Half Way Through November and Another Very Busy Week!!

I continue to be surprised how quickly time seems to fly by!  Here we are in the middle of November, approaching American Thanksgiving, and it just seems like we started this school year.  This past week was an extremely busy one with lots of readjusted schedules for our elementary teachers and students in the Elementary School.

YISS adopted a new Math curriculum for this school year and we were able to secure a Math elementary teacher from Singapore to give some valuable workshops to our elementary teachers on Friday and Saturday.  She will also be meeting with each of our grade level teams on Monday to give additional instruction.  This will be so valuable to our teachers.  This opportunity came suddenly and right in the middle of our Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW) in the elementary school.  This is a week our Elementary Chaplain organizes each November for our students.  This year we were to have Mr. Peter Schriemer join us for the theme of "Our Super Natural World."  He had an emergency at the last minute and could not fly to Seoul from the North Central part of the USA so Mrs. Franck worked together with him on the use of some video clips he made specifically for YISS as well as videos that he has filmed and produced on all sorts of creatures in nature and how God has designed and created them specifically for the purpose He created them.  Then on Friday we had a live Skype visit with him with our students, who had created MANY questions for him.  In addition to the Math Workshops and SEW assemblies on Friday, there was the YISS PTO Volunteer Appreciation Brunch!  With so many events happening all week - especially on Friday - Friday's schedule had to be drastically changed and we had to use many of our related arts teachers as substitutes so that our regular classroom teachers could be involved in the Math Curriculum workshops.  I was involved in the PTO Appreciation Brunch in the AM and then all afternoon was in the Library with 4 groups of cherubs ranging in numbers from 60 to 175 cherubs at one time.  I had such a great time with students in grades K through 5 all afternoon as I read some of my favorite books to them and interacted with them as I read.

Two more items made the week even busier!  On Wednesday we learned that our Grade 3D teacher, Mrs. Biersteker, learned that her father had passed away.  Mrs. Biersteker had traveled home to Canada last year when he had become very sick.  She has taken a couple days off and may need more time later.  I know she would value your prayers.  Teachers were also preparing Progress Reports for their students for Quarter Two.  They are due at the beginning of this next week so I know they would appreciate your prayers.

In the middle of this busy week I received a special package in the mail as well as a special visit from a friend who teaches at our sister school in Pyeongtaek, South Korea!  For a few years now my one sister, Gae, knits scarves and hats for our Elementary Compassion Club to distribute through their "Bundle Up" project for the homeless at Seoul Station.  I had received Gae's scarves earlier and then this week I received 19 more scarves and caps from my dear friends, Ken and Judy Kiesler.  Judy knits scarves and caps throughout the year and sends them to me for our Compassion Club kids to distribute when they go to Seoul Station.  Below is a picture of the scarves and caps Judy and Gae have sent for our use this year.  Our "Bundle Up" day will be on December 13 this year.  Thanks for praying!

Scarves and caps in my office!  Getting ready for our distribution on December 13th!

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On Thursday morning I was in the lobby of YISS speaking with a staff member from our Business Office when my friend, Jonathan Edwards, a teacher at Pyeongtaek International Christian School, tapped me on the shoulder.  I was so surprised.  I did not know he was coming to YISS.  Jonathan was at YISS for 2 days observing some of our Middle School Science teachers for his Master's program.  He asked if we could go to dinner on Thursday.  I was delighted and we met after school around 5:30 and headed to one of my favorite restaurants, Suji's in Itaewon.  We had a very special time together as we ate some yummy meals and had some great conversation.  Would you please pray for Jonathan and his wife, Laura, as they are in the process of adopting a child from Uganda? I know they would appreciate it!

Jonathan and I enjoying our time together with yummy food at Suji's!!

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Here are some pictures from the YISS PTO Volunteer Appreciation Brunch on Friday. This is always a special time to give special thanks to all of those who volunteer at YISS!  It is a great time of fellowship, tasty food, games, special music, etc.  Here are a few pictures from the event!

 The scrumptious Brunch Buffet for the YISS

                           volunteers!!

