. So, she called someone else on the phone and let me talk to him. He told me to come in to the "House of Love" where I could get accomodations. Usually they like you to make reservations in advance, but I hadn't been able to get any answers on email or phone before going. Thankfully, there was space for me :). Once I was checked in, I headed down to the prayer grottoes. They're little rooms where you can go and pray for as long as you want by yourself. They look a little like scary prison cells, though ;). Anyway, it was really nice. For a long while there was no one in the rooms next to me, so I could actually enjoy REAL QUIET. Very refreshing. I spent time there that night and then Saturday morning. Definitely good alone time with God. Friday night it started raining. And it rained ALL night and then most of Saturday. It finally stopped Saturday evening. I came back from Prayer Mountain just in time for the English Young Adults service at the church. It was a fairly small group, but it was still nice. I met up with the youth pastor I had met there a couple months ago, as well as a collection of new Korean friends. [Oh yes- and I can't leave out the Japanese pastor. For some reason he has been put in charge of preaching at the young adults service, even though his English isn't the best.... and his pronunciation is hilarious. "L"s don't exist for him. Thus, my favorite quote of his was, "Let's give a big crap to the praise team." ;)] After the service, we had "cell groups." As a newcomer, I was part of a group where we basically just introduced ourselves and shared prayer requests. It was cool to do that again. I love the global body of Christ. :) Once that was over, they asked me where I was headed. I told them that I was planning to stay in a jimjilbang that night, and they were really surprised that I was doing it by myself. But, they also said it sounded like fun. So, three of my new friends decided they wanted to go with me ("Christine", "Abraham", and "David")! First we went to "Abraham"'s office, which was near the church. While there, he showed me a little of a project that he's working on. He's some sort of business consultant. Anyway, the project he's working on is specs for a "ubiquitous" city- a super modern city with things that I think of as science fiction. It's hard to explain. Neat to see, though. Then he guided us to a jimjilbang on Yoido island near the 63 building. There we changed into our inmate uniforms and ate dinner. There was a rumor that there was a norebang in the building, and "David" decided he really wanted to do that. Then we found out that it wasn't in the jimjilbang, but maybe in another part of the building. So we got our shoes back, and wandered out, looking like escaped inmates. We even went outside for a bit to look. But we didn't find anything. Instead, we went back inside and ate ice-cream. During the course of the evening, we had some neat conversations about Korean culture vs. American culture, etc. All three of them speak English really well. David lived in the states for 5 years, Abraham got his masters at the University of New York, and Christine is an English teacher. They were really nice about speaking in English almost all the time. After ice-cream we split off to the bathing areas and then slept. Sunday morning I went back to the church with my new friends for the English service. Again, very nice. After all the rain on Saturday, the sky was actually BLUE! I've never seen a real blue sky in Seoul before- it's usually pretty hazy. And Yoido is a great area on a sunny day. Very new, by the river, nice trees, pretty park... :). And all over the city Azaleas are blooming. It's really pretty. May is a good month in Korea- no more dust, just flowers. After service I headed to another area in Seoul where I was supposed to find a church were Molly Holt was. I got to the subway exit, but then I wasn't able to find the church. But, I called Molly, and she came and found me. She brought me back to the church where the sermon was still going. It's not a traditional church- it's a big room where everyone sits on the floor, and they were watching this pastor on big screens. Apparently he's out of town. Molly translated much of the sermon for me. I haven't had that much at all. Her Korean is excellent (I'll tell you more about her in a bit). After service, we loaded into a van with a bunch of people and food. The plan was to have a picnic on the way to Ilsan. The traffic was pretty bad, but we still had time to stop near a patch of grass for our picnic. We had sandwiches and watermelon! Very picnic-esque. I was very happy. We even had a large collection of ants ;). After eating we finished our trip to Ilsan. (I don't know how to organize all this info!) Side Molly... she's an amazing woman. She's 70 years old, and the past 50 years of her life has been spent in Korea. Her parents were the founders of Holt International. She is one of their 6 natural children (they later adopted 8 other kids from Korea). She's been here and watched Korea modernize at an amazing rate. She's been part of rehabilitating and caring for countless patients. She loves Jesus. I feel really blessed to have spent the time with her that I