Chapter 5: It's Snowing!

THANKSGIVING was wonderful. The cafeteria was beautifully decorated with autumn, satin leaves of golden, brown, reddish yellow maple leaves. Pumpkins, squashes and butternuts were placed in baskets on display. Orange and red brown table cloths with leaves spraypainted on them and centered by gorgeous short, fat orangey - red candles, surrounded by tiny, sparkly autumn leaves. Lavish food was laid out around the cafeteria and all families contributed to the feast. We started by praying together and giving thanks to God for all sorts of things. Then carols and harvest songs were sang, grace was said and everybody dug in! We then had to roll home after playing board games with different families. AND what do you know? Ethan had to remember his manners!!! Our FIRST Thanksgiving... and we have so much for which to be thankful.

It was - 9 c today and we have had snow for two weeks! It's so incredibly beautiful and strangely only cold on the day or days after the snow. Under floor heating is really helping us cope, but Shanneth did not want to go to school today! "I's told today!!!" " I's watch TV - Mummy you tay wif me!" She yelled.The boys live in their snow suites and have had major snowball fights - the headmaster of the primary George being the ring leader! He is really different in that he knows all the kids and always does break duty - ends up playing with the kids and encourages them to build forts on campus etc. They tend to encourage the staff kids to play at school on the weekends too - so Josh and Ethan get up early on Saturdays and wonder off to school to play at their fort. George was impressed with their fort because they are the only group that have allowed girls to join their fort, and so subsequently have a very comfortable beautifully decorated fort! They even found an old Christmas tree in the tip and now have a Christmassy fort!!! It really builds community and the 68 staff kids are great friends - they all get on well. On Mondays we have staff development until 5:00 pm and the kids all have "kids club" - the IB students run the programme and the kids make all sorts of crafts, play sport and do computer stuff. They also do homework with the kids and Josh and Ethan's homework tutor, Franny (17), is wonderful. She's a National Honours Student and has won many beauty contests too. She is a stunningly, captivating Asian girl. Josh has been getting full marks for his spelling lately and I asked him why he was doing so well; he said "That's what happens when you are in love!" I said "oh with whom?" (Thinking with his 100 year old teacher or a girl in class) He promptly replied " Franny, mum!" - Like I should have known! Ken was thrilled - really proud Josh has such great taste; brains, beauty, personality and a Christian!!!
Ethan has single handedly managed to break two sets of glasses in one week! So we had to go to the optician. We were lucky to find an English speaking chap - who said that Ethan's prescription is at fault! Because of the huge discrepancy between the focusing of the eyes; the glass is placing stress on the frame, hence, two frames broken but not the glass. He then told us that Ethan must have a sun filter on the lenses and a non scratch - micro bonded (unable to break) flexi glass lenses added, with this he would develop frames from titanium to support the lenses. He then sent the prescription to Carl Zeiss in the USA to have the lenses graded - which means that they equal the weight of the lens but increase the magnification in the one lens that needs the greater magnification. I was amazed all this took 7 days and the doc. was really apologetic because it would take so long! He made emergency glasses for Ethan to wear for the week, using his existing lenses and reinforced Harry Potter frames on the one side so that his heavy lens would not break the frame. Ethan was thrilled and really likes the Harry Potter look! His new glasses arrived six days later and we are suitably impressed. The magnification seems great and the glasses are so light weight. He can't believe how light they feel on his face. We hadn't even considered that but he does look good with glasses that are straight! The others were forever skew because of the weight difference! All this of cause cost us an arm and a leg - 240 000 won which is roughly $250 US dollars, We still need to check and see if the medical aid will pay but it really is worth it though!
Shannie is really cute but ofcause being a McAllister she too is pushing the boundaries - flexing her will. So yesterday she refused to help tidy her room and so Ken threatened to smack her bottom. She replied with a real cheeky expression on her face and her hand on her hips, "No mack me! You make my bum hurt! It will be awhowee!" It was kinda of hard to explain that, that is actually the point!Have a wonderful Christmas! Love to all

Chapter 4: Thanksgiving in Korea!

We are so busy like all of you! It's American Thanksgiving and the students are posting Thanks giving messages all around school. "I am thankful for ......" and signed by the student, are really touching little expressions of life at TCIS. I am also amazed at scriptures of thanks giving, praise and worship to God are plastered on walls in the hall ways and classrooms making the place look cheery and bright as the days are getting colder and more grey. Strangely enough temp are hitting the minuses but the sun still shines for a bit each day but by 17:30 it's dark and only light at 7:30 am. We still get around and socialize inspite of the weather. The American's are crazy about Thanks giving and are organizing a huge school wide TG Dinner. Ethan came home and announced that he loves Thanksgiving because "you don't have to sit down at dinner, and you can wear a hat, dress up as cowboys or indians and you don't have to have manners at the table! - That's what you are thankful for - not having to remember your manners on Thanksgiving!!!!" I asked him who told him this and he said his teacher told him a story about pilgrims and indians (not from India) but cowboy ones, and in the story the indians were rude but friendly! His teacher thought this was really funny but he obviously has selective hearing and a great imagination! So Ken and I have threatened him with near death - and assurred him that he still has to behave at the school TG Dinner! We'll let you know what happens after we've had our first TG Dinner. This week is Spirit week at school and today we had to dress up in pj's. All departments and staff did as did the kids. The English Language Dep. all had our hair tied up and brought our teddies to school. Tues is Twin day where you dress as pairs. Roni (my colleague) and I are doing a "Women in Black thing", wearing ties which say "ON A MISSION - FROM GOD" above a silhouette of a "Man in Black", we'll wear black pants, jackets etc. Wed is hat & hair day, Thursday is cartoon character day and Friday is school colours day: Gold & Black! Oh the stress of fashion!!!

