I like sitting in the dark.

Posted on May 10, 2013 by melody

It’s true. I prefer dim lighting, or very near darkness to anything else (unless we are talking about being outside, nothing beats sunshine!). This morning my roommate came out of her bedroom to the kitchen while I was making a breakfast smoothie and switches on the light saying, “Why are you making a smoothie in the dark???”My co-workers will walk by my class to fill up their water bottles and see me sitting in the dark when my students are gone at specials and pop their head in with a puzzled look on their face, “Do you want me to turn the lights on? Why are you sitting in the dark?”

Oh, is that weird? A habit that formed, but I am not sure when. I have a tendency to relate it to growing up suffering from migraines. When you have a headache all light switches are immediately turned off. The relief isn’t much… but I relate dim lighting to comfort.

My migraines, Praise The Lord, are much less frequent… so why do I sit in the dark now? I couldn’t tell you. I just like it.

Can DIY be depressing? or inspiring?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by melody

I believe there has always been creativity in the world. But since we threw twitter, youtube, and facebook as well as blogs and etsy and pinterest, etc. in the mix… well now all of the creativeness is out there for everyone else to see. It pushes people to be even more creative, or to be really depressed about their slightly less DIY lives (side note, I did not know that DIY stood for “Do It Youself” until this year, it is kind of embarrassing but I am putting it out there anyway). Not only does technology help people spread their creativeness and ideas, it builds competition, and forces people to try to create something that has never been created before, or to make what has already been done— better.

I have come to realize that while I love searching pinterest and blogs for ideas and inspiration, it can also be a crutch. Sometimes I wonder if I just sat down and tried to think of something myself (for example, some new way to teach a lesson to my students, or a favorite way to compose a picture I take) if I would be able to do it. Scratch that, I know I can do it. I just feel like I give up more easily sometimes and just hit the google home screen, praying that my creativeness is inspired by whatever pops up.

Being creative means (holy cow I almost just went to Google to type in what does being creative mean? hahaha, wow— I am in trouble… okay in my own words), yes to me… being creative means using the gifts and talents you have and making something that makes you happy. Being creative is all about using what you have, whether it’s a camera or paintbrush or pasta noodles or words or paper or numbers or metal or fire, and CREATING something. It doesn’t have to be for other people. It doesn’t have to be on your twitter, or blog, or facebook, or whatever. It can just be for someone you love, or for yourself. I know some people say they don’t have a creative bone in their body, but I think they’re wrong. God made us in such an inspiring and creative way, I bet there is something you could do/use to be creative. Okay, I have said that word one too many times in this post, MY BAD.

Last week my school held a VBS (Vacation Bible School) for our elementary students. They had so. much. fun. We had a ton of paper decorations leftover from decorating our chapel to be like a Colossal Coaster World. Instead of throwing the paper decorations away I salvaged them, gave them to my students this morning and told them to make something. Those are called bare minimum instructions in hopes the students are more creative than what I could think of to do with it. They created their own amusements park and made puppets of all the students and told me we were going to have a puppet show later. Would I have thought of that? Nope. I love these creative youngsters.

I am still going to follow my blogger friends, and pin on my pinterest boards, and be inspired by all of the amazingly cool people in this world. But I am not going to compare or judge my creativity based on what other people do. If it makes me happy, that’s good. I like being happy!

Wordless Wednesday: Uno

Image | Posted on May 1, 2013 by melody

Okay God, I am cool with tents.

Posted on April 29, 2013 by melody

Wow, it has been way too long since I posted… I was definitely mourning the loss of my dog. And then I was crazy busy figuring out my taxes (which I still haven’t mailed in, thank you USA for a three-month grace period for overseas peeps), prepping for VBS at my school, and discovering that I need a TON of new paperwork for my NEW JOB. I haven’t talked about it on here yet… but YES, I am changing jobs. Again. And moving. Again.

