Much to be Thankful For!

This month we've kind of slacked off on the blog but that is probably because we've been out of town 3 out of 4 weekends. It's been an extremely busy month for us but also very challenging. There have been several hard things we've dealt with culturally, personally and in the lives of our families. So needless to say, we have been feeling worn out! But our God is faithful to see us through these times and we have so much to give thanks for as we navigate through this holiday weekend away from home.

The first weekend in Novemeber we had a chance to visit Cheonan, the capital city of our province. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and everything fell into place so well that we knew it was a special gift from the Lord. We took a bus early Saturday morning and basically shopped till we dropped! Kayleigh needed lots of winter clothing items and I was her "What not to Wear" fashion consultant. We actually both found several things we needed and went back and forth to a few choice stores. We stopped for lunch and ate delicious sushi. It was on the revolving little assembly line just like what I was used to seeing in Japan. It was a very fun treat since we can't find it in Gongju!

Then it was back to business. When we could no longer carry our bags any further, we pitched them in a locker and headed to the upstairs movie theatre for a taste of America. It's funny how you forget where you are and we have to remind ourselves as soon as it's over that we're in Korea and, yes, we don't understand anything. It's a nice escape into English World!

After the movie we ate dinner at this amazing salad bar buffet. They also specialized in BBQ but we were so full on salads, soups and breads, we didn't even try the meat. Next time! It was a beautiful day and we walked around the city and even got a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Yum!

Another gift that arrived soon after that was also a little bit of home. Kayleigh's mom sent us 3 packages filled with all our favorite goodies. Thanks Karen!!

We had an opportunity to catch up with some friends from AZ last weekend. Our sweet friends Bok Ja and Bae Hoon used to work and live in Tempe and returned to Korea about a year ago. They are living in Seoul and so we worked out a plan to go visit them. They have adorable twin girls and it was really fun to be around some kids for a change. We visited some shopping/art districts, Itewon (known as foreign town) and then went to Seoul Tower to get a good view of the city. My pictures don't do it justice at all! In Itewon, they have about every foreign restaurant imaginable and Kayleigh and I splurged on some mouthwatering Mexican food. Words can't describe how happy we were.

Sunday after visiting our friends, we headed to Daejeon to go to church and they had a "Thanksgiving" potluck after the service. There weren't ALL the usual dishes but it was more than satisfying. We ate and ate and then ate some more. I even got apple and pumpkin pie! Who can ask for more? This week has been a little hard teaching every day about Thanksgiving yet knowing I wouldn't be at home to experience it. But God blessed both of us in different ways on Thursday and it has ended up being a great holiday. All the foreigners in Gongju are getting together on Monday night to make a Thanksgiving Dinner. It should be a blast and there will be more to come about my first attempt at cooking a turkey and how God absolutely provided one for us without us even asking. I am so glad that He is especially fond of us! I hope you have enjoyed a special Thanksgiving with your loved ones and look forward to the coming Christmas season!

Conquering Sobaeksan!

This month we went on a trip with a group called Adventure Korea. They plan weekend trips for foreigners to travel around Korea. There is literally something every weekend and so we took our first trip with them in mid-Oct. We headed about 4 hours away to a Ginseng festival where we were able to see the "many" benefits of eating, drinking and ingesting ginseng. We had a ginseng peeling contest, tried fried ginseng, stuffed our feet in ginseng powder to improve circulation, made ginseng wine and harvested our own to take with us. It was a fun cultural experience and we learned that ginseng takes 4-6 years to be ready to harvest. After our tour of the festival we stayed the night in a traditional Korean village. We fit 4 of us in a hobbit home complete with a little door we had to crawl into and walked around exploring the beautiful trees and scenery. Wasn't much to do after dark so we had some serious card tournaments and went to bed early.

The next day we were going to hike Sobaeksan mountain. Now if you know anything about Korean hikers, you know they are intense. They've got the gear, hats, backpacks, Northface jackets, hiking sticks etc. They ain't messing around. So we knew we were in for a climb. I did not know however, how difficult it would really be. We got dropped off by the bus and had to climb up a steep curvy road to our starting destination. I was already out of breath and the hike hadn't even started! Yikes!

We began hiking and were able to go at our own pace, Kayleigh's was speedy and mine was not so speedy. She was actually one of the first people to reach the peak. Big surprise...sigh. The hike was a grueling 4 and a half hours and extremely steep. There were probably about 200 stairs too. I felt like I was Frodo making my way to Mordor. There was a section that we had to use handrails to pull ourselves up and I thought I'd never make it. But I was determined to do the best I could and even though, I knew I could turn back at any point, I managed to make it to the top! I was exhausted and hurting but proud that I had made it. The view was beautiful and I enjoyed seeing all the fall colors. It was some good alone time for me and God. I just keep repeating Phil. 4:13 "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me!"

