A passage to medidate on

1 Peter 1
1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

The part of this passage that really sticks out to me are those 4 words, "strangers in the world"

I decided to stay in South Korea for another year. My current contract ends at the end of February. I'll be coming back to the States for one month, then I'll stay in Korea from April 2009 till April 2010. Wow, it seems so long when I put it that way. I thought about the decision a lot, and I prayed about it, and talked to many people, and I feel this is what God wants me to do right now. I feel at peace about the decision, but it doesn't mean that there aren't many things floating around in my head.

Ever since I graduated college I came to a very hard realization: This world will not satisfy us. It can't and it never will. College was a very idealistic, optomistic time for me. The world was at my fingertips, and I couldn't wait to show it what I was made of. Now, almost a year and a half out of college, that idealism has I wouldn't say faded, but been transformed into something else. I think in college, I was not ultimately looking for my satisfaction in Christ. I saw Christ as a means of finding satisfaction in the world. I knew that without Christ, I wouldn't be satisfied, but perhaps, I thought of Christ as more of a means, than the end.

But as I medidate on the word more and more, and as I here the word faithfully preached to me throught men like Eddie Byung (my pastor here in Korea), John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Eric Mason, John MacArthur, Duce Branch, and others, I see that my focus was in the wrong place. I think, Piper more than anyone, has opened my eyes to the real purpose of life. He has a great rearrangement Westminster's cheif end of man, he puts it as "The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever. The world and what it has to offer can never satisfy the human soul, because our ultimate satisfaction can only come through Christ.

And I think through all of my times of reflection here in Korea, this is one of the things I've come to realize most. This world is not our ultimate home. We are strangers on this earth. Living in Korea for this long now, this place feels like my home now. I feel completely comfortable here. I have many great friends, a good church, a steady job, and the culture fits with my personality very well I think. And yet, I know there's more than this. Maybe at times, I thought my restlessness was due to the fact that I wasn't in my home country. If I just went back to the States, then peace would settle in my heart. But that's not true either, and having to make the decision to stay for another year really confirmed that to me. Now please don't take that as meaning that I don't want to come back to the States. I do. I desperately do. I can't wait to come back in March. I miss all of you soooooooo much. I often dream about just being with my family and friends again. I take very seriously the views that C.S. Lewis had on friends. He said that friends make the place special, not the place itself. Which is why I have strong connections to both Korea and the States, because I have so many great people that I care about in both.

That was kind of a tangent, but basically yeah, I've been thinking about this "strangers" aspect of our lives. If it is true that we are strangers, what does that mean about our commitments and attachments to the things of this world? To me, it's a very liberating idea that this is all temporary. Having an eternal perspective really frees you to be much more daring and bold for the sake of Christ. Maybe that's what I'm learning. That this world is not the chief end, and because of that, my sight and focus needs to be adjusted, and my goals need to shift as well. I don't think this sense of restlessness will go away until I'm face to face with my maker and savior.

My prayer is that I would continually seek after Christ each day, making Him the ultimate source of my joy, enjoyment, and satisfaction; and with that as my foundation, allowing him to lead me wherever he wants me to go, being free to do whatever God wants me to do for the Kingdom of God:)

3rd perm

Hey guys, I got a perm again. This time I got something called a "baby perm." Which means it's really curly this time^^. I like it!

Baseball fight

I thought in light of the Phillies winning the World Series, I'd give you guys a different perspective of baseball in a global sense. Note: I assume this was all staged and just a big joke, but none-the-less, it's still shockingly hilarious. Also, if you've lived in Korea long enough, you'll understand what they're doing.

The election

So Obama has won, and I figured I'd say a thing or two about the whole expierence.
First of all, I just wanted to say I really am not a good person to discuss politics because I know that I'm very ignorant about the whole process. Perhaps the most influential and profitable course I took in college was my political science course. My professor challenged me so much to think about how American politics works, and I learned more about how our country works than I knew before in my whole life. But even after the course was, done, I came to few conclusions. I understood clearly where each party stood, but I saw merit on both sides. Economically at least, I'd have to say that I came out of the course agreeing more with conservatives.

With all that said, I didn't vote. I have no excuse for it, but one could be that I wasn't in the country, and I was too lazy to work out an absentee balad. But on some key issues I definitely disagree with Obama. I'm pro-life, and I tend to think that conservative economics works better for America. But when I thought about the election, I wasn't sure who I wanted to win.

I feel a sense of calm with the outcome. I have a lot of hope for Obama, and I pray that God will give him wisdom. I think his being elected shows great strides forward for America, and I look forward to a stronger nation as a result of all of this. With healthcare, maybe national healthcare will be a disaster, but as a person with no job right now in the States, I'd be lying if I said that free healthcare didn't sound appealing. Considering that without it, I'd be shelling out 400 bux a month just to have it. And with the war, even though I see the danger of pulling out, I really want this war to be over.

So yeah, in terms of theory, I probably would have voted for McCain, but I feel ok about the results. Now with all of that said, I know many of you will probably want to tell me all of the reasons why I McCain would have been better, and I'd agree with you probably, but the election's over, and instead of living in the "what could have beens," I'm going to trust God with who he has appointed to be our country's next leader, and I will pray that God uses Obama to bless the nation, and bring more people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

blogger...argh

I don't know why but blogspot is being stupid, and won't let me upload pictures right now. Hopefully it will get fixed and I can show you some sweet updates. More to come...(halloween pictures:))

Reformed Rappers (Theologically speaking that is...)

So I like to check out the Resurgence website: http://theresurgence.com/, from time to time. They have a lot of amazing resources if you're interested in what's going on in the Reformed church in America. It's headed by the Pastor Mark Driscoll (one of my favorites), and he is really doing an amazing job with this site. It's very technologically savy, with lots of multi-media options. And he often does interviews with speakers of events that he has. They include guys like John Piper, Matt Chandler, and Eric Mason. And I just watched an awesome interview with a guy named "Lecrae." He's a theologically reformed Christian rapper, and it was one of the coolest and most inspiring interviews I've heard in a while. Lecrae and many others in his circle are basically being urban missionaries right now, mainly through the medium of rap, and mainly targeted at today's hip-hop culture. The homepage that I linked earlier at the top has about 10 videos featured on it. If you scroll through the videos, one of them will be titled; "Mark Driscoll and Lecrae." Check it out. It's really awesome what these guys are doing.

