Reunion Time

Yesterday marked a great reunion for our Corvallis Oneighty family! Can you believe it? I never knew when I would see some of these friends again and it was awesome to spend a day with them in Korea!

This is Yul, Ronnie, Michael, me, and Chris right before the night ended. (Jay was also there but had to leave earlier) It was one of the best times I've had in Korea--lots of catching up about life, good food, college advice and stories from the boys, and recalling back on old memories.

I missed these boys! 

Michael, on the right, attends Syracuse University and goes back to Korea for most of the breaks so it sucks for people like me back in Corvallis who miss all the people who go off to college. It was so fun to see him again. I guess if these people wont visit us in Corvallis, we just have to go to Korea to see them! Once I'm at college this next fall, I'll be a little closer..in the same time zone at least.

Me and Ronnie together sharing ice cream. Ronnie home-stayed with my family her freshman year in high school and I missed her so much when she left! If there's anything I love about being in Korea, it's not the shopping or the food that I love a lot..it's being able to see old friends again like her. Seriously so much fun. I tried convincing her to come back to Oregon for college so I can see her all the time when I come home for breaks. I have my fingers crossed!

Our dinner with our nice little aprons.

You can tell we were excited. We didn't eat the whole thing by ourselves, don't worry.

Oh Jay...how I missed this guy. We have some epic memories from spending study halls together at school and late nights with Jessica and Daryl at the OSU library, not to mention all the youth group events and the mission trip we went on together to Arizona. He helped me with more chemistry problems than I can remember and was famous for always telling me to "use my brain"--a line that Jessica and I still remember and laugh about. It was more than awesome to see him again and to hear the cool things he's a part of now. He had to leave us early because he had to go to a meeting for his mission trip to Cambodia. How awesome is that! It's so encouraging to see how people who used to attend Corvallis Korean Church are branching out and doing incredible things elsewhere. 

Speaking of which, Chris actually just got back from Russia where he was also on a mission trip with his church in Korea. It was fun hearing about the work his team did over there with street ministry and how God still worked despite a huge language barrier. This is him singing his heart away at a nolehbang for a classic karaoke session. I still remember being on the worship team with him back when I was a little 8th grader..time flies! He's going back to Wisconsin Madison this next fall and he said he's hoping to visit Corvallis in the summer.

Gotta love Korean karaoke time. We sang and played a card game called something I forget, but it was a lot like Egyptian Ratscrew. Ronnie dominated and I sucked really bad. It was all part of a great night!

embracing fobness

I've accomplished a lot in the past two days.

I rode the subway by myself for the first time and managed to get off at the right stop, change subway lines, and navigate the way from the subway to my grandma's house--all in one piece, with nothing stolen, and without getting frazzled or brownie! I will say that all those fridays at Korean school paid off because being able to read the names of each stop helped me not get lost, and you guys know how directionally challenged I am. It gets pretty cozy in the subway when it's packed..I was in one guy's armpit for a good five minutes.

The past two days have been so much fun! Yesterday, I got to see Jessica, who I hadn't seen in two years! I missed this girl and I've always thought how awesome it would have been if we could have been seniors together at CV and at Oneighty.

With my strawberry smoothie and her latte, we spent time catching up on the past years and laughing about how we're nervous, excited, and complete noobs when it comes to college. Good thing we're both going to Georgia and we'll only be 15 minutes away! We already have plans to take the buses that go from Georgia Tech and Emory to local churches together when we get to Atlanta. It's awesome that after two years, and of all the places and colleges we could have ended up at, we're going to be so close to each other. God is so good!

Yul joined us later and we had dinner together, ate dessert, took some fobby pictures, and ended the night with kareoke! These two are so much fun.

These are our fob-stye pictures that we took in a booth. Unlike the lame-o photo booths in America, the ones in Korea let you choose your own background and afterwards you can decorate the pictures with even more fobby designs! It was all so exciting. See, this is me embracing my inner fob. As a side note, I'll say that Yul was such a good sport about doing this. As a junior boy in high school, he never complained even when Jessica and I made him wear funky girly ears for the pictures. Yay Yul! 

Embracing our fobness.

Our dessert.

Today I met Lauren! I was more than excited to see her because I didn't think I would see her until Winter Break. Even though it's just been 2 months, there was lots to talk about. We ate of course, walked around the mall and outside, and shopped (shopping in Korea is amazing) even though most of it was just eye shopping.

We also took pictures! More fob pictures!