Fellowship - The Underlying Theme to My Summer Vacation

Seeing that my summer vacation will stop abruptly Saturday morning, I thought I'd reflect a bit about the summer. I leave for camp tomorrow, taking an hour and a half train ride south to the town of Jinju. I've never been there, so I have no idea what to expect. I also, in classic Korean style, have received very little information about the 4 week camp I am scheduled to work Starting Sunday/Monday. I think the kids are upper elementary and will be the same kids the whole time. But other than that, I know little. I guess I can write more about this when I know more.

So over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed the re-occurring theme of relationships/fellowship, or any other word you'd like to insert there. To me, it means connecting with other people in a way that goes beyond the surface. I believe we were made to be in relationships with each other. And I have found that there is little that can compare to the joy found in close people.

Last weekend, I got to go climbing with the owner of my climbing gym and some of the members. It had been a really long time since I was the sole foreigner in the group, and I kind of enjoyed it. There was a loneliness at times when I wasn't able to speak, but I also noticed how much my Korean has improved from 2 years ago. The weather pretty much rained us out, but our spirits were kept high. Maybe it was the lack of people around this summer that made me thirst for fellowship, but it was exactly what I needed. We ended up hiking to the top of the mountain, only to climb one route in the wind and rain, and then hike 30 minutes down to the shelter we'd camped at, make some ramen noodles, then hike another 30 minutes down to the artificial wall at the base, where it was partly sunny. In the evening, I got to meet the gym owner's family over dinner. His older sister actually owns the restaurant and had it open just to us, with a delicious dinner of pulled chicken, water kimche, and chicken soup. There is a word in Korean that means "refreshing" but I don't remember what it is right now. But they taught it to me that night.

I've had a double dose of fellowship, I guess, because our Tuesday night Bible Study has been really awesome. There are 7 of us who have been coming regularly, and that really is a magic number. Over the course of several months, we've come to know and understand each other on levels that good friendships are based on. If you know me well, you know that when I get comfortable, I'm not ashamed to ask tough or touchy questions, because I feel comfortable only when I think my company is too. So it's been really nice to open up with a group that I know and trust, sharing our faith with each other, something that is so dear to us. it's awesome.

Family Fun

It's been about a week since Mom and Dad came to visit. It was short and sweet, packed full of wonderful experiences with two people we love dearly. It had been over a year since we had last seen each other. Rebs went via KTX train and Seoul subway to eventually pick them up at the Incheon Airport. They bussed back and then taxi'd here. Their arrival date was June 18th, my mom's birthday. So while Rebs was in transit picking them up, I was home getting good food from Costco and making the ugliest, but most delicious carrot cake known to man, finishing just in time for their arrival.

Over the following week, we did all sorts of fun and active things to give them a glimpse into our lifestyles across the sea, as well as experience a country and culture that was equally foreign. It was fun to watch them shed their timidity slowly, but surely. My dad and I took a bike ride on the riverside path near our house. We took them to the local farmer's market and tried some new foods (no silk worm larvae though). We went swimming together at a local indoor pool that I frequent. We took them to the climbing gym to meet our local climbing community. We also went to Gyeongju (경주), Korea's old capital, to meet our friend Chris who acted as our tour guide as we biked around the city. They got to see some Buddhist temples and old carvings in the granite rocks around the mountainside. And they also got their first experience of Korean food, bibimbab (mixed veggies, rice, and an egg in a hot bowl).

While we were around the apartment, Rebs and Mom bought some pots and dirt to plant the seeds Mom brought over to help Rebs start her herb garden up on the rooftop. (We already have basil, oregano, and cilantro already sprouting after just a week!) We went together as a family to get acupuncture. And we had our friends over for a barbeque on the rooftop, so they could all meet Mom and Dad. We played a Korean version of "Catch Phrase" that I made up using different words and phrases you use and hear as a foreigner in Korea. The girls won (of course), and their prize was hugs from Mom and Dad.