I'm also putting two videos up here. One of is a music video for a song that Lecrae did called "Prayin' for you," and the other one is by another Christian rapper named "The Ambassador." He's a friend of Lecrae, and they collaborate a lot as well. In the second video, "the Ambassador" is promoting his new album "the chop chop: from Milk to Meat", which is taken from Hebrews chapter 6. Listening to the way he promotes his new album is just so refreshing and encouraging to hear how centered his ministry and art is in Christ. It's really exciting to see what these guys are doing.

Here's the two videos:

A really late "Happy Chuseok"

So not this past weekend, but the weekend before that, so like 9 days ago, it was Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). We got Monday off and it was a really cool break. I got to see my friend Ivan from New Zealand (I used to work with him). He's teaching now at a High School outside of Seoul in a town called Ansan. It was really cool being in a more relaxed environment out of Seoul, but still relatively close to it. We went to his high school and looked around, and we got to talk to a lot of the local people around the area. Between my and my friend, we could carry on a fairly good conversation in "Korean!!"

I also got to play badminton on Sunday with Angela and her brother. It was so much fun. We played for so long, and it was at night on lighted courts at a park. It was awesome.

Then on Monday, I was invited to this guys apartment for lunch. To make a long story short, he's the CEO of Northwest Airlines in Korea. His apartment had an amazing view of the Han River, and he ordered a traditional American style Thanksgiving meal. We had Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and...kimchi ^_^ I figured I'd only have one chance in my life to eat Kimchi at Thanksgiving, so I should do it. It was very good!

Another piece of news, is that I got involved in this ministry to college students. Basically what I do, is I teach a media course every Saturday now at a University called Soongsil University. And the whole point of it is to share the gospel with the students. I've met some cool people there, and I taught my first class this past Saturday. It went pretty well. Over twenty students showed up, and I think they had a...fairly enjoyable time. We'll see how that progresses. Most of them are pretty shy about speaking English.

So yeah, overall, things are going well. I constantly thank God for the amazing people he has brought into my life here in Korea, and I am trusting Him to guide me wherever he wants me to be.

Also, I've been watching some kind of independent short films on youtube recently, and it's getting me itching to film something again. I might ask my boss to borrow his digital camera so I can just make...something.

We'll see how that goes.

My thoughts recently have been on Hebrews 11 a lot. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I think this is what I want my life to be. Living for a hope that I might not see come true in this lifetime. For some reason, that concept is so intriguing to me. I first encountered it last year in a Christian philosophy course I took, and it keeps coming back to me. I think it's one of the boldest statements in the whole Bible. That all these men "didn't recieve the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance." I'm captivated by the statement. I need to make a movie based on that concept.

Anyways, here's a random link to one of the films that really got me wanting to film something again. These guys' lighting and color is exactly the kind of lighting I LOVE!!!! This is just the trailer. You can watch the whole thing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgx8wpr6-eY&feature=user

Trying to get my mind off the world

I've been really struggling recently to know exactly how to view the world I thought I understood. I used to be someone who tried my best to defend the culture against all of the negative criticisms that conservatives threw it's way. Listening to radio hosts like Michael Medved only discuss a movie's morality used to stick a knife in my side. I used to think, "poor culture." Nobody sees your "good qualities." People are only pointing out your "bad qualities." So I used to be a defender of culture, particularly when it came to movies.

Now I won't say that I've necessarily changed my positions on the arguments that I've made in the past, but I realize that I've been arguing with the wrong people. Because recently it's been made known to me that culture doesn't need defended. It doesn't need help. It's doing fine on it's own. It's spitting out a lot of junk, and people are eating it up. It's feeding us the nastiest stuff ever, and we keep coming back for more. We are truly a McDonalds nation, and it's permieted every area of society.

Greed fuels pop-culture, not art. Sex,money, and self-worth are the loudest voices in the media, and they've been screaming so loudly, for so long now, that we don't even hear them anymore. It's expected. And not only that, it's gotten to a point, where it could even be classified as "cute." One preacher, named E. Dewey Smith Jr., that Anthony Bradley linked to on his blog has a lot of great stuff to say about pop-culture. Here's a link to a sermon that Anthony brought attention to, and I think is really powerful as well. Beware, the sermon does discuss explicit lyrics of a song, so please take caution with that, that it is not nice to listen to, but it's the truth that I think more pastors need to courage to engage in. He tells it like it is, when everyone else is either deaf to disgusting nature of pop-culture these days, or merely wants to shy away from it.

So I take this time now to apologize the all the people who I have burdened over the years to just accept things. Because I'm not going to accept things anymore. I don't need to settle for what some executives tell me I should fill my time with. And maybe this is even sparking a new fire in my heart to get more engaged with culture again, so that I can hopefully be some agent of change. Recently, I've had this great desire to make a movie on the book of Ruth. That might sound weird, but I think it's one of the best stories I've ever heard, period. I'm actually quite surprised there hasn't been a movie on it already. It's so classic.

But yeah, I heard a great quote from Ebert I think where he said I'm not so much moved in movies where the characters are very bad, but what brings me to tears is when the main character is overwhelmingly good. And I think that's what's so attractive about the story of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth exemplify such great witnesses of what Godly men and women should be like, that it brings me to tears. And I really have a desire to tell this story now.

Usain Bolt...soooooo fast

I know it's a little bit of old news, but I'm sure most of you heard something about Usain Bolt from the Olympics, the Jamaican runner who broke the world record for the 100 meter dash. And you might also probably know that he tends to be quite open about his celebrations and abilities.

I just found this video on youtube. A little parody of this record breaking moment. Hilarious!!!

Encourage one another

When we read many of the openings to Paul's letters, they often begin with thanksgiving and encouragement. And my main question is: Do we exemplify this today in our lives? How often do we really take the time to express our love, thankfulness, and encouragement for the people in our lives. How often do we take the time to write letters, or just stop someone in church, and just lavish them with Christian, brotherly encouragement. Because my guess is that a lot of people could use it. It's amazing what just a couple words by a random person in my life can mean to me. God uses what might seem insignificant to you, to mean a lot to someone else. And why not want to bless our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? What an incredible strengthening would occur in the church if we invested ourselves more into their lives, and showed that we cared.

