Goodbye, Amanda and Abby.

This past weekend I said goodbye to two very dear friends of mine, Amanda and Abby. I met Amanda about a year ago at my last school, and we became fast friends. Abby is the teacher who replaced me at my last job. She and I went to church together. One of the really great things about living abroad is the variety of people you meet! I've met so many friends from many different countries, including Canada, Australia, Korea, Ireland, South Africa, and Brazil! I love having this opportunity to work in Korea because there are so many really interesting people I come across every day.

Amanda and Abby are two special friends of mine, who I'm hoping I'll have a chance to see again. They are both from Canada, but live at opposite ends of the country. They both talk of coming back to Korea in the next few months, but you just never know what awaits them at home. I wish them the very VERY best in their next adventures!

This past weekend, Amanda, Abby, and I were able to celebrate with each other before they boarded their planes home. We met up on Saturday at a hostel in Hongdae. (Abby was staying at a different hostel than Amanda and I.) Amanda and I chatted for a few hours when we first arrived, and then we both took naps. Abby met us at our hostel around 6:30pm, and we waited while Amanda got ready. We met our friend, June, for Korean BBQ dinner. It was SO GOOD!! After that, we went to another restaurant for more food and drinks. (It's a typical Korean night-out to restaurant-hop for different food and drinks.) June took us to this really nice place, kind of underground. He was the only one who had been there before, so it was a new experience for the three of us! They had really delicious food and the atmosphere was awesome.

After that, we met up with some other friends in a Jazz Club down the street. We didn't really feel like staying there long, so we decided to go to a nooribang, a private karaoke room. The four of us found a really nice one down the street. After we paid for the room, we got free popcorn, juice, and ice cream! JACKPOT! We went to our room, and started singing!! I just love the idea of nooribangs and feel like they should open up some of these fine establishments in the States. :)

After the nooribang, we walked to Hongdae Park, and met up with one of Amanda's friends. We talked for awhile in the park, but it was SO COLD! I ended up bailing early, so they walked me back towards the hostel. I wasn't wearing my coat, which was a horrible decision on my part, so I was REALLY uncomfortable. I ended up calling it an early night at 4:00am, while the others went to a pub close-by to keep chatting. I just wanted to be warm. :)

On Sunday, Amanda, Abby, and I met up at the hostel again and got ready to go. I packed all my stuff, because I was only staying that one night. The three of us hopped on the subway and headed towards Myeongdong. Along the way, we passed through Seoul Station. Amanda wanted to take some pictures, so Abby and I stopped in at McDonald's and had some breakfast/lunch/afternoon snack. :) We went on our way and ended up in Myeongdong. We stopped at Starbucks for some coffee to help us keep warm. We walked the streets of Myeongdong and went shopping at all the little carts that were set up. Amanda and Abby were looking for small things to take home with them. We went into a few stores and did some light shopping. I bought a jacket, some leggings, and...A SPIDERMAN SWEATSHIRT!! It's my first one ever! It's like it was meant to be. We were in Forever21, looking around at some coats in a corner of the store. I turned and looked across the room, and all the way in the OPPOSITE corner, hanging on the wall, was a Spiderman sweatshirt. It was love at first sight. Sigh... :) So, I just couldn't resist!

After we finished shopping, we went into a cupcake store called "Goodovening." Ya, I have no idea why it's called that or even how to pronounce it. But, they have the BEST CUPCAKES EVER! They have all different kinds to choose from. I (obviously) chose the chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and chocolate cream on the inside. Yum. We sat and chatted for awhile, and then left to look around some more. Throughout the day/night, we took a bunch of pictures in the street. We wanted to document our last night together. For dinner, we went to a popular chain restaurant in Korea. It's one of those restaurants where they cook the food in front of you. It's rice, spicy veggies, chicken, and cheese all mixed together. So. Good. By this point, it was 9:00pm, so we knew we all had to head home. Amanda and Abby had to finish their last minute packing, and I had work in the morning. On our way to the subway, we stopped in at a card store and bought some Christmas cards. We did our very best to find some cards that DIDN'T have typos. (It's really hard to find those in Korea.)

