Cali to Barista!

First of all, i'm not sure if anyone will read this now that I'm back in the US and accessible more easily by phone (515-402-9325). But if anyone is interested, I'll throw out a little update.
Since arriving back in the US a few days shy of 2 months ago, I've seen California, the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and the Grand Canyon all for the first time! Pretty amazing. I also went to my first country concert: Luke Bryan and Josh Turner! For someone who isn't too enthusiastic about country music, I really enjoyed the concert! I've also moved into my first apartment with a lease and bought my first matress. Fun stuff!
And now, I am a barista at Starbucks! Yep, I work at Starbucks. How is it? Very mixed. It's fun learning how to make all of the drinks and often fun doing it; but today I started at 5am and was busy making drinks non-stop from 6:30-9:45: not too fun! But, so far it has been a good experience and my boss and coworkers are really great, so that helps a lot.
If you're ever on I235 and going by the 73rd street exit, you might want to consider taking that exit and stopping in for an amazing beverage! :)

Beautiful Good-Byes!

The past four days have been filled with crazy fun as I've been trying to see people, eat dinner with people, and have fun in Korea one last time with good friends. I have eaten a ton of really amazing meals, I've played some really fun games of ping-pong and bowling, went to a wild dance club, and stayed up to watch the sunrise! It's always a little sad to say good-bye, but I'm really thankful that I have these wonderful people in my life from this past year in Korea. The joy and friendship that they have brought me and the hope of seeing some of them again makes these good-byes beautiful.



Amelie!



Amy and I dominating on the alley!



Janie, Amelie, and Gary bought me a sweet North Face man bag for a going away gift!



At the dance club with Jen!



Joseph, Gary, Justin, and I went out for an awesome dinner at the outback! Yes, Justin, Gary, and I are wearing the same shirt. Couple t-shirts are really popular in Korea so we decided to get triplet tees. :)



The love was felt at the dance club, even though Justin and I might be worse at dancing than we were at guitar! :)



A beautiful sunrise over the ocean, captured from our apartment window overlooking Yeong-do. I'll miss the view.

Saying Good-bye, Saying Hello

In 10 days I’ll be leaving Korea and arriving in the US—367 days after arriving in Busan. As I prepare to leave this place, I am experiencing many different thoughts and emotions: sadness to leave many wonderful people, sorrow to leave Justin, confusion about what I exactly did this last year, joy to see many loved ones in the US, excitement to be near Jenni after a year of phone calls and distance, and uncertainty about what exactly I will do this next year.

I also have been thinking back on many of the joys and frustrations of this past year. Living in another culture really is an adventure; but it’s often a jungle of confusion in which you feel lost among the different customs and an unfamiliar language. And believe it or not, contrary to what many people think, living abroad is often boring. It can be difficult to do things, or even find out what there is to do. There aren’t a lot of friends around to call all the time, especially on the weekends in Korea: everyone’s in church! And then living abroad can be lonely.

Justin and I have discovered that we know many people, but other than one friend, no one really knows us. There are many familiar faces and people who are friends, but not many friends whom you can deeply discuss thoughts, confusions, feelings, and ideas with. And then the loneliness can be increased when many of your friends and those whom you love in the US have somewhat disappeared from your life; never calling you and rarely emailing. It can be frustrating to have to always be the one to call. And I know that’s just how life goes; you make friends and then you grow apart. I am extremely thankful that Justin and I were here together, it really made life a lot better.

But enough of the frustrations, there are countless more joys. The main joy, other than Justin, has been Gary. Gary has been a wonderful friend whom I will dearly miss when I return to the United States. We have had many hilarious nights when Gary has slept over at our apartment, or when we were hanging out in the city. One time he was giving directions to some tourists; he was directing them to the beach but was afraid of mispronouncing “beach” as “bitch”. So, instead he said “be-och”, not knowing that it happened to be the “hip” pronunciation of “bitch”. Gary was embarrassed, but us and the tourists had a good laugh. :)

Another joy has been our numerous friends from Cambodia, Kenya, Thailand, the Philippines, and of course Korea. Though the depth of the relationships hasn’t been great, I have learned so much from them about the world and the beautiful variety of cultures and people. Their joy and laughter will remain in my heart and memory for many years.

