AND...I'm Back!

 Hello everyone,

     I know it's been a while. I'm not a fan of excuses. That being said, I am aware of the enduring efforts I have made to try and explain away the many times when I don't live up to my own expectations; expectations which, I have been told, are nothing less than idealistic, as opposed to expecting the most likely result. haha classic.

...YIKES! I just looked and the last time I wrote was November... 

     I have in fact survived these last few month with a spectrum of experience and thoughts. I will divulge a few, but the rest shall be saved for the next time I have occasion to write or sip tea from a delicate floral teacup with a matching saucer in your sitting room. *sigh* Such lovely thoughts... Please do forgive me for my neglect. Honestly, keeping up is not my forte. I care so much about my friends and family that my long-distance actions are a sad expression of my affection when they are positioned back to back.

     Visiting my sister in New Zealand for Christmas was, briefly, a beautiful dream. Haha if you have ever felt the freedom of drastic cultural and relational comparison when experienced in succession, you may understand. Imagine, for example, having walked for the last 77 months with your feet almost always clothed while in public, and spending the final 5 or 6 of those months observing this conduct with the strictest adherence. For many this will sound about right only the length of time will have been your entire life. You then transition to a society that lets you walk almost anywhere with out the barbaric binding of your feet. These beautiful, or not so beautiful, feet that were always meant to be free, to live a whole other side of life that you had almost forgotten you were missing; this was of course because of the 7 year sentence that you had cruelly banished them to. In short, I walked barefooted for a glorious 8 days and relished the moments.

     Beyond the cultural freedoms that were afforded me, I was swept into, and included in, a family that God used to help refresh my spirits. They will soon be legally my family...sort of. The family of your sister's soon-to-be husband, are called what exactly? They reminded me of what it was to be apart of a family, to be so, naturally loved. I haven't been out of touch with my mum and dad or anything, but talking with someone is so very different than holding them there with you. If you are yet unaware, I am usually a very affectionate person who thrives in quality time with people. I had been bottling it all up for a few months which seems to have negative effects. It was so nice to not have to initiate, but you know when someone wants to hug you...? Also a lovely thing. I don't know how many times I was prayed for while in their midst and am still prayed for now. It is irreplaceable when someone cares enough for you to talk to Jesus about you. I know many of you pray for me also, and for that I can never thank you enough.

     Part of the reason I don't write or photograph everything is that I want some moments to by my moments; to keep for just me and maybe to pass on when reminiscing with old friends. I would love to one day live the rocking chair dream. At the end of our lives, to rock away while swapping stories of what God did, what we saw him do. It'll be better than the movies though, because the stories will be true and we'll be flooded with awe of the adventures we had together and apart, but always with God.

Until later then,                 

Love, 

               Haley

THANKSgiving hola back!!!

     First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!! I think about where I could be today. It is roughly 6pm in Huntsville, a placed filled, at the moment, with most of my lovely family. To tell you the truth there is no way to describe how much I love them. I try sometimes, but I have been divinely blessed with the people I am stuck with. They are clever, absurd, hilarious(!), dramatic, understated, affectionate, bold, conservative, wild, reliable, loving, and imperfect, but they are mine..THANK GOD!!! My favorite part of Thanksgiving day is pregaming in the kitchen. I normally avoid constant recipes, oven temperature monitoring, dishes, chopping, poking, kneading, more dishes, and mass amounts of cooking all together. This year I find myself remembering only the tasting, snacking, joking, bustle, and overall cheer among the kitchen goers and those who pass by for samples. Everyone has probably already had firsts and seconds, dessert, thirds, breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. They are likely spending time together or apart, but in the same house, hot tube, or in the car on their way to see the Christmas lights show we go to every year. It is probably warm and cozy wherever they may be. I miss them.
     However, I am also so thankful for the blessings that I am experiencing where God has lead me today. Truthfully, I ate instant cup-o-ramen for dinner, and I am alone in may classroom at school, but there's some adventure mixed in there. I live in a country whose language I have wanted to learn since high school, I have learned to enjoy reading, and I get payed to teach a fun group of kids that make work SO interesting! I have also been blessed with a church and some friends who share some of my experiences as a cultural nomad.

