This one's gonna be a long one so grab a snack...

Welp, lots of stuff happened this week. Some cool and some not so cool, but I figure that to be real I've gotta give you the good the bad and the ugly...actually nothing was ugly or even all that bad...it just sounded neat:)

On Thursday I went to teach my last period and the girls were going NUTS! They were all climbing up onto the window sill and screaming when I came in to the classroom so I had no clue what was going on until one of the girls finally managed to tell me that the Korean pop band 2AM along with several movie stars and a professional soccer team were expected to be on our soccer field within the hour for an interview. I tried to start class but they were having the hardest time focusing and then I thought how this would be the equivalent of having the Backstreet Boys or NSync in your backyard, so a pretty big deal for a middle school girl, and I felt bad not letting them just watch out the window. So the whole class period we made 2AM posters and went outside to wait. When the team and celebrities finally showed up it was absolute mayhem at my school! Even the teachers were screaming and there were girls going absolutely nuts! I sprinted home after school to get my camera in hopes that I could get a sweet pic but also record how funny it was to see these girls screaming/crying and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But I got back to school just as the buses and vans were leaving! Ahhhh. I did take a video though of some of the starstruck girls comparing pictures on their phones:)



Friday I was hit with an a-bomb of homesickness and I have no clue what brought it on. I can't say I've really felt homesick since I've been here, atleast not like that, but within a matter of 5 minutes I definitely moved from one end to the other on the happy scale. Definitely sat in my office and cried while talking to my friend Hannah on facebook and it was a rather pathetic scene especially since I had no clue why I all of a sudden felt so crappy. I guess you could say that the thing I miss most is just familiarity. I miss my fam and I miss my best friends who can call me out when I'm being a turd. And I also think there's a slight fear that relationships back home are going to change while I'm gone, but I suppose that is part of life. People come and go. But at the same time, there are so many amazing people that are such a huge part of my life and continue to be even though I'm halfway around the world, and I refuse to submit to the whole people coming and going thing. Sure, part of it is true. But at the same time, staying tight through challenges are what make real, legit relationships so substantial whether they're family or friends. The good news is I pulled my head out not just because I did a little shopping but also because I did what any person should do when they feel a bit like poooo....I WENT TO THE BEACH. Praise the Lord for beaches. There is no other thing in creation that I love more than the beach.

My friend Laura and I headed to the beach Saturday morning which is only a little under an hour and half from Daejeon and it was GLORIOUS. We had amazing weather and I have returned looking like a lobster which, as most of you know, is what I normally look like during the summer months.

This is hands down the sweetest little girl I've ever seen








Good news! If you get sick of your pets you can deposit them here.


Deadliest catch




Fish market at the harbor




The most giant crab on earth


I woke up today and went for an amazing run on the beach and then popped a squat and just sat there for what were probably the most peaceful 15 minutes I've had in months. It reminded me of the times where I was either at Kanakuk Kamps as a counselor or this past summer at Young Life camps and would get up early just for some quiet time...and I can honestly say that some of those mornings, as simple as they were, were some of the greatest moments in my life because of the amazing peace I experienced. I sat there this morning and for a second realized how I really was plopped on the other side of the world, but then thought about just how amazing our Creator is. This world is just awesome. And speaking of awesome, the most awesome thing happened last night. We were walking back from the beach and passed a group of Westerners, who we smiled at and they smiled back, which I only mention because for the most part there's this weird thing going on in South Korea where Westerners who have been here for more than a year think they're too cool for anyone so they don't acknowledge you. Kind of stupid. But that wasn't the awesome thing that happened. So we passed this group of people and after walking about ten minutes bumped into them again at an intersection. We started talking and one of the girls asked me where I was from. I told her I had been living in Washington for the last 8 years and she asks where in Washington so I tell her the Seattle area. Then she asks where in the Seattle area and I said near PLU in the Tacoma/ Puyallup area....turns out, she is the sister of a friend from college who played football and grew up in Puyallup! I still cannot get over how small this world is. Like really, in an intersection of a small beach town in the middle of South Korea you meet someone who not only knows the street you live on but knows the people you know? Get out of town. I seriously think that is so crazy and so stinkin cool. I love adventures.

Also, the other day I saw a Volvo which was really weird.