We're back! + FAQs

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 1^st anniversary on June 22^nd! (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 4^th 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

Fall Leaves and First Snow

The Parkhursts have been enjoying a change in season here in Seoul. Although the cold is not a welcome house guest, the leaves' changing colors make the city look warm and bright, even when it's not actually so warm or bright. Recently, we were discussing this question: "Will there be seasons in heaven?" What do you think? In other news, we enjoyed our first snow the other day! It wasn't the coldest day we've had, but at the end of the school day, in the middle of 4th grade's Social Studies lesson, big white flakes started filling the courtyard. Needless to say, the students' focus quickly shifted away from "society" and "identity" to SNOW!!! We went outside to enjoy the falling flakes for a few minutes before the end of the day. It quickly became apparent that, from Kindergarteners to Seniors to teachers, everybody loves a little falling snow. None of it really stuck, but it was a fun midweek treat. 

We hope you're all staying warm, wherever you are these days. We're a little jealous of the Floridians we know. It looks like you may have a cold front coming through...We imagine the drop to 70 degrees may be a shock to the system. That being said, we're also looking forward to a warm Christmas in the Sunshine State, though Bennett keeps protesting that "it should be COLD on Christmas!" This Christmas will be about palm trees and making a sandman at the beach instead of his usual chilly northern holiday. 

With love,
Bennett & Joy

A Photographic Month in Review

It's been a busy month here in Seoul! It's hard to believe how much time has passed since our last update, and how much has happened since then. The month of October was packed to the brim. We celebrated our birthdays, celebrated Korean culture, raised money at our school's annual "Walk-a-Sock-a-Thon," took a 4th grade field trip, finished the first quarter, held parent-teacher conferences, started meeting with our GWAM missions team (and started leading an Elementary after-school program with that team), played some ultimate frisbee, had Elementary Spiritual Emphasis Week, and saw our first 4-D movie together! Fall is in full swing, and the weather is getting CHILLY! Joy is loving the fall colors but is wishing for Florida temperatures...Today the temperature in Seoul is 41 degrees - the temperature in South Florida is 80. Bennett is making fun of Joy for being a Floridian, but is secretly bundled up under a blanket right now.

The following pictures capture just a glimpse of the fun we've been having here:

Mrs. Parkhurst's 4th graders brought in pictures of themselves around the world to illustrate the 5 themes of geography. Our students have been from Jordan to California and just about everywhere in between!

For Celebrate Korea Week, our 4th grade parents planned a special day of learning about hanji, a traditional Korean handmade paper. Learn about it here.

The room parents also brought in traditional Korean shoes...

...and we made our own rice snacks.

These little dried fish are mixed into the rice snacks. Joy was a little skeptical when she saw the eyes, but after sampling them agrees that they are pretty tasty.

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art. A team of high school students came to demonstrate their abilities for our Elementary students. Can you do a back flip while breaking 3 boards along the way? Pow! Pow! Pow! They can!

Our annual Walk-a-Sock-a-Thon allowed our students to learn about child labor around the world while raising money to support the International Justice Mission's efforts to end child slavery. Students collected 100KRW coins (the equivalent of dimes) in socks. The challenge? To have the HEAVIEST sock! The heaviest sock this year was 11 kilograms! To kick off the walk-a-thon, students aimed emptied socks at their team's bucket to see who could catch the most.

Parkhurst, Jr. is our class pet. He sits at students' desks with them on their birthdays to celebrate the special occasion. Want to learn how to sing happy birthday in Korean? Click here!

We were excited to receive some birthday mail!

Our birthdays are on October 1st and 4th, and we had a day off of school on October 3rd. It was fun to get to celebrate together. For Joy's birthday, we went out to dinner at Wang Thai and then explored a few bookstores...

This little bookstore is packed with stacks of used books. What a treasure!

For Bennett's birthday, we watched a volleyball game at school and came home for brinner...pancakes and...uh...bacon... Oops.

Mrs. Parkhurst's class made her a GIANT birthday card! 

So you want to see the world on a dime? Come to Ainns World in Seoul!

4th Grade enjoyed exploring famous world landmarks in miniature at this unique amusement park. 

Ok, so this isn't actually us. But, we did really go to see a 4D movie! Last night, we watched Thor on the big screen. Our seats vibrated and moved side to side as Thor fought off the bad guys, we felt air zip by our ears as a spear narrowly missed us, and we occasionally got a sharp kick in the back when someone went down hard. Oomph. It was a fun experience.

We hope you enjoyed this brief taste of our life in Seoul this month. 

We are excited that Christmas is on its way and that we will get to see some of you then! 

With Love,
Bennett and Joy

I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.

Psalm 119:32

Almost October

Scrambled Eggs and...er... "pancakes"
Guess who made each entree!

We can't believe it's almost October!

