Back in the States!

I know I haven't written a blog update in a little while and I still have several things to write about. But, the reason for not having time to write is because Jon and I were packing, cleaning, and getting ready to leave Korea. So, I'd say this is a pretty good excuse for not having any recent blog updates, right?
Needless to say, I still want to write about our last two trips; 1. Japan 2. DMZ. So, hopefully I will be able to do this soon. What makes it a little more complicated is that my good ol' Mac decided to kick the bucket and I'm awaiting the arrival of my new baby Mac. Hopefully, I will be able to update within the next week or so. Also, just because we are back from Korea doesn't mean we won't be blogging anymore, we plan to keep The Enger Cafe open for business. So, keep a lookout for some new posts by us!
--Thank you for all your prayers for us during the last year and during our crazy transition home. We know that many of you were praying and thinking about us and it has really helped. We still have a lot of things that we are praying for (housing, jobs, etc.) and know that God is faithful and will take care of us and provide for us. Oh, one last thing, Molly's had a great transition and great travel from across the seas. I was so proud of the little baby. She is having such a fun time running around the yard as well as the house--quite a difference when compared to our little one room home. We are both very happy that we brought her back with us, I couldn't imagine her in Korea; she is just so happy here. :)
Thank you again for your prayers and hopefully I can update you with more in a little bit!
--Anika

My Little GTi's.

This semester, I started teaching a GTiC1A class. This is my first GTi class since being at POLY. GTi means gifted and talented kindergarten, and the "1" means they are on a 1st grade level in Korean school. Anyways, I love the little ones, but not necessarily in such a structured classroom setting because they don't always do the best in that setting. But, I try to make it fun and interesting regardless. I have a lot of fun students in there that just crack me up; I seem to have daily laughter fits from something someone did or said. The picture and video below shows a couple of my GTi students.

This is a picture of Lavender and Dennis. Both students had accidents around the same time and also happened to be sitting next to each other. Lavender fell off her mother's bed and smacked the bridge of her nose on the nightstand. Dennis fell off his bike and basically, his face broke his fall. His right eye was pretty swollen for a couple of days. Poor little things.


This student is one of my favorite students, David. I have never had a funnier and quirky student than David. His little laugh and chunky cheeks get me every time. He'll just give me his cute smirk in class and we'll both be laughing. But, I also just love the way his little voice is and his uniform in the video; what a cutie!



This last video is a speech by Emma. Emma has quite the attitude and usually likes to share it with me everyday. Regardless, she is a funny student and has a personable little lisp or something. Also, check out her cool clothes, I wish I could have dressed like that--well, it's possible that I did...In this video, Emma has her hair in braids, but usually, they are wrapped in brightly-colored leather ties and remind me of something from Pocahontas, which also gives me a little laugh every day.

The Rapture....Or Modern Art??

A few weekends ago, Jon and I went on a crazy adventure in search of T.G.I.F. with Michael and Sarah. We walked all over these back alleys and couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, we asked around and found a phone store that helped us out. After having the taxi driver on the phone being directed by T.G.I.F., we arrived! When we stepped out of the taxi, this was the site that we saw...

Statues staring up at the sky...


and other statues walking up a pole towards the sky.
I really didn't know what to think or what to say, but to just take a picture.

Also on this adventure, we saw an "Old Western" shop with some random cowboy apparel and this t-shirt. It goes to show that they have a lot of bitter roots towards the Japanese, but to even show it in English, I thought was odd. It's really unfortunate about the hatred, even my very young students talk about their hatred towards Japan. Maybe the T-shirt is American because it's English, I don't know. So, maybe we also need to forgive our bad history, but either way, not a great shirt. The history between the two countries is very bad, but I think that if they were to apologize, accept, and forgive, there could be some major progress and growth between the countries and as they work together in the world. I hope to see the relations between Korea and Japan get better, so better things can come from it all.

A Saturday at Insadong

Insadong is a pretty tourist area, but many Koreans go there because it is quite artsy. But, despite it being touristy, it is probably one of my favorite places to spend the day. There are alleys of tea houses and restaurants, there are always fun activities happening, and lots of great stuff to buy! Last Saturday, Jon and I went to Insadong with another teacher friend, Betsy. We did some shopping before we are coming home, but we also got to go to a great teahouse-I only wish I had discovered this teahouse 11 months ago...

Here's some proof of our Insadong trip! Don't you wish you could come?

A view from our seats on the floor. The teahouse was filled with various
clay pots and field tools. Oh, and, there were bird cages all over with little
finches in them. It was adorable!

Our absolutely amazing cinnamon tea. It's cold tea, so you can see the
shaved ice in it. The treats are traditional Korean food, made of course with rice.

Yum!--It was floor seating, so Jon and I were crammed close at a
table that was about 18 inches long.

Little girl in the traditional Korean Hanbok.

A whole lot of herbs and parts of trees??? I thought of my Sasta when
I saw this and how she would have carried bags of this home.

Korean Starbucks (pronunciation: su-tah-buck-su copy)

Street food: corn, roasted chestnuts, whole smoked squid,
octopus tentacles, and fried squid.