At the beginning of this journey, when I realized God was uprooting me from my current job, I looked at it from with tired eyes. I was tired of moving. Tired of getting all of the paperwork for switching visas. Tired of pitching tents. I have lived in Seoul for four years, and I have moved apartments every. single. year. I have lived in Seoul for four years and I was about to apply for my fourth job. Since graduating from college the longest I have worked at a school is two years. Why? I am not afraid of making commitments (which is obvious to those who know me), and yet circumstances require my continual movement.

Then something happened to my thinking. It changed (imagine that). Suddenly my eyes became big and excited and NOT TIRED.

I realized how thrilling it all was. God trusts me enough to grow and stretch me longer and farther than I ever imagined I myself could grow. He is building me up and preparing me for my future. A future that needs to depend 100% on Him and Him alone. What better way to do that, than to keep me on my toes as to where my next job is? Who is the next paycheck really coming from? Who is my provider?

A friend of mine pointed out that God knows I am really, really good at staying in one place, at being loyal. This is why I didn’t start my career in the USA, I probably would have stayed in whatever school I got a job at and settled down in the midwest. This is why He continues to plant me in new places. He is doing it now to give me tools, and build me up, so that when it IS time to stay in one place… Well, not only will I be good at it, I will be completely ready for it.

Goodbye Dustie Jack

Posted on April 11, 2013 by melody

I will be the first to admit that I am not a pet person. Never have been. I don’t get butterflies and warm fuzzies when people walk by me on the street with their dogs, I think cats are weird, and I detest rabbits (the two-teeth scar on my hand may have something to do with that).

But it only takes one.

I was 12-years old when my oldest brother brought Dustie Jack home. I remember the first time I saw her, a young pup running around our driveway. I didn’t really give her a second thought over the next eight years other than Oh, she bit you again?, Just keep her outside, and It sucks that mom and dad got stuck with Josh’s dog.

That last thought needs a little more explanation. My brother had to move, to California, and Dustie Jack proved to be anything but a travel dog. She had a panic attack as soon as you brought her near your car, even if it was just for a joyride. My older brother is an animal-lover/protector/saver, and it broke his heart to leave his dog behind, but the decision had to be made. The duty of taking care of the dog fell to my youngest brothers. She stayed outside, away from most humans, for the first half of her life. My mom (who never wanted the dog) started realizing how cold it was during the winter, and Dustie was given a place in the garage. The garage soon became the mudroom, the mudroom soon became the kitchen and dining room, the kitchen and dining room soon became a designated rug at the entrance of the carpeted living room. After 8 or 9 years as an outdoor dog, Dustie became and indoor one (yeah, she is pretty smart like that— she didn’t need anyone to tell her where to go to the bathroom, she just knew).

But being an outside dog, and living in the country, and having rare human interaction, gave Dustie a wild streak. In other words, she had a temper. Especially when it came to small animals (she gave our neighbor dog a hundred stitches once, or a hundred dollars worth of stitches, I can’t remember— my dad said the little yapper had it coming) and small people, like babies and such—she didn’t like ‘em. Then one Christmas, she bit my friend (it was terrible, my friend- being a dog person- was very forgiving, but… it was terrible) and my mom discussed putting her down because it wasn’t safe having my little niece and nephew around an unstable dog.

This happened when I was 21. I have no idea what came over me but I all of a sudden found myself in a state of disbelief. YOU CAN’T PUT MY DOG DOWN. Wait… since when did Dustie become my dog? I mean… she wasn’t. But she was, and I felt this need, an urge, to protect her. I offered to take Dustie to my place in Kalamazoo (yes, this town exists) anytime my niece and nephew came to visit. I am pretty sure nobody believed me at first, but I insisted— and my mom relented. She didn’t want to let go of Dustie either, looks like the rest of the family had gotten attached too.

I took Dustie back to my college town that very week. She cried and whimpered the whole way (still not being a travel dog), and almost caused me to get in a car wreck, or two. I remember my windshield window being disgusting, with all of her wet-nose marks. That first week Dustie stayed with me, and I took care of her, caused something to shift in both of us. She loved the house that I shared with my sister. All used furniture so she could hang out and lay on whatever she pleased, walks around the neighborhood marking her territory, and when bedtime came— there she was in my tiny twin-sized bed, which was NOT big enough for the both of us.

