more pictures

much of the first few days spent in germany were spent eating, visiting family, receiving family, and eating more food. it was full of German goodness, and i was so overwhelmed... waking up at 4am and crashing at 9. i felt bad, but i couldn't do much about it. still, it was wonderful to observe and take a small part in the way the holey family celebrates christmas.

christmas eve. sorry for the blur. bad lighting for the camera. good lighting for christmas love and giving.

david on the guitar and jakob on the drums, jamming it out christmas eve. over the week i had a lot of opportunities to get to know them a little better. it was good to be part of their family and see their love for one another. carsten and petra are good parents, i think.

in the kitchen with mirjam and her mom. i feel like i spent the most time here. LOL. i even knew where the sugar bowl was kept in the cubbard for serving coffee in the morning. ahaha!

christmas day we went first to carsten's parent's home for coffee and cakes in the afternoon. then we went to petra's parent's home for dinner. the picture above is of our amazing dinner. the food was phenomenal and her parents had me rolling. especially her father. apparently i am one of the first foreigners he has entertained, so he felt the need to speak german more slowly and annunciate his words more carefully. i nearly died laughing.. and david said that in all his 18 years of knowing his grandfather, he'd never seen him in such rare form. i am honored!

carsten and petra took me for a walk through the town. it was nice to get out after eating so much food and staying indoors for most of the days. plus, i got to get these pictures for those of you who really do want to get a glimpse of the town. for those of you who remember, dresden was flooded in the summer of 2002, as was everywhere in europe along the elbe river. as we were walking, carsten pointed out places that had been utterly wiped out, or levels of first floor buildings that were completely submerged in the water. it was pretty hard to imagine. i could see how much of an impact the disaster had on them.

i just had to take a picture of the building. it's just so not like korea AT ALL.

the town square. what i could not get over was how clean and empty the streets were. i know that it was christmastime, so most people were home with their families; nevertheless, i could not help but compare it with the ridiculous busyness that constantly exists here in korea. there is no place i am alone except in my apartment. and it was cleaner. and the air smelled nicer. LOL. amazing how we acclimate ourselves in order to survive.

martin luther spent some time in this home. it belonged to his father or his son, i don't remember which. in any case, this very house is up for sale. if you have $30,o00 to spare, you can own it. any takers?

the town square. heading down that street to the right of the picture leads to the holey's home.

the holey's home. they share it with four other apartment-holders - the senior pastor and his wife, a family, and a man in their church.

mirjam's birthday.

my little room - the guest bedroom at the top of the peach house.

the spoils of time spent in german. ahhhh schokolade, wie ich dich liebe...

the dresdener frauenkirche, restored last christmas after years of renovation.

i pray you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year!
may the Lord Jesus be with you ever so closely as you enter the year 2007.
be in touch.

sorry for my deliquency...

some of the long-awaited pictures from my trip to germany:

decorating the christmas tree

mirjam looking pretty studly... lol

i never realized what a character carsten is... :)

mirjam with her brothers david (18) and jakob (21)... in dresden, the last night of the christmas market, which is the oldest (500 years old) in the world.

God is so good. friends after 7 years. may He continue to bless our friendship, even thousands of miles apart, as the years pass.

the Dresden Christmas Market. there were tons of people from all over the world. it is, apparently, quite famous. there were tons of booths selling anything from chocolate and candies to hats and scarves, to bratwurst and beer. it was great to be amidst people who weren't staring at me... i got to just blend in and be part of the crowd. it was nice.

after the endless sea of apartment buildings here in korea, it was so exciting to see beautiful, OLD architecture. europe is just beautiful...

cool, huh?

a giant nutcracker!

through a series of events, 'eckstein gemeinde' (cornerstone community) was able to purchase the town 'castle' ~2 years ago. it is in serious disrepair, but they are gradually repairing and fixing things up. i believe a construction team from weag will be going this coming summer to work on one of the roofs. anyway, the believers are currently meeting in one section of the building that has been cleared for their use.

the view from the castle down towards the town of dohna. it is a small town where the holey family lives, but it is around a thousand years old. what history.

more pictures to come....

