Last week.

The humidity is as high as the stress level. My students are yelling and screaming with delight each time the thunder strikes, and it's my last week of work. My first tropical storm in Korea..the romantic in me is loving every minute. Now I just need find the chance to run out into the storm..

We're way past cherry blossoms...

It’s already May. I’ve survived the winter, spring is quickly heading towards becoming the dreaded and unbearably humid summer. I’ve had to take up going to the gym since my memories, let alone the my muscle memory of surfing is dwindling away into the distance. It’s already been ten months since I last paddled out, and the closest thing I’ve been to a swimming pool has been treading through the puddles left by the pouring rainstorms.

I’ve been working since January at a hakwon or academy, teaching English to Korean students aged six to ten. My official working hours are from 9am to 7:30pm, but more realistically, I am working 9:30am to 8-8:30pm at times at the office, and an additional thirty minutes to two hours each night at home. My official title is Academic Coordinator, or kyosoo boojangneem, but more realistically, you can call me the go to for everything person. I’m slowly trying to change this, but after four months of trying, I’m quickly running out of steam.

I love the kids, and I love my coworkers and have found friends among them, but needless to say, I’ve had little time to blog, dance, photograph, read, love, laugh, cry, explore, or have time with family. Yet, I always try to find time for my cup of coffee. I’ve found tasty coffee-houses all over Seoul, but I’m especially lucky to have one of the friendliest, coziest, and tastiest coffee houses two minutes away from my apartment and on my way to my office—thank God. I’ve also made a lot of coffee at home. Lugging my espresso machine, burr grinder, and French press in my suitcase was not done in vain!

I’ve also just concluded a thirteen week volunteer position at my dad’s church, teaching Art in English to students, aged seven to thirteen. I love teaching in general, but it’s so much more rewarding and fulfilling to teach your passion. With the ending of my volunteer program at church, my weekends have become a little freer, but I may be embarking on a new assignment at church as the new Sunday school teacher.

My dad’s church is really in need of one, and last Sunday while listening to my dad’s sermon, I felt an urging that this was something my dad needed, and something I am capable of. So as precious as time feels to me, I know my reason for coming to Korea was to help my dad in his life here, and this is definitely a way for me to help him. I have also been feeling guilty for not being able to spend more time with him on the weekdays, and I know the guilt is only going to grow with my brother arriving in Korea at the end of this month.

My dad and I have found time to spend together. We occasionally see each other for brunch on Saturdays, sometimes meet for dinner on the weekdays or on Sundays, and I see him each Friday night for Bible study. I feel a great honor and privilege being able to learn my father’s passion and calling from him. I find each Friday night to be very precious. It also connects me to my family in San Francisco, since I know my mother and sister both sat and heard the same lesson from my dad. Even if it was years ago, it feels as though we are on the same plane in parallel universes.

I’ve missed my family tremendously, and my friends as well. I feel extremely guilty for not keeping in contact more often, and when I do, I feel I’m not nearly as available as I’d like to be with my time. I’m only around for a quick hello here or there, but know, you are all on my mind. I am really excited to see my brother. In my sister’s facebook pictures, he has grown into a pre-teen. Any trace of his baby face has completely disappeared, and I can see his adolescence emerging. I can’t believe he’s turning ten in just a few short months. Holy crap, I can’t believe a decade has gone by since I graduated high school…life just keeps going without waiting for you to be ready for it…

I do have to let you know, I have met some strange people, some hopeless people, some beautiful people, and some people who I already know remain lifelong friends. Hope unnie from my dad’s church made me feel incredibly welcome from day one when I first moved to Korea.

Sharon made my days at Poly not only bearable, but I looked forward to seeing her in the office each day. Although she has moved on to bigger and better things, we’re still keeping in touch and being supportive of each other in our daily lives in Korea. She is my sister’s age, and shares my sister’s name, and has been like a sister to me here.

I’ve also been blessed catching up to, and seeing many of my relatives who I’ve not seen in as much as fifteen to twenty-three years. I visited my grandmother, sitting face-to-face with her for the first time since Alzheimer’s took a hold of her mind. She seemed to recognize me, calling me “someone I truly know”, but could not remember my name, and at the second visit, lost recollection of me altogether. Seeing her made floods of childhood memories flood back. She taught me how to play janggi, or Chinese Chess when I was in high school, and would accuse me of cheating whenever I took one of her key players, but would always give me a second chance before she took one of my best pieces. She doesn’t remember her children or the names of those she loves, but she remembers every Bible verse and hymn she’s ever learned. We sang with her for a while during our last visit together. Some relatives, I have yet to visit, especially on my mom’s side of the family. Again, with my job, time is so constrained. I hope to amend this problem soon.

Already in Korea, I’ve attended a wedding, a baptismal, and a funeral, laughter and tears. As I mentioned earlier, life keeps going--I’m missing babies being born, weddings, silly moments with my mom, even more ridiculous moments with my siblings, ladies nights, dawn patrols, shopping. dating, chats over coffee, cheap Mexican food, cheap Thai food, and missing you—but I’m still living, as are you.

I hope to keep these blogs more frequent and less wordy, but here’s my latest to you.

Until our next cup together...

<3

twenty-two years ago...

When I was packing for Korea, I had to make some space in my mom's apartment to make room for the DVDs I was leaving behind, and I came upon a bunch of shoeboxes full of old photos. This one was among that group. This picture was taken in December of 1986, when my mom, sister, and I were leaving for San Francisco to join my dad who had already been in California for six months. I was five, and my sister was only two.

