Catch up time!

The photos: Mr. Sohn, our wonderful host for a fancy Korean feast, SK Kang, me, Ann, and Katie; Me on a September walk with Emily in Kaysville foothills; our family and friends picnic at Liberty Park, SLC, in September; family and Pate (Rebecca's AZ friend since age 10) on our back deck patio in Kaysville --Do we see a pattern here?--food-based photos!

Today is Columbus Day, October 8, 2007, a US holiday here in the American military community, while life goes on as usual outside our apartment windows. It's a time to catch up on a lot of undone things around the home, after weeks of activity ---a 10 day trip to the USA in September, and a week--long visit from fellow phone English teachers,Katie and Ann in Seoul. They both live in the US and had come last year also, but this year I had more time to spend with them, roaming around Korean sites, feasting with various people in traditional Korean restaurants, and catching up on our girl talk.

This Thursday is the 35th anniversary of our wedding. It seems like another lifetime when Norm and I went to the Salt Lake Temple to be eternally wed....so we will celebrate by a visit to the Seoul Temple, and maybe a Chinese dinner out. Then we will get to the Oktoberfest the next night to dine on Deutsch food with oompa music and fun times with our friends here.

The trip to San Antonio and Utah in September was to accompany Norm in his course (TDY) on military members' post-traumatic stress disorder, and then to just spend time with our children in Kaysville and Spanish Fork. We even had a "Happy Thanksmas" dinner gathering at Michael and Eleanor's home, just in case we are not together for one or both of the November/December holidays. We had a jolly gathering and scrumptious feast!

Life in Korea settles back to routine this week, for the next several weeks before we again head to San Antonio and Utah in early December. (More on that subject in a later posting.) Normal schedule around Seoul for me now includes some substitute teaching at Seoul Foreign School and at the American middle school, as well as my phone English teaching every weekday morning, and my private face-to-face ESL students in my apartment. I just added one more of those to my list today: the young assistant manager of the apartment complex. That came about because I had previously offered to help him with the English translations of his many informational signs for the tenants. (Out of the 310 apartments in our complex, 100 of them are filled with English speaking tenants that he has to speak with from time to time.) I have a great variety of students and I like the friendships that we are forming. Sundays find me teaching about the New Testament to a great group of adult students at church.

Norm is still waiting to hear if he is being extended in Korea or not. A few things depend on that news, but we are rather confident it will happen soon. We also continue to apply for positions in Europe; however, it seems to be an exercise in futility. Time will tell.