Starting to say Goodbye!

So I guess I should write about these pics. On our trip to Busan we went to this giant fish market. It was amazing to see every kind of fish and seafood everywhere. Chris wasn't that impressed though!~

These are some of Chris' students. I don't really know what to say about them.

We took some friends from church to the Suwon fortress and had a great time walking and talking.

This is the way election campaigns happen here. Women hanging out of trucks smiling waving doing a little dance and playing obnoxious music. So glad it is over!

Our first goodbye party with friends from Bible study and the first church we went to.

This might potentially be my last post on this blog for Korea. Time is quickly vanishing as we find ourselves preparing to go home. This past four weeks have just flown by. From marking tests to meeting with friends (Erik what's up?), church things and other school related duties. We are trying to get everything finished and cleaned up ready to go. Chris already has his replacement teacher learning the ropes at his school. Mine won't be here until I am gone which is to bad because I was hoping to have her sit in on my classes. Only five more days of classes!
As I am writing this I seriously can not believe where this year has gone. It will be so good to reflect and think about this experience once we are back in Canada. We fly out on Monday the 14th which is your Sunday evening.
Some of you may be wondering our future plans. Well currently we are planning on going to Haiti. We are applying and getting things ready for that adventure. Lord willing we will go late August until next June. There is a ministry there (Haiti Arise) that Chris has been twice already with guys from his basketball team. So we would be going there and helping with teaching English and Bible classes and what ever else they would need us to do. So it's exciting and a little nerve wracking to be potentially going into that environment. With the Lord leading us it will be good and He will guide us.
There are so many great people here that we have met. It is not always fun or easy to say good bye but as Chris likes to say it's more like see you later.
This coming week I want to write a blog about the things we will miss and wont miss about Korea. That should be interesting so look for it next week.
That's all for now~

Busan Trip!

I am here to write to you about the trip that Chris and I went on a week or so ago. We haven't done all that much traveling this past year but this trip we had been planning on for a while. We had 3 extra days off because of the Children's Day holiday here in Korea. So we packed our backpacks and headed south to the second biggest city in Korea, Busan.
Busan is a harbor city and very beautiful. It's a lot calmer than Seoul and you can actually get a seat on the subway. We stayed in an amazing hotel called the Commodore. It looks like an old palace with it's traditional architecture and decor. You can see it in the picture.
We took the train there, we really enjoy traveling by train it's very peaceful and you get to see so much of the country side.
Our first stop in Busan was Taejongdae Park. (known for great views of the ocean) Unfortunately the weather was cloudy so we didn't get to see much of the ocean but we had fun hiking the trail and watching this old Korean lady cut up raw seafood and serve it to people while it was still moving on the plate. Seriously Chris and I could have gone down to the beach and ate all that shellfish and octopus pretty much right out of the ocean. You can't get much fresher than that. But we just enjoyed the safety of watching it happen and not partaking. Next we headed to Yongdusan Park where the Busan tower is located. Since it was Children day the place was crowded but there was lots going on. We were listening to this traditional performance when out of no where this guy with a camera walks up to us and asks for an interview. We have no idea if it ended up on TV but it was fun to do. From there we walked to the Jagalchi Raw fish market. Never in my life have I seen so much raw fish and all kinds a seafood. It was quite an experience to see all these people making their living by selling what comes out of the ocean everyday. Our favorite part was watching the people put the escaping octopus back in the buckets they'd continue to climb out of! :) This ends the first day of adventuring.
Day 2 consisted of a nice restful morning and getting to the beach by lunch time. Our first stop was Haeundae Beach. A very famous one in Korea, each summer it is packed out with people. We had another cloudy day so we pretty much had it to ourselves. After a walk along the beach and to this light house we decided to see the aquarium. I don't really like going to zoos and aquariums I feel bad for the animals in such small spaces. But, Chris convinced me and it ended up being really neat. Sharks and sea turtles swimming by your face is a pretty cool experience.
After a late lunch we headed towards the UN Korean war memorial cemetery. We got there too late and couldn't go in. So we decided to head towards the second most popular beach in Busan called Gwanganlli Beach. Have fun trying to pronounce that. :) It has a great bridge that is lit up all nice at night. We also walked that beach and spent some time listening to the waves and relaxing. It was such a blessing to be able to see all we did in a couple days and have a bit of time to rest and relax.
The next day we did head out to another city but I will save that update for next week on a new blog.
We have four weeks left now and it feels surreal. Definitely enjoying our last bit of time.
School is busy as we are prepping things for the teachers that will take our places.
Well that's all until next week!~

May means 40 days!