We finished the hike and ate lunch and shortly after headed back to Seoul where we'd get a bus back to Gongju. On the way back, Kayleigh and I decided to brave the public baths. It was quite an experience which I won't go into detail but I will admit, it felt great to sit and soak my hurting muscles. Now we're true Koreans! :) Hope you enjoy some of the pictures. Fall is in full swing!

Stereotypes Part 2 Americans

Here are the stereotypes about Americans.

Americans are have, eat, want, like, etc.

1. individualistic
2. many wives
3. free education
4. blond hair, blue eyes
5. outgoing
6. small faces
7. engage in lots of PDA
8. eat too much fast food
9. many homosexuals
10. overweight
11. violent
12. big feet, attractive, tall
13. wide noses
14. all Hollywood stars and like to party
15. direct
16. open minded and free
17. use gestures when talking
18. racial discrimination
19. gansters
20. big houses
21. too busy
22. free style
23. many divorces
24. are protective of possessions
25. show a lot of skin
26. impolite
27. friendly
28. see UFO's all the time
29. love Halloween
30. need lots of space
31. watch lots of talk shows
32. many hereos
33. cute babies
34. everyone has a cocktail dress
35. wears blue jeans all the time
36. drinks coffee everyday
37. wears "bling"
38. always smile
39. has too many holidays
40. too much free time
41. loves football
42. always wears bikinis
43. always goes to baseball games
44. likes variety
45. big sweet 16 birthday party

Stereotypes

So the past couple weeks, I've been doing lessons on stereotypes with my students. This is a list of stereotypes that they compiled about Koreans and Americans. You might find it shocking, entertaining or enlightening. Enjoy!

Koreans are, have, eat, drink etc.

1. swear too much
2. in a hurry
3. formal, polite
4. kimchi, dog, rice, garlic
5. care too much about appearance
6. mothers are protective
7. sexist
8. wear glasses
9. black hair, small eyes
10. short, small, too skinny
11. smoke too much
12. dirty streets
13. workaholics
14. traditional
15. hate Japanese
16. smell like garlic
17. plastic surgery
18. always honk in traffic
19. quiet
20. eat healthy
21. have a nice attitude
22. respect elders
23. drive drunk
24. beautiful and smart
25. collective
26. love TV dramas
27. hot-tempered
28. patriotic
29. have bad breath
30. like fashion
31. spit on the street
32. like "red Devil" (Korean mascot)
33. too many internet ads
34. fight too much
35. long history
36. many high rise apts
37. noisy
38. homogenous
39. lots of pride in electronics
40. segregation of sexes
41. stubborn
42. always late
43. kind hearted

Gongju's Got Talent!

So this past weekend, Kayleigh and I went to a chesnut festival that was happening literally in my backyard. We knew it would be there all weekend but we weren't sure what would happen or what the main attractions were. We soon found out that it was very much a cross between a fair and walking through Zoo Lights. There was a floating bridge set up on the river with a little cafe, games to play, chesnuts to sample, and music performances to watch. Friday evening we walked around and tried our luck at some carnival games. Threw some darts, knocked over some pins and shot some hoops. None of which we were very good at, and not to mention that whenever we tried a new one, we drew a crowd of people cheering us on or ready to laugh at the Americans! No pressure! At the balloon/dart board Kayleigh took the first two shots and mananged to hit the only hole in the entire booth. The wall was covered with balloons but both times, she got it right in the hole. It was so funny! But we each managed to come away with a cute little pillow, they may have just felt sorry for us!

We asked one of the ladies to take a picture of us with our winnings but unfortunately I don't think she had ever held a camera in her life. First of all it was aimed backwards so that the photo would have been of her and second, after we got her switched around, she held the button for about one second and then immediately handed us back the camera which at that very moment, the picture took and we got a nice photo of the ground. We thanked her and figured we'd try someone else. :)

Next it was off to try out the food. We had a variety of strange things to choose from including some kind of larvae, pig roasting on a spit, whale, octopus balls, corn dogs, waffles and as many chesnuts as we could ever ask for. They even had some chesnut wine which we sampled. We soon learned that if you stood there long enough looking and trying to figure out what was what, they would just shove some food into our hands. The people of Gongju are very kind to foreigners!