did. She has so much wisdom and information about Korean culture, development, and government, not to mention her insight into working with the disabled, and ministering to people in general. She's been offered a place to live by herself, but she'd rather keep on living in the house with residents that she's still helping. When a resident is misbehaving, has just been discharged from the hospital, or needs "training" (to eat by themselves, use the bathroom, etc), they live in Molly's house. I ate dinner with them and watched how she is still working hard with these residents- teaching them to eat, and helping them feed them, etc. Simply amazing. I hope when I'm that age that I'm still that active in ministering to others. As we entered Ilsan, Molly told me about how she's watched the city change.... how it used to be dirt roads, how they had problems with electricity, etc, and now how modern it is. Around 15 years ago the government bought out the land, basically bulldozed the land, and turned it into a planned city. It's a really nice city. Very clean, with lots of nice trees and stuff. It made me think of parts of the Madison or Chicago areas (the nice, clean parts ;) ). And Molly's not sad that the country is gone. She's very happy for the convenience of a bus stop right by the complex, and a Wal-mart nearby, etc. I was very impressed with the Holt Ministries campus. It's beautiful. Lots of space for walking. tons of Azaleas blooming, trees, birds singing, etc. I'm certainly going to miss something in this explaination... The facility there is devoted to the care and training of the disabled. When Holt ministries first started up, the disabled was a very overlooked and ignored population in Korea- no special services. They're still working on changing the system here. Slowly things are becoming more handicapped friendly. Nowadays there are many more facilities and much more government support and basic awareness than there was before. Anyway, at the facility in Ilsan, there are around 270 residents, all at different levels of mental and physical ability. Their aim is to make as many of them self-sufficient as possible. And they're doing a really good job. I was impressed to see how the residents take care of each other. For example, there are two girls of similar mental age living in Molly's house- one, however, has serious physical problems, so the other one feeds her. I saw other examples, too, of residents taking the initiative in caring for each other, cleaning up, etc. And Molly shared stories of the residents who have become independent and gotten married and stuff. While there, I finally got to meet Kim Dawit. He was found abandoned in 1982, with scabies, and curled up in the fetal position. From his teeth they estimated that he was 3 years old. I know of Dawit from Bible Presbyterian Church- the church I grew up in in Wisconsin. We've sent him support for quite some time. I've seen his picture about once a year, and seen as he's gotten bigger and bigger. Anyway, it was neat to meet this boy who I've known of for so long. He doesn't speak much at all- he communicates mostly in gestures and grunts. He smiles a lot, though. He likes music, and he walks really fast. I spent a few hours with him, walking around, showing him my camera, etc. I really didn't know what to do with him- I didn't know how to get reactions out of him, etc. But, I think he enjoyed our time, nonetheless. After dinner there, I headed on the bus to a subway stop- the last one on the line. I took that into Seoul, and decided to have one last trip down Insadong street for some souvenir shopping (not much for that kind of thing in Dangjin). As has happened to me several times in Insadong, I was stopped by a student who was working on a school project. He's a freshman English major, and he wanted to videotape an interview with me. As a good English teacher, I was happy to oblige. It was just basic conversation- where are you from, do you like Korean food, how long have you been here, etc. What's really nice is that when you finish they give you a free prize. So, I got a couple keychains out of the deal :). So, I spent a bunch on souvenirs, and then realized that I ought to hurry if I wanted to make the last bus to Dangjin. As I quickly walked past all the street vendors, etc, I tried to burn it into my memory... afterall, it was probably my last night in Seoul. I made it to the bus station in time to get a ticket and stop by the Coffee Bean for the traditional sugar fix for the bus ride home (you have to have one last indulgence from the city :)). I felt really nostalgic as we drove out of Seoul, since I won't see it again. I want to remember all the details- the smells, sounds, lights, feelings, etc. It was the first real realization of the approach of my departure from Korea. Less than 7 weeks left. Again, it was quite the weekend. My favorite thing was all the great people I met. How strange it is to make friends that you really only have for one day- there's no plan of staying in contact, meeting again, etc. But for those days, we made memories. And again, it's cool how you can go anywhere and meet fellow Christians and know that you have some basic things in common.