     The church that I am a part of here is really great! It has a huge number of foreigners and Koreans that go, which makes me feel like I stick out less, but that I am not trying to only hang out with foreigners. This is the church that I first attended on my second week here, and although I visited a number of other churched closer to me, I decided on this one and I'm so very glad that I did! It is a part of a bigger Korean church close by. It takes me about an hour and a half on the subway to get there, but it is worth it to be a part of a great christian community, with people from all over.

     I really wanted to join a small group/bible study when I first settled on this church, but the small group sign ups only began in September. There was a list and brief description of all of the groups and qualifiers, like age, gender, or marital status, for some. I perused the times that they met and started to panic a bit, because I couldn't meet at any of their times. The only ones that worked with my late work schedule, met on Sundays, but had already filled up. I was feeling super discouraged, when I made it all the way to the bottom to find one that met on Saturdays! Under the descriptions is said that it required strong commitment from it's members to be able to be there for 6-7 hours, beginning at 9am, every week. WHAT?! Oh...it was a hiking small group...haha. I am not much for hiking or physical exertion of any kind if it is not  fun, in some way, or competitive (like a race, a sport, or a game). So, I don't normally hike on purpose. I was also concerned that I might want to go some where some Saturday or do something wild and crazy that would take up some of that 6-7 hours. *sigh* decisions... It wasn't very full so I still had time to think about it. I eventually decided that it was worth it to make friends with people who I could talk to about God and could encourage me, and just new friends in general.
     It is almost the end of the small group term now and I have loved been so blessed to be a part of this group! It was definitely a blessing that I had no other option, because if I had I may not have chosen this one. It forces me to exercise. Like I said earlier, physical exertion, unless it is competitive fun, is something I avoid. However, since I committed to this small group I have also committed to running three times a week. Honestly, I hate running, but I feel good and I know it's healthy; I'm actually getting a lot better at it! It also allows me to spend a lot of time every week with the people in my small group and I get to know them a lot better than if we just talked for an hour or two. Selfishly I love the part of hiking that doesn't allow people to just spontaneously decide to peace out; I mean a few of us want to make it to the top every time haha.

     Oo and something so cool that happened the other day, my prayer partner, was at a men's conference put on by the church. I told him that I would pray for him and all the other men there. It was after class and I was in my class room alone, with an hour or so left until I would leave school left. I began to pray. And I felt like that Holy Spirit was in me. I know that God gives us his spirit for keeps once we are a part of his family, but I haven't ever felt like that before. I have felt like God used me, but never like I was a temple of the Holy Spirt. I felt like he was a prat of me for the first time. Does that make sense? Haha I may seem fairly absurd, but if you are reading this you are probably my friend and I thought you'd want to know about what is important to me haha. Well that's me. Thanks for reading. Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!!!

     P.s. if you have read thus far I can only assume it is because you love me haha...and just so you know, there is no opposition on my side if you feel compelled share some holiday cheer, by sending so nonperishable edibles (pulverized or not), they would be greatly appreciated. ;)

     P.s.s. My address is.....

Haley Bledsoe 

408 Hyundi I Park Mall, 1289, Jung Dong, Wonmi-Gu, Bucheon

South Korea

School, School, Scha School's cool (for the teacher ;)