Three of my favorite desserts at the Brunch!!  Oh my, they were soooo tasty!!  But I was a good boy!

YISS Headmaster, Ray Johnson, welcoming the volunteers!!  

In case you can't read the letters, some of our YISS elementary cherubs spelled out their message to the volunteers!  It reads "THANK YOU!"  The volunteers loved them!

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As I mentioned, this was the week for our Elementary SEW.  It is always a great time and it takes lots of work and organization from Mrs. Franck as well as all of our teachers and staff.  It would be great if you could witness one of these weeks in person.  This week on Friday when Mr. Schriemer Skyped with the students, there were so many great questions about God, our Creator from the students.  It was a very good week!  Here are a few pictures from the week.  I posted a couple video clips of their singing on Facebook should you care to check them out.

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As previously mentioned, I enjoyed my Friday afternoon reading a number of books to our cherubs in each of the grades.  It was a full afternoon of interaction and fun and learning.  I was getting so excited reading some of my favorite books that I almost lost my voice, but I survived with God's help and some cool water and my Vitamin C Drops. :-)  Here are a few pictures for you.

In Kinder and Grade 1 I read a new Mo Willems' book on manners!

I told the Kinder and First Grade angels that they would be the first group to hear me read my favorite new book, The Book With No Pictures, by B. J. Novak.  You can see that there are no pictures in the above photo!  They had not heard of the book and I was thrilled with their responses.  They were so involved with me as I read and interacted with them.  So much fun!!  They wanted me to read more books without the pictures! :-)

More reading to Kinder cherubs!                  

In Grades 2 and 3 I read one of my favorite books by my friends, Frances and Ginger Park.  They are sisters who are authors.  This particular book is The Royal Bee, an inspired fiction book based on the life of their grandfather in Korea.  Their grandfather eventually got married and then went to China as a missionary.  The kids loved the book!  If you haven't read it, I recommend it.

  In Grades 4 and 5, I read another of my favorites by the Park
sisters - My Freedom Trip: A Child's Escape from North Korea.
   Again, an inspired fiction book based on the life of the Park
sisters' mother and her escape from North Korea to South Korea
 where she met her husband.  The kids were so interested and
 at the end many were clapping and/or crying.  Again, I would
                recommend it to you for your reading.

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Plans are in progress for two special events coming up!  One is the author visit to our children in Grades K - 3.  Darren Farrell will be coming for several interactive sessions on November 27. Darren has written two books and is coming to a close on his third book. The kids love him and he wanted to specifically come to YISS because he wants to get ideas for illustrations for his new book from our children.  Darren is an author as well as an illustrator.  Then we will have a Winter Book Fair this year instead of the Fall Book Fair.  There were some complications with the dates in the Fall so we will have a Winter Book Fair between December 3 and 5.  The kids are already excited about it.  Our YISS kids LOVE to read!

One of the posters throughout YISS announcing the Winter Book Fair!

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It is getting cold in Seoul!  I am staying warm though!  Thank you so much for your encouragement, love, prayers, and support.  Enjoy the rest of November!

Love, Gregg

Quarter Two After School Activities Begin; Teaching in OASIS and Chapels!

The first full week of November was our first really chilly week this season!  It is my kind of weather, but many of my Korean friends at YISS and from SYME days think it is very cold! :-)  We had some beautiful weather and our fourth grade and kindergarten classes enjoyed some excellent field trips this week! Kinder cherubs were able to take their walk and enjoy the changing colors of the leaves throughout Namsan Park.

    Some of the beauty the Kinder cherubs enjoyed on their Field

                  Trip through Namsan Park on Thursday!

Two of the Kinder teachers with some of their delightful kids enjoying Namsan Park on Thursday's Field Trip!

More of the beauty of Seoul in Autumn!!                   

