Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

Yesterday I posted lovely, happy photos from the overnight retreat with the junior class. Today, I am not feeling so lovely and happy. My friends who have lived overseas told me to expect waves of emotion during the first weeks, months, and even the first year. Today is a wave trough--any of my former students could tell you that the trough is the low part of the wave. It has been raining nearly nonstop for the last week. All of you from the great Northwest would probably agree that rain is par for the course for us, however, this is not just a steady stream of Oregon-esque rain. This is a consistent downpour--the kind that soaks through your shoes, socks, pants, and anything else exposed. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love a good storm. I also love having the opportunity to walk outside without getting wet.

Today Kristen and I decided we would make an early morning trip to Costco to stock up on food items with our recently delivered paycheck. When we headed down the hill at 8:15am, it was raining. The walk to the bus stop is approximately 4 blocks and by the time we caught the bus I was still moderately dry. I was a bit nervous to take the bus without a veteran foreigner with me, but we hopped aboard the number 7612 (or something like that) and about twenty minutes later we were less than 100 yards from Costco. Hallelujah! I grabbed a cart and got down to the business of filling my cart. Less than an hour later we had checked out and were ready to tackle the second leg of our journey which involved taking a taxi back to SFS. Since we've now done this many times, we thought "No problem." This is the part where God has started to teach me one of many lessons to come I'm sure. Just when I start to feel comfortable and confident, I learn that I really don't know what the heck I'm doing and it forces me to rely on Him more.

It took a near miracle to find a taxi driver willing to transport us and our purchases back to Yonhi Dong. In the interim, I found myself getting quite wet again. Blasted! Despite all of my prayers for the rain to break, my will did not prevail. God must have decided I needed yet another reality check. I can no longer hop in my car, drive to Fred Meyer, stock up on anything my heart desires, and drive home in less than an hour. Even the simplest tasks like grocery shopping take much longer than you anticipate and involve a great deal of planning and effort. As easy as it is to ignore up here on the hill, I am a foreigner in a foreign land.

After dragging my bags into the apartment I had to remove nearly every piece of exposed clothing before I could start the task of putting anything away. At this point I am tired, frustrated, and cranky. I am also stressed when I begin considering all of the things on my calendar this week. Something needed to be done or I was going to revert to crawling back in bed and pulling the blanket over my head. So, I decided to skip tonight's new teacher/penpal dinner in favor of some alone time to tidy up, work on my plans for this week, and start preparing for back to school night. I've discovered I can't eat much Korean food, so aside from the fellowship with the new people, I'm not missing much. See folks--moving to a foreign country is not fabulous all of the time. Sometimes it's just plain difficult! Okay, I'm done complaining:). Who knows what tomorrow has in store for me--perhaps God is just waiting for the perfect time to show us a beautiful sunny day! Here's hoping!