      Hey Oh! It has been many moons since last we met...so I will just have to fill you in a bit :)
I am currently sitting in my classroom at school eating my dinner. To my left are educational posters, one of which has a map of the world. On my right the wall is decorated with drawings and writings from my students. Most of them wrote about their favorite candy, Halloween, or what they like to do in the fall. In honour of Halloween, which was thoroughly celebrated at school a few weeks ago, I decided to let them do something fun, like colouring, for a whole class period. I'm pretty pumped about it haha.
     For Halloween, the hagwon* that I work for was covered in spiderwebs, scary masks, banners, a couple of pumpkins and generally looking splendidly like Halloween! I have never dressed up to be scary on Halloween before, but this year part of my job was to try and scare at least 70 children, so I gave scary a go. It was so much fun! I don't know if you know this about me, but I really enjoy playing jokes on people. Normally I refrain from scaring people, because friends are good things to have and not everyone takes my idea of innocent fun, in the same way. You can imagine my excitement, then, at being asked to scare the living daylights out of students who, up to this point, I had been trying to calm enough to teach. I was seated at the back of a classroom that had long staggered sheets of black plastic hanging from it's ceiling. A youtube loop beside me was playing actual sound recordings of terrified people screaming in haunted houses. Because the room was so dark the students couldn't hardly see me. They were told to go find me and say "trick-or-treat," at which point I would give them a bag of freshly popped fair-style popcorn. Some times I would sit and play dead until they had stood there long enough to be able to see me a little and had recited their line two or three times; other times I hid behind one of the sheets of plastic and jump out just as they rounded it. Needless to say, I throughly enjoyed myself and in-between kids I would snack on the popcorn haha. One of my boys, who is about 12 years old, screamed when he saw me even before I moved. Other kids were so scared of the dark room that they had a friend go with them. On the way out of the room another teacher would jump out of a box and try to scare them again...it was fun!

     Next week, open house will begin at school. The parents of the students will be welcome to come to select classed throughout the next three weeks. I am pretty nervous! Parents are scary. The English level of the parents will very from one extreme to the other and I have no idea who will show up. Most of my efforts in class have been aimed at preparing for that.

     I am really starting to love my students which makes work a lot more fun. I sort of have a middle school boy sense of humor, which works out great seeing as I teach middle schoolers every day. Some of my kids are so funny I can't even handle it; true story! Almost every day, one of my students will say something, that is hilarious and those students make class more fun for all of us. The Korean teachers have to be more strict with the kids (I'm not sure they think the students are as funny as I do most of the time), so I get to be the easier more fun class.

     Last Wednesday, one of my middle school classes ALL forgot their books, because of a miscommunication. So, I decided to try and get them to write something. They like to talk a lot and have almost no motivation to do their work in a timely manner. One of them asked me to sing, because they wanted to be entertained. I told them that if they finished their writing I would sing. Nate, my student with the least written, was taking his sweet time and I told him that I would sing part of a song when he finished half of his writing. They wanted me to sing "Let It Go" (p.s. Frozen is super popular here). He finished, so I sang every thing until the chorus...obvious cliff hanger. Eventually they had all finished writing, and I sang, as promised. They were an excellent audience, swaying with their hands in the air, until part of they way through, when they stopped. After I finished, I realized that on of the Korean teachers, from down the hall, was looking through the glass in my door. Then it hit me, that I must have been pretty loud. The teachers whose rooms are on my left and right didn't have classes, but apparently the sound carried all the way to my bosses office...I was so embarrassed! I don't usually get embarrassed very easily, but I was pretty bad. I spent the rest of the time explaining, apologizing, or waiting until an opportunity arose to do both. It is pretty funny now. I have students who still ask about it, who I'm fairly certain were in the middle of a test at the time. *sigh* oh well. C'est la vie. haha



*The general term for the many after-school private institutes that children attend in Korea.

Mmmhm God Loves Me

     Guys, if you didn't know, God is so good and loves me (and you) like you wouldn't believe...and I will prove it to you. haha I can't really promise that you will see this like I do, but I'd like you share something that encourages me. I woke up this morning feeling like I was riding a struggle whale, or a struggle bus (if that makes more sense), i.e. just struggling. I know people say that a lot, but you know some mornings you just need to pour your heart out and let go of the things you worry about, because you've had enough. When this happens (preferably before it gets this far), I usually end up praying out loud for a while. I pray out loud because I am a verbal thinker and sometimes to really figure out what I'm thinking I have to say it aloud. If you've been around me for a hot minute you probably have already figured this out haha. Girl can talk ;)

     Anyways after talking to God, I wanted to journal, to further sort out my thoughts. I don't journal very often, but I never regret it. As I was flipping through the pages to the end, I saw my final entry and it reminded me of so many important things that I forget almost every single day. If you have never really read the Bible this my be completely new to you; or if you have never really though about or understood the reason people always say "you need to be saved from sin." This my give you something to think about. Sometimes I come to a place where I am reading the Bible and I think, "Who cares?" or "Why does this matter to me right now?" The Bible is supposed to help us understand, but sometimes the language is hard to relate to and I am just not getting it.  To help me understand better, I will occasionally find a passage and rewrite it in my own words and then read it aloud. This has been really helpful for me....so this is my very long winded explanation of what you are about to read. 

from April 9th, 2014 - Romans 6:12-14 in the words of Haley Christine Bledsoe:

"Don't let sin control you and dictate what you do.

