Happy Chuseok! Remembering Family and Friends!!

This weekend begins one of the largest and most widely celebrated holidays in South Korea.  It is called Chuseok (pronounced Chew Sock).  It is a time of happiness and reconnecting as families gather, chat, and have great feasts!  The primary reason for Chuseok in South Korea is to honor ancestors and deceased relatives, but the holiday serves the purpose of keeping the family together in a time when work and other obligations may separate people.  Traditionally, Chuseok also allowed South Koreans to celebrate the Autumn harvest after a season of hard work.  This is the seventh celebration of Chuseok in Korea.  It causes me to stop and just reflect on the great importance of my family and the numerous friends God has allowed me to enjoy over many years.  I am so grateful for my loving and very supportive family!  They are the best!!  I am very thankful for the many friends scattered throughout many countries in this big world.  They also have been so loving and supportive. I am spending a lot of my time off from YISS to reflect on the many memories of family and friends and all that God has given me.  I will also be able to connect with some of my former SYME students and great friends during this special time.

While I was thinking of a nice place to eat over the Chuseok break, I received this email from one of my favorite restaurants in Itaewon.  They were giving their schedule for the Chuseok break.  Take a look at their post.  It made me smile. :-)  I love how things can be translated from one language to another!  :-)

Enjoy!

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It was a shortened week for students at YISS.  Friday began their Chuseok holiday although teachers and administrators were involved in Professional Development and Self Study Committees on Friday!  I was also working on Quarter Two After School Activities, and will be working on that throughout some of the Chuseok long weekend in between some visits with Korean friends and my very good friend Tony Kuhn from Pyeongtaek ICS.  Looking forward to some rest and refreshment and some walking throughout some of the parks near my apartment.

My Chuseok got started on Wednesday after school at YISS.  While I was making sure all of the cherubs in After School Activities were picked up by parents or drivers, a parent stopped by with her son, Daniel.  She explained that she wanted to give me a typical Korean Chuseok gift.  The mother said that she had to practice the technique of "wrapping the gift with love" and then she went on to say that she hoped I would unwrap it with love and then enjoy some of the yummy decorative rices cakes inside.  I was very grateful and enjoyed sharing some of the "love" on Thursday morning with some of my colleagues in the elementary school.

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On Tuesday, we had our final push for our Walk-A-Sock-A-Thon that will be held on October 2.  I was asked to share all of the socks I have filled for the WASAT.  I encouraged the kids to keep on saving their 100 Won coins for our walk so that we could send 11,000,000 Won to Agape International Missions for their Cambodia school project. Last year my socks weighed 9.5 kg and I asked a representative from each grade to life my bag of socks this year and guess how much I have raised.  Several got very close and I gave them some 500 Won coins and told them to be creative and think of all they could change those 500 Won coins to 100 Won coins.  They were quite amazed to learn that my socks total 14.6 kg this year!  Please pray that we will have good weather for our walk through Namsan Park on October 2.

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Tuesday evening I was able to finally celebrate the birthday (September 13) of one of my former SYME students and great friend, Jungmin.  I always love our special times together.  We enjoy some rich conversations and laughter.  Please continue to pray for Jungmin as he is thinking what it is that he should actually be doing.  I know he would very much value your prayers.

Here I am with Jungmin preparing to enjoy our delicious meals at "On The Border" Tuesday evening!

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Another big event coming up is our YISS Annual Fun Fest!  I always enjoy this event as families come together in our YISS Courtyard and Soccer Field for games, food, and activities of all sorts.  Each elementary grade comes up with a game booth to raise funds for the PTO.  Middle School and High School clubs feature booths as well in order to raise funds for their club activities - many of which are clubs that support organizations that are helping needy children and teens.  October 16 is the date and your prayers for good weather would also be appreciated.

Poster for the Fun Fest coming up on October 16!!

