The Times and Travels of Charity and Daniel

It has been too long...

2013-11-21T01:44:00.000+09:00

So I am attempting to start my writing again. Life has taken many turns for us in the last year and a half and there has been much to inspire me to write again. Since my last post in April of 2012 many events have taken place. Here are just a few:

We bought our first house, paid cash for it and have been living here since Sept. 2012.

Darcy has grown up to the point of talking in short little phrases--pretty sure I do not have room in my heart for more love...

...Until my son was born who took my overflowing heart and expanded its dimensions even further than I could imagine.

I switched jobs and companies, not once, but twice and am once again loving what I do.

My youngest brother joined the Air Force and now it is his turn to be away more often than he is home.

My great Aunt Dana has moved back to the midwest and is now staying in my parent's house, it has been great to spend time with her again

I am sure I could add to this list in abundance, if I just thought about it for a little while, but at this point I am just full of thanksgiving to God for all that he has brought us through in the last year.

We are debtors to nobody, except love.
We are not rich, except in family and experience.
We are not hungry, except for the desire to see what God will do next.
We are joyful and enjoying the bounty of God!

Things to look for in the coming weeks and months:

Looks for some design tweaks to this blog as I attempt to make it stand out a little more and to reflect what has been happening in our lives. Also, look for the number of posts here to go up slightly as I would like to get back into writing and the yearning has increased.

Moreover, please, please, please comment. Not only because I love feedback and hearing what a great job I am doing, but also it will help me to understand what people are interested in and like to see. It may not change what I do, but it is nice to see nonetheless.

More to come....

New Adventures from Arcy

2012-04-27T22:27:00.000+09:00

May 12th, 2001: The day my life changed. I graduated high school and began to take steps to become my own independent person.

May 12th, 2006: The day my life changed. I graduated from Bob Jones University and officially ended my first--perhaps only--college experience.

June 30th, 2007: The day my life changed. It was the last day of any perceived singleness and the first day that I thought of myself as part of a team. It was the day I was engaged to the most wonderful lady in the world.

July 30th, 2008: The day my life changed. It was my first day of being one with my amazing wife, Charity Faith.

May 15th, 2011: The day my life changed. It was the day that I found out my wife and I were not alone in the room anymore. We would be welcoming a blessing in less than 9 months.

January 29th, 2012: The day my life changed. It was the day I met the glimmer in my wife's eye. We welcomed Darcy Ryanne into our small family.

Our little beauty arrived in good health and loud spirits on that cold Sunday afternoon. My wife bravely bore 14 hours of labor--4 of which were absolutely draining. She did such a great job!

Perhaps I am not really that emotional as a father, but there were several times in the process that I thought "oh brother." One of the first ones happened when we were looking at ultrasounds. I knew that was my child in there, but I felt somewhat detached from it. This other-world image of black and white seemed to make the baby look almost silly. I didn't feel connected to her. Then during the process, I am sitting there attempting to help my wife--believe me, attempting is the correct word as I think many times I actually failed--and I kept thinking with every bout of contractions and pushing that the baby was almost there. Of course I was doing that during the first 3 hours of hard labor and it still wasn't happening.

I didn't even feel all that connected when they "encouraged" me to cut the cord. Really, I don't get that whole symbolism aspect. No, I connected with my daughter when I held her for the first time. I knew I was at some time going to change in the whole process and when I held her for the first time, that is when I truly had that "ah ha!" moment with her.

All at once, I became frightened about everything. I worried about how to take care of her, whether that sound I just heard was her first cold, whether the color of...everything...was quite right and the list could end up in the hundreds of entries. Needless to say, I could not help thinking of all the things she was going to need over the next two decades of her life.

Flash forward to the present. She has been an active little presence in our household for two whole months. She has been a reminder to me of what I have left to still learn. For starters, I need more patience. She requires that I become more patient. The first week we were home, I would get frustrated with her and hand her off to Charity. I know this behavior is not of the most mature level, but I would get overwhelmed with my failed attempts to soothe and calm her. I would then watch with not a little embarrassment at Charity quietly, gradually and firmly getting her to sleep. Talk about frustrating!

Oh, and have I said how awesome my wife is? She does an amazing job of taking care of child, house and me. That is a lot of work in its own right, but she does it with a largely happy and upbeat spirit. Even as I write this she is happily feeding and putting Darcy down for the night. She is great.

Back to the adventures and changes here in the Moorehead house. I get up in the morning, throw on some clothes and take the dog for a half-hour walk. When I get back, it is a quick meal, a fast shower, a hurried change of clothes and I am off to school. Then the real work begins...for my wife. She spends most of her day dealing with dirty diapers, fussy child and normal household chores. I have to deal with 25+ kids all day long but they don't require the constant attention that my own wife gives to our single child.

At the end of the day, I come home to a very tired and somewhat stressed wife. Nevertheless, she is happy. I see it all over her face almost all the time. Like a sweet mother hen to her precious chick, she tends to her as only a mother can. She amazes me.

And Darcy? Darcy changes constantly. I cannot seem to look at her for more than a couple seconds before I see a change. One day she sleeps all the time. The next day she won't sleep at all. Soon she is looking at me. The next day, she is seeing me. She gained meager control of her vocal chords and is now making all manner of noises to the delight of her awaiting parents. Never were such small sounds so longed for.

No longer do we simply look at each other and say, "Let's go out." Now, every venture from the house is an excursion requiring bags and things to go in those bags to reach their capacities and strollers and blankets and snacks (for Charity, not the baby).

We have time limits. Not only can we not be "out" too long, but we must go at the right times. Basically, I have to consult the mystical clock that is the "schedule." The "schedule" rules all and is ultimately powerful. It has the ability to turn off all the lights in my house, draw the shades, turn off my relatively new LCD HDTV and stop all manner of other activities in the house. It compels us to whisper almost constantly. It is of the greatest power!

Ultimately, it is all worth it. We are not experiencing something that any new parent hasn't and thankfully we are not experiencing what many have. We are simply going on our own personal adventure quest to get to know this thing called parenthood and to get to know this amazing life. She, I hope will not be our only adventure in this life, but I hope we learn much from her. She has taught us so much thus far and I can't wait to get to know her more!

More to come...

Grandma’s House

2011-08-17T10:16:00.001+09:00

I probably should be at least attempting to sleep, but I have had so many thoughts rattling around in my head and I can't seem to get them to quiet down. Maybe writing this up will help, maybe it won't. We shall see.

I don't count myself as overly gushy and sentimental. I remember nostalgia and they were good times. I do have a "remember when" or "that one time" repository which I love to pull out and have a little sharing session, but I don't feel to attached to...things. Charity and I have lived out our lives for the most part in another country. I have many things there which I enjoy and we do have a storage unit in KC which we store many, as of yet, unused items from our wedding over three years ago.

But again, not overly attached to stuff. I hope I live out my life attached to people.

However, I had a bit of a hard time this weekend. My grandmother Moorehead is making a wonderful move from her little old house in Greenville to her new one in Ocala. This news is a minor trickle in the waterfalls of life, but it holds significance for me. "The Cousins" as we call ourselves are 24 strong+ a growing number of spouses, is a tight little group. We don't see each other always all that often. For a fact, I have not seen some of them in quite some time and it may be much longer (I hope not) before I see some of them again, BUT when we do get together there is a short pause of "what have you been doing since the last time..." and it is like we never met. I love the times we spend together and I ache for that extra hour or day we can spend with the family.

All that to say this, I rank #2. The only cousin older is only 6 months older and Stephen and I were more like brothers at times then cousins. He and I may be the only two that have a few memories of Papa and Grandma's house in Flint. To most of them, 9SP was all they had ever known and for more than 20 years, it where Papa and Grandma lived.

You see that was the place I dressed up in a black felt hat with a black cardboard rim, black cape and black clothes, painted on a cheesy mustache of black eyeliner pencil and strapped a samari sword to my belt to go trick or treating with my brother—who was wearing the exact same thing—and my Papa who believed the job wasn't done until we had visited every house in a ten block radius and stopped at the house three times to "unload" (aka Papa contributing to his later diabetes snack). For those of you that thought we were ninjas or were just plane puzzled, we were both Zorro. Why? Because at 9SP we used to watch a second rate Zorro series on their tv.

There were the many times we packed more family into that back room than any fire code would allow. How we used to love just sitting around and talking for hours. How someone would say "I'm thirsty" and Seth would disappear only to pop back in with enough drinks for everyone.

