Finally! Made it to Korea, and finally getting a chance to blog!

Somewhere between being stuck in Vermont over visa issues, and our 12th day in Korea, life happened.  We're still catching our breath and hoping to land on our feet, but it's beginning to look like this place of kimchi and hieroglyphic alphabet may at some point become home.

There is a common phrase in Korea -  빨리 빨리  - bbally! bbally! -which captures so much of the Korean life we've experienced so far.  Hurry! Hurry! Fast! Fast!  Our days since arrival on October 27 have been overflowing with busyness - meeting people, finding an apartment, planning office renovations, eating plenty of good food, exploring our new home of Chuncheon.  It's only been 12 days, but with all the contrast to the U.S., feels more like 12 weeks...

We came to the "big city" of Seoul yesterday for two days of rest before continuing to Nagasaki on Monday for a week of work-related planning meetings.

So, finally, time to stop and blog and share pictures of our new life.

At the airport with 3 trunks & 3 suitcases - all of our worldly possessions! Excited, overwhelmed

It's fall in Chuncheon - beautiful leaves, clear blue skies, crisp autumn air

From the glitz of modern skyscrapers to the charm of old-time street workers

MCC's office will be on the 3rd floor of this building - first order of business?  design an office

Chris, in front of the apartments which are our new urban home - bldg 302, 11th floor.
More than all I could ask or imagine! 

Living room - no furniture yet.  We're sort of  "camping" at this point  :)

Brand new apartment with many Korean high-tech gadgets.
 It's gonna take me a month to learn how to  "operate" this place!

view from the living room

view from the kitchen sink

new friends from church gave us piles of new and slightly used household items, a big step toward
making a home here

Potluck after church meeting - so grateful for this new community, including KyongJung who has
taking care of MANY logistical details of our move, DongGyu and HyeRan who hosted us for the
first 10 days, helping us learn Korean language and culture while enjoying delicious meals amidst
much laughter, and so many others who have warmly welcomed and embraced us.  Feeling blessed.

We continue to live in the throes of transition.  We really barely got started at settling in, before leaving for a week in Tokyo and Nagasaki.

For the most part, it's been a good ride.  We're learning to live and work together on a 24/7 basis (and I emphasize learning!), I'm picking up words and phrases in Korean even though my formal language training hasn't yet started, we're beginning to get the "feel" of Chuncheon (a city of about 250,000), and although we don't officially take up the roles of MCC Northeast Asia Reps until January 1, are already making decisions and working with the rest of our MCC team on transitioning the office from Beijing, where it's been for 16 years, to South Korea.

                                        Stay tuned for more on Japan and beyond!

                                                                    Eph 3:20