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It was also the first full week of After School Activities and it was busy, but after some rough edges on Monday with bus dismissal and a few other little situations, we had a great week and everyone got safely to the appropriate ASA class.  I want to highlight two new activities plus one that is a favorite of many of our kids that is returning this quarter for the first time this year.  Two new ones that the kids are really enjoying are "Quilting and Sewing Made Easy" and "Cookie Decorating."  "Compassion Club" has always been a favorite with our elementary cherubs and they are already working on various acts of kindness within the school and planning the annual Bundle Up project. This is where they go to Seoul Station and deliver warm clothing to the homeless who have cardboard shelters in the underground tunnel walkways at Seoul Station.

Some of the 4th and 5th grade Cookie Decorating girls

            getting their cookies ready to decorate!

More of the students getting their cooled cookies off the rack so they can then decorate!

Isyss preparing her cookie dough for baking!

Catarina showing her beginning layout for her first quilting project!

    Two more girls in the Quilting & Sewing activity 

   getting their needles ready to go to work! They are

                             loving this class!

And some more beginning their sewing!

   Compassion Club member preparing her

   special notes of encouragement that will 

be placed on Middle School students' lockers!

Another CC member getting her notes ready!

This is James sitting on one of our new "chairs"   

for some of our hyperactive students!  They love    

them, and so do teachers!  We are looking into getting

more of them!  James has come soooo far since he 

came to YISS in 1st Grade; now in 4th! Here he is 

preparing his notes for MS students!            

A 5th grade young man working on his notes!

More cherubs busily preparing their notes.  It was so much fun to

watch them go to the Middle School lockers and decide on which

                    lockers they would place their notes!

A sample of one of the notes of encouragement.  Students had so much fun coming up with their own encouragement sayings!

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Students in Grade 3 are studying the Korean War (1950-1953) in their Social Studies classes and are preparing for their visit to one of my favorite museums in Seoul: The Korean War Memorial.  I was invited by Ms. Everett, grade 3C teacher, to come and observe her class working on a large floor map and actively showing the progression the the Korean conflict. The kids were so engaged and very interested in learning more about this conflict - a war that still has no peace treaty.

   Grade 3C made this floor map of Korea so they could move the 

    pieces to show the progression of the Korean conflict.  Yellow

    pieces represent North Korean and the green are South Korea.

One of the 3C girls with her table group completing the progression of the Korean Conflict in the little book, Ms. Everett had created.

Ms. Everett working with this little man to explain more

of the progression of this conflict.               

The class gathered around the map and then took turns moving the pieces to demonstrate to everyone how the war progressed.

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Friday was extremely busy for me!  I am asked to teach in Chapels and the OASIS assembly 2 - 3 times a year to assist our Elementary Chaplain, Mrs. Carol Franck.  Friday was my first time this school year.  I was asked to share the lesson on God as our Great Provider!  I was teaching to grades 2 and 3 at 8:10 AM; Kinder and Grade 1 at 10:00; Grades 4 and 5 at 12:10; and then sharing on the character trait of humility in OASIS assembly for Grades 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, and 5A.  I always worry a lot and usually prepare too much, but God always provides and it was such a joy to share in each of these sessions.  I wish I could show you some pictures of bread raining from heaven in Chapel and pictures of students who I dressed up as Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and a lamb!  The kids were having a great interactive time and many were very interested in hearing more about the ultimate way God provided by sending His Son, Jesus to redeem them.  Thanks for your prayers.  I will show one picture of one of my Moses' students.  His name is Mattia and he is in Grade 5.  Mattia and I have developed a great relationship.  In the picture below, Mattia is actually in his "Cookie Decorating" ASA.  He was a great Moses for me and the kids loved the costume I dressed him in and they all loved being involved in the story as Israelites!

This is my buddy, Mattia, in Cookie Decorating ASA following his performance as Moses in 4th and 5th grade Chapel on Friday!  He did a great job both in Chapel and in his cookie making.  I was even given some of the broken pieces to enjoy! :-)

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Earlier in the week I noticed outside our elementary gym a number of pictures of our staff at YISS. One of our Elementary Physical Education teachers, Ms. Buster, had asked faculty and staff to hold up a little white board with one of their favorite healthy foods.  She then displayed these outside the gym so that students could see and enjoy.  They are currently studying about eating healthy!  Here are a few of those pictures!