Or the two big trees out back that were perfect for climbing and the yard that I believe we dug up more than any child ought to be allowed. Better yet, the old fiberglass white camper with the green stripe that all the boys would sleep in and we would never get enough sleep and we always had a blast.

It was the place where my wife Charity and I did most of our early dating. Or course it was also the place where Stephen and Esther, Ben and Kerianne, Camilo and Jessica, Michael and Stacey and who knows how many others spent time in courting.

Today, it was hard to remember it all. Today I laughed with family and friends and enjoyed the pleasure of my family around and the closeness I sense in their interactions, but there were twinges of sadness too.

My last night in 9SP was in the room where I saw my Papa for the last time in the flesh. When nobody else was around I sat in the back room against the open door and looked at the spot where my Papa sat in his recliner celebrating his last birthday party any licking that silly card from Kerianne. It was odd, I am a guy and I know that means no crying, but I do on occasion when the occasion warrants it. There were today memories that hurt, but today's memories seemed detached a bit from reality. Not as if they'd never happened, but that they were only shadows of the here and now. The halls and yard and rooms all echo memories and you can almost feel the joy bleeding over and out of every creaking joist, sticking door and each particular scar on the various pieces of furniture.

I didn't like leaving Grandma's house today and a part of me knows I may never see it again in this life, but I came to a realization today;

Grandma's house was only that, a house. But with those people that made it what it is...something I wish I could define and shape with my meager words...they were Grandma's home.

I also realized I had the same feeling at Papa's funeral. I looked at that empty shell, carried that empty shell and said goodbye to that empty shell but it was the man I missed. I missed him. I will miss the location of memories, but I still have Grandma's home no matter where she goes and ultimately, I will have it far into the future if I have those around me with whom i can share another "remember when" story.

More to come...

Oahu, Hawaii

2011-06-28T14:04:00.002+09:00

Ok, this has been written and rewritten many times and it has been lost due to my not paying close attention. grrr. Anyhow, I will now try to put down—at least in brief—some impression of our trip as well as some tips for your travel potentially. Also, unlike Sydney which I meticulously (ok, somewhat meticulously) documented each day, Hawaii will come in probably only one post where I will approach it more topically than chronologically.

FIRST TOPIC: Airfare

Well, this is the part that will not encourage those living in the USA. In fact, I just checked and the cheapest I could find from Kansas City was over $700 ($526 if you are leaving LA). However, if you are living in Southeast Asia, then you simply add it as a stop to Honolulu. On a whim I went out to Kayak.com and checked it a couple of times and I can’t get the deal we got or even anything close to it. Each of us only paid about $150 extra per-person for our tickets which made it all the more attractive. Even at a cost of about $500/person it would still be a pretty reasonable rate.

We flew into HNL (Honolulu) on the capital island of Oahu around 8 in the morning for our stay on the nearby beach resort area of Waikiki. This arrival leads into the next topic…

NOTE: We did all of our flights on Wednesdays and that really changed the price of the hotel and the flights which I really recommend.

SECOND TOPIC: Transportation

Not knowing much about the size of and ease of movement in Oahu, we decided to opt for the rental of a car. We appreciated our military friends there in Korea for helping us find a good deal on the car itself. Adding insurance to the whole things more than doubled the price, but I think it was worth it for the first time.

We could have taken buses, but we only made one major trip around the island and there was little need of even having the car really. HOWERVER, the convenience of the car was great. No waiting on buses or sharing one with the homeless drunkards and after living in Korea, the absence of mass transit was pleasant.

THIRD TOPIC: Hotel

We looked at dozens—nay, hundreds—of hotels looking for the best deals when planning for our trip and settled on one and then a week later, switched to another. I don’t know that the old one was better than the new one or vice versa, but this one was nice. Even with parking and taxes included we stayed just under $100/night. Now if staying on the beach—facing the beach or hotel location—be prepared to pay for it. Most of the ones that we found on the beach (and would have been willing to stay at) where well over $150 and if you wanted to I hear that a few of them on the $1000.00+/night. (Any readers want to put us up in one of those next year, just email me for payment information!)

Anyhow, I think the decision of hotels in Waikiki at least is based almost entirely on closeness to the beach. So if price is your concern, each block away you go from the beach equals about $100 of savings. Our hotel was only about two blocks from the beach and the walk really wasn’t bad for me. Charity on the other hand couldn’t stand the overwhelming odors of all the restaurants on the way to and from the beach. She almost threw up every time she passed them.

Our hotel had beach towel service (fresh, dry towels just for the beach), breakfast (pancakes, muffins, bread, oatmeal, fruit, nothing-special-at-all, etc.), private porch and they even upgraded us at the desk because we came in too early for check in and our intended room was not ready. Major props to the Aloha Surf and Spa!

All in all, I think there i s probably little difference between the hotels in each range.

FOURTH TOPIC: Activities

We actually have to split this up into many different categories.

A. Beach Activities

There are really wonderful beaches on Waikiki. On the last day I went to our front of a hotel next to the armed forces recreation area and found the best priced cabanas but the water surrounding them is not so great for swimming. Rocky and filled with coral, the water at Waikiki will tear your feet—and any other body parts—to shreds if you do not have those ridiculous shoes.

On the beach, if you plan on staying the whole day, then simply get a cheap cabana for the whole day and then you have a base of operations. Look for one where the owners have very few chairs and the likelihood of stolen items should decrease a little bit. The cabana will keep you off the sand and give you some shade if wanted. Perfect for reading and if you go to “UV Rays Beach Services” beachside of the Outrigger Waikiki hotel, there is free WiFi there and it was awesome to post beachside!

There was surfing and I reeeeeallllllyyyyy wanted to do it, but ran out of time to do so. And other then swimming, floating (kinda like swimming but with no auto-kinetic movement) and surfing, there was little else to do (ok, little else I wanted to do). Of the surfing I discerned two types: Longboard with a paddle and longboards without paddles. Both looked equally fun…maybe next time.

We did go out on a catamaran but I cannot suggest it or even tell you the one we went out on as I found the behavior of the crew and passengers to be by and large…revolting. I have heard there are better ones, but I would say that you should do some research and review searching before taking any of them (there are lots so I am sure they are not all bad!). I would like to do one that had some snorkeling activity attached to it.

B. Inner-Island Tourism

I cannot suggest this enough. While it is fun on the beach…the beach has little to offer after you have been to it…thrice! (Charity disagrees.) On one of the days, Charity and I both went exploring on the island. On the internet, I found a Kona coffee and Macadamia nut farm on the east side of the island. We planned a route—pretty simple if you look at the map—that took us around the east and north of the island and back down the middle again. The views along that road were awesome! We basically stopped once at the farm on our way up and then drove along the east coast going north. The sights were wonderful and the weather was great on the day we went.

We didn’t do much on the north side of the island, but on our way back down the western side we stopped at Sharks Cove and rented snorkeling gear. We spent several hours there and I found a new love for snorkeling. Despite the name, I saw no sharks in the cove, but I did see turtles, fish of huge assortments and beautiful scenery that made the time there awesome. I would highly recommend snorkeling and Shark’s Cove was awesome place to do it!

We then spent some time at Waimea Bay Beach. After being on Waikiki beaches, this was much more pleasant. There was much less corral and rock while still having loads of beach for as few people that were there. I would say a day at the beach—if you brought everything you needed for the day as there are no shops nearby—would be nicer at the less crowded Waimea.

We topped off our travels at the Dole plantation. Under advisement from several people, we came, bought some souvenirs and ate some of the Pineapple soft-serve. I know there are rides and some other activities, but we chose to enjoy what we did and head for the hotel.

C. Pearl Harbor

Wow! I love this so much that I gave it a category all to itself. Pearl Harbor has loads of activities for the historical minded. I probably could spend 2 days touring the place a couple of times.

Charity was feeling extremely sick on the morning we planned to go to Pearl Harbor and not wanting me to miss out on one of the main reasons I came to Honolulu, she sent me by myself. (Her saying she was sick did not stop her from making her way to the beach that morning….hmmm…)

Upon arriving to the Arizona Memorial center, the first thing you MUST DO is get your ticket for going to see the Memorial. There are boat rides out to the memorial about every 45 minutes if I remember right and you have to be there early enough to get tickets. There are tour buses that come in the late morning and because it is a first come first serve basis, you could get stuck looking at the memorial from the shoreline. Because I was by myself, I got on the 8:45am ferry even though I arrived at 8:15! I overheard the next available tickets weren’t till noon.

