The Unrelenting Heat and Humidity Does Not Stop our First Full Week!!

Yes, the heat continues!  Sometimes it reminds me of the visits I had to The Philippines.  Within minutes of stepping outside my apartment or school, my shirt looks like I just washed it and placed it on my body - without drying it!  What did we do without air conditioning? :-)  Even with the heat and humidity, we had a great beginning to the new school year!

The week began with a half day on Monday and our annual Boo Hoo Breakfast for kindergarten cherubs and their parents!  This is always a great time and I love watching the interaction between Dads, Moms, and their kinder angels!

Ms. McGinnis, on the left, getting information from

parents in her KB Class.  Seated on her mother's lap

is Haven, who has been waiting for this day for a 

long time.  Haven LOVES to talk and she cracks me

up.  She is 5 years old - going on 30! :-)

Ms. Wheat (standing on the right) talking with some of her KC parents!

And our KA teacher, Ms. Regnier enjoying some 

special moments with several of her parents!

J & J Catering always has a yummy breakfast prepared for our Boo Hoo Breakfast!

This is Mr. Rho and two of his children.  The one

with the red shirt is Jeremiah, who will be in kinder.

Mr. Rho is a famous singer in Korea and his wife

is a famous actress!  (I also like Mr. Rho's hat!) :-)

Some more of our Kinder families enjoying fellowship and breakfast.  You might be able to see one little girl "boo hooing" on her mother's shoulder! :-)

More of the families enjoying breakfast!

The Kindergarten B class in the Courtyard for pictures after breakfast!

Kindergarten C class in the Courtyard!

And Kindergarten A class in the Courtyard!

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The week was full of many activities including tryouts for our Advanced Elementary Soccer Club! On Wednesday afternoon Mr. Resende, one of our Elementary P.E. teachers conducted tryouts for this new after school activity.  Over 35 boys in grades 4 and 5 came out in the heat to show their skills.  On Monday girls from Grades 4 and 5 will come out to try out for the Girls' Advanced Soccer Club.  I also received good news that the instructor for Scratch Computer Programming (a class set up through M.I.T.) was able to offer this class after school for 4th and 5th grade students. He set a limit of 14 students and within 6 hours of posting this opportunity, I had over 20 parents contact me to enroll their child.  I contacted the instructor and told him that he would be using our new Elementary Computer Lab that has 24 student stations.  He said that we should go to 24 as the limit.  I still had to close it since we had 35 students desiring to be in the class!  Such fun! Your prayers are appreciated as online registration for our regular after school activities will begin on Tuesday, August 20th.

It is always exciting to see the new students arrive and transition to YISS.  But there is also a down side to YISS, and most international schools.  Students come and then have to leave too soon - all the time! :-(  Tuesday was such a day.  The Montalvo family had become very close friends in their too brief time at YISS.  They had recently learned that the father had to return to Mexico for his work.  On Tuesday, Mother brought the two children to YISS at lunch to say "hasta la vista" to friends.  Please pray for the Montalvos as they leave some very close friends and return and transition to Mexico.  I will miss them so much!

Above are my dear friends, the Montalvos, in the YISS cafeteria on Tuesday.  Please pray especially for Sofia and Paulo as they return to Mexico.  They are going to be missed soooo much!

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In the middle of a very hectic week, we did get a day off to refresh!  I say hectic week because of so many new things happening at YISS.  YISS uses 23 buses to transport students to and from school.  The first week the bus situation is always a very hectic situation.  Some parents have forgotten to register for the bus but they tell their students to go hoe on the bus any way.  Many new students are crying because they are on the wrong bus at first and are not sure what bus they are to ride.  I am thankful we were able to get every child home safely during this first hectic week.  By Friday things were much better and ran more smoothly during bus dismissal.

Oh, the day off!  Yes, the staff and students at YISS had off on Thursday, August 15th.  I was going to ask if you knew why, but I will just tell you.  August 15 is National Liberation Day in Korea.  What is National Liberation Day, you ask?  A website, Korea.net, writes the following:

“Korea gained its independence from Japanese colonial rule on August 15, 1945, and the Republic of Korea was established three years later. Every August 15, South Korea commemorates the nation’s liberation from Japanese occupation and the formation of the Republic of Korea. Known as National Liberation Day, this public holiday is celebrated with festivities, ceremonies, and parades nationwide. The Taegeukgi, South Korea’s national flag, is hoisted to honor the heroes who fought for the nation’s freedom.”

