Here we are again!

Okay so a few months later... hehe. Yes I have not been very diligent about my blogging. But in my defense most of what has happened in the past month or so has not been easily harnessed and transformed into written word.

The pictures above are from the Gustave Klimt exhibition that I want and saw a few weeks ago. Such a Korean experience. It was like being in a subway at rush hour actually. SO many people that you literally had to stand in a line and just inch your way around the room in each space. It was great seeing the art but it was so overwhelming that I dont really remember too much. However at the end they did have this amazing place where you could put your head in a cut out and get your picture taken! I love Korea for things like this.

The weather has been getting warmer and warmer and now we are entering monsoon season. It has been raining everyday for the past 3 days and apparently this is just the beginning. As long as its warm, I dont mind the rain.

My contract is coming to a close and I will be home in less than 3 months! Time flies like an arrow as they say. I will be going to Japan for a week with a friend after my contract finished and then it home home home!

Thank you all for you prayers. You continue to be in mine!

<3 Mags

*Sigh*

So here is a short one because I am tired and lazy and want to go to sleep. My Marmee and Pappa left this morning after 10 glorious days of having them stay with me and sleep with me and eat with me and pray with me. It was so wonderful. It opened my eyes even wider to the truth that we cannot be Christians alone, In fact we cannot be whole people alone, regardless of our religion.

I am so grateful for the time they spent here and am so glad that I could share some of my experience with those dear to my heart. They brought the spring with them (which was so nice) and its starting to warm up and flowers are exploding all over the place!

It makes me excited for whats to come. Thank you for your prayers and for being in my life even though we are not together right now. I pray we will be soon!

Happy Spring!

If I lived in China Id still have Chinese children....

That's right... I have passed the 6 month bench mark and I am still truckin. Although I must admit, while the first few months were surprisingly easy, I have defiantly been feeling the distance from all my beloveds in the states. So there it is, I love you all, I miss you very much, I value your presence in my life and I am very much looking forward to when we will share space again.

I recently returned from a 4 day vacation for lunar new year. And where do you suppose one would go for a long weekend while in Korea? Yeah that's right BEIJING! I hiked the Great Wall of China, saw parts of the Forbidden City, toured the Temple of Heaven, ate sheep testicle and sea snake, and all around had a FANTASTIC time.  Beijing is a beautiful city. Clean, spacious and elegant.  I did a little bit of shopping... but food was really the only thing that was super cheap (and delicious).  At any rate, I was sad to come back to work but I am glad that I got to go even if it was not long enough.

So back to the grind.  January and February have been full on in terms of hours at work go.  I get the sense that the school lays it on real easy at first and the as time goes on they just start to pile more and more stuff on your schedule.  But I have less than 6 months now so I am sure that I will survive.  Especially because my Beloved Pappa and Marmy are coming out to visit in March! I cant wait for them to invade my space.  

The weather has finally started turning which has made such a difference.  I am really looking forward to the cherry trees blooming! I will post some pictures soon. 

All my love and Prayers are going out to you all.  I could use some intercessions in terms of the language (I lost my Mojo) and also what I am going to do once this contract is up.

May The peace of the Lord Christ go with you ,

Wherever He may send you.

May He guild you through the wilderness,

protect you through the storm.

May He bring you home rejoicing

at the wonders He has shown you.

May he bring you home rejoicing

once again into our doors.

x Maggie

Annyong to the year of the rat.

So December was a really busy month... I am sure that I don't need to tell you that! Busy for everyone me thinks it was.

We had lots of crazy special days for the kids, including a field trip and a visit from Santa. In January one of our teachers will be on vacation for the whole month so its going to be REALLY busy. But once he comes back things will be good (i hope).

