becka lippy

So our head teacher gave us some black tape to use when we play games, or to hang things on the walls. I, of course, couldnt help but to use it to tape my kids mouths shut. :) Here the girls are putting the tape on. Jinsol put it on her eyes, but Helen and Amy decided to keep it on the mouth. The other girls (who are sitting out of the picture) are all in hysterics laughing through this whole ordeal.. needless to say, for about 5 minutes there was no formal instruction going on! After taping their mouths closed, we used the tape in other ways... Here are Helen and Jinsol with some intense facial hair! And then I decided to join in the fun...

Many of you may remember that my friend Ben was moving here to teach English for a year. Well, he's here, working at franchise of my school a few subway stops away. His coworker has the hookups and she and Ben get to buy all that American food that the rest of us crave but cant get here. So out of my jealousy, I thought I'd share a photo with you all of Ben showing off his newly purchased American food.

As I have mentioned in the past I LOVE Sundays. I wanted to post some picks from tonight's dinner. We all headed out (about 15 of us) to eat some korean style beef. Kelly and I Here are Scott, Cam, and Mr. Park My dear friend Mary! So pretty! As you can see, eating dinner is communal and messy. Everyone just picks at all the foods on the table with their chopsticks and the meat is cooked right on the table in front of us. Good times.

(Warning: be careful what you say in front of me because it might end up as a quote on my blog!) "Guilt is frustration that I cannot fix myself (or my sin) enough to approach the throne of grace." - Dan May I add an AMEN!!!

This has been a week of poetry. In one of my middle school classes, we've been doing a unit on poetry. It's one of my favorite classes to teach because the kids are so old (and I listen to the same music as the girls- Jonas Brothers, Lady Gaga!) So the poor boys, I made them write a poem. No amount of pleading or whining could keep me from assigning such a wonderful task. The boys finally gave in and wrote poems... about me! They thought somehow that writing about how I was "wonderful", "kind", and "beautiful" would get them a higher grade (maybe it worked!). The best part was tonight they had to do a presenation of their poem, reading it aloud to the class. I loved hearing these "too cool for school" boys read about how amazing I am, nonetheless in POEMS they WROTE! It made me and all the girls laugh our hearts out. In light of my boys poems, I thought I'd post a poem that recently has meant a lot to me. Wilderness into the wilderne

Directions to make an awesome sandwich. 1. take two of the Omega3 bread slices (this bread can only be bought at Paris Baguette in Korea) 2. On slice A, put cream cheese and cucumber 3. On slice B, put djion mustard (lots of it!), fresh made hummus, and lettuce 4. coat both tops of pieces with more humus so the sandwich sticks together, bring pieces together carefully 5. Enjoy!

Today I took a day off. After last weeks episode, I realized that I needed a day alone with the Lord. So I spent the morning cleaning and baking, and headed out to Hongdae for some little time alone with God. I've written about Hongdae before; its the university area that I love. I've gone on "dates" before with the Lord, times where I went out to the beach in college to pray, etc. I knew it was gonna be a good day.. here I am about to leave the apartment, happy to go! I chose to go to this little Italian bakery where I sipped on a lovely iced latte while I journaled, prayed, and studied Korean. It was awesome. Then I headed to the park where during the fall they had live music on Saturdays. Sure enough, the spring has come and they began to host live music again. When I sat down, I immediately recognized the group as one of my favorites from last fall. I remember thinking that the lead singer has a Damien Rice quality to him. After the show, he came up to me out of n

Some Korean children on a field trip to the fortress Sunyoung and I on the bus to the fortress A reconstruction of the architecture from back in the day I just liked this sign, it's kinda funny These guys were getting ready for a festival and I being the awesome white tourist pulled out my camera and took some photos "Harmonious City, Happy Suwon" -yeah, ok Hey friends, sorry for the delay in posting. I realize that after a post like my previous one, I need to be more prompt in posting so you all know that I am not still sitting in my room crying. No, Monday was better. Tuesday was even better. I am learning to say no to social activities. To leave room in my life for time alone. I know, not really consistent with my extroverted personality. But that's what I need right now. So I am still pursuing relationships, but trying not to overload my schedule. Speaking of, I made a new friend named Betsy. She is basically awesome. She was raised in San Luis Obispo and I dont k

While I have many joyous posts waiting for you all (Passover, Easter, and my visit to Suwon) I write tonight a post not quite joyous. It was this week a year ago that the ex and I began our relationship. I was keenly aware of this fact all week. This past month I have been more social than ever before here in Korea, and this past week has been even more so. I have spent all week running around, getting things ready for Passover, hanging with friends, and just being in relationships in general. This is such a stark contrast from the dark hole I hid in from June till January. I spent those 8 months hiding from people, running from all friendships, and spending most of my free time alone. I was telling a friend today that I would spend my Saturdays alone, and would often go all day without saying a single word out loud. Most of you reading this blog know how much I talk. Nope, I learned to love silence. In fact, anything more than that would scare me. So this week, being a year mark from