Even if you get stuck with the later tickets, there is plenty to keep you occupied. There at the memorial waiting area they have a small museum devoted to the the Arizona and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Well worth the walkthrough. Several outdoor exhibits include a memorial to several submarines lost during WWII with individual placards about each. The USS Bowfin also moored at the memorial is up for tours…for a price…as well as a maritime museum in front of the Bowfin.

I purchased a ticket to go to Ford Island (an operational Navy base and therefore is only accessible by bus service. There are 4 things to see on the island, but only three can a civilian see. The USS Utah is the only you won’t be able to purchase a ticket for unless you are military or sponsored by military personnel. Not to worry though as the Mighty Mo (USS Missouri battleship), the Pacific Aviation Museum and the USS Oklahoma memorial are all there and worth the view and price to go.

If you had to choose an activity though—of course after the USS Arizona—I would have chosen the USS Missouri even over the Pacific Aviation Museum. I know, the guy who wanted to be a pilot picks the battleship over the plane. Yes. The reason is the historical significance of the Mighty Mo. It was the ship that played a huge part in WWII and also the sight of the signing of the surrender of the Japanese. Furthermore, this ship was called back to duty in the Persian Gulf War. Really cool.

Please don’t let me sway you from doing ALL that you can at this, the site of one of America’s darkest hours which would become the rallying point for the war in the Pacific and one of the last glimmers of the greatness of America’s resolve as a unified country.

D. Food

Not much to say here really. There is food of all kinds there on the island. Everything from Fast to Diner to Foreign to Hawaiian to High End Food. All of it looked great to me…all of it made Charity sick except for a few choice dishes that seemed ok one day and not another…I know….weird.

We did try “Sorento’s Top of the I” one night because we had a Groupon for it and let me tell you it was awesome! Pricey…but awesome! Other than that, Wal-Mart in Pearl City provided much food for a cheap price (sandwich money goes a long way!) and we did eat out enough to make it fun still.

I may say a few more things about Hawaii in the coming days/weeks, but I think I will leave it there for now…especially as this post will probably exceed 2000 words and if I remember right, that makes this post >500 words longer than my EN102 term paper at BJU!

more to come….

For those of you who scrolled down, look for an extra special post on or around January 23rd!

For those of you who don’t get it, look back through my extremely long post for hints! :)

Sydney – Day 9 & 10

2011-01-10T00:00:00.000+09:00

This day will actually encompass two days.

With our flight not leaving till 9pm, we wanted to spend the last moments in Sydney to the fullest. On that note, there was yet one set of activities we hadn’t participated in—getting up-close and personal with the indigenous wildlife. Sydney Wildlife World at Darling Harbor provided that opportunity. The cost was a bit much and the animal viewing was not of supreme importance to me, so I ate breakfast at a little corner café while the girls toured the wildlife exhibits. I am sure that Charity gave several high-pitched squeals of delight at the various cuddly kangaroos, koala bears and wombats.

I met up with them again near the IMAX and we settled on returning to Paddy’s Market as well as the nearby Chinatown. One last time we walked the booths looking for last minute items as we attempted to relieve ourselves of Australian currency. Personally, I had to have a hat. One of those hats of true Aussie style.

In this search, I came across a man and his daughter that sold only hats and a huge variety of hats at that! I could have settled on the very inexpensive hat which did not look as if it would stand up to more than a couple weeks of wear or the soft, supple, expertly crafted kangaroo leather hats which looked fantastic…hence the high price! I chose middle ground. A buffalo hide hat with what appeared to be solid craftsmanship. I LOVE THE HAT!

Funny enough though, the hat seller and his daughter were Korean! I traveled all that way to buy an Australian hat from a Korean man! His house here in Korea was only about 6 stops away! How weird…

The time sure went fast as we arrived back at the hotel around 5pm. We changed and picked up our bags at the hotel. The taxi arrived and the extremely humorous—albeit, a bit racist—driver dropped us at our airport check-in.

With only a slight hiccup with the ticket printing machine at the counter, we went made our way through security, which took only a few minutes even with two of the girls being stopped and asked some security questions. A meal and some waiting later, we were on the airplane heading to Seoul via Beijing.

At this juncture, due prudence dictates I must tell you some traveling tips. Australia was comfortably warm most of the time. Therefore, shorts and a t-shirt marked the majority of my clothing options. Knowing what I knew about Incheon airport in Seoul, I also knew that during the winter the internal temperature can seem to Westerners like myself, well, rather balmy. It also makes sense not to carry more items onto the plane than is needed.

With all these facts and experiences in mind, I wore a light t-shirt and shorts and Charity wore similar items as well, as we boarded the plane in Sydney. Surrounding us were Chinese and Korean people wearing Ugg boots, heavy coats, long sleeves and thick pants. This is the first indication of trouble.

The flight was comfortable and there were few problems on that long ride to Beijing. However, when we arrived in Beijing, we discovered something about the airport. While the amenities and various staffs at the airport were kind and cordial, the temperature was not! We arrived in Beijing around 6am with an external temperature of –12 Celsius and an internal temp pretty much the same! What an enjoyable 3 hour layover it was… Have I mentioned I how much I like China?

The short 2 hour hop from Beijing seemed like almost nothing as the meal took most of that time (yes, I said meal!). Through emigration, gathered our bags. through customs and out to the busses to take us back home.

This blog cannot possibly recount the things seen and done in their entirety, but I hope that this small series of snapshots gave you a bit of a taste!

More to come…

Sydney – Day 8

2011-01-08T21:58:00.001+09:00

Today is all about the Blue Mountains!

When we planned for the Blue Mountains, we originally thought we would take a tour bus to see the sights. However, tour bus companies wanted about $60 AUD for the cheap ones all the way up to $160 AUD for the premium packages. At church on Sunday, I had met a very friendly and helpful mate who told me to simply go to Katoomba, the city nearest the Blue Mountains, and simply walk around to see everything we wanted sans tour. I am so glad we didn’t go with the pre-packaged tour because it gave us great flexibility in where we went and when.

The only complaint—and I can hear some of you groan as you slip on your cold boots and heavy coats—was that it was hot! Wish I had a hat…

We rode the train to Katoomba. Round-trip tickets were only about $12. The train took about 2 hours, but it was clean and nice enough to make the trip comfortably. From the train station, there is about a 2km walk with restaurants and tourist orientated shops. We were going to stop several times as one restaurant or another presented itself to us as we walked, but finally settled on the Blue M Café. Wow! It was soooooo good. Quick service, great food and a beautiful day, what more could you ask for?

After lunch, we made it to the lookout where we could see the Three Sisters rock outcropping. From that vantage point, the Blue Mountains looked like a very green Grand Canyon. Absolutely gorgeous!

We decided—or maybe it was I pushed—to walk the trail around to the sky-rail/nature walk/vertical railroad area. The trail was extremely wet as it must have rained the night before. Still, it was nice to walk to the various lookout points and see everything again from different perspectives.

After about an hour and a half, we arrived at tourism mecca of the Blue Mountains. Even though it was really touristy, we did ride the steepest railroad in the world, a walk on the rainforest boardwalk and then a ride back to the main road.

We went, we saw,…we finished and decided to go. We hurried back to the train station, stopping only long enough to pick up a Subway sandwich…although one in the party had a recent experience with Subway which led her not to get a sandwich…and that still gave us plenty of time to get on the train.

By the time we made it back to the hotel it was very late and we were all ready for bed.

More to come…

Sydney - 7

2011-01-02T20:09:00.001+09:00

The girls planned the day and they did a great job! We started the day at Circular Quay where we took the ferry to Cockatoo Island. REALLY AWESOME!!! Cockatoo Island originally was covered in trees and used primarily as hunting and fishing by the Aborigines. Later, the primary use became a trade school and reformatory school for troubled women. After the turn of the century, its primary use became a ship building and refitting base of operations.

During WWII, the island became a major base of operations for keeping both the Australian and American fleets operating in the South Pacific.

Today, the island is opened up for touring and camping. Evidently there is a new year's fireworks display nearby and Cockatoo is a great place to see it.

We made the mistake of missing the first ferry back, but that gave us an opportunity to eat some hot chips on that beautiful island.

The ferry arrived and we enjoyed the ride back to Circular Quay. At that station we rode the bus out to Bondi (pronounced "bond-eye") Beach where we spent most of the rest of the day.

The surf at Bondi was intense. Its shores are best known for surfing because of the fast and hard
rip tides.

