Bau House

Today, Liz and I went to a Dog Cafe called "Bau House" in Hongdae after church. Even though we had to wait 30 minutes before being seated, it was worth it. There were about 30 dogs running around the cafe, with people playing with them, drinking sodas or beers, and having a good time relaxing.

Liz and I got oreo shakes (yum...), and had great company. There was one dog (I think it was a mixed breed) that clung to us and adopted us as her keepers for the next hour or so. She sat under the table, and when other dogs would come over, she'd bark and pounce on them trying to mark us as her territory. It was cute :) We had a few other dogs too that would play with us. A cute, tiny pug dog...a beagle...and others. But our best friend was this mutt. What a cute girl. She gave me kisses on my ears and neck (don't worry, not the face!) and loved us even though we didn't have any treats for her like others in the cafe did. What a great time to be around dogs!!

Random Videos

Ok, so I go to the Children Center each week, taking a shuttle bus from the hospital next to KBU. Twice a week, I have to listen to really old Korean music. At first it was really, really bad, and I'd pop in my headphones as soon as I got in the van. But these last few months, I've come to love and appreciate old Korean music! Haha...I guess it's an acquired taste...

Video's really stupid, don't watch it...just listen to the music!!



This next video is shot on my way home, walking from school to home. Usually I take the bus, but either way, this is what I get to see. Beautiful flowers! I was bummed to see that the cherry blossoms and magnolia flowers died after only a few weeks of magnificent beauty, but now other flowers have popped up in their place, and I'm so thankful for them! Spring is amazing in Korea! Videos could never do justice...

I think these are azelias. They're everywhere!!

Children's Day

Wednesday, the 5th, was Children's Day. It felt like Christmas! Children were everywhere with their parents buying scooters and bikes and clothes and candy. Vendors were giving away free cotton candy and other treats to honor the children.

Juny and I took advantage of the day off work, and went downtown! It was fun to spend time with him, and it was nice to think of something else other than the impending contract decisions. It's been really difficult on me, but Juny's been a huge help praying and offering encouragement to me.

So we went to a Korean Folk Village at the base of Namsan Tower. Afterward, we hung out in Myeongdong and had ice bingsu (ice shavings with fruit). Yummy!!

Korean entertaining dancers
Korean "yut" game. Really fun!!!
Teeter-totter that you jump on, catapulting the other person in the air...it's a lot harder than it seems :)
Traditional tea ceremony
The white dress and tall, black hat was a symbol of upper class people in old Korea
The table under the house was brought out to lay on or rest on outside
A time capsule! It was huge!!

Korean games

Korean dancing (I wish I had a longer shot of this...)

Tea Ceremony

Happy Birthday - Satur DAY

Saturday, the 24th, I went downtown with Liz! It was so fun, and we had a blast biking and walking around Yeouido Park. At the end of the afternoon, we just lied in the sun watching people play in the water. What a great afternoon!!

This video clip is of a group of people we saw dancing to "silent" music in the middle of this water fountain. Kind of funny :)

Happy Birthday - Satur NIGHT

Saturday night, the 24th, I went out with some girls I'm friends with from the Children Center. It was so fun! We had a really good dinner of spicy pork stir fried with cabbage and beansprouts...yum!!! Then we went to a special cafe to decorate a cake that was made a few minutes earlier. It's so hard to find good cakes in Korea, and this one was DELICIOUS!! Plus, decorating it ourselves was really fun! I definitely didn't appreciate baking in the States, but being without an oven has changed me :) I can't wait to get home and bake things! After the cake cafe, we went to a Popbingsu Cafe where we had strawberry bingsu (ice shavings with strawberries). We met one of my previous students there, and had a fun night talking and eating, eating, eating!
A man making and frosting our cake before we decorate it
Decorating together
Yepbuda!! (Beautiful)
Eating the cake at a Korean-style ice cream cafe
Our Korean "ice-cream" (popbingsu)

