Here are pictures of our first co-op experience at Global Mission Church. The Sumralls did the co-op for us, but we introduced the family and Boni spoke to the parents on planning. This was a good day, (and the only day), of experience we had before the first co-op on our own. The big white building pictured is Global Mission Church that we are blessed to be working with. Adjoining the church is "2001", a huge department stored owned by Christians who allow Global to use their parking on Sunday as they are closed.

This is the first field trip we had as a group. We went to downtown Seoul, the capital of South Korea. We toured the capital building and learned how government works in South Korea. In 1949, American delegates came over and met with Korean leaders to give advice on a government system. Thus, it is a strikingly similar system to that of the US.

Are you kidding me??

Here is an open house we had for everyone involved in the home school group here. We had a great time with lots of traditional Korean food. Unlike in the United States, people make a habit of taking their shoes off before entering the house. We had a shoe count of 90 pairs for the party.

Being on the outskirts of the city, we back up to the mountains. It is wonderful to walk through the back roads behind our apartment and see the rolling rice fields and mountains.

One of the biggest holidays in Korea was the first week of October. It is their version of Thanksgiving. The day after the holiday, friends came over to our house to celebrate with a traditional party of food and games. Everyone participated in making a famous food called dok. It is made of ground rice powder, beaten into patties, and then filled with various fillings. The last picture shows the pot it was boiled in; they use fresh pine needles while boiling.

We had a wonderful first co-op at Global Mission. The day started with an English class, a character lesson in truthfulness, and a unit study on Ancient Greece and the Trojan horse for the kindergarteners. For lunch, Global Mission had an amazing welcome lunch for our family and all the homeschoolers. It was quite elaborate including a beautiful cake and a huge variety of food. Three pastors from Global Mission were at the lunch.

Seoul, Korea is filled with impressive skyscrapers lining the horizon.

Always in search of cheaper food (it's twice as much here compared to the US), Tim, Boni, Catie, and Gabe went to a fresh food market called Garak. It is not too far from where we live and is famous for many varieties of food such as fruits and vegetables, fish, octopus, squid, eel, and crawfish. We are missionaries, but with so many delicious varieties, at least we eat well. Hope your mouths are not watering too badly especially after these close-ups of our selections. In fact, the food is so fresh, there are times when Judah walked into a market or restaurant and thought he had entered a pet shop.

Koreans love soccer which is nice since we happen to enjoy it ourselves. Every Saturday morning, many home schoolers gather for soccer drills and a game. This has been great exercise for the family, and we also enjoy the good fellowship with the other families. Notice the flexibility of Judah's legs. Gabe was kind enough to take the flattering pics.

This month, our field trip included digging sweet potatoes, visiting a famous empress' birthplace, and attending a Korean rice festival. Anything as country as digging potatoes in a field is not common for Korean city people. It was good to have the kids digging in the dirt and enjoying the outdoors.

Here is Empress Myeongseong's house. We heard the story of the famous empress and how she was a great leader to the Korean people, always fighting for their independence. Her life was sadly ended when she was assassinated by the Japanese.

The rice festival was unique, as are many things here. We played games with rice, made crafts with rice, and used tools to beat rice from the stalk. Timothy and Susanna were dragged into a big dance with lots of long banners and loud, yelling people. They don't know what they were doing but were likely worshipping Buddha. Never thought those two would be so pagan? Here's proof.

Susanna had quite the mask.

In case you wanted to see Timothy and Boni in traditional clothes of an emperor and an empress.