RAFTing

Another two weeks have floated by since I last wrote! I don't know where time has gone! It is crazy how life can become so normal in a place that was once considered so foreign. By now I am used to seeing a sea of black (and red) hair when I am walking to class, and to not knowing what's going on around campus since I don't understand any signs. Many things took time to adjust to at first, but now I barely think about them anymore.

These last two weeks have been all over the place emotionally. I will be saying goodbye soon to this place I have learned to call home. Jochiwon, Korea will always have a special place in my heart and I cannot believe the time has come for me to leave. My thoughts are everywhere, and I have begun RAFTing again: the process of Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewells and Think Destination that I know all too well. It is a tool designed for TCKS, but applies to anyone in transition. I have learned a lot from following the simple steps.

Click here for more explanation on the TCK RAFT

Though my thoughts are everywhere and often my heart is preoccupied, these days have been full of little events like cafe dates, game nights, fun roommate conversations, skype dates, farewell parties, continual laughter at cultural blunders, and late-night talks with my best friend by a stream in the town talking through how God is growing both of us. It is these little events that brighten each day. 

A dear friend of mine reminded me of this verse earlier this week:

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. 
Proverbs 15:13

Oh how very true that is! With finals coming up, goodbyes on my mind and other burdens on my heart, it is easy to feel like you're wrestling with God in a battle that you know you cannot win. As Christians and strangers in this world, God does not call us to be happy at all times. (How terribly unhappy the "happiness" would feel if it was forced!) Yet, He does tell us to rejoice at all times, and to trust him always. 

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 
1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. 
Proverbs 3:5-6

Our maker is an awesome God. He is full of love for you and me, and full of understanding. In every change comes a new opportunity to trust in Him. As I say goodbye to the friends I have made here and the places I have fallen in love with, I must continue to remember that God has my heart and that He is good. Though nervous, I look forward to this next change, because I know He will carry me through the waves, one paddle at a time.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 
Romans 8:28

43200 Minutes

As of today, I have exactly one month until I leave South Korea. My head is full of thoughts and my heart is full of feelings. I am nervous about leaving, excited about leaving, curious about leaving, thrilled about leaving..

But I find that it is often far too easy to jump ahead and wish you were elsewhere or further on in life. I have heard too many of the following statements, both from others and from inside myself. Some of them may be close to your own heart as well:

• Wishing and waiting for that one day when you will finally have your diploma in your hands.
• Wishing and waiting for that one day when you will finally be in a relationship.
• Wishing and waiting for that one day when you will finally get to travel to a foreign country.
• Wishing and waiting for that one day when you will finally be out of college debt.
• Wishing and waiting for that one day when you will finally know without a doubt God's calling for your life.
• Wishing and waiting for that one day when you will finally be free from [insert inner struggle].

Put in whatever "wishing and waiting" statement you would like, everyone has felt one somehow. And I feel it again now.

South Korea has been an amazing experience. I have loved studying abroad, and I wouldn't trade these last three months for anything! I think everyone should study abroad and get to experience the joys of being in a foreign country on your own in your youth. (If you're debating about studying abroad, go apply now!) It is such a wonderful experience to step on the soil of a new place and new culture and learn to adapt to its customs. I have learned SO much these past few months. I love Korea and I love Koreans!

Yet even though it has been wonderful, that doesn't mean that I'm not occasionally wishing and waiting for that one day when I can get on an airplane and leave too.

In all honesty, I am ready to go home. 

Which for me as a TCK, means I am ready to "feel at home". I am eager for a change in something, and my mind has told me that it needs to be a change of place or people since that is what I am used to. But I also know that it doesn't need to be that way. 

If God calls me to fall completely in love with where I am now, and feel at home here in the next 30 days, so be it!