Finishing Off Another Month

Hello! Long time no see! :-p Really, I haven't written much here in awhile... so here are a couple things I've been up to lately... Last weekend, we went to a party with a bunch of foreigners (only a couple who I'd met before, but Tracy had met most of them... many work in different cities). The party started out with a soccer game, and we were instructed to wear something supporting our home country. Well, none of us Migukans had such clothing, so Friday night we made some! We went to Wellness, bought some plain white t-shirts, picked up some permanent markers at Manito, and voila! Here are the finished products (they say "Miguk Saram"- lit. "America Person"): It was kinda fun to hang out with some new foreigners and talk about our Korea experiences and where we're from, etc. One of the other girls there is from Minnesota and went to school in Eau Claire, so we could talk about Wisconsin :). After soccer we played ping-pong, although a real tournament never got underway (that's what happens when everyone starts drinking.... a lot of nothing. Nobody cares enough to make any decisions. That gets old when you're the only one sober...). Anyway, finally we headed downtown for some food and a bar and then I left. That was the excitement of last weekend. This weekend has been nice so far, too. I wanted to do SOMETHING like go to the sea or whatever, so I made plans with Jane to go to a nearby island. However, when she arrived I learned of a young adults event at the sea later in the day, so we revised our plans. Instead, we (Jane, Abra and me) went to eat nang-myon (cold noodles) at a super busy restaurant (they're having a sale!-- they even had dancing girls out the other day). Then we went up to Namsan and saw what's blooming and the new patio area that was just finished (got rid of the last sizable patch of grass in this city). The flowers were pretty: Then we did a bit of "eye-shopping" (aka browsing) to kill time before 4:30 when we were supposed to meet at church. At 4:30 Abra headed home and Jane and I went to church where we loaded a bus with a bunch from the young adults group, and headed for the sea. We ended up in an industrial area where you could see the sea and the famous Sehoe Grand Bridge. I was amused that there was such a large picnic and park area where your main scenery is HUGE factories. But someone else pointed out that it's a nice place for factory workers to go on their breaks. First we sang a couple songs (in Korean) and then there was a mini-sermon (in Korean), and then it was time to eat! :) In small groups we laid down mats and newspaper, and then little gas ranges with grills on-top for cooking Sam-gyap-sal. We took off our shoes and crowded around the grill, sitting on the ground, and put out all the accompanying sidedishes around us (very close to my knees and feet- had to be careful!). It was quite a spread, and a fun grill-out experience for me :). That's such a great group of people, and a good number of them know a lot of English. A few are even English majors at university. I know I would enjoy being good friends with a lot of them if there wasn't such a language barrier between us... And after all of this fun, Abra and I went to the DVD room to watch a Korean flick. I wonder what tomorrow has in store? Tracy left today for her 9 day vacation. She's headed to a variety of places in Korea, just backpacking and relaxing and wandering. It's going to be really weird not to have her around for that long! I'm so used to her being here! Speaking of vacations, everything is official- we're going to Japan June 1st-6th. The plane tickets and our accomodations are booked and we've scoured Lonely Planet and talked to Ben Schleif about what to see while we're there. Most of our time will be spent in and around Kyoto. I'm really getting excited about seeing something new. I'm sorry if things have gotten rather boring on here lately... I think it's probably because I'm feeling rather boring, or bored, lately. It's not that I don't find things to do, it's just that Korea isn't all that new anymore. And I'm certainly tired of aspects of it... Well, next weekend I'm off to the Seoul area. We have Friday off, so I'm going to "Prayer Mountain," a sort of retreat center run by Yoido Full Gospel Church. I may do a bit of sightseeing and souvenir shopping while I'm around Seoul, too. This will most likely be my last trip there before heading home (isn't that weird?). On Saturday night I hope to visit the English young adults service with YFGC, and then on Sunday I'm meeting Kim Dawit! It will be a very solo weekend, but I'm looking forward to it. 

Easter Baskets

At church on Easter Sunday there were TONS of these gorgeously decorated Easter baskets at the front of the sanctuary- all filled with dozens of eggs! (actually, they don't sell eggs in dozens here- they're sold in packs of 10) The baskets were judged after church. 

