With that said, I did better today and was able to get a few things done. Many times (except recently) I feel like I am busy and must have gotten a lot done, when in reality I spent hours in food preparation! Tonight's supper took 2 hours for a cold fruit salad over lettuce. The lettuce must be washed with bottled water, the fruit sliced up by hand, the peanuts shelled by hand, and then the chicken cooked up and de-boned. There are no such things here in the country like bags of frozen fruit or veges, ready-made or packaged meats, or cans of peanuts. John says that's why the Koreans are small...they spend hours in food prep, eat it quick, and then run out to get something done before they have to start the next meal!! :) Anyway, I did get quite a bit of caulking done in the bathroom and main room to keep out the mosquitoes and centipedes the best we can. It's getting really muggy again and John says it's supposed to thunderstorm here for the next couple days. Currently today, we have no water since there was no school today...when the school shuts the main water line off, it shuts ours off too since we're in a small house owned by the school. The kids then get to make water runs to the well...or to a fountain anyway down at the school! Then it must be boiled it before we drink it.
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Rather than trying to remember over the past couple weeks, I am going to copy and paste some paragraphs from emails we've sent:
God has been very faithful to us and we are very thankful! We appreciate each prayer on our behalf. Overall, we cannot complain...even with all the differences and new things here, we find that life can be curiously similiar in many respects here just like it was in IL. It's really quite amazing how one can move across the world and find that humanity is essentially the same, regardless which language we speak. There may be differring customs and traditions ~ which one can learn about and adjust to, but relatively, nothing is different in the actual people and what truly matters in life. Of course, these are all things that we know "in our head" but it is a completely new experience to know it "in our heart" as well. It broadens one's perception of life in the world.
Things are going well, all "settling-in" things considered. We still struggle to get into a workable schedule which allows for plenty family time as well as getting our work done and taking time to learn Korean & discover new things here. How shall I describe it? It's like you're on vacation, but yet it's your regular life, too, so that both sides need to be balanced out appropriately. Vacation-wise it would be so fun to go about and see all the places to explore and learn about. But a reality check soon shows that home maintenance is due, school studies must be done, bills must be paid, classes must be prepared for, and child-training must continue.
It has also been a great blessing that the kids have adapted so well! Even though they miss "home," they love it here and are so thankful to have me back home with them that sometimes it brings tears to my eyes. But they are adjusting well ~ if being so excited about doing things, going places, meeting new people, loving the food here, and happily talking about and praying for loved ones back in the US is any indication!!!
School is going more smoothly for John. He has adapted to it like a fish to water. The first few months were learning effective teaching techniques and classroom order. Now, his creative streak is coming out as he has more time to spend preparing for the classes. Also, we have found a library with English books (a gold mine here!!) and so he was able to read "Green Eggs and Ham" to the kindergarten kids today as well as some other classes. They loved it and it really captured their attention!
We think of you a lot and were just wondering how you're all doing... We just finished making kimbap and eating supper and are now relaxing. It's been beautiful weather here the last week. In the high 70's - low 80's with a light breeze...some humidity, but otherwise very nice weather. It cools down here at night to the mid-high 60's. Since we're experiencing things as we go, we're hoping that cooling down at night continues through the summer like in Oregon...that would be wonderful! Since we're by the ocean, maybe there's a good chance...
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Now it's me writing again...
We don't have many new pictures to blog yet...we hope to change that soon! In fact, my sister Kendra is coming in just 2 weeks. We are so excited! I think when she's here, you'll get a larger dose of pictures rather than my journaling! :D We can't wait to show her around and then have fun watching HER face & reactions with various foods and differences here...Will she enjoy taking a shower in our wonderful-not bathroom? Will she be brave enough to eat the squid tenacles at school? How will she do sitting Indian-style to eat each meal? So many things to look forward to! As it is, she and I have talked over Skype a few times in the last week - discussing things for her to pack and bring over to us. She went shopping for things we've found we need from the US (for instance, we forgot deodorant and they don't have it here). And Cyrena has graciously been sewing like crazy to make up curtains for us before she leaves on July 3 to spend a couple weeks in Europe. My Mom has also gone shopping for us as well - removeable caulk for the windows this winter among other things. Family is wonderful ~ we are blessed to have their help back in the States! There are also things that we will be sending back home with Kendra that we've found we have no use for here in Korea. So her trip seems to be well-timed! It's given us enough time to become familiar with things here and get an idea of life and necessities needed.
Here are the pictures from the last several days:
Jesse and Joy made cards at school. If you enlarge them, here is what you will see:
Jesse's: his name in Korean, I love John... I love 오 마 "oh-mah"(mommy)... God loves you.
Joy's: her name in Korean, I love you 오 마 "oh-mah" (mommy)... I love you John (she's learned this from James and passed it on to Jesse...she didn't yet know "daddy" in Korean)... God love you... I love
Jesse's name in Korean: 제 씨
Joy's name in Korean: 조이
Mother: 오마 "Oh-mah"
Father: 아바 "Ah-bah"
(Let me know if the Korean characters come through to you...they will just be boxes and weird stuff if your computer is not configured to read them.)
Playing with a rice cracker...Jesse has a big tongue and James has a boil. We've been reading in Job, and while describing boils we showed them pictures off the internet. They were intrigued, and now often pretend to be so afflicted. To James' regret, his mommy did not allow him to pose for the "boil picture" with a corresponding face. :(
A typical day inbetween the thunderstorms...the kids made roads and gathered pinecones, rocks, and such to make mountains, airbases, and more. The laundry is hanging out to dry behind them.
Well, I think this will wrap it up for tonight...John is done reading the kids their Bible-story and they are just finishing up with their memory verse. I want to thank all of you who have kept us in your prayers! And we have enjoyed the comments left on the blog as well...thank you!
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