On Friday morning, my phone alarm rang at its usual 4:50 AM time.  I had a restless night in the heat - even with the air conditioner on - and did NOT want to get out of bed.  I turned off the alarm and noticed there was a Kakao text message from my friends in Choir, Rebecca and Joseph Lee.  They had sent the following:

Just what I needed!  Keep praying for me as I seek to meet the Lord in the early morning splendor to be renewed and to continue to work on embracing change and being in the palm of His hand! One of the things that I have to be careful with in apartment living is the desire I have to sing my self to sleep and sing myself awake! :-)  I have had to learn to sing with my soul and not my voice!  Thanks for continuing to pray for me to make time to meet Him daily in the morning!

Students and staff enjoyed this day of refreshment and came back to school on Friday ready for another busy day.  Friday was extremely busy with my involvement in three Chapels and one OASIS assembly for elementary students.  Then the PTO had its annual Back to School Picnic for all of the YISS families.  It is always a great time of food and fellowship with many of our families - even in the heat.  Many came out and enjoyed a great evening of fun and conversation together!

At this year's Picnic we could not use the Soccer Field

since it is still being renovated.  So we had close quarters

in the YISS Courtyard!  Some of the folks gathering

for the picnic.

One of the favorite eating places at the Picnic - Outback Steakhouse.  They were making Ribs, veggies and Cole Slaw + their yummy Strawberry Ade drinks!!

One of the Outback servers grilling ribs!!

Another Outback server preparing one of the plates with ribs, veggies and Cole Slaw!

This was my plate prior to devouring the perfectly 

prepared ribs!!  Oh, they were sooooo tasty!!

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Saturday I enjoyed a special lunch with my wonderful "son" and dear friend, JiSang!  He continues to be very busy with his studies to complete his degree at Liberty University.  JiSang is quite a thinker!  This is a good thing and sometimes can be a bad thing! :-)  Sometimes he thinks too much. He so wants to follow the Lord and it often becomes very complicated as he thinks through many things.  I know he would value your prayers very much!

Here I am at Suji's with JiSang!  We had a wonderful

time together sharing our many thoughts and talking

about accountability and just having fun!  Thank you

for praying for JiSang as he seeks to follow the Lord!

JiSang has the greatest facial expressions!

My sister, Julee, thinks he should be an actor

because of the many wonderful facial 

expressions he can show.  Here he is just

after his Suji's burger was delivered! It was

huge, but he cleaned up everything on his plate!

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Thanks, once again, for being so faithful with your notes, encouragement, prayers, love and support.  I really appreciate you!  I hope you enjoy a great week!

Love, Gregg

And we Begin a New Year: 2013-14!!

It is still raining in Seoul!  But the rain did not stop our final week of Teacher Orientation and the New Student/Parent Orientation.  The New Student Orientation sessions on Friday marked the beginning of another year at YISS!  Hard to believe that all students will return begin classes on Monday, August 12th!  Thank you for praying for us as we make final preparations for another excellent year!

This past Monday our Elementary School staff met for orientation as well as our first lunch together as a staff!  It was so good to get everyone together and enjoy a yummy Chinese lunch together!  Next week I will try to get a good photo of all of the elementary staff.  Just to keep everyone up to date, we added a third section to kindergarten and a new section to Grade 2, 3 and 4.  90% of the new staff are staff for new positions.  This year we will have about 415 in the Elementary School.  I will try to have an official count next week.  Thank you for praying for this group of dedicated and creative and caring women and men!

To the left is the very efficient and wonderful Elementary Secretary, Mrs. Yoo, explaining the process for securing lunch at the Elementary Staff Luncheon on Monday!

The three pictures above show some of our amazing Elementary Staff enjoying their Chinese lunch and the great fellowship on Monday!

Some of the tasty Chinese food we enjoyed!

Some more of the delicious food!

And one more picture of the abundant Chinese food!!

