Dear Friends,
As we reflect on another adventurous year and welcome the new one, I want to share my heart with you all. The biggest change that happened in 2022 was that our family moved back to Seoul, where both myself and my wife was born. Here’s an update on our household:
San
San changed his hairstyle (it got longer) as he moved back to Seoul, Korea. He cherished his weekly Sunday morning 6am soccer game. He enjoyed hot spicy soup almost daily (a typical go-to food for older Korean men) and didn’t mind riding the subway every day. He started working out again (even though it’s no more than 30 minutes per exercise) in a gym at his apartment, and he loved the not-too-infrequent (typically once a week) social gatherings with his friends. Overall, he became much more content and happy after returning to his motherland.
In 2023, San wants to pick up more sports (perhaps indoor tennis or crossfit), spend more time with his family, occasionally visit his brother’s pub for a drink, and spend more time with his aging parents. He also looks forward to serving his local church as a Sunday school teacher
Min
Min was surprised by her new lifestyle in Seoul- Coupang delivers fresh food overnight (orders at midnight and delivers to your door by 6am) and all kinds of food are delivered in 30 minutes with less than $3 delivery fee including tips. Thanks to all the convenience a big city provides, she occasionally worked out at a gym in her apartment, went out for a date with San, and caught up with her old friends. She deeply missed her parents and brother, which is the biggest downside of moving to Korea, but she finds joy and meaning from loving and caring for other family members including San’s parents, brother-in-law’s family, and her extended relatives
In 2023, she will finally have her own social IDs, which will enable her to fully enjoy Korea. She looks forward to finishing her master’s degree and working part-time at her children’s school. She is also excited to meet new small-group members and students from her local church.
Haru
She became much more emotionally stable after moving to Korea. She seemed to be quite popular at school. She experienced cold winter for the first time- snow, ice-skating, and hot-spring. She can now read and write both Korean and English freely, and often read Cookie-Run comic books. Drawing remained to be her favorite activity and she started learning the piano. She didn’t like when her dad picks her up after piano practice by calling “HARU~~~” with a loud voice, especially because there’s a cute boy at her piano practice. She felt very proud when she finally mastered coming back home for herself from outside
In 2023, Haru looks forward to another adventurous year- new friends, new learnings, new hobbies, and more.
Hayul
Hayul is increasingly showing his temperament and skills as a businessman. He learned what it means to save money, and now he has saved over $300 from his pocket money. His neighborhood friends disappeared and he also no longer can jump around the house because of the noise issue, so he often unleashes his energy by punching his younger brother and dad. Thankfully, he found a better outlet for his energy, which is Taekwondo — he now holds a yellow belt and his legs go up very high. He fell in love with the mobile Pokemon game on his father’s cell phone, and he does a relatively good job of only playing one game at a time. And when it comes to building something, he surprised his mom and dad by showing his great talent. The playful face of him when playing games is still the best in our family. Ha-yul missed his friends in America a lot to this date.
In 2023, both mom and dad support and cheer for Ha-yul, who will grow further by making more friends and radiating his own energy to the fullest.
Haim
Haim: Haim started going to a daycare center and was rarely hospitalized this year — his health improved a lot. He learned all kinds of words following his older brother and sister and became a three-year-old who talks a lot. He is the cutie of our house who fascinates all the adults he meets with his loveliness, talking about this and that without hesitation no matter who he meets. Despite getting beaten by his older brother, harassing his older sister, being chased by his father, and whining at his mother, Haim grew up significantly this year. His allergy got better little by little, so he ate a piece of chocolate this year. He also started an art class in front of the house, and boy, he started painting all the walls at home as well.
In 2023, Haim plans to grow bigger by eating more food he has never tried before, making friends at daycare center, and possibly going to kindergarten. It is a great joy and blessing for our family to watch and experience Haim’s love energy reaching more people and exploding.