Dustie became loyal to me, and I fell in love with her. I brought her to stay with me for a week at a time on several occasions throughout the next two years. She treated it as her “summer cottage”. She even started doing better in the car. When I would come home to visit she greeted me as if I was her favorite person in the world, and then she would run out to my car, expecting me to take her back with her.

She became my friend, and even tried to like what I liked (always begging for nacho cheese doritoes— though I told her every time that she didn’t like the cheese flavor). She was always waiting for me when I came home, and hated it when I had to lock her out of my room because I actually needed a good night’s rest.

So… this is why people have dogs.

I am not a pet person.

I am a Dustie Jack person.

In her old age she lost her temper and behaved really well around other dogs, and children. I believe she changed because she experienced the love from her owners that she should have gotten her whole life. Over the past seven/eight years, she was no longer looked at as, “Josh’s old pet” or “that dog”.

Dustie became family.

And today my family has to say good-bye to her.

I already miss you so much Dustie Jack. Thank you for being the only dog I will ever truly love.

Scandalous Love

Posted on April 11, 2013 by melody

An invitation years in the making. Well… in my book anyway. I have always wanted an invite to the exclusive Emmaus Retreat held every semester (exclusive because it is a college retreat, for college students, and I have come to discover that I am most definitely NOT a college student anymore).

Why? Why, have I been dying to be asked to come and volunteer at this retreat? Because I want to be a part of EVERYTHING, come on— we all know this. ^^

I can’t remember the last time I have had a free weekend, and this past weekend was no exception— I had things to do, and originally had to decline the last-minute invite to be a small group leader at the retreat… within 24 hours of being asked my schedule magically cleared up and I frantically e-mailed praying that they still needed volunteers. I got an immediate response and that was it, I WAS IN!

There is something truly special about college ministry. The group of students that got together to learn about God’s Scandalous Love were not only on-fire for God dedicated Jesus-lovers, but there were also students didn’t even know what salvation really means, students who came/were dragged there because all there friends were going to be there, students who had just decided to walk the path of faith, students who are/were atheists who invited their atheist friends because they thought this group of college students were just plain cool.

My group of girls were so amazing. I was confused after our first small group session, because I felt like I had met all of them before, and I got nervous because that meant I knew them but didn’t remember their names (aaahhh!), I was about to feel bad about it— until I realized that the Holy Spirit connected us together swiftly in a way that made us able to trust each other with intimate details of our lives in less than 12 hours of knowing each other. God is neato like that.

This retreat brought salvation, freedom, encouragement, empowerment, and of course- scandalous love. What a name for a retreat, eh?

This was the promo video the staff made for the retreat… I almost died. You can imagine how confused the students were to what was actually going down before the weekend approached. God has the best sense of humor though, so why shouldn’t Christians? Am I right?

SCANDALOUS LOVE RETREAT PROMO VID

China

Posted on April 4, 2013 by melody

My trip to China was split up into three parts:

Beijing and the Great Wall
Xi’an and the Terra-cotta Warriors
Shanghai and…. shopping!

To be honest, whenever I thought of visiting China it was to see the Great Wall. I have dreamed of seeing the Great Wall, taking pictures on the Great Wall, touching the Great Wall, walking on the Great Wall, ever since I can remember. I would have gone to China (and paid the ridiculously expensive VISA price) for the Great Wall alone. After last week though, I am incredibly grateful for my travel partner and friend, Joëlle, who basically planned and organized our whole trip (and by basically I mean did it all). What a great travel buddy. I had to warn her before the trip though, that when I go on vacation I switch modes… it worries some people. I am not going to lie, I cannot be go-go-go, always telling a story, extremely go-lucky and bubbly all the time (okay, maybe I could— besides the point), and when I go on vacation I love to read, and be silent. Haha, it’s totally weird.

