Ahhh… only 9 more days til the end of the semester!!!

Chris just got these T-shirts he had printed up from Napoleon Dynamite.  They look awesome!  Where does he get his skills?  Its like he’s a walking art portfolio or something.  Check out his site and prepare to be amazed.  I’ll try and break into his apartment and steal one… more on that tomorrow.

Tomorrow the staff is holding a “secret santa” gift exchange.  Here’s a little 411 into my mind.  I am absolutely horrible at trying to find Christmas gifts for people.  Christmas gifts to people you know should be about how well you know them.  For example… if I knew that a friend had talked about a movie he enjoyed… for his gift I’d go out and get the pirated-copy DVD for him.  Isn’t that friendship or what? :)  However, what if you get someone you don’t really know that well?  If you’ve been in this situation before, what do you do?  I hate to ask other people but I asked about 3 people already and nobody seems to know.  Anywho D.I.C. and I just got back gift shopping from Home Plus and I finally got a little ditty for my unsuspecting… I mean special friend. I know that Drew’s person should be excited about the present awaiting for them.

Speaking of Obi-won, I have learned another new trick for my xanga… how do you like the Five for Fighting on the site?  Unfortunately, I learned how to do this, not by Drew’s instruction but from one of my students.  Maybe if I suck it up and go premium Drew will acknowledge my presence more (don’t worry I still ain’t got nothing but love for ya).  I need some feedback, if the music is causing a long DL wait… let me know and I’ll take it off, also does the quality sound like someone recorded the song from a tape player to their computer?  Well, guys go practice what you preach or be honest and preach what you practice.

Happy 3rd anniversary Virginia!

De Colores!

Back from a 3 day Tres Dias men’s conference in Seoul. It was pretty incredible being around other Christian men… it was cool that Brian Thompson (dorm dad) and I were the only civilians attending, all the others were in the military (Army and Navy). I thought we’d stick out or be isolated but they did an awesome job including us and making us feel very welcome. Love y’all, love.

Sitting around military guys was really great, hearing their stories of life in the military and what that means for their families, I was talking to this guy in the navy and he was telling me that the average stay for an officer is about 2 years in one place!!! This guy’s dad was a naval fighter pilot so he grew up moving around alot and the longest he ever stayed in one place was the 4 years while at college (Naval Academy). Other guys talk about how living in SK while their family stayed in the US was really tough for them and how they struggled with uprooting their families versus letting them have security of staying in the same place.  Another thrill was getting to eat authentic American snacks again!  Going so long w/o Cheetos and Reeces buttercups I thought I was going to waste away.  Everyone there told me that this is called “Godly fat”… yeah whatever!

Here’s a picture of me inside the base. Basically, since 9-11 security is pretty tight to get on the base but somehow they let Brian (which was weird because he’s South African… but I think South Africa is part of the coalition) and me inside the base.  Inside you feel like a VIP because no civilians are allowed on without a sponsor, so few can get on. So as I am feelling real important I then discovered that we weren’t actually “on” the base but just inside the outside perimeter *sigh* oh well. Anywho, had a great time at the conference. I don’t have all the answers to my questions but God reminded me of His faithfulness and that He’s here for me.  Can’t argue with that.

Brian and I left we missed our 7:15pm KTX (speed train) back to Taejon and the only train left was seats in 1st class on the next KTX.  It wasn’t half bad   We got free earphones to listen to music on the way… and we get to keep the ear phones but they don’t work with my iRiver mp3 player.  Its great to be back with Drew Carrie again in the dorm and I did miss the guys.  I brought back some root beer for one of the Korean-German guys, Hyung Bin, he was most thankfull.  Well, almost time for lunch

Ah, the first day of December, Christmas is coming up and I’ve already done some shopping at Songtan… ah Songtan, my escape from Asian culture when I crave some Americana.  Tonight Basketball got underway with the varsity boys defeating International Christian School – Seoul in a tight game that came down to the last 20 seconds of the game.  So TCIS boys are undefeated with SFS up this Saturday.  That’ll be a toughie. 

I’ve been recently pondering with the whole religion and politics issue.  Can one legislate morality and if so how much?  I know this isn’t a topic that one can figure out overnight but it is a good conversation starter with people.  I was talking with Virginia about this topic.  For example, what is noble?  Is a person still noble if they pursue what they believe to be good even though in reality it is not?  How can we expect non-Christians to behave like Christians?  Just some thoughts to jump into some deep friendly talks.  I’d ask my Obi-won, D.I.C. but he’s a progressive Canadian… and we are all to be wary of progressive Canadians… just kidding, he’s got an excellent different perspective coming from an outsider’s view.  I think I’m hesitant towards him because he’s an English major and likes to use these big words and that frightens me *shudder*.