After getting our fill of food, we headed over to the stage for some live music. There were several good performances but throughout the weekend, we definitely had a special place in our hearts for this amazing saxophone player. He was fantastic and on Saturday night, we became friends when he let us pick out a song and he dedicated the Titanic theme to us! Near, far..wherever you are...

To kick off the show on Friday night, they had a fantastic fireworks display and in the background was a song by Yanni. Many of you may not know who this is but if you grew up in the Hixson house, you most certainly know! My dad is a huge fan and it was fun to hear such a familiar song from so far away. We sat and listened/watched many performances and while the crowd thinned out, we moved closer and closer to the front so that by the end we were in the second row. Towards the end of the night, after much chesnut wine had been consumed, we found ourselves sitting amongst a very cheerful group of men who quickly starting speaking to us in whatever English they knew. They said things like "Congratulations!" and "It's my birthday!" and "Old friends." It was hilarious. The guy sitting next to me was singing along to every song at the top of his lungs and so Kayleigh and I just decided to join in. Soon we were making up words and cracking up at our situation. But when it got to a point where we were attracting more attention than the people onstage, we knew it was time to make an exit. As we left, they shook our hands and said "Sa rang hae" which means I love you. We were laughing so hard by this point!

On Saturday night, while watching the sax man, he recognized someone from the crowd and people starting applauding. We had no clue what was going on, so we just followed suit. A few minutes later, the guy came and stood by us, introduced himself as the Mayor of Gongju and gave us his business card. He then took my hand and made me take Kayleigh's and started waving our arms in the air to the beat of the music. He must have held my hand for about 4 long uncomfortable minutes but it was so funny that there was nothing I could do about it. Mind you, we were the only ones waving to the music. haha!

To culminate the event on Sunday night, they had a giant stage set up at the park near the river. We were told that a major popular rap artist named Drunken Tiger would be performing. So we chilled out on the floating cafe and waited for him to get started. There were tons of opening acts but finally we heard enough screaming that we knew it was his turn. We leisurely made our way to the stage and literally about 10 seconds after we got there, he finished. He walked offstage and this crowd starting rushing him. We were like, what? That's it? He only did maybe 2 or 3 songs. They had been building up to him all night and as soon as it started it was over. Oh well, culture difference. I found out later that this is the norm. Overall we had a fantastic weekend! It really felt like we were part of the community because every night we would run into people we knew from school or church or other foreigners etc. It's nice to feel more at home here. Thanks Gongju!

My strange-named students

During the very first class, my students were able to pick an English name. I had a list of names they could choose from or they could make their own. Here are some of the funny and creative names that the students made for themselves.

Harry Potter

Animal

Head Shot

Many girl names including Jessica, Sophia, Abby, etc…

English

Bush

Pig

Octopus

Bobo Club



Every week we have a listening test. They always write little notes to me on the tests when they give them back after the test. Here are some of them…

“heart breaker”

“the best in the history”

“sleepy”

“common boy”

“I love Ms. L”

“Would you marry me?”

“hello!”



Every day brings interesting stories!

Death by Taxi

This last weekend Michelle and I met up with some friends in a city called Incheon (it is a suburb of Seoul). It was the first time to take a bus to Seoul and costs about 8$ and is 1.5 hours. While we were in Incheon we went to a Bboy Tournament at a festival being held at the fairgrounds. It was a lot of fun. (FYI: Bboy are break-dancers). This was an international competition so we saw teams from all over the world, such as Holland, Taiwan, Japan, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, USA, China, Poland, etc. We would like to give a shout out to the South Korean team (who we think should have won against Holland) and the Taiwan team! The Taiwan team in our opinion was one of the best! The finalists were Russia and Japan, and Japan took the gold! Check out the videos we posted. Now, although Korean transportation is indeed wonderful, the competition ended after the last bus to our city (Gong ju) left! So, we had to resort to paying for a ticket to a nearby city (Daejeon) and then take a 20/30min taxi drive to Gongju. Once we got to Daejeon a taxi diver was available to take us to our city. It cost 40,000won (little under 40$) and there were 4 of us to split that. It just so happened our taxi driver was a former NASCAR champion; he was a speedy little guy! We were weaving in and out of cars going 120-140km/hour! At one point we hit a top speed of 160km (99mph)!!!! It was seriously like a rollercoaster at Six Flags. We thought we might die on several occasions but said “well at least we die having fun!” While the sudden stops and curves throughout the race track on a little 2 way highway and even city streets didn’t phase our driver, he delighted us with a couple stanzas from some American songs. At about halfway through our journey in the taxi, he told us that his car wasn’t going as fast because we were weighing it down (there were 4 Americans in this taxi!). We’re thinking 99mph was plenty fast :)