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I thought I would post some pictures of students enjoying some of their After School Activities this past week.  We have continued to have rain-free afternoons and trust that this will continue for the next several weeks.  The latest news concerning the use of the Elementary School Gym is that it is supposed to be ready by October 10!  I am excited about that, but not too excited since sometimes we are given a date of completion and then have to wait for the government to give the final approval after inspection.  They can often take their good old time to give final approval.  Your prayers are appreciated once again! 

The above nine photos show some of our students enjoying some of the After School Activities this week.  The top five pictures are of students enjoying the "How to Draw Comics" class led by one of our parents.  The next one is of a very happy first grader with her project from "Arts & Crafts."  And the last three are from our K-3 "Ceramics" class.  They look so intent on their pieces of work.

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I had a neat experience on Thursday with one of our third grade students, Eugene, and his mother. During the first week of school there was a communication problem concerning how Eugene would go home after school.  Someone dropped the ball at YISS and so I spent some time with Eugene while waiting for his Mom to come and pick him up.  She had to drive an hour to pick him up and was expecting him to be on the bus so she wouldn't have to pick him up.  Mom arrived and was not a happy camper.  I apologized and asked her to forgive us and that we would do better in the future. While I was waiting with Eugene, he wasn't very talkative and it was hard to get him to talk.  He is a new student at YISS and it is very difficult to understand his speech.  After my first encounter with Eugene and his mother, I was afraid things would not be good. 

I continued to try to get to know Eugene during the weeks that followed the above encounter. Slowly, I began to understand his speech better.  He still wasn't smiling, but he would respond to my questions.  Then on Thursday after school, the YISS receptionist gave me a message that Eugene's Mom had called and said she would be late picking him up after his After School Activity of Ceramics.  I asked her how late.  The receptionist said in typical Korean style, "Maybe 10 minutes." All the other students had departed and Eugene and I were still waiting at the front desk for his Mom.  While we waited, Eugene asked me out of the blue, "Do you like riddles, Mr. Garman?"  I said that I did.  He said he did as well and wanted to ask me some.  He gave me about five riddles and I answered most correctly and he smiled and laughed.  We were enjoying a great time and I said I had a question for him. 

Mr. Garman: "Eugene, do you know the word cat?"

Eugene:  "Of course I do, Mr. Garman."

Mr. Garman: "Spell it."

Eugene: "C A T."

Mr. Garman:  "I'm sorry that is incorrect."

Eugene looked at me with a strange smile thinking that I was crazy and I repeated my question again. Again he spelled "C A T."  Again I said it was incorrect.  After the third time, he looked at me with a huge smile and answered, "I T!"  I smiled and said, "Correct, Eugene!  Maybe you can catch your mother on that one."  His eyes got real big and he had another huge smile as he thought about sharing that one and others with his Mom. :-)

We continued chatting and Mom finally arrived about 45 minutes later! :-)  Mom got out of the car and bowed and said, "I am so sorry."  I bowed and smiled back at here and said that it was not a problem.  I told her it gave me a great opportunity to get to know Eugene better!  I told her we had a great time.  Mom then said, "I think now we are even." We both knew what we were remembering.  

It was a very special way to end the week and prepare for Chuseok.  I went back into the school smiling with a heart full of thanks and joy that Eugene and I had a breakthrough with our communication and I am looking forward to getting to know this little man even more.

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As always, I want to thank you for your love, care, notes, emails, packages, prayers, encouragement, and support.  I am truly thankful for my wonderful family and friends!  You all bless and encourage me so often!!

Love, Gregg

Beautiful Week of Sunshine - In More Ways Than One!!

Yeppers, the middle week of September was another week of rain-free weather during After School Activities!  Actually the sun was shining in Seoul almost every hour of each day during daylight hours!  After School Activities went well and no Plan B or C needed to be used.  The program ran very smoothly this past week, even with the addition of Middle School After School Activities, a Volleyball Tournament, and High School Field Day on Friday.  Thanks so much for your prayers.

As many of you know, I enjoy observing God's creations in nature as well as in people!  This past week I enjoyed some beautiful sunrises and sunsets personally as well as through pictures shared with me from friends and family.  I will share a few of these special "sunshine" pictures here and trust you will enjoy what God has created.

