Two cultures, one relationship.

Woo hooo!!! I am finally on vacation!  I'm leaving for Seoul later today and will meet my Korean church pastor from La Crosse Sunday morning for church and fellowship.  He asked me to give a short testimony.  My true testimony is probably pages and pages long so I just selected a part of it to share on Sunday - about how being a Korean adoptee has led me to Christ.  I want to use ESL as a ministry someday so I thought I'd share it on my blog too:

my angel nephew and niece

    God has certainly brought together the two cultures of America and Korea in forming my relationship with Him.  I was so fortunate to grow up with a loving family but when I began college in 2007, my life seemed to change.  I experienced many hardships my first year in college but the worst was the death of my prematurely born twin baby niece and nephew.  I couldn’t understand why God was putting all of these horrible things in my life and I doubted His existence and power.  While I sat in the church pew at my niece and nephew’s funeral, I prayed earnestly to God for the first time in my life and told Him that if He existed, He needed to reveal himself to me.
    God slowly but surely answered my prayers through bringing me to live with my Christian aunts and cousins, hearing the testimonies of others, joining Campus Crusade for Christ, and learning that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship.

Cru - at TCX conference in MN

    During my third year of college in 2009, just when I thought everything in my life was going right -I was studying God’s word, enjoying school, making new friends, and dating a wonderful Christian, Korean-American man, my life fell apart once again when my boyfriend suddenly rejected me because of spiritual and cultural differences.  For the first time in my life, someone caused me to be ashamed of my Korean adoptee background and feel as though I was not a worthy person.  I then turned to a lifestyle of drinking and partying to try and fill the emptiness in my life but deep down I knew that God was the only way.

    In my sadness, it caused me to pray again faithfully for Christian sisters, people who would make me feel accepted as a Korean adoptee, and a church home in La Crosse.  After starting a new semester in January 2010, God brought a new transfer student into one of my classes named Rachel.  She was a Christian Korean woman who recently moved to La Crosse and we quickly became friends.  She was someone who was strong in her faith and openly accepted my willingness to learn about Korean culture and language.  Shortly after meeting Rachel, I also I discovered New Hope Church and met Pastor John.  Just like Rachel, New Hope Church showed me the love and acceptance I needed and I was finally able to call this place my church home.  Still, I felt sadness from my ex boyfriend’s rejection.
    At the end of the semester, Rachel wrote me a beautiful good-bye letter after she transferred to a school in Chicago and it brought tears to my eyes. Reading her letter helped me realize what great blessings God brought into my life - Christian fellowship, a church home and a link to Korean culture.  These things far exceeded a relationship with someone who didn’t accept my faith or Korean and American culture.  I could not deny how lovingly God answered my prayers and everything good in my life was a gift from Him. Three years after my first prayer to God about His existence, I finally, with all my heart, gave my life to God.

me and Rachel-unni

  
   

Happy 4th of July!

Comments from my family to me:

"I don't think you can go to the bank on Monday because it will be closed for the holiday."
"Do you have off from work on the 4th of July?"

My response: Well you see, they don't celebrate the America's Independence Day in Korea....

In light of the holiday and my amusement at this thing you can "like" on Facebook, I thought I would name my reasons why I like being American, in no particular order. And noooo, I am not trying to diss Korea because it really is great.  But being in a foreign country really helps you see the good things you love about your country.

1. Drinking the tap water
Who would have thought a girl could miss turning on the sink faucet and drinking water without being afraid of getting sick?

2. Clearance racks
My version of heaven on earth is a clearance rack with an addition percentage off.  And this does not exist in Korea.  Cheap clothes period don't really exist in Korea.

What is wrong with this picture? Koreans will tell you!!

3. Wearing tanks tops and looking normal
It's pretty inappropriate to show any shoulders or chest area in Korea.  Some girls wear tank tops but it's pretty rare.  I just don't get it...it's crazy hot and humid here...how could girls not want to wear tanks tops???

I'm a survivor!!

4. Decent drivers
America, I know we're not perfect and we have too many auto accidents but I now see where Asians get their bad rap for being sucky drivers.  Red lights, tailgating within inches, staying in your lane, the safety of your employee because you're an old Korean guy who can't figure out his new smart phone but still use it while driving....all that means nothing in Korea.   I have evaded death from automobile accidents many times but hey, in America we can blame the snow.  Korea...I just do not know.

Hines Ward=Half Korean=WIN for Korea

5. Football

Korea may have helped to breed the gorgeous, talented, Dancing with the Stars champion, killer smile, Steeler Hines Ward but they have not totally jumped on the football bandwagon.  So no Football Sundays for me : (  Then again with the lockout, maybe there will be no Sunday NFL for anyone.

6. Normal work schedules

Korean people work late hours.  A lot get done around 6pm but a lot of my students work Saturdays and sometimes until 10 or 11pm!!  And on

e of the biggest surprises here was the fact that many of my students do not live with their wives and families during the week.  For this, don't ever worry about me staying in Korea because of falling in love with some guy.  Not living with my husband Monday-Friday or having as little family time as they do here does not cut it for me.

Best Bloody Award goes to Ardie's in Lax

7. Wine and Bloodys
Wine is semi-hard to find and pretty darn expensive and the Bloody is even more rare, if not non-existent.  Seriously, anyone who can mail me some Ocean Spray Bloody mix I will be forever in debt to.

8. Cheese
Parmesan, Muenster, Baby Swiss, Colby, Cheddar, American, Brie....Mozzarella sticks, Cheese curds, Cheese Bread, Grilled Cheese, Beer Cheese soup........this is why America is fat but it's soo delicious.

9. Halloween
Best excuse for going hunting at Goodwill and wearing your old dance costumes ever.

10. Farms
You wouldn't expect this to be on my list but despite their nasty smell, nothing was prettier than the times I was riding with Ben on his motorcycle through farmland in the Lax area.  Rice paddys just don't have the same effect.

11. Tomboys
Korea is the land of girly-girls who don't play sports, sweat, have big groups of guy friends, or enjoy shows like Family Guy and Robot Chicken.  Ok, I'm overgeneralizing.... but still accurate.  Don't get me wrong, I love wearing dresses, doing my hair, shopping whatever...but seriously, my students are pretty surprised when I tell them I know the rules of baseball and played sports in high school.

12. Unlimited texting and free nights and weekends cell phone plans
Korea has Kakao Talk for texting purposes but you need a smart phone....but free nights and weekends is unheard of in Korea.

Don't worry....come Korean Independence Day, I'll do another blog post about why I like being Korean too.  But it's crazy how the little things we have in America are easy to take advantage of and you miss soooo much when you don't have them.

Happy 4th of July~~