Hi all.
It is Friday afternoon in Seoul. Our school has been closed for 3 days and seems like 2 weeks. We were going so well as the start of school was underway when the Korean authorities insisted that it was time to close. We had several students with h1 n1 . It is a beautiful,clear breezy day about 75 ish and John and I have had a lovely walk in our neighborhood for a sandwich and a cold icy coffee.
Tomorrow 6 am we drive to Taejun beach for the weekend. We'll be swimming in the China sea! Our school has a cabin there and there is a board mtg for all cabin owners so we are striking out beyond the confines of Seoul proper. It will be our first real driving adventure. Erica and Mike are happy at KIS. I was able to go with them to their OB appt and see the baby kicking around on the ultrasound. We are so thankful that the baby is healthy and strong.
Anyeong ge kesayo! alice
Friday, August 28, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
HI it is a beautiful Tuesday morning before I go to the nurses office to work. We had our firends, the Taylors, from Arden Hills come for a visit. John had Dan come over to lead the retreat for our school. He talked of Shalom and story; it was wonderful,unifying, funny and so appropriate. Dan is a prof at Bethel and has written many books . ex: Myth of Certainty, Letters to my Children, In Search of Sacred Places etc. we had a wonderful week together. With Erica and Mike 'across town', friends from MN visiting; the feeling of congruence has helped so much in our transition here. God is good.
By the way, it has taken a month to finally get some sleep. . last night..
We are in our 2nd week of school, H1N1 is in our school. We have closed the British section and a matter of time before we close the whole school. 1500 kids will get more of a vacation and have sleep overs etc and keep spreading the virus. Panicky Korean parents, frustrated teachers, worried moms like me regarding pregnant daughters and complications if one should contract the virus... Erica is in her 2nd trimester now!!!!! As nurses we are all wearing masks all day , hot, humid, uncomfortable, But yesterday and today (this morning) We have all of our windows open and fresh air is luxurious! We are having our first dinner for 12 on Thursday . A potluck, all are coming. I need to devise a spread sheet to keep track of the 200 or more teachers staff to have over for dinner this year. Half of the teachers who are married have different last names. With my evite, I had one teacher say he would come but could he bring his wife! Well, I have so many lists that I check through to see who is married to whom.
We have already had 60 for dinner, then 200 for dessert, etc then 70 more women this last Sunday for "Tea " I am so happy that bent over Mrs Lee came on Monday to help clean our house . She shows up at 7:30 am every Monday, I go off to the nurses office and come home to a clean house. With all these dusty feet and food all over, it is wonderful to have dust and foot marks and food cleaned up.
It is lovely here, We enjoy the faculty and admin and staff, everyone seems happy and energized. John is great; he plays basketball, bikes 25 miles, hits golf balls at front of our school entrance ( a 3 story netted "driving range")is running 6 miles right now, swims . He is losing weight, making decisions making lots of connections, a happy man.
I am doing well, too. Today I finally feel better, lots of belly stuff and no matter how much Korean food we dine on and the good stuff, Itis not my favorite... Bulgogi, Bibambop, Kalbi, Korean BBQ, kimchi is hard on the digestion. So on Thursday night it is pasta, Chicken Mozzerella etc. ...I drove the other day!! As John and I got lost and tried to make a U turn on a street with 5 lanes on each side, a siren went off; we were stopped and thankfullly not ticketed and triumphantly found our way back to the school . I only drive to the local SARUGA our little grocery store with a whole section of black market..Today I find my way to KIS, Erica and Mike's school 1 1/2 hours from here by walking, subway and bus. I hope I can remember the landmarks so that I get off bus at the right place..We go to Erica's 2nd OB appointment !
On Chusok, the Korean thanksgiving holiday, Erica Mike and I will fly to Siam Reap, Angkor Wat in Cambodia for a week!! We will be photographing at 6 am just as the sun is coming up over the temples at Angkor Wat . This one of the places on my bucket list!
