December update

This is a letter we sent out at Christmas I will hopefully have a new update next week... 


~Settling Inn~ 
We finally moved into our new apartment. It is pretty nice and has more space than I was planning on having. Housing can be quite expensive here and generally they are really small. Just to rent a house you have to put down a “key deposit” which can range anywhere from $10,000 to 1 million USD, then you pay monthly rent. If you ever move out of the apartment you get the “key deposit” back. To purchase a house as I am sure you can imagine would be really expensive. 


God has been so amazing! Simon didn’t have any furniture as he was living with his parents and taking care of them. Neither one of us wanted to pay for new furniture because we aren’t sure of all our future plans. Anyways a Korean friend of mine which I met in the USA called and told us his cousin is moving and wanted to give any furniture that we needed. 


My friend even offered to help us move which would have cost us at least a thousand dollars. So this last week we have been moving furniture. We also had someone that was moving back to the States that gave us all of her dishes, cookware, silverware, and even food. It has been just about everything that we needed. I can’t even begin to tell you all the little blessing that has happened. 


~Church life~
We are attending 2 services at a church that Simon has attended for over 7 years. The church is very large and has a small English service. We attend the English service and also a Korean service. We are hoping to get more involved with the English service after our wedding and also working with the Kids English service. It is so amazing to see so many people that really love God. If you ever need prayer there is nothing like a praying Korean. 


~the working girl~ 
I have finally started working. One day a week I work at a private English School (Hog-won). I also have 3 adult students that I am tutoring. We start teaching in our home this week. It is a lot of work planning and teaching English to kids and adults. Korean parents can be hard to please sometimes because they only want the best for their children. I never thought I would get paid to teach something I do on a daily basis. 
Simon is working on growing his exporting business. Most of his time lately has been spent helping me and talking to parents about their kids. I help him with projects and talk to clients in other countries whenever he needs me too. We are juggling several hats right now so it keeps us really busy. 


~the language~
 I am slowly picking up the language. It makes it a little tougher because my job is to speak English not Korean. I am looking at possibly going to college for a year (I am gagging at the thought). I am becoming familiar with words I hear over and over. I never thought I would be able to tell the difference between Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Mongolian) but I can definitely tell the difference after living here. 


~the food~
 I LOVE THE FOOD…. Need I say more… KIMCHI is the best 


~culture shock~ 
I feel like I haven’t had much culture shock. If I had culture shock it has in our marriage which is pretty normal for intercultural marriages. I have been enjoying the culture. I think I came here with eyes wide open and a very open mind. People definitely stare at us, because you see American guys that marry Korean girls but usually not the other way around. Some day’s I forget that I am different than all the Koreans, but my blonde hair and blue eyes say otherwise. 


~Family~ 
Simon’s family is sooooo amazing! They love me so much; at least that’s how Simon translates it! Ha ha His parents always remind us to put God first in our relationship and to pray to God for strength. He has three sisters that really want to get to know me. One sends me text in Korean just to say hi and that she loves me. I love that his family has a great sense of humor they always make me laugh just like you my family at home! 


~Overall~
 This has been an amazing experience for both of us. We both feel so blessed to have such amazing family supporting us here and you guys back home. I am so excited for the journey ahead of us! I miss everyone so much, but in my heart I have peace knowing that this is the path God has chosen for Simon and I in this season. Lastly I am thankful for technology and Facebook for my making everyone not feel so far away. Hope to see you all soon!!