I also have loved the food in Korea! It’s so good! From rotten cabbage mixed with rice, to dog soup, to seaweed wrapped rice! OK, I know that doesn’t sound good, but it is!!

Traveling has been another huge plus. On top of Korea, seeing Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines was incredible. It was so eye-opening to see the variety of ways of life, so challenging to encounter different life philosophies and cultural differences, so heart-breaking to see the poverty in many of the places, and so incredibly moving to see the beauty of God’s world and the greater beauty of the people he has placed in it. Though from hundreds of countries with thousands of different cultures and subcultures, we are all human and all God’s image bearers. It’s beautiful to see and experience in so many places.

Yeah, this year has been an amazing experience full of both sorrows and joys; and that is what I feel as the end nears: sorrow and joy.

Laziness

Hey all! So, I went to the Philippines, but don't really feel like blogging about it. This is pretty obvious since I've been back for 10 days and haven't yet. It's not that it wasn't a good trip, because it was, I'm just lazy. :) So, to hear all about it and see some pics please go to Justin's blog at justinvanzee.blogspot.com or click his name on the right under chingus. Thanks Justin! :)

Mud Festival and Kid's Class

We got a little dirty! (Left to right: Me, Justin, Amy, Beyonce)



Actually, everything got really dirty!



Beyonce! (Mi Ji)



Judy and Phyllis must've skipped the lessons on hygiene.



The crew!



The Boys!



I had a few clingers!



Yeah, they are cute. :)

Summer!

Summer vacation has finally come for me! The other professors at Kosin have been done for 3 weeks, but I ended my time as an English Professor with a 3 week summer course. It was a great way to finish my experience as a professor in Korea; I had some really fun students and the class was a joy to teach. I'm really gonna miss teaching in the classroom next year.

The last 2 weeks have also brought 2 interesting discussion nights. Justin and I were invited by our coworker, Jen, to go to her friends apartment to watch a video and discuss Islam. The video, What the West Needs to Know about Islam, had the stated goal of sharing the truth about Islam, but had a very blatant purpose of portraying Islam as a religion of war and domination. While it may have stated some or many truths, it didn't seem to at all represent the majority of Muslims that are non-violent and do not want to destroy those around them. Anyway, the video led to some interesting discussion.
The next week we watched an interview with Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Claiborne about the role of Christians in politics. (Here's the link to the video: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/evangelical_politics/.) The discussion afterward went a lot of directions, but one big issue was the connection of voting and abortion. The seven of us there were all against abortions with the main idea being the sanctity of life and humans being created in the image of God. But from there I followed the suggestion of Shane Claiborne in the video that perhaps we should also think about what being prolife means for all people, not simply unborn children. That definitely brought up a lot of different perspectives, and as I figured, I was in the definite minority of those who had a leaning towards pacifism and non-violent resistance. I wasn't too bothered by this, I know there are millions of Christians who believe in just war and the like. What concerned me that night, and what concerns me more often, is the number of people who will argue very well for the sanctity of life and humans being created in the image of God when the lives of unborn children are at stake, but the ideas don't even cross their minds when they talk of going to war with other nations to defend our freedom. Yes, I love the freedoms in the United States, but it bothers me when we seem to worship freedom and fail to even give a first thought, let alone a second thought, to the cost of that freedom...not for our citizens, but for the world. Don't get me wrong, I love America, I just want people to think about the sanctity of life seriously and beyond the scope of unborn children.

On another note, I read this article (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/julyweb-only/7-2-24.0.html) in Christianity Today and was wondering what some other people think about it.

Anyway, happy 4th of July. I hope you enjoyed some awesome grilled food, a good beer, and watched some fireworks with the fam.