I walk everywhere; we are on these very steep hills and gotta go up and down all the time. All those miles i put in on the flat did not prepare me for this place, but I plug along. I start Tae Kwan Do next week, 3 X's a week.!! that will be my souvenir from Korea. anyeong ge kasayo!
alice
By the way, it has taken a month to finally get some sleep. . last night..
We are in our 2nd week of school, H1N1 is in our school. We have closed the British section and a matter of time before we close the whole school. 1500 kids will get more of a vacation and have sleep overs etc and keep spreading the virus. Panicky Korean parents, frustrated teachers, worried moms like me regarding pregnant daughters and complications if one should contract the virus... Erica is in her 2nd trimester now!!!!! As nurses we are all wearing masks all day , hot, humid, uncomfortable, But yesterday and today (this morning) We have all of our windows open and fresh air is luxurious! We are having our first dinner for 12 on Thursday . A potluck, all are coming. I need to devise a spread sheet to keep track of the 200 or more teachers staff to have over for dinner this year. Half of the teachers who are married have different last names. With my evite, I had one teacher say he would come but could he bring his wife! Well, I have so many lists that I check through to see who is married to whom.
We have already had 60 for dinner, then 200 for dessert, etc then 70 more women this last Sunday for "Tea " I am so happy that bent over Mrs Lee came on Monday to help clean our house . She shows up at 7:30 am every Monday, I go off to the nurses office and come home to a clean house. With all these dusty feet and food all over, it is wonderful to have dust and foot marks and food cleaned up.
It is lovely here, We enjoy the faculty and admin and staff, everyone seems happy and energized. John is great; he plays basketball, bikes 25 miles, hits golf balls at front of our school entrance ( a 3 story netted "driving range")is running 6 miles right now, swims . He is losing weight, making decisions making lots of connections, a happy man.
I am doing well, too. Today I finally feel better, lots of belly stuff and no matter how much Korean food we dine on and the good stuff, Itis not my favorite... Bulgogi, Bibambop, Kalbi, Korean BBQ, kimchi is hard on the digestion. So on Thursday night it is pasta, Chicken Mozzerella etc. ...I drove the other day!! As John and I got lost and tried to make a U turn on a street with 5 lanes on each side, a siren went off; we were stopped and thankfullly not ticketed and triumphantly found our way back to the school . I only drive to the local SARUGA our little grocery store with a whole section of black market..Today I find my way to KIS, Erica and Mike's school 1 1/2 hours from here by walking, subway and bus. I hope I can remember the landmarks so that I get off bus at the right place..We go to Erica's 2nd OB appointment !
On Chusok, the Korean thanksgiving holiday, Erica Mike and I will fly to Siam Reap, Angkor Wat in Cambodia for a week!! We will be photographing at 6 am just as the sun is coming up over the temples at Angkor Wat . This one of the places on my bucket list!
I walk everywhere; we are on these very steep hills and gotta go up and down all the time. All those miles i put in on the flat did not prepare me for this place, but I plug along. I start Tae Kwan Do next week, 3 X's a week.!! that will be my souvenir from Korea. anyeong ge kasayo!
alice
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
2nd day of school August 19th, we do love it here. Hard to believe it is 3 weeks now since we arrived. Parents, students, faculty, staff all have been so welcoming. As we welcomed 350 new students and parents, we were able encourage and support as we had been so encouraged with our transition here. To have Erica and Mike "across town" is such a gift. Had a fabulous week with Jayne and Dan Taylor as he led our faculty/staff retreat. He talked of Shalom. wonderful.
Friday, August 7, 2009
here 9th day..
9 days here and we are falling in love with Seoul! Today was a visit to Damdaemun market with Patti, a new friend. We went to a huge fabric warehouse with many stories of fabrics: soft cottons, lovely wools, furs, linen, then there is the button floor, the ribbon floor, the notions floor. etc. so fun! We enjoyed dining on takin mari: a big steamy pot with a parboiled chicken, fat bok and noodles and lots of red pepper paste, garlic, greens. We were given bibs, it is so sloppy but so tasty.