Maybe I'm being too sentamental, but I just want to thank each and every person in my life who's been an encouragement to me. You are being Christ to me, and really appreciate more than words can express. So I encourage anyone reading this, to make a sincere, purposeful effort to show love and encouragement to other people in your life. My guess, is that if you randomly wrote a letter of encouragement to someone in Christ, that they would be blown away, and maybe even encouraged to do the same. There doesn't have to be an occassion for it. Just show them how much your fellowship with them in Christ means to you, and how much you desire for them to honor God in everything they do. I'd love to hear any feedback on how that goes by the way...^_^

Another thing God has been showing me recently is that we have two options in every situation. We can either choose to sin, or to love Christ. Every single circumstance in your life is an opportunity; and too often, we don't take hold of them. And it's not that this is legalistic or anything, on the contrary, God wants us to take hold of these opportunities for our own sake (and of course ultimately for His glory). But every circumstance, every crossroad, every decision we make is a chance for God to mold us a little more into the image of Christ. My question is, how often do you "see" the opportunities. More and more God has been revealing the opportunities to me. It's like God stops time for me, and says, "here Mark, what will you do, which path will you take? Will you let me work in and through you?" God has been speaking to me much more loudly recently, and I am deeply thankful for it.

That's all for now. As always, your prayers are always welcome for me, and I once again, appreciate all the encouragement and support I've recieved from everyone!

By the way, I just listened to a sermon by Anthony Bradley today! A rockin' sermon at that. I love his enthusiasm for Christ, and his willingness to be bold for the sake of the Kingdom. Check out his sermon: http://www.summitfamily.org/audio/node/1524

Prayer

I've always liked writing and expressing my thoughts on issues. But I've also always told people that I'd never publish a book because I'm sure that years later I'd disagree with a good portion of it.

College definitely taught me that the more I learned, the less I actually knew. And I think this is true with our relationship with God in a certain way as well. The closer we grow with God, the more we realize our unworthiness. That's what God's been teaching me recently. That I need to change so much. I live with constant dissatisfaction, and it's hard to always pinpoint why. But I think a large part of it stems from sin in my life that God wants me to deal with.

And then I just heard a sermon that really made me think hard about who God is, and the nature of prayer. It was based around Christ's prayer sessions at Gethsemane. 3 times Jesus prayed to have "this cup" taken from him. Did Jesus repeat himself because he thought that maybe if he kept asking, God would change his mind? I don't think so. He did it because he needed to pray that many times, for that long to work it out with God. He just needed to talk to God that much about it, so that the Father would get him "through" the situation, not "around" it. And that's what the sermon was basically about. That prayer more often than not, a means by which God gets us through situations, not around them. God might not cure your cancer, but he can get you through it.

And then I thought about our expectations of God. Are people who really do pray, "Your will be done?" Or do we just tac that on for insurance. Is our ultimate desire to see God glorified and his will done on earth?

Then I got to thinking about my last film, "Got a Light." My big question that I was asking in that film is what do you do when things don't work out? What do you do when God doesn't answer your prayers. And this is the final answer to the film. It took me a year to realize it, but I think if I had to remake the film, I'd end it with the lead character saying, "Your will be done!"

God is good!

I really heard something very wise today in church. I used to go to a Bible Study for about 4 months last year, but they stopped having it (I think they're starting them back up soon). Anyway, the guy who let us use his apartment for the Bible Study is leaving Korea to go back to the States. He was a really great guy, and I really respected him a lot. He had such a great love for God, and he just exemplified what a man in Christ should be like. Anyways, I went to say goodbye to him today at church, and he said something that just totally set me free of a lot of worries. First he gave me a lot of encouragement that he saw God working in my life and that really meant a lot to me, and then he asked me what my plans were. I told him I really didn't know and it was something I needed prayer for. And he said, "I don't know if it's hit you yet or not, but at some point in your life, it's going to hit you that your purpose is all about God, and you will no longer worry about your future, but wait in eager anticipation for what God has next in store for you." And I've always believed that to be true, but for some reason the way he said it, and hearing it from someone else that way made it really fresh for me.

Worrying is my weakest point in life. Everything worries me. The absence of worrying worries me. That's how bad I am. But I know the Bible tells us not to worry about anything, for God is in control, and he loves us. And I no longer want my life to be governed by my worries, but governed by an excitement in God's redemptive plan. I want my zeal for Christ's work to be contagious (sp?). I want every day to count for Christ as if it were my last. I want a Matrix like awakening where I stand before my fears, and realize once and for all that Christ has conquered it all. That Christ is bigger than every situation that comes my way. I want my life to be defined by love.

No more waiting for the right circumstances. Today is the day to live for Christ.

So yeah, on a different topic, things in Korea are great. I had a great weekend of swimming and amazing food. I constantly am thanking God for all of the amazing friends that He has brought into my life here, and I totally resonate with C.S. Lewis, that friendships make a place what it is. Korea the country is a great place, but I define Korea through the people I know here. And that's why I love Korea so much, because I love the people in my life here.

With that in mind, I still couldn't have been happier with my trip back to the States. It was so refreshing to see all of my family and friends from back home. I'm so thankful to God that he gave me a safe and wonderful trip, and I thank God so much that I have people that love me and are praying for me in multiple countries. That's so cool to think about.

God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!

Back in Korea

I'm back in Korea, and everything has picked up again very well. I'm very happy to be back, and I'm praying that God will continue to bless and teach me here. It's late here and I'm pretty tired, so I'll just stop now, but I'm promsing to write more very soon ^_-!

Traveling back to Korea

Well, as I'm typing this blog post, I am sitting in Terminal E in the Philadelphia airport, waiting for my flight. It's 8:45 AM, on Thursday in the U.S., and my flight doesn't depart till 11:07 AM, so I figured I might as well get a one day WiFi pass and surf the net while I'm waiting. I had a great break, and I'm also looking forward to getting back to Korea.

Please pray for safe travels and that my Visa renewal process goes smoothly and quickly. I am so thankful to God for giving me the opportunities he's given me so far. I pray that he will continue to bless my endeavors and make me grow through them. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and prayed for me. I couldn't have done all of this without your constant support and love.

Well, once again, I will try to commit myself to writing in this blog more frequently. I want people to hold me to it. Also, I want people to hold me to studying Korean more diligently. The next time I write, it will be in South Korea. I'll miss everyone back in the States, but I know this is what God wants me to do right now, and I'm so thankful for all of the great people in my life in Korea as well. No matter where I am, God is the same, and he brings great people into your life no matter where you are in the world. ^_^

Under Water

The waves are crashing down around me, and I just pray that God refines me while I'm under water...

