This morning, 5 years since the blog I created was updated, I heard a discussion of blogging on the Mormon Channel, streamed to my smartphone. I had not thought about this blog for a very long time, and thought I would not be interested in doing it anymore, but today, I checked to see if I could still access it, and since I found it immediately, I decided to write a tester post. Who knows, maybe I can resurrect it, and find some photos of interest to post. Life has changed a lot since my Korea days, and I do keep a handwritten journal....but maybe I can get a few illustrations of a senior life evolving into something worth sharing, or at least recording. I suppose I can give it a try~

Start of August--Status Quo

Norm went back to Korea this weekend, and I am still here in Kaysville. Nothing is happening in the job scene for us so if nothing changes, I will end up returning to Korea sometime in the next couple months. Nothing is happening there either, but I can always take up my former work life. The recession is real, even for special ed teachers! There is just no work available anywhere, period. I am mighty grateful for the job Norm has, so that if nothing comes open to him here in Utah, we can just continue to carry on over in Seoul. I am getting plenty of time to be a grandma here at home in Kaysville, and am wearing myself out with yard and garden work, so if I do need to return for several months to Korea, I won't have any regrets; I am maximizing my time here in every way. I am even serving in the Kaysville 5th ward as a temporary Gospel Doctrine class teacher, and doing substitute teaching in the Davis School District, as I always do when I live here for a time. There is always something else to get involved with, friends and family to see, things to learn, places to go, etc. and Norm was also able to do lots of good things on his visit here in July. No regrets.

A Sensational Summer

Here are more random shots of fun times in America this summer. I am sooooo glad to be here rather than in Korea where the monsoon season is in full force and flooding is common...not to mention that humidity! Hurray for dry climate in Utah! I have been walking and hiking most every day with lady friends in the neighborhood, working hard on the yard and landscaping, playing with and tending Calvin, attending wedding ceremonies and receptions, and lots of other activities to liven up my homestay this year.

Catch up time again!

Half way through summer, and I have yet to catch up on the blog...So here goes: Yellowstone Park was beckoning me this month, after many years away. Thirty-nine years ago this summer, I worked in the Park all summer, and met Norman Potter, also working up there. I consider 1970 the turning point in my life, since I met both the church and the man I later married. So, when I heard that Lonnie, Thelma, Michael, and Leckie Gunter were headed up there for a short trip, I basically invited myself, and offered to be their transportation resource. I picked them up in Layton, Utah and we drove up on Thursday of last week (July 9th), after we loaded up on some free cherries to pick in Ogden. We attended the Playmill Theater in West Yellowstone for a great production of "Guys and Dolls" on our first evening there. Then, Friday the 10th, we spent the whole day roaming around in the first American National Park, founded in 1872. We only made the lower loop that day so we would not have to rush too fast. We just loved every minute of our tour, in the perfect weather, very little traffic, and gorgeous scenery. We did some bargain shopping for a few YNP souvenirs in my old workplace, the General Store at Fishing Bridge. What a stupendous day! We had a picnic supper at the city park in West Yellowstone, and spent the rest of the evening feasting on cookies and cream ice cream and looking at many, many photos on Thelma's computer. Next morning, we drove home via Rexburg Temple, and made it back to SLC in time to take advantage of the lunch menu prices at Tucano Brazilian restaurant at Gateway, where most of my family was able to drive down to meet us there. Of course, Calvin was in awe at all the people and activity, and the great food available, even for a baby's palate. What a great getaway!

Summer at last--at home in Kaysville!

I made it home this week! After eager anticipation for most of the winter and spring, I flew home in style, stand by on Delta Airlines, in Business Elite--with the newly renovated modular seats that stretch out entirely flat! So I slept so soundly for hours after watching a few movies. What a blessing! Thanks to daughter Rebecca for enduring 10 long years of work as a reservation agent, to provide her parents another 10 years of some flight benefits!!

