10% Done!

This is just a quick update. I'm getting ready to leave for radiation treatment number 3 of 30, which puts me at 10% of the way done. I won't lie, it's already looking like this might be a long six weeks. Some on and off nausea has already hit and I can just feel a slight overall funk. Doctors say most of the side effects won't kick in until 2-3 weeks though... so let's hope those aren't significant. I have to be honest though, I'm actually excited about an excuse to rock a mullet wig when camp rolls around, that's one side effect i'll have no problem conquering.

Small Change in Plans

Today I had a couple more appointments with an oncologist and my neurosurgeon. In my last post I had mentioned that this tumor, while benign, is capable of spreading or re-occurring within the spinal cord and brain. Since my tumors had already spread up as high as my neck via the spinal cord, there was concern that down the road the tumor would likely re-occur in my brain. Today, however, we learned that the tumor has already gotten there.

The good news is that the two tumors on my brain are very small dots and were not easily recognized at the first look. Also, this tumor is still very treatable and radiation is expected to kill them without complication. The only change will be the inclusion of my brain in the radiation treatments, which increases the risk of dangerous side effects slightly, but the doctors are still very optimistic. The other benefit is that this radiation will help work as a preventative agent so that the tumors will be less likely to regrow in in the brain. Today was the first day in awhile where things have been presented clearly and comprehensively. It is a relief to not have so many unknowns. This is still a weird situation for me and my family, but I am confident God is in control and he will continue to bring me peace and joy in the midst of everything (he's pretty sweet like that). Thanks again for your love and support!

The Latest - April 20

I apologize to all of my friends who haven't heard from me in awhile and especially everyone in South Korea! I realized that I haven't updated since surgery so I figured I would fill you all in. I miss my friends in South Korea and today I was really craving some South Korean food, but I had to settle for Arby's. Before I get to the details, I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate all of the support i've gotten from everybody. It's been really encouraging to know that so many people are praying and thinking about me. I haven't really been in contact with anyone since I got home because I've spent a lot of time just trying to recover from surgery and all of my adventures. To be honest I just haven't felt very social, but it's definitely been a good time of recharging and resting. So if you feel hurt that I haven't contacted you or responded to your messages and comments, know that I got them and it's nothing personal, its just been a long and exhausting couple of weeks.

Last Monday the 12th was my surgery to remove the main tumor that was located on the end of my spinal cord. They chose to remove it because it posed the most danger being on the spinal cord. The surgery was a success and that tumor was almost completely removed (It's impossible to get every little particle of it). Recovery was slow at first and rough because of some of the side effects, but I have been walking on my own for a couple of days and weaning off of the pain meds so things are good as far as recovery goes.

That leaves me with one larger tumor in my lower back and a series of very small tumors dotting my spinal cord higher up. Our game plan as of right now is 4-5 weeks of daily radiation treatment starting within a couple of weeks. This radiation will hopefully kill the tumors which will prevent them from growing and hopefully shrink them.

While that all seems straight forward, we are far from being finished with this tumor. This is an uncommon type of tumor and while it is by definition benign, it is able to move around within the cord. My case was presented before a board of Akron area doctors because it's an uncommon case. The good news is that radiation consistently proves to be very effective treating this type of tumor, but the bad news is we will probably be chasing this tumor for a long time to come.

I have a few more appointments on Thursday, so hopefully at that point we will know more about what we're facing, The most pressing issues right now are spiritual strength and a good attitude during my upcoming treatment and recovery. This experience has helped me to grow in so many ways already so I know God will keep showing me new things as I seek Him out. Also pray that this tumor stays put and out of my brain. There have been a couple of instances where that has been discussed and it is a very real possibility. That's just creepy to think about... 

You guys all rock, I miss my South Korean friends but am grateful to be home with my awesome family and friends. I will make an effort to respond to people trying to get a hold of me so I hope to hear from some of you soon! 

