MERRY CHRISTMAS 2019

WHOOOOOOOOOOO it’s almost the end of the decade! And I still keep writing “2018” on everything. 안녕하세요! This is Olivia, and I’m going to try and write this year’s Christmas Letter! *clap clap clap* Let’s start with Jippy Kang. Dad still has three jobs. Number One: Pastor! Well, associate pastor. He does three quarter time as a pastor this year, because of teaching. He’s the youth pastor so he is always there at youth events. (Me: Dad! Why are you here? Dad: I am always going to be at the youth events. Me: *outside* greeeat! *fake smile* and then on the inside… nooooooo!) Number Two: Teacher! He recently taught at SPU, but mainly The Seattle School. He teaches Bible stuff to students. (Me: Dad! Dad! Did your students behave today??? Dad: They are college students. They always behave. Me: oh. I thought they were tiny children.) This doesn’t really relate to teaching, but Papa can still speak multiple languages. He is too good. Number Three: My Mac Hero! Dad fixes Apple computers. And the garage is filled with the corpses of dead or broken computers. And a bunch of other old stuff (some really important stuff, but also junk.) And now here is some stuff about my mom! She is still recovering from a “high ankle sprain” that she got ON THE FIFTH OF JUNE. She is always saying how she wants to play tennis. Mom also teaches Sunday School and is the 1st–3rd grade teacher (and Linus is in her class). Mama is also on the board of SMP (Seattle Music Partners), and I think that’s going good. OH!!!! Another very big change!! Mother got a (digital) permmmmmmmmmmmm so now her hair is so curly. Amanda is a sophomore in high school at Garfield. She is also The Trombonist. Amanda still plays flute, but she switched to trombone at school because there weren’t enough and a bunch of flutes. She uses our uncle’s 30-year-old trombone!! She cleaned it and now the loudest thing in the house is no longer the coffee machine or blender… *cough cough* Amanda is also very serious about debate. She went to debate camp at Stanford over the summer for three weeks. She goes to debate tournaments that usually last most of a weekend. I can hear her doing some speech practice thing because I will be passing by her room and I hear her talking suuuuuuper fast. Amanda does soccer. I think she plays defense. *golf claps for Amanda* Amanda has also been obsessed with The Office. She recently finished it, but we saw her watching The Office all the time. She had headphones on, but we could hear her laughing. The room would be silent, but then we hear giggling and we look over and see her watching The Office. Mom is glad it’s over. Linus is in third grade at Leschi Elementary (a good school). His teachers are really cool and this year he was assigned some sort of volcano project so he made a Mt. Fuji out of homemade play-doh. It was pretty cool. Except for that I am convinced he didn’t do much of the work... Linus has a new obsession, and it’s serious. Maybe one of the most serious. It’s pretty bad. Pokémon. I think he might know the name for almost all of them now. And now I know more about Pokémon than I ever wanted to know. He’s still into Legos®, but I’m convinced all he does with them is build the set and then completely destroys it. And that involves throwing them everywhere and then the rest of us stepping on them and then screaming our heads off at the pain, the terrible pain!!! Linus is still doing basketball (and tennis, kind of) and dad claims he is learning a ton. As for me… I got braces. *sigh* It hurts a lot, but I want my teeth to be straight. I still play violin! I recently started the Suzuki books and I really like them. I have been playing since I was in fourth grade, and I had a few concerts this fall with my school’s senior orchestra that I just got into (I had to do an audition which was reeeally stressful). I have also lately been obsessed with TwoSet Violin (so funny!!! You gotta watch them). They make me want to practice and improve my playing. I don’t know if there’s been any change yet… hehe I also still play piano. I don’t take lessons (I don’t take violin lessons either), but I kind of teach myself. I can play some classical pieces and I really like piano. It’s fun. Also very difficult and confusing. Why two clefs?! I play tennis and golf, because they aren’t really team sports. You’re all on your own. Linus and I are still going to Korean School. Amanda stopped because of debate and her busy schedule. I really don’t know if I am actually improving. I have been going to Korean school since I was in kindergarten, and I still can’t speak… How can this be? I am so confused. I can read and write pretty well. But speaking and understanding?! I am starting to lose hope. School has been fine this year, I guess. We got a new principal, and she’s cool. But the homework this year has been very stressful and time consuming. I am up pretty late at night because of the homework I am given. My teachers will be like, “I’m not going to give you much because I know your other teachers will probably be giving you homework too.” Little do they know that tiny bits can add up to a lot. Like a whole pile of it. And then I end up not getting much sleep, and then I am so tired all the time. On the bright side, I have amazing friends and they are all very supportive and know what I’m going through. Thank you!! Gary Hillary Hopper is doing great! (our White Mountain Cloud fish) Sadly, Cookie (the other fish) passed away. And although we do not know exactly what it is that happened, we have some theories. Ya know…Gary is looking bigger than she was before… (Cannibalism?!) I guess this is just an update that we are all okay (I think!), and that we are very happy to have friends and family like you! Our year has been great, and I hope yours was as well. I can’t wait for 2020 (for multiple reasons), but one is that hopefully we will see you then! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! WE HOPE THIS DECADE WAS A GOOD ONE! Anyways, I should probably stop talking now. With love, joy, peace, hope, happiness, faith, etc! Olivia, Keren, J. P., Amanda, and Linus.