When we got to the subway, we parted ways at the transfer point. The girls were going on Line 2 and I was going on Line 5. Amanda and I took a "sad face" picture at the separation point. We said our goodbyes, there were tears and hugs, but it was good. We did all the things the girls wanted to do and see and eat before they left Korea, and we had a really great time doing it. I'm going to miss Amanda and Abby, but I wish them the best! I'll be sending happy thoughts their way as they sort out their new lives back home. :)

Thanksgiving...American Style!!

On November 17th, I went to a Thanksgiving Banquet at my church. They flew in 35 turkeys from California, so it was the real deal! We had turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and green beans. For dessert? Pecan pie and/or pumpkin pie. DELICIOUS!!

I invited Lisa and Ian to go with me, and we met Abby and Elaine there. They started with a short worship service, and then started dismissing tables to load up our plates. YUM! After we finished eating, they started the Talent Show. (They have auditions beforehand, so it's always quite good.) We heard some singing, the orchestra played a few songs, and then...it was time to rap!! Pastor Doug went to the stage and asked for anyone who wanted to participate in the rap-off. Two guys and one girl volunteered, and they started rapping. It was HILARIOUS!! We chose a winner, and he got one of the raffle prizes. Pastor Doug thanked everyone, and then started leaving the stage. Everyone started complaining that we didn't hear him rap. So, he caved in and started rapping about Thanksgiving. It was so good!! Everyone was laughing.

After the Thanksgiving dinner, Elaine, Ian, Lisa, and I all went for coffee at Starbucks. When we got there, we saw a set of couches waiting just for us! We ordered coffees and made ourselves comfortable. Starbucks was playing Christmas music, which I love! We had great conversation and just enjoyed relaxing and hanging out. It was a great end to the night. We all parted ways, and Ian, Lisa, and I headed home.

It was difficult being away from my family on Thanksgiving, just like last year. But, it makes it so much easier when I have a home-cooked meal and a good community to share it with. And later on, I got to Skype home with my family on Thanksgiving morning! That was the best. :)

We love you, Susie.

On Wednesday morning, Tuesday American time, I got the news that Susie, my stepmom, passed away. She had been fighting Cancer for over two years, and her battle finally came to an end. I called her two weeks ago from Korea to chat and catch up. We talked for over an hour about life and memories and Korea and how she was doing. It was really refreshing being able to chat, and I feel like I was able to get closure. I knew that her time was coming soon, but I didn't anticipate it being SO soon. I can find comfort in the fact that her faith was strong, and she's now in Heaven. I am so thankful that she had a relationship with God and that she is with Him in a MUCH better place!

I'm so blessed that I had such a close relationship with my stepmom. There are so many things I loved about Susie. The thing that I will remember most about her is her commitment to Jena and me. She called us her own and always treated us that way. I truly believe that God places people in our lives so we can form relationships with them. Through those relationships, we can build up, love, and encourage one another. My relationship with Susie is one that I will always cherish. Thank you, Susie, for being such a good person and for loving Jena and me. We will miss you so much, but we are so thankful for the 20 years we knew you. We love you, Susie.

Just Another Sunday.

On Sunday, I was heading to church and met Abby a few stops away. She had been staying with a friend, so I called her when the subway was pulling into her station, and she hopped on. It worked out great! We rode the subway to church together. It was nice to have some company. :)

We met Reuel and Michelle at Dos Tacos for lunch. One of my friends, Elaine, who I met on the island a few weeks ago, was on her way to church. She told me she hadn't been able to find a church, so I was excited to invite her to New Harvest. She was originally going to meet us for lunch, but was running late. She ended up just meeting us inside before the service started.

Elaine LOVED the church service, so I was really excited! I'm really happy to be a part of the New Harvest community, and I was pretty confident she would like it. However, in the back of my mind, I was saying an extra prayer that she would find community there. She did! She enjoyed the music, loved the pastor's way of speaking, and said the people were so nice. I felt relieved, and very proud that New Harvest made such a great impression on her! She said she'll definitely be coming back next week!

