The Roberts in Korea

People Baking Toast

Either this has been a slow week or an extremely busy week because I only have a very few pictures on my camera to blog about.  Last Saturday night I followed a group of our graduated seniors and our student life ministers to a really cool coffee shop in downtown Daejeon.  It is called, Holy Cross.  It is a neat place--great coffee and food, Christian music (not too loud), 6th floor view, free wireless internet--very nice.  I will return to Holy Cross someday and take pictures and post them.

However, the Holy Cross coffee shop is not what this post is about.  On the ground floor of the building that the coffee shop is in I found a place called, "People Baking Toast."  I walked up to the counter, looked into the shop and I saw, you guessed it, "people baking toast."  I love Korea.

Random thought:  I think "People Baking Toast" would be a cool name for a rock band.

Prom

The Prom finally happened and it was good.  All of the pre-planning, prep and primping culminated in a paparazzi like gathering of picture taking parents.  Photos were taken of singles, groups, couples, couples with flowers and without flowers.  There were awkward moments of posing and lots of sore cheeks from "too much smiling."

All of the kids looked wonderful.  Personally, this blogger, father, reporter and paparazzi picture-taker thought that Becca and Tim looked fantastic.  They had a good time at the Prom.  Here are few more pics.

 

 

Pre-Prom Pics

By mid-afternoon of Prom day, things really started to ramp up.  The Pre-Prom prep, pictures and gathering was set to take place at the Miller's house.  The girls gathered downstairs and "got ready," and the guys gathered in an upstairs bedroom and "waited."

All that could be heard from downstairs was lots of laughter and giggles and an occasional, "Mom, can you come down here?!"

From the upstairs bedroom there was the sound of steam escaping from an iron, some guitar strumming, some quoting of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (they were studying for a Shakespeare test/play) and long blocks of nervous silence.

Prom Prep

We just finished with "Prom Weekend."  Prom weekend is a long two months of getting asked to the prom, looking at dresses, ordering a dress, deciding on a hairstyle, picking shoes, planning the what, where, when, why, how...yipes.

Saturday, the day of the Prom, was a full one.  Becca and her friends started the day by heading to the nail shop to get a manicure/pedicure only to find that the shop was booked solid and unavailable to the them that day.  So, the girls decided to do their own nails.  They brought all of the stuff to the campus and sat around and did their own nails.  From there they went to get their hair done--luckily they made appointments in advance.

While the girls were doing their nails and getting their hair done (and the dads were driving them around) the moms (Laurie and Dina) were busy creating corsages and boutonnieres for the girls and the guys.  Last year, these items were not quite as desired, so this year Laurie and Dina purchased flowers (at a good price) and they made their own.  They turned out great.  More Prom pics and stories to come...

Music Memories

Last week was the end of the year, Spring Concert.  Becca is in the choir and was involved in the program.  She has enjoyed singing in concert choir this year.  She has learned a lot about singing, how choir works and she has had the chance to accompany the choir on the piano when the regular accompanist couldn't be there for practice.

Becca has a good ear and a good voice and was voted as the "Most Outstanding Alto" for the 2009-2010 year.  This year Becca took a Digital Music class.  One of the class projects was to write and compose a jingle.  This year they posted the jingles on-line and students voted for the "best" jingle.  Becca won!  Click HERE to hear her jingle.  We are proud of Becca.

Beautiful Memories of Middle School Retreat

This is the last post on the Middle School Retreat activity at Daecheon Beach.  It was a great weekend.  Sarah had a super time as a camper and it was fun for our family to share the adventure and the experience together.

It was what you could call a beautiful time.  We loved the magnificent surroundings of the beach and the sounds of the Yellow Sea crashing into the shore.  We enjoyed experiencing life together in this amazing part of the world and within the context of worshiping and growing closer to God.

The mornings were clear, crisp and beautiful,... and the sunsets were amazing.

Music, Message and Mud House Memories

At the Middle School Retreat at Daecheon Beach last weekend I (Ryan) was involved in music, the message and mud.  I enjoyed the opportunity to lead the 95 middle schoolers and the twenty or so staff members in praise and worship songs throughout the weekend.  We had four different services and we sang many songs of praise to God and some silly songs too.

In the Saturday morning session I was the speaker.  It was my privilege to to share the message of God with the kids.  We talked about our parts in the story of God and how we are to live in and for Jesus in our lives.  It was fun.

 On Saturday afternoon Brian (a middle school teacher) and I slipped away from the beach time activities and we moseyed down to the local mud house bath and spa.  If you are a follower of this blog you will recall that Brian and I visited this same place four years ago. See this post.  It is a Korean bath house that specializes in the very "healthy" mud that is found in the Daecheon Beach area. 

Long story short we enjoyed a time of sitting around in hot tubs and then we painted ourselves with mud and then sat in a drying room (yes, we were naked).  The whole experience is supposed to be good for your skin.  I don't know about that, but it sure makes for a great story.

As a side note to this story, there was a bit of melancholy nostalgia related to our trip to the mud house.  We first visited the mud house together during our first month in South Korea.  We were both new to the country and were taking in all of the crazy adventures associated with the new culture that we were living in.  Now, four years later, Brian, LeeAnne and their girls are in their last month at TCIS as they are moving on to a new adventure in Africa.  I will miss Brian and his family. 

Middle School Retreat

We just got back from the Middle School Retreat and it was a blast.  The retreat was held at Daecheon Beach.  It is an amazing city located on the West coast of South Korea.  The retreat center is located on the beach  of the Yellow Sea.  There were 95 kids involved in the retreat and Sarah was one of them.  This is her last year in Middle School and the retreat was a great memory.

The retreat turned into a family affair as I (Ryan) ended up going on the retreat to lead music and worship, Dina came along to help in the kitchen and Becca came along and worked as an assistant cabin leader.  It was a blast.

The retreat was filled with fun times with friends, funny skits, great times of worship and crazy camp games.  At one point Sarah and her friend Anna found themselves wrapped up in duct tape and their teammates were shooting Q-tips at them out of straws.

LeeAnne's Birthday

Last week we enjoyed the chance to celebrate the life and birthday of our friend LeeAnne.  Her and her husband, Brian, are treasured friends of ours.  They came to Korea the same year we did and we have shared this Korean adventure together.  Their daughters are friends with our daughters so our family paths cross often.

We enjoyed the chance to gather with about twenty other people to celebrate LeeAnne's 40th birthday.  We enjoyed the dinner and celebrated at a very nice Korean Restaurant located on the outskirts of Daejeon.  It was a great party for a great person.

Teen Lock-In

Becca and Sarah attend a teen group on Sunday nights at a local church called Christian International Church (CIC).  A couple of Saturdays ago the youth leader, Mr. Larry, held an all night teen lock-in.  He is a crazy man, but a good man.  The kids loved it.

On Friday night we all went up town with the kids to Papa John's pizza and then Mr. Larry all of the kids went back to the school gym and had their all nighter.  They played games, talked, laughed and had non-stop fun all night...nobody slept.  I (Ryan) was a part of the breakfast crew the next morning.  Some other dads and I showed up early and cooked breakfast for the kids as they emerged from the gym.  They were tired, but not too tired to eat.  It didn't take the kids long to eat up four dozen eggs and what seemed to be a side of pork (bacon).  Everybody had a good time at the teen lock-in.