Early Tuesday morning at YISS!  I took this picture from the second floor office of the Assistant High School Principal.

Another beautiful picture taken from the walkway between the main building at YISS and the Athletic Complex!

This is a picture taken by my friend, Carol Lough, when she was on a recent trip to Owl's Head, Maine!

This is a very beautiful picture from my friend and alum of YISS, Joseph Yi.  Joseph said it was taken on a recent trip in New Zealand.

A picture from a YISS parent during one of her morning runs along the Han River in Seoul!

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In addition to the beauty of God's creation in nature, I enjoy daily the beauty of His creations around the world and especially throughout our school at YISS!  Here are a few of His creations enjoying some fun and play at lunch recess this past week at YISS.  They always bring sunshine into my life - especially when I am stressed or exhausted!

I love these smiling cherubs!  They bring so much sunshine into my life every day!

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Thursday was the first of several "Principal and PTO Parent Meetings" for this school year.  With a number of changes within the YISS community this year, especially in technology, I wasn't sure how this first meeting would flow.  We had an excellent attendance at this meeting and parents were engaged by each of the presenters.  Mrs. Prairie, our new Testing Director, shared concerning the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing that happens at YISS in the Fall and Spring.  Mrs. Prairie gave a very clear rationale for our testing and shared how parents would receive results of the testing so that they can join with the classroom teacher in teaching children at her/his particular level. Mrs. Hooper, our first Elementary Counselor at YISS, gave an excellent overview of the elementary counseling program and resources.  A lot of great discussion was generated especially in the area of bullying.  Mrs. Willetts, our new Elementary Principal, shared where YISS is heading in the area of grading and awards.  She also explained the Progress Reporting system changes.  This event was a great "sunshine" happening this week!

One of the posters announcing the "Principal & PTO Parent Meeting" for September 17.

  Our Elementary Counselor, Mrs. Lauren Hooper leading some

 interaction with the parents concerning "bullying" as well as other

important topics that are of interest to our parents.  So glad to have

   our own counselor this year at YISS in the Elementary School!

Some of the parents in attendance on Thursday.  Here they are listening to Mrs. Prairie as she informs parents about the MAP Testing program at YISS!

Another picture of some of the parents who came out on Thursday AM.

Another picture of Mrs. Hooper presenting to the parents!

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Teachers have been extremely busy again this week as they prepared Progress Reports through our new technology program.  The elementary administrative staff spent most of Friday checking these reports and preparing them for distribution on Friday.  It was a lot of work for everyone, but the sun came shining through!

Then on Friday afternoon at about 4:40, I received a fantastic "sunshine" surprise!!  When I was at my usual spot from 4:15 - 4:45 checking to make sure that each elementary cherub in After School Activities was picked up by the correct person, I saw this young man walking down the main hallway on the main level at YISS.  He looked like he was coming directly for me.  As he got closer, I realized that this young man was James Bai!  James graduated from YISS in May 2014 and he surprised me Friday with a visit before he left on Saturday to return for his second year at Stanford University in California.  I was so excited!  We had such a great conversation about classes, his biblical worldview and how he is demonstrating that in his classes, his a capella men's singing group (Testimony), and his involvement in the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship organization on campus.  I was so excited to hear that he will be leading a Bible study through Intervarsity Christian Fellowship this year at Stanford!  I hope you will join me in praying for this delightful young man who God has gifted with many gifts and talents.  It is so exciting to see how he is living out his biblical worldview!

Here I am with James in the YISS reception area on Friday!  I miss this young man and his smiling face and how he impacted many high school students' lives!  

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I hope you will enjoy a great week!  Just wanted to take a minute to thank you so much for all of your love, care, notes, emails, packages, prayers, and support!  Looking forward to a little break next week when Korea celebrates Chuseok.  "Chuseok originally known as hangawi (한가위 from archaic Korean for "the great middle (of autumn)"(한ᄀᆞᄇᆡ)), is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar."  I am hoping to rest and refresh + do a little work on Quarter Two After School Activities.  I am also planning to enjoy a delightful Chuseok meal at one of my former SYME student's home!  That is always a fun time!