While the girls lay soaking up the sun, I attempted to swim. While the surf was great for those with some kind of board to ride, it was terrible for any kind of casual swimming. I was done-not to mentioned worn out-after about ten minutes.

While the other girls lay there on the beach, Chare and I walked to the north end of the beach where a rocky outcropping met the sandy beach. Can not express how awesome this part was for me.

As we made our way among the rocks, memories of nature walks with the family came flooding back. On those walks we would walk circumspectly in attempts to notice something new or "cool" while dad would describe some fact, facet or process of God's creation all around us.

On that rocky beach we saw all manner of animal and plant life. Everything from sea anemones and sea snails to baby star fish and minnows.

As we walked, all Charity could say was "I cannot believe I don't have my camera!". Folks, if she said it once she said it a thousand times. She really didn't like it as we approached the point where the surf came crashing against the rocks. Awesome!

After we met back up with the others, we may our way back to the bus heading for Circular Quay. Once back at the Quay, we stopped to get some dinner from one of the restaurants right on the water front. Chare and I had some more fish and chips-not as good as the place near Manly Beach-and a pretty good salad.

After our fill, the girls took a walk to an area of the Quay called "The Rocks" and this tired swimmer went to the hotel!

More to come...

Sydney - Day 6

2010-12-29T08:30:00.001+09:00

With a bit of a lazy start to the morning, we got up and out of the hotel. We spent most of the day at Darling Harbor near the exhibition halls. There is tons to do down there. First things first, we purchased tickets for the IMAX.

We decided on the 3D movie playing as it only seemed right to see a movie on that screen in 3D. We had some time to kill so a short walk brought us to a mall area with a food court.

Back to the theater for one really awesome movie! A bit pricey, but hey, when are we going to be back in Sydney again? Similar to Korea, the tickets are assigned based on a particular seat which means you don't have to arrive early for "a good seat".

Afterward we walked around and looked at the war museum ships and other historical paraphernalia.

We split up as we entered Paddy's Market and Chare, Mylinda and I shopped while the rest went to the hotel.

The shopping lacked any great deals as the shops were closing up. I did purchase some dried fruit and nuts as they pack well and provide some good energy throughout the day. Plus they reduce hunger, which is nice because dried fruits and nuts are cheap while restaurants are pricey here.

Back at the hotel we all rested. Late that evening we were all peckish so we all walked down to Kings St. looking for a good restaurant. We settled on a Turkish to go place. Really good food!

Off to bed to prepare for the next day!

More to come...

Sydney - Day 5

2010-12-28T18:20:00.002+09:00

Sunday morning early we set out searching for the best route to a little church near Baffin and Parramatta.

After locating the correct cross streets, we stopped at a Hungry Jack restaurant to get a quick bite before arriving at church. Hungry Jack seems to be in some way related to Burger King (same looking sign, similar menu, same post-meal heartburn). While Hungry Jack may have been related to Burger King, it must be BK's ugly, red-headed, pot-smoking, annoying nephew-by-marriage! In a word "gross".

Anyway, The Brethren church was similar to many other churches I had been in with wonderfully warm Christian hospitality and items in the worship service designed to focus attention on Christ. What made it different though, was the format. Every male in the church was encouraged in a pre-message time to share something. This something could be a passage of Scripture, a prayer, a word of encouragement or even lead in one of the countless songs in their song book. Really interesting approach to the worship of God.

After the service and tea, we sought out Croyden station, made our way to the hotel and set up plans for the day.

We decided on Chinatown for the afternoon and stopped to lunch at a "Thai" restaurant that was decidedly more Chinese than Thai. Still, the food was extremely tasty.

One of the girls headed back to the hotel to check on the invalid while Chare, Mylinda and I walked around Paddy's market and Chinatown doing yet some more shopping.

We were going to do an IMAX movie at the "world's biggest IMAX screen, but it was going to be a late night if we did that and we all really wanted to be together for the movie.

We met up with Lisa at Darling Harbor and rode the ferry back to Circular Quay. From there we rode the bus back to the hotel and ordered pizza again (mostly because we could) and enjoyed another much needed rest.

More to come...

Sydney - Day 4

2010-12-28T18:19:00.001+09:00

The strangest Christmas so far...

We slept in till 10am and then headed for the city central. We found a Starbucks to purchase some souvenir mugs and of course, to buy a simple cup of joe (yeah right on the simple part).

Chare and I set out on our own and the other two ladies went to find the church we would attend on Sunday.

We really had no plan as we arrived back to Circular Quay (btw, "Quay" is said "key") so the most appropriate thing to do appeared to be riding the longest ferry ride out to Manly Beach. The ride was rather hot, but we did get to see almost the entire North side of the harbor.

At Manly Harbor, we saw what at first we thought was Manly Beach and after walking its short distance, we consulted a map. Wouldn't you know it, we were only at the harbor beach! A short walk later and I saw the longest, light yellow beach I have ever seen. Perfect time to be there too, in my opinion, because it wasn't terribly hot and people were making their way back from the beach. Walking this stretch of beach was a much longer, more arduous task.

After our walk, I convinced Charity to stop and get some fish n chips. She was not overly thrilled with the idea as she has an unnatural aversion to almost any water-borne product. Once tasting that crispy white fish and amazingly fried potatoes, she was hooked! (Truly no pun intended...)

We then boarded the ferry once more and sat on the port side so we could see the south side on the return trip. After all, the south side is where the opera house is and it does look nice from the water.

Back to the hotel we went and finished our day lazily as it has been another day of walking everywhere!

More to come...

Sydney - Day 3

2010-12-27T10:40:00.002+09:00

Our third day of travel, second day in Sydney, began rather slowly as we didn't get up early to say the least.

Once again, the day was marked for shopping, but today was Paddy's Market. Paddy's Market embodies the idea of an American flea market without all the toothless rednecks and the babies with bottles of Coke or Pepsi instead of milk.

Everything from cell phone accessories to fresh foods waited around each corner. After an hour of searching for just the right souvenirs, we set out once again for the hotel to prepare for the afternoon's program.

On the way back, we stopped for Subway sandwiches to go and enjoyed our meal together at the girl's room. After a good meal like that, rest arrived on the agenda. A short nap later, we all readied ourselves for Sydney Opera House.

While the program, artistically speaking achieved a level of notoriety, I did feel like they missed the whole point! At several points during the program, I couldn't help thinking that the powerful words and music lost strength with the manner and attitudes of the singers and performers.

While I know that the celebration of Christ's birth is simply that, an opportunity to party and a rest from work, I cannot help but feel sad at the people all around that have the Message in their own mouths and fail to comprehend it!

While the program was a bit different, we did get to see quite a nice show and we did get to see that show in a beautifully odd shaped artifice.

We then walked for a little while looking for some inexpensive food and ended up at McDonald. Some terrible food and free wifi later, we headed to the hotel. One of the girls then had a horrible night, next day and even the following day which kept her in the hotel room.

Another day down Down-under.

More to come...

Sydney - Day 2

2010-12-25T16:38:00.001+09:00

Ok. So this post will take up from our arrival at the Sydney airpot.

After finding the subway entrance, we went purchased, what can seem, somewhat expensive week passes for the subway/ferry/bus for in and around the city center called the "MyMulti1". The reasoning behind this was with as little as 18 trips this pass paid for itself.

Anyway, we got on a very clean and well-maintained double-decker subway car. A few stops down the line we transferred to a bus to take us the rest of the way. Of course, the first time I ran my ticket through, the ticket scanner swallowed and refused to give it back! The driver, and this is a testament to both the Aussies and the Sydney transit system, said he would take my name and info and get the ticket back to me.

As we arrived at the hotel (Rydges Camperdown) I was sure I had some form of lost time ahead as I tried to get my pass back.

The hotel had only the one room available as we had arrived a bit early. That one room was still glorious as none of us had the ability to lie fully down since we left our own beds 36 hours before in Seoul. The girls were able to start getting cleaned up from the trip and I zoned out qacross the foot of one of the beds.

About an hour after we arrived, Charity went down to see about more towels and see if our room was ready. She came back with an envelope with my name on it and my pass. Yes folks, one solitary hour later I had my pass back. Way to go Mate(s)!!! (sorry had to do that somewhere...)

After a short rest we set out to see what we could see. First we walked for awhile looking for a good lunch spot and finally settled on Opoto, a chicken sandwich place with better than McDonald's food. Then we went shopping! (*note: exclamation mark placed for female readers as this does not necessarily reflect the views of the author*). After shopping we returned to the hotel to offload the bounty.

