Questions you always wanted to ask, part III
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Oh, good, chainedHis, I didn't want to start calling you backinthechaingang 
This is actually an alternative meaning.
Me, either, completely, I just said it But, I mean, what is your world like now, are you wanting to be in the oilfield, go to the Bakken or Permian Basin and be a core driller or ???
It's a cool name like gracethrupouringrain says, much better than 'chaingang,' but, yeah, what about your pursuits in life, what is the pearl you're going after in the world at your young age, soldier ?
But, I mean, what is your world like now, are you wanting to be in the oilfield, go to the Bakken or Permian Basin and be a core driller or ??? It's a cool name like gracethrupouringrain says, much better than 'chaingang,' but, yeah, what about your pursuits in life, what is the pearl you're going after in the world at your young age, soldier ?
To be honest I've just have had a long fascination with equipment and industry but haven't thought that much about oilfields. The only time I really want to be in an oilfield is when I see an abandoned drilling platform on TV and think it would be awesome to go out in a boat and have a picnic and/or paintball battle up there. Maybe even stay for a week or two and declare your independence from the rest of the world, then sulk back to civilization when the tomato plants die and you run out of paintballs.
But as far as pursuits in life, if you'd asked me that every six months for the last 22 years I would have given you a different answer. But now... just trying to follow Jesus
and do as he leads. It may not lead to a life that would impress the average human, but I shouldn't be striving for the kind of life that would impress people when there's an infinitely greater pearl at stake.
Chainhand--I guess it's good that you picked this particular term as opposed to some of the others. Just think of the riots that would have been incited had the username "Bell Nipple" showed up in the forums!
So, MR. CHAIN, what inspired you to make kimchia and why do you say it didn't turn out that well? I was in Korea in 1994 and one thing that amazed me was the fact that Koreans can make kimchi out of ANYTHING--pickles, radishes, carrots... Why, I bet they could even make kimchi out of petunias, cacti (would this be the proper plural term for more than one cactus?), and your houseplants if you don't keep them under careful watch.
So, MR. CHAIN, what inspired you to make kimchia and why do you say it didn't turn out that well? I was in Korea in 1994 and one thing that amazed me was the fact that Koreans can make kimchi out of ANYTHING--pickles, radishes, carrots... Why, I bet they could even make kimchi out of petunias, cacti (would this be the proper plural term for more than one cactus?), and your houseplants if you don't keep them under careful watch.
LOL. I want some aloe kimchi now!!! I thought of choosing one of the other names, second choice probably would have been "ginzel" or "derrickman", though people would assume my name is Derrick from the second one and they would assume I'm a ginger weasel or something from the first
Some of the others sound sort of odd like you mentioned.The Kimchi experiment was born from an abundance of cucumbers one year (They're fun to grow!) and a relative that has a taste for it. Also I had a Korean cookbook and the cucumber stuff looked intriguing
I ruined it by making the brine way too strong for fear of bacterial growth, but I think it all got eaten anyway.Although... it might be fun to pull some pranks, such as driving down the road and being invisible. I might have given poor Jullianna a fright when she stopped my car... and "no one" was in the driver's seat!
[video=youtube;xVrJ8DxECbg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVrJ8DxECbg[/video]
Asifin--thanks for saying I seem to be "adept" at English--it's the only language I speak. I was found in Seoul, Korea in a box in front of a theater when I was a few days old. Someone found me, took me to a police station, and from there I went to an orphanage, foster home, and went home to the two wonderful people I call Mom and Dad when I was 6 months old.
Someone from my old church put it very well: "Moses was found in a basket, and you were found in a box." NOT that I'm anywhere near Moses in faith, but just that it prove when God finds a method that works... Sometimes He sticks to it. The social worker told my Mom that, like Moses and Miriam, someone was likely standing by to make sure I was found. I have always been grateful that I just wasn't found in a trash bin, because some kids are.
Sadly, I've had people ask if I'm "making all that up" since they say, "I can't believe things like that actually happen in today's world." Ahem. Anyway.
Ironically, I don't speak Korean. But my white brother does. I told him if we are ever in Korea together, the first thing you need to teach me to be able to say is, "Please talk to the white boy. I have no idea what you're saying."
MissCris--sorry to go back to this again, but you REALLY have me thinking. I guess what I've felt all my life is a need to connect without ever being able to find it with very many people. I always had interests that were very different from the people around me and while their support was wonderful... I longed for someone to be able to participate WITH me. I always felt, and often do now as well, that I'm always off doing things by myself. Hence, one can be in a roomful of people... maybe even all that time, but feel completely alone all their life.