Our days are packed here, and the past month has flown quickly by.

In addition to everyday life (grocery shopping, cleaning, teaching), since our last entry we have...

1. ...started school! Progress reports come out next week, and it's hard to believe we're already halfway through the first quarter. We're both enjoying our classes. Bennett went on the Senior Retreat and enjoyed spending time with his students (as well as winning a game of capture the flag!). Bennett has also been discipling 2 of his students and is enjoying the time he gets to spend with them outside of the classroom. Joy has been working hard to get the ball rolling in her 4th grade class this year. Although it feels like a lot of work (and it is), she is enjoying getting to know her energetic, "adventuristic" students. Some 4th grade favorites include...a Korean show called "Running Man," Sideways Stories from Wayside School, the class llama (lovingly named Parkhurst, Jr.), recess (of course!), Pokemon, and all the Percy Jackson books they can get their hands on. 
2. ...taken a trip to the beach. A few weekends ago, we climbed on a bus and rode to...the beach! It was time for Staff Retreat. We enjoyed playing games, climbing on rocks, eating melon pops, and relaxing with our coworkers. Joy also enjoyed beating Bennett at foosball. ;) 
3. ...started playing frisbee. Here in Seoul, there is a fairly large (mostly) expatriate community of Ultimate Frisbee players. Bennett has been playing with the league for the past 2 years. Now, the Parkhursts are taking on the competition together. Our team has a jaw-dropping 0-4 record so far. 



Poor translations make us laugh.



4th Grade's growing list of "Ways to
say Said" - This is just from ONE DAY!

4. ...celebrated Chuseok. This week, we've been school-free since Wednesday as Korea celebrates Chuseok, which is a Thanksgiving-like holiday. Seoul has been a little quieter than usual. The Parkhurst family is enjoying an extra long weekend off. Yesterday, we got out of the heart of the city to take a hike. We packed a picnic lunch and, after a steep uphill climb, ate PB&J in the protection of a fortress wall. 

You can drink fresh water from the mountain streams here!
Neither of us braved the communal cups though...

In other news...the weather is cooling down. It's still pretty warm day-to-day, but it's starting to feel more and more like fall. The air is getting drier, and the temperature is dropping. We leave the windows open and a few fans on to move the cool Korea air around our apartment. Ah...

Last week, we started working through a Bible Study about life in a pluralistic society which covers Joshua, Judges, and part of Daniel. The focus of the study is idolatry. Yesterday as we were hiking, we came across a Buddhist temple. We were struck by the sadness and emptiness of idolatry in its traditional forms as the golden idols in the temple reminded us of Israel's worship of the golden calf. God continues to teach us how much we need him, and he continues to show us how much we rely on our own strength instead of trusting him fully. 

Koreans go all out.
Almost every hiker on the trail was fully
prepared with backpack, boots, and
walking sticks. 

Please pray for us as we continue to build relationships with our students this year. Pray that God will open their eyes so that they can clearly see his character. Pray that we will be faithful in serving him, filled with love for our students, and increasingly dependent on him for wisdom and strength in every situation. Please pray with us as we pray about how to invest our time this year. We have the opportunity to help lead a GWAM (Guardians with a Message) trip this Spring Break, and we are praying about whether to lead a trip and which trip to lead if we do. A major factor in this decision is Joy's level of busy-ness in the classroom. We want to take advantage of the opportunities God is giving us to serve, but we also want to be balanced and wise in how many extracurriculars we take on. 

No invaders spotted yet...

Thank you for your prayers and for your friendship to us. We miss being with you in person, but we are so glad that we get to share a little bit of our lives with you through this blog. Until next time...

Happy Chuseok!

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. -John 15:5

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. -1 Corinthians 3:6

P.S. Look what made it to Korea!
A little taste of home...

Palaces, Culture Shock, New Flickr Account, and Back to School

As of today, we have been in Korea for 3 weeks. A lot of life has been squeezed into that time! As promised, our first order of business is to share a few pictures from our visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace with you...
The journey began here. At the entrance to the Palace grounds, we took a pictures with a palace guard before entering the first courtyard. Once inside, we learned a lot about both the history and culture of "Palace Living." Joy posed in front of a room in a building where the king would think before making big decisions. Bennett posed as the king walking through the courtyard. Did you know only the king could walk down the center of this path? The middle section is elevated a few inches and was reserved for the king's feet only!

We enjoyed seeing the gargoyles, some of which were real animals, others of which
were not. You can see the "protectors" of each building lining the roof. There were generally 2 larger stone gargoyles with open mouths, which appear to be chasing off the smaller gargoyles PacMan style. Bennett made friends with one of the mythical protectors of the throne room. We learned that after a fire burned down the royal pavilion, 2 new stone dragons were placed beside the new pavilion to protect from fire and water damage.

