Senior Nights

For three nights we opened our home to Patrick's seniors to let them know that we are proud of their accomplishments and will be praying for them as they embark on this next adventure in life. Wednesday night we had no one show up. We weren't sure if anyone was going to take us up on the offer of free food. Thursday night was much different. We had 32 students in our house plus the three of us! Our entry way was just a pile of shoes. Friday night we had 7 students. We served chocolate fondue, dark and white chocolate, with a variety of things to dip and eat even if they didn't want the chocolate. Koreans are not big sweet eaters but they do like chocolate! I was making a new batch of chocolate after about 20 minutes of this kids swarming around the table.

In the Korean culture, everyone shares plates of food. Often a family of four may only order 1 or 2 dishes and share the with everyone where Americans each like their own portions. I guess that is why Americans have a much bigger body mass :). Anyway, when I gave the go ahead to begin eating even after I gave instructions about your 'own' plate and the little bowls for their 'own' chocolate, the students swarmed the table and just started eating right there. I had to remind these boys that there were about 25 other people that wanted to eat too. We had students eating all around the apartment. The floor....
the couch...Zachary's room...and on the balcony. Joseph claimed his spot right next to the table and stayed there for about 45 minutes. They were supposed to eat dinner before they came over but I don't think he did :).
We weren't sure how Zachary was going to do in this large crowd of Korean students. He had some rough moments where Mommy or Daddy's arms was the only place he wanted to be. You can see how they surrounded Zachary wherever he went. He eventually warmed up and played with most of the students. Friday night was much more manageable for him.
However, Zachary did enjoy it when the boys found his train track. They must have spend 45 minutes to an hour perfecting their track and finding new inventive ways to crash the trains. These boys instantly became friends with Zachary. :)

Even we Zachary wasn't around, the boys played with the trains. They have a much longer attention span.
Paul was my favorite guest. Without being asked and not complying with the requests of not having to do this, he cleaned all our dishes in the kitchen. Most of these were from dinner or during the day but out of the kindness of his heart he wanted to do it for us. He told me it was his hobby and I told him he can come practice his hobby at our house any time he wants :). Paul has plans to go to seminary after his undergrad degree and wants to be a pastor to the English speaking community in China. What a great kid! Zachary posing with Irene and Hannah on Friday night. He is finally getting the hang of the Korean "V" in pictures.
Our group of girls Friday night.
Our large group of kids Thrusday night. (Zachary is sitting in 'Uncle' Paul's lap.)
We were truly blessed by having these students in our home. Our only regret is that we hadn't done it sooner. They are an amazing group of kids with big dreams. Congratulations TCIS class of 2008! We wish you all the best!