U.S.A – Houston and Melbourne:
My first 9 days were spent in Houston. Stephanie was so kind and generous in opening up her house for me to stay in for the duration of my vacation. First full day in, I got to attend Sunday school, Church service, and even share a ministry moment! I was going off of about 3 hours of sleep over the previous 45 hours and a bunch of us were heading back to be celebrate Staph’s 26th birthday over omelets and mimosas… I ended out crashing after an hour of hanging out, but following a quick powernap, my jetlag subsided and I was good to go for the rest of the trip!
With cold and rainy weather, I was limited in my outings, but was able to share friends company in some of my favorite places including El Tiempo, Empire Café, The Galleria, Discovery Green Dog Park (with Lucy and Diego!), The Molina’s – the incredible family that is fostering the pups, Central Market, Huynh, Shula’s, and a Christmas eve Church Service… is it bad that most of those places involve great food?
On Christmas day, I went to Church and spent the rest of the afternoon with the Barnes'… we line-danced and celebrated Christ’s birth through the evening – I loved hanging out with the crew, Nana, and Papa! Never a dull moment with this family!
Next morning, I made my way to Melbourne, Florida to spend 4 days with my mom and dad. The weather was beautiful; in the high 70’s with sun. Once again, the trip revolved around good food and fun times with the family. High lights include Doubles Hoagies, Da Kine Diego’s gringo sandwich, moms Greek Meatballs and Fried Chicken… yum! I ran over the causeway a few times, and really enjoyed the serenity of our location overlooking the river.
Nothing compares to a Volley Sub at Doubles!
Home sweet home in Florida
I also made my way over to Orlando, by invitation of Stephanie Shumate, to help cheer my Noles on to a victory!
My last day and night in the USA was spent back in Houston. I got to hang out with Heidi for the whole day – which was great! She headed out to a wedding, and I spent some time with Jane at a coffee shop and said goodbye to the pups for the last time for a while (18 months…!). I was planning on going out for New Years Eve… but ended out calling it an early night, recognizing I had to be at the airport by 4am.
Lucy and Diego "Rinche"
The Trip Back to Jeju:
And let me tell you, it was hard to get back on the flight, but with students in mind, I grabbed my bags and was on my merry way… Merry until I hit Newark and got the email from my father that stated my flight from Beijing to Jeju had been cancelled… yes, that is right… not delayed but cancelled! He booked me a flight at 9:45pm from Beijing to Seoul, which would land right after midnight and where I would have to switch international airports using a 45-minute shuttle bus, and then catch a flight at 6:30am from Seoul to Jeju.
I figured that paying a little extra to stay the night in Beijing and fly directly to Jeju to the island rather than fly to Seoul would be worth the cost, a decent night sleep, and time on the Internet to let everyone know I was alive and well. So Suun, the man who was helping me at the airport, told me he knew of a great 4-star hotel at a reasonable price that would have all the basics I would want. He hailed the free shuttle, which should have been first clue as to what the airport would be like. As we were driving to the hotel, I literally pictured myself in the white van that is seen during the 2004 movie Crash – where the Vietnamese family is held captive and released into a Los Angeles China town in the final scene.
As soon as I walked up to the front desk, a bellboy came running over to show me a room. I quickly smiled and stated that as long as I had a clean bed and wireless internet, there was no need for me to view the premises before paying – I had been officially traveling for 26 hours at this point with maybe one solid hour of sleep on the plane. Oooops – my lack of patience and assumption that all would be well was a mistake! Upon first glance, the room was ok. It was poorly lit but had a bed, a computer and a TV. It wasn’t until the door was shut that I quickly realized the floors hadn’t been vacuumed in at least a month, the bathroom was obviously unsterilized, and to top it all off, the Internet did not work.
Comet and a sponge anyone?! :(
Lets jump forward to the next part of my traveling adventure… When I finally arrived to Jeju, I hailed a taxi to my apartment off campus. Finally, home! 1605… beep beep beep. Hmmm… I must have pressed it wrong. Lets try again. 1605… beep beep beep. After 45 minutes in the hallway, awaiting our Business staff to find the new code, I entered and started unpacking my belongings from the trip. Anxious for a hot shower, it was 15 minutes before I realized that there was no hot water! Hahaha… Seriously? So, I caught another taxi and made my way down to campus, took a long shower, and called it another early night. Jetlag? Haha… jetlag had NOTHING on this trip!
All of this madness during the trip back to Jeju made it so hard to return with high spirits – that is, until I saw my students. These children are people that I have an opportunity to help mold into our future global leaders. And some of our students probably WILL be leaders within their communities, sooner than we think!
Since arriving back:
A lot has happened this past week and a half since we have been back in school. Here are a few notable events:
- · Anti-Bullying Campaign
Wristband campaign "I pledge not to bully - Together is the best"
- · Service Leading Preparation for the Trip in a month!
Planning for the trips on and off the island have been a humbling challenge for me since returning. Having to coordinate communication between business staff, trip leaders, and the faculty has not been an easy task… But, we are well on our way to a week of Service Leading for our students – either in Thailand, Cambodia, or on our Jeju Island. (See Service Leading Lou-Anne for more on that… and yes – that might be my chin)
- Had some legit Raw fish... some of it was still moving when it came out on the plate!
On north shore of the Island - talk about Fresh!
- Emily's 28th birthday.
Ice-skating party!
Next big event will be next Monday for 2 reasons… On January 23, it is the Lunar New Year – the Year of the Black Dragon. I will be traveling to Seoul to spend some time with Julianne and other KISers. Ready for this?!... Double cool – it is my birthday! The big 2-6.
Prayer Requests:
After a brief conversation with a friend in Houston, he made this comment that has been repeating in my head over and over for the last few days…
“...I miss you. I feel like there was a side of you that I never got to know that, in the end, was your best side. We never talked God or Jesus and your faith is your light.”
Man… that hit home – HARD. Please pray that I have the guts to share this part of my life that I too often leave covered for fear that I will ostracize people before building up a relationship. I think that humans are more resilient and less judgmental than I often give them credit for! And since I do believe that part of the reason that I am half a world away from so many of my comforts is to 'work to make disciples of all nations'.
Well, it is about time that I sign out. Missing the U.S.A. already… maybe I can see some of my fellow Americans this summer – I hope to make it to the Olympics in July/August. Please pray for some of my friends working to qualify in Track and Field:
(Erison – Dominica, Ngoni and Bryan – Zimbabwe, Cedric – Switzerland, Destiny and Craig – U.S.A.) and check out this old photo. I was in London in 2005 in Trafalger Square when they announced that the 2012 Olympics would he held in London… full circle!
XOXO from Jeju,
~Sara
(Erison – Dominica, Ngoni and Bryan – Zimbabwe, Cedric – Switzerland, Destiny and Craig – U.S.A.) and check out this old photo. I was in London in 2005 in Trafalger Square when they announced that the 2012 Olympics would he held in London… full circle!
XOXO from Jeju,
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