Greetings from Suwon, S.Korea. Yes we are mere weeks from boarding that jet plane back to Canada. We are definitely excited and looking forward to it. Spring has been busy and fun, so let me fill you in. Today it's 25 degrees which I can hardly believe. I am enjoying it so much as tomorrow Chris and I are headed to Busan for a small 3 day getaway. I will let you know how that goes next week once we are back.
Well onto the news of the month. The most exciting is that I got baptized this past Sunday. God has really been moving in my heart these past couple months. I wanted to profess my faith in Christ through believers baptism as an act of obedience to His Word so I did. It was an awesome experience and I am so thankful to believe in Christ for salvation!
Also last Saturday I had to opportunity to go on a hike up Seoul Fortress Wall. It is like a mini Great Wall but.... actually you can not compare them. The wall was built to protect the older downtown of Seoul from Foreign invasion and connects 3 of the main mountain ranges in the Seoul area. It is surprising how mountainous Korea actually it. The hike was great as was the blessed conversation I had with woman I just met that day. The leaders from our Korean lessons organized the trip and it was definitely well received and fun.
Chris didn't get to come because he was playing in his last basketball league game for this year. Speaking of Chris he has had the opportunity to speak at Hansei University English chapel here in Korea. Hansei University is the one that we have applied at to teach Englishthis Fall. It went really well as he shared his testimony. He also has the chance to share a word (later this month) at a church about an hour from us. It is really encouraging to see the amount of opportunities there are here in Korea for ministry and evangelism. Which is why our time here may not be quite over just yet. (nothing definite yet)
We also spent some time down by the Han River with friends from church. It has been such a blessing getting to know these people. They have such servant hearts and want to serve God. I am very thankful for our church and pastor for consistently preaching the gospel.
The river is such a peaceful place to get away from the busyness and concrete jungle. There is grass, flowers, bushes and water! Also the city of Seoul has made the river more accessible by putting elevators and staircases on each of the main bridges leading down. Also some of the buses conveniently stop there as well.
We also ventured to Yeouido Island which is the business/financial district of Seoul. But, it is famous for it's cherry blossom festival each year. We came a week too late as most of the blossoms were turning into leaves. We took a few pictures of them and also in front of the Parliament Building.
Please keep us in your prayers if you can about our future. We know that God is leading we just need patience. The Korean way is very last minute and we are all about planning ahead, so you can see the tension there.
A Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers!
What a great year this is so far.
Be blessed~ until next week :)

Spring Is Coming!

Just a few pics as I've been bad about putting some up. First one is a crowded subway. Second one is my school. Third, Chris thinking about eating a live octopus. Actually at that restaurant you could. These 2 below are a few of my new students this semester just loving life not studying at the moment!

Hello from Korea, we are so excited that the weather is finally changing. I really appreciate Korea in the fact that we get to enjoy all 4 seasons. For the last number of years I have experienced but 2, winter and summer. That's what you get for being in the prairies I guess. I hope all of you are excited about the spring and the newness that it brings.
So we just got to celebrate Easter. It was different here in Korea, Easter is only celebrated in the churches. Did you know that Easter is the only time in the year when Korean churches take communion? Very interesting and now I totally forget why that is... sorry :) Good Friday was very sobering for us this year as we took the time to remember what Christ did on that cross. But, oh the celebration we have on Easter Sunday that Chris rose from the grave and conquered death and sin. Wow we have much to be thankful for.
Recently we discovered Skype, what a wonderful invention, and it's free! It was so neat to be able to talk with Chris' parents and mine over Easter time. It's kind of unreal in a sense and a little hard to get used to but if we decide to stay in Korea another year then I really want to connect with people in this way for sure. So I said stay in Korea another year... Well this may happen as many opportunities seem to be coming out way. We have applied at Hansae University to be part of the English staff there. We shall see what happens, it's all in the Lord's hands of course. We have looked at some other opportunities in Canada but nothing has worked out yet.
I did try out the banana bread in the rice cooker once again. I have to say that this try was successful. Now I only wish we cooked at home more often. That is not something we do often (eat at dinner at home). Even the other night we bought some meat and by the time you get all the other groceries to eat with it you might as well eat out. Meat is very expensive here so to us it makes more sense to go out and eat it. Then we get all the yummy side dishes to go with it for the same price as buying the meat from the butcher. I know it sounds crazy but that's the way it is. I think I mentioned before but this city and culture is almost designed for people to eat out often. That's where we spend most of our money.
I am wondering if any of have been watching the news lately? I am sure you heard about the S.Korean ship that went down March 26th. They are still speculating about the reasons why the ship went down. Either a torpedo from N.Korea or one of these "water mines" that are still floating around from the Korean War. I honestly think it was a torpedo, I mean that area of the seas has been know for conflict on a number of occasions. N and S Korea constantly have small skirmishes on the sea even this past year there was one. Its' crazy to think that there was only a truce signed between the Korea's not a peace treaty so technically they're still at war.
Today is actually a holiday for me. My schools anniversary or something like that. So I am taking the time to update you all and also to rest up as I have this annoying cough and cold.
Well hopefully that gives you a little glimpse into our lives at this point.
Have a great week.

