A couple of pics at the park today. I was tired. Late night at Noraebang.



Had my first experience of noraebang (korean karaoke) last night. I had heard that this was a quite popular cultural event here, as it is in other Asian cultures. Lyra, one of the other English teachers from America that lives in Ansan had a goodbye party last night, and a group of 15 of us went out to korean BBQ, then to a sports bar, then to noraebong. It was incredibly entertaining. The room, big enough for all of us, had a big flatscreen on the wall with the lyrics and completely unrelated video footage, bench seat on 3 sides, two big books listing all the songs available, and a huge remote to program songs. We were there for more than two hours and it was about 2 in the morning when we left. It was still going strong when we left. I'm usually not a fan of singing in front of people in this format, but it was less intimidating than I had expected. I sang Linkin Park's "In the End" with Lyra. It was pretty hilarious watching some of the others really get into the songs. We all laughed alot. Good time.

I also got to meet a few other westerners from the area that I hadn't met before. Turns out there's a guy named Daniel that lives in my apartment building who's from Bellingham. He's a Christian and seems like a great guy. Didn't get to talk to him too much but hope to hang out with him again before he heads back (like most of the others, his contract is up in a few weeks). And I met a korean guy named Micah (or jihoon kim) that goes to the Korean church where my English church meets. He's really great and I got to talk with him quite a bit. We shared numbers and I hope to spend more time with him. His English is quite good and maybe he can teach me some Korean. Oh, since Lyra was leaving, she passed a few Korean language books on to me, so I've been trying to pick up the language a little more.

OH! One other thing that I forgot to mention last post is that I got cleared by my school to take a couple days vacation in October to go be in my friend Ryan's wedding in Boulder, CO! Super pumped about that. I was hoping to go but didn't know if they'd let me leave in the middle of the semester. But it turns out that's midterms time and they were fine with me leaving. Yea!

Books I'm reading-Suprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll, and How to Read the Bible for All it's Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. I had started the latter two books a month or two ago, but am in kind of a phase right now where I'm not able to digest the heavy, theological, interpretation books, a category which both of these would fall in. So, in need of some lighter reading, I turned to C.S. Lewis' account of his early life and conversion. There are certainly deep parts to this book also, but it's more story than theology, and I find that I usually relate to and feel like I'm right with Lewis' train of thought. The last chapter I read was very helpful to me. I will try to right about it next time. Peace!