The most important thing about my parents' trip, in my eyes, was that we just got to spend some quality time with them. Living over here, we only see our families on Skype every so often. You don't realize how much a hug is worth until you have to go without. We got to catch up with them. And even though we went all over the place and showed them many things, we made sure to savor our time in relaxing in each other's company, reveling in the depth of conversation. There is sometimes this imaginary barrier to a Skype call that keeps you from getting beyond the surface. So getting to spend so much time with Mom and Dad helped us to break past that barrier. It meant a lot for my parents to spend the time and money to come to the other side of the world just to see us. Now I feel like they know us better, and how to relate to us more. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Summertime

It's almost here. I thought this would be a good time to give everyone an update. Next week is finals week so Dusty and I will be busy grading and getting everything finished up for the semester. Sometimes it feels like it's flown by, other times it seems like it's dragged on for a long time. Either way, Dusty and I are both really looking forward to the summer. We have decided to stay close to try and save money and take advantage of our free time to work on other things besides teaching.

What we've been doing this semester:
- we moved
- we made our apartment into a home
- we adjusted and adapted to life in Daegu
- we learned a new job (again)
- we taught new curriculum and made new lesson plans
- we made new friends
- we talked a lot about our future plans, goals, and dreams
- we started a sort of Bible study with friends
- and of course... we traveled Korea and climbed like crazy

Currently Reading - The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi
Currently Listening To - The God Journey Podcasts
In the Kitchen - Made Butter Chicken and Naan a few times recently
Currently Watching - Videos on Gymnastike.com


We've been busy these past several months. Basically it's been another semester of transition for us. We are so happy where we are. We love our surroundings, our jobs, our friends, and our lifestyle. It was a difficult move for us but we couldn't have asked for a better set-up. We are definitely thankful that the transition stage is behind us now and at this point are hoping for another year and a half here. We both know we are nearing the next 'life stage' but neither of us feels quite ready to move on from where we are now. I realized this semester that I have moved 8 times since I graduated college in 2003. Yes, that's right folks. 8 TIMES!!! Needless to say, I'm looking forward to staying put here for a little while longer. I think it will give us the time and freedom we need to decide what direction we want to go next.

Upcoming summer plans:
- Dusty's parents are coming to visit for a week. We are so excited to see them! They'll be here this Friday. We have been trying to get all the finishing touches done on the apartment so they'll be comfortable during their stay.
- After that I'll be studying my booty off for the the national counseling licensure exams which I hope to take this winter.
- I also hope to study Korean. My goal is to finish the Rosetta Stone program by the end of summer.
- I want to learn some songs on my ukulele.
- I plan to organize all our photos, get albums made, and delete whatever is leftover.
- I have a blanket that I've been working on crocheting for over 2 years now. Maybe I'll work on it some.
- I hope to find some great summer reads.
- I'm also hoping to get lasik eye surgery.
- Dusty will work a camp throughout August to make some extra money.
- He's also planning to do a language exchange.
- And of course, we will stay active climbing, running, doing yoga, etc.

Future plans:
- We plan to come home over winter vacation to visit our families and for me to try and get my counseling license.
- That's as far as we've gotten. We have ideas and dreams but no set plans past winter. We'll keep you posted.

Oh yeah, I wrote this a few weeks ago but I forgot to post it

It is a balmy Wednesday evening. We (Dusty and I) are so fortunate to have the majority of this week off of work. We taught regular classed Monday but our school is having their annual sports festival Tuesday through Thursday. Friday is Buddha’s birthday, which is a national holiday here. Our school graciously gave us these days off so we decided to take a little getaway, just the two of us. We don’t seem to get time to ourselves very often. I’m not complaining because I love our lifestyle here and the fact that we have many friends who we love to spend time with. But, it’s so nice to have Dusty all to myself for three whole days. No distractions, no phone calls, no schedule, and no letting the time determine what we should be doing. We decided to come to our favorite climbing place in Korea, Seonunsan. We will be here until Friday evening at which time we’ll head over to another crag (closer to home) and spend the weekend (you guessed it) climbing with friends.