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A highlight this week for me was on Thursday morning in the YISS auditorium with all of the YISS staff.  Our Elementary Chaplain had placed signs throughout the auditorium and on the stage.  Each sign gave the name and location and prayer concerns for each of the NICS/OASIS schools located throughout the world!  We could go in groups or as individuals to as many of the locations as possible and spend time praying for these schools!  Mrs. Franck would play some music indicating when we should move to another location.  What a wonderful time of prayer of remembering our brothers and sisters ministering at the various schools of NICS/OASIS!!

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New students and parents to YISS were invited to attend the appropriate orientation sessions (including tours, etc.) for each of the schools.  Middle School began the afternoon, then High School and finally at 4:30 the Elementary School.  The auditorium was filled to capacity with new students and parents for the Elementary School.  40 seats were left vacant when the YISS Elementary Staff made its way to the stage and then to their classrooms to greet parents.  I love this time of year!  I love meeting the new families!  It was an exciting evening as we introduced our new families to their new family at YISS!

I took this picture from the area just vacated by the

Elementary Teachers.  You can see part of the crowd!

Another shot of the group of new students and their parents at the Orientation!

I will have a better picture next week, but here are 

the wonderful YISS Elementary teachers as they are

being introduced by Mr. Lazor to the new parents

 and students!

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As I took some families around the school, I captured a few shots of some of our brand new classrooms.  It was so delightful to see how teachers had prepared their new rooms so quickly!

This is what greets students as they enter

Ms. Bulkeley's 1B classroom!

The inside of Ms. Bulkeley's 1B classroom!

This is Ms. Stair's 2C classroom.  You wouldn't have 

recognized any of these classrooms 2 weeks ago.  They

were just piled with boxes and furniture in the center of

the classroom!  

This is one of my favorite new classrooms!  It is Ms. Ku's 1A classroom and the kids are going to love the view from this delightful classroom!

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One thing that you can praying for is the situation with our new music classrooms located on the B1 level (bottom floor) of the new wing.  I am going to show you two of these rooms from several weeks ago.  Last May and June before the music teachers left for vacation, they had taken all of the instruments, furniture, cabinets, etc. to these new rooms and that is what you will see in the pictures.  When these music teachers returned, they found mold that had collected on the walls and many instruments.  They began cleaning themselves and then suddenly on Thursday evening (the day before new student orientation) the Facilities Department at YISS informed them that they would need to move all instruments and supplies they needed for the first two or three weeks of school to the 3rd floor in the new wing.  Needless to say, they were very disappointed and frustrated.  BUT I was thrilled to see how everyone at YISS jumped in and moved (in the tremendous heat and humidity) heavy furniture and instruments to the very top floor on Friday morning!  In a few weeks all of this will need to be returned to the music rooms on the B1 level. I know these teachers would value your prayers.

Above are two of the music rooms (the orchestra room and band room) with some of the instruments and cabinets and other material that had to be moved to the top floor because of the mold situation.  Please pray that the Facilities' Team will be able to rectify the problem so it will not continue.

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I would continue to value your prayers as I make the final changes to the Elementary After School Activities website so that I can send out the information to our elementary families.  The kids get very excited about these activities and I am hoping that we have sufficient activities to accommodate the many new students we have added to the Elementary School.

Friday evening I had a late dinner (after a long day of orientations) with my friend and former SYME student, Yeongmin.  He called and asked if he could meet me for dinner.  I said yes and we had a delightful time of sharing while enjoying a very tasty dinner at Holee Chow!  I am sorry but I forgot to get the usual pics of food. :-(  Keep praying for my wonderful friend, Yeongmin.

Saturday morning I was finally able to meet up with another of my wonderful friends, Gunmo!  We had not been able to meet since I returned on July 16th so we had a lot to talk about.  We had a very yummy brunch at Tartine's.  Please pray for Gunmo as he plans a retreat with his Young Adult Singles' Group from his church.  He is also planning to take a very important exam for his graduation.  That will be in October and he really wants to get a high enough score this time.  I know he would value your prayers as he seeks to follow the Lord!

Here I am with my awesome friend and brother, Gunmo!  It was so great to finally see him again!  Thanks for praying for this wonderful young man with a heart for God!