     Mrs. DeHart, Elementary Art Teacher, loves 

                                  broccoli!

This strange man enjoys very much Cheong-gook Jang!!  It smells like dirty gym socks, but is so healthy and so yummy!! :-)

Mr. Williamson, Grade 5A teacher, loves Durian! 

This is another nasty smelling food but the taste is  

often described as "heavenly."               

And K-3 Music teacher, Ms. Weir loves blueberries!!

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As always, thank you so much for taking time to read this post.  Thanks for encouraging me, praying for me, loving me, and supporting me.  You are very special!

Love, Gregg

Raffle Lunch, Crazy Hair, Fun Packages, ASA, & Prayer!

Happy November!  You know it is November when Starbucks Korea begins its annual Christmas Event!  For the past several years I have been able to secure several Starbucks Year Planners by participating in this event that features three special Lattes!  My favorite is the Toffee Nut Latte! You purchase 3 special Lattes and then 14 more coffees of any kind and you get a free 2015 Planner.  I really like them and have been able to earn several each year so that I can give some away as gifts. So as I write this, I am enjoying a Toffee Nut Lattes (with whipped cream, of course) and enjoying Christmas music in one of the Itaewon Starbucks Coffee shops.

By the time I send this post, you in the USA will be "falling back" an hour and the days will seem to get shorter.  Hopefully you turned your clock back an hour Saturday night! I still am having a hard time believing it is November already!

I am not sure I sent this picture or not, but if I have, forgive me.  If not, I hope you will use this picture to pray for our wonderful group of teachers and staff at YISS as they teach the 985+ cherubs (young and old) at YISS this year.

Last week was another busy one!  As you may remember, I was busy working on getting everything ready for the beginning of Quarter Two After School Activities.  The first activity began on Tuesday. Scratch Computer Programming is one of the 4th and 5th grade students' favorite activity and it started on Tuesday.  It is a great program from M.I.T. where students learn to program.  They build creative games and then practice playing them with each other as well as finding out the bugs and going back and making their game better.  Such fun to watch them!  Our first full schedule of activities began on Friday with the following activities: Quilting and Sewing Made Easy, Sports, String Performance Ensemble, Taekwondo, Swimming, Elementary Beginning Orchestra, and Elementary Advanced Orchestra.  This coming week the remainder of our Quarter Two activities will begin.  Thanks for praying.

Tuesday at lunch I took the winner of my FunFest Raffle and his three friends off campus to enjoy lunch together.  The winner, Taehoon, had placed MANY raffle tickets in my Raffle Bag at the FunFest.  He told his mother that he wanted so much to win Mr. Garman's raffle.  He is such a great student and always has such a great smile.  I treated Taehoon and his friends to McDonald's (Taehoon's choice) and then ice cream at Baskin Robbins!  We had such a great time together!  Enjoy some pictures of this special fun lunch.  Then on Wednesday Taehoon came to my office with a bag and an envelope.  I am glad I didn't read his note when he was in my office; I know I would have starting tearing up.  Take a look at his nice note and gift.

Here are four wonderful young men at McDonald's.  Left to right: Jayden, Ansu, Ethan, and the winner, Taehoon!

Ethan enjoying his Quarter Pounder without cheese!

Taehoon enjoying his McChicken!!

Ansu drinking and eating!                  

Jayden being crazy! :-)

Taehoon trying to keep Ansu from licking

his Baskin Robbins Cookies & Cream cone!

All of us being silly at Baskin Robbins! :-)

This is the first tray in the box of chocolates Taehoon 

brought to me on Wednesday morning!          

This is the card with the special note from Taehoon!  I loved it and it will be one of my treasures.

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Wednesday was also a Fun Day in Elementary.  We have one of these a month where the kids have a theme and can dress appropriately for that theme.  October's theme was "Crazy Hair Day."  So many of the classes had 100% participation - including their teacher!  It was so much fun! Enjoy some pictures from that special day!

GGG and one of our great Teaching Assistants, Ms. Lee.  Ms. Lee also teaches the Quilting & Sewing Made Easy After School Activity + several others.  I loved her orange hair!!