This is what I really wanted on the 4th and miss dearly from the USA!

Finished...kind of

Friday was the last day of the semester at Kosin. Exams were written and students left campus for the summer. The foreign faculty is now finished and can relax for the summer...except for me. I will be teaching a 3 week summer course, which is good b/c it will help prevent boredom, but bad b/c I will need to continue wearing dress clothes everyday. :( Hopefully the class goes well and is a lot of fun though; it could be a great way to end my experience as a professor in Korea. HA, that still sounds funny. :)

Oh, this is my look for the three week summer course. If anything, I might teach them that it is ok to look different. :)

Summer Culinary School

This summer I have some pretty big plans. Ok, not really, just three so far. I want to walk a lot, study Spanish some more, and cook. I'm not really going to a culinary school of any sort, but Justin and I both feel that this summer has huge potential to bring a lot of boredom, so my plan is to become a better chef (in a very loose sense of the term). In order to do this I would like a little help: please send me an email with your favorite recipe or 2. Seriously, email me a recipe at adamvangelder@gmail.com. I know I could find plenty on the internet, but I'd prefer to cook the things my friends like. Oh, and baking recipes (breads, bars, cookies, ect.) are welcome as well. So, email me. :) Thanks.

Jenni was here...it was amazing! :)

It's time...

In exactly 48 hours Jenni and I will be driving from the Busan airport to Kosin...together! A long distance relationship isn't all bad; you get to know the other person pretty well through countless conversations. But that might be where it ends. Distance really takes away a lot of the elements involved in a healthy, well rounded relationship. I could go on and on about how much distance sucks and all the things that you miss out on, but I won't. I'm just super excited that I can finally hear Jenni's voice without it being through a poorly connected phone line and see her face without it being on a computer screen or picture.
My point: I probably won't contact any of you in the next 14 days, nothing personal.

Happy 23rd!! :)

Lots of good friends came to celebrate! :)

Justin made me one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had!!!

Peanut Butter M&M's!!!!! I love you Justin!! :D

Painting!!!

My office has been really ugly since I got here; an off-white speckled with brown has been my surroundings. So, last night after watching Taken (a pretty exciting movie) Gary and I put on some music, stripped to our boxers, and painted my office...a surprisingly bright blue! It might be a little too bright actually, but we only painted 2 walls and will paint the third a really dark blue to balance things out. and yes, I do have four walls, but the fourth is already plain white and we might leave it that way. Anyway, color has come...and it's wonderful!!!

BAKING!!!

Justin bought an oven, it was delivered today! Immediately after putting it in it's new home Justin made banana bread, and then we made 2.5 dozen chocolate chip cookies! I love baked goods!! :)

Here's to you Dordt Maintenance!

Today the lock on my office door broke. A gust of wind slammed my open door shut and 3 of 4 screws holding on my lock came out. Fortunately, a maintenance man was able to come with new screws and put my lock back on. Unfortunately, an internal piece was positioned incorrectly when he secured the lock into place. Even more unfortunately, I didn't discover this until I left my office and locked the door. When I returned at 5pm I discovered that I could only lock my door from the outside but not unlock it. By this time the maintenance workers had all gone home and would not come until the morning. Not a problem except my wallet and apartment keys were inside, and I had students coming Friday morning for thier midterm conversation tests.

So what did I do? I did exactly what the son of a dordt maintenance man should do; I grabbed 2 screwdrivers, hunted down a ladder, broke into my second floor office through the window, and reassembled the lock correctly.

What's my point? I'm simply trying to highlight the fact that the Dordt maintenance crew could possibly be one of the top crews in the entire world. Dordt maintenance would have been there at 10pm to help a professor get into thier office (but they also would've assembled the lock correctly the first time).

Here's to you Dad, Arnie, Paul, Phil, Vern, Lyle, Stan x2, Doug x2, Lee, Cindy, Kevin, Duane, Brian x2, Carol, Jeanne, Judy, Eldon, and Wilma! Keep up the amazing work!

