My student Annie's response to her journal topic, "What does a teacher do?"
Springime came slowly for the inhabitants of the Land of the Morning Calm in 2010. Just as Brandon had predicted, it was still thick-coat-and-tall-boot weather the week I moved to Suwon at the beginning of March. Aside from the blossoming buds I began to notice around church, I was unaware of any real change in season as the weeks progressed. "The only difference between Korean winter and spring," I remember writing on Facebook three weeks after my move, "is that now the flowers are cold."
Though the mercury on the the thermometer changed little that season, creeping ever-so slowly towards warmth, many changes in my life were ushered in with the intervening months between winter and summer: Not only did I change jobs and cities in a foreign country; sign a second contract which extended my stay by four months; and leave the support base of friends that I had come to cherish. I also saw two of those friends, Andy and Laura, depart Korea for good shortly after I left. But even as they did, I began to see the LORD populating my life with a rich group of women from SIBC, and even at my workplace, who were strong in faith and steadfast in love.
"It's a good step for you," I remember Brandon commenting as we helped pack Laura's one-room apartment in the middle of March. "You'll be surrounded by like-minded people," he said. As I reflect on the manifold blessings the LORD has given me through the people I have come to cherish here, I can see he was right. If I really had wanted to stay in Korea, coming to Suwon was the best move I could have made.
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Spring: Bome-cheol 봄철 2010
March saw Frankie and me settle into one apartment, only to have to transfer to another four weeks later. All in all, the move was convenient: it brought us closer to the station, within walking distance of a small Korean grocery store, and only three blocks away from the nearest bus stop.
In the middle of the month, I went to Seoul to see a friend from Chungju and was caught in a soggy winter storm. I didn't even have any stockings on underneath my pants because I thuought it would be warm! After leaving my friend, I stood an hour in line with the Koreans as we huddled at the station awaiting our turn to hail a cab.
The ladies of SIBC took me out one warmer Sunday afternoon for bokembab
in Insadong, followed by a lovely chat at a nearby tea room, the Old Tea Shop
, which was populated by tiny finches and sparrows. It was quite a romantic, relaxing day. 
For St. Patrick's Day, the "Irish of the Orient" treated me to the best Patty's party I've ever attended: Green was in abundance, dancing was the flavor of the day, and St. Patrick (a.k.a. Our James Teacher) himself graced us with his celebrated presence.
On the fiftth of April, the day Koreans celebrate Arbor Day, my kindergarten students went for a short field trip to a local park to plant tree seeds. The air was fresh, the weather breezy, and the sun warm--the makings of a fine spring day by Texas standards. The Koreans, however, didn't seem to be expecting it: My students came dressed for the elements that day, complete with jackets, warm-up suits, and three layers underneath. My K-1 student, Harry, looked at me after he had just been running around in all those clothes and said, "Teacher, hot." Why, naturally.
A friend of mine and I went for a nature walk/hike through Dongtan's famed Central Park just weeks before I left for the States. It took an hour to traverse, but overall was quite a pleasant experience.
Springtime was also when I met my friend December, a Christian woman who lives near where I work. She invites me out to the movies or dinner from time to time. On this occasion, she introduced me to Pho Mein, an elegant Vietnamese-style chain whose cuisine is some of the tastiest I've had this side of the States.
Enter Daniel Barnett. He effectively replaced me as the other foreign teacher at Learning Well. Brandon introduced me to him during Easter weekend when they came up to Seoul to visit my church and he proved very instrumental in the LORD's direction later that summer.
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