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