After church, my small group got together and prayed in the lobby before the final service. We prayed for the worship team, the pastor, and the congregation. (This was something our group decided to do together as a service to the church. However, all of us enjoyed it so much that we want to make it a weekly thing!)

After that, I headed to Dongtan to visit Johnny. We grabbed some chicken at a local restaurant and just hung out and talked. I had left a few things at his place when I moved, so I wanted to get those from him. But it was a great excuse to visit him! :) We had a great visit, as usual. Around 5pm, I headed back home. I had a long bus ride, and was going in and out of sleep, so that was rough...but I finally made it back! When I got home, I wasn't feeling well, so I just relaxed and talked to people online for a bit before calling it a night.

My First Korean Wedding.

On Saturday, I met Lisa at the subway at 7am!! We were dressed in our new dresses, all ready to experience our first Korean wedding! However, we had to attend a seminar for school first. Lame, I know. The seminar was from 9am-1pm, and the wedding began at 3:30pm. We had no time to go home between the seminar and the wedding, so we had to wake up early and get all dolled up! What's even worse is the seminar was very informal attire, so we were prepared to stick out like sore thumbs.

We rode the subway to Bangbae Station. It was only 8am, so we had plenty of time to stop in a bakery and get coffee and breakfast! Ian, our coworker, was supposed to meet us at the subway, but he slept through his alarm or something, so he was running behind. We decided to wait for him in the bakery. We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves, until Ian got there. When he arrived, he grabbed some coffee and we headed to the Seoul Training Center for the seminar. (Lisa was smart and brought her heels in a bag, but I was wearing my wedges...I didn't appreciate the hills we had to take to get to the building...)

When we arrived, it was just as we expected. Everyone was wearing jeans and hoodies, and we were wearing fancy dresses and heels. GREAT! We collected our books and paperwork they gave us and hung out in the lobby. Eventually, we all filed in and found our seats. The seminar was SUCH A JOKE!! We learned about REALLY important things, like the Visa process (Hello! We already made it into the country! I'm pretty sure we know how all this works...), Korean culture (I'm going on my 15th month in Korea, so I'm quite certain I've got a good grasp on the culture...), how to teach English in a foreign country (really??), you know. Really important things like that! Basically, we were miserable. But it was a required seminar set up by the government, so attendance was mandatory.

We FINALLY got out of the seminar at 12:50pm, and decided to find food somewhere. Lisa spotted a Subway (what?!), so we had subs for lunch. Delicious. We walked around the area for a bit, and then decided to head to where the wedding hall was. It was only a few subway stops away, which was convenient. When we got there, Lisa and I went into the bathroom at the subway station and got ready: re-applied make-up, fixed our hair, and Lisa swapped her shoes out, while Ian waited outside. :)

We met Angie, another coworker, at the subway station, and the four of us walked to the wedding hall. When we got inside, we were instructed to go up to the third floor. When we got inside, we went into a side room and took a picture with the bride! EEEEE!! The bride is the Director of my school. Her name is Cindy, and she's just wonderful. :) The four of us took a picture with Cindy, and then we waited for the wedding to start. Lisa and I were bursting at the seams when Cindy gave us invitations because we LOVE weddings, but we were warned by pretty much everyone that Korean weddings are much different than Western weddings. Whatever. We were still pumped. When the wedding was about to start, we realized that there were no more seats left! About half of the guests didn't have a place to sit, so they just stood around in the lobby and talked and played on their phones, while kids were running around screaming. The person leading the ceremony had a microphone, so his voice projected into the lobby, but everyone was just talking and chatting amongst themselves, not really paying attention at all to the ceremony. I was shocked. This is what people had been telling me would happen, but I couldn't BELIEVE it!