The change can also be with perspective. A month is a long time and it is definitely enough time to continue living my life out for him here. I should be asking myself how I feel about staying, not about how I feel about leaving. Am I nervous, excited, curious or thrilled about staying? This song expresses a change in perspective that I want to have as I stay here this next month:

Now until forever

Jesus, I surrender

Show me what I don't know

More of you

I'm desperate for your presence

Longing to be with you

Lead me to a new place

More of you

Open my eyes

Let me see more of your love

More of your love

Here I will wait

Just for a glimpse of you, God

I'll wait for you God

I surrender it all. Instead of living this next month waiting for a change, I want to live this next month waiting on the Lord to show me what to do with each moment I have left. If God can use me to impact someone else's life in less than a minute, how much more can I serve him with 43200 minutes?

Oh! It makes me so very nervous, excited, curious and thrilled about staying!

Finding Nemo

~~ Studying Abroad in Korea Probs ~~

Finding Nemo Style

When you're about to leave America for Korea:

http://byt.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/9-Finding-Nemo-quotes.gif

When you want to talk to your friends back home but it's 4 am there:

http://memecrunch.com/meme/1FTAE/why-are-you-sleeping/image.png

When you're lost and trying to read Korean signs:

http://33.media.tumblr.com/8e517ab56c8d46aebc21742d821b41d9/tumblr_na05kqplVU1t2njumo1_500.gif

When your teacher still can't get your name right:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e6/d6/da/e6d6dab538d86b15f13ef4ee343f0214.jpg

When people try to speak to you in Korean...or in English:

http://media.tumblr.com/631641804e21a4a45810ab0dc79f6e22/tumblr_inline_mocmirmhCa1rlpk9c.gif
http://24.media.tumblr.com/7afcef95dfb111f3caa865505de3d72c/tumblr_ml7eh6kpwM1r5s8qlo6_250.gif

When your American friend right next to you speaks back to them fluently:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/29/e3/e1/29e3e1c81ff9b6f72d05594883b2f884.jpg

When you hear someone make an English blunder and not even notice it:

http://img.pandawhale.com/151298-finding-nemo-he-touched-the-bu-c7Ex.gif

When a train comes and you don't know if it is going the direction or city you want it to go:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzx2awQJ251qm6oc3o1_500.gif

When you spot an American on the subway:

https://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lj3pdnGGVd1qchh3ho1_500.png

When you're tired of fish being served at the dining hall:

http://s3.favim.com/orig/47/disney-dory-film-finding-nemo-fish-Favim.com-436948.jpg

When someone buys food from HomePlus (Market catering to foreigners) and shares it with other exchange students:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/7daab7485a6b30212e341bcc1a18e333/tumblr_msm1fjZedE1sc0at9o1_500.gif

When there's a five-inch poisonous centipede in your shower and you name him:

http://2damnfunny.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/I-Shall-Call-Him-Squishy-and-He-Shall-Be-Mine-and-He-Shall-Be-My-Squishy-Quote-By-Dory-In-Finding-Nemo.jpg

When all you're friends back home are on summer break but you still have a month an a half left to go:

http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/06/JustKeepSwimming.jpg

--

All of these were my thoughts, but none of the photos or gifs are mine. See links below the photos. Thanks!

End of Separation, Beginning of Unification

Clara, Susanna, Stephanie and I at the DMZ.

This last Friday, my Korean Culture class took a field trip to the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. We went to the 3^rd Infiltration Tunnel at Panmunjom Village, just 44 kilometers north of Seoul.

We took a 3 hour bus ride from Jochiwon to the DMZ. When we arrived we had our passports examined and ate lunch. The DMZ entrance is quite a touristic area, with many souvenir shops, a restaurant and even a small amusement park.

After our lunch we departed on an hour long tour. We first stopped at a viewing spot where we could see North Korea and look through binoculars. 

View of North Korea from the overlook spot.

View of the North Korean Flag.

Some other exchange students and I with North Korea behind us.

After the viewing, we watched a short documentary and then got to go into the 3rd tunnel. Four tunnels have been discovered, but it is believed that nearly 20 more exist. The tunnel was dug by North Korea for a surprise attack on Seoul and was discovered in 1978. It is said that it can accommodate a full division of soldiers (30,000) to pass through in one hour. It was dark and damp, and very deep.

It was a humbling experience to visit somewhere so close to North Korea. After living in South Korea for over two months, it is obvious that they desire unification with the North. Students on campus are eager to bring unity and I think many long to see the countries together again in the near future.

