Thankful Thursday

We are so thankful for...

cheap and delicious Korean wine
movies in English
maps in English
new job opportunities
Psalm 91

Summer Vacay!

The first day of our much needed R&R vacation was a complete success. It started out with a 2+ hour catch up session with good friends (parents - Rick and Dee). We headed to Garak Market for our semimonthly visit and unfortunately got a little ripped off by a peach farmer, but it was worth it as they are very juicy and delicious. We then did some "spring" cleaning (as much as you can do for a 400sq ft apartment). Although we were tired, we set out to explore the southern part of our Gangnam neighborhood. We haven't really ventured to the area south of BIS (except for the occasional visit to a yummy wanna-be Mexican restaurant) and have been wanting to check it out for awhile now. Our subway station is slightly north of us so we don't visit the southern area very often. Well, we are so glad that we did. This afternoon/evening we stumbled upon a true gem. Christopher and I saw some trees about three kilometers away from our apartment and decided to attempt to quench our thirst for el natural and check it out. A very hidden doorway led to a beautiful hiking area right within our own neighborhood. After conquering the hike, despite our flip flops, we stumbled upon an outdoor, open air gym. It's complete with weights, stationary exercises, and a community of age 40+ Korean "hikers". We will definitely be returning. There's something about lifting weights while looking out over God's glorious vegetation vs sweating like pigs in the basement of a humid building with no refrigeration.

We know there have been some very exciting Summer Vacations for all of you, such as Florida feats, New England expeditions, Colorado quests, Indiana inquisitions, DC declarations, and Hawaii happenings (my hubs likes alliteration and makes me use it). We'd love to know the other vacations spots you're headed/or have headed to this summer...

Thankful Thursday

We are grateful for...

- one more day of work before VACATION!
- the generosity of the BIS staff/students/parents
- memorable moments with the kids - the ones that make us tear up with laughter/happiness
- neighborhood running routes
- organized budgeting

Life Changes

Chris and I have made quite a few lifestyle changes since moving to Seoul. Some of these changes have been more drastic than others, but all the same, life is extremely different. You could effectively say that we were thrust into an unknown world with a 180-degree difference than that normal for us. We’ve altered practically everything from our diets to our mode of transportation and anything else in between.

The biggest adjustment by far has been not living with Daphne, our nearly three-year-old boxer. From the time she was five weeks old she has lived with either Christopher or myself and we were so blessed to all three live together for the first five months of our marriage. Many of you know that we have a slight obsession with her. It’s been so hard to come home to an empty apartment with no dog slyly slinking off of the couch to greet us. Walks aren’t half as exciting now that we don’t have our lead explorer and third pack member. It’s not the same when we have lazy Saturday mornings without her snuggled in between us. And our morning alarm clock definitely does not encourage us to get up and face the day with wet kisses and a wagging tail. Although it was extremely difficult to leave her, it was our decision to move here and we knew right from the beginning it would be cruel and wrong to try to bring her. Daphne is very happily living with Ma and Pa Gilmore and her bestie, Lily the lab, in fresh air Colorado and we get to Skype and either see her or hear her often.

I hope to write about some of the other life changes we’ve been experiencing and pursuing over the next couple weeks or so….let’s call it a mini-series ☺


The day we got her.


She was so tiny!


She's such a pretty girl.


Sister Dazy, Lily, and Daphne


Ready for snowshoeing!


The morning we left...crying and crying :(

Thankful Thursday

We are grateful for...

protein and good cholesterol from eggs
rereading books
watermelon
salsa
OFF!
Red Vines

(food on the brain today :)

Running

Running has never been what you would call a "nice past-time" or "enjoyable acitivity" for me. It always seemed like a pain and a chore. Sprinting for short periods of time was an alright activity because usually there was a greater purpose (some sort of game/activity). Running for long distance for the sake of running though? Yuck...

My, how things change when you have an influential and skilled running wife. I recently began running (trying to keep up with) my wife. For the first few weeks it was painful and awful and I wanted to quit. With a little perseverance, gained patience (see dealing with Earth class on a daily basis for a boost in patience), and constant encouragement I have actually come to enjoy it!

With a little help from our Wonderful principal, we were able to sign up for a 5k in the north-western part of Seoul. A few weekends ago we ran the race and had a wonderful time running together.

Happy 25th Birthday Chris!

Christopher turned 25 this weekend! I told one of our kindergarten classes that he was going to be a quarter of a century old and they couldn't believe it. One of Chris' biggest fans, Ester, said it best - "but teacher how, he is so handsome". Haha, yes he is, I couldn't agree more :)

Here are some pictures of a few of his birthday celebrations during our relationship....


19th - Lake Dillon, Colorado


20th - Tim McGraw concert, Colorado

21st - This makes me so sad. We were in different cities and I couldn't celebrate with him but even if I had pictures, I highly doubt they would be okay to publish ;)


22nd - The Loper's, Arizona


23rd - Casey Moore's, Arizona


24th - Papa and Gramma's, Arizona


25th - Boryeongng Mud Festival, South Korea

If you want to see the cutest videos ever, please click here for his mom's post - adorable.

Thankful Thursday

our rain jackets
Mavis Beacon
being coworkers
iPods
Quarter of a Century Birthdays!

