Winter is here!

We've been really lacking in the blog business. There's so much going on yet somehow I find it hard to put it in writing.

So what has happened in the last SIX months?

-Jared had surgery on his deviated septum. It put him out about 1 1/2 weeks in July with about 2 months before he was totally healed. He's breathing alot better now. However, his other nostril wants to act up these days. He hasn't sinusitis again since the surgery which is wonderful!

-We ended our teaching contract after 6 months in Korea! I'm still a little too excited about that I think.

-Australia! Yes, we were lucky enough to get a great deal on a flight to Australia to visit Mark & Karen before we headed back to the States. It was great to see where Jared grew up and actually see so many of the landmarks he loves (Great Ocean Road). I loved the overpriced Australian food and oh the desserts. Don't get me started, they were delicious. We got up close and personal with kangaroos, koalas, and sand dunes, oh yeah.

-Home sweet southern home! When we got back to the States, we stayed in Winnsboro for a little over one month. During that time, we hung out with Mrs. Carolyn and Dennis, learned to make homemade pizza (my favorite pizza of all time), took a trip to Chattanooga, went to Baton Rouge to see Kari who unfortunately was in the hospital with kidney stones (Jared and I shared a twin couch for two nights), ate lots of great Southern food, had a great night with my dad and siblings, had a great weekend visiting with all of our siblings, Josh, and cutie pie Drew.

-With the job search going nowhere over the internet, we decided to take a leap of faith, pack up all our stuff and move to Portland. We are especially thankful for Sascha, John Mark, and Nicole. Within 3 days of moving to Portland God provided us a one room apartment in NW portland...where we will eventually move Rusty back down to the lower 48 from Anchorage where he's staying with Jared's awesome friend Darren. I should add that Keri is also giving Rusty lots of love too.

-We got the best news the days after we arrived in Portland. I'm pregnant and we're going to have a baby at the end of June! Right now I'm 11 weeks along and hoping the "morning" sickness will go away soon! I am so thankful for all He has provided us with; full coverage insurance for this pregnancy and a little extra money each month to help with the food. During this whole jobless time for both of us, I decided to read "Calm My Anxious Heart". It really made me focus more on all that God has provided, is providing, and will provide. I will choose to rejoice in this time of trial and sing praises of the Father.

-Jared found a job working from home as a case manager and will be in training for the next couple of weeks. I think he's going to be great in this line of work.

I'm sure there is so much more that I've left out but that is the majority of it. My mom made it safely back from Iraq and will be here tonight for a 5 days visit. Erin and Josh are pregnant and will have a baby about a month before us! Yay!

Pictures from the last year soon to be posted at www.jaredandalisia.shutterfly.com

more political topics...

missing footy...

I am sure missing me some footy right now. There is one Aussie in my town and he is from Brisbane...likes that rugby crap. At least I have basketball here.
The weather is sure getting nice, and makes me antsy to get outside, luckily for us there are mountains/hills all around us so we plan on firing up the old scooter and heading out around the area to see what we can climb.
We just had a great visit from my parents. although it was a short visit--they arrived last Wednesday and left the following Saturday--we still had a great time sightseeing and of course eating! We ate so much, but Korean food is great so it was worth it. We spent Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday in Seoul. After my parents left on Saturday morning, we went to the Seoul Jazz Festival and saw the Swell Season duet. What a great show, it lasted about two hours and played all the good songs from the movie Once. Definitely worth the money.
Well, things are good here in Korea overall though. If anything is going badly or I am doing anything wrong I really wouldn't know anyway because hardly anyone speaks English and Koreans are just more likely to smile at you and not say anything anyway. I swear when I go to a big city or something it is strange to see a fellow foreigner--our town is just so different from Seoul and other big cities in Korea--I think Jeomchon (our home) resembles the old Korea. That was my dad's opinion too. Gotta run now--have a class to "teach".

Now I'm getting political...

I read this in a newsletter from the Sean Hannity show, and it really struck a cord with me and I believe it is very true. Living overseas in a country like Korea has really given me pause to think about how great and fortunate the USA is, and how lucky and blessed we are. Yes, America does have its faults and there are things we could learn from other countries, but when I compare a decent country like Korea to America I can see a wide gap in lifestyle and the things we have. I wish our president would acknowledge this instead of constantly tearing us down. I can see how wonderful and great the country is that we live in, but more importantly how God has blessed us to have the things we have--because ultimately it is all His.

Can the U.S. Do Anything Right?
After watching the President’s speech this past weekend at Notre Dame, Sean noticed that “The Anointed One,” Barack Obama, never spoke of America’s greatness. {Text of Obama’s Speech - Washington Post}. “Isn’t that something we should talk about?” Sean asked. “Why is it that this is always missing from his speeches?” It seems that when Obama is on his “apologizing for America” tour, he doesn’t realize what the world would look like if it weren’t for the sacrifices made by the United States. “Too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism; in which the world is necessarily a zero-sum game,” Obama pontificated in his speech. Mr. President, the wealth that has been created through this “crass materialism” has also helped even the poorest in American society. We’re the country that creates the drugs that save and prolong lives. The U.S. has changed the world with the advent of the automobile, jet engines, etc. Even the poorest homes in America have running water and other basic necessities, things those in other countries would only dream of! While there are indeed changes that need to be made in this country, on the whole, America is a country of opportunity and greatness. “I never hear this from this President…ever,” Sean concluded. “All I hear is the constant berating of our country.”