Fröhliche Weihnachten, Alle!

hello everyone.. right now i am in the holey household. it is quiet.. the boys have gone to the castle to practice their music, mirjam is on the phone with her boyfriend christof, petra is on a walk, and carsten is in the kitchen cooking. it is nice to have these few moments of silence to process and write all that is going on here. i must say that i could not have anticipated the huge culture shock that comes with being neither in korea or in the states. germany is yet another country and i am having to adjust to being in a place where i understand the majority of what is said, but still it is not home. and then there are whole chunks of the conversation that i know i am missing just because i am too overwhelmed to process it.

overall, i am doing well. the food is wonderful. i am LOVING the bread and cheese. everyone is incredibly kind and caring of me, and i am humbled by God´s incredible kindness towards me. it is so much fun to be in germany again.

still, i am shocked to find out that truly, korea has become my home and my comfort zone. i miss korea. can i say that??!! and yet, i am also finding that my home is becoming wherever God is calling me, and to be outside His plans and purposes really is suicide.

the week is still largely up in the air, but the family moves at a comfortable pace and they give me a lot of space, for which i am extremely grateful. i look forward to hearing from you all.

and now.. it is hard for me to switch between the languages, so here it is in german...

jetzt sitze ich im jakob holeys schlafzimmer und denke an die letzte paar tage. ich bin jetzt in deutschland mit der holey familie und hab versucht die kulturschock und alle schwierigkeiten die damit kommen zu bewältigen. muss ich sagen, dass es ganz komisch ist, nicht in korea oder in den staaten zu sein. ich kann sehen, dass mein heimat wirklich ist, wo Gott mir geschickt hat. und kann ich ehrlich sagen, dass ich korea ein bißchen vermisse. und mein leben da. wow. kann ich fast nicht glauben, was ich gesagt habe!

gestern abends war weihnachten hier in deutschland, und es war sehr sehr schön. das essen ist ganz lecker, und eine willkommende veränderung von koreanischen reis und gemüse (obwohl ich koreanisches essen viel mag)....

heute fahren wir nach petra holeys elterns haus zeit mit ihnen zu verbringen. viel essen. viel kaffee. viele süssigkeiten. mmmhmm. yum! ich hab so viel in den letzten paar tage gegessen!

leider hab ich nicht so gut geschlafen. ich bin so müde um 21. uhr gewesen, bin ins bett um halb 23. uhr gegangen, und hab ruhelos geschlafen von 5. bis halb 9. uhr im morgens. aber ich fühle mich ganz gut jetzt.

ich bin ganz dankbar für die chance hier zu sein und deutsch so viel zu hören und reden. und es ist so leicht die buchstaben ö,ä,ü, und ß auf das keyboard zu finden und tippen. yay!

viele liebe und frohes fest!

christmas in germany

is, i hear, pretty amazing. magical even. so tomorrow morning i fly out for a week in dresden, which is about 3-4 hours south of berlin. i think late last night as i was getting ready for bed the realization settled in. i think in part it was because i had to give a few co-workers some instructions as to my lesson plans so they can cover my classes while i'm gone. also, i have begun to pack, which automatically makes things feel real.

when i think about all the places i could be during the holiday season - back home with the family in richmond, visiting college friends, or staying here in korea to be with the wonderful friends i have made here - i find that those are good in it of themselves. they are not abhorrent to me. i could be happy in either place. but i think this trip is ordained of the Lord, and on those grounds alone, there is no place i would rather be than in germany.

it is more than good german food, more than the longing to be where the language is spoken so i can test myself and stretch myself in my ability to grasp and respond in german, more than the love of *all* things european, though i would also be lying if those are not HUGE perks. but i think it is largely for the answer to a question i've had for a long, long time about the Lord's calling on my life and how that plays out in a practical way.

here are the details. i fly out tomorrow (friday, 22.december) around 2:30. i'll arrive in germany the same day, local time in germany around 9pm. i will return to korea the 29th, with enough time to recover from any jetlag. i should be able to access email/skype from the holeys - the family i am staying with - so feel free to keep in touch.