Our last picture is one of the prettiest areas of the palace grounds. We sat in the shade by the pond to get out of the heat, rest our feet, and enjoy the view.

Want to learn more about the palace? Check out this link! http://www.royalpalace.go.kr/html/eng/data/data_01.jsp

For more pictures, check out our NEW FLICKR ACCOUNT! http://www.flickr.com/photos/100089101@N07/

The second week we were in Korea, Joy had New Teacher Orientation and was at work everyday while Bennett enjoyed playing computer games, getting together with friends and students, and helping Joy set up her classroom (What a great husband!).


We decided to do our grocery shopping for the week last Sunday at eMart. It was quite the adventure and Joy's first moments of feeling real culture shock. "I can't read what any of these things are...there are so many people...everybody is yelling around me in Korean...I keep responding in Spanish...I can't find what I'm looking for..." In the meantime, we enjoyed eating "dinner" as we walked through the store. There were about 50 (or more!) free samples - everything from little fried dumplings to seaweed to whole crawfish! Joy also enjoyed seeing some of the things commonly sold in Korea that you just wouldn't find in a Publix or Jewel in the States (Octopus, anyone?).

We've spent our third week in Korea working hard. Lots of meetings. Lots of copies. Lots of planning. Why? School starts TOMORROW! Friday was our New Student Orientation, and it was fun to have families on campus (The mixture of kids and cookies in the lobby made for some high energy madness!). For both of us, the real excitement of teaching is the relationships we get to build with students and families. Please pray for us as we start the new school year. We both want to be intentional in building relationships with students. Pray for energy, efficiency in planning, and wisdom as Joy continues to "figure out" a new grade level. Pray that our new students will make good friends quickly, and also pray that our students grow in their knowledge of and love for the Lord this year.

Goodbye summer, hello school!

Hasta la proxima,
Bennett & Joy

Settling In

Our first supper in Korea - Pizza School.

Good morning and happy Friday from Korea! If you're in the U.S.A, it's still Thursday for you. But on our side of the globe, Friday morning has dawned and is looking a little grey. We're coming to the end of the rainy season these days, and since we arrived last Sunday, we've had a few days with drizzles, a few sunny days, and one day which left us drying our shoes out with fans.

We've had a great first week in Korea. We are unpacked and "moved in," and though we're still figuring out how our washing machine and stove work, it already feels like home.

The front door of our new apartment.
There are no keys to the building or to our apartment.
We just punch in the code, and "Voila!"
What would happen if the power went out, I wonder?

Our apartment is located in a little neighborhood in the district of Seoul known as Itaewon. There are a lot of restaurants nearby, and we can find just about any type of cuisine we're craving - Turkish Kebabs, Phat Thai, Vietnamese Pho, Burritos, Pizza, Fried Chicken, Hot Dogs. You name it, and you can probably find it here somewhere. We're close to the U.S. military base, and in our area of Seoul, many people speak at least a little English, which makes ordering food at restaurants and grocery shopping a little easier than it might be otherwise.

Since we moved in, we've been working on taking things out of suitcases, putting things into drawers and closets, and purchasing needs and wants for our new home. Shopping for larger items without a car proves to be an adventure. On Monday, we made quite a scene in the mall carrying a desk, 2 lamps, a blow dryer, 2 trashcans, a vacuum, several smaller cleaning supplies, towels, and a computer monitor between the two of us. We weren't sure it would all fit into the taxi. Today, Bennett mentioned purchasing a couch...maybe we'll bring it home on the subway.

Our washing machine.What do all these
buttons mean? It's all Korean to me.

We've also gone into school a few times this week to take care of business and to play volleyball with the high schoolers who are getting ready for tryouts in a few weeks. We're both feeling a little sore, but have had a fun time playing and catching up/getting to know the students. In addition to the exercise we've gotten playing volleyball, we've also gotten quite the workout walking to and from home. There's no way to our apartment without heading up and down some pretty steep hills, which can be daunting when carrying groceries or after being out and about for a few hours.

Learning the bus routes. 

Fans in Korea have automatic
shut-off timers to save your life.

Today, as a mandatory part of Joy's "orientation" to Korea, we're going out to be tourists. Gyeongbok Palace here we come!

More to come later! In the meantime, learn about "Fan Death" by clicking on the link below.

Fan Death - What is it?

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane

We had a fun time exploring Chicago with the family
while Joy's parents were visiting. Here we are at the Bean.

Just a quick update to let you know...we leave tomorrow! We'll be watching the sun rise (Bennett groans) on our way to the airport, and the next time you hear from us, we'll be getting settled into our new apartment in Seoul.

Please pray for a safe and smooth flight over the Pacific.

*Fun fact...as we fly east, we will be chasing the sun. It will be about 22 hours before we see another "night."