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Thank you for your many prayers, your love, your encouragement, and your support.  Please continue to pray for the sale of my home!  Over 30 showings, but still no offers.  You are very special to me!

Love, Gregg

One More Week and Then the Cherubs Return!!

New teachers to YISS have completed their week of orientation and were joined on Saturday at Noon at YISS to meet all of the returning teachers!  That is always an overwhelming experience for the new teachers, but it is great to see them getting to know our returning staff!  All staff orientation begins Monday morning and then the delightful cherubs come on Monday, August 12 for their first day of school.  This coming Friday we have New Parent/Student Orientation at YISS for all new families!  That is always exciting and then on Monday morning, August 12th, is our annual Boo Hoo Breakfast for Kindergarten parents and their children!  That is such a fun time!

This past week was filled with many sessions with our new teachers!  We also attempted to give them time to settle into their classrooms.  Each school had several individual meetings with our new teachers and I am really excited about our new staff in the Elementary School.  I will have pictures of them probably next week.  Below are a few pictures of some of the sessions with the entire group of new teachers to YISS.  Yes, there are some pictures of food!

One of the lunches provided for our

new staff!  Popeye's Chicken with the

trimmings!

 Another new teacher getting ready to enjoy a Popeye's lunch!!

They also enjoyed a Subway sandwich lunch

 with several side dishes!

The new teachers enjoying one of the lunches!

Chaplain Ben Horne sharing at one of the sessions

for our new teachers! Ben was explaining about the

three different chaplains in the three different 

schools at YISS!

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Saturday was such a fun day!  All of the YISS staff was back in Seoul and gathered in our refurbished auditorium to have everyone meet our new staff and welcome them.  It is such a blessing to work with such a wonderful and dedicated community of caring people!  Here are a few pictures of the day!

Some of the 125+ staff at the welcome in the auditorium.  Dr. Beeson, headmaster, was welcoming everyone and each of the school principals was introducing all of the new staff!

Then it was time to eat a most delicious

lunch!!  Here is part of abundant food -

both Korean and Western taste treats!

Some more of the yummy food!

And for dessert - homemade chocolate chip cookies

and fresh fruit!!  So refreshing and tasty!!

After lunch the High School Chaplain, Ben Horne, had prepared a great Scavenger Hunt for us!  We divided into groups of no more than 10 with at least one new staff member in each group.  Then we had to build a human pyramid and read 20 clues about various staff members.  After agreeing on the staff member, we then had to locate that person's classroom or office and take a picture.  We had 35 minutes to complete the task on a very hot and humid day!  Needless to say, we had so much fun and the YISS competitive spirit came shining forth!  We all were sweaty and probably smelly when we finished.  Above is our group's human pyramid with my buddy, Janet, on top!!

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Some of you love praying for our teachers!  Today at our all YISS staff "Welcome Back" Luncheon I took pictures of our grade teams.  I will be including more pictures of our Related Arts teachers but I was able to get pictures of each of the teams in our elementary grades K through 5 at the luncheon!  Thank you for praying for these delightful, creative, and dedicated teachers!!

Our Kindergarten Team! Left to right -Ms. Dyanne 

Wheat, Ms. Nancy McGinnis and Ms. Sarah Regnier!

Our Grade 1 Team! Clockwise from bottom left - Ms. Liz Ku, Mrs. Barb Thomas, Ms. Aubrey Bulkeley, and Mr. Simon Adams!

Our Grade 2 Team!  Clockwise from bottom left - 

Mrs. Debbie Gronski, Ms. Sun Moon, Ms. Esther 

Stair, and Mr. Aaron Bennett!

Making up our Grade 3 Team clockwise from bottom left: Mrs. Deb Biersteker, Ms. Kara Everett, Ms. Heidi Corbett, and Mrs. Melanie Herman!

The Grade 4 Team! Left to right - Mr. Craig Mooi,

Ms. Lynn Greaves, Mrs. Joy Parkhurst, and Mrs.

Krista Roll!

Our Grade 5 Team!  Left to right - Ms. Aimee Hughes, Ms. Shannon Bandy, and Mr. Jim Murphy!

