Hi There,
I hope you are all doing well. I’ve had an interesting last couple of weeks. Last week, I went to the Puget Park drive-in movie theater w/ my sister Alicia and brother-in-law Matt; we saw a double feature, The Bourne Ultimatum and Chuck and Larry. I definitely recommend the first one, but I thought the second movie was awful. It was a lot of fun though, sitting in Matt & Alicia’s SUV, watching summertime movies.
Lately, I’ve had a chance to try my hand at making home-made Korean food; that’s what I could do, open up a Korean-American restaurant. So far, I’ve made kimbap (김밥), talgyal mari (달결말이), and bibimbap (비빔밥). Kimbap is like sushi in that it’s rolled up w/ rice and seaweed, but it’s inside ingredients are a little different. Talgyal mari is like a rolled-egg omelet, really delicious. Bibimbap so far has been my favorite; it’s basically vegetables and beef on rice. But, it’s not so simple to make. With all three meals, there’s a lot of prep work to marinate the meat and to prepare the vegetables Korean style. But it’s sure tasty and worth it!
While I’m searching for a job, I’m also looking for a volunteer position for the fall. Last Friday, I spoke w/ Pam, the assistant International Ministry (IM) coordinator at University Presbyterian Church (UPC) about possible jobs w/in the international community. I then leared about the various outreaches to the IM near the UW campus. I ended up attending that night TGIF; I think it stands for the gathering of international friends.
It reminded me a lot of my days at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, when I was involved in Friday night outreaches to the internatinal students on campus. Both groups do a great dinner, followed by light worship, and then Bible study. I was surprised by the intensity of TGIF, it’s quite different than Talk Time, which is more of a discussion/game night. I met a lot of nice people though.
Pam told me of a group called Bridging Ministries, which hosts a couple of events for internationals, including a Thursday night Coffeehouse at UPC. This week, I met up w/ Gary Ramm, who works w/ the coffeehouse on Thursday. It’s actually connected to Campus Crusade and they are part of a network of international outreaches in the community, that includes Talk Time in Edmonds. I’m thinking I may help out w/ this group in the fall.
When I got back from Korea, one of my goals was to stay connected to the Korean community and to continue to study the language. The language study has been all right, I’ve used books from Korea and online programs. I’ve also started watching Korean DVDs and dramas on the internet. I’ve learned one of the best ways to learn a new language is to learn phrases to use in sentences and then to build from there.
I’ve been to several Korean churches, but most recently have been attending Newlife of Seattle, an English Ministry (EM) that is an offshoot of a Korean Presbyterian church (KM) that meets on the same site. Around half of the EM attendees are the children of the KM attendees. The EM is around 40-60 people and I think I’ll try to plant roots here. I also met a guy I went to college w/ at Newlife of Seattle. It’s really nice to go to church here.
I’ve also met several Korean friends in Seattle. One, Woo-Young, is studying English in hopes of eventually entering the UW to study education. She is helping me w/ my Korean. Woo-Young used to be a teacher at a Korean school, so she’s a very effective instructor.
When I was living at English Town in Inje University, I met Lim Go-Eun (임 고은). She was actually in my group at Membership Training way back in March. At that time, Go-Eun told me she was coming to the UW this fall to study business. So I filed away this info until right before I left Korea. I told Go-Eun to let me know when she was coming to Seattle, in case she needed any help. I emailed her a few times this summer.
Flash forward to this week; she informed me she came this last Sunday. I called her up and we had a great conversation. Go-Eun told me she liked her new life in Seattle, but didn’t have anyone to help her out or to show her where to get things. So yesterday, I met up w/ her in the U-District (an area near the UW) and helped her out w/ a few things.
We went to University Village and had lunch at a sushi place and then got her a bus pass and some groceries at QFC. We returned to her place to drop off her stuff and then had ice-cream at a Haggen-Daz. She needed a new suitcase, so we drove back to U Village, but couldn’t find what we needed there. So I drove to North Gate and we found her a great suitcase at Target.
We finished our day eating Korean food at a local teriyaki joint. Go-Eun told me that she has heard a gunshot at a local house near where she lives and it really scared her. Imagine this: she’s got jet lag so she can’t sleep, it’s her first time to the US, she doesn’t know anyone, and she’s missing friends and family in Korea. And that’s just Go-Eun’s first week here. I remember my first week in Kimhae and how lonely I felt, but at least there were many helpful people to show me around. I felt I should help her to at least get pointed in the right direction.
The last couple of weeks, I’ve also been meeting up w/ different friends and new connections to try to figure out my short-term future. The discussions have been good and started to perhaps shed light in what direction I should head. More about that in the near future.
Today, I’ll go to the Adult Asian Adoptees of Washington (AAAW) annual BBQ at Golden Gardens in Ballard. It’s a great time to reconnect w/ fellow Korean adoptees and to hear about where the group is headed in the next year. I heard about the Korean immersion program at Inje University through AAAW; in fact, they covered my $600 admin fee w/ the scholarship I got through them. It’s a great group and I like being a part of it.
Tomorrow, my family will celebrate my sister Alicia’s birthday by having bulgogi (불고기). I’m looking forward to that. Well, have a great rest of your weekend and thanks again for checking back in.
