Walkin in a Winter Wonderland

Confession: I am horrible at savoring things.  I eat chocolate too fast, I drink coffee like there is no tomorrow, and I read books like my life depends on it.  I do not savor things.  I tell you this because I really want to be reading my new book right now (thank you amazing husband for a great Christmas gift).  but if I read a book a day, I am going to run out of books quite soon.  So I thought I would update you on life

We got more snow!  I was at school yesterday and I noticed that the sun was no longer shining.  I looked outside and saw one of the most beautiful snowfalls ever.  I tried to capture it on my camera.  The snowflakes were HUGE!  I have never seen snowflakes this big.  And it snowed like that for an hour probably.  We probably got about 2 or 3 inches.  But as soon as it stopped snowing, it started melting.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Even though I am done with my Christmas Carol Countdown, the song title "Let it Snow" best describes this post. It finally snowed last night!  We were at Christmas party with some friends when it began.  I would guess that only about an inch or so accumulated.  That does not seem like very much to me, but some people (from South Africa) say that it never snows where they are from.  On our 10 minute walk to the subway station after the shindig, we watched two cars loose control (and hit the curb) and another actual collision.  I realized that Koreans are not used to driving in the snow AND there are no snowplows or salt spreading vehicles so the roads were slippery.  Sadly most of the snow is melting today.  I hope that it snows again this winter.  Another funny thing to me is that there are no snow shovels, so I saw many people sweeping the snow this morning.

So my mom mailed me some cross stitching kits for my birthday.  I brought them to desk warming with me because I have nothing else to do.  Anywho, one of my co-teachers stopped by to eat lunch with me (Koreans think it is sad if you have to eat by yourself - the whole group culture thing).  She wanted to see what I was working on, so I showed her.  She said, "what an exotic house!"  I chuckled to myself.  I  guess it does look different than most houses and buildings here.

The "exotic" house

CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas!  As most of you are beginning your Christmas day, we are ending ours  (it is still weird to me the time difference between here and America).  Our Christmas Day and then to the countdown.
I set my alarm for this morning.  I had high hopes of getting my long run in this morning.  FAIL.  I think sleeping in was a better option.  I was really tired.   Anywho, after we got up, we ate some delicious cinnamon rolls for breakfast (Thank you Paris Baguette for making cinnamon rolls).  My amazing husband and I try to read the Bible for a little bit after breakfast each day and pray for our friends and family.  We do not do this everyday, but we try to.  Today my amazing  husband read the first two chapters of Luke while sipped on my coffee.  Then we opened presents!   I looked at my watch and started running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  I dipped the cookie dough and mocha truffles that I whipped up last night, organized everything for our Christmas potluck, went for a quick short COLD run (It was 1 degree farenheit this morning), took a shower, cleaned up the kitchen a bit, and packed our stuff for the potluck.  We went across town to eat and hang out with some friends.  We had a delicious lunch!  Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, walnut-cranberry-salad, and too many desserts.  We even had hot chocolate to drink!  Everything was so good!  We spent the afternoon talking and playing Apples to Apples.
I thought that I would be super homesick today and really miss everyone a lot.  I was a little sad that I could not be home, but Christmas is not a big deal here.  It does not feel like Christmas.  No snow, no Christmas tree, no time off, no cookie trays, no commercialization (okay well a little, but not much), no stockings.  It just feels different. I can not really describe beyond that.  I am really looking forward to my first Christmas back in the States.  I think I might gain 20 lbs though :)

Onward:
Christmas Carol Countdown #1: Heirlooms
This is my absolute favorite Christmas song ever of all time!  I love this song by Amy Grant.  I used play this song on the piano during the Christmas season.  I think it is the key of F and I would always miss those b flats.  Essentially the song is about how Jesus is more than a precious antique to pass down through the generations.  As the song says, "time never changes the memory, the moment his loved first pierced through me, telling all the I come from, and all that I live for, and all that I am going to be.  My precious Savior is more than a heirloom to me."  Can you remember that first time that God became real to you?  I always think of that moment in my own life when I hear this song.   

I have enjoyed sharing my favorite Christmas music with you!  Merry Christmas!

#2 Emmanuel

Happy Christmas Eve! It is late.  This will probably be short.  I once again hit the gym before school, spent 8 lovely hours at school, then ran errands (actually I walked).  My husband and I attended a Christmas Eve service with my one of my co-teachers.  It was all in Korean, but it was mainly children performing different things.  It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.  I wished we would have brought our camera.  After we got home, I whipped up a batch of Mocha Truffles and Cookie Dough Truffles (they are actually chilling and waiting to be dipped in almond bark as I write this).  I can not wait to climb under the covers tonight!  Santa is comin'  :) 

Christmas Carol  Countdown #2: Emmanuel
I love this song!  There are quite a few songs with the title Emmanuel.  This one we sang in church when I was growing up.  It is a simple song:  Emmanuel, Emmanuel His name is called Emmanuel God with us, revealed in us His name is called Emmanuel.  I love this song.  No matter where we are, God is with us.  And not only is God present, he knows too!  He came, he dwelt among us, he knows.  God with us.  There have been days at school this Christmas season when I have listened to this song like 5 times in a row.  God with us.  What gets better than that?  God with us.

I was able to find this song on youtube, in case you are not familiar with it.  Click here to see the video. 