Since coming home to Kaysville Utah, I have gotten back in the swing of things quickly: attending a 2 day Cooperative Learning course in the Davis School District, helping daughter Emily move to Salt Lake City to live with two of her girlfriends, being reunited with our kids and one and only grandson Calvin who is now 11 months old, and outrageously entertaining and lively (!), and spending some good relaxing time with the neighbors in Kaysville 5th Ward at the annual 5 K fun run/walk, outdoor breakfast, pioneer Primary activity day, and potluck bbq dinner. I skipped the closing event of the day, the street dance, so I could go with the young family (Calvin and his parents) to Walmart. We are headed to Lehi to a dinner gathering at our son Daniel's home with bride Jenn tomorrow, so I can get my first look at that home, which they bought this spring. So much happening, and more to come next week! No matter what the future brings, I am glad to be here NOW for the wonderful life I have missed for too many months!

What a week!

This past week was a weird one. Last Saturday we heard about the suicide of South Korea's most recent former president, and then we heard 2 days later about North Korea's underground nuclear bomb test...followed by 2 more nukes in missile form, shot toward Japan, and today I heard of one more nuke test of another type. My head is spinning. Today was the funeral for President Roh. He killed himself to escape the consequences of his actions (or his family's actions) in an alleged bribery scandal involving millions of dollars. I don't know all the complicated details, but I know that most of the Koreans I have spoken with this week don't think much of a man who would wimp out under fire, and leave his wife and children to deal with the dirt.
I sound a bit cynical, I know. I think I have had enough of this scene for awhile. I never intended to live in a place that could be a prime target for a nuclear attack. Time to switch to Plan B, I guess. I am arranging to leave in the next couple weeks for a summer respite in the good ol' USA. Yes, we have our major and minor issues in America. No doubt about it. But I need some familiar problems to deal with rather than strange stuff from another dimension. Sooo, I think I'll be hunkering down in Davis County for a bit, and play Gramma awhile. I need more practice with that role, anyway. (The truth is, I have been planning all along to get there in June, but current events from this culture are clarifying my focus and hurrying my plans a whole bunch this week!)

A few more Calvin pix...

...because he gets around--this time to the beach with Mommy. They went to visit Eleanor's best friend and her family, and spent some great time on the Pacific coast in a photo shoot. Calvin apparently felt right at home in the sand and surf.

Catch up time

So I've been busy for the past month! I got another long term subbing job, this time at my former place of employment, Seoul American High School, and even in my same former department there, the Special Education Department. This all started when one of the staff members fell and broke her wrist, and so she is in a cast for many weeks. She has not been able to work, and may not be able to return before the school year ends, so I was able to step in and take her place. I work with a few autistic students, as one of a small team of staff members, and I am enjoying it very much. It's somewhat different from the SPED teaching I have done before....Less academic, and more supportive of functional skills. My co-workers are great to spend time with, and the end of the school year is coming soon, so everyone is excited and motivated. I have had plenty of time to chat with my former co-workers there, too.

I am still waiting to see what my future holds, career-wise, but I have determined that I will spend as much of the summer as I can with my own family (and especially with Calvin, of course!), so I will be leaving in the next few weeks for Utah, California, and whatever other area of the USA I decide to visit. Norm gets to come to San Antonio for a 4 day TDY course, so I will probably go along with him. He will also get several days leave in Kaysville with me and the kids.

I don't really have too many interesting photos lately, so will pass on that part of the update. I'm sure there will be some good ones this summer, though!

Competition with Blogging time

It's called "joining Facebook!" Yes, I finally succumbed to the temptation of repeated invitations by various people, especially Teh Sook... so I joined up on March 30, just in time to gather a flock of friends, old-timers and recent buddies, and gave myself a wonderful cyber-reunion for my birthday last week (March 31). It is truly amazing to find people who have been absent from my life for years...including a few high school friends! Good timing on that one, since this is the year for our 40th high scbool class reunion! On the alumni list, "I once was lost, but now am found!" Amazing Grace.
So, I would estimate that in the past 9 days since joining the Facebook community, I have probably spent about 30 hours on that site, catching up with so many people all over the world. I think it will slow down a little, now, however. I am connected with almost 200 people of all ages, from various era's of my life: high school in CA, Germany days, Kaysville residence, and Korean years, plus a lot of relatives near and far. Good times! Just check in once in a while and see what everyone else is up to, and all the latest news and views with people I care about. All of a sudden, I don't feel so isolated anymore. Add FB to blogging, internet phoning and webcamming, and I may be able to endure overseas living a lot longer!