We were meant to leave yesterday afternoon but we woke up in the morning to heavy rain. Dusty decided to head off to work (on his day off) to check out the festivities. I opted to stay warm and dry in our cozy apartment and slept in until 9:00. I told him I’d work on packing while he was gone. However, once he left I found myself lacking motivation seeing as how it was pouring outside. Instead I watched some gymnastics videos online, took a shower, and caught up with Brandi on skype. It’s not often I get her all to myself without interruption. It was great talking to her. I recently decided I’m going to work toward getting my counseling license this winter, which is a big decision for me. It gets the ball rolling in a direction and means I have lots of work to do. I’ve been done with graduate school for nearly three years but for whatever reason, haven’t felt like I wanted to pursue licensure until now. For whatever reason, I feel ready. But, I’m scared. I’m scared of failing. I’m scared I won’t be good at it. I’m scared I won’t be able to remember how to do it. There is a lot of fear that I’m going to have to face with it and I can’t think of any other person who could understand it all better than Brandi. She’s been through the whole process and is an awesome counselor, friend, and sister. I hope to write more on this decision in my next blog.

Dusty was a bit disappointed when he returned to find everything still needing to be packed. Ugh! Such a chore it is. I explained my severe lack of drive to do anything that day. I asked if we could just spend the day at home relaxing and packing up and head out early the next morning. To my surprise, he thought it was a great idea. So yesterday we spent a peaceful, relaxing day at home, just the two of us. We didn’t do much. We packed. We took lots of breaks. We ran a few errands. We watched an episode of the Cosby Show. I love that show. We ordered fried chicken for dinner and snuggled up to watch a movie. We were in bed by 10:00. It continued to pour throughout the night and we both woke up around 3:30 to some loud thunder before falling right back to sleep.

This morning we were both up by 5:30 and were out the door by 6:15. The drive was lovely. I slept for the first half but by the time I woke up the rain had mostly stopped leaving behind a heavy, misty fog for the sun to battle for most of the day. We arrived here around 9:45 and quickly set up camp. We’ve done it so many times by now that we barely need to speak. We set the tent up together, then I get inside while Dusty hands me our pads, sleeping bags, and pillows. Then we unload the clothes out of our packs and set them at our feet. Then we unload the food. When we finished, we ate a bit of tuna salad, crackers, and dried seaweed. Then I had a bowl of cereal (I didn’t get breakfast). Before I was finished Dusty had set up the hammock and was ready for a late morning nap. I joined him and we slept soundly for about an hour. When we woke up we ate a little more and then packed up for our hike to the rock climbing area. It’s about 3 miles up to the crag. It’s a bit long but beautiful all the way and I enjoy the exercise and feeling warmed up before I even get on the rock. We arrived up at the crag around 2:30 to find it wet, very wet. So wet in fact that we only did one easy climb. We decided it would be better to just take it easy today and let things dry out a bit. So instead, we sat on top of a rock and talked while enjoying an amazing view. Then we hiked around looking at some climbs we might like to try tomorrow and ate a bit more before hiking back down to the campsite. I did a little bit of yoga while Dusty fetched some wood for the fire. And that brings us to now. Right now I’m laying in the hammock while Dusty gets a little catnap in before dinner. I think we’ll have sweet potato chili tonight. Mmm! Speaking of which, I’m going to go get that started. I’m hungry!

Another Update

I can't believe it's been over a month since we last wrote on here. I'm sure Rebs has a blog she's written somewhere; she just hasn't posted it yet. This semester has been filled to the brim with organizing and preparations for school and climbing trips. Just about every weekend we have gone away to different climbing crags around the beautiful Korean countryside. Two weekends ago, the weather was a bit wet. That weather turned out to be perfect for the project that some we and some friends decided to do. We built some steps up a steep, eroding trail at Yongseo Pokpo 영서폭포 (Yong-saw waterfalls). It was really fun working together in the rain and having the joy of seeing our finished product at the end of the day. I look forward to going back and seeing how our work stands against the test of time.
I've been doing a bit of reading lately. I'd call myself a sporadic reader, but when I get a book that I like, it's more fascinating than any TV show or movie. I love movies, but a good book has so many more details. Such is the case with The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. I know the book is centuries old, but to me that is part of its appeal. It shows a glimpse into history while telling the story. And if you have a good imagination, it's better than any screenplay.