Quick Update

For all who are interested, this is the most recent update. I arrived home fine Tuesday at 6:00pm in Cleveland and my parents picked me up. (side note: if you ever fly, avoid Dulles in DC if at all possible, worst major airport ever made) I chilled out at home and ate some "traditional American food" compliments of my mom. The next morning we saw a doctor in Akron. He had performed a couple of minor surgeries for me before and knew my mom so he offered to help us through the process. After a roller coaster day at the hospital and nearly 2 hours of MRI scanning, the current diagnosis is some word that is way to big for me to remember. Basically, there is one primary tumor on the end of my spinal cord and a bigger chunk of tumor in my lower back. The one on the spinal cord is the most dangerous, but the one in my lower back is causing most of the pain. The game plan is to have surgery to remove the main tumor on the end of my spinal cord because it's in the most dangerous location, and then I will have about 6 weeks of daily radiation treatment to shrink the one in my lower back so that it is no longer painful. Fortunately, they believe the tumor is benign so there shouldn't be a need for any chemotherapy treatments. After this process we will have to monitor my back with regular MRI scans because the main tumor "burst" at some point and spread small pieces of the tumor up my spinal cord. As long as we watch them they should not be dangerous, but if any grew rapidly we would have to go get them as well.

This is my understanding of what the doctor said and this is all preliminary diagnosis. After the surgery, they will analyze to tumor to see what type it is. All in All, the doctor believes this to be very treatable and he has done this same surgery before. The only bummer is that we will more than likely be chasing these tumors indefinitely. Surgery is scheduled for Monday at 11:00am (or Tuesday at midnight on Korean Time). There are some big dangers with this surgery, so pray for some good hands for the doctor as he's doing his thing! After surgery I will have a couple days of recovery in the hospital then a few weeks of chill time. Thanks for all your prayers and support, I really have felt the encouragement of everyone in a huge way! 

   - Patrick

Twists and Turns

Sometimes things in life take weird twists and turns. Sometimes, circumstances play themselves out in ways we could have never imagined. Sometimes, these twists and turns leave you scratching your head only to realize that there are no easy answers to life and God's movement within it. His ways are far beyond ours and though it is commonly our first reaction, we would be fools to assume that we know what is best for ourselves in spite of what God does. We have a habit of seeing ourselves as big, important and as the center of the universe. We use logic, reason and rationale to explain the things around us and to bring order to our world.

But what happens when that order gets flipped upside down. What happens when we can't, even with our best logic, explain why God would choose to act in a certain way. When Haiti is devastated by an earthquake, when our best friend is killed in a freak accident, or when a person we love turns their back on God. Suddenly our logic cannot explain God's actions, and we face an enormous decision. We have the choice to make someone big, and someone small. Life demands an explanation, but this time, both sides can't be right. 

Choice #1 is to make ourselves big. We trust our understanding of the world and our finite mind and are bold enough to presume that when a puzzle doesn't fit together with the pieces we have, that the puzzle is flawed. When God's action don't measure up with our understanding of love, we assume that God is the dependent variable. God is the one whose actions must live up to OUR definition of love and goodness. Because after all, we are fairly spoiled, decently wealthy, comfort loving, generally apathetic, American's who have a very complete understanding of true, genuine, Agape love... right? I mean sure our divorce rate is a little on the high end and we enjoy suing someone rather than talking about it, but we really do know a lot about love. More than some crazy God that destroys towns and kills people who disobey... right? When things don't line up, our first thought tells us that we in fact are big, and God is small. We define God and act as though he owes us an explanation.

Choice #2 is to make ourselves small. It doesn't make sense, it doesn't come easy, and it certainly doesn't line up with what the world is telling us. However, this is exactly where the bible leads us. The book of Psalms radiates God's incredible love, power and goodness. It echo's reverence and a position of humility before a God who is infinitely wiser and more loving than we can comprehend. Choosing to be small is a choice to stop demanding answers, to stop making the rules and to stop expecting to understand everything that happens in this life. When we become small, we begin to see just how big God is, and we can learn to rest in uncertain circumstances because we know that our logic and understanding don't need to be satisfied. We will never have all the answers, but life isn't about answers, it's about the way we live it and the heart we approach it with.