Piper's Passion

I think, at this point, John Piper is probably my favorite pastor to listen to. I listen to his weekly podcasts usually on Itunes, and you can also find all of his stuff at desiringgod.org. It's definitely worth checking out. I found this video clip of a sermon of his that really I think is a great summary of his passion and zeal for God to be glorified. Piper I think, I could be wrong, but I think he's in his 60s now, but he still preaches with the same power, if not more power than he was 2o years ago. I hope you enjoy it:

Jumbled thoughts

I was reading through Ecclesiastes this evening, and something really struck me. As I was reading through all of the things Solomon (a man more qualified than most of us to speak on such topics) found meaningless, and I came to a sad, some satirical conclusion. People (specifically those dealing with investments and money) who are only concerned about making money in life, are in fact, the most foolish investors on the planet. Perhaps even more so than the man who loses everything on a gambling addiction.

Now I'm arguing strictly from a logical standpoint here. If, one day, you are going to die, and you can't take anything with you, and you have no hope of any kind of life after death, why would you spend an entire lifetime, with all of your blood sweat and energy, trying to gain wealth. It is the most foolish investment ever. There is absolutely no return in it what-so-ever. And isn't a return the ultimate goal of something. You put something into an investment, and you expect to get something out of it. But those who have no belief in God, or at least no concern for God, and just blindly live their lives acquiring riches, in the end, have no return in sight.

And the sad thing is that many of these people will admit to this flaw. Relating back to my earlier post on Dawkins, Hitchens and the other prominant athiests, and I reflect again on the utter hopelessness of their position on life. How can so many people be blinded to the bigger picture. All of these things that so many fight for, live for, die for, are ultimately, without God, completely meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I guess it's the power of sin that blinds people to the bigger picture.

And we also have countless examples of very high profile celebrities who attest to the fact that all of their fame, fortune, and glory has brought them nothing but bitterness, loneliness and depression. The equation that most people use to figure out their lives has proven to be false. Because they say money, pleasure, and selfishness = happiness. But time and time again, it shows that that equation leads to everything but happiness.

Reading through Ecclesiastes, it seemed like the teacher was a really jaded, kind of hopeless guy through most of the book. But in reality, he's the only one who gets it. His eyes have been uncovered to a reality without God, and it's utterly meaningless.

But thankfully, God is alive, God is the source of everything, and because he reigns, we can find meaning, joy, pleasure, hope, and satisfaction in everything he has given us. From the smallest, minute thing like picking up cigarette butts (quoting Kunkle's 12th grade Apologetics class) to being President of a country, all of these things find their ultimate, and highest meaning in God. Praise God that Solomon came to the right conclusion at the end of Ecclesiastes, and it is my prayer that God would open more people's eyes to the futility of living a life apart from God, but also to the surpassing greatness of living a life in Christ Jesus.

On another side note, as some of you may know, I've been struggling to understand what I should do with this whole film path I had set out for me. Recently, I've felt many of my desires for a life in the film business fade. For starters, I don't really like being around other people in the business. They come off as arrogant, intimidating, and just plain annoying most of the time. Now that's not everyone, but you can spot a film maker when you see one, and unfortunately, those qualities shout in my ear when I meet most of them. Now this could very easily be my fault and not theirs, but either way, it's something I need to think about since if I did go into the business, I'd have to deal with these types of people all the time. Either my attitude needs to change, or I need to find a very special group of film makers to work with.

Another reason I've been having doubts is because I've realized that maybe, just maybe, I'm not very good. I'm always EXTREMELY sensative about people watching my movies. Probably about 70% of the time, people I show my movies to show a big sense of disinterest. They show it by talking during the movie, getting up to go to the bathroom without asking me to pause it, or just by finding the food in their hand more interesting than my film. And needless to say, I get hurt very easily by these things. And at first, I thought people were just being insensative. Well, guess what, me telling people they hurt my feelings isn't going to pay the bills. The fact is that if I'm going to make a living off of my films, I need to make movies that people will be interested in, and I don't know if I'm cut out for that.

But.................but but but, I haven't given up all hope yet. Recently, I've seen some really great films that have sparked the passion in my heart again. Of course, most of them are Asian films. Ones such as "My Love" (South Korea), Portrait of the Wind (Japan), Syndromes of a Century (Thailand), and "The Chaser"(South Korea), have shown me that movies still get me really really pumped up.

So we'll see where it all goes, but please pray for me that God would show me some direction in that area^__^

2nd Perm

So my first perm wasn't very curly, and after a week, it was basically straight again. So we called the lady who permed it, and she very graciously offered to do it again for free. I practiced a lot of Korean while she was perming it too, and even though my Korean's really bad, it gave me a little confidence that I can carry a barely comprehensible conversation^^. I think this one is better, and it's definitely more curly. You can decide for yourself ^_^

The Spirit at work through "Kung Fu Panda"

So today I saw Kung Fu Panda, and I got to tell you, it was really good. It was everything I could have hoped it to be. I wasn't really expecting that much, so I got a lot more than I bargained for. It was funny, incredibly entertaining, gripping, and filled with so many great and hillarious action scenes. Overall, definitely an A movie that's great for the whole family. I definitely recommend it.

But really the only reason I felt it blog worthy to discuss, is because of how much God showed me through this seemingly paper-thin comedy. The whole movie is about this Panda who loves Kung Fu, but is by far the least likely candidate for Kung Fu greatness. Well, there's supposed to be a "chosen one" (like every Western take on a martial arts film), who will become the Dragon Master. And "Po", the Panda, by a sheer accident, or so it seems, is prophecied to be the chosen Dragon Master. Everyone, including his own master, doubts him, and everyone at the Temple tries to make him quit.

And worst of all, a seemingly unbeatable foe is headed their way to take the dragon scroll that can only be read by the Dragon Master. Well, I won't ruin the whole film for those who haven't seen it, but you can guess where it goes. And on the surface, it doesn't seem like much maybe, but about 3/4 of the way through the film I felt a great emotional surge, and I felt like the Spirit was working in my heart.

I realized, that just like Po, God chooses the weak to lead the strong. God uses the most unlikely candidates, to do the most powerful things for the Kingdom. Po in the film, was really helpless on his own. There were five other Kung Fu masters who despised him, and yet they could not do what he did, because they weren't the chosen one.

In the same way, even though there are many many people out their so much more skilled than us, we are still a royal priesthood. We are children of God. We are a "chosen" people. And for that reason, we are meant for great things. And watching the film, I got really choked up thinking about how much love God has for me, that he would choose me.

You know I'm sure everyone walked out of that theater wishing that they had some special "destiny" for themselves, where they would be the "chosen one." Christians and non-Christians alike. And it's sad that non-Christians don't realize that greatness awaits them if they accept Christ. And it's also sad that many people who are Christians don't realize the significance of their lives.