Up to date and feeling great!

Hello from Korea! It's March and officially we are supposed to be finished here in Korea in 3.5 weeks. But, we've decided to extend our contract until June so that we can save some extra money and plan the next adventure. What is coming next is exciting and still unknown. We know that God is leading us to somewhere, ha-ha obviously. Chris has been interviewing at a university here for a position as chapel leader and potentially leading some English Bible classes.
He is still feeling uneasy about it but as the Lord leads.
Let's see what has been happening here. Well, we both started a new semester last week. Which means new students books and lesson planning. It's so much easier for us now because we've been going 11 months strong. I went from 65 students to 100 in a week, so that was a bit of a shocker but my partner teacher and I have adjusted and it seems normal already.
I have 2 classes of ABC beginners who don't really know any English. I think the beginners are the most fun because I get to train them how I want to and they don't give you attitude. They are just happy to be there and have a crazy white teacher singing nursery rhymes to them. It's a good time. :)
Oh yes , Chris and I did get up at 5 am on Feb 28th (our March 1st) to watch the Canada US hockey game. We streamed it off the Internet and I think the announcers were speaking Russian or something but we had such a good picture that we refused to change streams. Definitely a memorable experience for us!~ We didn't get to watch as much as we had hoped, plus Korean coverage wasn't always the best. They continued to replay all the races and performances (Yu-Na Kim) that they won a gold medal in over and over and over. Not to much international coverage but more like Korean coverage of the Olympics. Good Times :)
I have been so blessed by the pastor of the church we are attending. Chris and I have been able to have fellowship with him and his wife a couple of times over the past weeks. They have been influential in my life at this time as I am seeking the Lord for assurance and strength. It is amazing the connections and the people you meet on the other side of the world.
So I tried to cook banana bread in my rice cooker the other day. Lets just say it wasn't a total disaster but definitely didn't work well. Some people we know rave about the rice cooker meals and baking but I have yet to succeed. The rice cooker is the closest thing I have to an oven so it's worth it to try.
I've finished a round of Korean lessons, so now there is a two week break and then it will start up again. I really have been enjoying learning this language. I feel more confident and able to use Korean when I need to. Chris is playing bball again in the SIBL league. He says he's feeling the affects of 'old age' on the court. I don't really believe him maybe it's an excuse for his lack of made lay-ups. :)
Seems as though we will be quite busy until we leave in June.
Lots of people to connect with and things to do. Hopefully I will be better at taking pictures and posting them for you all. Sorry about that.~
Have a great rest of your week.
Until next time~

February Update

February always seems to go very quickly and well this one definitely did. Life has been a blessing these days. We've decided to stay in Korea until the middle of June. This allows us some more time to plan for September/future while still making a very nice salary. We have a lot of options as I mentioned in our last blog, just nothing has quite fallen into place yet. (keep praying :)
The beginning of March marks the beginning of the new school year for Korea. So that means we have a week of unpaid vacation. It is nice and also not so nice at the same time. Our after school program needs this coming week to prepare for the new grade one students that will have the chance to sign up and sit in a modified class. So we have to be at work for a few hours one day. We haven't decided if we will go any where to sight see, but I am sure you will see more updating on the blog if that happens.
We have been watching some of the Olympics from streams off the Internet. Sometimes there is a good connection and other times there isn't. But we take what we can get. We are waking up early tomorrow morning to watch the Mens Hockey Gold Medal Game and are very excited about it. We have 13 gold medals that is so awesome I am proud of our athletes.
This week Chris is back playing in the SIBL basketball league in Seoul and I am continuing with Korean lessons. I am actually enjoying it, I mean I should know something for spending 2 years of my life in this country. Also this week I have a friend coming to Korea for a visit on her way home from a missions trip to the Philippines. I went to high school with her when I lived in Surrey. It is so neat how the people from your past can suddenly come back into your life at the most random places and times. Like one of my professors (Marv Penner) from Briercrest came to Korea a couple weeks ago to speak at a youth conference. He was then asked to speak at Onnuri Church (English speaking church I attended my first year in Korea) on Sunday. Chris and I went to listen to him preach and then myself and a few other people from Briercrest (that are in Korea) went to dinner together. It was really neat to catch up with him and in Korea of all places. Chris also got to hear Jim Cymbala (pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church in New York) preach at Onnuri church as well. We have such neat opportunities here in Korea to meet and hear from such a variety of speakers and people.
Church is going great, we are meeting with our pastor and his wife this Tuesday for dinner.
We are still involved in the homeless ministry once a month to Suwon station. God is definitely working in this ministry even with the language barrier it is required that we help the poor and it is a rewarding thing to do. Well other than the above mentioned not much else is happening here.
As the weather warms up we are hoping to get out and do some more exploring and sightseeing.
We keep getting tempted by Spring with these 15 degree days but then it dips back down to -1 or 3 something like that. It's coming soon though and I am very thankful. I hope this finds you all well and in good health. Much love to you all.~ Becca and Chris

January Update!