We arrived in Beijing for the first leg of our journey and our first impression was, “Wow… it looks an awful lot like Korea.” From visiting the Forbidden City, to the Summer Palace, and hiking up over 2,000 steps to get to the Great Wall we concluded that Beijing was the land of STAIRS. I have never gotten more exercise in my life. It is hard to describe how amazing all of these places were. The Forbidden City, is actually— a CITY. When you go you gotta commit, you walk through a courtyard, and another, and another, and another… holy cow it is big. Really big. I couldn’t get over the enormousity (made that word up) of the place.

Our first priority on our first night in China was to find a private taxi service to take us to the Great Wall on Monday morning. We wanted to go to the Mutianyu section, which was about an hour and a half away. The doors to The Wall opened at 7. We asked to get picked up at 5:30 a.m. in the morning and the lady went, “What?!” We were ready, but didn’t get picked up until 5:45, haha good thing we called to check up on her. Waking up early was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. We had The Wall all to ourselves for almost two hours. Then we started to get annoyed when other people were in our pictures, hahaha. All of the pictures I am including in this blog post are only ones I took on my camera. Joëlle’s camera is full of amazing pictures as well… I will get the majority of pictures up on facebook next week! But for now, here was the first leg of the trip:

The above picture is of a German couple we met, they were on their way back from Australia and had a nine hour layover. Why not see the Great Wall? I almost died when they took their coats off to reveal matching jumpsuits!

Once the Great Wall was out of our system we jumped on a night train and headed towards Xi-An. I have never taken a sleeper train before, and I loved it! Twelve hours to read and then be rocked asleep by the steady motion of a train going over the tracks? Joëlle and I slept so well! And then when we woke up, we were at our next destination.

Did you know that the terra-cotta warriors are considered the eighth wonder of the world? Me either! As I stood their looking at these men carved out of clay I couldn’t begin to imagine the history that I was staring at. To think that farmers were just looking to dig a well when they came across the first relics. It. Was. Cool.

This last picture is after we visited the terra-cotta warriors and took a leisurely stroll on this giant wall that circles (or, er- squares) the city of Xi-An. It was pretty nifty.

After one night in Xi-An we hopped on a plane and flew down to our last stop in China, Shanghai! If you are ever in the area, you must take the almost three hour road trip (when all is said and done!) to China’s no. 1 Water-town, Zhouzhuang. Joëlle and I visited during the day, but oh- how we would have loved to stay at night as well (there are hostels, we ate at one!). It was beautiful, we got in a boat and enjoyed the blooming flowers in the trees throughout the whole town, as we were serenaded by our boat captain. There were many neat shops and obviously the gazillion touristy souvenir places. THEN, there was the random cardboard museum. Everything was made out of cardboard, EVERYTHING. It was even attached to a restaurant that had everything (chairs, tables, lights) made out of cardboard too (no pictures of this anomaly are in this post though, strange).

After we got back from Zhouzhuang, we headed to the Bund in Shanghai. Holy cow. The lights!

The best thing about Shanghai was meeting Joëlle’s friends from back home in Canada, a married couple teaching at an international school that were gracious enough to host us for a few nights. They took us to the best shopping markets, taught us a new card game (I learn the best card games from Canadians— except Euchre which ORIGINATED in Michigan, true story) and fed us yummy western food (what? we eat culturally all the time- we LIVE IN KOREA).

Joëlle with our amazing hosts!

What a week of blessings. Though there were some hard times too (aren’t there always?!). To be honest, I didn’t really like China- the country China… Too much pollution, even more people spit on the street there than in Korea (really, I think so!), and I just didn’t feel comfortable. I almost couldn’t wait to be back in Korea where I at least know a LEETLE bit of the language and have become much more familiar with the customs.

Would I have done it all over again? Absolutely. The sights were phenomenal, AND Chinese people love to dance. We would be in the park and see groups of people practicing dance, performing dances, or just setting up a boombox and letting the music move them. Any country that has that much dancing is A-okay in my book.

spit on the street

koreans do it. i don't.