Well, it's been a while since I've written on here. And I'm gonna blame Anlee. Having a girlfriend takes a lot of time! I find myself wanting to see her all the time, and other things get pushed to the back. It's crazy! Having a girlfriend should mean you get 4 extra hours in every day. Where was God on that one? But seriously, it's great. My time and priorities have certainly been rearranged, but it's all very good.

I've give you some snapshots of the last 3 weeks.

Well, my mind isn't going back that far, so let's do the last week. Last Saturday, Anlee, me, Amanda(Anlee's roommate), Brian (Amanda's friend), Cam, and Gideon went to see the Nutcracker ballet in Seoul. Some of Anlee and Amanda's Korean co-teachers also joined us, one of them bringing their family. It was a great night. Probably the best part was eating a full-on American meal at Tony Roma's before hand. I got just a plain old burger and my taste buds were jumping up and down in excitement the whole time. It was incredible. I had a good time talking with the husband of one of the korean teachers. They lived in Canada for several years, and more recently lived in NYC for 2 years. They have two younger kids that both speak Korean and English. Pretty cool. After dinner we walked up the street (in the 25 or so degree weather) to the Seoul Arts Center. It was a really nice building. Our seats were way up at the top, but it was still a good view. I was surprised at the number of foreigners there were around us. There was a white couple probably in their late 60's, early 70's right in front of us. I also wonder what other people's stories are. I wonder how long they've been in Korea. The ballet itself was very different from the American version. I had seen the Nutcracker in Seattle as a child and had really fond memories of it. This version did not really captivate me. The dancers were great and the music was great, but it was kinda hard to pick up on the story line, and really didn't draw you in very well. It was not as captivating as I had hoped it would be. And it didn't help that the audience would clap after every slightly impressive individual dance performance. And so every 8 minutes or so, the play would be interrupted by applause. Kind of annoying. But it was still a good time. It's nice having a group of English speaking friends to hang out with.

The next day, Sunday, was our Christmas service at my church. Now, I haven't really ever played with the worship team at my church. I've done a couple of special music pieces, but nothing with the team. They know that I play and have asked if I want to get involved. But I've told them that one of my reasons for coming over here was to take a break from being in a leadership position, and being up front in the church. Not because I don't like it, or don't feel called to it. But just because I've done it for most of my post-middle school life and feel like if I'm going to continue to be in ministry or leadership positions in the future, I'd like to take a step back now, while I can, and just evaluate life and God from a non-ministry perspective. So, I've turned down the offers, but have said that in time, I'd love to join them. And this Sunday was mostly a bunch of special music stuff so I agreed to be a part of it and ended up being part of 4 different songs. I played O Come, O Come Emmanuel on the guitar and sang. I played piano for a Korean guy named Sung Min for a Kirk Franklin song. It was all jazzy and gospely, and was a good challenge for me on the piano. I also played piano for an American girl named AP on Oh Holy Night. It was an interesting blend cause she's a classically trained singer (think opera) and I worked up an arrangement that was more upbeat and syncopated. So we both had to compromise and agree on a medium. It turned out great though. And lastly, my Korean friend Paul was doing a rap and he asked me to right a hook (you know, the singing part that comes in between raps; kinda like the chorus). I put together something and sang that with him to a track. It was pretty fun. It was nice to play a good amount of music that day. I still think I'll wait a bit to play with the team, but am feeling close to being ready.

On Monday, Anlee and I went and saw Avatar. That was really sweet. Go see it.

Then, Christmas Eve, I got to lead a song in the Korean Christmas Eve service. The Korean church that my English service is held in is huge (I think 15,000 members). And they put on a Christmas Eve service that was mostly just special music, and a lot of kids dancing around. And they asked a group from the English service to do a song. I volunteered to lead something kinda last minute. So we did my arrangement of Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee. I played guitar and sang, Pastor Nick played piano, someone played bass, and then there were 3 other singers. It was really fun. There were probably around 3000 people there. Good experience.

After the service, a group of us went over to Anlee and Amanda's place. The girls had the idea that we could all just crash over there and then nobody had to wake up alone on Christmas day. We had a great night eating yummy food (thanks to Costco), watching Elf, and playing Nertz, the greatest card game in the history of the world. The only bad part was that I got dominated by Amanda, who's only played once before. I will get revenge before I leave (that's right Amanda, just wait). It was a good time hanging out with friends, and then we all crashed on the floor.