On Saturday, April 3, 2010, my life took a significant turn that has left me scratching my head. Upon visiting a doctor in Seoul about some nagging back pain, an MRI revealed a tumor on my spinal cord. At first the news did not register, but after seeing the MRI's for myself and listening to my roommate translate for the doctor, I realized that this was for real, and some significant changes were going to follow.

As I write this I am sitting in my dorm room in South Korea, surrounded by some really great roommates and a door full of amazing people who have showered me with support. Tomorrow morning I will be flying back to the States to begin a journey of getting healthy. It may take a month or it may take a year, but regardless, it is far from anything I could have predicted. Already, I have felt God's presence in a new way, and I have been presented with a choice. A choice to be big, or to be small. It is not an easy thing to do, but I am choosing to focus on reality. In comparison to God and all of His magnificence and goodness, I am really, really small. Everyday I have to remember that he is in control, and the tumor in my back serves as a reminder that I have very little control over life. I could accuse God of being unfair, or unjust in His love for me, but already I can feel His love in spite of the circumstances. The joy and peace offered by God is accessible regardless of circumstance, and it is far beyond the joy or peace we can find anywhere else in this world. I can soak in the selfish pleasure of being big, or live in the joy of being small. 

Thank you for you love, support and prayers. I look forward to seeing you all when I get back. Please understand that I will want a few days to process, re-acclimate and get things figured out, so don't be offended if you don't hear from me or see me. It's off to Akron!

          - Patrick

Chiak Mountain - I Can't Go On I'll Go On

For those of you who don't understand the title, pick up a copy of Bandslam. We watched it while eating delicious chicken on our first annual roommate night. If you aren't sure what this movie is, i'll just tell you that it falls somewhere between High School Musical and School of Rock (I enjoyed one and refuse to even watch the other, i'll let you figure out which). Anyways it was an enjoyable night even if the film choice didn't exactly capture my complete attention

The band name in the movie (I can't go on i'll go on), gives the most fitting description of our experience last weekend on Wonju's Chiak Mountain. It all started with my roommate Sung Jun suggesting that we go hiking on Saturday. Of course I loved the idea and since it was supposed to be a nice day Sung Jun suggested that we climb Chiak mountian in the National Park. On the internet it said the hike was about 2 and a half hours to the top, so we figured that would make for a nice little day trip. At 9:30am, we put on our jeans, sweatshirts and tennis shoes and headed out into some nice Spring weather. The sun was shining with a few clouds in the sky and the temperature was supposed to hit 50 later in the day. We arrived at the mountain and started climbing around 11am. The trail head said that our path was a distance of 5.4 Km to the top. That translates to just over three miles. As we started hiking a trail similar to that of the Gorge in Akron, I thought to myself "There is no way this will take 2.5 hours, this is going to be a cake walk..." Looking back I was only right about one thing, it didn't take 2.5 hours.

After about 40 minutes, we came to a bridge that crossed over a section of the creek and discovered a sign that said it was only 2.7 km to the peak. In case you're too lazy to do that math, that is half way to our destination. We had been gradually increasing in elevation, but there were still towering mountains on either side of us, and I was beginning to wonder if the view from our "mountain" would even put us in the position to see over the other real mountains. Thats when things went downhill... or more literally, uphill. The moment we crossed the bridge we were faced with a looming flight of stairs that continued into the heavens. Not really, it was just a really long flight of stairs, followed by another long flight of stairs, followed by a strip of rocks lined with steal cable's to grab onto as you cross because the drop off was so steep.

After crossing the narrow rock ledges and climbing the rope to the top of a large boulder, we realized there was a little bit of snow left on the ground. It was more annoying than anything, but it was proof that we were gaining altitude. Larger mountains still loomed around us and for the rest of our hike it always looked like we were almost to the top. However, every time we got to the top of a section, it revealed another large section yet to climb.