The ceremony was really quick, only about 30 minutes. After that, it was picture time. They called up family first, and then called up friends. Cindy had asked me if I would catch her bouquet, and I eagerly agreed! However, I had been given no instructions on what I was supposed to do or when this would occur. When the friends were called up to take pictures, I was told to stand next to Cindy. Everyone was speaking to me in Korean, so Cindy was whispering to me what to do. Then, it was time to catch the bouquet. I was moved off to the side, and Cindy counted and threw the bouquet behind her, while the photographer snapped a bunch of pictures. Thankfully, I caught it! Whew! Then, everyone filed out to the next room for food. I was asked to stay and take pictures with the bride and groom, so that was pretty cool! Lisa was nice enough to wait for me while I did this. When the pictures were finished, Lisa and I went out into the lobby to look for everyone. No one was there.

We had NO idea where to go! We called our friends, but they didn't answer their phones. This was a massive wedding hall, so tons of weddings were taking place at one time. We could only recognize a few people from the wedding we attended, so Lisa and I were lost for a good ten minutes. Finally we made our way to the basement, where we saw the big room of people. This was where the food was. We gave our meal tickets to the lady and went inside. There were hundreds of people inside, sitting at different tables eating. All the wedding guests were mixed together and sitting among one another. We eventually figured out that we were supposed to put our stuff down to reserve a table, and then get in the buffet line. The buffet was a pretty incredible spread! They had Western food, Korean food, Japanese food, Chinese food...so much food! They had lobster and other seafood, steaks, soups, salads, pasta, pastries, so many different choices! It was great! The foreign teachers all sat together, so that was good. We chatted for a bit, and then headed out.

Ian, Lisa, Angie, and I all went into Gangnam for food and drinks. We were all dressed up, so we wanted to make the most of it! Angie eventually left, and my friend, Abby, joined us. We went restaurant/bar hopping. I had my pack of cards with me, so we played card games and just chatted. It was a really fun evening. :) Eventually, we all parted ways, and went home. I've now experienced my first Korean wedding. I'm glad I went (and was honored to catch the bouquet!), but I don't feel like I need to go to another one while I'm here... :)

Crazy Love Small Group.

I've recently joined a small group at my church. It is a co-ed group, with a mix of foreigners and Koreans. Over the next three months, we will be reading the book, Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. Some of my friends have read it in the past and had only good things to say about it, so I'm really excited to start diving in! The leader of my small group is Peter, and he's awesome! He works as a translator, and he speaks English, Spanish, and Korean fluently. Pretty impressive, huh? From day one, I could tell that our small group was filled with really awesome people. We have teachers, computer geeks, programmers, traders, and buiness people. The jobs are all over the map, we all have different backgrounds, but we're all in this group for the same purpose: to learn about and experience first-hand the enormous amount of love God has for us!

My small group meets every Tuesday night at 7:00pm in Gangnam. It's really convenient for me to get there by subway, and I only have to transfer one time. Exciting! Last week, I was given another class at school, which forced me to stay at work until 6:00pm. That gives me JUST enough time to get to small group on time! I told Peter that I might be late every week because of this extra class, and he said it was fine. It's just my own personality that's frustrated by this. I HATE being late places, so I knew that every Tuesday night I would be running to small group. And when I say running, I mean it. I bolted out the door when my class finished and headed for the subway. Along the way, I ate a protein bar and a banana, since I didn't have time to stop for dinner. (I'll definitely have to figure out something else for next week, because that's not gonna be substantial enough for dinner.)

The subway takes 42 minutes, and then it's about a 10-minute walk from the subway station to the building where my group is meeting. I hopped off the subway in Gangnam and ran to small group! Fortunately, I strolled in the door five minutes before 7:00pm, and only Peter and one other guy were there. GREAT!! I didn't mind that everyone else was running behind. I was just thrilled that I was on time.

Small group discussion was great, and I'm really looking forward to more deeper discussions in the future. I think they will be good. A lot of people were really willing to share, and I heard a lot of unique perspectives, so that was interesting. Our small group time focuses a lot on prayer, which I really appreciate. I find that in my daily life, I leave little time for just sitting in silence and listening for God. My quiet times are all about praying for specific people and needs, and rarely do I stop after I pray to listen for God. So, I really appreciate the time we're devoting to praying for one another and just listening. It's really refreshing, actually.

