Weekly Letter Home (10/15)

Monday, October 15, 2007

Dear family and friends,

Once again I greet you from the East. I hope you are well in whatever you are doing, and if not that you at least can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and if not that you realize that there is in fact a light at the end of the tunnel, you just may have to get around a couple of bends to see it.

Sorry this letter is so long (17 pages, Gasp!), but it does cover two weeks, and the two weeks it covers were quite eventful. School festivals, travels to not-so-exotic locals, little teaching, but a lot of eating. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the specific names of all the foods I ate, but I will find them in the future if I ever go back over this thing and decide to make a book out of it even if I only publish it privately.

One particular post to note is that my maternal grandmother passed away recently. For those who were praying, thank you. Please continue to pray for my family as we remember Grandma’s life. We have confidence that she went on to her heavenly home and look forward to meeting her at the final resurrection and in the life of the world to come.

On a side note, my host brother has taken to saying, “Oh, my God!” recently. I don’t know where he learned this phrase, as I abhor it, and it is starting to get on my nerves. I wonder if it’s worth explaining to my family why I don’t like the phrase and that I would like him to stop. They are Christians, but then again, Koreans (much like Americans, I should note) may not think it out of the ordinary to take the Lord’s name in vain, especially in a foreign language. I’ll probably just let it slide. It’s just abrupt to me because it’s just about the only English I hear out of his mouth. If an English speaker says it, it’s usually in context and I don’t even blink. When he says it, though, it percusses my ear like the snap of a marching snare on a crisp fall day.

Love,

Jeremy