Good times

Just played a bunch of hockey today. We won every game. Scored a bunch of goals, and had a great time. My team looked dismayed when I answered there question "When are you coming back to Korea?" with a "I don't know". They told me I have to come back because I am their 'ace player.' Apparently I am kind as well. :) After the game we went out for dukkelby again. Sooooo good. Had a great time in the car ride back, showing them Don Cherry 16 on my laptop and chatting about different things. Well, chatting might be a stretch considering their English level and my non-existent Korean speachee.

He shoots, he scores.

The boyz.

It is really good. Basically spicy chicken, vegetables, and precooked rice cake stuff. Then later rice is added. Everything gets fried right there at the table.

teary goodbyes

final week... tests, videos, games, laughter... sweet notes from students.. confessions of teenage love from korean boys... goofy antics and quiet submission to the inevitable: i must go home.

if it weren't for goodbyes like these, i would never truly ache... i would never know what it means to appreciate something. so for that i'm thankful.

this year has been such a gift from God. trent and i are so close... we have learned much about each other, and about our world. we hope to do this again sometime soon.

for now, i am being called home to take care of mom. but the future is our oyster...

thank you for joining me on this journey. trent will continue to update this blog -- so stay tuned for his stories. here are some photos of my boss, and my students. enjoy.

love and peace! em.

emily's "last hurrah"

i swear i've never laughed so hard.

these girls made my final weekend in korea something to remember.

on friday night, they helped trenton and angela put on a surprise farewell party for me ... we played mafia and ate chocolate fondu and delicious cheesecake.

saturday they stole me away to seoul, where we wandered around looking at beautiful, random art.







when it began raining cats and dogs, we ran for shelter and found comfort in an ice cream cake, which we destroyed and devoured.


following that, we got a hotel, and naomi and i watched a movie and desperate housewives while emma went off and partied till 5 am :)


early the next morning (7 am) naomi and i found our way to 'yangjae park' where we were registered to run a 10 kilometre race to raise money for kids with cancer. we found ourselves in a luscious, green terrain with hundreds of koreans and only 3 foreigners. it was fantastic. we ran along a river and made it in 58 minutes... a personal best :)

after earning our 'gold medals' we made our way to a local jimjilbang (sauna) where we showered off and then bussed home...

how fitting, that i would run across a literal finish line at the end of my time here. this whole weekend was a gift from God... a package of memories to take with me to canada.

some humor 4 u

here are some videos of my friend kerri and i, and then one of trenton...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5PKxgUbLW8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w20YHMtP1Uw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmXUA7LWNFw

for those of u who already saw these on facebook, our deepest apologies :)

The road less traveled

For the very first time in Korea, we were alone for over an hour. Did not see anyone. Now you might be thinking 'What! they aren't even alone when they go to sleep?' And yes that is true. Every half hour or so, some Korean comes into hour house to use our toaster. They really like toast.

We took the scooter about 10 km out of town to the other side of Chiak Mountain. We started by climbing to this temple. And then we found what I was looking for. About 8 months ago I told Emily that I wanted to see these fortresses, but we didn't know how to get there. But now we do... obviously. It was a difficult one hour steep climb to get there but it was worth it. It was here where we saw no one for those precious 2 hours. I am standing on a wall that circles 2.4 km and was used to defend against the Japenese in 1291 A.D.










I spent a good amount of time trying to read what was chisled into that rock. The loose translation is 'The path to enlightenment is like jam spread on toast. Toast is very good.'








Emily and I had a competition to take a picture of the most buetiful thing we could find.
I took the one of the butterfly.

Here I am coaxing emily back to safety.

Oops, I have to go. There's someone at the door wanting to make some toast.

em's recent (albeit controversial) articles

hey there...

i wanted to share an article which i wrote for The Seoul Times (www.theseoultimes.com) and the Canadian National Newspaper on Koreans' perspective of the Virginia Tech Tragedy:

http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2007/05/04/01534.html

as well, i interviewed Dr. Tom Axworthy (former principal secretary to Pierre Trudeau) on the possible North American Union -- that article is here:

http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2007/05/04/01545.html

peace!

growing pains (by emily)

recently a dear friend of mine approached me saying she wasn't sure she knew me anymore. after all, i've made a lot of changes recently, and she was afraid i was becoming "hardened" and "cynical."

it's true, my time here in korea has opened up opportunities to learn more about who i am. i have been challenged to think about my responsibility as a person, a Christian, and a consumer. for years i've not cared about politics, the environment, or even health. i think that was very selfish of me.

our lives are too short not to care. too short not to form opinions, especially about things that matter.

recently the Evangelical Association of Christians (representing millions of Evangelical Christians) refused to take a stand on the Global Warming Issue. as well, Dr. Dobson -- founder of Focus on the Family -- has vouched for the war on Iraq, saying it is a "just war."

as i see it, we as believers have two responsibilities: to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, souls and minds, and to love our neighbour as ourself.

to love God means to love the Creator of this earth -- the Creator of animals, nature, and the universe.

to love our neighbour means, essentially, to treat them as we'd want to be treated. to put it bluntly, it means NOT KILLING THEM.

for us to avoid taking a stand on the environment, and to support war for profit, is to go against the very foundation of what we believe.

loving our neighbours also means looking out for the "little guys" -- such as the mom and pop stores, the farms that are being bought out by 'corporate slaughterhouses,' the jews in world war two, and countries such as haiti who are dirt-poor.

my friend kerri has taught me a lot about living naturally. her philosophy is to live with as little negative impact as possible; she questions everything she does. she still feels convicted for taking an airplane to korea, because it eradicates all of her recycling and bicycling efforts in regards to hurting the environment. she is a vegan, who cares deeply about people and watches little or no television. and she wouldn't call herself a Christian.

how much more of a responsibility do we who claim to know the Creator have?

i've been realizing this, and waking up. as many of you know, i've stopped eating meat except that provided by farmer's markets or the farm directly (in order to fight the corporate farm); i will no longer shop at Wal-mart (one of many 'bad corporations' -- please watch "The High Cost of Low Prices"), and i have given up my greatest love -- coffee -- because it's harmful to me. trent and i are looking into converting a diesel car to 'bio-diesel' when we return, and will be sharing a home with another couple in order to live even more frugally and economically. as well, i've been writing articles about our nation clinging to its identity.

i have changed... i hope you can accept and love me, and i hope it challenges you to think about the choices you make as well. i love you!