Don't give in to it's persuasive enticings.

Don't let any part of you be used to do evil, to serve sin.

Give God everything you are, everything you care about, and every part of you body;

because NOW you are strong enough to say "NO" to sin.

You were nothing, but NOW you have a chance to live without a past.

So NOW everything that you do can be used to raise people up from where they are stuck, in nothingness, to a place where they can live, and breathe, and learn to trust again.

This will show some of God's greatness to everything.

You don't have to do anything that sin tells urges, asks, convinces, threatens, demands, or pressures you to do.

This is because the law isn't yelling at you any more or pointing out that "this is sin" or "you are doing it wrong;" convincing you of your failure on all levels. 

NOW God's grace is running with you, blocking out the taunts and jeers of the law;

giving you the courage and strength to see only the finish line through the booing crowds."

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday, or Wednesday night, as it may be. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I love you and I am so thankful that God is good and we don't always have to understand everything right of the bat, but we can struggle together. May God bless you heaps!

                Love,

                               Haley

Chuseok!

Hey! I am sorry that it has been so long since last I wrote. I have just been trying to soak in things and relax a bit, but I will try to do better in the future with keeping you all posted.
     I have been on many adventures, as of late. The most significant of which was celebrating Chuseok with my Korean friends at their family homes. A few weeks after arriving in Korea, I was fortunate enough to meet Christine and David (these are only their English names haha), and their little baby Ju Hee (the spelling I could not tell you). They are a couple who are on staff with CRU (the same christian organization that my parents work for) in Korea.

This is JuHee, she is 2yrs

     The weekend of the 6th through the 9th of September was Chuseok, a national holiday here that they compare to Thanksgiving; other than the family and the food, however, it is completely different!
     Following a little Chuseok celebration, after work on Friday, I made it back to my apt. by 10:30ish and at about 11pm Christine and David picked me up to begin what would be a 5hr journey to David's home town. Chuseok triggers a great migration of sorts, that I would witness on the road ahead. Traditionally almost everyone goes to their hometown or the hometown of their male spouse for the holiday to be with their extended family.

David grew up in the country, but there are still so many people near by.

     The day after we arrived, we when to the coast. The beach was a bit dirty, but I love being on the edge of the ocean. It feels so endless and free. We then met up with David's sisters family and headed to lunch together. As we were leaving we happened upon a cotton candy man, who made beautiful cotton candies that looked like enormous flowers. We decided to hit up the local McDonalds for lunch. Something I have learned and appreciate greatly about Korean food culture, is all of the sharing that goes on. When you go out to eat at a traditional Korean restaurant you order maybe the meat you would like and a plethora of sides. This is not and exaggeration, literally the table is completely covered with dishes leaving only enough room for glasses. Often everyone will have their own bowl of soup or rice, to which anything can be added, and the rest of the table is free game. This McDonalds venture was no different. We ordered a few mains along with community fries and drinks.
     Later that evening we all ate dinner and spent time with David's uncles family. They were loads of fun and did their best to include me in everything, which I am so grateful for!! The whole evening we pre-gamed for Chuseok. I don't think I was ever very long without food in front of me; everything from meat and veggies to fruit and desserts, came without stop.
     We played a few rounds of a new card game and after loads of laughs we finished the night out with a weird Tom Cruse film. As as side note, if you were wondering, most of the American/English films that come out here are in English and subtitled in Korean. After the movie we turned in for the night at David's uncle's house, because they had room for everyone. I slept in a room with Christine and Ju Hee. The mattress was heated (they are quite fond of heating things like mattresses and floors) which was new.
     Through out the holiday, I often felt that I was stuck between the old and new halves of the bible. I usually consider myself to be more obviously effected by the New Testament (the second half of the bible) because it is in the New Testament that the non-Jews are finally said to be just as much a part of God's family as the biological decedents of Abraham (Romans 11:11-31). However, this weekend I encountered, what I had thought to be, old testament situations I had never really faced before. I hope this sentiment will become clearer to you as I continue.

