Sunday Church Service

Happy Sunday!

We are happy to have just gone to our first church service since coming to Korea.  A local church started an English service and today was the first day.  It was a small gathering, but still a wonderful time worshiping, praying and hearing a sermon.  There were 6 foreigners and some other English-speaking Koreans.  After the service we all ate lunch together and met some others from the church. This morning’s service was about how we all come from different countries and walks of life, but we all believe and came together to serve one God, and that’s the most important thing.  This morning was a blessing, and even though we’re leaving Korea shortly, we’re so happy and blessed that this service has started. 

This is just a quick blog post to say… thanks for all your prayers during our time in Korea, & please continue to pray for this service and the people of Sokcho.  

 

-Al & Kim

Check List: 4 months left!

March 6 means that we have exactly 4 months until we leave Korea on July 6th. Even though part of us is eagerly waiting for July, there are other things that we really want to do before we go. So the other day Albino and I made a list of all the things we want to do & see before we go. We know that 4 months is going to fly by, so we need to start checking things off our list!

So here it is…
TO-DO BEFORE WE LEAVE KOREA CHECK LIST
– Climb Daecheonbong Peak at Seorak-san National Park. This is the national Park that we have climbed a few hikes at and is really close to Sokcho. But THIS hike is the highest peak at this park. Albino and I have always said we are going to do it but haven’t yet… so this spring will have to be the time!

– Eat gamjatang at least one more time! Gam-ja-tang = pork bone soup. Oh my goodness it’s SO good & we must eat it at least once more before leaving Korea.

– Try Sundae for the first time….specifically ojing-eo sundae which is squid sundae. It’s grilled squid stuffed with fried rice & egg. So we’ve never tried it because it doesn’t sound like a have.. but people rave about it so we’ll have to try!

– Ride our bikes a lot as soon as the weather is better!

– Go to Daepo Harbor. We’ve been before but it’s been remodeled and so we’ll have to see it once we go.

– Go to the outlets south of Seoul.

– Go to Busan. It’s 6 hours by bus and we don’t have any long weekends so it looks like it’ll be quite the weekend trip!

– Insadong – a artsty/crafty are of Seoul where I’d like to pick up some souvenirs for our home from Korea.

– Go to Norae-Bang once more. aka: singing room. aka: karaoke.

– Go to the downtown market and simply take it all in one last time. fresh fruit, fish, tools..etc.

– Take more, GOOD pictures of Sokcho and our life here.

– Try baek-soju and so-maek. (Korean mixed drinks)

– Go to a baseball game in Seoul!

– Have a BBQ.

So that’s our list so far. Natural things like packing, sending things home and going to our regular places aren’t on the list because it just seems obvious but there are many things to do before leaving!
Looks like all our weekends are filled!

Happy 4 months! A&K

finally an update

Oops.. It’s March. We didn’t post once in all of February. We haven’t necessarily been busy, just not doing anything blog worthy. I had high hopes for the coming of March. I was imagining flowers and sun and less jackets. But, that’s not the case at all. It’s been snowing & according to the weather forecast is going to be dreary for a good week or more.

Here’s the happenings in the Gamez household from February:

School is going fine. The kindergarten just finished the school year so Feb.29 was graduation for the 3rd year students. It was was cute, and tiring and an afternoon of partying. Sadly, it was also the last day for many of my coworkers. My coworker and friend Janessa has left Korea. Also, two of my Korean partner teachers also left the school. Friday was interesting because I was ‘training’ the new foreign teacher but also meeting and getting used to my new Korean partner teachers. Monday is the first day of the new students. I’m a little terrified to get my new 5 year olds (who are really 4 in USA age). I’ll keep you posted on that.
For Albino, he has been teaching a lot of middle school students which he doesn’t enjoy. Hopefully for his sake his schedule will change soon. He is back to a later schedule so doesn’t come home until 7:45/8:30 depending on the day. Other than that, school is pretty much the same for both of us.

To put it bluntly: we’re ready to move on from here. We still enjoy the time we’re having in Korea and the experience of everything. However, we are both ready to start the next part of our lives. We are very excited for July 6… our leaving date. We are so excited for our travels once we’re done!! We’ll see your American faces come Aug/Sept.

Anyways…. Here are some pictures of my kiddos. They are reading our drama books…

Graduation day at the kindergarten was strange. It was exciting for the students & filled with parties. However, since so many teachers were leaving (6 in total) there was a heaviness to the day as well. So many classes just ended up being parties because it was the last time we would have with those specific students and many of them, the last time with the Korean teachers.

My first class after lunch was very unhealthy. My partner teacher brought cola-chicken cups. It’s all the craze here in Korea. They are called: col-dak . Dak = chicken. Col = short or cola. It’s just a cup of cola with a container of chicken on top. Then we ate a mixture of snacks.

Then my next class was called, “chicken party”. Well, I had basically just come from a chicken party so I didn’t partake in as much eating this time. The kids loved it.. The teachers just opened a box of fried chicken in the middle of the table and the kids went at it.

Well that sums of Graduation day for me since I didn’t have any children actually graduate.

As for today.. it’s a lazy Saturday in Sokcho. It’s snowing/raining and we are drinking tea & doing a puzzle. Happy Weekend!