Dear Faithful Readers,
We’re back! We know it’s been a while since our last blog
entry, and we could make a bunch of excuses about being busy and why we haven’t
written…but, instead, we’ll just thank all of you who are more faithful to read our blog than we are to write our blog.
This blog entry is full of FAQs we’ve been getting from
people across the country this summer.
What are you doing
this summer?
Our summer started with a 5-day layover in San Francisco. We
had a great time exploring the city, visiting Yosemite, visiting Alcatraz, and
hanging out with some fun friends and family. During our stay, one of our taxi
drivers told us about his former life as a Sherpa in Nepal. It was a great time
to relax after a busy school year.
Following our vacation in San Francisco, we took a long*
flight to Florida, where we spent time with the Pitcairn side of the family
(minus Caleb). Bennett was thrilled to be in the States to see many of the
World Cup matches. We also celebrated our 1st anniversary on June 22nd!
(Best year EVER!) 
We are currently in transit, making our way from Florida to
Illinois. We’ve already made a few stops in Florida to visit more friends and
family, and we are currently enjoying some time in Tennessee before we make our way to Michigan
for some time at Bennett’s favorite beach (He finds the icy cold lake water
refreshing somehow. “None of that icky salt,” he says). Today, we took a beautiful hike up the side of a mountain. We both got a little bit sunburned ("It's good for you," says Bennett. False...) 
We’ll spend some time in Michigan before heading to the
Parkhurst homestead to spend time with the Parkhurst side of the family.
To finish the summer, we’ve got a wedding to attend on our
way back to Florida. We jet off to Korea again at the tail end of July.
How was your year?
We had a full year. There were some challenges, as well as
many great blessings and experiences. One great part of the year has been
building community with friends in Seoul (in and out of school), and we also
have had a great year to grow in our friendship in marriage. One of our biggest
challenges this year was figuring out how to balance investing in school,
church, new friends, old friends, family, and each other. This is still a work
in progress, and it’s something you can pray about with us in the year to come
as we continue to determine how to best serve God with our time.
What are you teaching
now?
Good question! This past year, Joy was teaching 4th
grade. However, next year, Joy will be moving up to join Bennett in the high
school! She will be teaching Spanish 1, Algebra 1, “Math Lab” (individualized
math help for students in Algebra and Geometry), and Journalism. Yes, she is
excited about it1 Yes, she sometimes feels nervous about it. We’re both really
looking forward to working more closely with the same general group of
students. Joy is also excited to get to use and maintain her Spanish in the
upcoming year. 
Bennett has some changes, too, but nothing so dramatic.
Bennett has been teaching 3 sections of Pre-calculus and 2 sections of Physics
(1 AP). Next year, Bennett will be developing 2 new Physics classes, for a
total of 4 sections of Physics and 1 of Pre-calculus.
How long will you be
in Korea?
Another good question! And the answer is…we don’t know yet.
We will definitely be there for this upcoming school year. You can join us in
praying about what to do next. We will be making a decision by around
November/December about whether to return to Korea for the 2015-2016 school
year.
Do you like living in
Korea? Do you like Korean food?
Yes and no, and yes and no! We do enjoy living in Korea. We
love our school, our community, our students, and, of course, bulgogi! That
being said, we don’t love “big city living.” There is lots of air pollution in
our concrete jungle, and we miss open skies and a little more green. We also
miss many of our friends and family members, and we wish we could be in 50
places at once to get lunch with everyone or play a game of cards.
We have tried many different Korean foods! We like many of
them – kimchi, bulgogi, Korean pancakes, Bip bim bop, etc. We also dislike many
of them, namely dishes that are heavy on the squid and fish-food flavored
entrees. We have yet to try (and probably won’t) the live octopus or dog soup.
Neither sound particularly appealing to either of us…
Babies?
Not yet! We’ll keep you posted! J
So that’s that!
Thanks again for keeping up with us via our blog. We really
love sharing life with you, even when we don’t live in the same neighborhood
(country, continent…you get the idea!).
With love,
Joy and Bennett