Me with the sign that says "End of Separation, Beginning of Unification."

Susanna and I  along with the children of North and South Korea, pushing the countries together. :)

After the tunnel, we looked around the entrance area, took pictures and read more signs about the history of the North and South. Most of us fell asleep on the trip back home, exhausted from walking and from the hot sun. But it was a wonderful day and I think we are all ready to see the day when the North and South become one!

~Pray for unification of Korea~

Language Shock

Oh, how I love languages!

Last weekend I went to Busan (부산: a city on the coast in southern Korea) and visited a Korean couple who I grew up with while I lived in Turkey. They do not speak any English, and my Korean is 노무 처굼 (very little), so our conversations consisted entirely of Turkish.

Turkish! My Turkish is good, but speaking Turkish alone for four days can be exhausting. Though I speak well enough, I have never considered myself "fluent" until this past weekend. My vocabulary is fairly simple, I still need to work on my grammar, and my understanding level is not nearly as high as one would call "fluent", but I noticed that I could get any point across that I wanted to my friends. I spent four nights at their home speaking in Turkish, listening in Turkish, writing in Turkish and literally thinking in Turkish. I got to share stories and feelings from my heart with them, and we understood each other on an adult level, instead of the childhood level often felt when speaking a foreign language.

Call it whatever you would like - language shock, language confusion, a language game - speaking Turkish in Korea was definitely a brain enhancer. My brain was as confused as one can get. Here's a small glimpse of some language shock my brain went through:

• Thursday afternoon through Monday morning I spoke Turkish with the Korean couple in Korea whom I met in Turkey.
• On Saturday morning I went and visited a Korean friend from high school in Turkey, but we spoke English with each other.
• On Saturday evening I went to a Korean child's birthday party of twin girls turning 100 days old - a very large celebration here. None of the family members spoke any English (or Turkish), so I spoke a tiny bit of Korean, and smiled the rest of the time.
• For the party, we went to a restaurant with many large rooms. In the room next to us at the celebration were about 100 Turks doing a three-day tour of Korea and Japan. (Wow!) I heard them speaking Turkish as we were getting food from the all-you-can-eat buffet.

I assure you, my brain was probably more mixed up than the tour group was jet-lagged.

But despite the language challenges (and language feats!), it was a fantastic weekend visiting old friends and living life with them. I loved getting to take part in their daily activities as well as visiting sites that are important to their childhood. If it wasn't for our connection of Turkish, we wouldn't have been able to speak with each other.

Language is such an amazing tool that brings cultures together - and especially brings cultures together when the language you speak with each other is of a third culture! :)

For those who cannot speak another language, try learning one. At least a few words! It's well worth the struggle and can help you build bridges between cultures!

You never know when you may need to speak the few words of Chinese you know with a Russian-born Hungarian in Mongolia. (No, I haven't had that opportunity...yet!)

The family I stayed with. :)

Visiting my friend from high school - Sunny!

Me being a tourist at Yonggungsa Buddhist Temple in Busan.

The twins turning 100 days old! They were adorable!

Puzzle Pieces

In high school I had a friend who would always read the last few pages of a novel before beginning it. She told me that she did it because she wanted to see if it was worth reading. Personally, I thought this idea was insane - what is the joy of reading the book if you already know the ending?!

I assume that part of my perspective is just built into me. Ever since I was young, I have enjoyed math problems, jig-saw puzzles, and mind games because of the joy of figuring them out, not because of what the answer or end result is. When the answer is given to me, the game instantly becomes uninteresting. In the same way, when I finally complete a jig-saw puzzle, I may look at it for a day or two and then pack it up to be completed another year. It was fitting the pieces together that I really enjoyed.

So much of life is compiled of the little unexpected pieces--

Ones that make you laugh: watching friends make cultural blunders and then trying to cover them up, awkward conversations with people who don't speak English (filled mainly with smiling and laughing at each other), texting your roommate who is sitting right next to you instead of studying like you both should be doing, and watching that Korean professor who semi-stalks you sheepishly wave at you in the dining hall.

