How are you? 어떻게 지내

When you are a foreigner in Korea and you spend a little time with another foreigner you always ask "how are you?" But its not just a greeting when you're living in Korea. It is an honest question wanting an honest answer. And often we (foreigners) take the time to give an honest answer... sometimes vent a little bit.

Every foreigner has their stories of things that are bothering them in a foreign land... I can't stand the food, my boss is a jerk, I don't understand the traffic, I almost died! etc, etc.

I may have a story or two to tell of my own, but if you ask me this question I will say without abandon, I am fantastic! Perhaps I'm still "high" from last weeks unexpected contest win! (that was awesome!) But I think it mostly comes from the fact that I absolutely love where I am right now. There are of course angry moments while driving and confusing moments on the phone, also lonely moments in my little one room living space... but all in all- I'm great!

There are many reasons for this positive outlook.
1) I love my job! I sincerely love it! My students were (mostly) great. And I figure that the hardest part is behind me. I now have a better grasp of the curriculum and what is expected of me (I hope) and it should all be pretty downhill from here!
2) I really love living in a city. My city doesn't have a plethora of things to do... but let me tell you- my city of 600,000 has a leg up on the Village of Kewaskum.
3) In Korea I'm famous (See previous blogs)
4) In Korea people feed my ego (is that a good thing?)

But I think that #5 is the most important reason...
I believe that I am exactly where God wants me to be. There is such joy and peace in knowing that the path I am taking is not fully my own choosing but is in obedience to what I believe God has for me.

On that note... I studied Korean for 2 hours tonight and I'm hoping I'll be dreaming in Korean tonight. It is still slow going. My biggest problem is that I never practice speaking it. I'm pretty ok at reading it and listening, but when it comes to putting all of that into speaking terms... I'm lacking.

If you wouldn't mind I have two prayer requests:
1) That I would be more disciplined in learning Korean! Or that God would give me a supernatural gift of speaking in this foreign language :-p
2) I'm really wanting a new/ bigger apartment so that I can have guests/ entertain. I'm looking into a couple of possibilities and am hoping for some kind of favor in this area...

Thanks friends! I'll be home for a visit in just 4 weeks! I can hardly believe it!!! See you soon!!!