becka lippy

So I finally had soju, the famous and all too popular drink here in Korea. It's similar to vodka and it goes down super smoothly.... maybe even too smoothly! A group of us went out for drinks in honor of Erin's birthday. We were a fairly big group, mostly foreigners and mostly English teachers. Here I am with the birthday girl and our shots of soju. I have to confess that I drank much more than I expected to. By the end of the night I had probably about 4 shots and 2 beers. I felt sick later that night, but I woke up without any hangover. So I guess that's good. Here is Maggie (one of my coworkers) with some guys from another school. Kiren, Danielle, and I toasting to... well, I think we were just happy to have soju in hand. More toasting... it never seemed to end! But at the end of the night, this is what we had left: a bunch of empty bottles! The total for all of this madness was only about $120. Which means for about $8 each, we had a solid 4 hours of good times. Not sha

Today my mom turns... er... 38? In any case, happy birthday to my forever beautiful mommy.

We celebrated Erin's birthday last night with some yummy chinese/japanese fusion food and an awesome cake. Happy 23! I had my first Korean beer, not too shabby... 맥 주, 주 서 요 ! ( maekju chuseyo means give me a beer please!) Coworkers from school I'm started to add more ingredients to my sitrfry. Now there are carrots, corn, onions, lettuce, sprouts, and noodles. Yum? Best for last, my friend Sunyoung took me out for Japanese food. So sweet!

Sorry to disappoint, but this catch up blog will have to be short (and boring). I am just wiped out from the past few days and haven't really had time to process much, and therefore have little to share with ya'all. I finally got to go to my school on Thursday and I watched a few teachers teach various classes. The system at the school seems quite complex, but at least its organized (not something private language schools here are known for). I am taking over for a guy named Steve. He's from Canada, of Indian descent, and a total blast. We totally hit it off and have spent a lot of time in the last two days laughing. One of my favorite things to laugh about has been how funny the students are about Steve being "brown". Some great stories to share there, but they will have to wait for another day. Anyways, I have a total of 14 classes of students, ranging from age 5 to 15 and each class has a different curriculum so there is a TON of stuff for me to learn right now

I’ve been trying to post a video tour of my apartment for the past few days. Hopefully today it will finally go up. I have to admit, I’ve made my room quite comfortable. In fact, maybe it’s too comfortable. A few nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night, and I knew I was in my room. I just didn’t know which country my room was in. For a moment, cities like New York, Santiago, and even Tokoyo ran through my mind. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it was Seoul, but I had a hard time believing it. I remember in John Leonard’s Missional Anthropology class (one of my favorites at WTS) that it is ok for missionaries in another culture to make their home a safe place. A place where they can be free to express their home culture. It came up in the conversation around the complications when marrying someone of another culture. Now, for those of you who have known me for a while and well, know that I was (and still am to some extent) intent on marrying a Chileno. Anyways, I’m getti

Let's see what I have in my fridge... hmm.... all veggies and tofu. I think this is a little glimpse into my year here. Noodles and lettuce stirfry. Sounds about right. A night in wouldn't be complete without a facial.

Today was not quite what I expected. I knew that once I got here, before I could have my alien registration card, I would need to go to the hospital for a medical check. I figured I would go, they would look at me, ask if I had any particular diseases, etc. And really it would be no big deal. Um, no. It was much more than that. Fortunately, and also to my embarrassment, the guy from the school, Jin, accompanied me. We got to the hospital and checked in. They gave me a cup to pee in. That was my first clue that this was a little more serious than I had expected. I asked Jin if I what I was supposed to do with the cup of pee once I was done. He told me just to bring it back out and bring it to the front counter. Uh… yuck. But ok. I am ok. I remember that Chile was quite similar in its dealings with body fluids and such things. So I went into the bathroom and peed into the cup. I stared at the bright yellow pee in the clear little Dixie cup and shook my head trying not to laugh out loud.

Many (but not all) sinks nozzles are opposite of American. A long handle that you would normally move up to turn on water in America, must be moved down in Korea. This is the case in my apartment and after 3 days here I still keep trying to push the handle down to turn off the water. Hopefully old habits can be changed.