The one good thing about it is that I learned to talk to God instead. This is how I learned to talk to Him about absolutely everything, because even if I was too different from others for us to come to a common understanding or mutual love of something, I at least knew that God understood--and maybe even possibly cared about everything I did, no matter how odd (or boring!) it may have seemed to anyone else.
Thanks so much for the questions. I usually love to ask people questions too... I've just had a lot going on and am a bit under par right now. Hope to get into the swing of things again soon!
Someone from my old church put it very well: "Moses was found in a basket, and you were found in a box." NOT that I'm anywhere near Moses in faith, but just that it prove when God finds a method that works... Sometimes He sticks to it.
The social worker told my Mom that, like Moses and Miriam, someone was likely standing by to make sure I was found. I have always been grateful that I just wasn't found in a trash bin, because some kids are. Sadly, I've had people ask if I'm "making all that up" since they say, "I can't believe things like that actually happen in today's world." Ahem. Anyway.
Ironically, I don't speak Korean. But my white brother does. I told him if we are ever in Korea together, the first thing you need to teach me to be able to say is, "Please talk to the white boy. I have no idea what you're saying."
MissCris--sorry to go back to this again, but you REALLY have me thinking. I guess what I've felt all my life is a need to connect without ever being able to find it with very many people. I always had interests that were very different from the people around me and while their support was wonderful... I longed for someone to be able to participate WITH me. I always felt, and often do now as well, that I'm always off doing things by myself. Hence, one can be in a roomful of people... maybe even all that time, but feel completely alone all their life.
The one good thing about it is that I learned to talk to God instead. This is how I learned to talk to Him about absolutely everything, because even if I was too different from others for us to come to a common understanding or mutual love of something, I at least knew that God understood--and maybe even possibly cared
about everything I did, no matter how odd (or boring!) it may have seemed to anyone else. Thanks so much for the questions
. I usually love to ask people questions too... I've just had a lot going on and am a bit under par right now. Hope to get into the swing of things again soon!
This is so funny! Is there any reason you didn't also learn Korean? I love the thought of you in Korea together.
Your story is beautiful, Seoul. Looks like God's plan for you has unfolded into something amazing. It's awe inspiring to know that where ever we are, even a box on the street, our Father has his mighty hand on us, and our future on his mind. So happy your adoptive family was blessed with you.
Your story is beautiful, Seoul. Looks like God's plan for you has unfolded into something amazing. It's awe inspiring to know that where ever we are, even a box on the street, our Father has his mighty hand on us, and our future on his mind. So happy your adoptive family was blessed with you.
This is so funny! Is there any reason you didn't also learn Korean? I love the thought of you in Korea together.
Your story is beautiful, Seoul. Looks like God's plan for you has unfolded into something amazing. It's awe inspiring to know that where ever we are, even a box on the street, our Father has his mighty hand on us, and our future on his mind. So happy your adoptive family was blessed with you.
Your story is beautiful, Seoul. Looks like God's plan for you has unfolded into something amazing. It's awe inspiring to know that where ever we are, even a box on the street, our Father has his mighty hand on us, and our future on his mind. So happy your adoptive family was blessed with you.
I'll try to condense a very long story. My parents were told they could never have kids. They adopted me, and a few years later, they adopted my Korean brother, but we are NOT blood related. My parents adopted internationally because it was a shorter time span than an American adoption. They are simple small town people who never thought about trying to introduce us to "our" culture, so we grew up with no knowledge of Korean culture. Now, as we got older, my brother was more drawn to it than I was... I've never been into Asian culture because of its prejudices against people like myself who are American, and especially, adopted. Asians are into ancestry (after all, many Asians pray to their ancestors), blood lines, and "roots", we are seen as not having any, and because we "have no roots" or background, we are not seen as being human to them. (These were the exact words of my Korean brother's future mother-in-law.. He married a girl from a traditional Asian family, and they disowned her for marrying him.)
My white brother was the miracle child my parents were told they'd never have, and he is our world traveler, living in three other countries for various years, picking up languages as he went--Korea being one of them, and, ironically, he married a native Korean girl. Her father as well told her to break up with him immediately due to racial differences, but when he actually met my brother, he had a change of heart, which was truly a miracle.