Then we backtracked to Central Station and them rode the subway to the Central Quay station to buy tickets for the following night's Christmas Eve "The Great Christmas Caper".

The harbor area was very cool and the Opera House definitely made the highlights list.

On the way home, Charity and Mylinda went for some groceries. This short trip brought a bit of a shock as the price of goods here in Sydney far exceeds those in the States and even in some cases that of Korea!

The rest of us rode on to the hotel and even ordered Dominos pizza (although the pizza left a little to be desired) before packing it off to bed.

More to come...

Sydney - Day 1

2010-12-24T23:11:00.000+09:00

After 17+ hours of travel and about two more simply getting to the airport in Incheon, we arrived at Sydney International airport in the southern part of Sydney.

Just traveling that far took some doing so I will recount our travels in as excruciatingly precise detail now...

First, we rode the bus from Bongcheon (봉천) in Seoul (서울) to ICN. (Ok, so it isn't exactly excruciatingly precise at all.) We then boarded a China Southern plane heading for Guangzhou, China. Supposedly, all we were doing in Guangzhou was transferring to another plane, however there is a story here so I must stop to recount it:

The arrival was ordinary enough and the amenities and staff of the China Southern airlines was decent and well received. However, the transfer was simply strange and a bit idiotic.

First we stood in an immigration line for twenty minutes only for them to take some information and then direct, not just our small band of five, but every passenger not staying in country to a small "holding area". Then began the awkward eye contact communication with statements and questions like; "You look perfectly normal for a spy?"

And...

"I wonder if this is because of the extra bag of peanuts I took on the plane..."

Even perhaps...

"I guess this will be my first experience in a Chinese prison."

Then we had what could only amount to the Losers (I suppose we were all winners, but the prize was nothing to speak of) Lottery. These officials would walk up with a stack of passports and announce the names of the people in English. Well, that is if "English" is spoken underwater and heard from the large end of a badly tuned kazoo.

After receiving our passports back, we then went through "customs" (hello! WE AREN'T EVEN STAYING IN YOUR COUNTRY!!!) where an older lady checked me for weapons and drugs via a pat-down--awkward!

We then boarded another plane for the 9 hour flight to Sydney which passed reasonably uneventful.

The contrast between Giangzhou and Sydney's security experience were night and day. While China was curt and rude, Australia was pleasant and hospitable. China's nearly two hours of immigration and customs dwarfed the twenty minutes of wait time in Sydney--and that was with us picking up checked luggage!

Quite technically this concludes day 1 of the Sydney trip as a 24 hour period has expired. Day 2 will be on the shorter side as I will only cover it from the hotel to bed time so as to follow a diurnal framework from here on out.

If you are reading this before the new year, you may only be seeing these pop up in groups every couple of days as finding wireless Internet is difficult at times.

Mote to come...

A Time to Live, A Time to Die…

2010-11-17T22:42:00.002+09:00

…and A Time to Attempt to Start Blogging Again…

Looking Back

Summer came and went in a blurry hurry and after another looooong flight, we arrived back in our Korean home once more. Well, actually we arrived in a new apartment. We love the new apartment but there have been a few…issues…

Seeing as it has been 4+ months since the last blog post I will attempt to hit on some highlights to catch up to the present.

Spending time with so many of our friends and family this summer blessed us in so many ways. While we didn’t see nearly everyone we wished to, we were thankful to simply spend time with those we did see. After a good visit with April and the kids in Kentucky as well as seeing Grandma, family and friends in Greenville, Charity and I took to the road again in mom’s Trailblazer, a vehicle for which I am so thankful for, setting our sights on Lake Martin in Alabama. With the Bacon family’s large pop-up trailer dragging behind us, we started our short trip. No sooner were we heading out of Greenville than our plans were waylaid for several hours!

Realizing that I was driving my mom’s “car”, which she loves, and pulling the camper behind us, my driving became very cautious. After changing lanes to avoid proximity to a truck parked on the shoulder, I checked for a clear right lane, signaled the move and merged. Five seconds after merging, a small black car sped up behind us and, with what seemed like no application of the brakes on the driver’s part, swerved to the right and then back into the trailer and up the right side of the Trailblazer. My wife saw the fear-filled eyes of the stranger as he “rode” the rear quarter panel and doors on the right-hand side.

After pulling onto the shoulder, my first concern was Charity which led me to visual and vocal confirmations that Charity was ok. Next I preceded to walk back to check on the other driver. He was out of his car and moving, if strangely, but seemed to be ok as well. At this point chronologically I noticed his hurry to gather things in his now totaled car, but only in passing as I started to asses the damage. I was unhurt. Charity, although shaken, was fine as well. Although something wasn’t right about the other driver, he seemed “fine.” His car, was a mess. The entire left side was mangled wheels and tires, twisted sheet metal and broken glass. I turned to the trailer and noticed broken lights and some bent metal, but the framed and axle appeared fine. The car had major damage along the right side, but functionally, both car and trailer seemed useable.

Although I knew it wasn’t my fault, I felt terrible! The police came and after getting our statements he spent a little more time giving the other a driver a sobriety test, which he I am guessing failed due to the handcuffs and escort to the rear of the officer’s vehicle. At it turns out, prescription drugs and driving are a bad combination!

Amazingly, after several hours, we were back on the road to the Lake!

After yet another amazing, relaxing trip on the lake, we made the mad dash back to KC. Charity, Mia and I then made the trip back to our home in Korea.

Then one evening, about two weeks after we returned, a very upset Korean man followed Mia and I back from our evening walk and kept yelling at me in phrases I didn’t completely understand. I know it had something to do with the dog and our apartment and he kept repeating 고 목사님 (Pastor Goh). Turns out there was a bit of a misunderstanding about who was living in this apartment, the fact there was a dog here and some issue last year this man, the landlord, had with SCS or something. I still don’t think I understand completely. However, it seems that things are smoothed over for now.

The school year’s first quarter passed swiftly and we are now looking at the middle of the second quarter coming soon. This year Charity teaches the 4th grade and has 14 students which overwhelms her at times, but with Christ’s help she does well. I teach two sections of Writing, one section of Geography and one section of Pre-Algebra. Also, I am overseeing , although at times only marginally well, the network, computers and other electronic equipment on campus. While fun, there seems to be too many problems and not enough time some days. Also, I will direct the play this year and already am very excited about the students who are interested!

While not exhaustive, I think that brings my meager readership up to the present.

Present

Not much else happening currently. Charity made some wonderful cookies tonight in preparation for Thanksgiving and I can hear the dog whining for her evening stroll. *sigh* back to it.

More to come…

To the Love of My Life

2010-07-07T15:22:00.001+09:00

This is for my wife Charity.

I should have had this up two days ago, but some activities took my attention away. I hope you will forgive me.

Charity,

Can you believe how much our lives have changed in the last 2 years? We were married, we moved to new jobs in a new country, we got a little mongrel puppy...and so many other amazing events to make the last two years memorable.

What an adventure our lives together have been to date. When you sat down next to me in class that day four and a half years ago, I never thought someone like you would ever agree to marry someone like me. Cute, self-confident, friendly, devoted and...did I already say cute?...you were and continue to this day to be wonderfully hard not to love.

Oh and our first date...I was so nervous to ask you out. Funny, I don't remember being that nervous around other girls. But, then again, I never before had so much at stake. Our long talks over equally long walks never seemed to be long enough.

Does it seem like-with the exception of the engagement and wedding- that we never really had those "BIG MOMENTS" in our relationship? I guess I see only two people who have continually moved closer and closer together. So instead of a list of time-stamped events establishing with each check to mark our "coupleness", we have a simple building which reinforces itself a little more each day, building upon a foundation of love and reaching towards the simple goal of complete unity of the "one flesh."

The year between our engagement and marriage seemed at the time to take forever to pass and now seem like it sped by. The day we took that next step of being married wasn't a nervous day for me. I was at peace with everything that day because it was only natural to marry my best friend and that helper made perfectly for me.

It hasn't always been perfect-yes I would at some point have to use that overly cliched sentiment and then continue it with-and it wasn't all a bed of roses, but those trying times have made us what we are. Those times when we have been reminded of our glaring inadequacies and have been made to view sin full in the face, turned out to be also the times when we have patched that part of our relationship in such a way as to make it stronger then it ever was before.

It has been hard and it has been easy. It has been scary and it has been peaceful. It has been full of laughter and it has had some times of sadness. But above all else, it has been my honor and privilege to call you "my girl"...my wife. You are my blessing and my love.