Shannie has a new saying- where she got it God alone knows! Ken offered her some Kimbop for dinner (Korean Sushy - really delicious - the boys love it) and she said "I ninina (don't in Shannie lingo) eat ching chong!" So there you have it! Ken and I were rolling about hysterically.

That's about it for now but I will write more as and when it happens.

Chapter 3: More info on us!

I had my hair done at a place called Mod's because they said to me that the lady can speak English! Well I now look rather Asian with a very short fringe or "bangs" as they say here! I think they call fringes bangs because that what you have to do to the hairdresser when she keeps cutting and won't stop! So you hit her on the head "Bangs"!!! Fortunately it will grow! I am now armed with a new word as a weapon of necessity - "Chong Ghee!!!" roughly translates as "stop immediately!!" I had to giggle the other day we were directing the taxi driver home after shopping and we basically have to say turn left, turn right, straight on and then on the left, stop. So we have learnt the basics but as we all know, Ken can never remember languages so after saying "Went choock, oronj choock," which the driver understood he then announced "ching chong" instead of "chip ching" and the driver burst out laughing - then proceeded to say, in perfect English, "you mean, straight ahead!" Anyway another day in funny land!

Chapter 2: All about Daejeon

We are really settling into Korea. We have made friends with six couples and two singles. (sounds like a tennis match!) Our neighbour Nancy Andrake who is her 60ties, she has happily taken on the granny role and baby sits when we go shopping etc. She is a no nonsense kind of person but great fun and really easy going. Our friends are Steve and Sheryl Minarick - they have two boys the same age as ours - and the kids are good friends. So it is easy to spend time with them. Sheryl is just like Jean Thomas my American friend from Gabs. She is kind and really funny; her and I get along well. Steve her husband and Ken are good buddies, they are quite a riot together and so we all spend a lot of time laughing! Lara and Terry Linderman, Jim & Julie Brownlee are other friends these are all Americans we spend time with and are also apart of the crowd we mix with. We have also made friends with Jane and Michael Moi Moi who have four kids and they are between 8 - 12 yrs. Shannie loves Abby who is 12 and dotes over her. They are New Zealanders. Wendy & Werner Van Wyk are also friends as are the other RSA Family Lisa & Brian Thompson; we had all purposely avoided each other so as not to create a clique. They are really great people and we all get on well. Sometimes one just needs to Braai Boerewors!

Josh has joined the worship team and I am seeing a real change in his life. He is working hard at school and hopefully will reap the benefits soon. Ethan is struggling so much. Please pray for him to have a break through in reading and spiritually too. His eyes have improved so much he has two more rows to go before he can identify all characters on and eye chart. The opothomologist was thrilled with his programme and he is doing well but there has been so much lost during the last two years of his education that I am feeling really defeated. (He can barely see out of his left eye we only found out in April this year - his right eye has been doing it all!)

Shopping in Daejeon is a real eye opener. I can't read any labels, all of them are in Korean. The shopping malls are huge - four, five floors high and there are no escalators just flat conveyor belts: which move around from level to level so that you can take your trolley from floor to floor easily. The boys love them and run wildly up and down them. There are also massive play areas with jungle like swings and velcro suites which the boys love. They throw themselves against sticky walls etc.The stores stay open 24/7 and there are always kids in the play areas. We leave ours at home with Nancy if we have a late shopping evening but even when we've gone at 11:00 pm there are kids at the shops! I can't find Vanilla Essence or Cinnamon and spices yet. They also don't sell deodorant, I am really glad we brought our own supplies! The food is interesting and most of it is either hot, hot spicey or sweet. So there are even sweet crisps - chocolate coated etc. No salty or savoury flavours! In the malls they have a market section - where the assistants - shout, scream their wares to prospective buyers. It's so noisey and initially I got scared and would avoid this section but now I am tougher and occasionally go with the boys to see the "pets" - live fish, octopus, worms, roaches etc. on sale. The boys haven't worked out that this is supper yet! They think Korea is cool to sell roaches as pets! It's also strange to see pet sections in big malls, you can do your grocery shopping and buy a dog, cat, hamster, snake, ferret or fox as well! They do love their pets though and it's fun to see Koreans carrying their pets around the shops, on chains, etc. On T.V. THEY HAVE PROGRAMME AFTER PROGRAMME ON "MY PET". It's touching to see Korean men wailing over their dogs who are sick ect. Most T.V is in Korean, we have cable - which is more Korean programmes! We do get National Geographic and CNN in English and movies in English. We don't watch a lot of T.V. because we are so busy. We spend weekends travelling and seeing places.

