This last month has been hard for both of us. We found out that Amy's best friend who had bought a non-refundable plane ticket to Korea at the end of February will not be able to come because of work conflicts. Work also caused us some unneeded stress and drama. Needless to say January was not a good month.
Fortunately February came and we got a five day weekend. As some of you may know last week was the celebration of the new lunar year. Happy year of the rabbit! We got three days off from work to celebrate it. Our five day weekend (Feb. 2-6) was spent hanging around Ulsan with our friends from church. On Wednesday, we ate at a pretty good Chinese restaurant and went to a DVD bang (think private movie theater) with our friend Elana. Thursday we walked around Ulsan Grand Park and then invited our friends over for games, food, and a movie. On Friday we went over to our friend
Elana's and had a good dinner. Saturday we made our monthly trip to Costco in Busan and also ate at a terrible burger place. Sunday we just lazed around the apartment and enjoyed the last day of the long weekend.
Other than that not much has happened here. Starting in March Scott will no longer be teaching kindergarten. His class will be graduating and moving up to elementary school and afternoon classes at our academy. Also beginning in March both of our schedules will be dramatically changing with classes being merged and moved. The biggest change being that we will start teaching at 3:15 PM (we currently start teaching afternoon classes at 2:10 PM) and finish at 9:30 PM everyday. The bad thing is that Scott will have no breaks. Please pray that we get to keep at least some of the classes and students we like.
Alright that's about it. Peace be with you!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Hello,
I think we're going to update our blog once a month near the beginning of the month. I'm sorry it's been a month and a half since our last update.
Here's some quick highlights beginning from the most recent going back in time:
Snow: Snow is usually rare in these parts, but on Monday we received between 4-6 inches of snow. It definitely makes the city look less ugly and the park across the street is really pretty.
New Year's Eve: We got three days off for New Year's so we had a 5 day weekend (Thursday-Monday). On Friday we took a trip to Daegu, the third largest city in S. Korea. They had a larger selection of Western food and clothing stores there, so we enjoyed a French/Mediterranean meal and some shopping. On Monday, amidst a snowstorm in Ulsan, we took a trip to Busan and ate some Thai food and went to Costco. Overall, the holiday was relaxing and fun.
Christmas: We didn't get any vacation time for Christmas. On Christmas Eve was had a Christmas "party" at our schools. Scott dressed up as Santa for his kindergartners, and at both campuses the kids had a potluck and a coupon exchange party. On Christmas day we had a relaxing morning Skyping with family and then went to an evening candlelight service at church. Afterwords we had a few friends over to play our new favorite board game Settlers of Catan.
December: Amy has had several class changes, and now has the privilege of teaching the kindergartners, a beginner class of 8-10 year olds, and a class of 10 4th-5th grade boys. She is loving teaching her young beginners and is finding her boys' class to be loud and sometimes frustrating, but not completely unbearable.
Thanksgiving: Since Thanksgiving is obviously not a holiday in Korea, we did not have any vacation time. However, the Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed to Busan in search of a traditional Thanksgiving meal that we heard was served in a restaurant there. Long story short, we were unable to get the meal, and ended up eating some Indian food which Scott was very happy about.
Parent's Meeting: Scott had his kindergarten parent's meeting in late November. The kids did well and the parents and Scott's bosses seemed pleased.
Church orphanage visit: In November we went to a different orphanage in Busan with the church. The orphanage is really nice (it even has an indoor swimming pool). There were a lot of volunteers from the church and not many children so the we didn't have much to do most of the time, but we were glad we went and got to see it.
Sick: Amy's been sick for last two and half months with a cough and occasional fever and stuffy head. We think it is the cold weather that is causing it and hope it will go away when it gets warmer. The doctors here are unwilling to give anything stronger than a decongestant and antihistamine which don't do anything except make her dizzy and groggy. If you could please pray for her health, that would be appreciated.
That about sums up the major things that have been going on in our lives. We continue to keep going. We are more than half way done with our year here and hope that the second half goes a little faster than the first half. We do have more vacation to look forward to in the second half, along with a visit from Amy's best friend at the end of February. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.
I think we're going to update our blog once a month near the beginning of the month. I'm sorry it's been a month and a half since our last update.
Here's some quick highlights beginning from the most recent going back in time:
Snow: Snow is usually rare in these parts, but on Monday we received between 4-6 inches of snow. It definitely makes the city look less ugly and the park across the street is really pretty.
New Year's Eve: We got three days off for New Year's so we had a 5 day weekend (Thursday-Monday). On Friday we took a trip to Daegu, the third largest city in S. Korea. They had a larger selection of Western food and clothing stores there, so we enjoyed a French/Mediterranean meal and some shopping. On Monday, amidst a snowstorm in Ulsan, we took a trip to Busan and ate some Thai food and went to Costco. Overall, the holiday was relaxing and fun.
Christmas: We didn't get any vacation time for Christmas. On Christmas Eve was had a Christmas "party" at our schools. Scott dressed up as Santa for his kindergartners, and at both campuses the kids had a potluck and a coupon exchange party. On Christmas day we had a relaxing morning Skyping with family and then went to an evening candlelight service at church. Afterwords we had a few friends over to play our new favorite board game Settlers of Catan.
December: Amy has had several class changes, and now has the privilege of teaching the kindergartners, a beginner class of 8-10 year olds, and a class of 10 4th-5th grade boys. She is loving teaching her young beginners and is finding her boys' class to be loud and sometimes frustrating, but not completely unbearable.
Thanksgiving: Since Thanksgiving is obviously not a holiday in Korea, we did not have any vacation time. However, the Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed to Busan in search of a traditional Thanksgiving meal that we heard was served in a restaurant there. Long story short, we were unable to get the meal, and ended up eating some Indian food which Scott was very happy about.
Parent's Meeting: Scott had his kindergarten parent's meeting in late November. The kids did well and the parents and Scott's bosses seemed pleased.
Church orphanage visit: In November we went to a different orphanage in Busan with the church. The orphanage is really nice (it even has an indoor swimming pool). There were a lot of volunteers from the church and not many children so the we didn't have much to do most of the time, but we were glad we went and got to see it.
Sick: Amy's been sick for last two and half months with a cough and occasional fever and stuffy head. We think it is the cold weather that is causing it and hope it will go away when it gets warmer. The doctors here are unwilling to give anything stronger than a decongestant and antihistamine which don't do anything except make her dizzy and groggy. If you could please pray for her health, that would be appreciated.
That about sums up the major things that have been going on in our lives. We continue to keep going. We are more than half way done with our year here and hope that the second half goes a little faster than the first half. We do have more vacation to look forward to in the second half, along with a visit from Amy's best friend at the end of February. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.
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