Things aren't always as they seem

so we just looked a little closer at our puppy that our boss told us was a girl....NOPE! After "looking closer" Brian found a pair of undecended testicles! He thought it was a tumor at first, b/c everyone was telling us it was a girl..not after what we've found..i don't think! So now we have to figure out what to name HIM!


We went to a korean restaurant that we found this weekend...they are really friendly and i think we might make it a "regular" spot for us...it's really close to where we live and the food is awesome! Veggies here are all different from them over there. One day i'll take a picture of the food we get and post them.

For now we leave you with "Bath Day with dog" wet puppies are the cutiest. He's wearing himslef out with brian right now..we're working on not nipping at us..only the toys!
Love
Manda

benadryl you're my best friend!

So yeah...maybe i am really alergic to dogs! But i can't give her up now!! so...it only hits me really bad at night...one benadryl seems to handle it ok!
Nohting much excitings been going on lately..its raining, and brian had to leave early for parent meetings, but maybe that means he'll come home early. Probably not though..sad for me..But on friday i'm going to the culture center, and might start teaching once a week for them..it'd be extra money for me and something to do.
We found a mexican taco and grill yesterday while we were walking around Samsung plaza with kim. We're excited to try it someday! I miss Los Portales...though i doubt this will even compare to the greasy cheezy goodness that is los.
You know what i like about korean food...i've said this before..but it looks so good! Most of the menus are pictures so you just point to what you want..and it's not like mc'ds pictures either..The food you get Looks EXACTLY like the picture you point at. I think it's awesomeness..
well, since it's rainy...i might go back to sleep..always fun to sleep through a rainy day!
much love to all
Manda

Puppy

Today Brian's boss gave us a puppy! She is soo cute, and we don't have to pay anything for her (which is a bonus)! They bought her for their 3 year old daughter (who by the way they barely have enough time to spend with--i don't know how they thought they were going to have a puppy). They realized that they couldn't handle it and Grace (the little girl) kept ripping it's arms out of its sockets saying "hurray! hurray!" She wanted to dog to cheer...but this puppy was terrified! Brian and I haven't decided what to call her yet..maybe Spunky after the dog in Rockos modern life. Anyway this dog is really cool..paws at you when it has to go (you know), doesn't bark much yet, and kinda just sits and watches you. When i took her outside she just follows right at my heal..i worry i'll kick her in the jaw if i'm not careful! So i'm really excited b/c i have company and a project while brian's gone..the only thing is we have to bring it up to school for Grace to see once a week. I'm sure this will turn into the puppys most agonizing day! But anyway...
We went grocery shopping today! Brian loves grocery shopping more than anything else we've done. For him it's like going to a museum or an amusement park...there's sooo much for him to see! Me...there's so many people there at all times of the day, i just want to get in and get out as fast as possible... He'd be happy if I just dropped him off and he could wonder the isles of kimchi and live squid.
Hope all is well with all of you!
Much love
Manda

COEX

Yesterday Brian had off so after laying around for a considerable long time, he and I decided to go out to this big mall, COEX. We took a 30 minute subway ride into the city, and found an amazingly huge mall. Actually...at first we weren't really impressed...it just seemed like a regular mall to us, but as we started roaming around we realized we were wrong! There's an iceskating rink, to arcades (big arcades) Huge movie theater, convention centers, an aquarium, and so many stores it was hard for us not to loose eachother. Especially me, I like to take off at a moments notice through a little worm hole I can see in the crowd! Brian often gets left behind. I find it quite funny! However, he does not.
We had lunch there, I had an omelet burger. And Brian had something like super spicy Raman. We walked around for about 3 hours and didn't even go into any stores. We just looked! *well we did go into the Apple store :). I'm trying to convince Brian that's what he needs next! (*But don't' worry mom and dad we won't be buying one while were over here..Gosh!!*) :-D
We have noticed here that people do everything to the best of their ability...Aesthetically being a big one. Food presentation is important, everything must look beautiful before it's eaten. This is seen from some of the deserts (pictured below!) Even ice cream cakes from Baskin Robbins look this professional! Bakeries are everywhere and the bread is delicious! Brian brought home some the other night for french toast and it didn't even need syrup it was so sweet!
We stayed in today instead of going to church...our house is a mess!!! We don't' have a rack to dry our clothes yet so I kinda throw the wet clothes over tables and open cabinet drawers to dry. So even if the house isn't messy it looks like a closet exploded on laundry days!! But we did get our dresser 2 days ago which i'm trying to get Brian to help me move so we can start ACTUALLY moving in! I've put my foot down and it must be done before bed TONIGHT!!!
We love you all so much. Billy Cerveny and Charla Lampley were married yesterday (I cried b/c we couldn't be there)! But we are soo happy for them!
Love you all so,
Amanda