The Elementary Administrative Team: Principal, Beverly Birmingham; Secretary, Jane Kim Yoo; Assistant Principal, Krista Roll; and GGG.

Music teacher, Ms. Shauna Weir with two cherubs!           

I love this 5th grader's hair!!

3C Teacher, Ms. Everett and two cherubs!  Ms. Everett's hair was 

                                              amazing!

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Thursday was a day that I continued to work on everything for After School Activities!  Mrs. Williamson, who has been helping me since Quarter One, has been having some stomach issues and she had to be out two days this past week in order to visit doctors to try and discover the problem.  I miss her! Please pray that she will be able to receive answers soon and be able to feel better.

Friday was a busy day! I was involved in 2 of the 3 Chapels with the Guardian Way material.  We recognized those students (one from each grade and section) who earned the distinction of being the Guardian of the Quarter for his/her classroom.  Since this program was developed, we have seen so many of our students seeking to uphold the Guardian Honor Code.  In addition, I was sharing in OASIS on the character traits of creativity and gratitude.  I love sharing in Chapels and OASIS and Friday was no exception.  I would ask you to pray for me as I prepare to speak in the 3 Chapels on November 7.

You can also be in prayer for several issues related to some of our children in grades 3 through 5 particularly.  One of the issues has to do with bullying among some girls and another has to do with inappropriate use of the computer by a student.  We have two issues with two boys who are not responding to teachers, bus drivers, and other students appropriately.  There have been, and will be more, meetings with parents and students.  These can be very exhausting as well as very rewarding. Your prayers are greatly appreciated as we seek God's direction in helping these students.

I also received three wonderful packages in the mail on Friday!  I love receiving mail the "old fashioned" way!  One package included a new book about Derek Jeter.  Another package was the first shipment of knitted hats and scarves for our Compassion Club in the After School Activities.  My sister, Gae, is a knitter and reader!  When she reads, she knits!  She has been sending some of her creations the last several years for our Compassion Club's "Bundle Up" Christmas outreach. The kids go to Seoul Station and distribute warm clothing to the homeless who make cardboard homes in the tunnels underneath Seoul Station in the winter.  (I have another friend, Judy, who sends scarves and caps, too!)  In my sister's package were two containers of yummy breakfast cereals! (See the picture.)

On the right is Honey Almond cereal from Bear Naked.  They make some of my favorite cereals!  Gae sent me a new kind to try: Peanut Butter Whole Grain Clusters from KIND.  I am really looking forward to trying that tasty one!

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The third package came from my friend in Texas (originally from Chambersburg, PA), Diane Prokop.  Diane loves to write and she just completed her first children's book, The Baiji.  It is actually a short story about a little girl, Ai Bao, and river dolphins in China.  I was so happy to receive autographed copies of Diane's book.  She sent one for our YISS Elementary Library and one for me!

My two copies of The Baiji from Diane in Texas!

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Saturday I spent a good chunk of the day resting, reading, and writing.  I am attempting to keep a cold from becoming a big cold!  But I did take time for a late lunch with my wonderful friend and former SYME student, Yeongmin Baek.  Yeongmin met me in Ichon and took me to another new eating establishment.  This time it was a Korean restaurant and we enjoyed a special lunch and some excellent conversation.  Yeongmin had just returned this past week from a vacation in Barcelona, Spain and surrounding cities.  It was a great time of refreshment for him.  I was delighted to be able to spend some time Saturday catching up with him and finding out what he has been thinking.  Keep praying for this wonderful young man.

Yeongmin and I finishing our very tasty lunches in Ichon.  Also enjoying some excellent conversation together!

I chose (with Yeongmin's recommendation) the spicy

   Japanese mackerel!!  Oh, it was soooo yummy!!

Yeongmin selected the dried fish, which was also quite

tasty!  I know, some of you are saying that you couldn't

eat this while that fish was staring at you, but it still is

quite good!!                            

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Thanks so much for continuing to love me, pray for me, encourage me, and support me.  You are very special.  Enjoy a great month of November!!

Love, Gregg