JOY

Kosin is built on the side of a small mountain, so to go from building 1 to building 2 you must go to the fourth floor of the first building and then walk outside to enter the first floor of the second. It leaves many people gasping for air daily as they climb the steep incline.
The other day, a student named Violet was ascending the stairs of building 1 ahead of me. As she climbed she looked out from the dimly lit building upon a beautifully sunny day and saw the path outside veiled in falling cherry blossoms. She instantly let out a giggly squeal of intense joy and leaped up the remaining 5 or 6 stairs into the rays of sun. She dashed 20 feet down the sidewalk and plunged her nose into a branch covered with sweet, white blossoms. Then, after inviting the beauty and aroma of the blossoms to settle into her memory and fill her heart with delight, she literally skipped down the sidewalk and up the stairs into building 2!
I walked up to my office with a warm heart and huge smile, feeling blessed to be a spectator to such pure and beautiful joy. Thanks Violet. :)

Australia = America (sometimes)

As I left the office yesterday, I wanted to have nothing to do with Korean food for supper. Don't get me wrong, I love Korean food, but I was just sick of it. I also didn't want to make any of the semi-American food that we had at our apartment; you can only eat toast, or eggs, or pancakes so many times. Upon arriving home, I found Justin laying on his bed, looking beaten down and tired (it's been a long week). Last semester, at times like this, we would go to the United Seaman's Service; a restaurant that serve's awesome hamburgers, fries, and imported beer. However, the USS became a members only establishment, so we were denied service the last time we went. So, last night we opened up our wallets and went to Australia (or the Outback Steakhouse) with Gary and consumed a ton of BREAD and shared a pitcher of Foster's draft beer (Korean beer is terrible!). Oh, Gina came too, but just for the company b/c she already ate. She's good company. :)

PNU

A Saturday of discoveries began alone in a usual place; the busy shopping district of Nampo Dong, twenty minutes from Kosin.


After some wandering and a heart-shaped donut with pink frosting and both cream and strawberry jelly filling, I called Gary. Gary was watching TV, lame! So, we decided to meet in Someyon (a newer, and possibly more popular, shopping district). The big discovery there: the MacBook Air! Ridiculous! It is so light and so thin, but probably not very practical (still cool though).

After the Mac store, Gary and I headed to the PNU (Pusan National University) area. It's the newest popular shopping district, frequented mostly by the college crowd, and an area of Busan that I've never been to. We met our friend Gina there, ate some awesome spicy chicken and rice combo for supper, explored the university campus, and drank some coffee at an Italian coffee shop.




What a great day of exploration and friendship! :)

Sunday: the Lord's day

Ok, as an alumni of Dordt College with a degree in theology, I firmly beleive that everyday is the Lord's, but we do often set aside Sunday as a day for rest and worship. Here in Korea, Sunday is much different from what I grew up with in North America. In the US and Canada, many churches have dropped their evening services while in Korea many churches have anywhere from 3-6 services! I often respect the dedication to prayer and communal worship that the Christians in Korea have; they are very focused on worshipping God in the classical pietistic ways. We Westerners maybe too often stray away from that, but the Korean worship also reflects the workaholic Korean culture. One student wrote, "the Lord's day is very busy and requires much exertion." I hope that you are finding a good balance of working for God while also taking time to rest in Him. Happy Good Friday!

