Seoul

We went to Seoul yesterday with Pastor Kim. First we went to the Cancer Treatment Hospital so he could visit someone in his cell group. We just waited in the car while Chloe slept. Then we went to a large bookstore in Seoul called Kyobo. This is a popular bookstore which are throughout Korea. We even have one in Cheonan, but it isn't as big as the one in Seoul. So I got some books to use for teaching English and also some books to read while I'm here. We also got some books in English for Pastor Kim so he can practice his English: The Shack, Heroes, and The Giver. He is excited to read these books because he doesn't have any like these yet because he didn't know which ones to buy. Chloe also got another book, I'll give you one guess at what it is. That's right, another Princess book. This one is in English as well. We already have a Korean book dealing with Fairy Princesses. I hope she doesn't grow out of this stage anytime soon because everything we have is princess. Maybe she'll grow out of it just as the other little girl is growing into it so there won't be any fighting over whose princess is whose. We also saw the Blue House which is the equivalent to our White House. It is very big and traditional looking. We went to the top of a high mountain (bookachsan, north mountain) and you could see Seoul for miles, although it was a little cloudy. The city looks like a little Lego set. Every building stacking higher than the next. We ate at Subway, which is so not Korean. We asked for Korean but Pastor Kim was tired of Korean I think and really wanted American, so we ate at Subway. I think it was a good idea because Chloe was starving and ate a whole 6-inch sub by herself. Wow! She's beginning to be more like her daddy everyday. Today, Brandy said she wants to venture out on her own and actually go to the grocery store by herself. I hope everything goes well with that. We still don't have our cell phones yet, but maybe tomorrow. We tried to get one last night but we couldn't figure out what an internet phone was so we decided to wait. We had a fun time walking around this BIG city, but it was a little too crowded for me.

Seoul Visit

A video of Chloe

Here is the video for the grandparents. I hope you enjoy. We got snow on Saturday and Sunday. When we woke up everything was white. The mountains look glorious with the white covering the trees like blankets. The sun looked like it was coming in from every direction because the snow was like a mirror. The people here in Cheonan said they have not seen snow like this for sometime. It even snowed while it was sunny.

English is good

Since we had the holidays, Ansley and Kidoong's family came over and we had a good time. San is the little boy, Kidoong's son. Him and Chloe had a blast. Kidoong took us to a nearby mall and we purchased some more items that we needed. We had a great time talking English the whole time, and not Konglish. We were going to see a movie but we ran out of time. We ate lunch with them and hung out with them until about 5, which means we went right through Chloe's nap time. This showed quite a bit sometimes in the mall, but overall she was a really good girl. She really liked to keep up with San and they both were filled with so much energy. Needless to say they both slept very well when they got home. We want to get together with them once a week to talk about ideas we have for our English classes and how we can better serve the students. I'm so glad I already have a network of people here I can trust. Here are some pictures of the event that day.

Holiday Weekend

Holiday

We've been out of commission for a little bit because Korea just celebrated their New Year, which means I don't go to the church and get internet access. The church took Monday and Tuesday off but most people took Saturday through Tuesday off. This is their big holiday where they actually take a break and visit their families (kind of like our Christmas). So, Brandy and I had absolutely nothing to do. Since Chloe had a mild cold and somehow Brandy got it, they stayed in the home. I wanted to do something so I walked to a part of our town to look around and stretch my legs. This video is just pictures I took on my journey through the town and that day. Today we're back on schedule and working a little. Really I'm just planning for my curriculum for English teaching that I must present to the Senior Pastor at some time. Brandy is staying at the house still, meeting all of the wives of the pastors and taking care of the house and Chloe. Sooner or later she'll get up the strength to actually go out on the town on her own. She's still a little timid when it comes to that kind of stuff. I've gone out on the town twice by myself but I want to do a little more journeying soon. I've only visited a part of our town and I want to visit the rest. This is the fun part of being here and being foreign. As I walk down the street people stop and look or whisper to each other about me. I feel famous sometimes and at other times infamous. Either one I'll take because I'm a celebrity. The only person who steals the show is Chloe. The Korean people here are fascinated with her. She is so cute and white and little. People, young and old, flock to her and touch her (she doesn't seem to like that part), and they give her things like balloons. She is treated like a true princess. The next post will probably be mostly for the grandparents because it is Brandy's Flipvideo stuff that is only about Chloe's daily process of things and the messes she gets into.
Don't play this through the YouTube page because the music is copyrighted and it won't play.

Video

Here is a video of when we started out journey to Korea. We flew Korean Air and it was nice. They have so many shows and movies you can pick from to watch to keep you up for hours; 15 hours to be exact. Chloe had a fun time with all of her toys that we hid from her through Christmas and also new toys she had never seen before. Most of the plane ride we watch movies but the last couple of hours Chloe played with another young boy in the back of the plane. That was a nice time because she didn't cry or fuss and she released some of that bottled up energy. When I build an airplane it will have a small play area in the back for children and a little larger one in the front for adults, so then you can stretch your legs and pass the time quickly. I'm pretty sure that idea is money!$! Anyways, enjoy the video and I will post pictures later.
Korean word of the day: 벙 = room, pronounced bong

We're Here!

So, we made it. I can't post as much as I want because we don't have internet at our place yet. But I'll try to post everytime I come to the church because it does have internet. We went shopping already and bought the minimal amount for our family. We went walking yesterday and found a grocery store close to our home. We also met another American family with a daughter about 18 months old. Brandy's very excited that they can get a playdate together whenever we can get cell phones. I'm staying busy now with the church. I have a lot more responsibilities than I originally thought I would have. Not only am I starting an English class, I'm also leading all of the English things that happen in the church; which they don't have yet. Such as: English worship service, English cell groups, English bible studies (Sunday School), English Saturday school with children from church, and so on. I'm excited I have so much to do but I also feel overwhelmed. I pray God will help me to fulfill all of the dreams that the pastor has of this English ministry. In the meantime I'm just waiting around and visiting people and places and trying to learn Korean. This is a starting point for me - http://blog.daum.net/jasko7/6539077?srchid=BR1http%3A%2F%2Fblog.daum.net%2Fjasko7%2F6539077. If you find any sites that are also good, give me a shout-out post, thanks.
Another is http://www.korean-arts.com/about/korean%20alphabet.htm
P.S. I will try to post pictures and videos next time.

A little excited and stressed

This is about how my wife looked tonight as we did the finishing touches on packing for our trip to Korea. We have 6 luggages to pack and 4 of them are over the 50 lb limit. I felt like we weren't taking that much but now I feel like Americans who take everything with them. It's hard because they don't have anything our size so we have to take everything we think we will use because we can't buy anything over there that's in our size. They don't even have shoes in our size. The good thing is that our daughter is still small enough to fit in their children clothes so we don't have to take a hundred outfits for her like we are for us. Hopefully we can sleep tomorrow on the plane because we're going to need it or we might remain to look like this -->. We have a 15 hour flight to look forward to. A long flight where we leave here at noon and arrive there at their time of 5:00 pm. It's like we lose a whole day on a plane. The problem I'm going to have is trying to not watch all the movies they have and actually catch a little shut eye. And we have to get our little girl to go to sleep twice, one for her nap and the other for her night sleep. All of this is going to be challenge but we have to do it because we can't just jump out of the plane, can we? I'm going to miss a lot of stuff when I leave: family, friends, and UGA. I'm really going to miss Frisbee. Well, I'll keep you up to date later, got to go to sleep so I can get up bright and early at 6:00 am.

What's going on? Is this how it works? I'm moving to Korea and I can't wait to play basketball because I'm the Korean Shaq of Korea.