Monday, May 31, 2010

monday again. i'm exhausted from a wonderful, but full weekend! we obviously don't celebrate memorial day here, but we still get a 4-day work week! woohoo! wednesday is election day here so there is no work or school. i'll take a midweek break anyday. and next week, we have monday off. i'm not sure why. i have more 4-day work weeks than 5-day. thanks korea!

i was really busy all last week meeting with all kinds of people. one night i met a KNU english major to help with an assignment. he had to interview a foreign teacher/professor in english. the next night, i went out to dinner & coffee with one of my teachers. she wanted to take me out for my birthday...so sweet! we had a really great time together. the next night, i met with a KNU student who is going to america in the fall. he will be at SNU next semester and knows no one there! i would be scared out of my mind. fortunately, my dear friend and former college roommate, ashley, lives about 3 steps from SNU campus with her college pastor husband, brandon. so i've been glad to help seong-kyu make a connection there. the nazarene world gets smaller and smaller every day...

on friday, i was able to meet with my dear missionary friends before they take off for another year in india. i've only met with them a handful of times over the past couple of months, but they have been really special to me and i am sad to see them go. they treated me to another dinner and we were able to spend some time together before they head back to india this friday. there is discussion of my taking a possible trip there this august to visit. if all works out, it would be wonderful! if not, do you all have suggestions of good vacation spots on this side of the world? maybe you honeymooned or took a family vacation somewhere in asia? looking for good suggestions of awesome destinations. your two-cents would be much appreciated!

after dinner, song-hoon and i were reunited for some much-needed teatime. it'd been a long time since i had seen him because he has been so busy studying and really sick from his fast. i'm glad to report that, while not back to 100%, he is recovering well and has started back on "normal," solid foods! he lost a lot of weight and looks pretty sickly, but hopefully he will fatten up soon. his english has improved remarkably quick and i am amazed at how diligent he is in studying. he told me that he plans to study 10 hours/day during the summer. 10 HOURS per day. and i have no doubt that he will follow through with that plan. he sort of inspired me to stop being so lazy with my korean studies...hopefully i will follow through! he & i never seem to run out of things to talk about and on friday, he told me i could address him as "oppa" or "older brother" in korean. an honor! our teatime turned into a 3+ hr long ordeal which ended in his mad sprint to the bus stop to catch the last bus of the night. hahaha. we plan meet again this week to continue our chat.

on saturday, i hopped on the subway with another foreign teacher, david, to head to seoul. we heard of a place there that serves american-style breakfast, and knew we had to experience it for ourselves. on the 2.5 hr trip north, i began to wonder if it was really worth it. then we got there, and "butterfinger pancakes" did NOT disappoint. i got this ginormous platter that came with 2 waffles, like a dozen scrambled eggs, the best homefries i've ever tasted, bacon, & 2 different types of sausage! what the heck?! david got this awesome sausage/egg/cheese biscuit that was enormous, and some dessert pancakes - chocolate chocolate chip with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream & 2 scoops of cookies & cream ice cream. i took one bite and had my fill of sweets for the day. needless to say, we were rolling out of that place and didn't eat again on saturday. also - we will be back!! :)

on sunday, i got to go to my korean church for the first time in too long. for various reasons, i have been unable to go since earlier this month. so after lunch yesterday, they pulled out this awesome birthday cake for me! what in the world?! they are so sweet. 3 weeks after the fact, and we are still celebrating! the cake was delicious and it was great to be back with some of my church family. they take really good care of me!

without being able to go into much detail, things at work have been tough lately, so please keep that in your prayers! i've also been sick on and off and unable to find enough time/quiet to get the sleep that my body is so desperately craving. keep me in your thoughts. i'd better go run some copies before my next class comes in...everyone take care & keep in touch!

1 comments:

Ashley Whiteside said...

We made the blog!! That means we're practically famous, right?

Miss you so much, Asian, but we're really excited to have Seong here. At least I am. I love that he told me that, "Maybe, I will be there on August 14."

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