Easter Pics

Abra, Tracy and I all dressed up for the occasion :) We went to Sky Lounge and enjoyed the sunshine for a few hours... After finding out that the Cherry Blossom festival was postponed (due to the crazy strong wind), we walked down the road 'till we could catch a taxi (our ride just dropped us off there)... Here's where the "festival" was supposed to be- under the overpass :) 

North Korea

You'll remember that a few weeks back I got a glimpse of North Korea on my tour of the DMZ. Without seeing much it's very clear that North Koreans live an incredibly different life than their Southern counterparts. Well, my mom forwarded me a very interesting Breakpoint article about the atrocities that are taking place in NK and what we can do to help. The week of April 22-30 has been designated North Korea Freedom Week. Please add your prayers to the thousands being offered for this cause. Get informed here-> http://www.nkfreedom.org And here's the article:

North Korea Freedom Week

By Chuck Colson 4/19/2006

Exposing Deeds of Darkness

Four years ago, President Bush described the “axis of evil,” nations that, through their actions within and beyond their borders, “threaten the peace of the world.”

While two of the axis members—Iraq and Iran—are seldom, if ever, out of the news, the third member, North Korea, gets only a fraction of the coverage. This despite the fact that North Korea already has nuclear weapons and its leaders have already killed far more people than even Saddam Hussein.

It seems that the only way North Korea is going to get the attention it warrants is if Christians force the issue.

North Korea is often called the “Hermit Kingdom” because of its isolation from the rest of the world. This nickname, which conjures up images of monks in serene repose, ought to give way to one that more accurately captures the essence of Kim Jong-Il: charnel house. The land of morning calm has become the repository for the bones of Kim’s victims.

Since Kim Jong-Il succeeded his father in 1994, more than two million North Korean men, women, and children have died from starvation. Another 400,000 have perished in political prison camps, and I’ve seen reports from those camps. It’s horrifying.

Fleeing Kim’s nightmare is hardly better. Those seeking to escape through China are “victimized by traffickers, hunted down by police, and forcibly repatriated.” China will not allow humanitarian organizations or the UN to feed and shelter North Korean refugees. To complete this hellish scenario, “children whose parents have died or been separated from them wander the streets in search of food and protection.”

If this reminds you of places like the Cambodian “Killing Fields,” you’re right. And, just as with Cambodia, the world has turned a collective blind eye. If Kim hadn’t developed nuclear weapons, nobody would have cared what happened in North Korea.

No one, that is, except the people of conscience like Christians. Groups like the North Korea Freedom Coalition work to keep the suffering of North Koreans from being another case of “out of sight and out of mind.”

The first North Korea Freedom Day rally in 2004 led to the North Korea Human Rights Act, which we helped pass in the Congress. The act commits the United States to “defend human rights and bring humanitarian aid to those suffering in North Korea.” Yet, to date, “not a single North Korean refugee has been helped by the Act’s application,” a result that Representative Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) calls “shameful.”

Well, it’s time to make ourselves heard again because our Christian brothers are in prison in North Korea and being brutalized and murdered in those camps. April 22-30 has been designated North Korea Freedom Week. The scheduled activities include congressional hearings, the North Korea Genocide Exhibit, and an all-night prayer vigil at the Chinese Embassy. These efforts will culminate at the North Korea Freedom Day rally on April 28 at the U.S. Capitol.

We need your help if we’re going to have any effect. For the Human Rights Act to be more than a piece of paper, our elected officials need to hear from their constituents. You can call us here at BreakPoint (1-877-322-5527) to get their addresses and phone numbers. And also visit our website for more information.

Our elected officials need to know that somebody is paying attention, and that is our job as Christians.

Take action:

Contact your two senators and congressman and urge them to ensure the North Korea Human Rights Act is enforced. The Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. Visit www.house.gov and www.senate.gov to learn who your congressman and senators are and how to reach them directly.

(http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=2123)

Easter Goodies

The Easter Bunny (a.k.a. Tracy's Mom) sent each of us a very generous Easter Basket! We decided to dig in tonight, before Easter, while watching "Easter Parade"- a musical I'd never seen before! 

Me and the eggs

Some of our creations... 

Eggs

And the brown eggs didn't turn out bad at all! The colors just had a richer tone to them. Oh, and the white crayon didn't match the shell...