And also pieces that make you discouraged: longings of homesickness, wishing you could see your brother graduate, stress from difficult relationships, trying to figure out your purpose in life, and feeling lonely in a foreign land, or even in a place you call home.

I wouldn't give up those little pieces for anything. They make up my story and without them, I would be an empty book. 

In some ways, I agree with my friend. I think knowing parts of the "ending" is important to encouraging you to keep moving on in life. It is beneficial to know what the jig-saw puzzle is going to look like in the end sometimes to help you put the pieces together. Or even that the math problem has an actual answer, (and isn't one of those imaginary numbers!). I often long to see the last chapter in my book, just to have a glimpse of where I am going. Thankfully, I know my book is worth continuing: I can see that clearly from what I have already read and from the small glimpse of the ending I've experienced.

But I know that if I read the end of my book, or even the next chapter, the rest wouldn't be worth reading for me. Not that my life isn't a good book - oh, how I long for my life to be a good book! - but the joy of reading it would be gone. I would already know the ending, and the puzzle would be put together.

So much of the significance of the end of something comes from how you get there. If you skip to the end, those little things seem even littler. But if you wait and read each chapter at a time, you get to watch how the little things grow and actually are what make up the big things. Though the end is  extremely important, it is how you get there that makes up the story.

And if you skip a few pages, the end seems significantly less significant.

Like jig-saw puzzles, though ultimately they form a beautiful picture to be looked at and awed after, their main purpose is to be put together. Without all the pieces, it wouldn't be a puzzle anymore, it would just be a picture.

And yes! Pictures are stunning! But how much more stunning is a picture when you have spent many long and hard hours watching each piece come perfectly together?!

Kimchi

This evening as I was sitting at dinner, I realized how many little cultural differences there are here that I have become accustomed to.

One being: 

Kimchi.

It is an essential side dish to every meal. I cannot imagine having a meal without it. Breakfast, lunch, dinner..if it is not there, the meal is simply, incomplete.

So what is Kimchi? It is a traditional Korean dish typically made from mainly fermented cabbage and red pepper. Two months ago, when I landed in Korea, I could not stand the food. It was disgusting - like trying to eat cold, chewy, and spicy..well, fermented cabbage.

But now, after eating it daily, three times a day, I actually enjoy the substance. I choose to eat it with my meal. I choose to mix it with my rice or eat it alongside my fishcakes. This evening I was disappointed when I finished it, and I even wished I had gotten more as I had gone through the food line. I probably wouldn't go insofar as to say I like it, but I definitely don't dislike it. I also probably won't eat it daily while I an dining in my dorm when I return to America in the fall, but that doesn't mean I won't have random cravings of it occasionally either. Mmm!

Yes, this is what I was thinking about during dinner this evening. Kimchi is just one example of a cultural difference I have gotten fairly used to.

Others?

Chicken. What is chicken? Does it exist in Korea? Not really. This evening they served chicken at the campus cafeteria and it was a luxury! I exclaimed, "Is that chicken!?" when I saw it. You don't realize what you are missing until someone suddenly serves it to you. I think it was the third time I had eaten chicken in two months. I have gotten fairly used to my fishcakes, pork, squid, and mystery meat instead.

Me holding up a fishcake from my fishcake soup. :)

Another difference: Paper towels. Why have paper towels when you can dry your hands on toilet paper, that conveniently shreds all over your wet hands!? I remember that on my first day in Korea after washing my hands in a campus restroom, I went to get paper towels and the dispenser was empty. I made a hasty conclusion that they simply hadn't filled them yet since school was not in session. Little did I know that they never filled them. Nor did the rest of Korea. Now I am accustomed to going back into a stall to dry my hands on toilet paper, or simply walking out with wet hands.

What is my point? There are some things in another culture that you get used to without even thinking about it. But when I do think about it, I really miss chicken, and I really miss paper towels too. I have simply just gotten used to living life without them, and living life with kimchi instead.

Kimchi (right) with picked radish (left), which likewise is served at almsot every meal.
I kinda, sorta, really, might actually like that too now. :)

Cherry Blossoms of Blessings!

