Children's Grand Park

Today was a MARVELOUS day. Our entire school went to the Children's Grand Park and the students spent the day painting and writing poetry. It was a thoroughly refreshing day. I will list the things I appreciated about it:

1. Slept in a little (didn't have to show up until 9)
2. Chatted with teachers while sipping a Caffe Latte (compliments of the female gym teacher).
3. Took a lovely stroll through the Botanical Gardens with Teacher Lee Won Kyung.
   
   
   Talk about REFRESHING!!!!! The gardens reminded me of New Zealand...
   
   
   
4. Saw some beautiful roses and actually was able to smell them this time (for those of you that don't know, I don't have the greatest sense of smell, although I think that's changed since coming to Korea...).
   
   
5. The weather was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT while we were there - not too hot, not too chilly, not too humid...
   
6. Chatted with several of my students... I really enjoyed seeing them enjoying life like children are supposed to enjoy it. They were all so friendly to me, too. So sweet today...
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   This is Shawn (Hong Jong Chan). He has been in every one of my after-school classes. It's been so cool to see him grow. I was excited to see his artwork because he's always doodling in class! ^^
   
   
   
   
7. Tasted sushi and didn't die. The raw fish kind of weirded me out so I only tried a couple of pieces before removing the raw fish from the rest. I knew my mom just wouldn't be able to handle the idea of me eating raw salmon...
8. Received a flower from one of my former students. So sweet... it is now being pressed between the pages of my Bible so that I can preserve the memories...
   
   (unfortunately, my camera decided to take dark pictures... so you can't see the flower very well... but it's there, I promise!)
   
9. Was blessed with significant time to spend with my main co-teacher, Lee Hye Eun. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations. And... she treated me to a little sea animal show. It was based on Cinderella (my FAVORITE fairy tale growing up) and was definitely targeted for children, but I quite enjoyed it.
   
   
   
10. Finished the day early and had time to go to the bank to wire money home. The teller was SO kind and helpful. It was refreshing not to feel hurried...
11. Perhaps the best part of the day: a THUNDERSTORM!!!!! I've been missing those thunderstorms. I'm not sure why I love them so much, but for some reason, it just does my heart good... I didn't have my umbrella with me, but it didn't matter too much. I didn't mind getting wet. It was just absolutely lovely!
12. Since I finished early, I got to go visit Sara at her place. She just got back from her brother's wedding in Cali, so I was delighted to see her pictures and hear all about her time with her lovely family. We enjoyed dinner and tea together. Once again, it was nice to be able to relax and feel unhurried.
13. Found some stickers that I needed for class at the stationary store for REALLY cheap... Sara and I were also quite easily amused by the random English words slapped together to make some sort of sentences (?) on random notebooks, stationary, and gift bags.
    
14. Had a nice subway ride home and was so encouraged by the Psalms. The Lord just continues to faithfully pursue my heart and remind me of His INCREDIBLE love.
    

I needed today. I'm so thankful...