fried cucumbers

bet that caught your attention, hey? :) we tried them the other night, while sitting on the floor with our friends in a korean restaurant eating at one of their barbie-sized tables :) our meal consisted of frying beef on a stove in the middle of the table, then wrapping the meat in leaves.

everything here is tiny. and if it's not, then it's attached by something tiny. take milk for example. when we went shopping at E-Mart (Korea's Superstore), we couldn't just buy a jug of milk. we had to buy a jug of milk AND a small bottle of something sweet and white that was taped to the jug. it's quite amusing. the people are tiny too, but oh so beautiful. the children have bright eyes and olive skin, and cupid-bow smiles. they are always giving us gifts of sticky sweets or blaze bugles.

the ironic part of us being here is that trenton and i still don't see each other! despite having desks next to one another, and classrooms across the hall from the other, we've been so busy planning or teaching it's as if we're back in canada, swamped by a helter-skelter world. please pray that peace soon descends and life curls back into a lovely, cozy cocoon :) it's fun flapping our wings, but we need to rest.

in the classroom

yesterday we began teaching... the kids are adorable bundles of energy. we are struggling a bit with fatigue. every day we've been working from 10 am till 9 pm, prepping and teaching, but once this week is over and a rhythm has been established, we should only be teaching/working from 1 pm-9 pm. there are breaks in between, in which we scurry over to a local restaurant or order in food. those are the times we use to check our e-mail as well, so please forgive us if we haven't responded yet to your many wonderful letters. we love getting mail from you and will write as soon as we can! tomorrow we go to get our alien registration cards, after which we'll be able to get internet at home, as well as satellite and a cell phone connection. things are coming together :) we are looking forward to hiking in the nearby mountains this coming weekend. we are comfortably settled into our tiny apartment, which is surprisingly luxurious. it has rich hardwood flooring, air conditioning, heated floors, and a beautiful balcony. as well, if anyone wants to visit, we have a small 'guest room' extending off of our balcony. well, it's off to class for now. itta peke semneeda! (see you later, in korean)

picture this :)

a few of you have been asking after photos ... we will upload some as soon as we move into our new place and get hooked up to the internet. until then, we'll be striving to capture where we are using adjectives and metaphors :) love you!

highlights and lowlights

beautiful friends... here are some ideosyncracies about the place in which we live (wonju):

-gimchi, a delightful aromatic combination of cabbage and spice
-cold 'cooksu' or noodles, with an egg on top -- not so pleasant :)
-cheap taxis and efficient bussing
-no shower curtains; rather, drains in the bathrooms that allow you to shower by merely standing on the floor and letting the water slip through the floor... messy, but smart
-thousands of mysterious bugs, especially at night (a lowlight for emily)
-jungle-type forests, riverlets and lakes, and countless gardens along the roads culturing red peppers, rice, corn, and what appear to be squash and bananas
-wild rose bushes and many other gorgeous wild flowers
-stores squished side by side, some of which feature broken english on the front, all of which offer either korean food, clothes, hairstyling or computers
-friendly smiling faces, little english
-many sports complexes/gyms
-mountain peaks and hiking trails

trent and i are clinging to each other. it's good for us to need the other once again. it's also encouraging to have friends here from edmonton, who are actually living in the apartments we'll be moving into (on sunday). we're slowly getting over jet lag, and starting to love life again. thank you for your prayers. we'll be getting an address/ cell number soon, and will share that with you when we can.

our arrrival

we just arrived in korea late last night, so i am pretty overwhelmed/tired. we started our orientation today and did some grocery shopping ... there are so many things to learn/adjust to, but i think it will be ok. right now we're staying in a guest house at the university until our apartment is ready, which kinda sucks. but the surroundings are beautiful -- a lovely lake and hundreds of trees. our actual apartment is downtown, but it's in a nice neighbourhood with a grocery store/bank and all the necessities. anyway, in some ways i am struggling with being here just because i feel so weak -- my brother getting married was actually pretty hard. i bawled during the ceremony. it's such an emotional rollercoaster. then, followed by a 14 hour flight, i am sitting here a basket of tiredness and confusion. but no doubt in a few days things will clear up. i am so glad trenton is here to help me. pray that we have patience with one another.

emily's resolution

as the day approaches, realization decscends. my stomach tightens and my mind fights to grasp reality. it's as if we're preparing to die ... to our old lives ... and resurrect in a strange new world. i have decided to enjoy every minute of it. for most of my life i have lived in fear of the unknown. i may be only 26, but i am tired of trepidation. tired of running from myself. tired of pretend boogie men. i am going to hug the present, dance outside the shadows, and attack every opportunity with a fierce intensity. in other words, when in korea, i will live as the koreans do. i will not regret my choice to travel, to teach, to breathe in another culture. and upon my return, i will be smiling. free of fear.