Christmas day, we went back to the church, as there was a turkey dinner being served for the English service. It was pretty good. Not amazing, but real American food is always appreciated. After that, Anlee came over to my place and we hung out for the rest of the day/evening. We shared gifts, made a Christmas tree (picture), watched Grinch, went on a walk, and had some yummy alfredo and ice cream cake. It was one of the best day in my recent memory. It was nice to have Anlee and other friends to share Christmas with. At no point did I feel lonely. Then I skyped with my family today (the 26th) and got to chat with all the relatives that are over. I almost felt like I was there with them.

Here's a link to a new video that I just took this last week of the infamous Tae-oo Fekkes, my Korean brother. http://www.vimeo.com/8390635

http://www.vimeo.com/8116619-here's another video. This gives you a taste of my everyday morning walk into school. Enjoy.

Well, I have a lot of videos that I would like to show you all, but for some reason, I haven't been able to upload them directly to the blog. So, if you'd like to see more of my life in Korea through video, you can go to this link and watch the videos. I just put one up of a student of mine who wants to be my brother and has named himself Taylor Fekkes. Enjoy! http://www.vimeo.com/8005805

Hello, hello. It's December already. Crazy! Time goes by in really weird ways when you're in a new country. Yesterday there was some snow blowing around, but it didn't stick. It was really cold last night though. I went shopping in Seoul with my ladyfriend (everyone: see below; Anlee: you said you preferred "lady" over "girl". haha). And it was cuh-old!! I bought a new beenie that keeps my head nice and warm, but it's tough to keep out the chilling wind. I guess the average temperature is right around freezing for the next 3 months. Golly!

I found out roughly what my teaching schedule looks like for the next few months. And it's pretty sweet! So, the students all just finished final exams this past week. And the next three weeks we have school, but we're finished with the textbooks so I just get to plan whatever I want for the classes. I'm doing "Missing Lyrics" this next week with both grades. How it works is all the students get a sheet with the lyrics of a song, except that some lyrics are missing. And then we listen (or I play on guitar) the song several times and they try to fill in the blanks. This is my favorite lesson plan. Easy, fun, and it involves music. I'm playing "Hey Jude" for the first year students, and we're listening to "Hello Seattle" by Owl City with the third year students. The following week I have a "Creating Sentences" lesson for the 1st year students. And then the 3rd week I am going to do Christmas carols with my guitar with both classes. And maybe a Christmas quiz and candy canes for prizes. Should be loads of fun. And that's December. And then there is technically no school in January. But during the first week, I am supposed to put on a English Winter Camp, with a special group of kids that sign up to continue studying throughout the month. And then I will have some classes with this same group of students (I think) throughout the month, but it should be a pretty easy load. Maybe one or two classes a day. And then, normal school is back in session the first two weeks of February, and there is no school whatsoever for the last two weeks in February. So, for one of those weeks, I just bought a ticket to go visit my relatives in the Philippines. Pretty pumped about that. Got a great deal on the ticket too. I'll be there in Manila for one week. So, that's how my next few months look teaching wise.

Another notable thing in this past week is that I started reading a biography of Martin Luther. It was written in the '50's I think and is called "Here I Stand." Several years ago, I watched the Luther movie when it was in theaters, and I was really intrigued by his life. And reading all the details now has really been captivating me. He story is amazingly interesting. I recommend both the movie and this book to everyone. Why it is no refreshing for me to read this right now is that I, at times, get kinda isolated and forget that other people struggle with faith and understanding God and the Bible. I tend to think that nobody really struggles like I do and that I ought to not struggle like this. But Luther wrestled INTENSELY with what to make of the Bible and what God's thoughts towards him were. It controlled his life! And this has given me some peace with where I'm at, and some strength to keep asking questions and searching. But I've learned that there is a right and a wrong way to ask questions, and to have doubts. As I learned in different book yesterday (yes, dad, I starting reading "Doubting" and it's perfect for me right now), there's a difference between skepticism and doubting. Skepticism is "the decision to doubt everything deliberately, as a matter of principle." And doubt is something that is quite natural as humans with limited understandings and abilities who are trying to understand a God and his created world that are beyond comprehension. I would say that I have been living mostly in the skepticism realm for the past 4ish years. Purposely bringing everything in to question and being afraid to hold anything as "truth." But things are changing now, and I will soon write a blog that contains more of my present thoughts. I have much more to say. All that to say, Luther is hugely encouraging to me right now. I read the biography for like 6 hours on Monday.

And lastly, as I mentioned before, there is a really cool girl named Anlee that is part of my life. She's been a good friend of mine for a while and now I get to call her my girlfriend. I've been teaching her guitar and we have bible study with a few others every thursday. She teaches at a different school about 30 minutes from here. She's 23 and from Georgia. Yup. If you want more info, you're gonna have to contact me personally.

Alright. Hope y'all are well. Let me know if there are ways I can be praying for ya. Gotta get ready to go to church. peace, derek