Midterms are coming up, international student clubs are beginning, and little stressors keep pulling at me from every direction. Today I register for my fall classes, and this week I will attend my final day of my classes until midterm week. I am nearly half-way through my time here and I can barely believe it. 

Yet with all that is going on, as I look around me, flowers are blooming, relationships are deepening, and upcoming future decisions are becoming more and more clear as days go by. With each morning comes new joys!

~~Joys and blessings from this week~~

The Colorado Girls: These girls give me life. I cannot express how incredibly blessed I have been by Stephanie, Clara and Susanna this semester. They traveled from UNC with me and we have become such close friends in a short amount of time. They have been my listening ears to me so many times and I have loved getting to know them each. We've traveled foreign cities together, laughed together, explored together, cried together, studied together, and of course, eaten ice cream together. I love you girls. Thanks for experiencing Korea with me! <3

CCC: This community has been such an encouragement to me! Our times together have been filled with much laughter and much joy! They welcome me like one of them and love me even though they do not know me. Despite the language barrier, it is wonderful to be surrounded by like-minded people who love God and love people! I look forward to getting to know these people even better over the next few months!

New Friends: I meet new people almost daily, but sometimes I meet people for the first time who capture my heart with the joy that they radiate to everyone around them. This girl, Asra is one of those girls. :) And Susanna too! Oh, she is such a joy! I can't wait to be her roommate in the fall!

Cherry Blossoms: Flowers! Bees! Asian Culture! Springtime! Loving families and people each with a story. <3

"It's always like springtime with You, 

Making all things new,

Your light is breaking through the dark.

This love it is sweeter than wine,

Bringing joy, bringing life,

Your hope is rising like the dawn."

Listen to "This Is What You Do" by Bethel Music here:

Take a moment to think about what blessings you can be thankful for today.

:)

So, Will You?

~~ Thoughts from a foreign exchange student ~~

Above everything, don't expect me to remember your name. Yes, I see you every morning and evening at mealtime in the dining hall. Yes, I have asked you for your name over 20 times. Yes, I will probably remember your face and your personality. But when I meet over 70 people in the first week who all have foreign names, no matter how many times I will ask you, I won't remember. And after the first few weeks, I will stop asking. Love me and forgive me, and remind me of your name, but please don't expect me to remember it.

It is not the people who know my name and say hello to me daily who mean the most to me here. Everyone knows my name. I am "the foreigner", "the tall girl", "the Christian girl", "the ITS student", "the one that smiles", or simply, "조앤나". Yes, I am aware of my names and that you know me. I appreciate how you say hi to me in the hallway, but I don't know who you are. It's the people who initiate with me who mean everything. It's those who ask me to coffee or lunch, who go out of their way to walk me to class under their umbrella, who ask me how I am really adjusting, and who speak to me in Korean because they know I want to learn but don't get any practice. It's the ones who take time out of their day to get to know me who I remember.

International students are seeking life! We have time on our hands, money to spend (some), nowhere to be, and a life we're searching for. We are outside our comfort zone, outside our home, outside our boundaries, and willing to get to know you. Live life with me. Invite me to things. Speak to me despite the language barrier. Ask me how I am. We need to be loved on and shown who God is, especially while we are away from all we've ever known.

You already have your friend group. You know who you can go to when you need to cry, or who to talk to when you need help. We don't. Be my friend and invite me into your friend group. Thank you for inviting me to a birthday party for someone I don't know and for inviting me to lunch with your friends even though they don't speak my language. It is the things like that that remind me that life here is normal for you. You never know, I could become your next best friend. (One of the international students I met in Colorado became mine!)

I don't get cultural cues or pop references. What is so funny? Why did you cover your face when he said something? Why is she acting like that? Though you have continued on in conversation, I am still trying to figure out what you were saying 5 minutes ago. Please stop and explain things to me. I want to learn. Language barriers and cultural differences create tension and can promote isolation, but if you take a moment to explain something, I will catch on much quicker.

I love your country. I spent money and flew all the way here to get to know your culture and experience life with you. I would love to learn about your culture from you personally. Take me to a local coffee shop. Show me a local historical sight. Invite me to your home. Offer me your favorite traditional food. If you don't, I will end up learning about the culture from a foreign perspective, and so much of it's beauty will be missed.

