Christmas - Scooter - Basketball

Merry late Christmas to all of our friends and family who have been faithful in keeping up with our blog!  We understand that the more we slack off with this thing, the less likely you are to keep checking back, so we are very thankful for you.  We can officially check off Christmas as a married couple and in Korea from our list of firsts.  We still have our Charlie Brown Christmas tree up in the living room, garnished with a few expensive plastic ornaments (all ornaments around here are expensive!) and one special "Our first Christmas" ornament that Jess's parents got us (thanks!).  I have to admit though, that this just didn't feel much like Christmas.  It's just not the same without being surrounded with the family and friends that we have grown up with.  The season is just different.  Good, but different.  One good thing about Christmas in Korea is that it is definitely not as commercial as Christmas in America.   Not yet- Korea is ever trying to keep up with western civilization so I give it a few years.

Another thing we've been meaning to blog about is the latest addition to our family.  We have wanted a boston terrier puppy for the longest time and living in a new country didn't change that.  However, boston terriers are hard to find here and just as expensive as they are in the states.  We found a little pet store that sells them, and thought about buying one, but finally settled our minds on not getting one because we couldn't rationalize spending so much on a dog at this point in our lives.  Well, weirder things have happened, but not a week after we made the decision not to get a dog, one fell into our laps.  We visited the pet store again one time just to see the puppies for fun and the lady there showed us a year old pup whose American owners moved back to the states and didn't take him with them.  The pet store lady offered him up to us for free.  We had to think about it for about .. oh.. say, 10 minutes before we decided to keep him.  Scooter brings us much joy and fun in our household.  He's so funny and lovable and very smart too.  We have taught him a small variety of tricks and he learns quickly.  I'll post some photos of the little guy below.

One last order of business is basketball.  If you haven't heard already, Jess and I are coaching boys' high school basketball this year.  I (Russell) am the head coach and Jess is my assistant (but equal) coach.  So far it's been a bit challenging, but we are seeing much growth on our team.  We came into this venture knowing a bit about how high school basketball operates in America.  Too bad it's totally different in Korea.  The kids don't take it seriously like we did in high school and we have challenges such as not having a gym to practice in but twice a week.  Also, that gym only has two hoops and we have to share time with the girls' basketball team. We didn't know what to expect coming into the games, but once we got into the groove we have started to see some promising progress.  We lost our first game by 20, lost our second by 10 and lost our third by 3 (I hate making excuses, but the refereeing was terrible in this game - plus we didn't do our best).  Finally we won our fourth game by 20 points after the very disappointing 3 point buzzer beating loss the game before.  We as coaches were very proud of our guys.  They came so far from their first game until that point and they worked very hard to get there.  Unfortunately they got a little too big for their britches before the next game and we lost by 30.  That last team was pretty good, I'll admit, but we played horribly too.  

Oh well. 

One thing Jess and I wanted from this basketball season was to see spiritual growth on our team.  One thing I've found since starting is that coaching can easily become an idol if you let it.  It is so easy to focus on winning and wanting to be held in high esteem that the true goals are left behind.  I had that revelation after losing our first three games and I rededicated the season to God.  Now, I'm not saying that God gave us a game or anything - maybe He did - but I finally found joy in the game again and we won!  Now Jess and I are trying to find that mid line between trying to push a bunch of kids to be winners and trying to keep perspective of the whole thing and what our ultimate goal is: to be examples of godly leaders who live a godly lifestyle.  Please pray for us in this basketball season that God will convict our hearts during our practices and games that we will make the right decisions and lead by example.  Pray that He will give us the courage and strength to stand up to our convictions and be open to the Spirit's leading.  Pray also for the boys on the team (there are two especially that we want to focus on in prayer) that they will be impacted by the things they hear and see from us.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Our Everyday.

Here's just a little sample of God's wonderful creation that we get to work with every day.  These pictures are from Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW).  It is a week that happens at the school every fall in which we focus on giving the gospel to our kids and make a point to speak with them one-on-one about a decision to follow Christ.  In Russell's third grade class, one girl prayed and gave her life to Christ.  Since then, we have seen such a positive shift in her attitude and behavior.  During SEW, we don't focus on academics quite as much, but have a chapel time every day (as opposed to once a week) and we really focus on showing love to our students.  Not that we don't every other week - but SEW is specifically intended to change lives.

Cute kids, eh?

(Above) This is Sabina, the third grader who gave her life to Christ during Spiritual Emphasis Week.  She is from Kyrgyzstan and is a huge blessing to our school!

War!

Well, it's been about a month since we put any real content on here, so here's a story to tide you over.  This happened on Wednesday of last week.

We have had a lot of work put on us lately by the school.  With most schools, you do your job as a teacher and that's all you really have to be accountable for.  But at ICS, there is a lack of people to do the other things like coaching (more than one sport), and working on the clerical stuff that keeps the school up to standard.  Thus, lots of extra stuff gets piled on the teachers here, but we press on because we are not here for us, but for the mission God gave us.

