Today--Sabbath (20. Aug.)

I've finally decided.

I was gonna do it today.

I may miss, but I'll try to get the general idea.

Too bad my camera is dying.

I'm finally gonna try to capture an image of the cutest little boy I've ever seen.

Lucky for me, he goes to my institute church.

He came over to Thula and I.

I guess he wanted to have a drink with us?

After church, it's time for lunch.

This little guy is being a good greeter to those standing in line for the food.




Lunch:
Rice, bean sprouts, seaweed, delicious homemade vegan banana nut bread, and toppoki (rice tubes and fish cake covered in spicy sauce).
1 of my favorite meals since I've been here.




The pastor/director (right) and 1 of the elders.
We have lunch in the classrooms, so here we're in my classroom.

The little kid trying to help the elder not eat too much.

How considerate.

It may not look like much to you, but I love this stuff.

They aren't grandfather and grandson, but they could pull it off.

Religion Class Party Day (17. Aug.)

Yay! The term is almost over! It's the end of Religion Class (well actually, we decided to have our Religion class party day 1 day earlier).

My religion class and I went out to eat. It was a marvelous Shabu-Shabu and buffet restaurant.

2 of my 3 students waiting on the 3rd, so we can go.

1 girl doesn't like having her picture taken.

The restaurant. It's near Cheonan Sports Complex.

You can see the blue sign of the Sports Complex at the far left of the picture.




Inside.
We were the 1st ones inside, apparently it was just opening.

Eve, the one who wanted to introduce this place to us.

We start enjoying ourselves.

A friend of Eve's came down to join us. He's fun and really interesting.

The girls thought he was a hit.

The group.

I'm the one taking the picture (sorry of not being in the picture myself).

The chef and 1 of the employees.

They kept on saying how he studied in a famous university in the States, but they never said the name of the university.

What's this about?

Taking in the decoration.

Check out the set-up!

An island of salads and main courses along the wall.

The salads.

Great place!

Quite luxurious too.



There was a birthday party. The chef went around to all the tables, encouraging everyone to clap and cheer. To encourage them even further, he was going to give coupons for those who cheered the loudest.

This is my chance. I'm a foreigner (Hispanic), who could possibly be louder than me? Well, the other guy who was with us is also a foreigner, so he was nice and loud too. 2 foreigners at 1 table; the coupon was as good as ours. And it was! The chef gave it to Eve, and Eve gave it to me. Now, I need up to 3 more people to return to this wonderful place and enjoy it again.

Holiday Brunch (15.Aug.)

On Aug. 15, I was reunited with a former Religion student and her family.

They picked me up from my appartment and we went out to have brunch together.

I really admire this cute family. I hope I can have one like theirs some day.

Why are you looking at me?

My meal, part 1.
The salmon was perfect!
Hazel and Jack claimed the sausages for me. Much appreciated!
Oh, and I loved the pomegranate tea.



Okay everyone: first pictures, then devour!

A window (through a bookcase) of this place's atmosphere.

Jack enjoying being "dad".

Hazel with the cheery one.

My meal, part 2.

Salmon in a croissant. Perfect.

Will return to this place.

Leaning forward to the camera, we have an "imposing" stance.

Quite animated here, eh?

Jack sharing his discoveries from a book he picked up in the cafe.
Content? Tips/advice/info. for when in New York City.

Interesting.

Comfort

"Mama's Table"
Where all of this took place.

Itaewon and Myeongdong (14.Aug.)

For weeks, I've planned about this day (Aug. 14). It was a Sunday and--best of all--we had Monday off; so this meant we could do a little something special on this day . . . which is what we did.

I had planned on taking the teachers from both SDA institutes in Cheonan to an exquisite Indian restuarant in Itaewon (the foreigner section of Seoul). Afterwards, I wanted all of us to go up to N. Seoul Tower. Some of our plans came true, others did not. Either way, we had a pretty good day.

. . . Pictures! . . .

Inge (from South Africa, downtown Cheonan teacher) seems to be able to make friends with the stiffest kinds of people.



How to know where the train is and when it's coming. Our train is 2 stops away in this picture.

We arrived and went inside a Cold Stone Creamery. I saw this display and had to capture it. This is how they determine size.

The buffett options at Chakraa.

*mouth watering*

Our 2 special guests for the day: Inge's cousin Glen, and Ingrid's hilarious friend Danny.

2 old friends catching up in front of the Foreign Food Market in Itaewon.

This is how this stoked Korean rolls.
Yeap, we're back at Cold Stone Creamery.

You want to join our table . . . you know you do . . .

Apparently, because of fog, we didn't go to N. Seoul Tower. Instead, we went to Myoungdeong. Here is the oldest catholic church in Korea. I think it's also the largest.

With the church behind me, this is what I see. Interesting how a church like this is in the middle of a hustling city like Seoul.

Man, I miss this kind of architecture.

Reminisce

Wanna go inside?

We did!

Of course, it was all in Korean, so I didn't understand a thing--except when it was time to stand and sit. It was interesting though.


Aftwewards, we walked around Myeongdong some more before finally making our way home. I think I got home around midnight.

Good times.

Summer Bible Camp (29.-31. July)

Now the actual Summer Bible Camp!

I apologize profusely for the lack of pictures. I was too into observing the moments that I forgot about my camera. Besides, with Facebook, I got tagged in most of the pictures people took of me. But then again, not all of you have Facebook . . . hmm . . .

sorry.

Well, I'll share some that I did manage to take. Seriously though, my camera is coming to the end. It's been malfunctioning like crazy lately. Maybe its time is at hand.

The main speaker, Justin Kim: a Korean-American pastor from Detroit.

This was taken at the question-and-answer session.

There were several activities the students from the different institutes could participate in. Here are all 3 of my students setting up dominoes.



Okay, let's change the design.


It was short, but so packed that we were quite exhausted.

From the Yangpyeong subway station.

I was going to meet friends in Seoul right after, so my school went back to their place and I continued on my merry way to Seoul.

This mountian looked better than what my picture can show.

So yes, for a weekend, I barely took any pictures. Crazy how that happens now.