To all of my faithful blog followers sorry for the delay. I guess sometimes I think regular life isn't interesting enough to blog about. I maybe took 10 pictures all of January.
Well there are a few things to share as 2010 is under way. This past month we were able to pay off the rest of my student debt! So now we are debt free! It is an amazing feeling and we are so thankful that there are opportunities like this to make money.
I have started to take some Korean lessons again. Our friend Brenden came back to Korea a couple weeks ago and was interested in taking lessons so I brought him to some I knew about. Now I am attending as well. It's only once a week for 2 hours and really laid back so that is nice.
It's just the end of winter vacation for the students so we will go back to normal teaching hours again. Last month we were teaching in the mornings from 9-1. Now it's back to afternoons 1-5.
Having the afternoons free was really nice. I was able to help coach basketball with one of our friends. He works for an international school in Seoul and coaches the girls team. Also lots of time for reading and working out and meeting up with friends for dinner.
It's really interesting how long it takes to build friendships. We've been here 9 months now and we are really just starting to connect with people. It's definitely a blessing.
So our time here is getting shorter very quickly. We are planning and thinking about what's next but nothing has totally unfolded yet. Still considering going to Haiti in the fall but with the earth quake nothing is for sure because the ministry compound we would be going to needs to be rebuilt a lot. Please pray for us as we make decisions and ponder the future.
Chris is taking a break from basketball this month. His next league starts in March. We have been taking in the sporting events though. Last night we went to a hockey game in Anyang. It was a lot of fun. The league is made up of teams from Japan, China and one from Korea. Anyways last nights win sealed the first place spot for the Korea team. It's pretty fun to see hockey in Korea. Makes us excited for the Olympics. We are still trying to figure out how we are going to watch/stream some of the games.
Once a month we are involved in a homeless ministry at Suwon Station near our home. Last time we went we brought everyone long underwear and a meal. It was so neat to get to know these men better and encourage them. A few are Christians and they sang some hymns for us. It was a huge blessing and I am looking forward to the next time we go. Their stories are unreal a few of them used to be government officials but in the late 1990's Korea had a lot of economic trouble and many people lost their jobs and never recovered.
Well that's about all for today. Thanks for reading and following our journey here in Korea.
Next time I will have pictures. :)

Happy 'Snow' New Year 2010!

Snow Day January 4, 2010!

I know that my title sounds a bit funny but today we got about 20 cm of snow. We did not expect it or rather we don't always check the forecast. Woke up this morning to snow falling, interesting that this was our first day back to work after Christmas holidays. The city is definitely in a bit of chaos. It is really entertaining watching the Korean people deal with this much snow. They are definitely not used to it, more on that later.

Chris and I went to Onyang Hot Springs last week for our holidays. It was really nice to get away but not at all what we expected. Thinking hot springs pools that we could enjoy together turned out to be the traditional male and female spas. So that means being naked in a public bath. There was nice hot spring water with wonderful relaxing out door pools (private) but not quite what we hoped for. We did enjoy it though, might have spent too much time watching NBA basketball but it was too cold to really walk around the city and explore.
Actually one day we tried to find a folk museum and failed miserably. We ended up walking around the city for an hour, decided that was enough then headed to Dunkin Donuts to warm up.
For New Years we went to Pyeongtaek (city 40 min south) to share it with some friends. We played Settlers of Catan and drank hot choco till midnight. Stayed the night because it was too late to get a train back to our city. Then New Years Day we went to see the movie Avatar in 3D. Who knew you could watch a movie at 9 in the morning, well in Korea you can. I thought the movie was really amazing the effects and creativity were unreal. Chris thought so too and thinks this movie has set the bar for visual effects, quote "unbelievable."
So here we are Jan 4th back to work day. Well lets just say this morning was an adventure getting to work. It took me 2 hours, not to mention my partner teacher who canceled class when I was about 10 min away. Chris and I actually trudged to work in the snow in Korea. I had no idea this was possible because last time I was here I saw maybe a couple centimeters and that's all. Chris got to help push out about 4 stuck cars, the people are at a bit of a loss as how to deal with this much snow. Lots of chains, spinning tires, and traffic jams. I am thankful for the snow it really slows the pace of life down.
After lunch we both decided to enjoy the afternoon in the snow. We built a snowman, made snow angels (I did) and had a mini snow fight. We even had a man ask to take pictures of us making the snowman. Being out today really reminded us of being in Canada and it made it all the more fun. Well those are my thoughts for the day. Hope you have enjoyed!
Until next time! :)