Another view from David's home town.

     In the room I stayed in was a large Buddha. I was beautifully carved and sitting in a location that made it the centerpiece for the room. I have seen idols before, but I had never slept in a room with one the size of a child. It bothered me and God and I had to talk through it. I offered at one point to burn it down or throw it out the window; but I didn't want my actions to be miss understood by my gracious hosts and family of my friend. God is infinitely more important and he would have the last say in what would honor him most, but I'm not that blind radical extremism is the best way to honor God. I began to feel that there really was no problem, because it was, after all, just wood. I think that making it into something to be wary of would in essence give it the credit of being more that the creation of a sculptor. I can't quite say what I mean, it's hard to explain, but I know who God is and this sculpture was only a sculpture.
     On Sunday, we went to a small church where David went when he was young, I think. I didn't have a clue what was being said so I stood and tried to follow the tune of the songs and read my bible during the sermon. After words we ate ramen in the church with everybody. It was relaxing and loads of fun. We returned to David's parents apartment and began what would be several hours of cooking for Chuseok the next day. Everyone sat together on the floor in the main room and we all worked together to cut, assemble, and cook the feast. I took a brief nap, which was wonderful, and then rejoined the group. We ate the entire time we cooked, as you do, and just enjoyed each others company, even when I didn't know what they were saying. At one point Davids cousin, who is a senior in high school, was asked to take me with her to go get something from the store. It was very funny because they didn't think I knew what was going on, but I could tell that her mother wanted her to overcome her shyness and practice her English and she was protesting.  I'm not entirely sure that they needed all of the things that we bought, but they wanted and excuse for her to take me. She is super sweet and we found a store in like 5 minutes. She would laugh every time she couldn't think of a word, but we figured out what she was trying to say in the end. We weren't gone very long and everyone protested when we got back haha. Good times :) That night we went to Keongju which was a palace many years ago that had been restored and was very pretty.
     The next day, Chuseok, David left early to join the men in their journey from one of their relative's houses to the other in the age order of their older recently deceased relatives; or those who had been survived by their wives. From what I could tell, the women of the family will prepare food and a room, set up to accommodate and honour their relatives who have passed. When the men arrive there is are waves of bowing by the men in generational order. The food is then brought from the room and set out on tables for every one to share. I felt it again, stuck between the old and new halves of the Bible. The Old Testament clearly says to eat food that has been offered to idols if wrong, but I was facing the alternate of offending and not really loving people the way Jesus did. I was wracking my brain to find the answer and praying that God would give me wisdom. The only thing that was coming to mind was the part of Matthew 15 that says something like, what goes into your body doesn't make you unclean because it will eventually come out; it is what comes from a your mouth that makes you unclean, because that came from your heart. And God looks at your heart. I felt a little better because I really wanted to honor God in eating or not eating. So I decided to eat with them. I was still processing the same thoughts until about a week later when my dad told me to read 1 Corinthians 8 because this is exactly what it talked about. If you have a few minutes to look at it you definitely should so you can be ready if the same thing happens to you.

This was the post feast food. Yum!

     Later on that day we packed up and went to Christine's Mother's house to spend time with them. She only has sisters so her daughters often come to see her after they visit their husband's families. Her family seemed very kind and her mother had cooked a feast for us all by herself. They didn't speak much English, but I didn't mind.
     On Tuesday we left after lunch to visit a famous Buddhist temple near by. It was really more of a monastery comprised of many buildings and many monks who lived there. It was beautifully set up in the mountains on a large plot of land. Again I felt a bit between the old and new testaments of the Bible. We walked around for a bit and saw more sizes and statues of buddha than I ever thought could fit into one room. We watched people bow to the buddhas and leave money there. It was making Christine feel a bit sick so we just walked around the buildings talking.