I would never survive in Korea. I would be a total misfit there. It's not like here where people can find a place. Generally in Asia, you either fit The Mold or you don't, and if you don't fit, it can be like living the life of a convicted criminal without doing anything wrong.
I'm not sure what it's like now, but at one point, Korean orphans were not even granted legal paperwork (the equivalent of a birth certificate) and could not legally do anything that requires a birth certificate, including marry. That's how strict they are against "bad blood" being mixed into the population. In other words... to many Asian countries, if you do not fit The Mold or The Standards, You Do Not Exist. The government doesn't even legally recognize you. I am also very likely of mixed race, which would have been another very heavy strike against me there.
I am ever grateful that God brought me to the good old US of A. You know how some people claim to be something else trapped in the wrong body? Well, I consider myself to be a white girl whom God dropped into an Asian body/appearance.
I don't always know why He chose what He did for me, and identity has been my toughest struggle--when my husband divorced me, I was crushed beyond words. Because I felt that my biological parents didn't want me... and now my husband didn't want me either. I felt as if I'd been left in that little cardboard box and walked away from all over again. It's still a struggle to find a place to fit in at times.
But, I believe God must have a reason and I am ever thankful for my family and friends here. I don't think my poor parents had any idea of what they were getting into when they signed those papers...
But when I see my parents now, especially if I'm getting off a plane, they both have this look on their faces, especially my Mom, and I can see it in their eyes.They see me, but what they also see is that little baby who arrived to them on a plane many years ago, and my Mom is looking at me the way she must have when the social worker handed me to her for the very first time.
I can't look at the "jellyfish" avatar anymore without thinking about this :
:
I'm an exhibit at the national zoo.
No seriously... farm work.
I laughed really hard at that
Your story is beautiful though miss Kim, thank you for sharing. You are a cool lady and have an awesome heart.
Thanks so much, Grace--this was very kind of you and I am really enjoying your posts.
I'll try to condense a very long story. My parents were told they could never have kids. They adopted me, and a few years later, they adopted my Korean brother, but we are NOT blood related. My parents adopted internationally because it was a shorter time span than an American adoption. They are simple small town people who never thought about trying to introduce us to "our" culture, so we grew up with no knowledge of Korean culture. Now, as we got older, my brother was more drawn to it than I was... I've never been into Asian culture because of its prejudices against people like myself who are American, and especially, adopted. Asians are into ancestry (after all, many Asians pray to their ancestors), blood lines, and "roots", we are seen as not having any, and because we "have no roots" or background, we are not seen as being human to them. (These were the exact words of my Korean brother's future mother-in-law.. He married a girl from a traditional Asian family, and they disowned her for marrying him.)
My white brother was the miracle child my parents were told they'd never have, and he is our world traveler, living in three other countries for various years, picking up languages as he went--Korea being one of them, and, ironically, he married a native Korean girl. Her father as well told her to break up with him immediately due to racial differences, but when he actually met my brother, he had a change of heart, which was truly a miracle.
I would never survive in Korea. I would be a total misfit there. It's not like here where people can find a place. Generally in Asia, you either fit The Mold or you don't, and if you don't fit, it can be like living the life of a convicted criminal without doing anything wrong.
I'm not sure what it's like now, but at one point, Korean orphans were not even granted legal paperwork (the equivalent of a birth certificate) and could not legally do anything that requires a birth certificate, including marry. That's how strict they are against "bad blood" being mixed into the population. In other words... to many Asian countries, if you do not fit The Mold or The Standards, You Do Not Exist. The government doesn't even legally recognize you. I am also very likely of mixed race, which would have been another very heavy strike against me there.
I am ever grateful that God brought me to the good old US of A. You know how some people claim to be something else trapped in the wrong body? Well, I consider myself to be a white girl whom God dropped into an Asian body/appearance.
I don't always know why He chose what He did for me, and identity has been my toughest struggle--when my husband divorced me, I was crushed beyond words. Because I felt that my biological parents didn't want me... and now my husband didn't want me either. I felt as if I'd been left in that little cardboard box and walked away from all over again. It's still a struggle to find a place to fit in at times.
But, I believe God must have a reason and I am ever thankful for my family and friends here. I don't think my poor parents had any idea of what they were getting into when they signed those papers... But when I see my parents now, especially if I'm getting off a plane, they both have this look on their faces, especially my Mom, and I can see it in their eyes.
They see me, but what they also see is that little baby who arrived to them on a plane many years ago, and my Mom is looking at me the way she must have when the social worker handed me to her for the very first time.