Birthday Weekend In Seoul

To celebrate Alisia's birthday in proper fashion I've planned a weekend in Seoul. It started with a surprise Rachael Yamagata concert on Friday night. We had only sampled her music before, but were both impressed with Rachael Yamagata's music. It was an amazing concert and she is such a talented artist--it was easliy one of the best concerts that we have been to. We were pleasantly surprised at how initmate the concert venue was, and how laid back she and her band was--even taking request and inviting a member of the audience to sing on stage with her. It was awesome...and Alisia loved it! That was the most important thing:-)
I am writing this sitting in a salon while Alisia gets her hair colored, after this I have made a reservation at a day spa for her to get truley pampered...with a massage, facial, and pedicure. I hope she loves it. Tonight we are heading to a small but nice restaraunt called Star Chef. It is Korean/Asian Fusion. It is supposed to be really good. We will tell you later about it. Oh...and there will be a little shopping involved today too...you know Alisia--she loves to shop! That's the plan for the day for Alisia. I hope she loves it, but I do know one thing...she deserves it for putting up with me!
We are now fully settle in here in Korea and have found a nice groove with teaching. With the Lord's help it has become easier. We have also begun to branch out and try different restaruants despite the lack of pictures or English. With lots of a hand gestures and broken English we have managed to get things accomplished. We have found people here friendly and willing to help, it is a credit to the Korean people.
That's all I have now. We will of course write more later. Please keep us in your prayers every now and then! Bye!

Alisia doing some house work! She is quite good at it!

First full weekend in Jeomchon

We finally stayed home this weekend instead of traveling around Korea. Jared is still recuperating from a bad cold, two weeks now. He just can't seem to shake his cough. So we stayed home and relaxed. Since we finally got paid, we also purchased some big ticket items...a fish tank (two fish at the moment), a table for two which should arrive on Monday, and a Scooter. We've had alot of fun setting up our fish's new home and driving the scooter around town. Jared's picked it up the balance thing really quickly. It's been so nice sleeping in the last two days. I can't remember the last time we were even capable to sleeping in.

This week after we got paid we went to the bank and set up debit cards. It took about an hour for them to figure out how to get me one, but they did. So when Jared went the next day, it was a breeze for them. They also mentioned my name to Jared. It's amazing what we can get accomplished here with no Korean on our part and very broken English on their part.

School days are going by smoothly now, I think we have both found somewhat of a system to get us from one week to the next. My favorite classes are third and fourth graders. It takes alot of energy and planning but their excitement in the classroom is worth it. I've also started teaching teachers on Thursday nights. It's suppose to be 3 hours but my goal is to get us out of there in 2.5 hours. I'm teaching them English and teaching methods. Most of their English isn't good so I'm going to try to keep them engaged in what's being taught.

Getting Settled In

Well, we have been teaching now for a whole week, and we both are starting to feel more settled in. It has been an adjustment for both of us, it is difficult enough to deal with cultural changes but when you throw in new jobs teaching English it becomes even more difficult. Our teaching experience is almost non-existent so it has and will continue to be a lot of trial and error. The difficulty in communication is so tiring...even our Korean co-teachers who teach English don't speak it or understand it well. I find myself coming home and talking to Alisia using simple forms of English and speaking ridiculously slow like I would to the students in class--it makes for some funny conversations. With all that said we do like it and enjoy this new experience, it has been a nice "break" from our former jobs and has really taught us to trust the Lord in so many more things. We continue to lean on Him as he guides our steps in this coming year--what a blessing change and trials can bring! Here are a few videos, one of our place right after we moved in (so it doesn't look all that great), and one of my school Jeomchon Boys Middle School and the English Zone. We will try to get one of Alisia's school Jeomchon Elementary School. We will also add some pictures of our recent trips to Seoul and Daegu soon.
Later!

We Have Arrived!

Well, after a 24 hour trip we arrived in Seoul, South Korea only to find we had another 2 hour bus ride to where we would be staying for the next 9 days. That was probably the last thing we felt like even though we sort of expected it, but we loaded up our bags and made our way to the bus with the best attitudes we could muster, hoping at least for an opportunity to get a little sleep...it was not going to happen. Apparently our bus driver had difficulty driving a stick, and with every shift of the gears he did his best to give us whiplash. This is even worse when you are prone to car sickness like Alisia is...but she "gutted" it out. Did I mention that the us driver got lost on the way too? Well he did. Finally after stopping two different people on the side of the road to ask for directions we arrived at the University where we would be for the next 9 days. We thought we would get our rooms and go straight to bed as it was 11pm at that point--Wrong! It took another 45 minutes or longer to get our rooms assigned (it was all running together at this point--could have been two hours), needless to say it was a little frustrating yet a good opportunity to gain a little insight into Korean culture. Probably plenty of those kinds of moments to come!
We are both so thankful to be here safely and without incident. Thank goodness we don't have my parent's luck, they seem to lose a bag every time they travel! It really doesn't take much for things to really get messed up at those times. We just want to let everyone know (if anyone reads this) that we are so thankful for your prayers during this time. Please keep us there in the next few months as we continue to adjust to our new surroundings and the eventual culture shock that will come. I am going to be teaching! That definitely deserves a little prayer--especially for those poor kids that end up with me! I'm pretty sure that Alisia will do fine:-) God is so good in all of this to give us the opportunity that we have. It is going to be difficult and challenging, but what an opportunity for growth! Our prayer is that God can use us over here, that we won't become complacent and comfortable in our walk, that we will share and live the Love and Grace that we have been given through Christ.
Let the Korean adventure begin!!!
We'll have some pictures on here soon. See ya!