Love, Gregg

Changes, Meetings, Coughing, AND Bright Spots!!

As most of you know, last week at this time I was struggling with a sore throat.  Dr. Kim had prescribed some meds and I tried my best to save my voice throughout the week.  The sore throat moved south and I began my coughing spells.  The voice has come back and the coughing is subsiding!  Thanks for your prayers.

The beginning of this year brought a new elementary principal as well as five new Tech personnel at YISS.  MANY changes have continued to be introduced - almost every week this year there is some new change is added.  Most of these changes involved technology that impacts grading systems, attendance systems, and communication systems.  I won't bore you with all of the complications, but just want to ask you to pray that soon these changes will come to a stop for a little respite for our teachers as well as myself. The most recent change impacted how we grade and prepare Progress Reports for students and parents.  This was something that had to be accomplished quickly so there were many meetings!  There have already been many meetings added to our schedules and it has been difficult to keep track of all of them.  (I have never been a big fan of meetings, so I need to have you pray for my attitude.  I would rather be doing than sitting around talking.)  I know our elementary teachers would really appreciate your prayers as well.  They are attempting to implement the new Reading and Writing curriculum as well as figure out all of the tech changes and attend more meetings than usual + trying to teach the children in their classrooms.  Thanks!

One of the meetings this past week was a PTO meeting for those planning to be Room Parents in one of the elementary classrooms.  It was great to see so many parents interested in assisting in their child's classroom.  Our Elementary Principal and I were in attendance to welcome them and answer questions.  It was a profitable time together with some wonderful parents.

This is a picture of some of those who had gathered for the PTO Room Parents' Orientation.  At the front is the Chair of this PTO Committee. Mrs. Willetts, our Elementary Principal, is standing at the left answering some questions from parents.

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Throughout this past week, there have been so many bright spots as well.  One of the first was a simple picture that one of our teachers shared with me.  I think it is beautiful and it came at just the right time for me to pause and reflect on God's great creation and the beauty of what He has created. Some of you may have seen it on my facebook page.  I hope you will be encouraged!

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During Chapel and OASIS assembly this week, our Elementary Chaplain officially announced our Annual Walk-A-Sock-A-Thon, which will be held on October 2.  Students are all excited about this special event where we will be collecting 100 Won coins to send to Agape International Missions in Cambodia to help a new school, Rahab House Community School, as they educate and assist children who are subject to human trafficking.  The poster below is a sample of those that have been shared throughout the school.

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The After School Activities continued in full force this week, too!  And yes, ladies and gentlemen, we were rain-free Monday through Friday between 3:00 and 4:30 PM every day!  The weather was beautiful Monday through Thursday every day!  Friday was cloudy in the morning and then at Noon, the rain began, BUT at 2:55, it stopped and then picked up later around 6:00 PM!  Thanks for your prayers.  I was able to get a few pictures of just some of our After School Activities this past week. Thought you might want to see some of the classes our cherubs can experience.

            Some of our cherubs enjoying Ceramics!

Another picture of Ceramics!

And one more from Ceramics class!            

Here are some of our younger children enjoying Arts & Crafts!

This is a little Kinder boy in Arts & Crafts.  They were

                     creating a farm on that day!

Another Arts & Crafts little lady creating her farm!

Another popular ASA is Board Games!  A Monopoly

game is in progress!  My friend, Joshua, is the Banker!

This is a group in Board Games playing Clue!

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Bright Spot on Thursday morning!!  I was in the middle of working with parents at the PTO Room Parents' meeting around 10:00 AM and the owner of a new restaurant I enjoy in Itaewon came to me with a bag containing two big breakfasts from her restaurant, TOSS & TURN.  It doesn't open early enough for me to enjoy their breakfasts so she brought some to me!  I did some sharing, but I enjoyed so much that I did not eat any lunch on Thursday!  Just what I needed on Thursday!  Thank you Mrs. Jessica Chung!