My (real) Birthday - Sunday and Monday

So Sunday was my real birthday, and I received my 2nd cake in the morning after teaching English at KBU Church. After church, I met WanSeok for lunch. We went to the best burger restaurant in Korea - Smokey's Saloon. It has nothing to do with a bar, which is kind of funny because of the name, but whatever...the burgers are amazing! After lunch, we went to Olympic Grand park to have my 3rd cake (the best one of them all!!). On the subway to the park, Kim You-na (Korea's olympic ice skater) fell off the top of the cake, so we ate her. We had the cake at the park, and it was sooooo delicious!! It was raspberry flavored, and very moist. Yum......unlike any other Korean cake I've ever had!! Afterwards, we saw a movie, and I headed home. It was a great day to turn 23 years old ^^
Monday I had a free-day at school. Students were taking midterms, and I'd given mine the week before, so I had one week to sit around and hang out with students. Jamie came by in the morning with 2 little cakes (number 4 and 5). It was so sweet, and she also had a little present for me. Juny came in too, and we sang Happy Birthday together. Juny gave me some chocolates, haha, you can never go wrong with chocolate!! I'm lucky to have such great friends like Jamie and Juny. Later that week, students trickled in with juices and sodas and little candies. It was sweet that they'd remembered my birthday! One student, Daniel, gave me a new Bible (Korean and English)! It's interesting how quickly I've been able to build relationships with some of the students. When they spend just a few minutes staying after to talk with me, it makes a huge difference in how comfortable and confident they are in speaking English later on! Interesting...Later in the week, 4 students came by just to play English games!! They had midterms to study for, but they wanted to spend time with me. Wow! That made me feel really good. Especially since only 1 of them is actually my student. The others are other teachers' students.

Worry

I feel like an emotional wreck. Up one day, and down the next. I love teaching these students so much. They are my strength, and they are the ones who keep me here. It's no matter if the students are good or bad or have a high speaking ability or not. They are passionate about life. They are starting on a new journey and are searching for ways to change the world around them. They challenge me in my own life to live more for God, to live life with excitement, and to not waste a moment of time.

Yet, as time gets closer to contract renewals, my heart aches. I'm pretty sure they won't rehire me back, because not working Sundays was a non-negotiable for me. And going to church these last few Sundays where I feel comfortable has reissued that commitment in me. But I still want to stay here. I want to stay so badly at KBU.

These days I can hardly sleep or eat. I feel sick. Students come in and pour their stories of concern or need of help on me. I try to help, but feel my words are empty. One student asked me if I'd ever gone through anything like his situation before, and I said that I was in a situation like that at the moment. He said that I look so strong and confident, and that I couldn't possibly be feeling anxiety. But it's easy to show strength on the outside. Hard to deal with the feelings on the inside.

I wish that KBU could see how much I love the students. I really do, and it's something I can't really explain. How can they let me go just because I want to worship God in a way that is beneficial to me (going to an early time church)? It doesn't seem fair...but then, God has a way that is more than we could know or imagine. He has good things planned for our lives. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. I know that I should just trust His guidance and follow where He leads. And who knows. Maybe KBU will extend my contract and I'm just worried for nothing...

BK

In Korea, I hardly get the chance to eat American food...so when Liz and I hang out, that's usually what we end up eating. She's so lucky to have so many American food choices living downtown!! Well, last night for dinner, we went to Burger King. The music was playing, and in a burst of insanity, I put my arm around her and swayed back and forth saying, "Hey, this is our song." I had no idea what song it was, I was just being goofy. After listening a little more closely to the words of the song, we realized it was the Burger King theme song!!! Maybe we should eat a little more Korean food...

Hugs

I've been really lacking in the "hug department" lately, and it's been really hard on me. I miss getting hugs every day. Or at least once a week! Here, people are touchy, but they're not huggy...I miss that about home.

Anyways, last week I went to Children Center, and at the end of the class, I sat down on the floor with the kids, and they ran into my arms throwing their arms around my neck giving me hugs and kisses. God blesses me through those children each week.

Yesterday I went to church in Itaewon (my previous church), and it was SUCH a blessing! I am so strengthened, encouraged, yet challenged when I go there. Anyways, after church I went out for lunch with a few of the girls from the church, and afterward, I found out that they're pretty huggy people. We gave hugs goodbye, and a group of people walked by us and "air hugged" us. I air hugged back, and they came over and gave me real hugs!!! Thank you God ^^ I needed that this last week.

Owl

The sky is dark, the rain in on the way, my flowers are growing taller in the cool breeze. It's a gloomy day. After coming back from lunch, we saw a student bending over a little animal (in the building), and we ran over to see what had happened. A little owl had flown into the building and was sprawled out on the floor with his eyes closed. Who knows how he got in there, but he was definitely out of it. His eyes were closed, and he let us stroke his back while we "Kwenchanayo"ed him. "It's ok, little bird..." We scooped him up and took him outside. He got up enough strength to stand on our fingers, and he watched us watching him. He had beautiful yellow saucer eyes. Before we knew it, he flew away. He'd only hurt one toe, but it was enough to tame him for a while.

I love how when we do something to cause sin in our lives, even if it is small, we often stumble and fall down. We are caught in our own sin, at least for the time being. But God scoops us back up, looks at us with pity, and "Kwenchanayo"s us to get back up.

Proverbs 24:16-The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.