       Anyway, Wednesday was one of those 'piled on' days where you have a lot to do and very little time to do it.  Jess found out that a student of hers was going to be leaving school the next day for two weeks and she had to get his homework for the two weeks ready overnight.  That basically involved writing two weeks of lesson plans in one night.  Not fun.  Very frustrating actually.  At the end of the day, we usually ride home with the rest of the teachers in one of two vans that take us home.  They announce over the loudspeaker that they are leaving in 3 minutes or whatever and then we have to get our butts down there.  Well, they announced they were leaving at 4:00, so we knew we had a couple minutes.  We walked downstairs 20 seconds after 4pm and everyone was gone.  They left us!   AAAaarrrrgghhhh!  Just one more frustration heaped on our shoulders.  

       If you miss the vans, you have to walk a short distance to a bus stop, catch that bus to another bus stop, and the second bus will take you home.  It was raining that day, and we had forgotten our umbrellas, so we walked to the first bus stop in the rain, grumbling.  We waited in the rain for 5 minutes for the bus, but it never came so we had to catch a taxi to the second bus.  At the second bus stop, we got there just in time to catch the exact bus we needed to get home.  Our first lucky break of the day, right?  Wrong.  One mile down the road, a minivan pulled out in front of our bus, not giving our bus driver enough time to stop.  We T-boned the van going probably 35 miles an hour.  Jess and I were right at the front of the bus when it happened.  It was actually really neat to see - but Jess had her eyes closed.  No one was hurt, thank God, but we had to stay on the bus for 20 more minutes so the police could get statements and stuff.  Uggh.  

       Finally, they let us board a much more crowded bus that took us, standing up, back home.  Or at least close to home.  We still had to walk half a mile in the rain again.  When we got home, we were tired, sopping wet, and angry.

I titled this post 'War!' because that's exactly what is going on all around Jess and I right now.  Spirits of frustration and bitterness had swept over us all day, trying to drag us down.  It was very easy to be bitter towards the school for giving us so much work, at the people who left us behind at 4pm and 20 seconds, at the first bus for not coming, at the van driver for causing a huge accident that delayed getting home.  If you've ever read any Frank Peretti novels, you can imagine the picture of spirits of anger, frustration, and pity digging their talons into our heads.  Luckily for us, we have a big God who drew us to praying in the midst of the spiritual battle around us.  He delivered us from the resentful attitudes we had and still get from time to time.  

This mission so worth it... but it is so stressful at times.  You can pray for us - and when you do, you will be one more warrior helping to protect our minds and our attitudes here.  We cannot do this alone, but only through prayer and the strength of our great big God.  Thank you all for your continued support both financially and in prayer.   

Until the battle is won,

-Russ and Jess Phillips

Wow.. umm.. sorry.

We really have to apologize for the lack of updates in the recent weeks.  We promise to have some good stuff on here real soon!

US-Korean Market Comparison #1

Ok folks.. we thought some of you might like to see the comparison in price of things here versus things in America.  Maybe we will continue to post random things we buy here that we would normally buy in the states and share the prices with you so you can get a little glimpse of the cost of living (like an American). The price is listed below the photo.

Half gallon of milk = $4.90

A Day with the Orphans

First things first... we want to direct your eyes to the right side of the page where the greenish looking sidebar is. In there, right above the little photo of us, is a list of prayer concerns/requests/praises that you can be going to God with on our behalf. Sometimes we don't always come right out and say what we need prayer for in these blog posts, so you can check that prayer list and find out how you can pray for us any time you want! Ingenious!

Now to the update. This past Saturday (September 20), we had the opportunity to participate in an outreach our church here planned with a local orphanage. The plan was to meet this group of orphans at a park where we would play some games, have a cookout and just plain have fun. Also, we were to going to mix in a simple salvation message in there to the best of our ability. Wellllllll.. it had been sprinkling a little in the morning, but not enough to deter us from doing the event. So we left the church for the park and arrived on schedule-- and right on schedule the downpour started. It started downpouring the minute we stepped out of the vans. We quickly set up our tents and the grill, but to no avail.. it was just too wet to do anything. So we shifted to plan B and went back to the church with the kids.

At the church, we played some games, which included one of my personal favorites - dodgeball - and a relay race where each person must run to a table lined with plates upon which sit a piece of chocolate in a big pile of cornstarch.  You have to eat the chocolate without using your hands.. this is what the result looks like:

This guy - can't even remember his name, it was so hard to pronounce - latched on to me during this game and clung to my side the rest of the day. Fine by me!

Promptly following that game, we went to another room in the church and ate ourselves silly with nice juicy American burgers and hotdogs (Ballparks, no less!). I think I (Russ) ate 3 hotdogs and a cheeseburger myself, along with some potato and macaroni salad. We were in heaven. During the meal pastor Chapman, the pastor of our church here, gave a brief salvation message which was translated by one of the Korean women who attended. Some of the kids really listened intently, and others were, well.. about 5 years old with the attention span of a.. well, a 5 year old. It was good though, and we have more things planned with this particular orphanage. After the meal, we played with the kids some more and then said our goodbyes after having made some personal connections to them.  Once we got home from the event, we laid down for a quick nap and didn't wake up until 5 hours later. 