I'll try to condense a very long story. My parents were told they could never have kids. They adopted me, and a few years later, they adopted my Korean brother, but we are NOT blood related. My parents adopted internationally because it was a shorter time span than an American adoption. They are simple small town people who never thought about trying to introduce us to "our" culture, so we grew up with no knowledge of Korean culture. Now, as we got older, my brother was more drawn to it than I was... I've never been into Asian culture because of its prejudices against people like myself who are American, and especially, adopted. Asians are into ancestry (after all, many Asians pray to their ancestors), blood lines, and "roots", we are seen as not having any, and because we "have no roots" or background, we are not seen as being human to them. (These were the exact words of my Korean brother's future mother-in-law.. He married a girl from a traditional Asian family, and they disowned her for marrying him.)
My white brother was the miracle child my parents were told they'd never have, and he is our world traveler, living in three other countries for various years, picking up languages as he went--Korea being one of them, and, ironically, he married a native Korean girl. Her father as well told her to break up with him immediately due to racial differences, but when he actually met my brother, he had a change of heart, which was truly a miracle.
I would never survive in Korea. I would be a total misfit there. It's not like here where people can find a place. Generally in Asia, you either fit The Mold or you don't, and if you don't fit, it can be like living the life of a convicted criminal without doing anything wrong.
I'm not sure what it's like now, but at one point, Korean orphans were not even granted legal paperwork (the equivalent of a birth certificate) and could not legally do anything that requires a birth certificate, including marry. That's how strict they are against "bad blood" being mixed into the population. In other words... to many Asian countries, if you do not fit The Mold or The Standards, You Do Not Exist. The government doesn't even legally recognize you. I am also very likely of mixed race, which would have been another very heavy strike against me there.
I am ever grateful that God brought me to the good old US of A. You know how some people claim to be something else trapped in the wrong body? Well, I consider myself to be a white girl whom God dropped into an Asian body/appearance.
I don't always know why He chose what He did for me, and identity has been my toughest struggle--when my husband divorced me, I was crushed beyond words. Because I felt that my biological parents didn't want me... and now my husband didn't want me either. I felt as if I'd been left in that little cardboard box and walked away from all over again. It's still a struggle to find a place to fit in at times.
But, I believe God must have a reason and I am ever thankful for my family and friends here. I don't think my poor parents had any idea of what they were getting into when they signed those papers...
But when I see my parents now, especially if I'm getting off a plane, they both have this look on their faces, especially my Mom, and I can see it in their eyes.They see me, but what they also see is that little baby who arrived to them on a plane many years ago, and my Mom is looking at me the way she must have when the social worker handed me to her for the very first time.
Do you find that people are interested in your Korean appearance? I've always found so much beauty in oriental features. You are beautiful, and I love AlphaOmega's profile picture too.
I'm an exhibit at the national zoo.
Chain, I think I saw you last week. And don't worry, you were adorable, especially at feeding time!
I laughed really hard at that
Your story is beautiful though miss Kim, thank you for sharing. You are a cool lady and have an awesome heart.
Chain, I think I saw you last week. And don't worry, you were adorable, especially at feeding time!
I laughed really hard at that
Your story is beautiful though miss Kim, thank you for sharing. You are a cool lady and have an awesome heart.
Aw, thank you so much, Chain. You have me kicking the floor with my hands in my pockets and wanting to say, "Aw, shucks..."
The even more ironic thing is that what I just described really did happen to us in a way. Another long story: my brother was studying in France and I went to see him for a few weeks. We were visiting some place and a tour bus stopped right next to us, with an entire passenger load of people from Korea.
Well, they all saw me and very excitedly walked straight at me, talking in Korean a hundred miles a minute, with me being overwhelmed by a crowd of Koreans I had no means of communicating with (chalk drawings, anyone?) My brother, at the time, knew only a few basic sentences, so HE started talking to them in Korean instead (I felt like some sort of puppet decoy...)
One of the Korean women spoke Spanish, which my brother is almost fluent in, so, again, in another twist of irony, he and this lady switched to SPANISH and so here they were with me standing right next to him, and he was explaining to her that I was his adopted Korean sister... all the while, using the SPANISH language to communicate with a Korean woman about a girl who was originally adopted from Korea but doesn't speak a lick of Korean.
Confused yet????
I know I was, and I was even there through the entire thing!!!! Such is the story of my family.