I hope and pray that God would continue to reveal his purpose for my life. Whether it's to become a Kung Fu master (which I highly doubt), a film-maker, stay an English teacher for 20 more years ^__^, or something else; I am desperately seeking guidance in my life at this point, and Kung Fu Panda gave me hope that in due time, God will reveal the next step for me.

On another note, last Monday I got my hair permed. I think it looks pretty good, but it's not very "permy." In fact, almost nobody even noticed it. I'm thinking to get it done again, and I think they won't charge me since it didn't really do much the first time. We'll see, but anyway, here's a picture of it anyway. I think it looks pretty good, but can you tell it's a perm??^__^

David Bazan, so fascinating and so confusing

I've been listening to a lot of David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) recently, and he's such an amazing artist, and such a complex one as well. Back on my xanga site, I wrote a big post, that was somewhat critical of Bazan, even though I hadn't heard much of him. But it seemed like he wasn't exactly the best role model of what a Christian singer should be.

Then I saw him in concert, and I changed a lot of my views. First of all, I liked his music. My friend Jeff had played his CDs in the car sometimes on the way to and from Geneva, but I didn't really like it that much. But when I saw him in concert at Geneva, I really liked him a lot. He was also so friendly and funny. And his songs just had so much spirit in the way he sung them. I could tell there was a lot to this man.

Now, I like his music more and more I listen to it, but I still don't know what I make of it all. It's definitely not the happiest music, and he's got some pretty heavy stuff in his songs. He also is very obtuse in his thoughts on Christianity. He says a lot of contradictory things it seems, and it seems like he still has a lot of stuff that he's working out. He definitely isn't church friendly in his choice of language, that's for sure, and after reading a bunch of his interviews, I get the sense that he's a very jaded guy in general.

But with all of that said, I love his music right now, and he's just a very veyr interesting person to me. I wish I could sit down and chat with this guy, and know what the deal is. I want to know what God has done in his life, because I'm sure it's a lot, but it's hard to know how Bazan percieves it all.

Well, without further introduction, here's a couple links to youtube songs that I think are a good representation of him:

First song: Bands with Managers:



Second song: Priests and Paramedics:



Third song: L'Amour Stories (Deerhoof cover)

Hard-hitting story

This is a blog post I found on John Piper's website: http://www.desiringgod.org/

I was really hit hard by this story, and it really makes you re-evaluate how you view God, time, and your perception of life. This is a powerful example of Holy Spirit doing some amazing work in people's lives. I personally don't know how they did it:
(picture added by me. And soon, some great pictures of some great trips are coming up ^__^)

The Wonder of "Idiotic" PerseveranceJune 9, 2008 By: John Piper Category: Commentary


In his book, Passion, Karl Olsson tells a story of incredible patience among the early French Protestants called Huguenots.

In the late Seventeenth Century in… southern France, a girl named Marie Durant was brought before the authorities, charged with the Huguenot heresy. She was fourteen years old, bright, attractive, marriageable. She was asked to abjure the Huguenot faith. She was not asked to commit an immoral act, to become a criminal, or even to change the day-to-day quality of her behavior. She was only asked to say, “J’abjure.” No more, no less. She did not comply. Together with thirty other Huguenot women she was put into a tower by the sea…. For thirty-eight years she continued…. And instead of the hated word J’abjure she, together with her fellow martyrs, scratched on the wall of the prison tower the single word Resistez, resist!
The word is still seen and gaped at by tourists on the stone wall at Aigues-Mortes…. We do not understand the terrifying simplicity of a religious commitment which asks nothing of time and gets nothing from time. We can understand a religion which enhances time…. but we cannot understand a faith which is not nourished by the temporal hope that tomorrow things will be better. To sit in a prison room with thirty others and to see the day change into night and summer into autumn, to feel the slow systemic changes within one’s flesh: the drying and wrinkling of the skin, the loss of muscle tone, the stiffening of the joints, the slow stupefaction of the senses—to feel all this and still to persevere seems almost idiotic to a generation which has no capacity to wait and to endure. (116-117)

So much updating is needed^__^

Ok so there's a lot I need to update people about. Mainly just by putting up a lot of sweet pictures, because I've been going to a lot of sweet places recently:)

But quickly I just wanted to say goodbye for a while to my friend Hyun Gyu (he's the one on the right of the picture. Hyun Seok's on the left). I met maybe 2 months after I came to South Korea, and he's been a great friend to me. I met him at church, and he's been going to the English ministry with me. He's taken me to a lot of cool places. We went to Jeon Ju together, where he attended college. We also went to Gyeongbok palace and Seonyudo. He's been one of many guides to Korea, and I've been very greatful for his friendship.

On Tuesday, he's going into the Army. Every male in Korea has to go to the army at some point, and now Hyun Gyu's going. It's definitely sad to have a good friend leave, but he's actually excited to go, so I'm happy for him. And hopefully I'll see him again someday.

This reminds me of how much God has blessed me with so many great friends here. People like Angela, Hyun Gyu, Hyun Seok, Song Gu, and so many others have really been great blessings in my life, and I'm so greatful that God has put them in my life.

Coming soon updates: My mountain trip and one also one of the best Saturdays I've had here ( a bus tour to three great spots with friends!! (complete with pictures :) )

What famous people are saying:

I think it's important for Christians to know what people are saying against us. There are a lot of voices out there that are criticizing Christians. But they are in a bigger sense, criticizing all religions, but they tend to single out Christianity since it's the dominant religion in our society.

Figures such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Bill Maher, and George Carlin are all very outspoken in their disdain for religion. Both Dawkins and Hitchens have written best-selling books that try to convince people that atheism is right, while Maher and Carlin use comedy to try and prove why they think religion is so stupid. These guys are voices for a lot of people these days, and I think there's a lot of hostility right now towards conservative evangelicals in the U.S. I find it very interesting and troubling at the same time listening to these guys speak. There whole life seems centered around trying to disprove God, and we should be aware of it. Just as Paul argued with the philosophers of his day, we should also be able to give good reasons for the hope that is within us.

The thing I find very interesting, is that all of these men rehash the same arguments over and over again, and most of them are pretty weak arguments in my opinion, and they show a clear lack of true understanding of the Bible. For being so smart, these men have failed to properly analyze the data properly. As Christians, we should know the arguments being launched against us.

First, Dawkins and Hitchens try to pit science against religion. They are convinced that God has no place in the "age of reason and science." Even though anyone with a pair of eyes can attest to the majesty of God in creation, these men are convinced that all of this beautiful creation is the result of a pointless accident.