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Another bright spot was coming in one morning last week and finding our Elementary Office refrigerator cleaned out of items that people had left in there way too long! :-)  It has always been a pet peeve of mine in school refrigerators.  Our delightful Elementary Administrative Assistant, Mrs. Yoo, had cleaned things out that were outdated, etc.  Then she made this great poster to place on the front of the fridge door.  Enjoy! :-)

Such fun! :-)

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A big bright spot for me this week was the phone call I made to my Buddy and friend, Craig Lininger, from my hometown of Chambersburg, PA.  Craig turned 32 years old on Tuesday, September 8.  When he was born, the doctor at Hershey Medical Center said to the Craig's parents that they might as well just go home.  He will not survive and if he does, he won't love long or be very productive.  Well, God had other plans for Craig!  One of those plans was to teach me through Craig that children and adults who may have Down Syndrome can understand much more than you think they understand. Craig taught me what it really means to love all people!!  Craig and I love to sing together and I miss him when I am here in Seoul.  I called him on Tuesday morning (Pennsylvania time) and sang "Happy Birthday" to him and we chatted before he was going to work at a restaurant in Chambersburg.

    Here is my Buddy, Craig, along with his Dad at BWI Airport.

      Craig held his gift bag all of the way to the airport and then

                 presented it to me as I departed into the airport.

This is what Craig had prepared and placed in the gift bag for me.  I love it! On the back of the picture he had written a note saying that he loved me very much!  It stays on my desk at YISS!

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As always, but especially these days, I want to thank you for your encouragement, notes, letters, emails, packages, love, care, prayers, and support!  Enjoy your week!  May the Lord fill your week with many "bright spots" in the middle of your busyness and service!

Love, Gregg

September Begins with Many Delightful Happenings!

September began with so many exciting and beautiful events!  I am not sure where to begin except to say that many of you were praying and many at YISS were praying and our wonderful Elementary School Administrative Assistant, Mrs. Yoo, was praying, and I was praying about the weather!  After School Activities began in full force and the Elementary Gym had already been scheduled for five days of the week, but as you know, we are not able to use the gym while they are correcting a flooring problem.  So I had to make necessary arrangements every day last week early in the morning to reserve suitable rooms to conduct these basketball and sports activities.  Each of the instructors were so flexible and understanding.  Each morning I woke up and checked the weather app on my phone.  Rain was called for every day!  The only day it did not rain was Thursday!  However, even though it was pouring down rain all of the other days, when it came to about 2:45 - 2:50, the rain stopped and allowed our activities to take place outside in the Courtyard and on the Soccer Field!  It was truly beautiful!  There were very few problems with all of the logistics of getting children to their correct Waiting Room for an ASA or on one of the 22 the buses if they did not have an ASA.

One of my Korean friends, Terry Jung, who works at Sweet East, a great little dessert and coffee place, knew about my situation with not having rain during After School Activities.  He loves taking photos and he sent this one to me during last week.  The picture shows a little of what happened most days this past week around 2:45 - 3:00 PM.  I love it!

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One of the other responsibilities I have is the block of time between 3:00 and 3:18 when we dismiss our elementary cherubs to go home by bus.  We use 22 buses and have a teacher responsible for a bus to make sure the right children are on the bus and that none are missing.  It is a very crazy time as I am in the Elementary Office with my cell phone and a walkie talkie and 3-4 papers with information that shows who is staying for an ASA, who is absent, who is "Not Riding Bus" on that day, who is being picked up, etc.  We have almost 460 elementary children and usually parents come to ask questions in the office at this prime time as well.  It can get very crazy making sure everyone is where they are supposed to be and we don't lose any children.  Our Elementary Principal, Mrs. Sara Willetts, sent this cartoon to me via email in the middle of this week.  She has observing a lot and has sen what goes on between 3:00 and 3:18 PM.  This is what it looks like in the Elementary Office many days as we have to call parents who have forgotten to inform us that their child will NOT ride the bus or for other reasons.  It struck me as funny.  Enjoy! :-)

