Blessing in Disguise

Flying back and forth from Singapore is not one of my favorite things to do.  I love getting where I'm going, but I don't enjoy the trips, sitting squashed next to strangers for 15 hours at a time, sitting in airports for hours, or eating disgusting airline food. 

This time when I flew back to Singapore, I thought I would shorten the trip by taking a later flight from Des Moines (actually, it was the cheapest option, but I wasn't complaining.)  Instead of the 6 hours I normally sit in Chicago, I was supposed to have just over an hour to get off my plane, grab a bite to eat, and board for my 15 hour flight to Hong Kong.  However, this was not to be. 

When I arrived in Chicago there was a notice that there was a plane change, and instead of leaving at 1:30 we would be leaving at 5.  I found a cool place to sit with an outlet and chilled for a few extra hours.  At 4:00 I headed back to my gate, to realize that while I had been avoiding the crowds they had moved the flight one more hour to 6.  There was a long line to the counter, and realizing I was going to miss my connecting flight to Singapore, I joined it, hoping to figure out what was going on. 

As I neared the front of the line, I overheard someone say that it was a line for volunteers.  I had already decided that if they offered a voucher for volunteers I would take it.  It was perfect.  Wait a day, get $600, a free motel, and free food.  Can't beat that!  As I celebrated my victory and moved closer to the front of the line, I realized that people in front of my were going to Singapore as well.  They filled me in on the announcements that had been made earlier.  Apparently the flight was overbooked by between 45-75 people!

One of the airline workers came by and asked who was volunteering, keeping a count so he knew exactly how many seats were left.  The plane started to board, and I was still waiting in line.  Finally, the people in front of my made it to the counter and explained that they were volunteering to take a flight the next day.  After a frazzled attempt to rebook them, the exasperated clerk practically yelled "I can't get you a seat tomorrow, it's already full....get on this plane NOW!"  I sheepishly told her that I too was going to Singapore, and she gave me identical instructions. 

Disappointed that I had lost out on the $600 and may have lost my aisle seat, I followed her directions cutting to the front of the line, and boarding the plane.  To my shock, the plane was almost half empty!  I sat down wondering where all the people were hiding.  I waited for the people next to me to show up, but they never did.  Although we left about 25 people standing at the gate, I had an entire row of 3 seats to myself.  I was able to stretch out and sleep for most of the 15 hours!  All I could think of was "God is so good!" 

By the time I arrived in Hong Kong, they had rebooked me on another airline, and I was off to Singapore an hour later.  Again, I had an entire row where I could stretch out and sleep.  I arrived in Singapore at 6:00, only 5.5 hours after my scheduled time, rested and ready for my day. 

Although I was tempted to surcumb to frustration, I realized that even in my hardship, there were blessings in disguise. 

Heading Back Soon

This summer has flown by!  I can't believe that I should be packing right now instead of sitting here typing this.  It is always a bittersweet thing to head back.  I am ready to get back to work and super excited to see what God is going to do this coming year.  I am ready to get back into my routine and see my Singapore friends.  I am NOT ready for the 24 hours of travelling to get there, or the goodbyes that have to be said before I can leave. 

Summer is going WAY too fast!

I'm having a hard time believing that it is already the middle of July.  This summer if flying by!  I came back to the States on June 4 and haven't really stopped since. 

We went on family vacation to DC.  It was great to see lots of sights and spend time with my family.  We ended up missing our flight home, which was a blessing in disguise.  The airline put us up in a hotel for the extra night, and we spent the next day at the Air and Space Museum.  The next day they had overbooked our flight, and Zach and I stayed again, and got $1000 travel vouchers for our trouble.  And of course, another free nights stay at another hotel.

After DC I got to spend a week at Jr. Camp sharing God's word with a great group of kids.  The day after camp I headed to Canada to spent time with a couple of friends.  I celebrated Canada Day in Toronto by taking in a Blue Jays game.  Also got to see Niagara Falls before heading home.

Two days after returning from Canada I headed to South Dakota for SERVE.  I got to go to Praise and Worship with some of my former students and hang out at the gym afterwards.  While I was there, I decided to sell my car, which just happened to give me enough money to bring one of my favorite people (Steven) back to Iowa and send him to Tri-State youth camp. 

Two more weeks at home and then heading back to Singapore for another great year.  Hoping this week gives me a little time for some rest and relaxation before the next year begins. 

Where did this year go?

Sitting here in my living room thinking about the fact that there are only 4.5 days of school left!  Where did this year go?  This is always the time of year that makes me sad....there are so many things I wanted to do with my students that I didn't get to.  And yet, it's a time of looking towards new beginnings, and knowing that a fresh start is just around the corner.