Many of them also have a catholic background, and it's clear that they hold a very big grudge. Both Carlin and Maher have said identical things, somewhere along the lines of, "I used to be Catholic until I reached the age of reason or logic." They all boil religion down to praying to a "space daddy." And they are very angry about what they think religion does to society. Maher goes so far as to say that every person who has a religion has mental problems. But I'd say these two men are more agnostics than atheists.

And one of the big things these men love to do is to take the Bible completely out of context. They love taking random verses out of the Bible and judging them in a totally out of context fashion. Maher complains about how violent the Bible is, and how it shouldn't be a moral guide, and yet, in the next breath, he'll admit that Jesus is the best role model of all time. He's not even consistent in his arguments.

They also all look at sin in the world, and blame God, instead of blaming humans, which they should do. They are right in assessing that the world is messed up, but their cause and solution to the problem is totally off-based.

These men are all very intelligent people, I can't deny that. And yet, their intelligence faulters in so many ways. They have complex and ironic arguments, but in the end, their foundation is clearly off, and everything they build it upon crumbles. I find that these people are only preaching to the choir. They love trapping jaded, angry agnostics into the same propoganda over and over again. I've heard a lot of what they say, and it's the same thing over and over again, and it's not well-thought out.

And all of these men have a god. It's first of all, themselves, and secondly, reason. The worship their own abilities to think. And yet, all of their energy and efforts fail to bring them any real joy or hope. They have no answers for the big questions of life. They only have complaints. They have no solutions, only questions. And they fail to recognize all of the glory of God that is right before their eyes.

My prayer is that some serious Christian thinkers would start becoming as big public figures as these other men are. My prayer is that God would take the scales off of their eyes, and show them their errors. My prayer is that loving Christians would show Jesus to these men, and that they would stop using their efforts to try and bring down the Kingdom, but instead, use it to glorify God.

Seonyudo

Yesterday, I just decided to go for a nice afternoon trip an island and take some pictures. It's a park on the Han River called Seonyudo. It's so beautiful there, and the walk there is quite nice as well. I get to walk across a bridge on the Han to get to the Island

The Island, I believe is some kind of water treatment place. You would think a place like that would smell bad, but this place was anything but that. It was a little slice of beautiful nature amidst a city with very little green to be seen:

It was a good day!

Even though it's late...

So about a month ago, my parents visited me in Korea. It was such a blessing to have them come here. They stayed in Yeouido, one of the nicest areas of Seoul in my opinion. Probably the two things they did the most while they were here was eat, and ride the subway^__^. But that's ok, because that's pretty much all I do here as well, so it gave them a good idea of what life is like.

But I tried to be a good host, and I think I showed them a good time. They got to meet a lot of my friends here in Korea, they came to visit my work, went to church with me, and I took them to some of the key tourist spots (two palaces, Seoul Tower, the cheongyecheon, Myungdong, etc...)

They really adjusted very well to the Korea lifestyle, and I think they felt very comfortable here. They even got to see a traditional village on a guided tour, something that I haven't done yet. They also liked most of the food a lot, which is good, because that's probably one of the things people remember most about visiting foreign countries. Overall, it was one of the highlights of my time in Korea. Being able to show my parents my life here, and how much I've learned was really a great blessing for me, and I thank God that they got the chance to come out here.

Oh and in other news, I'm officially staying in Korea for another 6 months after August, but I will be home for 2 weeks probably sometime around August. (And the picture on the right is just so amazing, I had to post it ^__^)

Ok...i know

Alright, so I'll be posting again hopefully soon, about my parents visit to Korea! But I have a nasty cold right now and it's late, but I just thought I'd let you know, that this time I mean it, I'll start updating more frequently....

Updates

Well, God continues to teach me things about myself, others, the world, and life in general. We've started a new semester at school, and I really miss the kids that graduated. They come in the afternoon now after elementary school, but I don't teach their classes. But I'm glad they've moved on, and I am enjoying the new kids I've started teaching now, but nothing can replace the joy of the first students I taught, since I learned and grew so much through teaching them, and because they were just such good students, they can never be replaced. Continue to pray that God gives me the grace everyday to teach well and to represent Christ to these kids.

Recently I've been so busy that my Korean studying hasn't been as good as it should be these days. You can also pray that I'll get more motivated and back into studying it, because I can already see it leaving me the more I put it off. 나는 나쁜 학생입니다. (that's pronounced - naneun napeun hakseng imnida, which means: "I'm a bad student).

On Thursday, I went with my friend and finally saw the film "My Blueberry Nights." It's the first and perhaps not the last American film that Wong Kar Wai, perhaps my favorite director, made. I didn't know what to expect. It didn't get great reviews, and Hong Kong directors have a history of making terrible movies in America. But overall, I was happy with the film. It definitely had Wong Kar Wai's stamp all over it, but perhaps a little too much. He homaged himself way too much in the film, but still, it was engaging, and it was very easy to connect with the characters. This is a trailer for the film:



One thing the film definitely impressed upon me, and something I've been hearing in sermons recently, is the issue of pain. And how pain and bitterness completely imobilize us from doing God's work. Pain and Idolatry, as Anthony Bradley pointed out in his talk at the Jubilee Conference this year, are the two major sources that keep people from being missional Christians. And I don't mean "missionaries"necessarily, but simply missional in the sense of actively and purposefully serving God in a real, effective, and perhaps risky way. Because we so often use pain as a crutch, we are never willing to take risks because we've seen what risks have done to us in the past.

My Blueberry Nights really hits on the subject of pain, rejection, and loss. And for me, it's hard to know what the right way to deal with it all is. Wong Kar Wai doesn't give answers in his movie, he just poses the problems for the most part. In the Bible, I think it's clear that God can use us in our weakest state to do the greatest things. That it's in our most painful moments, that Jesus will show up. But why then, for so many Christians, does the pain linger on. Why does everyone have that area, or those areas in their life that are just too painful to talk about. Why does everyone have their kryptonite, that if you poke that right area, they'll crumble. Is it because we haven't responded to Christ correctly? Is it just another effect of the fall. How much can we expect to overcome pain in this lifetime, before Jesus returns? If we still have bitterness and pain in our lives because someone hurt us, is that a sign of unrepentent sin?

I've been thinking a lot about this recently, because I've been thinking a lot about my generation of Christians. And not just my generation, but all Christians. So often, we as the church, want to show the healing power of Christ, but why then are our lives not evident of that healing process. I think I need to go back and read the "Healing Path" by Dan Allender again. And this isn't to say that I'm in a particularly gloomy, or hurt state. I'm not. I am quite content here in Korea, but in general, why is there so much pain in the church?