Time to give credit where credit is due. God is GOOD! (I’m considering changing the blogs name to this phrase since it seems to be all I can say these days.) So yesterday was a little rougher for me. I had to remind myself that I didn’t have friends the first week in Chile and it was ok. I thought back on that first month even and how I spent a lot of time alone. How I would wander the streets alone and it was ok. So last night was my first Saturday night here in Korea. Because I haven’t started school yet, I know NO ONE. I had woken up ridiculously early yesterday so by the time 6pm came around, I was ready to sleep. But I knew that it would be bad if I got in the habit of sleeping so early (especially since my work hours are 2-9pm) so I grabbed a book and went to good ol’ Dunkin Donuts. After an hour or so of reading, I was feeling the need to move, so I got up and started walking. I walked, and I walked, and I walked. I knew I wouldn’t get lost if I paid half attention so I wandered

I just met Ta’eh, my next door neighbor. I was having a hard time getting me stove to work, and I figured there would probably be some gringo next door who could help me out. So I cleaned up a little and knocked on the door directly next to mine. A sweet little Korean girl opened the door, took one look at me, and said “hello” with a thick accent. I smiled apologetically and told her that I was her next door neighbor. I offered my hand and my name and she offered hers. I smiled and told her that I had a question about my apartment. I’m pretty sure she didn’t understand me, but my hand movements showed that I wanted her to come into my apartment. As she walked into my apartment, she asked me how long I have lived here. I told her that today was my second day, at which she gasped in awe at how much my apartment looked like a home. It turns out that my new neighbor has lived in this apartment complex for 6 months, she lived in Davis, Ca for a few months, and she is here now to work on her

10 things I’ve learned about Korea in the last 24 hours: 1. They LOVE coffee drinks. There are more coffee houses in a block radius of my apartment than I can count. I’m not joking. Every other shop is a coffee shop. I’m not sure how they stay in business with so much competition. And the only thing they love more than coffee? Beer. I will post at some point all the beer bars here. 2. There is a lot of Christian lingo in English all over this city. I live in a neighborhood called Seocho and there are signs all over that say Seocho: Light of the World. Huh? Wouldn’t that be Jesus? Other ones include a sandwich shop that boasted coffee that blessed you. 3. Hangers are hard to find. I spent ALL morning on a scavenger hunt for hangers. Seriously, it shouldn’t be that hard, but it was. 4. Korean women all wear heals, all the time. I’m fine with this since many of them are between 5’0 and 5’2 which puts us on even ground. 5. The only metal surface that my magnets stuck to in my apartment was

Today is day 2 in Seoul. As you know, I arrived safely and got into my apartment without any problems. I spent day 1 exploring a little. I found out that Korea has a different wifi system so my amazing netbook is not so much a netbook. I’m going to look into getting it koreanized. So I knew that my family would be worried if they didn’t hear from me soon. After a little adventure with the ATMs and other random issues, I finally sent out the needed emails and posted yesterdays blog. Next: figuring out public transit. Danielle is probably laughing at this. I love city subways. I love maps. Give me 5 minutes with a metro map and I am set. Seoul is a little more complex than I am used to in terms of the subway system, but after a few rides, I am happy to say that I have mastered it. It’s one of the best systems really. So clean, in the stations and the trains. Everything runs really smoothly. I’m not sure what it costs. I bought a little zip card that you can recharge. It took me a while t

Note: I have been writing out some posts on my netbook which I will upload after the fact. So these are a little overdue and out of order, but in any case... Dear Friends, I am writing from the airport terminal where I wait to board a plane headed for Korea. I have planned, prepared and packed for this moment and I have to admit: I am ready. People have asked me these last few days if I am nervous or anxious, and all I can tell them is that I am ready. I can look back and see how good the Lord’s timing is (what a thought!). Although I am impatient, I have truly enjoyed these last two months at home with my parents. My dad and I have had a chance to live together, something we haven’t done in 8 years. And the two weeks I spent living with my mom and Nigel were relaxing and restorative. I’ve had a few chances to hang with my brother, my sister, and her boyfriend. And who knows how many years will pass before I get the chance to spend this much time with them again. My heart is slowly hea

Hi friends, just a quick note to let you know that I am safe and sound here in Seoul Korea. I have moved into a tiny studio in a totally awesome part of town and am slowly learning my way around this area. Stay tuned for photos of my new crib and hood.