Of course, I would love to do the same with you. Do not be shy to ask me about America, or Turkey, or wherever you think I am from. Ask me questions on how to say things in my language. Ask me what I do on Easter with my family. Ask me about what my high school was like. More than likely you have misunderstandings about my country, my religion, or my culture, just I had/have the same about yours. I am willing to share and teach, but I won't unless you are interested. 

Lastly, let me serve you. As crazy as it seems, I love you. I loved you before I met you and came all this way to meet you. Let me buy you ice cream. Let me help you with your homework assignment. Let me listen to you rant all night about your boyfriend. I am here and I want to get to know you. Though we have different backgrounds and cultures, I understand. I get pain. I get joy. I get confusion. And I want to get to know you. I love you.

I have stepped out of my comfort zone to come here. 

Will you step out of yours?

Hiraeth

For four years, I have dreamed of visiting South Korea. It is a joy and a blessing to finally be here, visiting the homeland of so many of my dearest friends, and experiencing Asian soil beneath my feet. Here I am next to Korea University Sejong Campus with the city of Jochiwon behind me.

Today I thought I would write about home. Home of course, is the theme of my blog and is on my heart often. I haven't written for a few days, mainly because my thoughts have been focused on "hiraeth" and I am not exactly sure how to form them all into words. Hiraeth is a Welsh word that does not translate directly into English. It conveys a longing for a home of long ago; a kind of homesickness; eagerness for something undiscovered; nostalgia; grief of past and future goodbyes; a yearning for home.

As a third culture kid, so much of my longings for home are represented by that word. It is a place unknown, long past, distant and vast. I cannot quite reach it, and yet in so many ways it is so tangible and is rooted deep inside of me.

Here in Korea sometimes I feel at home but other times I feel as far from home as possible. My heart is in Asia. My heart is in Turkey. My heart is in Colorado. My home is everywhere: the places I've been, and the places I have not been, with the people I love and with the people I have yet to meet. 

My home seems very far away, 

Exactly where I cannot say. 

Sometimes it hides in countries afar, 

But other times within my heart. 

I cannot tell you where it lies,

No one knows except the wise. 

You'll find it here, you'll find it there,

You'll find pieces of it everywhere.

To know my place is all I seek,

To be where my heart feels complete,

To have this wisdom is my goal:

To make each place 'home' within my soul,

To set my feet firm on this ground,

Where joy and life spring all around,

Where bonds of love grow and spread,

And to have a place to rest my head.

Oh take me home! To where I'm from,

To where I've been. To where I've run. 

Take me to places I've never known,

For maybe there I'll find my home.

Where family is, where friendships thrive,

Where culture holds and hugs me tight,

It's nowhere and anywhere, for all of my days.

My home will be everywhere, always.

A view of Seoul from the top of Namsan Tower. 10 million people, each with a home.

While the city life prospers, the village life thrives! New high-rises and electrical lines create an interesting backdrop as locals next door continue planting crops year after year. I LOVE views like this - seeing the difference of lifestyles & the differences of homes. <3

The other Colorado girls, Stephanie, Susanna and Clara, in Jochiwon, Korea. They have become some of my best friends in such a short amount of time, and I'm so thankful that I was blessed to travel with girls from my Colorado home. I love them so much!

Me in CheongJu, by a resting pagoda at the top of SangDangSanSeong Fortress. :) I am in love with Asia. <3

Numbers

2382349283618238523491037503782245234965728351082834346822174603782056273338963162530719453826354283462038746252637461023564379235278192636373951236792754734825987523476828379492563478365289187623534392753746827382462018723642378253647352529346510102837658372556102835454639276859237642538273012738453903030364038872168725768023888326791555567920463234760178324387026346827538102867139345277522456101492019248191239164556374620347279165839273460348203923657832345578364822936220263945 :)

I love numbers. So much. With pi day being about a week ago (3/14/15 9:26 am), I thought it necessary to write a post about how beautifully complex numbers are. Did you ever realize how perplexing numbers can be when you move overseas?

