Matthew the Chef (and other news...)

After my post on all my cooking, I thought it was only right and fair if I talked about Matthew's cooking.

While at times....okay well....a lot of the time Matthew is funny and goofy. He's a blast to be around and we have great times together. This year has taught us a lot about our relationship and now I know I'll never get sick of being with him, because we're together almost 24/7 and I'm still madly in love.

Okay, back to my point! He is a fun and goofy guy but he also knows how to cook! This has been great for me, especially this term with our new schedules. Matthew has been making most of our lunches for this term and they've been delicious!

Here is one example: Taco Bowl. We have haystack and burritos but he wanted to try something different so using a metal steamer in our oven he form the bowl with our burrito shells and then put all the ingredient inside! It was yummy and a different treat!

Besides regular meals, he also is the smoothie king.

As I said in my other post we've been buying more fruit to keep up with our new fruit smoothie addiction. At E-Mart the last time we went we saw these lovely oranges.

California Oranges!! Produce of USA. We just had to have a picture, but they were really expensive so we didn't buy any. It was still great to see.

Strawberries have finally become reasonably prices so we've had those a lot and I've loved it. They're still not cheap-cheap, but our fruit lady always give us the best bunch and best pricing.

Here's a freshly washed and ready to eat strawberry! God's work is beautiful isn't it?

But Matthew is more than just a great cook, he's been a blessing to me and others spiritually while he's been here. Each term a teacher gives a vespers talk and then we have afterglow time to discuss questions and the topic that was spoken on.

(Matthew speaking for vespers)

(A group at afterglow)

It's a challenge to give a impacting spiritual message and yet make it in simple English. He's done a great job though and the students really respect him and enjoy his classes. When I get students of his, I'm always worried that I won't be as fun or interesting as he is. After all, who can make jokes like Matthew?

Matthew's jokes are famous with his friends, but he has found that the language barrier creates some difficulties. However, he has not give up! Instead he strives to understand their culture and humor and press forward with his jokes!

He was a speaker for Mission Day last term. Mission Day is like a week of prayer in one day. A speaker comes and speaks for all the adult classes at every hour we have adult classes. The speaker ends up saying the same things six or seven times.

This is a video clip of part of his talk. I want you to notice that even though there is a translator the students laugh at Matthew's jokes before they are translated!

So, as you can hear and see, Matthew's joke ability has carried forward and been embraced by all cultures.

As teachers, and especially as speakers we try our best to look professional. Upon our arrival in Korea we noticed some distinct differences in what was...umm.."professional". The following pictures have not been edited in any way and I encourage you to enlarge them for detail.

Not only are the men encouraged to wear pink but even professional business men can be seen with pastel-sequin-sparkle-laden ties. It's something else... Even beyond ties though are the suits.

This is our pastor after a Sabbath sermon. We wish this picture did justice to the color of the suit. Do you see it? It's...silver. Shiny silver.

So even though we want to learn about Korean culture and embrace it, we have decided that some parts are left unembraced. No matter how much I enjoy the color purple I did not want to see Matthew in the flower-lavender-sparkling tie pictured above.

But we are not always worried how we might adjust culturally, sometimes we are made to adjust. Now some of you may have compost piles at your home. And that's fine. But here we call it: food trash. And that is exactly what it is. Any food you didn't eat is to be put in a separate trash bag and put in a separate location.

The following video of of my wonderful husband being my trash hero. This was taken a few months back during our snowy season. I had to upload it on facebook because it was too long for blogger so here it is.

That was back in December and we still have yet to figure out the trash system. Do we need special bags? Are certain days for certain types of trash? Know the first one is true and the second is supposed to be true, but the special trash bags are too expensive to buy and we can't ever figure out the days.

So, we still have not figured it out. So this is how we put out our trash.

As quickly as possible with as little people around as possible. =)

But Matthew is our trash man and does his duty faithfully. In order to make you fully understand the duty it is, I have posted the following videos.

The Steps to Food Trash:

I hope that you have a better appreciation for Matthew's trash duty, and you now understand why he is my trash hero!

Matthew's skills have been broadened beyond just cooking, dressing well, and trash duty. He is also an interpreter! This is a video from the Philippines back in the fall.

Going to Korea seemed like such an adventure when we left America and it has been. We have grown and stretched, parts of us have also wilted and died. I have been blessed beyond measure to be with Matthew. He has encouraged and strengthened me. He is a man of God and a man from God to me.

Ecclesiastes chapter four speaks of relationships like this.

"Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

No matter what the relationship is: husband-wife, sister-brother, grandparents-grandchildren, friend-friend, parent-child...they are all enriched and infinitely better because our a shared relationship with God.

I have been blessed.