Christine's mum is a farmer and this it the largest moon all year, thus Chuseok.

     Seven hours and an Outback Steakhouse later I was home...sigh. Let me just say there were a few cars on the road haha. It was so wonderful to be welcomed into their families and be able to see the culture through my christian friends. I cannot tell you how blessed I feel at their generosity. And rely on God through the internal battles that the four days had introduced. And thus ends the saga haha. I hope it was not to long, honestly this is the abridged version.
May God continue to bless you all and help us to know him better. Thank you for your prayers!!! I will write again soon. Until then,
     
                                              Haley

Five Weeks Today

     It's been five weeks today that I stepped off the plane. Since that time I have bought a fan (the a/c was wracking up my electric bill), visited five different churches, attended a wedding, made many new friends, saw the ocean up close, perused the largest floating book fair in the world, and taught 126 separate English classes. Quite the five weeks!
     The churches I have visited have varried in size and flavor to be sure. The smallest gathering numbered six, including myself, and the largest was several hundred. The churches in the area with English services have all been very friendly and welcoming. Deciding where to go is much harder than I remember. You see, I want to be involved in the church that I go to and when the decision is made I want to stick it out until next July, I guess that is why this is hard. I have been so blessed and encouraged by the churches that I have been to, that the thought of staying with one is exciting.
     The wedding I attended was for the cousin of a recent friend that I made in Bucheon. Almost all weddings here are held in wedding halls and this was no exception. This wedding hall was located about an hour away in the Samsung headquarters. The groom was an employee there, so they were able to use the venue. The first thing I noticed was that the bride had a room set up as a photo studio, where she would sit and take pictures with people before the ceremony. Nothing was kept until the ceremony as a surprise, as far as the dress is concerned, which was something new for me. The ceremonies all consist of a speaker, who doesn't have to be licensed, and a time of respectful bowing before the parents of the bride and groom, where the groom is completely on the floor and the bride is allowed to stand and bow. The speaker was apparently quite witty, which is unusual, and the groom included his own surprise for his bride, a song. He sang to her. His voice was pretty terrible, which put everyone in good humor because of the sweet gesture and bravery of their friend and relative. He was applauded for his efforts and they walked together down the isle with streamers exploding overhead.  Afterwords many standard group pictures were taken and all of the guests were invited to eat in a cafeteria where there was a variety of great food. At the same time the family members, bride and groom,  went to another very traditional private ceremony. In this ceremony, I am told, the married couple serves their parents and spends time with their close family. Because the speaker was not credentialed I asked if they sign a marriage license after words. My friend told me that they had probably already signed it, maybe even weeks ago. So many new things!
     I visited the ocean with my new friends from a church here in town. We went to the docks were we boarded a ship, the Logos Hope, and were shown around. The Logos Hope is a ship crewed by people from all over the world, ranging in age from 18-84, I want to say. Their mission is to tell people about Jesus in anyway that they can. When they dock, they have many volunteers who often come to take over some of their duties, that they might go ashore and do ministry in that country. Every nation is different and so they are able to do ministry in all different ways. They also have the Worlds Largest Floating Book Fair aboard ship, so cool! While I was there God gave me the opportunity to talk to two crew members about what it is like for them on the ship, how they'd gotten there, and if their lives had changed since. I was so blessed by all of this and could have stayed aboard for much longer, but after attending a seminar onboard and getting a private tour, from someone who knew someone, we had to go.
     It is kind of crazy what I have had the opportunity to do in the last few weeks and the people I have been able to meet. I have been so blessed I don't even know how to respond. This week I was particularly blessed financially. Upon arrival I was supposed to apply for an Alien Registration Card, which would allow me to get a bank account and stay in the country for more than three months. After going to the hospital to make sure I didn't have any diseases (hahah, but really), my boss and I dawned the doors of the immigration office to complete the application. The visit was fairly quick, which is hit or miss in these offices, and the card was to arrive in a week. I brought money with me, but it was running out and it had been more than a week since the application was put in. I had just talked to my parents that morning about what I wanted to do if I ran out of money before the AR card arrived, I wasn't really sure. That day, my boss came to me at work, having thought the same thing and handed me my salary in cash. God was providing for me one step ahead of my needs. It reminded me that we aren't trying to live our lived to earn God's blessing. We cannot earn it, even on our bad days his blessings don't wait for us to be better, they come anyway...ahh grace, I don't even know.

