Currently Listening Way to Normal By Ben Folds see related

“Les temps sont durs pour les rêveurs.” ~Amelie

So I am a bit over due for an update, but life has been lacking inspiration.  I know that may sound crazy once I tell you all that I have been up to, but I just haven’t much motivation to write.  I wonder why that has been?  Any ideas?

Since last February I have been pretty busy, mostly just with life as an RA, although there have been some major changes in my life these past few months, so I figured I would update you all on these changes.  I am going to try my best to keep things chronological. 

Last Spring Break I returned to the orphanage that I went to the previous year, check out my facebook for photos.  It was, a expected, a pretty amazing trip.  I realized soon after that I have a truly blessed and freakin sweet life when a trip to India doesn’t suck out of me a xanga post of it’s own.  If you want a full update on it, check out the update from the previous year, that about sums it up.  The children there were amazing though, and it was so great just to see them again.  There’s really so much I can learn from them, even reflecting on them now I think about all the things I “need” and how little I really need them.  When is it time to say good bye to the comfortable life for something more ascetic?  When will the lessons of a 10 year old Indian orphan with only 1 set of clothes and no shoes finally sink in? Below are some of the boys. 

I got to see the Blue Man Group in Korea as well in the spring, and that was fun.                                                            

 Also this past Spring I started dating a girl named Christine, we were dating casually for about a month before I had to beg her to be my girlfriend, but I turned up the charm and she came around.  So we’ve been together for about 5 months now and things have been going well.  Below is Christine and I as chaperons for the high school prom.

So that brings me to this past summer, I decided to spend the summer in Korea, and take an intensive Korean language course.  I figured if I was going to put roots here I needed to continue my language studies.  My typical day was pretty cool actually; I would wake up, go to class for 5 hours, go back to my apartment and watch a movie or play video game, and then study for a few hours before going to bed early.  It was really nice and relaxing, although lacking in adventure. I enjoyed staying here so much it got me thinking about why I return stateside at all during the summer.  It’s an opportunity to either learn a new skill or travel somewhere totally awesome, or both! To wrap up the summer I went to Seoul and saw Jason Mraz

(This was my pizza box stack at my old apartment.)

This fall has been really busy so far and a huge adjustment.  There have been a lot of changes in the dorm program.  These past couple of years I have been working at the off-campus dorm and living at an apartment about a block from the dorm.  A plus was that I had the largest RA apartment; the downside was I feel like I lost of connections with the students while not living in the same building as them.  So we decided to give our students the opportunity to live on campus which then meant a full on dorm split up.  So I ended up moving over to a new set of students and dorm parents and co-RA.  There are 8 of my old students in this new dorm though, and it’s been an awesome transition.  I have been enjoying the new facilities, and although I miss my old dorm and co-workers, I have really enjoyed my new students and co-workers.  It’s been really great, and a fun change.  I have been enjoying the new challenges that come with the change as well.  Shoot, I have even enjoyed now living in the smallest RA apartment.  

Apart from the transitions, this fall has been really busy.  I have been on 2 retreats, one for all the staff and one for just dorm staff, also there’s been plenty of random awesomeness.  This past week I went to Everland, which is basically a deformed version of Disney World.  It was pretty hilarious and awesome, the highlight was Styrofoam swords and dip n dots, I mean, besides the awesome people I went with.  The very next day I headed south to Jinju and I went to a lantern festival on the river, it was gorgeous. Below is a group of at Everland.

So that’s my life update.  It’s been a good few months full of blessings and trials, but that’s the way it always goes.  For now, I guess, I am just asking, “what’s next?”  I have been thinking about a lot lately, trying to be as open as possible, while answering the calls.  I have about a month before contract resigns come out, and although I am currently planning on resigning for another year here in Korea I want to at least consider the possibilities and what God wants for my life. Couple that with the insatiable desire for art, beauty, and adventure that haunts me this time of year it leaves me asking the usual question of ,”why” over and over again (usually never finding an answer to it).  I do have a trip to Australia and New Zealand planned for Christmas break that I am looking forward to, and I already have people asking what I am doing this next summer.  That, as previously mentioned, is still way up in the air.  I don’t feel incredibly drawn to the states, but who knows, it may be time for me stop back in.

Well I hope this satisfies the few remaining readers for a while.  I will try to update slightly more frequently, but only slightly. I went ahead and posted some photos below from the past few months.

Thanks for the prayers, keep it real.