Justin's Birthday

For Justin’s birthday we went to a Brazilian Steakhouse in Nampo-dong that we heard about from some friends. Having been mostly deprived of beef for the majority of our time here (because it is SO ridiculously expensive), we were anxious to have a meal of unlimited beef.  If you have never been to a Brazilian Steakhouse, they bring around huge skewers and carve chunks of meat off for you. They brought us each of the 8 (yes, 8!) types of meat – from steak to pork to chicken and pineapple – and then we got to request any others that we wanted again for no extra charge.  We took pictures of each one, but they don’t look half as good in the pictures as they did in person. We will definitely be going back sometime in the Spring.  It was also exciting that even though we went on a Friday night, they still consider that a weekday so we got the weekday price instead of the more expensive weekend price! Yes, I’m Dutch, so that was exciting. :)

Heading out for Justin's Birthday Dinner!

Steak!

Sausage and Chicken

Bacon Beef and Garlic Beef - the Garlic Beef was our favorite!

After dinner, we walked around Nampo to see their spectacular Christmas lights. Wow. 

Thanksgiving in Korea

Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday for several years.  The food, family, shopping….I love it all so much. I remember when I studied abroad that Thanksgiving was when I felt the most homesick, so I was expecting it to be the same way here.  While we definitely both missed being at home for this holiday, we were so blessed by our Thanksgiving here. 

Ready for our Thanksgiving Dinner #2 on Saturday

On Thursday we had an awesome Thanksgiving lunch at school. They got four turkeys and the PTO made a bunch of side dishes, including mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and desserts.  It was such a good way to start off the long weekend.  

BFS Thanksgiving Turkey

We were very thankful to have the day off on Friday, and we spent it going to shopping in Nampo’s market. It was about an hour subway ride from here, but so worth it! We found some great Christmas gifts for family and had a great time exploring a different part of the city.

I was not actually touching this giant crab, nor was I that excited to be so close to it. Don't ask me why I was. I have no idea.

Christmas store in Nampo! We were SO EXCITED when we found this place!

On Saturday we had a big Thanksgiving feast with a group of dear friends from church. We even purchased a turkey from Costco (a $55.00 turkey – which apparently is nearly half of what they cost last year!!) and had great success cooking it.  There was a group of 11 of us from church who got together at our friend Marie’s very spacious apartment for dinner and games. I’m not sure if I have ever felt as thankful as I did that night.  To be surrounded by such a solid group of people only three months into our time in Busan is a HUGE blessing.  Not only did we have fun, but we really got to deepen our relationships with them. When we think about how all of us got to Busan and found ICC and became friends, it is so encouraging and reassuring that we made the right choice to come here. God has blessed us beyond what we ever imagined.

Thanksgiving #2 Turkey. The first turkey I have ever cooked and it turned out pretty darn good!!

Some of the side dishes

On Sunday we packed up our side dishes yet again and headed for Thanksgiving at church.  I know we often mention how thankful we are for our church, but I really don’t think our words can do justice to how amazing it is. We can’t wait for people to visit so that they can experience this wonderful family that we have here.  A group of 5 of us girls were serving food to people as they came through the lunch line and at one point I just turned around and looked at everyone and was overwhelmed by the people I was serving food to and serving food with.

Nikki serving lunch

Serving food at church

Katelyn and Elise serving food at lunch

Our lunch table. I love these people!! 

One of our favorite little girls at church. I have no idea what her name is, but she is adorable. The girl on the right is Caroline - she is a senior at our school.

We often use the phrase “brothers and sisters in Christ,” but this weekend was one of the most sincere pictures of that I have ever witnessed. With my college roommates I would say that was true, but what a beautiful picture this experience and our church have created for me of what that phrase really looks like. I pray that you may all be able to experience what I am talking about some day, or that you can really view fellow believers around you in the same way.

Psalm 107:1  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. 

Blessings in Busan

With the Holiday Season right around the corner, we have recently been thinking a lot about all of the things we are grateful for. There are so many things in our life in Korea that are such a blessing to us. We wanted to share a few of those things with you.

We are thankful for our jobs in Korea. We are blessed to have fulfilling and challenging jobs that are teaching us both so much. We are also thankful that we are able to save money for our future because of these jobs.  We are thankful for the wonderful (and furnished) apartment that has been provided for us.

We are thankful to be living in Busan. This city is amazing - it is beautiful, clean, foreigner-friendly, and fun. It has been so cool to go from living in Upland to living in Busan and see benefits to both.  We miss many things from Upland but love so many of the conveniences and activities that are always awaiting us in Busan.

We are thankful for how easy it is to communicate with all of you lovely people spread across the world. From the the entire US to family and friends throughout the world we are able to text, call, or Skype anyone pretty much whenever we want.  Most of the time it doesn't really feel like we are on the other side of the world.

We are thankful for our church here. Through talking to other people we know in Korea, we are learning that the community we have found at ICC is not as common as one might think.  We are blessed to have such solid friendships already with people we have met here. We know that many of these friendships will last longer than our time in Korea, and for that we are grateful.

We are also very thankful for all of you who are supporting us and lifting us up in prayer. We are blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for your encouraging words via email and Facebook and for staying connected with us.

Only 5 more weeks of school until Christmas Break! We can't believe how fast this first semester has gone. It doesn't seem like we have been here long enough to come home yet.

Have a blessed week, everyone.

Taylor Gathering

This weekend we had the opportunity to travel to Seoul to meet up with some Taylor friends. Two people who work at Taylor are in Seoul for a few days, so we met up with them as well as a couple I was in school with at TU. We didn't do the whole tourist thing while there, but it was so nice to see familiar faces.  We all dressed up in traditional Korean clothes which is always fun.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was quite the event at BFS. Everyone dressed up for the entire day, and the elementary kids had events going on for nearly the entire afternoon. The High School Leadership class put on a carnival on the roof where kids got to play games and win candy, decorate cookies, and get their faces painted. We also did a version of Trick-or-treating where we went around to various classrooms and collected candy and clementines from the PTO.  We also had a school-wide costume contest for the students and teachers. It was a crazy day, but nice to break away from our routines for an afternoon. Here are our costumes!

I'm Very Kangaroo

Meet Aziz. One day when going out for recess he somehow managed to put his coat on upside down.  This is the conversation I had with him about what happened to his hood.