Party Day at the Kwangju Institute

These are a few of the kids that I teach from the Junior English program. This particular class was my favorite to teach out of all of them. Tonight, when it was time for class, the kids barricaded the door so that I couldn't get in to teach. Finally after some time, they allowed me to enter to discover that they had a cake with candles, and had written all over the white board. On it, were messages from each of them - it truly meant a lot to me.

This is the white board that my Junior kids wrote sweet messages and encouraging words for me. :o)

A few of my level 4 students who met with me for party day during our usual class time beginning at 7am. It's a difficult thing for me to be awake enough to begin teaching at such an early time, but this was a fun class to teach and they kept me awake with interesting discussions. :o)

My Farewell to Kwangju

Kwangju Institute

The pictures that I will be posting for the next couple of days are of areas that I've visited while living here in Kwangju - excursions to the mountains, to local parks and photos of other random things that I found to be interesting here in the city. It's very beautiful out here in the country and I hope you can enjoy the beauty that this part of Korea has to offer, as I have. :o)

Kwangju held a festival a couple of weeks ago that lasted about 9 days. During that time, there were concerts going on throughout the day and into the evening. In honor of the festivities, lights were strung up along the sidewalks. There's something about lights that always makes me smile - perhaps because it reminds me of Christmas. Anyway, I've enjoyed walking home at night with the warm glow of these lights that are still lighting up the city.

Everywhere I turn, there are food stands all over the sidewalks offering a variety of foods. This particular stand is offering several different types of dried seafood. From dried fish, to squid, to octopus tentacles. Hungry anyone? :o)

A different food stand with every possible meat you can imagine crammed onto a stick.

This is the bridge that I cross several times a day on my way to the institute and back home again. I took this picture last term when it was significantly warmer than it has been here lately. I love Kwangju and have felt at home here because of the rolling hills in the background that reminds me of good ole Tennessee. Unfortunately, when I go to Seoul, the mountains aren't in view because of the sheer size of the city. I can hop on a subway and travel for over 2 hours and still be inside the city limits. It will be very different than down here in the South, but I'm looking forward to the change.

I have finally recieved word from the main institute stating that I will be the Coordinator for the new Seongsu Institute located in Seoul. They realized on Friday that the Incheon Institute - the one I was originally assigned to - will not be up and running by the beginning of the next term(Nov. 2). Instead, I am headed for the Big Capital. This too is a brand new institute with a total of only 3 teachers - smaller than my current institute with 5 teachers.

I'll be moving to Seoul on Thursday and am hoping to be able to settle in right away. I am still planning to go to Vietnam, but as I had suspected earlier, it will be a much shorter vacation because of Coordinator's meetings that I will have to attend on Monday afternoon. So I will only have about 4 days of vacation which some may think isn't worth it, but if I don't go to Vietnam now, I may not have a chance later.

I am excited and nervous about this new position, but I know that God has me here for a reason; I believe that Korea is a training ground for my future. With that in mind, I'm ready to see what is still ahead for me here.

Baby Carolina

Wearing the dress I bought for her. :o)

It's my pleasure to introduce to you
Carolina - held in the arms of her proud father,
Daniel.

Weighing in at 9.7 lbs. and 21.5 inces tall, we gladly welcomed Carolina Rebecca Gonzalez into our family at 4:01am this morning. After being in labor for over 37 hours, she came to us by cesarean section without many complications. Both mom and baby are doing fine and are resting comfortably.

I look forward to seeing the wonderful things that God has planned for her. She has brought our family some much needed joy - I can't wait to be apart of her life. :o)

My family is anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest family member. My sister Anita and her husband Danny, were on route to the hospital when they gave me a "heads up" call this morning to report that baby Gonzalez was well on her way. Needless to say, I was pacing around and glancing at the clock during my classes this morning hoping to recieve the phone call with the news. Alas, no word yet, so the family and I continue to wait. :o)

As of yesterday, I've said 'yes' to a calling to move to another institute - about four hours North from my present location. The call came for me just as I was heading out the door on my way to my trusty travel agent. This guy has hooked me up with some fantastic trips so far and I was hoping to get some help with planning my next fantasy location - Vietnam. However, if I end up moving to this new institute in Incheon, I will have to cut my vacationing short due to having to settle into a my new apartment, and visiting with the new institute director, etc. I don't know for sure yet whether I am truly moving - just because I said yes, doesn't mean that they will choose me for the new institute that was just recently built. They had a list with the names of teachers they felt might be up for the new challenge of starting an entirely new institute, and mine was at the top of the list. As flattering as it was to hear that, I was still unsure about my feelings. Envisioning my future of organizing events with students, creating new clubs for them to join, settling into a new apartment with people I've never met - again. I would definitely have my work cut out for me and so, I have mixed emotions about the whole situation. But I believe that God doesn't give us more than what we can handle. I'm not necessarily an extremely religious person, but this is certainly something I've learned during my time here. Meanwhile, I have to continue teaching at this institute in Kwangju for the remainder of this term(6 more days), waiting for word of what the future will hold for me.

My adventures began back in April when I initially moved to South Korea to teach English. It was a surreal moment when I stepped into the plane that was to fly me 13 hours away from a world that I knew. Now, 6 months later, it still hits me that I'm living in Korea - I actually LIVE in Korea. I find myself saying this over and over because I'm still amazed at myself that I'm still here. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not a quitter - when I say I'm going to do something, I will fight tooth and nail to complete what I've committed myself to doing. Teaching english has its challenges but it certainly has its rewards as well. The most challenging thing for me has been to let things go - especially if something isn't working as I believe it should. I'm a very detailed-oriented person and have always believed that if the details aren't worked out, how can the whole machine work properly? Learning to let the "me" go, and having God show me His way has proved to be the key to a successful experience.