Learning, Changing, Growing

It's been a wild month since I last wrote on here. We feel much more settled into our city and have been enjoying some great weekends climbing all over this beautiful, mountainous country. When the weather turned warmer, we started going out on the weekends to climb, and now here I am, a month and a half later, having not written. I think someone in our family has said before that, "no news is good news". Well that's true for us in this case. I have to remind myself to slow down sometimes to reflect and share these experiences with others.
I've really been growing in my climbing lately, but not in the conventional sense of power and strength as much as I have mentally. I don't know where I got it from, possibly from my fellow climbers (amazing people), but I've been using a few sayings lately. When something has happened that I would have liked to be different, I simply say, "it is what it is," meaning that you can't change the past so why dwell on it.
The other thing I've really been focusing on is the pure enjoyment aspect of the sport, as well as life in general. There are so many things we do on a daily or routine basis that we don't ever stop to ask ourselves why we do them. Why do I put so much into my daily life that I feel rushed all day long. Am I enjoying this life? And back to the original topic, am I enjoying climbing? Rebs and I climb for no other reason except that we enjoy it. There is no person or thing that forces us to do it. And most importantly, I don't find my self worth in how well I climb. At least that's the goal. I've recently found that when I take the pressure off myself to be perfect in my climbing, and to just enjoy it- every moment with friends, being outdoors, each movement on the rock- I climb better and am much happier for it. I am living in the moment.
We aren't promised tomorrow. So why not live right now, making the most of every opportunity. There's some company that has a great slogan that says, "be present". That's where I am right now and it's a good place to be. Not too focused on the past or the future. I enjoy being in the present!

Week of Tenacity

I was a swimmer in college and every year we would have our first week of training after a summer off. In normal schools, this was called "hell week" but since I went to a Christian university, we called it the "week of tenacity", much more appealing to the ear, but none less grueling. We would have two-a-days swimming with weights every other day. The idea was to whip your body into shape that first week so that the following weeks wouldn't seem so hard (or at least that's how I thought of it).

Well, this week has definitely been our week of tenacity. Rebs and I have both had times where we either cried or wanted to cry or punch something/someone. We've been transitioning into a new city and a new job in a country where English is definitely not the first language. On top of it, this isn't something we chose for ourselves, both of us being planner's by nature. We were released from our previous jobs unexpectedly, without explanation, at the end of our contracts.

Classes started this week and we have both felt overwhelmed by it. It isn't that our jobs are difficult, but more that they are unfamiliar. In fact, there isn't much in our lives that is. Our apartment, our friends, our offices, our city, are all less than 2 weeks old. I hate that feeling of not being in control. I want to buy a TV cable. I want to go to the downtown produce market. I want to buy a sofa for my living room. But I don't know how to do any of it. The delivery guy calls me on the phone, but we can't communicate with each other. It's these things that I'm dealing with on a daily basis.

I have to keep reminding myself that everything I do is a step in the right direction. I've felt like God is teaching us to let go of our control. Every time I drive down the wrong road, I have become more familiar with my surroundings. I know that that's not the right way, narrowing my choices. Eventually, maybe I will have gone down all the wrong roads and then I'll know which ones are shortcuts. It's just a matter of time. Every time something doesn't work, I re-think things and try something else.

One good thing that happened tonight was that we went climbing with our friend Bryan at the climbing gym near our house. We are all out of shape, having not been able to climb for the past few weeks due to the transition. But there is something purifying about working hard that I enjoy. Rebs says I'm weird for enjoying pain, but I hardly see it as pain anymore. Just progress. We climbed hard for 2 hours, finishing with pull-ups and abs, the same as was our routine 2 years ago when we trained regularly in a gym in Seoul. I enjoyed every bit of sweat and pain because it cleanses me. I left refreshed, feeling that familiar feeling, no more in control than I ever am, but satisfied.