We really felt blessed to have been able to be with those kids and shine some light into their lives.  We could tell that what they really wanted, or maybe needed, was JUST to be with us.  Just to feel loved and cared for.  Just to feel like someone is doing something JUST for them JUST BECAUSE.  

We've got Seoul...

The good thing about teaching at an American school in Korea is that not only do you get American holidays off, you also get the Korean ones. Last weekend was Chusok, the Korean equivalent to our Thanksgiving. We got Monday off, so we decided to spend our Saturday in Seoul with a friend from college who is originally from Korea and is back here living there. After navigating our way through the maze of a subway system, we met up with our friend Peter and made our way to our first stop: Gyeongbokgung Palace (gee-ohng-boke-gung). This was the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty; at least that's what the brochure said. We made it there just in time to witness one of the four changing of the guard ceremonies that happen each day (except tuesdays). I put a video below so you can hear the music and see the funny guards parading back around the outer wall of the palace. Pictures follow.

Here's the main entrance gate to the entire palace.  The palace contains something like 20 or more buildings.  All of the buildings look a little alike, but have their own neat little personality.  This big mass of people out front was the result of the changing of the guard ceremony..

This is right inside the front gate.  This courtyard was all stone and looked very neat.  Our friend Peter told us that someone burned down the palace about 400 years ago, but it was rebuilt shortly after.  So the buildings aren't the originals, but still very historic.

Some Korean women dressed in traditional dresses called Hanbok.  You got to get into the palace for free if you wore your traditional clothing, so there were a good number of people walking around in similar outfits.

This is inside the king's courtroom.  Official matters were taken care of here.  The outside of this building can be seen in the picture that's right above the two women in the Hanboks.  That painting behind the king's throne is on the Korean $10 bill.  Pretty cool.

We really liked this painting of two dragons.  It was in one of the buildings at the palace, above the king's throne.

Bulldog Leopards maybe.. we thought it was neat anyway.

Here's a little video of Jess and Peter playing a little game they had set up in the palace. The object was to stand behind a line and throw these little mini javelins into a bronze kettle. There were three small holes you could get it in. It was a lot harder than Jess made it look!

This building was really cool.  It was in the middle of a big pond and just had a really scenic quality to it.  Peter told us that the pond was the means of suicide for a prince or princess after being betrayed by their lover.  How wonderfully morbid!

Another view of the pond building with the mountains in the background.

We live in Korea, but today we were tourists.. 

When we were leaving, Jess snapped this picture.  It really shows the mix of traditional and modern in Seoul.  It's cool to see the two worlds come together.

After leaving the palace, we went to a shopping district to look around, even though we didn't bring any shopping money.  Peter wanted to show us some things.  This was one thing that we thought was kind of interesting.  Among the many vendors, we found this "ajima" (ah-jee-mah - means old married woman) making these little sugar cookie things.  All she did was melt some sugar in a big metal spoon looking thing and then add some soda powder, mix it around and plop it on some wax paper.  Then she took a small press and flattened it into a cookie and pressed a star or heart design on it.  They were really cheap, and tasted like burnt marshmallows.  Mmmmmm..

Jess liked her marshmallow cookie.

Korean street evangelism in action.  There were two other people with this ajima who were carrying their own crosses.  One of them had a small boombox that was blasting the salvation message to the people around them.

A few years back, the mayor of Seoul transformed a run down part of the city into a man made creek that now goes through down town.  It's a big place for tourism and is really neat.  Every once in a while there are stepping stones to cross.  Peter and I crossed these ones.

Jess, Peter, and I hanging out at the beginning of the downtown creek.  Those fountains behind us are the source of the creek's water.  They flow down a slope and form the beginning of the stream.

Jess goofing around on the stepping stones.

Ta da!  The end!

Market Day!

We have to apologize for the gap in updates.  It seems that things got really busy here for about a week and a half.. but we are starting to get back on track.  We have some things we want to share with you, so we will put them into a couple of different posts so you don't get information overload. It'll be like getting multiple presents on Christmas!

First, we wanted to share with you something that happens around our part of town every five days. In a lot of places there is a market that you can go to on any given day to get your veggies, fresh fish, pieces of cut up pig, squid, etc. But here, oh no, they have to be different. Here, they bring the market to YOU. There are these vendors that all they do is bring their market to a different part of town every day. One day it will be here, then the next it will be in another neighborhood and so on and so forth. Well, Jess and I have gotten used to it and we like to stroll through the market to see what kind of interesting things we can find. Here are a few samples:

Here are a few shots of the market itself.. a huge busy mess of old women and shoppers within a small city of tents. Craziness!

Fresh pork!

Mmm.. Kimchi, the Korean staple side dish- by the kilogram!

Slimy stingray looking fish, anyone?

This cowboy was selling ginseng tea ("You try, you try!") Maybe the nastiest stuff on earth.

Apetizing, eh?

We got 'em fresh, we got 'em cut up in pieces, and we got 'em dried. How do you like your squid?

I wondered out loud what these were as we passed. Some little girl who actually spoke English came by and told me they were worms. Yummy! Found out later, they are silk worms to be exact.