here's jody and i from the don juan opera. we call it 'the prom picture' because the background was just so ridiculous we had to get a picture of it. :)

pictures from the Jazz Club a few weeks ago...

so two weeks ago thea, nahamm and i went to a jazz club in seoul. although i wasn't feeling very well, we had a great time together. it's amazing how time has flown...every opportunity to meet with thea is precious, as she will be returning to germany in a few weeks. also, nahamm is so busy adjusting to teaching here in korea. she was a professor in germany, and now she has to switch to using korean in her lectures. what a daunting task, no? on top of being back in korea after 14 years of being a free and unfettered german woman.. wow..


thea has been an english teacher at the liebenzeller mission, a german-based missions organization, for the past 4 months as an internship. nahamm has asked me if i know of anyone who would be interested in this position, and i thought it was worth sending a shout-out to everyone back home. if you are interested in an internship-like position teaching english in seongnam, korea, please let me know!

eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

nor have entered into the hearts of men

the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

- 1 corinthians 1,9

i've gotten a cold somewhere... somehow, and it's left me without a voice - again. please pray that the Lord heals it quickly. after church today pastor bob and his wife anna prayed for me. (i am so thankful for a pastor who believes in and invites the power and presence of God's Spirit. there are a shortage of men who walk in the authority and anointing of God, and i do not take his prayer of faith lightly!)

thea has spent the weekend with me, and it's been such a wonderful comfort just to have a friend nearby. as always, our conversations are a delightful flow of german and english - back and forth. one sentence or word in one language and then, switch. lol. when each of us makes a mistake, we correct one another, and we file the corrections away in our memories. we laugh and ask answer-less questions like, "why does english use that preposition?! dosh!"

surely the Lord knows me deep love for the german language and has brought a gift right to my apartment in south korea. i am continually amazed by how He knows the deep desires of our hearts and He answers them. thank You, Lord.

lauren's departure last monday has made mine feel all the more imminent. i feel the end of my time coming much sooner, and i am doing my best to make the greatest impact i can in every arena of my life here. this week my kids were really dragging, and it was so hard not to just throw my hands up in despair, but i tried to encourage them instead and tell them what my goals are for their progress during my time here. i think the awareness of my departure helps, somehow.

for those of you who have prayed or are praying for me, thank you. i can feel the effect of them. my heart is more at peace.

^ ^ love, ruth

A stroll down German memory lane...

Heute habe ich mich an Max und Moritz erinnert. Viele Lachen von deutsche Klasse im 12. Klasse in Hochschule. :)

Max und Moritz

Eine Bubengeschichte in Sieben Streichen (von Wilhelm Busch)
Erster Streich
Mancher gibt sich viele Müh'Mit dem lieben Federvieh; Einesteils der Eier wegen,Welche diese Vögel legen, Zweitens: weil man dann und wann Einen Braten essen kann; Drittens aber nimmt man auch Ihre Federn zum Gebrauch In die Kissen und die Pfühle, Denn man liegt nicht gerne kühle. -
Seht, da ist die Witwe Bolte, Die das auch nicht gerne wollte....

den Rest findest du hier: http://www.fln.vcu.edu/mm/mm1.html

At church on Sunday there were two women from Germany- one a girl named Thea, who is just a few years older than me, and the other a Korean woman who has spent half her life in Germany and is delightfully more European than Korean. I invited them to join Emily, Daniel and me over my favorite Korean meal, which sounds like boo-duh-ji-gae and is translated as "army food." Yum yum! So good! We had a great time together, laughing over language mistakes in English, Korean, and German. Ich wundere mich, was die nächste Monate bringen.

This past weekend was, however, a rather rough time for me. At times I find my patience with Korean culture wearing thin, and then I am frustrated with myself for my bumbling attempts to adapt and immerse myself here. When I look back on the past months, I see that I have done the best I can. iI is nonetheless dissatisfying when somehow those meager attempts seem not to be enough... at least in my own heart.

Prayers for the next 4.5 months would be appreciated. T_T