March

Wow, it's March already. I'm hoping to get a few more posts this month, but I know time is going to FLY by. Since Spring break the weeks have been passing so quickly and now in just a couple short weeks quarter 3 will be over and it will be one last push until the end.

Here is an update about what I've been doing and will do. Enjoy!

The weather has been pretty nice so last weekend my friend Laura and I went hiking at Bomunsan, a mountain I had never been to but is actually in the city of Daejeon. After walking 15 or so minutes you get to a lookout where you can look down on most of the city. It was nice to rest, watch, and enjoy the weather (plus take lots of goofy pics). Then, we walked around the mountain about an hour before heading home. I really enjoyed it because it wasn't like normal Korean hiking where you walk on a cement path or up rock stairs. The trails were more natural...and thankfully there were way less people.

This weekend, next weekend, and last weekend was/will be filled with swim meets. Last weekend we went to SAHS--going to SAHS is always exciting because we get to go on the base and eat Taco Bell and toasted Subway sandwiches and get all kinds of good candy out of the vending machine :)--for the shortest meet in KAIAC history! I don't know if that's really true, but we were done before noon. Next week we will be on the base again at OSAN.

This week we had the first 10-team meet. It was at YISS and it was a great day! TCIS swam so well. It is so cool to see the improvements my swimmers have made since last year. A good chunk of them have cut 7-10 seconds on their 50 freestyle times (which is totally crazy)! The meet got off to a good start when both the girls and boys relay teams passed people on the last leg to win their respective heats. Another cool...well, probably the coolest part of the meet was that Gil Stovall, an Olympic swimmer was there! He is apparently best friends with the new aquatic director at YISS. He was hanging around the whole meet so we got some pictures and autographs and asked lots of questions about the Olympics and training and Michael Phelps. haha. Then, at the break, he swam an exhibition 100 butterfly. I have never seen an Olympian swim live, so that was really cool. To the swimmers out there who will find this amazing; he took 6-7 strokes per lap! And he was so smoothe in the water. Watch the video below to see what I mean. Anyway, after the meet he talked to us about his journey to the Olympics, where he was went in seeded 2nd right behind Michael Phelps in the 200 fly, expected to medal, but woke up sick on semifinals day and missed the finals heat by .01 sec. He talked about how his faith had kept him going through his entire swimming career, and how when he looks back on that day, he realizes that God was teaching him that dreams of the world can disappear, but God is constant and never leaves. It was a great message and we all really enjoyed listening to him.

Besides swimming, not too much has been going on. I have just been preparing for Tami and Colleen, who will be here 1 week from today!!!! I cannot wait. They will be here all next week and then the following week I will be in India. Be looking for a post after that for sure! :)