Happy Anniversary Charity Faith!

I look forward to saying that to you every year God allows us through the grace of Jesus to dwell together here below.

Love,
Daniel

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch

Summer Plans

2010-05-29T09:52:00.002+09:00

With summer vacation quickly approaching at school, I thought it would be a good time to let all those who are interested know our summer travel plans.

June 10th we will be heading back to KC from Seoul and should arrive late on the 10th in Kansas City

From the 10th-16th of June we will be recovering from jet-lag and enjoying almost a week in KC.

On the 16th we will be flying to Penn. till the 30th and catching up with all those in Quakertown.

From the 30th of June till the first week of August, we will be in Kansas City.

Our final tour will start the first week of August and take us Greenville, SC for a few days. Then we are going to Alabama to G-pa’s lake house and finally on the 18th heading back to KC to catch our flight out on the 20th.

Summary:

(6/10) – Fly into KC

(6/10-6/16) - KC “recovery from jetlag”

(6/16-6/30) - Penn. Pritt Family visiting

(6/30-First Week of August) - Kansas City and smaller, shorter trips

(First Week of August-8/18) - Greenville,SC; Lake in Alabama

(8/20) - Heading back to Seoul

So for anyone that would like to, we would love to see any friends or family along the way! Talk to you all (and hopefully see some of you all) soon!

What was that?

2010-02-14T09:39:00.001+09:00

So I was sitting in my classroom around six a couple of nights ago grading homework and setting up for the next day when what sounded like the largest rice krispy *CRACKLE POP* ever rang out and my laptop screen fluttered and my desk rattled. Funny enoungh, my first thought was earthquake, but with the news in Haiti I just thought I was being paranoid. Dismissing at as well as I could with thoughts that it must be something to do with all the construction going on in the area, I went back to grading and prep.

The next morning, one of the other teachers informed us that there was a minor earthquake and asked if we had felt it. Now it was only about a 3.0 in magnitude or for my California friends "no big deal" but it was my first. I suppose it is yet another thin I can check off my list of experiences. Although, I would have thought most of my experiences would be cultural, I guess you can never really tell.

I am writing this on Friday late afternoon as Charity, our wonderful local guide and I are heading down to 원지 (Wonji) for Lunar New Year weekend rest. If you have read past posts you would know how nice the buses are here and how comfortable the ride is.

Lunar New Year is quite the affair here. Evedently it is customary to bow in respect to your elders and especially showing great honor to your own grandparents. In return, the grandparents give their grandchildren money and gifts for these actions. All in all, it is a very big family holiday and EVERYONE TRAVELS!!!

As I write this, we are stuck in a massive traffic jam. I would guess we are not going to see the end of this four hour trip for another six hours. Traveling in and around Korea is made much nicer by the fact that Korea is relativley small and Seoul is so set in the country that travel can be easily had by many different means from Seoul to almost anywhere.

School has been going well and we are in full swing for the semester. I enjoy the students so much even though I feel overwhelmed with the responsibility I have been given. It is comforting to know that God has put us here for a reason and that He always gives the grace to accomplish what He has given. Still...in my fraility I feel responsible to get the results. I have to often remind myself (more likely it is God reminding me) that it is only my steadfast commitment to serve (something I still need His help to accomplish) and it is His to move and make the result. How sobering!

For those that would, please pray for the school. Nothing in particular really, I just know the day in day out strain that living the high example that is needed by the teachers and administration can be taxing. I have said it many times before, but I will say it again, getting married was a wonderful event, but it also showed me how evil I am at heart. Being a teacher is like being on display or being observed through a microscope. Every flaw and shortcoming is seen. There is a very natural (as in the "natural man") desire to shirk the life of high standards and to live in non-accountability. Also, students today have all the same problems as every other generation before it but they also have more ease and even less accountability today than even five years ago.

I don't consider myself an old man nor do I believe myself to have achieved, but every year that passes leads me to desire His return more and more. I will stand with Paul when he sakes that still desire to remain and fulfill the purpose the God puts before me.

Well, I would continue, but sleep is pulling at a pair of weary eyes and I am afraid sleep will win soon.

More to come.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod Touch.

Shorter posts...and maybe more of them...

2010-01-11T07:21:00.000+09:00

Ok, so now that I have an iPod touch I probably will be able to post more often. For instance, it is about 11:16pm and I am posting from bed with Charity asleep next to me.

Topic for tonight is the equivalent to the DMV in Korea. My international driver's license from the US expired on the fifth so I needed to get it renewed or go and get my Korean driver's license. The slightly more permanent option of a Korean license appealed to me so Mr. Goh, one of the other teachers and I set out to obtain these two Americans their local license.

First we had to ride the subway to the Samsung subway stop and walk to our destination about three blocks away. Done.

Then we stood in the first of what would end up being many different lines for the day. This first lady curtly informed us that we would have to get more pictures for the other teacher and that we needed to go to the physical exam. Done.

We took our increasing stack of papers with us from the main building to a low-slung building in the complex and proceeded to take the "physical."

Now this was no run of the mill physical. No way. First, you walk right by the eye exam boards that you will have to stand much further away to read a few characters that a busy Korean woman pointed to with a…pointer scant minutes later. I was little nervous about having to do it Korean but luckily she knew 영오 (English) and I passed simply and quickly.

While I was standing in this line I was lucky enough to take, what I am affectionately calling, the "squat-stand-honk-honk test.". Basically I had to squat down Korean style, stand up and with my hands facing forward at shoulder level had to make a "twinkle-twinkle" with my hand. Hence my name for it: the "squat-stand-honk-honk test."

From there we paid at another line, stood in another to have another document signed off on and on to take our test.

The test consisted of twenty random questions on a computer. I don't know what was worse, the English on the test or the fact that on some questions I only had a vague notion of what the question was asking. For instance, one of the question began "what mind should you have as you approach a cross-street:" and the rest were way worse...

From there we proceeded to the last two lines. The first of which we surrended our American licenses and the last where we were issued our Korean licenses.

In total we only spent…3+ hours in this process from leaving school to returning.

Another one for the memories!

Hope all who read this are doing well and if you are facebook jump on out to charityanddaniel2008.blogspot.com and leave a comment including additions, subtractions and comments about this or any other posts that you might see.

Thanks for reading and as always More to come...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hi I know it has been awhile…

2010-01-09T17:25:00.002+09:00

Who are those two sitting there about a year ago? They look and act like tourists! Don't they understand what is coming?

One year later we sit looking both forward and backwards (don't worry, not at the same time… that would be painful) and realize that God has been good to us this past year.

We have enjoyed our students immensly, we travelled around Korea and out the Philippines and back. We added to our household through a little dog Mia, gained new friends and experienced untold new things. We lost a bit of money through a robbery and all our debt through some hard work and God's grace.

I have grown closer to my wife and to my God.

We have enjoyed new foods and new favorite dishes.

All in all it has been a great year and it will be fun to see where this year will take us in location, spiritual walk and mental knowledge.

Love to all and have a wonderful new year from Charity and Daniel

As always “More to come”

Hello Again from Seoul…

2009-09-20T17:07:00.001+09:00

After not being able to sleep this Sunday morning, I decided to get up and work on lesson plans and some school work. Upon sitting down with my laptop, I realized that I really didn’t want to work on school work and would rather blog.

Let me catch you up on some of the events of the past couple of weeks.

First, we had our opening week of school at SCS and many teachers used that week to prepare students for some of the academic hardships they were facing this semester in their various classes. This year, I am teaching a new class…SPEECH, which I am enjoying thoroughly, but I am not sure my students are yet. Aside from our robbery, the week at school passed rather uneventfully.

Second, on the last day of that first week, Matt and Aaron Collier came to present some material for the camp they would be overseeing here in Seoul. Our students were going to have the opportunity to experience camp as it is in America!

During the second week of “school”, the teachers became counselors for a wonderful (if tiring) week of camp. The students, while still students, were able to find out what American camp was all about.

You have to understand, these students do go to camps here in South Korea. These camps though are more military and regimented than the WILDS, Southland, Northland, Co-Be-Ac and the like. Talking out of turn can lead to severe, very extended punishments such as the “drop and give me 20” or prolonged calisthenics.

The time is usually devoted to intensive study, Bible or otherwise, and other free times are devoted to all kinds of other…less wholesome activities.

Imagine the surprise of these students when their teachers started screaming and cheering! It took a LOT of effort to get them all into it at first, but they eventually came ‘round and I think we all had a fun time…well maybe that is not completely true.