Eating out

We got adventurous the other night and went walking in our neighborhood looking for a restaurant. The first one we went into the cheapest thing on the menu was 20,000 W (which is $20 US) so we continued on our way down the street. We went down a little side street to this restaurant that had caught our attention before..it looked expensive but we tried it anyway. Most of the restaurants here have pictures so you can just point to what you want b/c we can't understand Korean this is valuable to us. This menu wasn't like that but the prices were about 8,500 (8.50 basically you just move the decimal towhere the comma is) so we thought we could afford to split somehting. Well we just pointed to something and hoped we hadn't
ordered Dog. We sat on the floor and they brought hot coals and put it into a built in grill in the table and brought us meat that they cut up with a scissors instead of a knife, and they also brought about 20 side dishes of so much stuff...whole garlic cloves, sliced garlic, kimchi (of course) a chilli paste, most of it i didn't like but there was an onion dip thing that i enjoyed. So we grilled our own meat and made lettuce wraps out of them It was great. Sooo...we get up to pay and we owe 17,000!!! Apparently the price was Per Person rather than for what we ordered!!! That's alot of money for us right now, so we're going to have to be careful for the rest of the week! But we have everythign budgeted weekly, so cereal and rice it is til Sunday!!! ;) not that bad!

I'm Set!

Today we finally got our phone hooked up and internet hooked up at our apt! I dont ever need to leave our little apartment again!! j/k :) but i am so happy now that i can call people and email easier than going to a public PC Bong or up to brians work all day long!!! I don't know how he stays up there all day! Basically he's killin time for the next 2 months. and giving maybe one private lesson a day (one hour). The only day he teaches is Friday. He enjoyed his classes but i'll let him talk about those if he wants to.
I think the school is wanting me to get involved with something they do called coaching. It seems to be basicaly just listening and giving advice. I don't really get it and it seems strange, so i don't htink i'll do it. PLUS they didn't want to pay for my ticket here so i don't feel an obligation to work for them. They heard that i was wanting to do some private teaching and they're ok with it but i think they want me to be making money for them if i'm making money...Which i dont' really appreciate for the aforementioned lack of funds for my flight.
Anyway...maybe tomorrow i can go exploring a little, I had to stay in all day waiting for the phone guy who would come before noon and the internet guy who would come after one! Pretty much takes up my entire day!! But Brian's on his way home now so LATES!!!
Manda

ADDRESS

Our mailing address as we know of right now is the schools..

Global Leadership Academy/ NCD
C/O brian Larsen Wells
6F Geumgang Bldg., 382-7 Yatapdong, Bundanggu, Seongnam City, Gyeonggido

Sunday

so we went to that same church yesterday. We took a bus instead of driving (parking) Everything went pretty smootly except for Brian thinking we don't pay til we get off, so the bus driver yelled at us for not paying. Church was good...we met this awesome couple about 50yrs old or so....the husband is an international consultant for samsung. We were walking back to the bus stop and they recognized us from church and asked us to lunch..we went to TGI Fridays which was nice for me (western food), and hung out for about 2 hours. Dennis and Janine are super nice people. Janine and i are going to go to the Red Cross on Thursday and see what kind of volunteer opportunities are available. Then we will be able to shop at the Army Base here...which will be nice. We took our first subway ride yesterday too. At one stop an old man handed brian a handful of candies and told him to pass them around! At first i thought he was handing him his trash! We were confused but we just passed em around and everyone took some. If that had happened anywhere in the US! No body in their right mind would take candy from some strange man on the subway...but everyone just said thanks and had some. Friendly people..Koreans. Brian was home all of the weekend (no parent meetings or anything) so needless to say the house is mess...he's not too fond of doing work on his days off! So i have to go home and get some of that done! But before i go...here are some pictures!!! Finally got my camera working! Adios...

Octopus..you pick your food..they kill it an cook it!

City

Brian loving his noodles!

View outside our apt.

Unpacking our Apt

Care Package list and more!

Hello to all.
And how is everyone this fine morning/afternoon evening?
We're doing pretty good
It's funny. We get alot of stares, which we were warned about. especially I get alot of stares from men! *I don't think asian women are as well endowed as yours truely! Whooops! Brian says he has the "most stacked woman in Asia!!!" Anyway enough of that!

A lot of people have been emailing asking us if they can send anything for us...Things that would be nice (*we are so blessed that people have asked!*):::

Books/Biblestudies in English...We ahven't been able to find an english bookstore (New Harry Potter..came out after we left or anything that would take a while to read!)
Salt and Pepper
Toothpaste..their stuff is different here (armanhammer with whitening/ colgate)
Gum
M&Ms
Peanut Butter
Soups...vegi beef, chicken noodle, (western soups)
DVD's..asian dvds wont' play in our player something about regions
Or really anything that is from home..I can't really think of anything else right now! Feeling at home is a big deal for us right now!!
You can send them to
NCD/ Global Leadership Academy
Brian Larsen Wells
6F Geumgang Bldg., 382-7 Yatapdong, Bundanggu, Seongnam City, Gyeonggido

Eating here is really cheap..if you get the right stuff...korean food...which i'm taking a liking to slowly. there are a few things i like but mostly it's all really spicy. Brian really likes it though. I think i've already lost about 8=10 lbs though since we got here...Brian said he can really tell a difference. I've been eating alot of Corn Flakes. :)
The people are really friendly and we got airconditioning the other day. Most peopel don't have ac here...but our boss got it for us. It seems that Koreans do things really out of order though..we dont' have a phone yet..but they did install AC.
I can't wait til we get our first pay check...i want to get some post cards and send them and also some cute clothes...but until then we're on a STRICT budget!