After a good hour of exhausting climbing over rocks, stairs and muddy paths, we arrived at another distance sign. We fully expected to be almost to the top, but strangely our sign read, "Birobong Peak - 2.2 km." There have been few moments I can remember that were as disheartening reading that sign. An hour of hard hiking / climbing had only gotten us 0.5 km after we trekked through 2.7 in 45 minutes. By that point there was a thin layer of slushy snow covering a lot of the ground, but the path was still mostly mud. Another climber, who was decked out in North Face climbing gear, informed us that we still had over an hour to the summit. By this point I had noticed numerous hikers loaded with day packs and extreme gear, but I figured it was because they climb regularly or they have the money to blow on fancy gear.

As we pressed forward our obstacles become more imposing and the snow continued to get deeper and more widespread. Long, steep, uphill sections lined with ropes, winding steep staircases, and more weird boulder sections made up the rest of the hike. As we climbed higher, I noticed that not only were we in the minority with our jeans and tennis shoes, we were actually the only ones not decked out from head to toe with expensive hiking jackets, snow pants, hiking poles, hiking boots with metal spikes, and daypacks with meals and hot water. By this point people were giving us strange looks and Wooseok's low-top converse shoes were completely soaked. I still don't know why, but we continued on...

Finally we got to a spot that was .5 km away. A group camped out there had made lunch and shared some food with us as well as hot coffee. By now there was about 6-7 inches of snow on the ground and everything was covered with snow. We could see where the summit was, but not the actual summit because there was a cloud resting over it. A large group came by and recommended that we turn around, but we had not come that far to stop short of the top.

Exhausted, soaked and unsure how we would get down, we arrived at the top of the mountain after 3+ hours of climbing. At a modest 2188m, the mountain gave us the view we had hoped for as it overlooked all the other peaks in the park. We took some pictures and to our great pleasure, we watched as the cloud moved off of our mountain and opened up an incredible view. More people shared their rations with us and took our picture before we headed back down. The way down only took 2.5 hours as we discovered we could use our flat bottomed shoes as skies and hold onto the ropes in a crouched position and simply slide down the most of the mountain paths. It was really fun and only moderately unintelligent.

I'm sure there's more to the story, but the pictures will have to do. If you ever find yourself climbing a mountain, swimming across an ocean, biking across a country, or anything else extreme; remember this phrase inspired by Dui from Bandslam, "I can't go on, i'll go on."

Let the Studying Begin

Well there hasn't been too much going on recently other than classes and one on one's with the Korean students in the GV program. I woke up this morning to about 4 inches of snow after a few days of 50 degrees... apparently Korea isn't that different from Ohio after all. Fortunately its going to be almost 60 this weekend. I'm playing lots of soccer and hanging out with a lot of the GV students which is very cool. Me and two of my roommates climbed a mountain on Saturday, and believe me when I call it a mountain. I'll give a full update on that adventure with pictures later, but I will say now that we were the only people on that mountain wearing tennis shoes, jeans and casual sweatshirts... and it wasn't to our advantage.

We learned the Korean alphabet this week in class so I can now sound out Korean words and spell my name in Korean. I got really excited about it at first until I realized that sounding out a word is still pretty far from having any clue what it means... but hey, its a step in the right direction.

Okay that is really brief, but maybe on Friday or Saturday i'll update in full. Peace

I Didn't Know It Was Edible Either

So you probably thought that everything from my last post was enough for one weekend. I mean, there couldn't possibly be more things to see and weirder things to eat in the same weekend. After all, I have to sleep at some point, right?

Wrong, say hello to Busan, the second largest city in Korea and one of the two destinations we travelled to with the remainder of our weekend. Oh, we also viewed this skyline from a penthouse on the 19th floor of one of the nicer hotels in Busan, no big deal. (More on that later).

The whole trip was centered around visiting a friend of Josh and I named Taeyoung. She was an exchange student in Akron for a year and we got to know her well during her time in Akron and we wanted to visit her in Korea. We left Saturday at noon and went to Gwangju, Taeyoung's home town. It was a 4 hour bus ride, then Taeyoung met us at the bus station and we took a Taxi to her parent's house. Her mom made an incredible meal for us with lots of variety, delicious fruit for dessert, and her homemade blueberry "juice."