This group includes some who are not in a regular

classroom.  Clockwise from bottom left - Mrs. Carol

Franck (Chaplain), Mrs. Bev Birmingham (Asst.

Elementary Principal), Mrs. Rachel Pallesen (Student

Learning Center), Mrs. Lori Palmer (Elementary

Full time Substitute), Ms. Helen Koh (ELL teacher),

and Mr. Dan Lazor (Principal) and his daughter,

Karina Rose!

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I have to include a few pictures of my little friend, Janet King!  I met Janet's parents at the NICS PFO (Prefield Orientation) in July 2010 right before coming to YISS.  Ron and Sheretta (her parents) and I became good friends and it was during this time.  Janet was born later in November after some difficult times, but she is a delightful and healthy girl.  Ever since her birth I have been trying to get her to smile and talk with me, but she wouldn't have anything to do with me. Saturday at the all Staff Luncheon and Scavenger Hunt, Janet came up to me and wanted to be on my lap, play horsey, talk to me non stop, and smile!!!  I was sooooo happy.  Her parents were so excited as well.  I now have a new buddy, Janet King!!

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Last Sunday after church and choir at New Harvest Ministry I had a wonderful respite at The Plaza Hotel in Seoul!  I almost forgot that I had won a raffle for a night's stay at this beautiful hotel near City Hall in Seoul.  When I was checking my material on my desk at home, I realized I had to use the certificate before July 31.  I called and was able to get a reservation for July 28.  It included breakfast at their wonderful Breakfast Buffet.  It was a delightful respite!  My wonderful friend, Yeongmin, was able to join me for a Pig's Feet (Jok Bal) dinner on Sunday evening.  We had a great dinner at a very famous restaurant in Seoul and a wonderful conversation.  Please keep praying for Yeongmin to come to know Jesus!

View from my room on the 14th floor

at the Plaza!

One of the two rooms in my room #1453!

This is on the second floor of the Plaza in the main

dining room.  It was not a clear day so you can't see

it clearly, but if you look though one of the windows

you see the old City Hall and then through the window

on the right you can see the new City Hall!

Yeongmin knows all of the great eating establishments in Seoul.  He came on Sunday evening and we went to this very famous Jok Bal (Pig's Feet) restaurant in Seoul.  This is part of the line waiting for a table.  Actually, the line went very quickly!

Here I am about ready to indulge in some very yummy

JokBal and all of the side dishes!  Oh...sooooo good!!

 Yeongmin and I enjoying our Jok Bal dinner!!

This was part of the huge Breakfast Buffet at the Plaza!!

This was my first plate at the Breakfast Buffet.  I will not tell you how many plates I had!  Please notice the FRESH whipped cream!!!  :-)

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Thank you very much for your continued prayers, encouragement, notes, love, and support!  This next week will be very busy as final preparations for the first day of school continue.  There are still a few things that need to fall into place for the Elementary After School Activities program. We continue to get rain and hopefully we will have a break soon so that the soccer field can be completed.

I leave you with a picture of one of our graduates from last year.  His name is Arnold Byun.  He just left this past week for New York University. Arnold will be working on his BS in Hospitality and Management at the Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports at NYU! Arnold was one of the first high school students I met at YISS when I came in July 2010.  Fro about 5 months Arnold thought I was Dr. Beeson, the Headmaster!  I had not realized this but one time he saw me talking with Dr. Beeson and asked, "Who was that man you were talking to?"  I said it was Dr. Beeson. Arnold said, "Oh, who is he?"  I told him that he was the Headmaster of YISS.  he could not believe it.  He thought I was the headmaster. :-)  Ever since that time, Arnold and I have become wonderful friends.  Please pray for this talented and creative and caring young man as he seeks to follow the Lord as he studies at NYU.

Here I am with Arnold at Suji's last Christmas.  We

have met several times and each time I am refreshed

by Arnold's passion and enthusiasm for helping others!

One of my favorite pictures of Arnold!  He

always has that great smile!!

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Please enjoy a wonderful week!  Keep praying for the sale of my home in Bensalem.  The realtor informed me that about 25 people have been shown the home but so far no offers.  It is in God's hands!

Love, Gregg