Last Sunday after church, there was a volleyball tournament for charity held at GSIS (the int'l school that our church meets at). Michael played, but if you know me at all, you know how much I despise playing volleyball. It takes me back to jr. high P.E. Just horrible memories that no one wants to re-live. So, I opted not to play, and instead went to eat with some friends at a restaurant in Suwon that serves Sam-gae-tang. This is something I have been wanting to try ever since I arrived in Korea, but haven't been successful at finding a place in Suji that makes it well. So, my lovely friend Inhwa took us to a restaurant that she knew of, and I finally got to experience sam-gae-tang. The hangul (Korean writing) for sam-gae-tang is the first item on the sign--it says Gimseng chicken broth below it. You've gotta love how Koreans translate words into English sometimes.
Anyway, I thought I would like this because I love chicken and I love soup, and I love rice. Basically, they take an entire small chicken, stuff it with rice, ginseng, jujubes, chestnuts, green onions, etc. and put it in broth and simmer it for a while and make soup. You have to pick out the bones, but they give you some salt to dip the chicken in which is quite tasty. I really enjoyed it and was thoroughly satisfied. 
Here are Tamara and Inhwa.
Jee Yeon and I being silly. I have a hot pepper and she has cider.
Okay, that's cuter.
Here's a steaming bowl of soup!
Mmm, mmm, mmm!
Then on Wednesday, we had the pleasure of meeting up with one of Michael's best friends/roomates from college and his wife, Mark and MySan. They live in Singapore where they both work in ministry. I think the last time we saw them was in 2005--Mark was one of Michael's groomsmen in our wedding in June, and then Michael was a groomsman in Mark's wedding in Canada in December. MySan was in Korea for a work conference, and Mark met up with her at the end of her conference to spend a few days in Seoul, since neither of them had ever been to Korea before. We went out for a dinner of Shabu Shabu (I guess you could call it Korean hot pot--it's actually kind of like fondue! You start out with a broth base and cook different vegetables in it as well as meat, and eat it, then at the end you add noodles and finally rice. Not the best explanation, but it's good! Come to Korea and we'll go have some. ;) in Myeong-dong, walked around the shopping area for a few minutes, got some Cold Stone, and went back to their hotel to chat for a while/reminisce. It was great to see them. They are going to have their first baby, a little girl, in April! They will be wonderful parents. Hopefully one day we will get to make a trip to Singapore and visit with them some more!
I took a few photos of some lights in Seoul while we waited for 30 minutes to catch a bus back to Suji. I believe that big blue building is the Lotte Hotel, or Lotte Dept. Store...I can't remember which one.
If you read my last blog post, I mentioned that during my colonoscopy, the doctor did a biopsy because he was afraid I had a virus in my colon. Well, good news, I got the results back last week and there is no virus! Praise the Lord! Still not really sure what then has caused my flare-up for the last two months, but hopefully it will be taken care of soon. I go back to Seoul to see my new doctor next Friday (Feb. 6th) and he is going to put me on some new medication. He feels like the meds I have been taking for the past year just aren't working well enough for me to keep my disease in remission, and he said there is a new medicine out that will hopefully work better, and is cheaper, so that sounds promising! I am praying that this will work better. Please keep me in your prayers as well when you think of it. It's been pretty painful lately and just sometimes hard to go about with a "normal" life when I often have to keep running to the bathroom. I am too young for this!! hahah
We did go snowboarding last weekend for our long weekend, and the next blog post will be about that! It was tons of fun.
Tomorrow is our last day of working Winter Intensives, which means starting next Monday we will resume our regular schedule of working afternoons/evenings. It's been nice to have the evenings free and get to go places for dinner, hang out with some friends, etc. but I think we are both definitely looking forward to not having to set an alarm in the mornings! I also cannot believe that January is just about over! What a quick month!!
I joined a gym this month and have been a few times, but I am hoping to start going daily in the mornings starting next week. They offer some group classes as well, such as yoga, pilates, abs, etc. so I am thinking about trying some of those. Maybe I will do yoga! I don't know if I could do it, but I think that doing some relaxation exercises like this will be helpful for my health.
Tonight, I'm sitting at home enjoying my last free weekday evening, and Michael is gone to Mosaic Cafe. He has been leading a men's bible study for about 4 months now, and they have had a growing, steady group of guys. I am proud of him for getting this going. I know that so many of the guys are really thankful to have this group to go to and to have other men to talk to and share struggles and triumphs with, and I know that the Lord is blessing it. Michael is such a gifted teacher, and it makes me happy to see that his talents are being used here in Korea.
Well, I don't think there's really anything else pressing for now. One last observation: I was riding the bus tonight back from an area that I went shopping in to find a gift for a friend, and
it was taking a while so I of course fell asleep. I woke up a little while later when I heard a man on the phone saying, "Larry, I am on a bus now, I will probably be there in about 8 minutes." This woke me up because I understood what he was saying. haha He was Asian, but I am not sure if he was Korean or not, and he actually had a buddy with him and for the rest of the ride I listened to their whole conversation about looking for a job here, how to make their resumes look longer, etc. It was just funny to me, because I have gotten so used to tuning people out and not listening to them talk because I don't understand it, that I just sleep through tons of noisy conversation. However, as soon as I hear someone speaking English I wake up. I also felt a little rude, like I was eavesdropping. haha oh well. They were talking rather loud for being on a bus!
Hope your year is off to a great start! Enjoy the upcoming weekend. :)
~Leslie
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