Left to Right: Emily (Taeyoung's friend), Weston (Our American Friend), Josh, Mom, Taeyoung, Me

After visiting Taeyoung's family we went out into downtown Gwangju and ate a good meal and went to the "Speakeasy," a bar run by an Irish guy where foreigners gather to drink "the best Guiness in Korea" and listen to local Korean Bands. We watched the Rock Tigers (A Korean Rockabilly band) play a set and then went to bed. The next morning we took off to Busan to experience the popular spots in the city.

Quite possibly the most unique thing we experienced was at the Busan fish market. It was quite as huge as I was expecting, but there was no shortage of unusual fish, popular seafood and other unknown objects from the sea that people apparently eat. Our first meal consisted of fresh cooked eel, which is one of Busan's trademarks. Now you generally expect restaurants to use pre-prepared meat and kitchens to cook the food for you, but not here. We walked into a small tent restaurant big enough for about 20 customers and gathered around a table. As we walked in, we noticed some squirming intestine-like objects and realized that it was eel that had just been skinned. Many of the street vendors actually left plates of skinned eel out front as some sort of sick advertising scheme. PETA South Korea would have a fit if they only knew... or if they existed. Of course I thought it was brilliant and took a pictures of it. 

Before (Nasty / Intestine-like)

After (Delicious meal)

 (Left: typical street restaurant, Right: typical goods for sale)

The eel cooked right in front of us and squirmed for the first few minutes, but then as it cooked and as they chopped it up it got a lot less disgusting. Now the picture of our actual dish is missing some colors from the artsy camera mode, so it actually looked more appetizing than that. There were onions and some peppers and a good sauce with it.

After that meal, we explored for awhile and then went on a mission inspired by our friend Weston. If you thought the eel thing was weird... i'll put it this way, at least the eel was cooked, and dead.

That my friends is Squid. Not grilled squid, not boiled squid, heck not even dead squid. Weston had been talking about his desire to go to Busan and eat live, baby squid, and that is it. Now I pictured tiny little squids about the diameter of a penny, but apparently baby squid are much larger than that. The lady we purchased the squid from took it right out of the tank, chopped off the head, and then just chopped the tentacles into the pieces you see on the plate. If you would like the full effect just click on the picture of the squid to enlarge it and then just imagine every piece on the plate squirming around. That will begin to give you an idea.

Before eating it, we were warned to make sure to chew it well, especially the larger pieces. Why is this you ask? That's because if you eat a large piece without chewing it it could suction itself to your throat and you could choke on it. Comforting, I know. The first bite was awkward, but in all honesty, it was pretty tasty. After the first couple pieces I pursued larger, more lively pieces. When I stuck them in my mouth they would wriggle around and suction themselves to the roof of my mouth and to my tongue. It tickled a little bit, but all in all it was quite a unique experience. We even finished the whole plate (mainly because Weston ate about half of it and the lady kept shoving pieces in our faces).

In case you were wondering, I don't have any more crazy eating stories or pictures, so you can relax and enjoy the rest of the post. The rest of the night was spent at a restaurant, a couple of naribongs and a jinjibong. I may have spelled those wrong in Korenglish, but a naribong is Karaoke room and a jinjibong is a spa, bathhouse, hotel kind of blend. Our first naribong was one we went after dinner, but then as we were on our way to the jinjibong for the night, we got a call from Taeyoung's college professor. It turns out he was in the same hotel that our jinjibong was in and he had apparently reserved a room on the 19th floor for a celebration with some of his students. He really wanted to meet us because Taeyoung was one of his students. We took the elevator up to a room with an insane view of the skyline, platters of fruit and snacks, and a seemingly unlimited supply of beer. We spent a couple hours there singing Karaoke and eating snacks with him and the 10-15 students there and then left after a few toasts. The jinjibong (paid for by the professor) was very cool as well, but since we got their around midnight most of the hot tubs and pools had shut down so we just went to sleep in a large room full of people on small blankets they give you.