I've been pondering this new movie idea I have, and I want it to deal with a struggling Christian. I can't think of a movie that has this topic at the center, besides perhaps "The Apostle", and I've heard that "21 Grams" deals with that issue too, but I haven't seen it. But I feel like many in the church are neglecting their own people. There's a lot of pain going around, and I don't think people are dealing with it properly. Maybe it's because people don't know how to, or maybe it's because people have been told that it's sinful to feel bad, so they repress it, pretend like it's not there. But the topic has been on my mind a lot recently, so I think I'm going to start writing a script about it. Obviously, it will take place in Korea! Whether or not I'll ever get to make it, who knows. But maybe this will be the big film of my career.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Do we as Christians not deal with pain in our lives the right way? Does the church just need a good cry? What does it mean to be "joyful always"?

I do know that I've come to understand that if you set your mind on Christ, you are freed from the bondage of circumstances. That when we truly find delight in Him, no matter what the circumstances, we can have cause to rejoice. But while I fully believe that's true, it often is very hard to put into practice.

Wow, I don't know how I got on this tangent. Anyway, yeah, things are good for the most part, thank you all for your prayers, I appreciate every single one of them, and pray that God keeps blessing and teaching me in Korea, and that I will continue to serve Him in every way that I can.

Philippians 3:7-11

7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

This passage is one of my favorites. When I read I can't help but shout amen. It just speaks so much amazing truth, that I get choked up when I read it, it's so beautiful. But feeling all nice inside is different from being changed by it. And I wonder how much this passage reigns true in my life. And if I do have the same desire as Paul, how is that being played out in my life?

I've been getting challenged right and left recently and I think God's trying to tell me that I'm supposed to be doing something. Something that perhaps I'm not doing right now. I'm not exactly sure what that is right now, but I think I have a holy discontent with the way things are right now, and I'm trying to put my finger on why God has been convicting me so much to be more active in His kingdom work. I don't know what this is supposed to look like in my life right now, but please pray that I will go boldly and confidently wherever God leads me.

And now a random clip from x man, from the best part of the show entitled 당연하지 (which in English means, "Of Course"). In the game, people have to say something about you, and you HAVE to answer back with 당연하지, and if you can't say that, you lose. In this clip, Tim (he's actually a pastor's son from Philadelphia), takes on Park Myung Soo. Tim can speak perfect English, so Park Myung Soo decides to have a battle in English and it's hillarious!!

1/2 a year so far...

So, in three days, I will have been in Korea for 1/2 a year. Wow! I don't know how to think about that. I guess in some ways, I think I've been here much longer than that. I feel like I've been here for 10 years, and that I have friends here that I've known for 10 years. In other ways, I feel like time is going too quickly, and I don't have enough time to do what I want to do here, or be with the people that I want to be with. I don't know. It's all very confusing for me right now. But I need to just trust God. He's gotten me through the first half of this first year, he can get me through the second half (and maybe more years to come in Korea:)).

Recently I've had the urge to draw. I'm not sure why, but what I do now is a pause a movie, and just draw whatever the screen is. It's really relaxing and fulfilling, but maybe I could spend my time doing something more productive, like learning more Korean ^__^

Oh well, that's all for now, just a short little message before I go to bed.

I'll leave you with two videos: The first is another Driscoll clip, this one on American idolatry, pretty interesting, but perhaps not new to those who understand culture and how it penetrates out lives:



The second video is the trailer for this really independent film called "Quiet City." It's one of the front runners for a new style in American cinema called Mumblecore. But in reality, this "mumblecore" ...genre has been around internationally for decades now, and most of the Asian directors that I admire so much (Wong Kar Wai, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Pen ek Ratanaruang, Takeshi Kitano) are all pioneers of this style, it's just that American won't recognize it until we start doing it ourselves. Also, I'd like to think that this is the style that I most likely fall into as a film maker. Or at least would want to make films like. I'd like to see this film if I got a chance, because it looks a lot like things I have made, and projects I'd like to make in the future:

서비스 (Service)

In Korea, it's called 서비스, which is pronounced (seo-bee-su), which is Konglish for the word "service" in English. When you are either buying food, or eating out somewhere, and the person says 서비스, it means they are giving you FREE FOOD! And it happens more regularly here than you might think.

Just tonight, I was with my friend in 구로 시장 (the Guro Markets), and she was buying 삼겹살(think of it as really really thick huge peices of bacon) for her family, and one of the butcher shop guys started talking to us. And because I was a foreigner, he gave us free meet. And just the other night, I was at a food court, and a guy who works at the Chinese restaurant gave me free shrimp. I've gotten service a fair amount since I've been here, and I joked to my friend that now I know what it feels like to be a really hot girl in the United States.

It's kind of a weird sensation being treated differently as a foreigner and minority. Sometimes I really enjoy it, other times I just wish I blended in. Never in my entire life combined, have I been called handsome so many times, or been told that I have a really small face. Also never before have children so blatently pointed at me and whispered to their mom that they see a 외국인 (foreigner).

It's funny, because it doesn't even really phase me anymore. I used to be very self-conscious of all of the eyes, but now I don't even notice them. I used to think that everyone either loved me or hated me for being different, now it just doesn't seem like most people care. Overall, it's definitely an experience like no other, and I can't complain with free food!

And recently I've been watching a lot of John Haskell's youtube videos. He's a friend that I used to go to high school with. He's got a sense of humor like no other. Just recently he's put up this episode series, and it's really awkward and funny. He puts clips from his real standup routines in the series, and at first I didn't know they were real routines. It's a really funny series. Here's the first episode, you can see more on his site:

Tired...

I'm really really exhausted. Exhausted from work, people, stress, worrying, and everything else. I just want one carefree week where I just chill...I need to start exercising again, I think that's my biggest problem. I'll get started on that soon.

In another totally unrelated matter, did you know that over 350 million people in China smoke? That's more than the entire U.S. population. That's a lot!

Ok well, as you can probably guess, things aren't perfect, but all in all, I'm doing pretty well. I can't really complain, God is still good all the time!

Random video clip for you that all 2 of you who read this may find edifying:

전주 (Jeon Ju)

This weekend was pretty fun. On Friday I went with some friends to a jazz club in Hongdae. It was really hip and sweet. I really love jazz, and in a hollow way, for some reason I felt important being there, like I was part of the elite. Not that that really matters, but still, it was nice to be in such a classy place.

