Vacation Has Begun

My 17 days of vacation started today, which is Thursday, at 5:45pm. It has been a great 4 months here in South Korea so far. I have no complaints, except whenever I get back to the States I will not want to work a forty hour week! I am looking forward to this vacation. I am staying here in Korea but I plan o travel around the country doing some major exploring. I will keep you posted on my adventures!

Me and My Bike

I wanted to let all those know who might be worried about me ridin a motorcycle an important fact. My motorcycle only goes 65 km/h or a whooping 40 mph! Don't worry I will be jsut fine!

My First Adventure on "The Mule"

Today I tasted freedom for the first time in almost four months. I jumped on the mule and just drove. I finally went out of the city and saw some of the countryside which makes up most of Korea. Here are some of the sights I saw.



As I was driving into the mountains I came to a dead end at this Buddhist Temple. The countryside seems to be filled with them.

The artwork always amazes me. It is so sad that they put so much time and effort into something that is so futile.

Kuk Sool Won- Traditional Korean Martial Arts

I have been taking Kuk Sool Won Classes for 1 month now. I have learned 4 of the 6 positions in order to take my white belt test. Hopefully by the end of February I will be ready for my test. Today we visited with another class. Here are a few pictures.

The child in the pictures is the son of the owner.

Ready position!!

Caleb is my instructor as well as our Worsip Leader at church. He is a 5th degree black belt.

Caleb's Qua Ja Nim- or his instructor

AICF Worship

Here are a few more pictures of our worship team. It is an amazing ministry and I am very thankful I have the opportunity to be a par of it.

Nathan was filling in as the worship leader. He normally plays bass guitar. The worship leader was filling in on the drums but is not pictured.

Claudine and I

Joshua was singing and filling in on acoustic guitar.

Jeremiah on keyboard and I can't remember on bass guitar.

Claudine and I after the service. She is from South Africa but came to South Korea by way of New Zealand.

Kelly's New Shoes

I have been searching for 3 months with Kelly for new running shoes. We have gone to Seoul two times just to look for shoes. Yesterday we finally found them here in downtown Jeonju. This is amazing because Kelly wears a size 11 and it is really true that Asian people have very small feet! Here are her new shoes:

The Mule

Today was an awesome day here in South Korea. I finished my 2006 taxes and with my tax return and my overtime this month I will be paying off my first credit card! The Lord also provided a very special gift today.

I have been struggling with not having freedom to travel about so I have been longing to get a motorcycle. Bikes are very cheap here and so I thought it would be a great chance to get one. I budgeted $300 including a new helmet. The Lord provided "The Mule" today for $100. I bought a brand new helmet and mittens for an additional $40.

The bike has been affectionately named "the mule" because it has been passed around from foreigner to foreigner. I am approximately the 25th foreign owner. The bike keeps going and doesn't quit! My pastor here actually owned the mule this time last year. He gave it to Dave, the guy I bought it from and Dave sold it to me for the amount of repairs/upkeep over the last year. Below you will see what I mean by mittens. These are placed over the throttle/brake/clutch. once on the bike you just slip your hands into the mittens. It is an amazing invention, your hands stay warm and you can still drive just fine.

I am pretty sure I am not going o call the bike the mule. If you have any suggestions let me know.

Total Phone Weirdness

I was sitting on my bed watching TV when my cell phone from the States started to ring my old Carrie Underwood ringer. I thought it was a little strange that I would have an alarm set for 3am especially with that ring, but you never know I have done stranger things. I opened my phone and it was someone calling from the Republican Party trying to gain support for their candidate. I put my cell phone on the do not call list a few years ago but I guess I can’t even escape from unwanted callers here in South Korea!! I had my phone disconnected before I left the States but somehow a call made it through. I am going to have to talk with the cell phone company about this.


Weirder still I just used Skype to dial my cell phone number and it rang again here in South Korea. I am going to call Verizon right now. This is nuts that I can get reception here, I am sure the prices of a phone call are just crazy! Please no one try and call me here. If you are wondering why I even have my cell phone on here, I use it as an alarm clock and I still have all my numbers stored there from everyone I call.

Vacation A Plenty

We got the great news that our work schedule will be changing after we return from our vacation. Right now I work Monday through Thursday. On Friday I have one or two classes, but I basically have the day off. Many people would think that this is great but it can be a pain because you can't really do anything on Friday except get caught up on sleep, email, and maybe plan for the next week. Here comes the good news... with our new schedules we work Monday through Friday for 7 we ks and then we get either 1 week off or 2 weeks off depending on the time of year! So in the one year I will be in South Korea I will get 7 week of vacation plus I will be finished with my contract 10 days earlier! Can you beat that? I don't think so! Below is the break down in case anyone has an inkling to come visit me in this beautiful country while I am gone. It is also so you know when I might be coming to visit you...

Vacation Periods
February 16th to March 4th
April 20th to April 29th
June 15th to July 1st
August 17th to September 2nd