     Tomorrow is Victoria's last day at work, she is the other foreign teacher at my school and tomorrow she will make her way back to Pennsylvania. She has helped me enormously and has made these last few weeks in Bucheon much easier for me, helping me with everything from where to get my hair cut to how to travel on the subway. Before this becomes to sad, I will let you know that today is also the first day of work for Victoria's replacement teacher. I don't know anything about her, except that she is from the ATL, not to far from my old stomping ground. I am both very excited and a little nervous. I am excited to welcome her and hope that we will be great friends, but I am nervous because I will probably be the one who will show her around...like I know something. Upon first arrival, Victoria took me to eat and talk. She welcomed me with her four years of experience. I, on the other hand, have been here five weeks and do not even have a bank account. I am practically a fresh bean sprout still trying to understand the bold new surroundings in which I find myself (feel free to enjoy the metaphor ;). Still, I have learned a lot in those weeks and will do my very best to help, but maybe we can learn together too.

Thank you for your prayers! I love ya!!
Haley (Gingin it!)

Let me tell ye of me adventures in the new world!

     Let us just fain for a breeze dat ye live in a new land an' ye don't speak t' language. Ye don't know where anythin' is and ye've almost no shipmates. So, t' first thin' ye do is... watch nextflix!!!

     But seriously, there is a lot of free time when you don't have people to go see. This is sad and also true, especially for and extroverted person who possess almost zero motivation for events that exclude people. I have been shown a way to convince my computer that I am either in the states or Turkey, on occasion (no idea why google thinks that I'm in Turkey, but you can take it up with them). This means that I can watch nextflix or cbs.com you know, stuff. I have been perusing a great deal of the West Wing, that aired a few years ago. In short I need friends haha.

     I am so thankful for the ways that God has provided me with friends and opportunities to spend time with people, over the last few weekends especially!

     My first weekend I was extended an invitation, from two of the women I work with, to go with them to Costco. Yes, this is infact the same franchise that we enjoy in the states. There are four or five of them in the country and I was bound for the nearest one. Olivia, Jessica (their English names), and I met at work at 4pm and the adventure began. Olivia has a car which made this trip doable because the nearest Costco is about thirty minutes away. When we got there, all of the first four levels of the parking garage were full so we managed to squeeze in on the top story. Every large store that I have been to here, has multiple levels for the store and the rest are parking garage. Costco was two levels with a hybrid escalator-moving-sidewalk to transport people and their carts from the first to second levels of the store. It was much like the US version, but with many more people and a greater population of fish. I saw a large area of Cheeseball containers, chocolate-covered almonds, clothes, and the lot. After nearly an hour of shopping we made our way out, having to wait for the elevator to take us to the 5th floor where our car was parked. We packed it all in and were off.

     We were all ready for dinner at this point and they wanted to take me to a traditional Korean restaurant. I was still pretty jet lagged and had almost no appetite for the first two weeks, but I was trying to rectify the situation. The restaurant was made from a house built a long time ago in the style of Korean houses that existed over 300 years ago. It was simple and beautiful. When entering a house, or many traditional restaurants, everyone is required to remove their shoes in a specific area by the door. We were then seated and able to order. Traditionally Koreans sit on mats on the floor cross-legged. The tables are suited for this and are also low to the ground. When our food was ready, our servers carried our table in. Yes, the whole table. There were something like fifteen to twenty small dishes covering the table and they were for anyone who wanted to eat them, so we passed things around. Everyone had their own rice bowl where you could set thing you were going to eat or what ever you'd like to do with it. The food was delicious! There are somethings that will take getting used to and somethings I may never like, but over all it was really good! We ate until we were stuffed and then headed home.