Waves

My life is filled with things that come and go and come and go again, kind of like waves. They usually don't disappear entirely, but they come on strong and then fade away and then come back again. One major wave is working out: I'll be really dedicated for a while and then I just won't do anyhting for several weeks. I think I gained 10 pounds when I was home for Christmas; all i did was eat awesome food and meet people for coffee! But then I went to Thailand and Cambodia and walked several hours a day. I'm pretty sure this will continue throughout my life; I'll get sick of it so I'll stop for a while, but then I have this deep desire to be a sexy 40 year-old so I'll go back to it. ;) And then there's the wave of music preference. One week I'm listening to Sufjan Stevens, the next week it's the latest pop songs, and the next I'll be craving Beyonce or Timbaland. Another wave is reading. One month I'll read 3 or 4 books, the next I won't get past more than 4 chapters in a book. There a so many waves: love Korea, sick of Korea; estudiar Espanol, avoid Spanish like the plague; cook, eat out; miss Jenni a lot, really miss Jenni (ok, that one doesn't change so much); read the Bible, hear the Bible read at church; call friends and family, live in a state of pre-object permanence; read the news on BBC or CNN, getting the weather report via my mom; and on and on.
This week the waves consist of working out, Stephen Speaks, Romans, loving Korea, really missing Jenni a lot, and calling friends. Next week: ???

Back to reality...I think

This week is the first week of classes. This means that my 3 month vacation has come and gone; that my days of sleeping in until 11 and doing absolutely nothing related to work all day are finished; that I can’t ride elephants, raft down rivers, or eat awesome Thai food for under a dollar; that I can’t see the faces of my family, friends, or Jenni unless it is via pictures or webcam; basically, my dream vacation is no more. Instead, I’m back to meetings entirely in Korean, teaching 7 English classes, and wearing ties. Back to reality, right? Well, maybe not in the sense that most people think of it. I’m back to the reality of my life in Korea, which means celebrity status as the young American professor. I’m back to assembly halls filled with hooting, hollering, and whistling when I’m introduced on stage; I’m back to people thanking me several times for simply remembering their name; I’m back to groups of girls chattering excitedly and giggling as I walk by; I’m back to people older than me bowing and calling me professor as they hand me a drink that they just bought for me from the vending machine. Yeah, I guess I’m back to reality, but a really, really strange one.

Thailand and Cambodia Captured on Film

Hello everyone! So, I'm finally back in Korea, settling down, and actually having to do some work. Justin and I returned from Thailand and Cambodia about 3 days ago and, although the trip was amazing, it's really nice to be in one place and establish some sort of routine.
There are a ton of stories from our trip about people, food, elephants, magnificent temples, boat rides, hikes, and many other things, but most of them can be told through the pictures. Just copy and paste the addresses below into the address bar and they will bring you to my facebook albums containing many of our experiences captured by camera.

http://dordt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010033&l=91938&id=148300132

http://dordt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010034&l=8ad26&id=148300132

Thailand

Justin and I have been in Thailand for almost one week now. We started in Bangkok; a busy city full of beautiful temples and people looking to make a quick buck off of the tourists. We saw two of the major temples, both full of golden Buddha statues, and a few other things and then left for the small city of Pak Chong near Khoa Yai National Park. The city of Pak Chong was wonderful; no one was yelling at us to buy touristy things, the people were super friendly, and everything was really cheap. We got to and from the National Park through a lot of hitchhiking and ended up hiking an 8km trail (guide suggested strongly) and swam in a beautiful pool by a waterfall. After Pak Chong we went to Sukothai, a town famous for the ancient ruins at the old city. The ruins were really incredible: lots of old temples and giant Buddhas. It's incredible waht people made by hand hundereds of years ago.
Right now we are in Chaing MAi- a huge tourist city. Today we got soaked by rain while we looked for a guest house, drank good coffee, and then got an hour massage for under 4 dollars! It was great. We are trying to take some cool pictures, so ho[pefully I'll put a bunch online once we are back in Korea.

Thailand, Laos, & Cambodia!

Hello everyone!
It's been a while since my last post, and that's because I was at home. The last month I had an amazing time with my family, friends, and especially Jenni. It was great to be back in the USA and see so many amazing people, which also made it pretty hard to leave and come back to Korea.
I was planning on getting back to Busan on Wednesday night, but due to a cancellation in Sioux Falls and a delay in Minneapolis I arrived Friday morning. This is fine, but I am leaving tonight (Saturday) for a 3.5 week trip with Justin through Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. I'm not exactly sure what the trip will bring, but I will be taking lots of pictures and sharing some stories. Stay tuned.