crammed into a cozy corner

we've hunted for peace in the wilderness, found it around crackling fires and roaring tidal waves, and have now descended upon the mind blowing metropolis of ottawa.

we're 'crammed into a cozy corner' of love with the rest of our family awaiting our brother's wedding on the 19th... the next few days promise a flurry of excitment and a torrent of confused tears.

upon the 20th, we begin our flight to korea.

more posts to follow...

call of the wild

i find refuge in the wilderness.

in camping, barefoot and brazen, running whimsically through branches and brambles, daring to trip and fall and cry and then laugh at myself.

this weekend we're going camping in northern ontario. i'm greatly anticipating the murmur of moonlit nights, calm waves lapping at our canoe, card games and smoky fires.

the warm embrace of God's creation. a gentle call into the quiet we all long for. a silence in which our souls are finally heard.

excerpt from a letter...

hi guys -- this letter from a teacher at Yonsei University (where we will be teaching) describes a bit of what we will be experiencing once we get there:

"Wonju is a city of 250,000 people. It is a smaller provincial city that is the economic and social hub of southern Gangwon-do province. There is a large university community of 4 universities. It is also the center of Korean bio-medical research. There is also a large military community, both Korean and to a lesser extent American. This means that there are a lot of foreigners in town from all points of the globe. Our church group, for example, has people from the USA, Canada, and South Africa, as well as Korean members. It also means that the Korean community is well educated and interested in providing a varied educational experience for their children. Most of our students are the sons and daughters of professional couples.

"Wonju is located in the mountains 90 km east of Seoul. It is a beautiful area with mountain climbing, rivers and fields all within easy access. The pace of life is relaxed compared to a big city. While there are no big stores, you can get just about everything you need in the town’s central market. If you need to get to Seoul, buses leave every 20 minutes and the trip takes about an hour and half.

"The foreigner community is pretty diverse but congregates at different venues. The ELP staff gets together from time to time. The Yonsei University folks are always open to getting together and frequently work out, play squash and Ultimate Frisbee together, not to mention having dinner in town and at people’s apartments. You can get involved as you want to."

tower of babel

today we took our little white toyoto into the bustling beehive called toronto.

massive mayhem: people crawling over one another like anxious children racing for a piece of candy which turns out to be a simple, empty wrapper. a teaser. a big city with huge buildings and no 'story.'

no doubt there are individuals performing miracles on the streets of canada's new york city. for example, i've heard of one particular ministry that's transforming homeless youth into world-known artists.

but what really struck me was the 'tower of babel.' that is, the CN tower. built originally to act as an 'antenna,' it can withstand hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes. yet its structure, while solid, is completely hollow. thousands of people were crawling its innards desperate to pay 20 bucks a piece to stand on top. to play superman for a minute. yet in the end, we all had to climb down and return to our homes... is it that meaningful to be closer to the sky?

for some, perhaps it is. after all, in toronto, it's one way to escape the soot. for me, i prefer to reach into the heavens from the floor, groveling, begging God to come down because i'm not strong enough to climb all the way up those stairs to find him.

aspects of life lately...

a weary mother, stumbling over her own steps, laughing at life's little blurbs and loving everyone around her, unaware of her own childlike dependencies.

a devoted father, bending over backwards to care, daring to glare life's problems in the face with prayer, share! i cry, but he will only deny the pain in order to bely the devil any joy. and i admire him.

a hungry husband, desiring more than i feel i can give for all my strength is sapped like a maple tree forging new paths of fear down which my mom and i skip trip dip in and out of consciousness wondering when will this journey end? and when will the help arrive?

a hazy holy God divine yet inclined to hide like the moon behind its clouds inviting me to watch, to wait, with baited breath as the black clouds slip by, a lunar eclipse, and faith shines its yellow head again.

more ontario musings

i love running here, my feet slip-slapping against gravel roads lined by golden rows of corn. i love drinking in the sweet song of the cicadas and the chattering of crickets living long past the moon. i love embracing my parents and feeling free of a mortgage, vehicles and schedules.

yet even as i run headlong into the wind my heart is heavy with the thud of a thousand goodbyes, a million tears and countless questions about our future.

today we're going to visit our wizened, wise old grandparents and i pray i can stay focused enough to love them deeply. who knows when we will next meet. every day should be absorbed.

in the silence

tonight we found our reflections in a river. our lives in a still moment surrounded by chirping crickets and smalltown buzz. we're in ontario -- hot, muggy, sooty ontario camouflaged by lucious trees and a million lakes. we're with my parents now, and it's all too apparent how ravaged my mother's become by her own mind. brain cancer: eating away at the memories, feelings and taste buds that drive our days. yet she still smiles. and because of that, so do i. amidst the tears. the angry tears asking why. when those questions come i rush to the river, and find my reflection, and see it waver. remembering even i'm not stable. nothing is, except that which we cannot see.