Merry Christmas!

...eve. Well, it's close enough.

I'm sitting in the teacher's workroom on Christmas Eve. I should be grading the dozens of workbooks causing some pretty sever avalanche conditions on my desk, but I just can't make myself care. Maybe it's the 104 degree fever I was rocking a few days ago still lingering, maybe it's the bitter cold that doesn't show any signs of leaving, but mostly I suspect that this just doesn't feel like Christmas.

How ironic is that? I'm seeing my very first cold Christmas- there's even a decent chance of snow- and I've never been less excited to see 'ol Santa Clause. It's not a surprise to those of us who watch Christmas movies that it's all about who you spend your holidays with that make all the difference, but living this part of it out sucks.

But fret not, oh enjoyers of a warmer Christmas season. We'll be fine. We have made some wonderful friends out here, and if we're a little homesick on Christmas, we couldn't be homesick with better people. We decided on a ridiculous change of pace and spend Christmas Eve and Day at Rocky Mountain Tavern, along with a few brief stops to say hi at a few other friend's parties. Jen and I have a tree, stockings, and just to make it feel like home we bought a bunch of lights that I never put up....

Good Lord, we miss you guys. I knew when I planned this trip that this would be the hardest part. For both of us. But we've got each other, and that is a ridiculous amount. Hoist a glass of Christmas cheer for your favorite folks in the Far East- and, if necessary, an extra one for Jen and I. We miss you, we love you, and rest assured we're hoisting a glass and a prayer to each and every one of you.

All the love,

-Al & Jen

Merry Christmas.

Winter Sucks, Except When It Snows.

Ok, so I'm sick. That part sucks. But the snow thing was pretty cool. We'd seen a few flurries, but never enough to actually cover the ground. Then, one random Sunday, it actually starts snowing in earnest. I was pretty freakin' excited. And by that I mean I danced around like a 6 year old.







I was out with our friend Claire (read: wife #2) when it started. Angel (wife #3) and Jen (wife #1... for now, anyway...) were back at the apartment. Claire is from Rochester, New York, and was not impressed at any point. But she was indulgent enough at first, which was all I could ask. I tried to hurry her home, but I kept stopping to touch it, or watch it fall, or try to catch it on my tongue... I got pretty good at that, actually.




I'll just post a few other snow pics, because I was that happy about it. Then we'll talk about why Claire is now wife #3. Maybe 4.

This whole "new fallen snow" thing... I now understand why it's often used as a metaphor for purity or innocence. It was really remarkable to see this. I mean, this section of town that is know for the exact opposite of innocence now seemed to be one of the purest places on earth. It's probably the Floridian in me, but still...

Another pretty little walkway.

Now Angel, unlike Claire, had never seen snow before. She was thrilled and excited by it. That put her and Claire neck and neck...



Awww... yeah... we were pretty happy with everything about then.



Here's Jen and Angel together, we're all excited and happy and planning on hitting up some Shabu Shabu. (Shah-boo shah-boo)

Ok, first the people. From left to right are Cassidy and Zach, two new teachers (they replace Jessica and Mark, aka "Johnny Bravo"), then that's Angel on the end, Claire opposite her, and then Sam, and of course Minoriteam (That was for you, Jose). Anyway, shabu shabu is a little difficult to explain, despite being a LOT of fun to say. (Try it. Say "shabu shabu" 3 times, and tell me you're not at least a little happier than you were before.) You get a ton of veggies and meet, all of which you cook in a hot broth, then you pick it out of the broth and eat it. The meat is really really thin, and cooks in about 10 - 15 seconds. Really good food, though not as good as galbi (the Korean BBQ thing), and is GREAT on a cold night, like when it's snowing outside. Sam, by the way, is from Minnesota, and Zach and Cassidy are out of some weird place in the mid-west where it's cold a lot.

See this? That's why that matters. After dinner we got into a snowball fight. That part was awesome. The part that sucked was the 5 "Freaks Who Love Winter" versus the 3 "Hey, We Like To Live Where It's Warm. We Don't Need 10 Minutes To Get Dressed To Go Get The Mail For 5 Months Out Of The Year." The big thing was that Claire betrayed us. She's wife #6 now. I don't even HAVE wives 3-5. Doesn't matter.





Of course, even if you are from New York and you insist that this "isn't snow. Wait until you can't open your front door. That's snow," well, that makes very little difference when my Puerto Rican wife comes up from behind and tosses you on your bum like a sack of rice (We are still in Korea... seems only fair). See? THAT'S why I married her. THAT'S why she's wife #1. All these other wives exist only because she gets bored and wants to take someone shopping...

Furthermore, who in the hell wants to live somewhere where the elements stop you from opening your door? You know what we do when that kind of weather comes? We leave! Because we get several days warning. And we NAME a storm that does that kind of thing. Yankees...




Ok, this picture gets to be all big and centered and alone because I love it that much. This was during the snowball fight. Jen and I helped make the smaller snowman, the big one was there already. We were under assault, and realized that we needed something big. So Snowman Jr. had to die. I grabbed that little guy and charged the line. It was awesome.