SLIDE RIDE!

I know....This isn't my blog, it's my grandson's! But I need to show the more interesting life happening in Kaysville, since not much is happenin' in Korea these days. So here is a peek at Calvin's first visit to a city park playground, and his first ride down a slide! As for me, I'm counting the weeks till I can join the Potter playtime fun. Our life and future are a big question mark right now....so it's better not to dwell on it for the present moment.
But in the meantime, CALVIN is growing up!!

Hello, Hillary ! How things do change!

Hello, Hillary - INSIDE JoongAng Daily

Look at the caption---Hillary is considered CONSERVATIVE here! Draw your own conclusion

Valentine party people

Valentines partying together

We had about 25 couples show up for the party, which is a large percentage of our branch membership. A few single adults came too, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. Sherman Grandy is a natural born teacher. He compared dancing to marriage, and taught us some principles of good dancing that apply to life just as well.
These happy couples are Dave and Kristie Marsden, Jim and Kathryn Tripp, Hans and Jody Zeller on either side of Nasook and Dewey Moore, John and Gloria Folker, and Darsha and Harold Stanley.

Valentine Party pictures

Peterson's baby girl made a hit!

Of course, Mike and Nicole beat the other branch presidency competition in the Not-so-Newlywed Game, too.

Dinner at Marsdens included our hosts, Dave and Kristie, Hans and Jody Zeller, Elder and Sister Matt and Becky Pickett, Tom and Mayumi Cole, and Norm and myself. Great group!

 
Sherm Grandy has this way of getting people up and movin' their feet. Nasook just did not want to dance, and her husband Dewey sort of gave up trying to persuade her, but by the end of the evening, Sherm got her following him. I knew I asked the right guy to take charge of this activity!

Valentine Party

It's hard to believe it has been 2 weeks since I posted anything. I have read several other people's blogs in those weeks, and got so busy planning the Yongsan Branch Valentine Party, that I hadn't updated my own...but now I have a few photos to share from last night. Norm and I danced for the first time in several years. It's not because we had not wanted to....It's because we never found anyplace to dance. So, I arranged for fellow branch member Sherm Grandy to provide some general instruction, and then give us free time to have some dancing fun.

But before we got to that point, we all divided into dinner groups and met in 7 branch members' homes in Yongsan military housing. Norm and I dined at Dave and Kristie Marsden's lovely home, which is in the adjacent US Embassy housing. We had our young branch president Hans Zeller and wife Jody, Elder and Sister Pickett, and Tom and Mayumi Cole with us, too. We knew them back in the early 1980's in Heilbronn, Germany, and they are both here as active duty COL and LTC now. We just never know who we'll meet up with in the military community, and especially among the church members. It was a good mix of couples, and the meal was a delicious potluck dinner: tortilla soup, pot roast, rice pilaf, Japanese green salad, fruit salad, rolls...yummy.

Christmas Eve 2008

Jaren and Kris Price heard that we were alone, away from our families for Christmas, and kindly invited us into their home for Christmas Eve, German style. Kris is German, married to an American army major, and they are in our church branch. We ate authentic Deutsch foods for supper, and just relaxed for a while with the whole family as they kept their traditional German customs. Kris even got a phone call from her parents in Germany while we were there, so we heard some Deutsch speaking, and felt like we were back in Germany...where we created lots of Christmas memories in the 1980's and 1990's!

20-40-60

This comment in Relief Society yesterday made me laugh, mostly because it's so true,and it hits pretty close to home...

At age 20, we worry a lot about what everyone else thinks of us;
At age 40, we no longer care what anyone thinks of us;
At age 60, no one thinks of us anyway.

As the years pass, I feel more and more obsolete and tossed aside by a youth-driven world. If I feel this way at 57, just imagine how I will feel at 87.

Something to ponder....

I've always heard "You're not getting older, you're getting better." That may be true, but I AM getting older, too. So are you. Are we any better, really?