This being my first Christmas away from Mum and Dad and Kiki, things went really well considering. I had about 8 friends over to my apartment and we ate good food and drank good wine (well some good wine... and few bottles of bad wine) and had a gift exchange. Between meals we took a walk around the lake and sang carols. It was really nice. Although part of me wondered if I should have spent this Christmas alone (considering that it might be my only chance to ever spend such a communal holiday by myself). But perhaps I will get another chance some other time. We shall see.

I have the next week off of work and will spend it making art, seeing some parts of Seoul that I have yet to explore, stretching, reading and relaxing. I am hoping that it will be restful enough that I will want to go back to work on the 5th.

I went snowboarding this last weekend in the North east of South Korea. It was really fun. A good reminder that I can in fact snowboard should I ever want to, but also good reminder that there are other more fun and less expensive ways to enjoy the snow ;).

I hope every ones Christmas was wonderful and I would love to hear a little bit about what has been happening with yall!

Here's to a new and exciting year of the Ox! Have a great NEW Years! And happy Holy Daze!

All my love, prayers and good vibrations!

For the birds!

This one is for the birds.... don't ask me why. It just is.

So things are moving faster than I had thought they would. It is getting colder everyday. Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had a banquet on the Army Base so I was on American soil (technically speaking) for it which was nice.

I have been thinking a lot about death lately. Not in a morbid way but more in that it is one of the most powerful commonalities that all humans share. I feel more part of the universe when I think about the fact that some day not to long from now I will die, and so will everyone else, and so has everyone who has ever lived!!! For me, it has been a freeing exercise.

I am loving life! Excited about the winter. I am getting ready to hibernate and delve deeply into the mysteries of every moment.

Thank you all for your comments and for your thoughts and prayers! I love you and am wishing you all the very best that this time can bring you.

And by popular demand here are some pictures of Halloween, Fall and my Hair!

Enjoy!

Korean Monkey's sing "Kiki Kiki"

This entry is dedicated to my beloved sister and friend who is helping making the world a better place. For everyones edification and entertainment, you may like to know that in Korean Monkeys say "kiki kiki" which is interesting because Kirsten has a strange kinship with the creatures (and it happens to be the name I GAVE HER when I we were wee ones).

So its been a while.... and I have been pretty busy. Unfortunately it is not the sort of busy that is worth writing much about, other wise this entry would be quite a bit longer. So I have just been living life, going to work, walking around my lake in the mornings, teaching the kids (which I am getting better and better at every time in make a mistake, which is about ever half hour).

The weather has turned. It is Officially freezing. And I am not just using that word. I see peoples frozen spit wads all over the streets. The pond is starting to get a ring of glass around the shore, and it might snow tonight (although they said that last night too and it didn't).

I have been meeting tons of really wonderful people. I have a small group of friends who go to this little bar a few blocks away from my house every Wednesday night. People come and just get up and jam on all the instruments that are just there for people to play. We dominated the group with our tambourine skills.

I am going to a Thanksgiving dinner with my church on the 23rd. It will be held at the American army base, and should be wonderful. I cant wait to stuff myself. I feel like I have an excuse now to eat more pie and ice cream... its called survival! I will send you all more recent pictures soon but until I get those down loaded please look these over and leave me a comment about and how greco-roman architecture was based on the roman basilica!

I love you all!

Our God really is a consuming Fire. Glory be to Her name!

PS... It just started snowing!!!! YEAH!!! hehehehee!

허박 살라애요- I love Pumpkins

So it is half way though October.... and I can hardly believe how fast time flies!! I will try to get some more pictures up as soon as I can get them all uploaded.

Last weekend we went to the DMZ (demilitarized zone, between North and South Korea). It was beautiful and untouched but a little odd at the same time. There were these big cartoon signs warning people of boobie traps and stuff... and all these military men with machine guns all smiles and waving.

I have been doing really well and am really happy here. I have been meeting lots of really nice people and feel quite at home in my apartment... even though I miss everyone somethin awful. Please email me and let me know how yall are doing!

Here are a few more pictures from the field trip and one of the weird cartoon characters at the DMZ.