Snowman Jr., you died...

you died a...

...a

...a hero. Rest in Peace.



Ok, I'm spent. How about some Snow-themed SIGN TIME!!!!





If you don't get it, I'm not going to tell you.


-Al

A Little Late: Thanksgiving!

There's just too much to cover. We had our first real snowfall, which was pretty huge. So was Thanksgiving, mom and Dart visiting, not to mention stuff about Plus Academy... this may take more than one blog.

Here, let's start with Thanksgiving.




Here's a shot of most of the crowd. All told we probably had about 45-50 people show up, and at least 6 were attending their very first Thanksgiving. That was, for me, probably the coolest part of the whole thing.





Here's one of the buffet tables. There were about two and a half of them. I was really impressed with some of the stuff folks came up with. We did it pot luck style, which was good, and then bought some fully cooked turkeys. Bonus: we totally swiped that orange bowl.




Speaking of turkey, here's Dart and I tackling one of the birds. That big bag on the right is the other one. We didn't know it at the time, but the birds were fried. It made sense, seeing as we bought the turkeys from a Popeye's Fried Chicken on the military base. I love fried turkeys, by the way. The white meat stays so juicy, it's amazing. I've never been particularly skilled in the turkey carving, though, so Dart had to give me a hand. FYI: A fried turkey is still really really hot.




This is me with Corey, one of the owners of RMT. You can't tell it from this picture, but he can be one intimidating guy. Something about the eyes... anyway, he's normally really a nice guy, and, as I think I mentioned before, gave us the room to use for free.




Here's one more group shot. Jesse, on my mom's left, and Angel, on her right, are both from South Africa. Marika, holding the turkey wing, is from Australia. They were some of the Thanksgiving rookies. Marika, by the way, ate that wing. Needless to say, she's awesome.

I'll toss in a slide show, cause I'm just that nice of a guy. All told, it was an amazing success. It lasted 6 or 7 hours, and I took home tons of leftovers, including a huge bag of leftover turkey and an entire apple pie. It's amazing how much I rule.


Ok, even out the good stuff and the bad stuff. We'll knock out Plus Academy stuff next, then we'll see if I have time to move on.

Things are going from bad to worse from a job standpoint. Here's a pretty good example.

Jen got a really bad sore throat, to the point where she was so swollen she woke up unable to breathe for a moment. She was ok, but went to the hospital the next morning. She called in and told Yoon (the manager that deals with all of the foreign teachers for all Plus branches) and Yoon asked her to still teach her first two classes. Jen agreed. Yoon thanked her, and told her she'd contact our supervisor, Sonny, and let her know. So, Jen taught the two classes, and went home.

Two classes after that I walked into the teachers workroom. This room is shared by the foreign teachers and the Korean teachers, and there are often at least a half dozen students coming and going as well. As I walked in Sonny was talking with 4 little Korean students. Sonny looked up, saw me, and proceeded to start reaming me out demanding to know where Jen was. I mean raised voice and everyone staring.

Personally, I was baffled. I've been here for over 7 months, coming up on 8. After all that time, how can this woman not know who I am? Doesn't she know I'm Al Sterling?

Anyway, I somehow not only managed to restrain the urge to help her exit the office via the window, but kept my voice down as I said, "Not in front of the students," It may have lacked Sonny's volume, but the intensity seemed to get my point across.

Fast forward to the end of the day- Sonny meets with me privately to discuss Jen. I take the opportunity to explain that if she ever yells at me like that again, I will yell back.

For the record, no one ever called Jen. At any point.

There are a few other instances like this beginning to creep up, and the next semester is shaping up to be an ugly one. Luckily, at that point we've only got 4 months left.

Our travel plans have adjusted as well. Instead of flying from Beijing down to Sydney we're going to just backpack from Seoul to Sydney. Has a nice ring to it, dontchathink?

Anyway, the other idea tossed into the mix is this whole "work" thing. I'm keeping an eye out on what is happening in the world of Youth Ministry, and there is a church or two that I might even apply to. Trouble will start when they want me to start before I'm planning on being inside of 4 or 5 time zones- then the question becomes what to do. Cut short the contract? All told, it'd cost us almost $7k to leave even a day early. Cut short the travel? It's a once in a lifetime chance, not bloody likely. Have to pass on the job? There is a finite number of jobs that will work, and the process to get hired is measured in months. Oftentimes, like 6 of them. But that's what would likely give if I couldn't talk them into giving me some more time.

This is all a snapshot, of course. Jen and I discuss it constantly, exploring the different angles and debating the pluses and minuses of each approach and idea. Mostly, though, I figure God will handle it. He seems to have most of this stuff figured out, so I'll assume he can handle this too.

Ok, it's getting late, I'm gonna wrap up. I'll try to get another blog up before the end of the week, but no promises.

-Al & Jen (But mostly Al)