I think it was good for our students to see us as counselors as I hope that they will be able to approach us much more easily. Many of them made wonderful decisions and I look forward to what the Lord is going to do for the next couple of months in their lives.

This brings me to my third point. It seems that many of our students and teachers fell ill. There has been some talk that some of these cases were H1N1 and some of those that did get sick, got really sick. However, while none of them enjoyed being sick I am sure, all of them recovered with the unfounded fears of the H1N1 virus!

While the level of work this year has been extraordinarily high this year, it has been wonderful to have the school full with the students again. God blesses by giving more than we can handle and then taking care of those things we cannot!

More to come…

Well, I was Waiting for Something to Blog about…

2009-09-03T19:06:00.002+09:00

…and it would appear that I have something now.

School is in full swing with almost an entire week under the belt. The students are not exactly excited about being here, but I have been enjoying them just the same!

From the hat I pulled Speech (Very Excited!), Life Science, Geometry and Algebra 1. I can honestly say that it may be a very tuff year! However, I am very excited about the new subjects and cannot wait to fully sink my teeth into teaching them.

Charity is teaching 4th grade this year…well, that is if she can get over her laryngitis and get her voice back. Unfortunately, she has been sick and unable to recover completely yet from being sick. She has not been able to teach all her subjects and has spent much of her time helping in the office or cleaning our almost always messy apartment. But now I am getting ahead of myself…

I was sitting down this afternoon enjoying my chicken mayo and discussing this afternoon’s boy’s PE class with Mr. May, when Charity came up to say hi and ask whether I had picked up a board game at home. A little puzzled, I asked why she would ask such a question. Her response is the true beginning to this post:

“Because I went home to get something and the door was unlock. Did you forget to lock it back up when you went home this afternoon.”

*Long Pause*

“I didn’t go home today,” I said, “I have been here the whole time.”

Upon these words I knew already what had happened. Still, I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions and assume. Charity and I took the long semi-run home (well it seemed like a long way). Upon walking in I noticed items had been thrown around, stuff was out of drawers and it appeared that our stuff had been thoroughly picked through.

We immediately came back to school to call the Police. The Police came and dusted for finger prints as one of the officers and I filled out a report of what was missing. I noticed that they left my home computer, speakers, TV, PS2, Charity’s iPod and many other valuable items. Both Charity and I had our laptops and I had my iPod, so the things that help us communicate and get our job done also was in no danger.

It seems that they only came to get the Won that was in the various locations in our house. Sum total was about 600,000 Won, which appears to be about $500.00 US. A large financial loss, but aside from some small jewelry for Charity, there was really not much else, as near as we can figure, that was stolen.

The only thing that is really affecting us now is the thought of safety. Still, a couple of things that set my mind at ease and calm my spirit is the following facts.

1. God knows what is happening, has happened and will happen.

2. I cannot be separated from His love in any way (Romans 8).

3. He has been taking care of us so far and will continue to take care of us in the future. (Luke 12)

4. My treasure is not here on earth and cannot be stolen. (Matthew 6)

So here it is in a nutshell. It was scary to think that someone came into our house, invaded our privacy and stole from us. However, God is controlling the situation and He will watch over us.

Let me also say that we are not in fear of this country or of Seoul. This is still a very safe place to live and we are still enjoying it very much.

As always…

More to come…

Time to Spare?…Time to Blog…

2009-08-11T22:02:00.002+09:00

So with the special edition “Debt Free” blog last time, I didn’t get a chance to tell you about all the other things going on in our life for the time being.

First, yes the many rumors are true; we did get a scooter…two in fact. The first one is a little piece of junk Daelim (Honda) 50cc Tact. It is a nice little light runaround, but I had to have some repairs done on it to make it “road worthy.” For a short, small shopping trip it is great…for anything else, at least for this hefty bro, it is a little too small. That led us to look around for another one. I found a 100cc (102.3cc to be exact) Honda Beat (aka. Lead, SCR100) model that is designed to carry two people. Still a little underpowered, but it gets the job done.

Now you might ask why a scooter. Well, it really is a great way to get around. It is a simple machine that also operates using only a twist of the wrist and a clench of the hand. A motorcycle would be more fun, but to have to deal with the many, many, many, many stops and starts here, it is simply more problem than it is worth. As for being underpowered well I have some solutions for that! Probably not for awhile yet though…and will probably have to be used.

Ok, no motorcycle, but why not a car? Let me tell you! With a scooter, you don’t wait at the traffic lights in back…with the other vehicles. You can—and I think sometimes you are expected to—go all the way to the front of the pack and charge ahead of the cars right before the light turns green. It is also a great way to explore on a budget. It costs about 7,000won (around $5) to fill the tank and that will last for about 250km on that 1.5 gallon fill up.

Here are some pics of the scooters

Second, along with these highly economical means of transportation, we also finished up our level 1 of Korean. It has opened us up so much more to the culture and language surrounding us. This does not mean that we are proficient at all, but I can understand and speak enough now to not seem like a total newbie. Still we get the “I-am-smiling-because-I-can-only-partially-understand-what-in-the-world-you-are-talking-about” looks from the Koreans…still a long way to go.

While we enjoyed our classes, I happy that we are done with the summer classes. While we were only in class 6 hours a week, the amount of time that goes into study for that time was huge! I could easily spend 10-15 hours outside of class just in independent study.

Third, with the end of the one thing, begins the next. We will be starting school within the next couple of weeks and it is about time. =) While we have enjoyed the “time off”, it will be nice to get back into the classroom with the students and fellow teachers. I can honestly say this is probably the first time in my life that I can say that I am excited about going back to work!

Charity is starting to get ready for her new position as a 4th grade teacher. I think certain aspects of her new job make her nervous, but I also think the prospect of working with the younger kids make her very excited.

Tomorrow I will be filling in for one of the teachers at our church at Moongyeong Middle school for a couple days at their Summer English Camp. I am looking forward to it!

Well, as always…

More to come…

WE ARE DEBT FREE!!!!

2009-07-27T12:43:00.001+09:00

I know that this should be a “all things Korea(n)” blog, but I can’t help making this announcement.

Last week on Wed. I submitted the last payment of about $3,500 to Sallie Mae thereby fulfilling that last of Charity’s school bill only a year and two weeks from being married. To say that Charity and I were ecstatic would quite the understatement!

However, in the midst of my elation, I was struck with the fact that Charity and I have had a painless move into debt free land was really a testament to our circumstances, families and planning. As a testament to our God and to His goodness to us this post is dedicated to this journey.

First we’ll start with Daniel.

So I could begin my story with my family very early on. My parents took the time to give me a good education at home and push me to accept the challenge of college. From K5 to 12th grade and a little beyond, my parent taught me at home. This may seem a little strange to talk about my earlier education but my being able to go to college hinged on the support of so many people. Now my parents were willing to not only encourage me to go, but financially supported me in my endeavors.

Our family has a long history with BJU and as a third generation student (still thanks to correspondence!) I had quite the example in those that had gone before me.

When I graduated from high school, I spent the next 18 month working and saving for college. I had been saving before the end of high school, but then I devoted myself to saving for college. Even with a good job and living at home rent free (again thanks to my parents for putting their money where their mouth is and proving what they believed) I was only able to save about a year’s worth of college.

When my money ran out, my dad was their to catch me financially and kept me out of debt. I know the sacrifice that was involved in that, I don’t know that I can totally imagine the amount of work involved in it. It meant that he was working his regular 40 hours a week and then working on the “gutter truck” for the rest of the week. I am not sure that he even recognizes the 5 day work week. In the following two summers I worked my heart out to pay for college but sum total, I doubt I paid more than half of my school bill if that.

Upon graduation, I stood on that stage in front of all those people and I owed that school absolutely no money. Yet my parents took it upon themselves to get a loan and they paid it off. I reaped the benefits of their sacrifice.

But, to say that it stopped there would also be an understatement. After meeting Charity at school and realizing that I was hopelessly in love with this sweet girl, I also realized that I needed to get busy about taking care of her and getting ready for our eventual wedding. Once again, I was back home and again living rent free.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say that I did get a really nice job. Free health and dental along with a fair amount of other benefits and a suitable paycheck provided me with great savings potential. However, it was when the company sent me to Toronto, Canada that I could really start saving. Between the per diem they gave me and the taking care of all the expenses there that I could basically save all my money from my regular paychecks and had saved something like $6K by the time I finally came back home.

