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