(Left: World's Largest Department Store, Right: Breakfast at Starbucks)

That is still only a glance at our experiences in Busan and Gwangju, but I think it highlights the most unique experiences we had. We also saw the world's largest department store and took a bus from the largest bus terminal in Asia. Who knew Korea had those two things?

Field Trip!

Well, we just got back from our first field trip. It feels just like elementary school all over again! Except this trip is probably way cooler and I'm spending less time making paper air planes and throwing rocks... Anyways, we saw as much of Korea in two days as is humanly possible. Thursday we saw an old confusion academy and a temple. Both were rich in history and were very impressive, but the weather didn't exactly help us out. It poured rain on Thursday and was somewhere in the low to mid 50's, then today it rained on and off but was only in the mid 40's. We slept at a cool Korean hotel where the rooms consisted of a large empty room with wood flooring and a bathroom. Apparently beds are out of style while roll out cushions and comforters are in here. My pile of 3 cushions provided a good night sleep but did continue the unfortunate trend of beds that are just soft enough not to be considered the floor. Thank 

goodness I like firm beds! (Bummer for everyone else though)

On the top is the temple we visited on thursday, on the bottom is some lame boy band we saw at the temple... aka me and my roommates. (I still don't know what they meant by "Pop" pose) Clearly I just dropped the ball all together with the posing thing.

We had a couple of tradition meals on the field trip, one of which was a soup whose noodles looked more like disembodied parts of Gumby than actual noodles, but hey, when in rome...

And in case you haven't had this spledid dish yet, the little red "noodle" sticking out is spicy squid and the dark green flakes are seaweed. But, despite my bland, sheltered palette, I ate most of it, and didn't hate it. The noodles were "Buckwheat jelly" and actually tasted a lot like nothing and spicy squid is one of the few side dishes offered with most meals that I like. Weird right?

Some restaurants have you sit on the floor. This hasn't been a one time occurrence. All in all we ate some interesting food, saw some really fascinating temples and historical sights, got some good usage out of our umbrellas, and saw vast quantities of buddha statues, buddha worshiping monks, buddha paintings and buddha souvenirs (No, I didn't buy a buddha t-shirt or the glow-in-the-dark buddha keychain).

Here is a random picture of our group, and yes, those are real monks in the picture. We just happened to catch them off duty grabbing a smoke behind the mens room. Ok so they weren't smoking but they did just get off duty in the temple. We took somewhere in the ballpark of 8 to 45 group photos during the trip. Every other Korean owns a super fancy camera and they take pictures like there's a paycheck coming for it (I'm talking quantity, not always quality). Fortunately I'm not Doc, a tall African American guy in our group who every Korean thinks is a basketball star even though he's only played basketball a few times in his life. On occasion Korean children want to meet him or even get a picture with him, but he handles it like an All Star.

I hope you enjoyed this small depiction of our field trip in Korea. We squeezed a lot of stuff into two days and had a good time doing it. Oh I almost forgot, we watched live in a restaurant as a Korean figure skater won the gold medal today. That was pretty cool. The whole restaurant fell silent when she was skating and went nuts when she took first place. Then they all cheered when the Japanese girl who followed tripped over herself. Too bad the American girl couldn't steal the win right at the end... I would have run for cover.

Love you all, keep on keeping on in Akron, enjoy the 80 inches of snow or whatever you're getting right now, its gonna be 55 with some clouds here tomorrow, peace!

How to Contact me

For anyone who I didn't tell, here is how to contact me. The best method is through e-mail. I am able to check my e-mail frequently and should be able to respond. After that, there is Skype. I sign onto Skype most of the time when I am on the internet, so if you are on feel free to call me on Skype. I can also use Skype to call mobile or landline phones in the U.S. but I cannot receive calls. So if you'd like to talk via phone let me know what time and I will try to work it out. And if all else fails, or if you are old fashioned, you can send me things in the mail! The mail will arrive at the international office on campus so make sure it has my name on it so that they know to contact me when it arrives! You can send regular mail or packages.