# 3 Carol of the Bells/What Child Is This?

Christmas Carol Countdown # 3: Carol of the Bells/ What Child Is This?
Point of Grace took these two great songs and put them into one.  They start out with Carol of the Bells and then transition to What Child is this?  I get goosebumps every time I hear this song.  So great.  One of my favorite memories of Carol of the Bells is my college town playing this song.  There were bells (in the courthouse on the town square I think?) that played every night at 7 pm.  During the year they would play You are my Sunshine or Somewhere over the Rainbow etc.  But during Christmas they would often play Carol of the Bells.  I could here it from my room last year - so fun!
I sadly left all my Christmas music in America and have been relying on youtube for all of my Christmas music (sadly, Pandora only works in America). I can not find this song on Youtube :(  But someday I will be back in the USofA, and I will be baking Christmas cookies and listenting to this song!

If you want to read about what I did today, back up one post :)  It is a long one.

Hint: Tomorrow's song is my favorite Christmas phrase for this year (which I have already told you!)

A bridge, a POW camp, and some sushi

Today has been a long one.  I started my day at 5:40 am with a trip to the gym.  Thank you Gym Lady for putting on some Mariah Carey Christmas music.  She only had two songs, but it was enough Christmas to get me going.  I spent my morning at school reading magazines and trying to catch up on the news in America.  After lunch, all the teachers boarded a large bus and we set off on our field trip (just teachers no students).  We drove to Busan and then drove on the newly opened Geoga Grand Bridge.  It was a pretty big deal.  It used to take like 3.5 hours to travel from Busan to Geoje Island, but we did it 50 minutes.  Part of the passage is a bridge and part is a tunnel that goes under the South Sea.  You can read more by clicking here.

Our first stop on the island was Geoje POW camp; I had no idea we were going to visit this place until we pulled up.  I think I could talk about this for quite a while, but I will try to contain myself.  

Welcome to the POW camp

We got off the bus and I was greeted with the sight of 16 flags of the countries that aided South Korea during the war.  Yup, there was Old Glory.   I have not seen an American flag for probably 4 months.  I, of course, got to hold the job of being the only American at the entire place.  I took a few moments just to stare at our flag.  There were quite a few older people there.  I wondered what their memories of the Korean War were.  The exhibits were really nicely done I thought.  Almost all the informative sign posts were translated in English.  I really appreciated not having to constantly be asking questions.  I am not really sure I can describe why I felt sad during our tour other than this was real.  This really was a POW camp; there were pictures of the spot I was standing in 1950s and now, same mountains, same layout.  The people walking by me could remember the major events of the war.  

What the camp looked like

One of my co-teachers stuck pretty close to me to explain about some things that were not translated.  As we strolled through the exhibits, we talked about our impressions of the war – she seemed surprised when I told her that I had learned about the Korean War in high school.  I also shared with her that my Grandpa had come to Korea during the war.  I think it was a bonding experience for us.  

I am hungry!

Overall, I am really thankful for the experience.  I learned some new things and I was reminded how blessed I am to be an American.  (click here to see good pictures and more info)

Then we went to a sushi restaurant.  As I was waiting for our food to come, I looked towards the kitchen area and saw a huge aquarium.  This was the real deal.  There were the fish that we were going to be eating.  Great.  Through a turn of events, I ended up sitting next to all office secretaries.  I was happy to meet new people, however none of them spoke English.  One of them had a translator on her phone, so she kept showing me what we were eating by typing in Korean and I would read it in English.  

You can see some fish and crawdad like animals

I ate sushi (I do not know if I will ever eat this again) a sea squirt, crawdads (I think it was a crawdad or a close relative), oysters (Also will not be eating these again in the near future) anchovies, and soup with a whole entire fish in it (This fish was cooked).  Here is the secret to eating Korean food: rice.  Koreans never go a meal without eating some rice.  So whatever you have to eat, try to mix with rice.  It makes life much better.  After dinner, we boarded the bus for our 3 hour trip home.  It was a good day.

#4 Little Town

Hey ya’ll.  Well I am at school bored out of my mind.  My amazing husband says that he never gets bored.  I do.  I have things to do (facebook stalk, listen to sermons, catch up on email, read, cross stitch, freerice.com, and prepare for my English Camp in a few weeks); however I can only sit at my desk for so long.  I can also walk around the school only so many times.  Oh well.  I will stop complaining now.  I am listening to my christmas carol countdown via youtube right now.  I started at #15 and have listened to the songs on the countdown (some of them twice). I am getting close to today’s song.  Maybe it will be here by the time I finish.

Christmas Carol Countdown #4: Little Town

This is a song by Amy Grant based on the traditional, “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”.  At least I think it is by Amy Grant.  She is the first person I know to sing it.  I think it is a great song, mainly because it completely takes me back to childhood.  I think I danced to this song in the living room near the Christmas tree (only when no one was around).  As a little girl, I also thought that this was the perfect song to use if I ever became a professional ice skater (I ice skated for the first time in my life when I was like 20).   I like the sleigh bells in this song.  What is Christmasier than sleigh bells?  (Note: I wrote “more Christmasy” in the previous sentence and Microsoft Word changed it to Christmasier).  My absolute favorite phrase this Christmas is “Emmanuel, God with us.”  And this song has that phrase in it. 

One nice thing about desk warming is that I can be on Facebook during the morning here which is evening hours in USofA.  I got to chat with a good college friend this morning.  We were both math ed majors, bakers, and runners (check out her Christmas Cookie blog by clicking here).  I love talking to friends in America. 

Well time to get back to my book :)  Hint: the next song is a two for one!  Can you guess what two songs they are?

P.S.  Here is an updated pic of my with the curly hair.  It has been less curly as time goes on, but it still fun!