Then on Saturday, a friend from church took me outside of Seoul to where he goes to college in a place called Jeon Ju. He showed his college campus. It was a really modernized campus, and actually, the church I go to (onnurri) is foundational church of the University. Here's a couple of pictures to of the campus.

Then we went up to the library, and I got some great pictures of the city and surrounding area:

After that we went downtown to grab a bite to eat, then we met up with one of his friends. The downtown area reminded me a lot of Myungdung or parts of Anyung. Here's a couple pics to show what it's like:

That's my friend giving a funny but nice pose right before we caught the bus to go back.

Then on Sunday, after church, I met with a friend and went to a really really classy, nice tea place. This was like the fanciest cafe type place I've ever been to in my life. We had two things of tea, and one slice of cheesecake for $20 basically, so that tells you how nice the place was. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at the time or you can be sure you'd be seeing pictures of it.

So overall, it was a great weekend. Coming up, the Lunar New Year! Yay for three days off from work!!

Ben I never knew

Well, writer, actor, game show host, clear eyes guy Ben Stein has come out with a new documentary that looks very interesting. Finally, someone in the media standing up for intelligent design. This looks pretty good guys. Let me know what you think!

Random food for thought

I was listening to a sermon, and I heard quite a humorous statement. It was only humorous because it was so so true. So often, as Christians, we tend to give too much credit to ourselves. We think, look at me. “I” have done a lot of great stuff for Jesus. “I” have done this for my church. “I” have given my money in this way. But lets look at the reality of the situation. Everything good thing in life is ultimately a gift of grace from God, and since he is the source of all that is good, He is the only one who can really take credit. Here’s the analogy that I just love. If we are ever tempted to feel like it is by our own abilities and power that we serve, look at the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. One boy had a simple lunch box, and Jesus in his great power turned that simple, small offering into an enormous blessing. Then think if a bunch of people came up to the boy and said, “Wow, that was great! Tell us, how did you feed so many people?” The only logical, rational response to that could be, “I don’t know, it wasn’t me, it was all Jesus.” And yet how many times do we take credit for things in our lives that we know are all because of Jesus’ great power.

Expect more posts from me hopefully

So I've been thinking, and I should be blogging more than I am. There's so much to tell, and I haven't given the people what they want. I think it's cuz I only wanted to say what was truly important and interesting to people, but now, I'm just going to treat this the way I did my xanga. I'll write about tons of stuff. I'll post random video clips again, say how my day went, and post the ocassional philosophical post.

So today, I went to see Cloverfield with Youn Gi Young (for those of you who have seen my film Twin Dragons, he's the good guy twin in the film ^__^). Man, Cloverfield was by far the loudest movie I've ever seen in my life. But it was also the most realistic, engrossing, and shocking monster film I've ever seen. If you are planning on seeing this movie, you MUST go see it in the theater. It would be a great injustice to watch this on anything but a 300 inch screen (I'm not really sure how big theater screens are ^__^)

This weekend I met a lot of new people. I met this one couple that a co-worker introduced me to. They were really nice people, and they might be able to show me some more traditional Korean sites. I also met two of Gi Young's cousins. And on the subway back today, a random guy started talking to me. And 9 times out of 10, if a middle-aged man comes up to and starts speaking English with a big grin on his face, it usually means he's drunk. But this guy was actually a pastor, so that was cool. And with all of these new meetings, basically, none of these people spoke much English at all. So it was a great chance for me to practice my Korean.

Which is another update. for the past 2 months, I've really kicked into gear with studying Korean. I study for about an hour a day now, and I'd say I've greatly improved. I'm still very bad, but I can talk about general things now, and can interject in a conversation ocassionally now. I still have a long way to go, but I'm happy with my progress right now.

Since I don't really have much time to show videos of my trip here, I can at least share some videos of Korean culture. This is a clip from a very funny Korean variety show. All the people on this show are big celebrities in Korea, and they basically come on and do really goofy things. In this clip, they have to re-enact scenes from famous TV shows, while changing it up a bit. The thing I find so hilarious in this clip is how much this one guy, Park Myung Soo, overacts. He's known for always yelling, and it's hillarious in this segment. He's the guy in the pink shirt that keeps getting slapped. Let me know if you think it's as hillarious as I do.

You know, when I left college, people asked me if I would miss the friendships. I said, yeah! Of course! I made so many amazing friends at college. And yet, now, I’ve been in South Korea for 5 months, and I’ve practically lost touch with all of them. What does it mean? Were those friendships really that hollow? People say you can only really have a few close friends. I tend to think that’s generally true, mainly cuz we only have so much free time on our hands. But also, it’s just tough living a double life.

I’ve got to live my life in Korea, with my friends here. But then I also have to keep friendships maintained on the other side of the world as well. And right now, I feel like if I don’t maintain them, they’ll vanish. It’s kind of scary, but I’ve realized that the facebook messages and emails have been dwindling and now I really don’t see any from friends now. I don’t really know what that means. I still maintain hope in my friendships from Philly, just cuz most of those guys are like brothers to me, and I’ve known them like my whole life.

But my friends from college I worry about. I mean, I made some tight tight friends there. Some friends I were sure would be life friends. But maybe college was just too ideal of a place. It was easy to make great friends because you were in a setting that allowed it. You didn’t have to drive to see anyone. Everyone either lived with you or right across the hall from you. You ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with all of your friends, and you partied with them on the weekends. It was a friendship paradise in that sense. But did anyone else notice that during the summers, that all of the contact just stopped. During summer vacation I didn’t talk to people from school much at all. Then I went back to school and everything picked up where it left off.

The minute that those college friendships left the context of “college friendship paradise,” they fell apart. So it’s no wonder that now that we’ve all gone our separate ways, the friendships would not stay. If I wouldn’t drive 10 minutes to see friends that lived off campus, why would we call each other when I’m on the other side of the world.

I write this not because I’m angry, or necessarily even sad. I’m not blaming anyone, or feeling betrayed by anyone. It’s just the way things go, but I guess I’m surprised that it’s been this abrupt. I thought maybe I would fall out of contact after a couple years, not a couple of months.

To prove my point, I wonder how many, if any Geneva people even read this blog.

Relationships are complicated…

눈 (snow...)

I woke up one morning last week, and it was unusually dark in my room. I thought it might have raining that morning, but I didn't give it much thought. When I went out of my apartment at 8:45, I noticed an unfamiliar site. The cars, trees, and small patches of the road were lightly coded with snow. It didn't really stick to the roads, but it made it look really beautiful outside. But it melted after a day or two...

I'm not sure why, but it made me somewhat nostalgic to see it...