Last weekend we had Monday off so we went to Seoul for the weekend. We went to Lotte Land - Disney in Korean! It was wonderful and we had a good time on all the rides, the shows were fun and the kids want to go back. This weekend we'll go shopping in Song Tan - a US Marine Base. They have all kinds of US stuff and its really easy to shop there because everythings in English and the shopping village is closed off to traffic so the kids are relatively safe. Ken did get propostioned last time we went there and he felt great about it until I reminded him that it was the mighty American dollar the Asian woman wanted and not his mighty muscles! We had a good giggle anyway. So basically everything is still new and exciting and we feel more settled - our stuff arrived and it felt like Xmas, unpacking! They used a crane to lift 50 boxes into our top floor apartment! Quite funny and Ken had a few snide comments about me taking the kitchen sink etc!

Who Are We? AFRICAN GLOBE TROTTERS!

In Christ?
Children of God, missionaries, servants, people with a purpose, but most of all SINNERS - forgiven by God's grace and made righteous by His mercy!

In the World?
We are South African's who have Australian resindency, whom have lived in Botswana, Zambia and are now living in South Korea as missionary teachers! And that's the short story. We are at a predominantly American IB school and are really loving it. I have added all our info of our lives in Korea so if you're interested then read on otherwise change Blogs!


So that was the preface: now for the novel on our life in Korea!!!

Chapter 1 :Our Goodye Africa, Hello World!

We left Africa for good on the 25 July 2005. We have put our immigration papers together for OZ and are off to South Korea for two years as missionary teachers - at a Christian International School. We had bought tickets to fly via the UK and then the school phoned us to say they wanted to change the tickets because they wanted Ken to do a course in Hawaii before coming to Daejeon. So we flew to Disney World for 5 days and then Hawaii for 5 days. We stayed in the Wakiki Beach Marriott Hotel, right on the beach, it was a holiday of a life time!

We are settling down nicely! Getting used to no car and walking to school! Not far though, two blocks! We have a huge apartment, two floors and four bedrooms, three bathrooms, two patios with scenic city views, an attic and office! We are in the penthouse suite of Click Apartments which is one of the many apartment blocks the school owns. The city viewed at night from our 5 th floor apartment is breath taking! Hundreds of red church crosses fill the sky. There are so many churches! The city is surrounded by mountains which lend to a wonderful back drop. The down side is we don't have a lift so we all walk up 5 flights everyday! The weather in August to October has been superb, sunny, gentle cool breeze really summery. Nothing like I've experienced before. Everything was so green and lush here, even in a built up city. We walk through a forest area to get to school and it's so refreshing. Hibiscus or Rose of Sharon (as they call them here) grow wild and in the lot opposite our apartment we have the most gorgeous array of flowers. I still have to get used to the smells of a city though and even though they collect rubbish everyday it still smells awful in the morning but on the way home it's all clean and fresher. Shanneth has settled in so beautifully. She is singing lots of new songs and has learnt two Bible verses. It's wonderful to see her so happy. Josh loves his class and teacher - he is doing so well. When it was his birthday and we took him ice skating at the nearby ice rink. Ethan is missing Mrs.DeJager! I am loving teaching, my grade 12's Science Fiction class is so challenging and interesting and my Grade 9 Writing and Literature groups are fun. Ken is very involved in the middle years and is working towards myp at TCIS. A couple of weekends ago we were taken to Geoggi province, for a staff retreat. All 235 staff (Admin, teaching, industrial - even the drivers were included.) The head and Board members hired a hotel and we all stayed in this marvellous 5 star hotel, all families too.

Food was excellent as were the cultural dances and shows! The kids had a whole fun programme set up while we had get to know you sessions, praise and worship times and a guest speaker - who was so inspiring. We had free time activities; ken : Golf , I went Shopping, Boys : beach, it was great to have all this sorted and paid for, you just got on the respective bus to the specific activity. We came back feeling so refreshed. Then we had a weekend where we were councilors for the Middle School retreat. Even the students go on weekend retreats! We went to Gego Island - a beach resort about 5 hours away by bus. We offered to do this retreat because I want to see as much as possible. It was stunningly beautiful! But better than that was the senior Praise Team's Worship jamming sessions. So cool but totally awesome! I felt like we were in heaven worshipping in the in direct presence of God. These kids are so sincere and yet totally cool, sold out for God. Josh, Ethan and Shannie were hoppin' 'n boppin' it was amazing to see our boys enjoying worship! We went to Zooland on Sunday and had a ball. We never knew that a Zoo can be a themepark! There are fantastic rides and somehow the kids weren't concerned with the animals! So after dragging the brats around we relented and enjoyed the autumn sun while they exhausted themselves on all the free rides! I never thought I would be greatful that they have red hair! But they are really easy to spot in Korea and keep a beady eye on!