I'm In Love.

Is it silly to say such a thing after being in a place for only three and a half months? Perhaps. Nevertheless, it is how I feel. I'm not in love with a man, however, but rather this little country I am living in called South Korea. I have come to love almost everything about my new home, from the landscape, to the language and customs, to the people who inhabit it. I love eating with chopsticks. I love the way my Korean friends always greet me with warm hugs, even though we haven't known each other long. I even enjoy getting around by public transit. Not only that, but I have found myself listening to Korean music most recently, not just so that I can relate better to my students, but for my own personal interest. I love the Korean fashion sense. They really do have good taste in dress! I find myself aspiring toward some of their trends (note, I said, some). Learning the language has been such an exciting challenge. I recently completed level one of beginner Korean at the International Center in Gwangju, a large city not far from where I live in Naju. It's amazing how much better I am able to communicate now! Don't get me wrong, I'm not quite carrying on conversations, but I can order a drink at a restaurant and tell the taxi driver where to take me!

It really is amazing how a culture you once thought was so different from your own can morph before your very eyes after a length of time interacting therein. That is exactly what is happening to me. A couple days ago, our academy students sang some of the Christmas songs we taught them in English at a church pageant. Watching the students and their families interact within their larger church family, I recognized familiar patterns of behavior to my own family circles back home. There stood the same youth pastor before the kids, getting them pumped about Christmas and Jesus... and winning raffle prizes! There was the same ladies group singing carols. There were the same parents in the front row pew, beaming from ear-to-ear as they watched their child sing/shout Jingle Bells. There was the "cool" group of teenagers clumped together in the far back corner of the church, texting on their cellphones. And after the program finished, we all went to the back room and ate delicious Korean New Year soup and Korean barbecue hot off the grill, served by the church volunteers.

Every day it feels more like home here. Of course, there is one very large part of home that will always be missing, my family and American friends. Around the holidays and special events, they are missed the most. I thank God for Skype... literally, I thank Him for it in my prayers. The ability to communicate via video chat, for free, from thousands of miles away is a huge blessing. It makes the difficulty of being far from them less difficult. On the flip side of that, I am having the adventure of a lifetime over here. I was just telling one of my co-teachers the other day how blessed I am to be able to use the degree I received to not only work toward paying off those student loans, but to live in a new place, and to positively impact my young students.

Speaking of impact, my apartment was infiltrated by about 26 nine to fourteen-year-old Korean students over the course of the past two weekends. Some of the other teachers and I have decided to use parties at our apartment as incentives for good behavior in class and good study habits. Of course, the reward for us as teachers is the crucial and opportune time to bring "bondage" with our students to the next level. It is difficult to truly impact a student one barely knows. Interacting with students outside of the classroom is both insightful and entertaining! A lot of things happened at our apartment during those special hours including (but not limited to): karaoke, singing Christmas carols, dancing, playing various games, taking and sharing photos, and eating surplus amounts of junk food. Check it out:

Yep. Life is good. God is insurmountably, incredibly good. Thanks for reading!