Leaving Korea soon...

Hello family!

I have been out of the blogging loop for a while. It has been busy here in Korea. The English camp ended last Friday, Aug 14th. Now I am teaching at the other English camp, 3 hours every day in the afternoon. It is more difficult with this schedule because it doesn't allow for us to go out to shop or do last minute sight seeing. I cannot believe that the four weeks have flown by so quickly. It has been a fantastic experience here in Korea, teaching English and communicating with other Korean elementary teachers, but I am ready to go home.

When Garrett visited last week, it was fun having a traveling buddy and the excuse to leave the campus to sightsee. I also believe that he triggered some feelings of homesickness when he departed. It is challenging traveling with people who may not think like you or enjoy the same things. It is quite taxing on the mind and the body.

I will leave some last pictures of karaoking. Garrett's one wish was to go to a karaoke place and sing his heart out. We did. Garrett and I are singing our favorite song, "Daydream believer" by the Monkees. The second picture is just a cute picture of us.

Take care and I will talk to you all soon, very soon...

love, cc

2009 Retreat

Hi all my children:

I promise Jaime that I will write today right after the retreat. Summer had been long every year for the last 3 or 4 years. It is because Daddy had basketball practice every Saturday and games during the weeks in July. So, going to the retreat every year is almost like our vacation every year. I and Daddy just came back this afternoon from Redwood Christian Camp. As usual the only adults there from the English service are me and Daddy, Dianne and Stephen and Mary. I always felt that we have to be there but I just realized that we had not been to the retreat for 3 years.....2006 CC and Garrett's wedding...2007 Valene and Dustin's wedding......2008 our family China trip. So, we really don't have to be there. They can do it without us. But I found out that at the retreat I talked to more people from all three congregations that I would never have the chance on Sundays. It is really a relationship building time, although this years was a little too long.....Sunday through Thursday.

Initially, we went to the retreat because we want to support Pastor Louis Lee who was our speaker. But, it turned out that he hurt his back and could not come. He was hoping that he would be healed in 2 weeks and finally he had to call Mary on the Monday before the retreat. As you can tell, we were all a little concerned and panicky. We all prayed hard and asked God to heal Pastor Louis. In the mean time, Pastor William was trying to find someone to fill his place. So, by Friday, Mary emailed us that Pastor Louis had a really bad back but our Chinese reatreat speaker had found someone to come. Pastor Fung called up the youth misinter who was in a youth camp and would finish on Saturday. God really tested our faith before the retreat for our theme was "Faith". God had another plan for us. Pastor Mark turned out to be a little younger and better fit for our campers.

I did a workshop on "How to grow in Faith". At the end, I have them made an origami frog which stands for FullyRelyOnGod.....frog. Daddy, as usual, have us doing skits. He gave the beginning of a skit entitled "The Case of a Zuchini" and we have to finish it. Melanie, yes little Melanie, gave a workshop on "Encouragement"...simple and yet has substance. Stephen took us outside to meditate on John 3:16-18. The kids took care of all the worship sets and the campfire. I would say half of them shared about their struggles in their walk with Christ, their education, their career, their love and hate of their parents' demands, and just a lot of heartfelt sharing. I was so happy and proud of them. I knew them when they were just little kids. And now, they are all growing up. The next generation is coming up. Jaime, in God's time, you WILL have someone to work with you. I can see the closeness between them and their serving hearts. After that, Daddy presented the love feast and of course the night ended with roasting marshmellows, s'mores and smokies. Oh, as we were doing all these things, there was a wild fire burning 10 miles away from us. Praise the Lord, it was burning away from us. It is still burning right now and I pray that it will be okay for the people who have to be evacuated and the fire will be ended soon.

I want to write some more about Pastor Mark's messages or I should say stories. But I think I am writing too much. Anyway, there is one illustration Pastor Mark made really stuck in my mind is "what is the difference between committed and involved?" You see a bacon and an egg on a plate. The bacon is committed and the egg is involved. That really spoke to me that serving the Lord is costly. We need to make sacrifices. Pastor Mark told a story about her mother. I will write about her later. The story really tells us about God's sovereignty. God is love and He is in control.

I pray that you all will be safe in wherever you are and whatever you do wll bring glory to God.

I love you and take care,
Mom

p.s. Valene, I know the person whose class you took over after she retired. She is Gayle Kong. She asked me if I am Dustin's mom. She forgot your name. That was so surreal. We had a very good talk.

CC, it was so nice to know you are safe and hope Garrett and you have a good time together at Korea.

my thoughts ... on paper

something you may not know about me... i write in journals, and i have been since 6th grade.

so i realize that when i'm going through a very hard time in my life, i like to write. it's the only thing that will calm me down. and i mean write, using a pen and paper. not blogging. it's not the same. i think i relate blogging with writing essays for school. but writing, reminds me of being a little kid just writing/drawing/doodling anything i want to. for me, it's more... freeing.

this post is an ode to my journals over the years. most of my 6th grade through 12th grade journals are in my home-home (the parental unit's home) at the moment. but i have a couple from high school and all my college years until today journals are with me here at my place. and i thought i'd share....

