Spring is coming

"Spring is coming," Hwi Rang, ond of the English language practice students, has observed over the past few weeks. It's gotten to be a little joke among our group. And it really seems to be true now. There are flowers in bloom and trees starting to bloom and temperatures have reached 60+ a couple of times. Cherry blossoms should be quite beautiful in the next couple of weeks. I have set aside long underwear!

Very good news about my mom: She came home from the care facility on Saturday. She'd been there more than 100 days and also a few weeks of hospital time. She sounds very positive and healthy. She will have home health care, especially continuing OT and PT. She is using a walker and wheel chair too, so she still has a lot of progress to make. But she and my dad feel like they are moving in the right direction. They live in a large retirement community, and these people give each other a lot of support and encouragment. Please keep her in your prayers.

I was pleased to welcome some Auburn people to campus a couple weeks ago. An engineering professor and two people from international office were here (it was spring break at AU). I attended a meeting with COB dean and a few faculty and then was at a dinner with 8 of us. It was nice that the Ulsan people joked about which side of the dinner table I should sit on - but the numbers worked 4 and 4 if I was on the AU side. Professor Jang was there and two deans I know - one COB and the other from the international office here. I hope Ulsan Univ. and AU can some momentum going in the relationship.

We have been in the routine of school and work. Michael is enjoying some building they are doing - a "city" with health and safety as part of the theme. He also goes to after school building club on Fridays. Christian club is on Wednesdays. (He made a profession of faith in late February, so it will add to our great memories of Korea that it was here he was able to embrace Jesus Christ as the way and the truth and the life and the only way a sinner comes to the Father.) I have just 7 students in a section of Intermediate Accounting I, and 2 of them are French. I have class Mon and Wed 4 to 6 and 4 to 5. I am still meeting with students to practice English. Two of them have been with it since the beginning, and I am especially fond of them. The group is funny. Last time we had a word to put into a sentence and then the next person took over the story. They can get kind of crazy (e.g., they are not shy about mentioning alcohol and drinking and one guy manages to bring in a monster sometimes), so if the story ended sweetly, we clapped and said, "Yay, happy ending." I took an overnight trip to Daejeon recently and met up with a professor friend and her husband who were visiting their son. It was very fun to see Anne here. Michael stayed overnight with our friends, the Bakers, and had a dinner that sounded fit for a king (especially compared to what I manage in our apartment) and game playing. He had just a 5 minute walk to school in the morning.

Michael had a TH and FRI off recently, so we took an overnight ferry to Fukuoka, Japan from Busan. We left WED evening after I taught. It was a bit of a rough night because the boat is fairly loud until 11 p.m. or so when it actually leaves Busan. Then by 6:00 the intercom is announcing things though disembarking is not until 7:30. The return trip was a 3 hour ride on the fast boat. Fukuoka was a good destination for our first trip to Japan. We knew how to say hello (like Spanish ... depends on the time of the day, so it was actually three different words) and thank you. It definitely felt like going backwards in ability to communicate. It took a day or so to adjust to how expensive it is - taxis and buses were 3X or so the cost in Korea. We stayed at a Japanese chain hotel that we have used in Korea. The rooms were exactly the same, but the breakfast was much better in Japan. There were more vegetables and more variety. We had good maps, and information desk people at train and bus terminals spoke English.

We went to a tower, a nice park in town, and a temple with a very large wood carved Buddha. The canal-side was nice for walking. A day trip on a high speed train took us to Kumamoto, a good place to see castle remains. There were pictures there of other castle remains in Japan, so we could see how the styles were basically the same, 5 levels, for example. We ate ramen that is well-kwown and popular. It has no resemblance to the stuff that's sold in cellophane and hot water added!! The noodles were fresh, there were lots of green onions, and the broth was milky looking and pork-based. It was delicious. We also ate at a cute Mexican restaurant; we haven't had Mexican food at all in Korea. We ordered a second serving of guacamole. We also got a good picture of Michael with hat and kind cook/server.

In Korea we expect food to be everywhere, but we had a different feeling in Japan. So when we set out in the morning, we picked up a ham and cheese sandwich first. Our other impressions were that Japan is very clean (almost no litter anywhere), bike riders are common and even ride with umbrellas if it is raining, people queue well (e..g, at train station, there are directions for lining up ... in Korea it's more of a free for all), driving was on the left side of road. Overall, given Fukuoka and Ulsan are about the same population, Ulsan seems to be lit up more, has taller buildings, and more traditional type markets and alleyways to be found. Fukuoka seemed "genteel" in comparison (at least that's the word that comes to my mind). We are planning a return trip to other areas of Japan after school and work are over.

As far as at "home" in Ulsan, people continue to be so kind to us. A recent weekend had us with 3 invitations. Saturday, the head of the sports center on campus gave us a tour and treated us to lunch. He is a professor in business too, and I had met him a few times. He said he wanted to meet Michael. I guess I had been talking about Michael! That evening Professor Kim and his wife took us to a restaurant where we grilled our own clams at the table - set price for "all you care to eat." There were also shrimp, which Michael preferred, and it turns out Michael likes mussels. It was a lot of fun. Michael and Prof. Kim were the ones to go get more raw items and bring them back to the table. Then Sunday afternoon, my friend, Jenny, from Korean class in the fall, had us to her apartment for snacks and desserts. She didn't tell us, but it was her birthday. We met her husband and other people from their HHI-related project. We felt very welcome, enjoyed the food, and oohed and ahhed about their "fancy" apartment on the 20th flooor. Jenny and I met at the park recently (near our apartment) and walked and then had lunch at a small brunch restaurant Michael and I discovered ... we split an omelet and french toast. I really like the Korean way of sharing food!

I talked to Vaiema in Samoa a couple days ago. Everyone is well, and Little Paulo just turned one year old. He is the son of Apaula, Paulo's youngest sister.

I am marking seven years this week since coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ. This week we remember the death of Jesus and celebrate his triumphant resurrection on Easter. We feel part of the church universal in our small English-language service on Sunday. There are people from all over the world with Jesus Christ the common denominator. God bless you and your loved ones.