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During the many meetings of this past week involving updates in technology for YISS, Grade Level Team meetings, Elementary Administrative meetings, parent meetings, etc., I had the joy to participate in our Elementary Chapel as Noah in the skit Ms. Johnson has prepared.  This year in Chapel she is going through a little walk through of the Bible with an emphasis on three trees.  I am sure most of you will figure what those three trees are.  One of the Kindergarten teachers took a couple photos of me performing as Noah in this mini-skit.  So much fun!

      GGG as Noah in Chapel on Tuesday!

Another pic of Noah in Chapel.  I wish I had some    

pictures of the fifth grade students who were the    

news reporters, the neighbors, and two of Noah's sons.

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I also had the opportunity to go in Ms. Buster's Grade 2B classroom for their Bible lesson on Thursday morning.  Ms. Buster had lost her voice and I took her place for the telling of the story of Abraham and Sarah giving birth to Isaac centering in on the omniscience of God.  I was so impressed that several of these cherubs were able to come up with the definition of "omni" and "scient" during the introduction.  I needed this on Thursday and wanted to stay all day with these delightful and intelligent and interactive children!

Here we are introducing the concept that God is omniscient.  Such a great interactive discussion and lots of thinkers in this classroom!!

Telling/reading the story of the birth of Isaac.  The kids loved the story as well as real life stories from my life and others in my life to show God's omniscience!

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Friday morning I awoke at my usual waking time of 4:28 AM with a scratchy throat. :-(  It continued to get more sore throughout the day and I knew it was going to head south to my chest and soon I would be speaking in my very strange raspy voice.  I went home, took more vitamins and my Nyquil, and woke up to no voice and a very sore throat, but no fever!  I showered and dressed and headed to my good doctor, Dr. Kim in Itaewon.  His diagnosis: Acute Pharyngitis.  He gave some probiotics and then ordered some medications from the local pharmacy.  I wen to the pharmacy I usually go to in Itaewon and the owner-pharmacist was there as usual.  She is always so nice and kind and explains everything in detail to me.  On Saturday while I was waiting for the prescriptions to be filled (usually takes about 5 minutes to fill three prescriptions, all sorted in strips of little bags with the medicines you are to take; no bottles), I noticed for the first time a sign behind the counter. I guess today I was more observant since I have missed it in many previous trips.  Here is what is on a sign above the pharmacy check in station!

Love this!

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I then spent the rest of Saturday in bed resting and drinking lots of water.  I had been invited to the family of one of our YISS elementary parents for a Korean dinner on Saturday evening at 7:00.  I knew the son, Max, would be very unhappy if I called and canceled.  So I asked Dr. Kim if I was contagious and if I could go to a dinner a family had prepared for me.  He said that would be no problem except that your voice might scare them. :-)  So Saturday evening I had a fantastic time with the delightful parents of Max from our 4th Grade class.  He had invited a friend from his grade to come for a sleepover so Liam joined us too.  The food was amazing!  The fellowship with this wonderful family was so great.  I did frighten them at first with my voice, but they understood and we had a very delightful evening on their 30th floor apartment overlooking Seoul!

GGG with Mr. Park, Max and Liam preparing to eat a most amazing Korean feast!  Mother was taking the photo.

Of course I had to take a picture of the yummy food!  :-)

I love this picture of Liam and Max!  Max always has this great   

smile!  We found out that Liam loves shrimp.  His eyes are bulging

as he prepares to reach for some shrimp right in front of him!  :-)

Here I am with this beautiful family in the living room.  Would love to have had better pic of the city of Seoul in the background!  It was a very delightful evening!!

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I, of course, would appreciate your prayers so that this sore throat, cough, etc. leaves me as quickly as possible! :-)  Thank you so much for your continued encouragement, love, care, notes, packages, prayers, and support!  I trust that each of you will enjoy a wonderful September!

Love, Gregg