Birthdays & Weddings & Shows...oh my!

To say "I've been busy" would be an understatement. SO much has been happening here in Korea - so much, in fact, that I haven't had a chance to come and share my stories with you, oh faithful bloggers, for a good few weeks now! But alas! I've found a spare moment, a "stich in time", where I might share some of the exciting happenings that have taken place here in Korealand the last few weeks....

Earlier this month, my friend Joy celebrated her first birthday overseas!! It was a fun event celebrating with all of our new friends and helping Joy to have a fabulous birthday! It was cool to see how touched Joy was, especially being so far away from other friends and family, and how she still felt uplifted and touched by our birthday wishes and celebrations. It made me realize that when the time comes for my first birthday overseas next spring, I have people here that will help me celebrate in style, even if other loved ones are far away.
Here are a few pictures from the birthday celebration:



Around the same time as Joy's birthday(roughly a week and a half ago), I had the opportunity to travel to the Korean Folk Village in Suwon, Korea (about 20 miles south of Seoul). We had the chance to see traditional Korean houses from the different regions and living cultures of the late Joseon Dynasty, which lasted almost five centuries (1392–1897)! We also got to see a few performances later in the day that featured "Traditional Korean Farmers' Dancing and Drumming". Check out the video below:


It was definitely an exciting day, but one of the best parts was viewing a traditional Korean wedding! Check out the photo below:
These people were ACTUALLY getting married! It's tradition in Korean culture to have anybody and everybody attend the marriage ceremony, so all of us foreigners got to walk right in and enjoy this event of holy matrimony ;-)


This past week was quite eventful because there was lots of build-up leading to our first Fall Concert in the High School! All orchestra, band, and choral students performed a portion in the two-hour concert and it was exciting for me to make my first debut as the Seoul Foreign School Choral Director! My High School Concert Choir performed, as well as the Psalms Choir (made up of SFS Faculty and HS students) and Moonlight Choir (the top-16 voice audition only choir). Here is a picture of Moonlight this year in our choir room (I'm in the upper right corner) - we're missing one of our boys, but you get the general idea:

Life's definitely been moving at lightning speed, but I'm growing and learning more each day about this culture, about this country, about myself and about my purpose for being here. There is so much life here...so much excitement! I feel so blessed to be a part of it and I pray that I can continue to relish in all of the amazingness that IS Seoul Foreign School...that IS Seoul, KOREA!!