"Sangdoongee" ("TWINS" in Korean)

twins @ 8 weeks



OMGosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Michael, Shorah (our kat) and I are so excited to share with you about our... not one, but two new additions to the family!!! We haven't told anyone until now, as you can understand the delicate situation; but we are now in our 9th week and are SO ready to share with everyone our news!!! :)

We do not know yet if we'll be having boys or girls...or both; but we CANNOT wait to find out! Yay!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and happy day today, as we sure will. :)

cheerio,

- yj

P.S.   Happy April Fool's Day  (ha.ha.ha.....i guess we'll still be sleeping in past noon a wee bit longer....) 

A Friendly Letter to Mr. Jung Il Kim from a South Korean boy age 10-ish

I am an English Language Teacher in Gumi, South Korea. I work in an after-school English Academy. Today in one of my classes, I taught how to write a Friendly Letter. A Friendly Letter is a letter written to someone you know about what you are doing, how they are doing, etc. Thus, my students wrote friendly letters to one of their family members or friends. They did a decent job..... But of course they think that's boring and who, (especially in their generation), writes letters in this day and age of texting and webcams. So, their next exercise was to write a letter to a famous person. Yes, the famous people in their letters were not 'someone they knew'....but when you're an English Language teacher at an after-school academy, you have to use all your creative ammo to get these tired, whiny, and disinterested students to WANT to learn English. It was a success. And I had to save one of their letters because it was so pure and honest. can't say it was Friendly though :)  I'll share it with you,... yes you Mr. J.I. Kim.



i'd say he did an awesome job in regards to grammar & letter format... considering korean letter formats are different from English.....anyway, like my pink ink?

  peace,
- yj

"Ni Hao"

Sunday, Jan. 30 – departure to Beijing, China. Or so we thought, until we arrived at the check-in counter to find out we actually needed VISAs to enter China as tourists…..had to turn our Excited butts around. Sigh!



VIPS @ Incheon w/ family :)


Thankfully, we had amazing family in Incheon who took us in until our visas came through…. Even took us out as it was Michael’s birthday! We took this opportunity to do the tourist thing around Seoul, Korea too.  Seoul rocks!!

    

 

 




Seoul, Korea

 

trying to scare the guard at GyeongBok Palace @ Seoul, Korea muahaha

 

Spirit Way @ Ming Tombs

Tuesday, Feb. 1 – departure to Beijing, China II.  We made it. Our driver arrived at the airport and took us to our hotel. He no speakee Engrish and we no speakee Chinese…..





Ming Tombs

 Wednesday, Feb. 2 – Ming Tombs & Great Wall of China. WOW. There are no words to describe… breathtaking. It was like….a walk back in time (yes I’m using words to describe).  A walk back in time w/ millions of other tourists…..but walking on one of the wonders of the world regardless. Outstanding.


Great Wall of China....EEK!!



Jade Carving Factory

Chinese Tea Ceremony slurp slurp

 And….our tour guide also took us on icky shopping tours where they take you through interesting places: Jade Carving Factory, Chinese Tea Ceremony, The Silk Market… but the underlying theme was “pressure the tourists into buying these products at ridiculously inflated prices”. Eck. Welcome to china?  Of course we didn’t buy anything…of course our tour guide started to wig out. No joke. Sigh!



our cabin



We were dropped off at a train station, where we would ride a train all night to Luoyang. And saw Fireworks from our room in the train…..pretty romantic. And gross….the beddings provided were deadly gross. Sigh!



bridge next to the Beijing Train Station (yeah, that huge
thing on the right!)



Luoyang was perfect in every sense. Except that part on Lunar New Years day where we were in our car for 5 hours and gave up to turn back, because apparently in China, most people (population 1 billion+) go to the Buddhist/Taoist Temples on the 1^st or 15^th of every month. Lunar New Year being the 1^st of the month, 1^st of the year – it was chaos.  A 10 minute stretch of highway took us 5 hours and we still had to turn back……..Sigh!) soooo……



incense burning at White Horse Temple




incense so big you can't see this man....



Thursday, Feb. 3 Luoyang, China <Happy Lunar New Year> – White Horse Temple, Shaolin Temple (not quite).  White Horse Temple was the first Buddhist Temple in China (and Korea and Japan etc.). Experienced how the Chinese celebrated their Lunar New Years. Spectacular. Mind-boggling. It’s similar to that religious day back in the U.S. called Black Friday…. Just replace temples for Walmarts. Also while on the insane traffic jam going to the Shaolin Monastery, we hung out at the streets with other local Chinese waiting for our car to budge…..wasn’t so bad since we got to see how the Chinese folks in Luoyang didn’t get angry or had much road rage. They just went with the flow and chillaxed at the streets. And littered. Oh yes, it was incredible how in China, you could throw out(of your car) a BAG full of trash and it was no big deal. Even so, you should’ve heard my scream as it landed at my feet while I was taking a break enjoying the view of the traffic jam from the sidewalk…….Sigh!



traffic jam. and this will never be well received in the U.S.



Friday, Feb. 4 – Second attempt at Shaolin Temple, Longman Grottos, & Chariot and Horse Pits. SHAOLIN TEMPLE!!!!! Oh how we love kung-fu. HAHAHA. Amazing temples. Mysterious monks. Such history!! We were absolutely soaking it up!