Got to see a sonogram pic of baby Kimchee...we are delighted..We will try to find the airport to pick up the Taylors tomorrow. i think I will be driving in Seoul soon! In the morning a hike to a mountain temple and then to Namdaemun market for fresh flowers. The mosquitoes are our constant companions..
Got to see a sonogram pic of baby Kimchee...we are delighted..We will try to find the airport to pick up the Taylors tomorrow. i think I will be driving in Seoul soon! In the morning a hike to a mountain temple and then to Namdaemun market for fresh flowers. The mosquitoes are our constant companions..
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Wednesday, Aug 5th 2 am
Well, today we have 80 coming for dinner and that does not include the mokes: mosquitoes!
I was so happy to buy this little tennis racket thing that is battery operated and zaps the mosquitoes , That zap is so satisfying..
Learning the Korean organic recycling takes humor and fortitude..and patience:
A little red container for just food waste, a bin for paper, a bin for plastic, a bin for glass, a bin for metals, a bin for garbage: , isn't it all garbage? Then there is separating out bones, coffee grinds, tea bags, nuts, shells, hazardous items, then we buy special bags for the garbage and can only use those bags designated for garbage, then there is the fact that all this has to be delivered on Fridays 'in accordance with attached guidelines' and separated out into special bins, yada, yada. One returning faculty puts her food waste in the freezer so that it keeps down the maggots.. not a bad idea! Well its 2 am again so I have all early morning to get going on the recycling! John and I are going to drive to go to airport to pick up the Taylors from MN. on Saturday...Driving in Seoul is suicidal.. can we do it?? The fun continues!.. But we are feeling that we have been here for a while, can walk the neighborhood, bargain, meet Mr Cho, Mr Hong, Mr Kang, Mrs Lee, Mrs Hwong, Mr Kim, Mr Lee..Life is good.
I was so happy to buy this little tennis racket thing that is battery operated and zaps the mosquitoes , That zap is so satisfying..
Learning the Korean organic recycling takes humor and fortitude..and patience:
A little red container for just food waste, a bin for paper, a bin for plastic, a bin for glass, a bin for metals, a bin for garbage: , isn't it all garbage? Then there is separating out bones, coffee grinds, tea bags, nuts, shells, hazardous items, then we buy special bags for the garbage and can only use those bags designated for garbage, then there is the fact that all this has to be delivered on Fridays 'in accordance with attached guidelines' and separated out into special bins, yada, yada. One returning faculty puts her food waste in the freezer so that it keeps down the maggots.. not a bad idea! Well its 2 am again so I have all early morning to get going on the recycling! John and I are going to drive to go to airport to pick up the Taylors from MN. on Saturday...Driving in Seoul is suicidal.. can we do it?? The fun continues!.. But we are feeling that we have been here for a while, can walk the neighborhood, bargain, meet Mr Cho, Mr Hong, Mr Kang, Mrs Lee, Mrs Hwong, Mr Kim, Mr Lee..Life is good.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Its Sunday morning, still not sleeping . What else is new. A little man showed up at 9:30 last night on his motor cycle asking to be our dry cleaning man!? Funny.. We had a wonderful family over for dinner and farkle last night. On tuesday night 80 faculty and families are coming for dinner. Then next week all returning faculty come for dessert.. 170... I am in my glory being able to host all here.
As our floors are all cement with this vinyl over them to look like wood.. Our legs are so sore. This is new to me.
Today Erica and Mike take subways form there end of town to come for the day . We will hike up in the hills go to a lovely temple of 500 Buddhas and then down into Yonsei University to the Sinchon area for dinner and then they will take subway home to their new school KIS. It is glorious to us that they are here in the same city.. A miracle.
On ot a new morning.. love
As our floors are all cement with this vinyl over them to look like wood.. Our legs are so sore. This is new to me.
Today Erica and Mike take subways form there end of town to come for the day . We will hike up in the hills go to a lovely temple of 500 Buddhas and then down into Yonsei University to the Sinchon area for dinner and then they will take subway home to their new school KIS. It is glorious to us that they are here in the same city.. A miracle.
On ot a new morning.. love
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