     I think we got back to my apartment at about 9:30 that night. I was actually quite glad for the company and opportunity to spend time with my coworkers; who, by the way, are all single females in their late 20s or 30s. Apparently Iris, my boss, hired a male teacher from the states when she first started the school, five years ago, but it didn't work out that well. She said that there were many reasons, but it was partly because he was a little lonely being the only male at the school.

The next day was Sunday...

     I might need to preface this with a reminder that I have moved a lot, I love Jesus a lot, and I need people a lot. Thus, I was excited to visit a church and hopefully join a new group of amazing people! There are many English-speaking church services in Seoul (the capital), but I was unable to find any online in Bucheon (my city). I googled for ages and finally chose a church that I would go to in Seoul. The service started at 2pm and I would have to take the subway into the city. I decided to leave at 12pm, to give me time to get a little confused and still make it one time.

     After an easy transition into the subway system I made my way, over the next fifty minute, to my stop in Gangnam, Seoul. If were wondering, I think this part of Seoul was made a little famous by the song and if it is now stuck in your head...you are welcome.

     Walking out of the subway stations many exits I began again to reread the directions that the church had posted online. My phone is not operational as a phone, but more like an ipod, and I was able to look at the church web page that I had pulled up earlier. I was then surprised to find myself suddenly sitting on the pavement...I had fallen down a couple of stairs and onto the side walk. I seemed to be fine, which was kind of amazing and more amazing still because I had a lot of walking to do yet.

     If I may summarize the next hour and a half. I got lost, accidentally erased the directions, and was so flustered in the heat and by the number of people, that I stopped to eat a waffle with ice-cream and use the cafes wifi. I was already thirty minutes late to the service and was considering forgetting about trying to get there at all and just wander the city until dark. I was really excited to meet new people though and I doggedly decided to try again. A realization hit me as I left the cafe and less than twenty minutes later I found the church. It was now 3pm, one hour after the service had begun and I heard them praying. "Great," I thought "the service is over. I missed it." I thought that while I was there I might still try to make some connections or get information, when I hear the pastor say, "The sermon today will be about an hour. I know this is long and it is okay if some of you have to leave in the middle." Far from missing it, I had arrived just as the sermon was to begin. I took a seat on an empty row, but feeling lonely I tried asking if a presently empty seat belonged to anyone. When the answer came back that it was already taken, I made my way to the bathroom and the heat, expectations of meeting people, and stress of getting lost, all hit me and I cried for a hot minute while talking to God about it. It happens. When I returned to the sanctuary I asked one of the greeters if I could be seated nearer the front so that I could see. I sat a few rows up between a few men, which didn't feel like much of an improvement, but I didn't feel so alone as I had in the back. I enjoyed the sermon. The pastor talked about a part of scripture that I hadn't heard much about and he seemed funny and personable. I didn't agree with everything he said, but he spoke a lot of truth which is always good.

     After the sermon I introduced myself to one of the men next to me, who I found out was from LA. He showed me to the welcome table, where I talked to two men, one from California and another from Nebraska. They said that a group of them were going to have coffee and asked if I'd like to join. Three more people were added to our group, two woman and another guy, who was also new. It was so great to spend time with them. They were really encouraging and we laughed a lot. We found out that the other man who was also new to the church, had not been to any church in the last eight years. Wow, this was his first time in eight years. We added another friend to our bunch and decided to grab dinner at a New York style pizza place. We hung out until 8:30pm, said our good byes, and they directed me to a book store that has books in English. I bought two books and took the subway home.

     Honestly, even now it seems hard to believe how amazing that was. It is so obvious to me that God worked out that whole thing for everyone that day. I was told over dinner that the grouping of people was odd because only two or three of them were good friends, the others had only met a few times. One of them is usually quiet around people he doesn't know, but he was joking and laughing with the rest of us. It felt like we had known eachother for aged. Thank you God, I'll never know how you do that.

     Seriously so blown away, I don't even have the right words to tell you how much that day meant to me, but I feel so blesses to have had it. I was getting discouraged, evidence by the tears earlier, and then all of a sudden, an unlikely group spends five hours together... God is so good to me, I don't know why I am always so surprised.

Love you all,

                                    God bless you,
                                                 Haley (still ginger)