Pagoda Forest @ Shaolin Temple

Shaolin Temple!! (& the imfamous toddler pants w/ built in split for convenience)




Shaolin Temple Performance Hall :)




Longman Grottos




Longman Grottos




Chariot & Horse Pit (770 B.C. ... that's like 3000 years old dudes)



Saturday, Feb. 5 – Beijing, China: Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Tianenman Square, and Temple of Heaven. Chinese Medicine Consulting + foot & neck massage J, Beijing Duck Banquet Dinner, Pekin Opera Performance. Phew!



Forbidden City



Temple of Heaven





Peking Opera Performance

 Sunday, Feb. 6 – Departure to Incheon, Korea. Or so we thought, until we found out Beijing International Airport has 3 terminals and China Southern Airlines is in the boondocks of Terminal 2 (10 minutes away by shuttle bus from the main terminal). Their check-in counter is hidden, and it is open for only an hour. Bleh. They wouldn’t give us boarding passes even if we had over an hour before our plane was to take off. The next flight to Korea was 25 hours away. Sigh!

Monday, Feb. 7 – Departure to Incheon, Korea II. Plane delayed for 3 hours. At this point, we were at the airport for 30 hours. Vowed NEVER to take China Southern Airlines again.  They really were rude people…. Sigh!

Overall, we enjoyed all the unbelievable sites and adventures and experiences. But we were SO VERY glad to be back in Korea. And probably won’t be headed to China anytime soon…..maybe.

Although looking back, I’d do it all again…and wouldn’t change a thing. Ha!

Toodles,

- YJ

Thank you 민정언니!! For helping us get our visas and saving my atm card when the machine ate it….. Sigh! Shoo black cloud Shoo!

"Halmunee" ("Grandma" in Korean)

I visited my halmunee this past weekend. Her name is Gil-Lim and she is almost 90 years old. “I was born in the city of Gilim.” said grandma. “Halmunee, isn’t that your name?” I learned this weekend, that her grandfather gave her that name because she was born in a city named Gilim (Guilin? Kilim? Eh…somewhere in China….). She grew up in China. At a late age, 18ish, she married my grandfather, who was another Korean immigrant living in China. She had never met him until their wedding day. Grandpa apparently sneaked out the family carriage to her town, to take a peek at his bride-to-be, just in case…….He must’ve liked what he saw J

I’ve always felt alone. Who truly understands what i'm going through, or the lingering unhappiness that lies with watching a loved one slowly. ever so slowly deteriorate? Rheumatoid Arthritis. I hate you. Google it, there is no cure. It is a degenerative disease, and progresses rapidly when untreated -- a disabling disease. 4 years ago, my mom chose not to take any drugs nor get any medical help. Her RA progressed severely; she was bedridden within a year. Fingers = all bent & deformed. Weight = less than mine. Legs = as skinny as my arms. Knees = bigger than melons. She was in pain every minute of every day.  My very own mommy was dying.

“The last time I saw her, before you came, was in the summer. She was lying on her side. She even ate, lying on her side. I tried to rub her knees because it was so swollen. She cried in pain and wouldn’t let me touch her.  I came back home that night, and decided to give up all hope. Since then… I would be visiting with friends and everyone would be laughing….but I couldn’t feel completely happy. That’s when you came to Korea.” –halmunee.

Was there hope? I held on to God. He was my only hope. He created her – her bones, hands, knees, joints, muscles…He could fix her. And if there was a reason for her to never get better… well then, I had to spend at least a few years close to her. Be a source of joy to her.

“Michael, what do you think of moving to Korea for a while?”  “Sure, Let’s go!”

and I left everything that I knew, and just about gave away everything that was ours. The stable job I had for 4 years. The home we lived in for almost 6 years. And the belongings we’ve accumulated in it. Both our cars that were already paid off. The friends we had made. Our loving church family. The comfortable Texas life....well...okay let's switch those words around a bit - Texas Comfort food.  Everything I knew my whole adult life (and the few years prior to). With Michael’s graduate studies put on hold, we made the decision to be closer to mom. To help my brother and my father. To go through this time together (and a few selfish reasons too I admit). Yet deep in my heart, I truly had faith that God will make her well. With that faith, we made the blind jump off to Korea. 

“Halmunee, that’s exactly how I felt. Deep down, I could not be 100% happy either. Whenever I’d be having fun w/ friends and laughing w/ them, -- I knew that in Korea, umma (mom) was in pain… I never thought anyone would ever be able to know what I’m going through; and… you do. I’m so glad I came to Korea. I’m so glad I came to see you this weekend.”

She held my hands. She combed my hair. We talked for a very long time. She’s her mommy. I’m her daughter.  The time w/ grandma was so special. It was like we had a connection, made deeper through this painful, heart wrenching situation. Something I can cherish forever. Wasn’t this one of the reasons why I came to Korea? Time with grandma I would’ve never had unless I made that jump……

interesting fact: she had my mom at age 29. my mom had me at age 29.  

visit ur loved ones,
- YJ

*Thanks babe, for making that blind jump with me & for loving my family as your own. I’d be lost w/o you.*

"Anyonghaseo" ("Hello" in Korean)

Not exactly sure how I should start this blog...
I think instead of explaining the subject matter of this blog, or what made me decide to even start a blog, I'll share a beautiful quote I saw today. As some of you know, I have a sick obsession over other people's wise, thought provoking, and completely random words :)

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Perhaps this best illustrates my decision to sail all the way East.

Cheerios,
YJ

Thank you Nikki & Emily & my dear husband Michael for continually encouraging me to start this blog. =)  & --> if ur reading Taylor, Happy Birthday kiddo!