Take the number 1,234,567,000.89 for example!

In Turkey it is written like this: 1.234.567.000,89

And, even better, in Korea, like this: 12,3456,7000.89

This is an accounting major's nightmare. 

During my finance internship in Istanbul over Christmas break, I worked with import and export numbers to and from foreign vendors. When transferring numbers between spreadsheets, I had to make sure I changed the decimal points and commas used to accommodate for the changes in numbering systems between countries.

Here in Korea, I have different problems. Sometimes my accounting and management classes get confusing when the teacher writes numbers on the board, using commas every four digits instead of every three.

But it's not just the way numbers are written that is difficult. I grew up knowing the Chinese numbers (I learned from high school friends), and last summer I completed a finance internship in Thailand, where I learned the Thai numbers very well. Take a look at the some of the similarities between the three sets of numbers below:

                               1          2       3         4      5      6        7        8       9         10
Chinese Numbers: yī,        èr,     sān,     sì,    wǔ,  liù,     qī,      bā,     jiǔ,     shí

Thai Numbers:      nueng,  song, sam,   si,    ha,   hok,   chet,   paet,  kao,   sip

Korean Numbers:  il,         i,       sam,    sa,   o,     yuk,   chil,   pal,    gu,     sip

And to make things even more fascinating, Korea has two sets of numbers. The one above is called "Sino-Korean" numbers, and has a Chinese origin. The set below are "Native-Korean" numbers:

1        2     3    4     5          6            7         8            9        10

hana, dul, set, net, daseot, yeoseot, ilgob, yeodeol, ahop, yeol

Sino-Korean numbers are used for "reading":

• Floor numbers, "Floor 7"
• Room numbers, "Room 5410"
• Amounts of money, "800 won"
• "This is page 11."

Native-Korean numbers are used for "counting":

• "There are 11 pages."
• "I want 3 apples."
• "I am 22 years old."

Don't even try to think about which numbers you would use when you're "counting" the number of money bills you have, or when you're "reading" about a boy counting apples. Just when you have it straight, you'll be baffled again when they mix the Native-Korean and Sino-Korean numbers for telling time. I have been here a month, and I am still trying to learn the numbers and when to use each system!

I love it all so very much though! Numbers are absolutely wonderful. :)

Green Change

Flowers beginning to bud outside of my dorm, JinRi Gwan (Truth Hall). :)

If there is one Korean word I've said every day while being here, it's 추워! Translation: I'm coooold!

Yet today is an absolutely stunning day! At the moment, I am sitting outside on a bench outside my dorm, in the shade, without a coat on. I had a headache all day yesterday, I've sneezed four times in the last 24 hours, and the dorm maintenance decided to finally turn down the incredible amount of heat in our rooms.

The trees are budding!

In a nutshell: something is happening with the weather, and I like it. 

It is mid-March, Saint Patrick's Day, and I am sitting here in Korea feeling thankful for a hint of warm weather amidst the dreary winter we have been having. The trees are budding, the birds are chirping, a bee just flew by me, and the grass, although still brown, will begin turning green soon. On an American holiday like today, it seems only right to celebrate things becoming green!

I'm reminded of change again today, and how change can be such a good thing. Change is a chance for new beginnings, an encouragement for transformation to becoming something better, an opportunity to experience redemption from being lost and hopeless to found and loved.

My flower shoes make me smile. (A.K.A. My "Asian" shoes.)
I cannot wait to see flowers around campus!

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." 1 Peter 5:10

With change, all things are made new - the grass, the flowers, me, you.

Click to listen to "Beautiful Things" by Gungor :)

It is a good thing I learned how to say "I'm feeling warm" in Korean class yesterday. With this change in weather, I will have to start using a new daily phrase!

Entrance to the residence area, with my dorm pictured in the center. The grass will soon be green! :)

Nongshim Hall, the International Building: Holds the English Cafe (where I work), the International Office, English Language Classes, and Korean Language Classes for Foreigners (me!) The tents are set up for advertising campus clubs. I can't wait until this tree is covered in flowers and green leaves. I pass it almost daily. :)