2 Bottles of Mulit-Purpose Cleaner, 8 Rolls of Paper Towels, and a lot of Elbow Grease

Hello Friends and Family!

After a full bottle of multi-purpose cleaner, a full bottle of Windex, tons of soap, eight roles of paper towels, a few sponges, and numerous trips to E-Mart, we have a big, clean, and comfortable apartment directly above Hooni Pizza. We finally feel somewhat settled, and come down after a stressful day, we have gotten ourselves addicted to Lost (Thank you Andrew and Brittany)! We have taken pictures for you all to see and will take some videos too, but we are unable to post them at the moment because our computer is very, very, broken :( We are using PC Clubs for our internet needs. I am very excited to show you all our apartment, city, and schools.

I am working at Seongju Girls' Middle and High School. It is a private school. I am very blessed to have an English Zone at my school. The English Zone is a small, but new building where all of the students come to take English conversation classes from my co-teacher and me. Last week, I wasn't teaching, but I was able to visit a couple of my classes to introduce myself. Every time I visited, I left the classroom encouraged and motivated. I am so excited to get to know my students more. Here are some of the hilarious questions and comments I received . . .

1. Did you have surgery on your eyes to make them so big? (I told them that my sister has even bigger eyes than me, love you Apes)!
2. Your nose is so big!
3. Do you where colored contacts? (They were very shocked at my eye-color).
4. You are very pale.
5. How much do you weigh?
6. Are you rich?
7. Is your husband handsome?
8. Why didn't you come to Korea with your whole family? I wish they had come with me :(
9. When was your first kiss?
10. Have you used a public bathroom in South Korea? (squatters)
11. I love America!
12. Do you have a baby?

On the streets and around town, the communication barrier doesn't bother me, but in school, the communication barrier has been a struggle, and it has been challenging to adjust to a very different work-culture. Everyone has bragged excessively about the Native English Teacher before me, which makes me even more stressed out because I have been told that I have a lot to live up to!

As we walk around town, the young girls stare, point, laugh, and try to talk to us. Usually, they just end up laughing so much that it is impossible to have a conversation. They are very eager and yet shy about their English. Teenagers and adults sometimes stare, but I have found that we are more of an anomaly in the rural towns where our schools are rather than in the city. We have both had people tell us continually how beautiful and handsome we are. It is actually quite embarrassing. I don't know how to respond.

We went to the Daegu City Center tonight. The shopping is amazing! There is an enormous mall underground on the subway level and an even bigger mall on street level. I am not sure, because we couldn't walk it all, but I would guess there are 20 blocks on each level! There are endless shoe stores :)

I am so blessed to have Mrs. Lee in my life. Although I have only known her for four days, she has already made an impact on my life. She is a Christian. Her family will be meeting us for the foreigner service at their church at 2:30 this Sunday. She has been very open, kind, and patient with me. I have even been able to carpool with her to school. Mrs. Lee teaches English at my school and will be working with me on occasion. She is very eager to practice her English with me, and she is trying to help me learn some Korean :) I think I will be a challenging student for her :)

Despite the many challenges, we are enjoying ourselves. At times, I feel that I am not up to the challenge, but then I remember that all things are possible through Christ's strength. My dad keeps giving me the great reminder that "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7