*note, not all of these journals are totally filled, i've used a couple of the journals at the same time in my life, and i'm missing a very important journal which i know is at home from the summer of 2004 when i was in chicago on the urban missions trip.

journals from high school to now.

from left to right:

• 1- small sliver of a journal (you can barely see it) = june 2002 it's from my first mexico missions trip the summer after my sophomore year of high school
• 2- spiral = my quote book, given to me by my friend tiffany on my 17th birthday, and i've added to it over the years
• 3+4- these 2 journals are actually the same exact journal (i probably got a 2 for 1 deal!) = 3-jan 2002 to nov 2002, 4-nov 2002 to june 2003
• 5- this is actually my day planner for 2003
• 6- next spiral = march 2003 to nov 2003
• 7- nov 2003 to dec 2004
• 8- mar 2004 to may 2004
• 9- sept 2004 to nov 2004
• 10- feb 2005 to oct 2005
• 11- june 2005 to nov 2005
• 12- sept 2005 to nov 2005
• 13- dec 2005 to aug 2006
• 14- aug 2006 to june 2007
• 15- may 2007 to jan 2008 (this one was just for notes here and there)
• 16- feb 2008 to feb 2009
• last one is a new journal... to be filled!

[edit: after writing this blog i was looking at all the dates, i realize that all of the times of my life--from 6th grade until now--are recorded on paper, except for dec 2004 and january 2005 (when grandma passed away) -- i guess it's true, there are no words when someone close to you goes away...]

journals i am currently writing in.

from left to right || tan/red = the journal i've been using to prep/teach for the high school group i've been leading || brown suede = personal journal, i write my thoughts, quotes, life questions that have no answers, ideas... my everything. || blue/tan = captivating journal- my senior year of college i led a small group (ashley y. and becky p.) and we went through the book 'captivating' by john and stasi eldredge... this is the journal i used then, and it's the same one i am using now since i'm reading it again with my friend lydia. full circle... actually, comparing my notes from then and now i'm realizing the same parts of the book still hits my heart the same way... interesting...

journals that i carry with me always.

from left to right || moleskine city notebook san francisco = this is a small pocketbook with maps of san francisco, of public transit, of the bart system, and places for me to write my favorite spots and places to be. i've been writing all the places i've been in the city, my favorite places, and places i've been with my favorite people. :) || moleskine pocket squared notebook = this is just a regular graph-paper pocketbook. contains notes, doodles, stickers, and just random stuff that i accumulate. || moleskine red cahier journal = this is a thin lined pocketbook with perforated pages for easy tearing out to pass along notes! i love this pocket book-- it came in a pack of 3! :)

my favorite journal:

i've had this bible since 8th grade. i've written in it since i've had it. i like to date the passages i've read. when i read the passage again, i'll write the next date. if i've written notes in the margins, i'll read them and reflect on my previous thoughts/insights, and sometimes i add to it too. this is by far my favorite place to journal.

dad, i probably got my love for books and writing from you. but mom, i totally got writing in my bible from you (i think i've always liked looking in your precious moments bible with the little pencil writings in the margins)! :)

English camp

Good morning to you all!

It is morning for me, 7am and I am getting ready to start my day. I believe that jetlag is over and I am on a regular schedule.

I get up early because the sun rises into our dormitory earlier than usual. I like to also prepare myself mentally before going to the English camp or seeing kids in the hallways. There are two camps going on at the same time. There is a three week overnight English camp where students learn English during the daytime and stay over in the dormitories in the evenings. I support this camp but I am not the leader in this camp. I got an easier job. I even volunteered for this position. There is another English camp happening right now. When we arrived it was the first week, so I just started teaching during the second and third week of camp. It is a half day camp. Students get dropped off in the morning and leave before lunch time. It starts at 910 and ends at 1250pm. I teach four periods, four different classrooms, four different sets of kids. Each period is 45 minutes long. I walk in, do my teaching thing for 45 minutes and then leave.

I have been learning a lot about Korean education and public school teachers. We are hosting a seminar with 10 Korean public school elementary teachers who teach English at their school. We talk about similarities and differences. Mostly they are interested in how we teach English Language Learners in America. There is a big movementn for students to learn English starting as soon as kindergarten. Many students who are attending the camp have various levels of conversational English. Some try hard and some do not try at all.

Well, that is what my days have been filled with. We can't wait for the weekend so we can go out and explore Busan more. Plus Garrett is coming on Monday! I am very excited to show him what I have seen about Korea and what we will explore together.

Take care family, I miss you lots.

love, cc