Dylan Divorce with Ashley

"Come here Dylan" said Analise with a happy voice. She was happy because she's marrying Dylan today.
"What's the matter?" asked Dylan. he didn't know he was marrying.
"We're marrying, Dylan!" answered Analise.
"What! Married! I can't because I already have a wife!" said Dylan.
"Can you just divorce? I bet she's not kind as me, right? Where is he?" said Analise. She was worried. Just then Dylan and his wife Ashley were knocking on the door.
"Analise, meet Ashley. Ashley, meet Analise." They started to grab each other's hair.
"Stop!" said Dylan. Now he had loved Analise. He asked Ashley to divorce. Ashley was unhappy. But she divorced with Dylan and he married Analise. She kissed his cheek. Analise and Ashley became friends that never fight. Analise once had called Ashley for dinner at their house. Ashley said that the house wall was pretty. They thanked her. Analise understood Dylan and Ashley's love now.

This little story is from one of our favorite 1st grade students, Barbie. She is an incredibly articulate, smart little lady. I gave her advanced 1st grade class a dialogue assignment and this is what she turned in. Apparently you can't indent on Blogger but her assignment was practically perfect with three-finger indentations whenever a new character began to speak. We are so proud of this girl and her excellent English speaking abilities - we're very excited by her drive to constantly read (she checks out three or four English books from our sad little library everyday!). This is just another undeniable reason that reading is beyond important for children.

We were also quite amused by her thoughts on marriage and divorce. Just a few weeks ago a coworker and myself were having what we thought to be a private conversation on marriage and what attracts men and women, when Barbie casually shared her two cents on the topic "yes, married is a little bit hard because when you marry, you lay a baby." Thank you six year old for your thoughts :) It just makes me wonder what she learns from Mom and Dad about what makes a happy, successful marriage. How discouraging it is that a baby like her can have such an apathetic view of divorce. Just another case in point example that children soak up all that they see/hear. This pushes me even more to strive to be one of the constructive role models our children deserve.

Well, we know she has one thing right, you have to be "kind".

Education Gaps

Let me preface this by saying I am not currently in a position with enough knowledge or experience to comment accurately on such matters. Regardless, I can’t help but point out my own experience with and witnessing to the education differences between the private academy of Seoul and North American public schools.

Recently at BIS (our school) we had a new student from Canada join us. He is in the 2nd grade and has spent his entire childhood from birth in Canada. He has Korean ancestral lines and has come to BIS to study and experience the culture for three months while living with his grandmother.

When he got to the school he was very timid and shy (I think because of the language barrier with the other students). I assured him we only speak English at school and he wouldn’t have to worry about that. After about a week and a half he loosened up and his vibrant personality began to shine through.

The principal placed him in the advanced grade 2 class (there are three 2nd grade classes, 2 at about the same level, and 1 for the advanced students) naturally as he was a native English speaker. Lauren and I both figured he would cruise through the lessons and could be a distraction as he would get bored quickly finishing before everybody else. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

As the classes went on it become more and more apparent the student was at a far lower level in reading, math, and writing. Fortunately his speaking skills were basically on par with the other students. This did disappoint Lauren and I greatly though.

Being such novice teachers we are not sure what to think. Is this individual student just at a lower level than his peers? Or, is it the case that education of his Korean counterparts has been more advanced in comparison to his Canadian education (up to this point)?

When we first arrived we were shocked to hear about the kids’ schedules. Going to 2 or more schools everyday on top of daily extracurricular activities such as music lessons, sports, and art academies was commonplace to them. Having a 10-12 hour day of instruction in some way or another was the norm. Furthermore, there seemed to be little to no break between the various mediums of instruction. At times when students didn’t do their homework we would ask them why not and their response more often than not came back as “my mom made me go to bed, it was 12 o clock”.

We couldn’t fathom such a terrible childhood. No time to for play after school, lack of recesses, double or triple hours of instruction, and mounds upon mounds of homework sounds dismal.

On the other hand…

We now have a North American, native English speaking, student in our school who is far behind his peers on this side of the Pacific in terms of academia. Was the education system he learned in too lax? Could he be pushed harder to learn more? Or, is it the individual student who is struggling, as opposed to the system? These Korean students are at a much higher level in nearly all subjects…not to mention bilingual and surely better at speaking Korean than they are English.

I’m still very unsure of what to think. On the one side it is truly amazing to see what these children are capable of. Their brains are so incredible and they can retain so much information it is inconceivable for me. Let’s throw as much as we can at them, see what sticks. I’m mean surely they’ll be thankful for it in the future. Trying to explain to them right now how incredible it is that they know two languages is like telling a fish you’re so happy it can swim.

Yet, are they happy? They constantly complain about having too much school and too much work. At first I thought, “yeah, yeah, every kid says this”, but then I realized they are saying this while not knowing any better. Children in North America say this because they can compare it to times during the summer when there is NO school, or the long afternoons they have after school. These Korean children are saying this not even aware of another lifestyle. Maybe it is WAY too much? Maybe we are slowly killing the kids (Korea leads the OECD countries in suicide rates).

It is clear right now to me there is not a solution. All I know is that children have extraordinary learning capacities and are capable of commandeering complex communication lines with half the effort of someone twice their age. When and if God blesses us with children we hope we’ll have the wisdom to find the balance between excessive free time and harnessing their learning abilities.

Thankful Thursday

So much to be thankful for...

thunderstorms
fast work weeks
customer service
honesty
E
Daphne's wonderful foster home and parents :)