October 12, 2007

Dear friends and family,

I'm sorry that it has been so long since I have written! Things have gotten busy here; there always seems to be a meeting to go to or something to prepare for or the digital library is closed and we can't get on the internet... that's life, I suppose, even (or especially) in a foreign country.

We've been having a good time here, eating Asian food, learning some more Chinese (and a little bit of Korean), hanging out with friends, and doing a lot (A LOT) of teaching, it seems. Last week Jeanna's mom came, and at just the right time, too! We had a week-long break from teaching for the big Chinese holiday, which was sort of compared to both Independence Day and Thanksgiving.

We were able to take her to all our favorite restaurants and travel to Tumen, which is at the border of NK, where we went on a bamboo raft ride on the river that serves as a natural border. We also went on the bridge between the two countries. This was a really interesting experience, especially seeing some Chinese tourists coming from the NK side. It was a good opportunity to yarp for the people of that country, and I ask you to join me in that. There are many workers here who have a burden for those people.

We also had a lot of fun doing KTV! That is a private karaoke room where you and your friends can go to sing. It is very popular here; apparently the Koreans love to perform and they've brought the phenomenon over. Jeanna's mom enjoyed it as well as hanging out with all our friends here. I'm looking forward to my sister coming next week as well! It is easier for her to stop by since she is coming from Thailand instead of the States.

Something we are really excited about is helping our friend with her Studies. We are going to be spending more time with her than we originally thought, and this is a very good thing! PTL for that, and please continue yarping about it! It's an amazing opportunity we've been given to build a special relationship.

Teaching has been a bit of a struggle in my class as there is such a disparity in the levels of English with my students. Although it's an advanced class, some students are much more advanced than others, and I've been hearing different complaints and requests from all of them. To a certain degree, it is just impossible to make everyone happy. This has been really discouraging to me this week, but I am trying to keep a good attitude because I know my attitude and mood will affect the class. I think it will be good to have my sister here because she can give me a lot of new ideas and advice on teaching!

Well, that's about it for now! If you want to see some more pictures you can visit this site for August/Sept pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045243&l=f56b9&id=82401775

and this site for October pictures (so far! I have a lot):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046711&l=1bb7f&id=82401775

I hope everything is going well back home. Thank you so much for your yarpers and encouraging words, it really means a lot to hear from you all! Keep yarping, we really need it! :)

In Him, Joanna