This summer we are going to try something a little different.  For the past 7 weeks I have been co-leading a Bible study for 3rd and 4th grade students.  We have studied the book of James.  When we told the kids this would be the last week, there were lots of groans.  So, we decided to continue the Bible study online as a blog.  The kids seem really excited that they are going to get to continue studying together.  And, they were asking today if they could invite friends, neighbors, and cousins to join us in studying together.  I said sure!  Then, a few of them prayed for the Bible study.  They prayed that "God would bring kids from all over the world to study His Word together."  And the crazy thing is, that could happen!  Even with the kids in my class, we will be all over the world this summer.  I'm excited to see how God is going to use this.

2012 Already?

Wow! I just realized I haven't posted on here for over a year. That is really sad. I'm going to try to do better, maybe a goal of at least once a month, but aim for even higher. Anyway, today was an amazing day! My day started with Bible, which is my favorite subject to teach. We were supposed to be talking about worship in the OT today, but of course, we never got that far. I have a few new students that have some very fundamental questions, and I decided they were more important than my lesson plans. We talked about everything, from who God is, to why He has no beginning, to why Jesus is called the "Son of David." We talked for about 45 minutes, and the students were all engaged, participating, and asking questions. Unfortunately, they had another class to get to, so I told them to put their Bibles away, it was time for PE (of all things) and they actually GROANED! They wanted to stay and keep talking about God and His Word rather than PE!!!! Then, later on we were having social studies and the same thing happened. We had run out of time and finished the lesson, so I told the students to put their things away, and again they groaned! It makes my heart happy when my students are enjoying learning!

Korean Adventures Part 2

Today was the last day of the conference. After lunch we could sign up for cultural activities. Erin and I signed up to go to a market and fort in a nearby suburb. We walked through and open market, and tried some traditional Korean snacks. Then, we went to the fort and rode a "train" around. When the trip was finished, we weren't ready to head back, so decided to find our own way home! We asked the tour guide what bus we could take to the train station, but soon realized that by the time we were finished shopping we would no longer be near those bus stops. We checked the sign, and realized that the stations were marked in English, so we decided we would be fine on our own. We did some shopping and walking through the town and then decided it was time to find our way back to the hotel. Erin voiced her opinion that we should take a taxi, but I was determined to use public transportation. I had just about given up, when we came to a bus stop. However, there was no English! I asked the other people waiting if they spoke English, and everyone shook their heads no. I continued asking anyway, if anyone knew how to get to Suwon Station. One lady pointed on the sign to all the buses we could take, and we were trying to figure out how many stops we would need to count, when she pointed at one, and made it known that we should get on. I decided it was so nice of her to help us that we had to follow her advice. We got on, and started looking, trying to figure out where we were, and when we needed to get off. We found the station, which was very large, and thought we were home free. (After all, we did the trains on Wednesday, and it had turned out fine.) I bought our tickets, and we started following the signs to the tracks. When we got there, there were two sets of tracks. All of the people were waiting on one side, so we waited there too. Then when a train came, it was on the other side. All of the people just moved to that side, so we followed. We knew that the town we needed was 3 stops away, so we started counting. When the train stopped, all the people started getting off...they told us we had to switch trains. So, we followed them. Just as the doors closed, I asked the man next to me where we were. He pointed to the stop we wanted and said there. I thought, oh well, we'll just get off at the next stop, but the man, who luckily spoke some English, told us it was an express train, and we would not be stopping for 3 more towns! I was feeling really bad by this point, because Erin had wanted to take a taxi from the start! We got off at Osan, three towns later, and got on the train heading back where we had come from. We managed to find our town, and get off! We walked to the bus stop that we had taken on Wednesday, and thought we needed a 20 something or 40 something bus. However, there weren't any listed! We decided we could go for a taxi, but taxi driver wouldn't take us to our hotel. So, we were standing there trying to figure out what to do when a 27 bus pulled up. We decided that sounded good and got on! We knew that assuming it was the right bus, it would be 15 stops to our hotel. I started counting, and got to 2, and decided if Erin was counting, I didn't need to. The only problem was, Erin wasn't counting either! We had to pay close attention, but eventually found our way back to our neighborhood. After all that adventuring, we decided we were not going to have an adventure for dinner, and ate at Annie's burgers. Overall, it was a fun day!

Korean adventures

My friend Erin and I are in Korea for an international educators' conference. We spent most of the day on Wednesday traveling. We left Singapore at 12:05 am, and arrived in Korea around noon. We took an hour and a half bus ride to our hotel, and then an hour train ride back to Seoul to meet my friend Shinhye. After doing some sight seeing and eating delicious food, we took a cable car to see the city skyline. It was about 10:18, when we decided we should probably head back to the train station. When we got to the station, our train was there, so we very quickly said goodbye to Shinhye and slipped onto the train as the doors were closing. We were very careful to keep track of where the train was, so we wouldn't miss our stop. When we were approaching our stop, they started making an announcement, which of course we couldn't understand since it was in Korean. The lights went out, and we realized, we were on the last train, and we had ridden it to the last stop! God was definitely looking out for us.