Yonsei International Office

Patrick Jackson

International Education Center

Yonsei University at Wonju

234 Maeji, Heungeop, Wonju

Gangwon-do 220-710

Sunny With a High of 60

It is around 10:30am here in Korea on Wednesday. My first roommate moved in to the room yesterday and the other two are expected to move in today. I’ve only been here for 4 days and it already feels like it has been a couple of weeks. We have eaten at a good variety of Korean restaurants, seen a few cities (including Seoul) and purchased a few Korean necessities (My own pair of chopsticks). I am quickly adapting to chopsticks, but not so quickly to Kimchi. I don’t know if it’s the pickled cabbage or the spicy sauce, but I think its fair to say their neither of the two should even exist, especially not together. A lot of the food is delicious though so no need to worry, I’m eating well and a lot because their portions are huge. Next week we start classes so hopefully I’ll begin to learn a decent bit of Korean. My first roommate’s name is Wooseok (Pronounced Whoa-Sock) and he speaks a fair amount of English. We will definitely have to work on it though! Oh and it is currently sunny with a high of 60 for the day.

I'm already learning a lot of lessons about myself and about God. I was originally going to explain what I'm learning right now, but I decided to hold off because I'm still processing a lot! I do hope to share some of the lessons that God is teaching me in the future. Right now I would say I'm learning what it means to focus on becoming the person God desires to make me into rather than trying to control and decide where I am heading with my life. That sounds a little weird, but I genuinely believe that if we focus on loving God and others with everything we have, that he will open doors and lead us where he wants us to go. Our responsibility be people of faith and love, and from there God will continue to provide the rest of the details.

Thanks for being awesome and caring about me, it means a lot. I’m excited to be in Korea and I hope you are excited about being where you are.

- Patrick

P.S. Please be praying for the people of Haiti as well as the people helping there. Don’t forget about them, they had two more 4.0+ aftershocks this week and the rainy season is on the way!

P.S.S. Pictures are coming, but I realized I need to take some before I can post any.

Excuses

So I was all prepared to sit down and give a nice lengthy blog entry with pictures and all, but unfortunately I had to call the bank to straighten out issues with my debit card first. Long story short it took a lot longer than I had planned and now its midnight here so i'm going to sleep instead. I love you all, I'm loving Korea but I definitely miss my friends back home. Have a good Monday!

Live from Seoul

An nyoung! (Hello),

We (Patrick, Josh and Rachel) are currently sitting in the airport in Seoul, South Korea. We made it in this morning at 6:30am Korean time, which is 4:30pm your time. We effectively skipped Friday on our flight in because we left at midnight Thursday night, flew for 13 hours, and arrived in Seoul at 6:30am today, Saturday... actually as you read this it might still be Friday for you, weird. We're all a bit out of sync, but the flight was super nice and we all got some decent sleep on it. Our bus leaves the airport at 9:10 am (7:10pm for you) for Wonju. I'm only going to do time conversions for you today, after this you have to do the math yourself. The airport is really nice and puts American airports to shame. Hopefully today we will get some chill time when we get to the school and I can give you a more detailed post. Thanks for all your love and support, its cool to know people are interested on keeping up with our adventures! Peace out!

P.S. Whenever I am online I will sign into Skype. My username is "Patrickwj2" so add me as a contact and chat with me if you're on! If you don't have Skype get it because it is free.

First Things First... Hollywood Blvd.

A quick update,

We landed at LAX International Airport at 10:55 am pst, it was in the upper 60's today and partly sunny. Our flight leaves tonight at 12:30 am (In case you don't feel like doing the math that is in fact a 13 hour layover), so we are relaxing in a hotel room for a little while before we head back to the airport. We got a great deal on a room so we were able to leave our luggage in the room and head out to see Hollywood during the day. We walked a long stretch of Hollywood Blvd., saw the sights but not any stars. We made sure to take some pictures, maybe i'll throw one up later. Our flight to Seoul is 14 hours... suck! I'll probably update when we get to the school on Saturday, peace,

- Patrick