Well, Brians getting antsy and wants to leave the cafe we're at so i better wrap it up!
Much love to all!!!
Manda

shopping

Everyday gets a little better. We're getting used to our surroundings slowly. We got our stove top yesterday. so i think Brian and I are going to try to cook Pancakes tongiht which i am very excited about!
I've gotten so many wonderful emails from our chruch home. It is so nice to know you all are thinking about us. for only knowing eachother for such a short time. It is amazing to me how much love and acceptance we feel from all of you!
Today Brian dropped me off before he went to work down at a department store, and i found an awesome cafe with free internet use and a great Raspberry Mocha. I think this might become a regular spot for me. After that i went shopping...well shopping for looking..not for buying. Until we get our first paycheck we have to be very careful and only get the "basics!" But there are so many cute clothes here, a little on the small side but maybe with all this rice eating i'll be able to fit into them in a couple months but for now i will satisfy my buying urges by getting little things for my sister!
Something funny. In the store every employee has a station and if you stop at all at one of them they come up to you immediately and will follow you the whole time until you leave. As an american this makes me just want to leave quickly but i think in this culture it's very expected of a sales person. But it's a little intimidating and "pushy"
Well i'm going home to get some straitening done. Our Apt is very small and because there's no clothes driers only washers our wet laundry is scattered about our bedroom/living room/diningroom with a fan on it. I'm still trying to find ways to make it look and feel homey. I'm having a hard time. We'll see what i can come up with. Every day we've been so tired (jet lag) we've been going to bed really early, and haven't done much but watch DVDS. In a culture where we feel very overwhelmed it's nice to have our "little america" to retreat to.
Bye for now...Thanks for all the emails it makes me so happy!
Amanda

just incase you forget what we look like!

An engagement photo

Here!

7.10.05

We’re here...safe and sound! The trip was long, and hard. However, durring our 5 hour layover in Chicago we met a very friendly guy who was from Korea. He talked to us for hours! And offered us his help if we ever needed it while we were here. It is said that Koreans are very friendly and our first encounter confirmed this solidly.
The trip from Chicago to Tokyo was so long and as luck would have it a group of Middle Schoolers/Highschoolers from Japan were traveling back on the same flight. Surely we would have a seat far from them and would be able to catch some zzz’s but no! We were directly behind the group playing cards and talking THE WHOLE FLIGHT!!! 12 hours! I once got up to walk around the plane and wandered up to the other coach cabin. It was literally the difference of night and day. No windows open, very quiet, people sleeping, the occasional reader. We were not so fortunate. Brian and i think of springing for business class on the flight home..if it’s not too expensive. The leg room and quiet would be worth it to us!
We were met at the airport by the other American teacher, Kimberly Fields. She is AWESOME!!! She reminds me a lot of my cousin, Kristina.
Kim helped us with our bags, got us bus tickets brought us to our apartment and helped us get settled. She is going to be a big blessing to us, and especially me to have another girl around who is easy to get along with. She’s a musician (singer), and just an energetic, fun girl.
When we first got to our apartment it was dark and rainy and very depressing. Brian and I both were wanting to hop the first plane home, but I knew it would be better once it was daylight, and not raining. And, i was right. We felt much better about it in the morning.
We had our first experience in a Korean grocery and that was something. Fresh squid, bins and bins of garlic (a national food), seaweed everywhere (like giant fruit roolups), miniture crab dishes, and HUGE crabs. In the parking garage there are directors on every level that bow and point you on your way down doing something i equated to “spirit fingers.” Kim said it was their way of showing respect and appreciation for visiting thier store.
Well, we’re off to church with Kim. We hope all of you are well and miss everyone so much already but Brian and I are excited to spend time together just with eachother and also with the Lord. Please be praying for us as we are over here. We love you all very much!
--Amanda Larsen Wells

The Home Stretch

So here we are...moving day has come and gone without too many snags. I (amanda) did hurt my back really bad and have been poppin the advil like crazy, and thank God for Ben Gay IcyHot sticky-pad-things.
So now it's less than a week and i think it's starting to become a reality for people close to us. Even me (imagine that). Yesterday i started tearing up while we were at Longhorn with some friends of ours. I was thinking about dad's laugh that kinda starts as a laugh and ends in out of control hacking, basically i was thinking about all those "unique to dad" moments. I'm sure gonna miss sittin on the couch watching America's Funniest Videos (AFV!) while Brian and Mom Cook dinner. I wonder if there'll be a Korean Funniest Videos?> hmmmm...

We fly out of Nashville on the 7th of July at 6:30 to go to Chicago where we have a 5 hour layover til 1:10. Then it's off to Japan...Flight lasts 13 hours. We get into Tokyo at about 6pm Then it's Seoul by 9:00pm friday night(seoul is about 14 hours ahead of us so we'll be getting there good-ole-Tennessee time at 7:00am Friday Morning. )

Anyway our last breakfast cooked by mom is ready so i MUST go!!
Much love to all!!