Fifteen years ago...
















I also found this picture. I took my first photography class in eighth grade at Mill Valley Middle School. I remember the images I took while someone was taking this picture of me. And now, it's fifteen years later...

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's, and my warmest wishes in 2009!

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Day here at 3:30am. My dad is sound asleep, and I am thinking of home, and imagining what Christmas morning will be like for my mother, sister, and brother. I miss them so much. We are planning a video chat session on Christmas morning, California time, which will be late at night on the 26th in Korea. As for my dad and I --he stayed at home all alone on Christmas Eve to prepare for his sermon tomorrow. Our church has a special Christmas worship at 11am, so he had extra work this week. I was invited out to a jazz bar, and came home late. I felt really guilty about leaving my dad home alone, but at least I got him a gift! Hopefully he will be surprised and we will have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow morning. It should be a great morning--I bought him some excellent coffee beans! The aroma from the bags of coffee had me in a spell all the way home...

Sorry about the slow updates, I've been far busier than I anticipated in Korea, and I don't even have a job yet ;)

Merry Christmas everyone, I miss you all very much. I think of you often, and I will be thinking of you in the morning as I sip on some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe...ahh..and now to sleep. Goodnight!

first weekend.

I have been in Korea for seven days, today. I'm posting for the first time at 2:17am on Saturday morning, I'm still in the mode where I'm calculating what time it would be if I were still in the U.S. Right now, it would be 9:18am, and I am thinking of my family and friends back in California, imaging them hard at work at their jobs this Friday morning. Friday is just beginning in California while people are just coming home from their Friday night revelries here in Korea, and I sit and blog.

I've spent the week getting settled in at my dad's office'tel in Mokdong, Yangchun Gu, in the northwest part of Seoul. When we arrived last Friday night (around 7pm), the temperature was around 19 degrees Fahrenheit! Now, it's a cozy 40 degrees, like good 'ole San Francisco weather. I have some funny stories to share, but they'll come later. It's too late to be entertaining at this hour, but here are some pictures from my first week in Korea.


Friday.

















You have to pay a toll to go to the Airport, and on any intercity travel in Korea. This trip cost about $5, U.S.


















Friday night traffic in the way home from Inchon International Airport.

























Winter Trees on the freeway. You can see the reflection of my dad's Xylitol gum container.


Saturday.

















My dad with Gwa-il (fruit).
















My Kun Appa and Kun Umma ("big" dad and "big" mom) from Bundang treating my dad and me to some excellent Korean cuisine. This restaurant was beautiful, but in a really odd, rural location, and it's worth noting that if S. Korea were attacked by N. Korea, this would be one of the first strategic points of attack because all of the nation's oil is stored there, making real estate investment in this area a gamble. Driving through the dirt roads with no signs or any navigational system I was able to decipher, I wondered how people found places like this, there are no google maps or yelp in Korea. Everything is discovered by word-of-mouth.
















Kun Umma's boutique in Bundang.


















Ugly pad things left on cars when purchased, just to keep the doors from being dinged. Many people leave these pads on their cars, sometimes years after they've been purchased. My dad and I joke about how ridiculous they look when we see them on the road.


















View from apartment in Bundang. Korea is the land of apartment buildings. Land is limited, so everything is built upwards.


















Another view of the many apartment buildings in Korea. Apartments in Korea can be purchased like condos.


















Driving home along Han Gang (the Han River) during sunset--and yes, through more traffic.


It's 4:30am now, more to come later. My dad is already getting ready for early morning prayers at his church, and I must sleep. Happy Friday or Saturday!


Sunday.
























(Left) Dawn, at our MokDong officetel. Due to the time adjustment, I was waking up very diligently and going to sleep at a decent hour for about four days. Then back to business as usual--I am nocturnal by nature. (Right) View from our our window at dawn.

























First snow! I had been taking pictures out of the window since dawn, and was ecstatic to see snowflakes fluttering down from the sky! This was the view of our street after it snowed for half an hour.


















Sunday service, River of Life Christian Fellowship (ROLCF), Seoul. The reason my dad moved to Korea in May 2007. He pastored ROLCF in San Francisco for seventeen years, and his church in Seoul is now just over one year old. This was my first visit to ROLCF, Seoul.

















Fellowship after service. I can't help thinking about how my mom helped my dad build his first church so whole-heartedly, so many years ago when my sister and I were just little kids in elementary school. She is such a good Samoneem (pastor's wife). My sister and I grew up with church fellowship all our lives, at church and in our home, as my parents would invite church members over to dinner and coffee almost every week. It didn't hurt that my mom is the best cook ever. Her food is truly comes from the heart.
























SunMineemo (aunt) calling us to lunch. She isn't really my aunt, but she befriended my parents while studying in seminary at the same time as my dad, and so has been eemo to my sister and I since we were very young. She's been letting my dad stay in her officetel, free of charge. What a great lady. Her family invited us for dinner later that evening.

















Driving range. It was snowing when I took this shot. Koreans sure love their golf.

















Snowing, on the way to dinner in Yuh-eueeDo (do means island). We crossed a bridge onto this ritzy part of Seoul. Although this image doesn't show the island, the buildings on it reminded me of Vegas, sort-of. YookSam BeelDing (or simply, Building Six-three), is famous for its restaurants. SunMineemo's family lives in the building adjacent to the YookSam Building.
























Still snowing as we drive home after spaghetti and wine.