It's August AND it's Hot and Humid!

This first week of August became quite hot and humid - just i time to greet our new teachers and give them a fitting welcome to ICS-P!! :-)  Monday we began our New Staff Orientation at ICS-P!  It was a delight to welcome our new teachers to Pyeongtaek!  Everyone was so eager to get started on Monday.  Then as the week progressed, the temperatures continued to get hotter and hotter.  By Friday, new teachers, as well as those on veteran staff helping with orientation, began to look tired and exhausted. :-)  I am so grateful for those at ICS-P who are veterans at the school and were key in making the week an excellent beginning for our new staff.  Thank you so much to Charlie Mooney (HS Principal), Tony Kuhn (ES/MS Assistant Principal), Mylene Haselman (Business Manager) and all of the Office Staff, + April Mooney (Member Care Coordinator) for all you did to make each new staff member, including GGG, feel welcomed!  I am also continually grateful for the Facilities Staff under the direction of Mr. Song for their amazing work to help in all areas at the school!  It was exciting to see new teachers preparing their individual classrooms for the students who will begin on August 17th! Everyone was quite ready for a well-deserved weekend of rest and refreshment!

Here I am with our new staff!  Front row, left to right: Laura Johnson, Anna Jacobo, Tina Cho, Erin Han (not new but a new position), Alexi Dather; Back row, Left to right: Barry Wolfer, Colling Thornton, Amanda Hunter, and Jennifer Kim.  I know they would value your prayers.

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On Monday, August 8,  we begin a week of All Staff Orientation culminating on Friday with an Open House for all parents and students to visit ICS-P to meet their teachers.  I would appreciate your prayers for this week as I have several sessions with all the staff to share from the Word as well as share our theme and goals for the year. We will also have my immediate supervisor from the NICS Home Office, Pete Simano, visiting for a few days this week.  He is coming mainly to be an encouragement to me and assist me with getting accustomed to the various reports and documents that need to be prepared regularly for the NICS Home Office.  Pete will also be sharing a devotional on Friday morning to all of the staff prior to the beginning of our Open House.  Thank you for your prayers for Pete's visit as well as the Open House. 

Throughout this past week, we have had a number of families come to the school to enroll new students!  It has been a joy to meet these new students and their parents!  I have also enjoyed getting to know a couple of our seniors who stopped by to visit the school and talk with some of the ICS-P staff.  I would appreciate your prayers as I seek to get to know our students.  Pray for these two young men, Joseph and Mokin, who I met this past week.  (No pictures yet.)

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Our High School Principal, Charlie Mooney, put together an ICS-P Administrative Portal on a Google website for our teachers, administrators, and staff.  It is a great tool that will really be a big help for our staff in so many areas!  On Friday, Charlie and I  had a session with our ladies in the main office.  They will be ones who will be using the portal often and will really help them in their workload.  It was a very good time together and it was neat to see the excitement the ladies shared as they learned about the various tools and benefits of the ICS-P Portal!  You could tell they were very excited, yet exhausted from a very busy and hot week.  The picture below shows the four wonderful ladies focusing on the various ways they would benefit from using the Admin Portal! Focused, yet exhausted! :-)

I love this group of ladies in our Front Office!  Here they are learning all about the administrative Portal late on Friday afternoon! Left to right: Ms. Susan, Ms. Tia, Mrs. Mylene, and Mrs. Helen!

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During one of our lunches this past week, I went with Tony Kuhn and John Richards (Tech Director) to a new restaurant near my apartment.  I had seen it on one of my walks, but did not stop. We decided to try it on Thursday.  It is called JJ's American Diner!  It's a small business, but the menu had many choices and we all enjoyed locating a new restaurant!  Didn't get any pictures on Thursday, but I returned on Saturday morning for breakfast (they open at 8:30 AM).  I had a nice time reading and eating a yummy French Toast breakfast that included French Toast, Scrambled Eggs, and Sausage + a nice cup of coffee.  I will be returning.

A new favorite: JJ's American Diner!

My Saturday breakfast at JJ's American Diner!

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After a wonderful breakfast, I walked to what may become my new Saturday morning Coffee place. There aren't so many Starbucks near my apartment, but I found this one, BC800 Coffee & Tea, on one of my walks.  I stopped and enjoyed some coffee and worked on some writing as well as preparation for the several sessions I will have this coming week with all staff.  Very nice!  Air conditioned! Quiet! And cheaper than Starbucks! :-)

This may be my new coffee spot on Saturday mornings - replacing Starbucks.

I enjoyed my coffee in this mug from BC800 Coffee & Tea, BUT I refrained from purchasing the mug! :-)

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That's it for this week!  I would continue to appreciate your prayers as I continue to transition to the new school and community God has brought me to.  Thank you very much for continuing to be so loving, caring, encouraging, and supportive.  I trust that you will enjoy a wonderful month of August. Hope it is not too hot and humid where you are.

Love,
Gregg