After small group, two girls, Amanda and Kayla, invited me to go with them to McDonald's to get McFlurries. Obviously I wasn't gonna turn THAT down!! I had never had a McFlurry in Korea, and it was quite good! They didn't have the M&M one, which I always get, but it forced me to try to Oreo ones. What a tough life. :) It was great to hang out with Amanda and Kayla and get to know them better outside of small group. Hopefully we'll hang out a lot more!!

Wedding Preparations...

The director of my school, Cindy, is getting married this Saturday, and she invited all the teachers to her wedding!! I'm so pumped because I LOVE weddings!! Plus, it gives me an excuse to go shopping...for a new dress! I'm especially excited because Cindy asked me earlier last week if I would catch her bouquet for her. AHHHH!! It's a bit different from back home. In Korea, the bride pre-selects someone to catch her bouquet. They take photos together, and the bride specifically throws it to the person. According to Korean culture, after catching a bouquet, you must get married in the next three years....Welp! I'm not worried about that. I'm not Korean. I'm just SUPER excited that I get the honor of catching her bouquet!

On Sunday, I met Abby, Reuel, and Mi-yeon at Dos Tacos for lunch before church. We went to church and had a great service, and worship was especially good! The sermon was about intentionally seeking after God in everything you do. I always feel like God is speaking directly to me through Pastor Doug. It was a really good sermon. I definitely needed to hear those words.

After church I met up with Lisa so we could go SHOPPING!! We both needed to buy dresses to wear to Cindy's wedding. There were so many restrictions, so it seemed like it would be a rather daunting task. We couldn't wear white, because that's the color of the bride's dress. We couldn't wear black, because that's the color you wear to a funeral. We couldn't wear red, because it's bad luck in Korea. We couldn't wear a short dress, it had to be longer, around the knee, because we're in Korea. It's Fall, so we had to choose a color that would go well with Fall. Sigh...sometimes it's so tough being a girl. :)

Lisa and I were prepared to go shopping all day since we didn't know how successful we would be looking in Korean shops. However, we both found dresses in the first store!! We went to the dressing room together to give each other feedback and see what we liked. After trying on our first options, Lisa asked, "Did we just find our dresses for the wedding?" Jackpot! Well, once we bought dresses, we had to find everything else that would match. Shoes, a bag, jewelry...Fortunately, both of us already had shoes that matched our dresses. Lisa needed to look for jewelry to match her dress, and I needed a black clutch to match my dress. We ducked in and out of a few stores, and finally had everything we needed. After that, we were just looking around stores for fun. Since it's nice Fall weather now, it's a bit cooler. I bought a few sweaters, and Lisa picked up a few things, too. Overall, it was quite a successful shopping trip.

We stopped at The Frypan for dinner, a fried chicken and chips chain in Korea. Lisa had never been there, and it's one of my favorites. :) After dinner, we weren't ready to go home yet. We decided to get coffee, and I suggested we go to a local board game cafe that I've been to with other friends. We went there, ordered, and then headed downstairs to choose a board game. We decided on Monopoly. I was particularly excited because I've never actually played the real version of Monopoly, only Monopoly Jr. So, I didn't know how to play the game with mortgages, big money, and trading properties. And it quickly became even MORE fun because it was the Korean version of Monopoly. All the cards were written out in Korean, the game spaces like "Boardwalk" were now "Gangnam and Suwon," common places in Korea. Luckily, I can read Korean, so we were able to maneuver our way around the board. Lisa had played before, so she was able to decipher what the cards were saying based on the amount of money and the pictures. We fumbled our way through the game, with tons of laughs. It was pretty great for my first time playing real Monopoly! Lisa ended up winning...but I didn't mind! We were at the cafe playing for 3 hours!! We played until I went bankrupt. :)

Sunday was quite long and exhausting, but it was productive, too! We caught the subway home, and prepared for another week of teaching. I'm REALLY looking forward to next weekend when the wedding rolls around. It's going to be quite the experience! :)