For another full year, I saved and starting using that savings for certain…necessities. After paying for a car, a diamond ring and some other items, I still had a substantial savings.

I would need it too. Because the girl I was marrying would come out of school in May of 2008 with around $23,000 worth of school debt. I don’t want to steal all of Charity’s thunder in her section, but I will say that she worked hard to get it down to about $22,000 by the time we were married on July 5th, 2008.

We went back home to Kansas City to start setting up our lives there. Till we found a place to live, Mr. Rehn kindly let us stay at his beautiful house in Blue Springs. Again, with the stipulation that I would keep the property up and work around the house, I wouldn’t pay any rent.

By the way, if you are reading this and cannot see the hand of a gracious God, then I have to wonder if your eyes are open!

We then went looking for houses. Two things bothered me though. The first was my watching our little savings dwindle slowly but surely towards nil. You see, I wasn’t making an exorbitant amount of money, but it didn’t seem like it was going to be enough to get over the school bill financial hump.

God had a plan though, because I never would have thought of doing it, but the opportunity to come here to Korea to teach came up and we started considering it. Two weeks after that, we had the applications filled out and the acceptance to come.

Right before we left for Korea, I put the last of the savings we had on one of the school bills on a credit card thereby paying it off. We left the USA with about $15K still to go.

The Lord truly blessed here in Korea though. Between school, summer school, tutoring, low cost of living and a bit of denying ourselves, we put the last of our debt baggage on the “Goodbye Forever” express and at the point of writing this are completely in the “black”.

So, if you were paying close attention, you will see that we went from almost $23K to $0 on the debt meter in about a year. My encouragement to anyone else is that there is a way to do it and you can be completely debt free. It may take a little time and it may not be the most pleasant life for awhile, but it can be done.

More than all of that though, it is important that God get the glory for this. Some people could look at it and say that it is a bunch of “favorable circumstances” but I will tell you that this was providentially set up before I was.

WE ARE DEBT FREE!!!

Now for Charity’s part:

Now for my turn to explain how I managed to accumulate so much debt. Honestly though, its was very little debt compared to what I could have stacked up.

From the time I was of working age (I think that was age 14 – yeah for babysitting jobs!), I knew that I would have to pay my own way through school (when you are one of ten, this is kind of a given). I had older siblings that managed to convince me that the best thing to do would be to save every penny I made in high school for college, and that is basically what I did.

Two of my sisters sat out a year after high school graduation to work to save for college, just as Daniel did, but I decided to take a leap of faith and try to make it through at least a year of college on my high school savings. Miraculously I made it through the first semester without getting a loan with the help of a 25 hour work schedule. The second semester was when I had to get my first loan. Every semester after that took a miracle to get back to school, but somehow I made it back every semester until the first semester of my junior year.

I took that semester to take some correspondence classes, work full time and take a class at a community college. I was determined to graduate on time despite missing a semester of college.

Once again miraculously I made it back to school and graduated on time! So many times i have wondered how this was possible because we are talking around $60K to go to school, and I graduated with $23Kish debt, so that is around $47K that was paid off by working summers and Christmas break (it just doesn’t make sense in my mind, so I have to just label it a miracle). I did have a help along the way with some anonymous gifts put toward my school bill, as well as 2 grant/scholarships. Also, part of my school debt was sitting on a 0% APR credit card my last semester that my Dad was paying the monthly payments on until I graduated. My mom also saved up her “tutoring money” and helped me pay for my school books. Still, when you add up all of this, I am still amazed at how much was paid off by my senior year.

I’m even more amazed at how quickly we were able to pay the balance off as Daniel mentioned. All I can say is that miracles do happen, and prayer changes things!

Well that is all for now. As always…

More to come…

I Could Keep Apologizing…

2009-07-12T21:02:00.003+09:00

…for my long absences from these postings, but I think I will simply post and be done with it!

As I was thinking of writing this post, I was struck with the concept of how much Charity and I have changed in the last 6 months.

They say that so much changes in your first year of marriage. Let’s see how true that is. I am writing the first rough draft of this post as we head to 속조 (Soekcho being the best translation), a little city on the eastern coast of Korea. The specter of Seoul shrouded in the mid-morning fog mutes and blurs the sharpness of the building lines as we slowly leave it behind.

I sit next to my traveling companion and best friend. She sits quietly, sweetly listening to her iPod and passively soaking in yet another hundred new sights a minute. My biggest blessing is in human female form.

What’s more I sit in a wonderful seat. The seats on this bus are ample, comfortable and—compared to those in the US—worth three times the price we paid of 20,000 won (about $17). I will say that the seats are quite necessary as the roads are nothing to speak of…

How have things changed, you may ask. Thanks for your question. First—and most obviously—I am winding my way through mountains 7,500 miles from the Lower 48. I am constantly surrounded by a spoken and written language which I only understand the most basic, rudimentary aspects of…forget speaking fluently!

Second, I am in a new job which is both challenging and wonderful. However, teaching is completely different from the Financial Services industry I was in only about 6 months ago.

Third, I have been eating food that I would have never thought to even try. What is more, some foods that I didn’t enjoy at home, I now find myself yearning and craving. We were invited to Chinese food by one of the students last week. As strange dish after dish was placed before us, I hesitated several times. Amazingly though, the food, although foreign to my taste-buds, was a delicious and wonderful experience.

I guess fourth would be the addition of a dog to our duo. She barks in Korean so I really have no idea what she is saying. Also we have to put 김치(Kimchi) on her dog food or she won’t eat it… In all seriousness, Mia has become Charity’s favorite new distraction. I have never seen a person go from “dogs are gross” to “ISN’T SHE THE CUTEST THING EVER!!!." *Gross!*

All this and more has changed since we have been here. But I won’t lie, there are times when I thought “Are we crazy?” and “What are we doing here"?” I also would be ready and willing to admit that our lives have become both harder and easier in different ways. There are moments when I desperately want to be home among those I know and love. Times when I think of SSBC back home and long for that local assembly. Then there are times on holidays that I really wish I were home.

On a separate note, Charity and I have been plugging away at the Korean Language classes (한국어 for those who can read it). Both of us wish we could speak as well as we are starting to understand and write. To give you an idea of some of out complications, let me bring a small dawn of light on some of our struggles. The most confusing aspect to date has been the number system. In order from 0-10 is 공, 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷, 다섯, 여섯, 일곱, 여덟, 아홉, 열 in the native Korean system. The problem is there is a use of the Chinese system as follows: 공, 일, 이, 삼, 사, 오, 욕, 칠, 구, 십. Now don’t worry about the pronunciation, the simple fact that the numbers have different symbols will tell you that they sound differently. The native Korean is used to count things like meals and other small things. The Chinese numbers are used to count money amounts and phone numbers to name a few uses.

Here is where it gets confusing! To say 3:33 (a time) you have to say 세시(시 meaning “Hours”) 삼십삼분 (분 meaning minutes). So for those that have taken the time to read this far, you can see that there is a use of one number system for the hours and another for minutes. Let me just say: “AAAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhh!”

Well, there is more to say, but it will have to wait…

More to come…

저는 단 이에요…

2009-06-19T23:07:00.001+09:00

…But you already knew that didn’t you?

I know that it has been a long time since I dropped my meager ripple in the information super-puddle, but I am back, if only for a mist-like moment.

Lets do a little math. During the school year there are 8 hours of on site work. Most of the time is devoted to teaching or preparation for teaching. My role is very heavily laden with in between class questions, grading and teaching. Interestingly enough, I also seemed to be taking a lot of my work home in the form of grading. By my calculations I spend 8 hours at work per day plus perhaps another 30 minutes a night for a total of 42.5 hours of work a week.

Fast forward to the last two weeks. I spend 4-6 hours a day at school with perhaps an hour or two per week for preparation. So lets say 26 hours—about half that of the normal school week—and then add to that 6 hours of class plus study time and that still puts me about 10 hours a week less time than during the normal school year.

Mathematically, I should have more free time, but somehow I have been feeling busier than ever before.

By the way, the title of this post is “I am Dan.” “저는” means I. “단” is literally Dan as it is easier than saying Daw-nee-ael. The nearest approximation of “이에요” has a basic meaning of “is” or “am.” So the literal translation is actually “I Dan am.” S DO V.

I think the sad part of the above is the length of time it took me to memorize how to say that as well to write it correctly. I am a loooong way from using this language correctly!

Well, there is little else at this point to say other than we would love to hear from you!

More to come…