Anyeong Haseyo (안 녕 하 세 요)!

Will and I have finally overcome a long bout of health problems, and are ready to tackle our first December in South Korea, with new found health. Without delving into details, we both came down with colds, and before I was quite over that, I had intestinal problems for a week and a bit, and Will came down with a strange dizziness that lasted almost a week. Strange. I was about to think they were going to send us home and ask for healthier people.

Bible Study
Aside from my other church duties, I have been asked to lead the youth Bible study every other week (sharing the time slot with the other youth leader), and when the other youth leader leaves next year, I will be doing the Bible study full time. I had my first class with them, and it started brilliantly (read sarcastically). I met the youth at the usually building where we meet, but only then did I remember that I need a key to get in, and the other youth leader had it, and had not given it to me…nor had I thought to ask for it. Oh, and it was a freezing cold day…and I tried calling the other leader and his number had changed. We managed to find a room in the JVC building that we could use, but that was embarrassing.

Day School
We were invited to go to the home of one of our day school students, as they were being given a cooking lesson. They were learning how to make meatballs and potato pancakes. We helped a bit, and got to enjoy the food for lunch afterwards. Also, we often get gifts from parents for teaching their children, which we never feel we deserve. When I had my stomach problem, one of our students came over to drop off traditional Korean porridge, which is runny rice and seaweed flavoring, which is apparently good for stomach problems. It was funny; One day I had the guys write out a verse of Psalm 1 that I had them memorize, and they all got stuck at the same spot. As soon as I prompted them with, “He…” they all went “Ah!” as if on cue, and started writing quickly.

Daejan (데잔)
We had a day school trip to a city 3 hours away called Daejan, which is the “Science City” of South Korea. There are many science colleges and research centers there. We first went to the Science Center, that had an eye-opening entrance way. There were 2 robots about 50 feet high guarding the entrance, and 12 zodiac robots lining the walkway, with heads of each Chinese zodiac animal. There was a big pendulum inside the building that moved as the earth moved, a digital painting of the Mona Lisa, whose eyes followed this little airplane that zoomed around her head, a video screen on the floor that reacted wherever you stepped on it, so there were games on it, where you could kick a digital soccer ball around, or pop digital popcorn kernels, etc. One of the students’ mothers and I forgot ourselves momentarily as “mature adult escorts” as we jumped around on that screen together, stepping on digital moles that popped out of the ground. We then made our way across a bridge to this Science Expo Park, where there were many different IMAX 3D theaters. At the entrance you can rent a large panda, giraffe or lion to steer around the park (I think they are motorized), and there are many statues of “Great minds” all around the park. We grabbed some 3D glasses and enjoyed 3 different 3D IMAX shows, then later that evening enjoyed a concert by the university orchestra that one of our students’ older brothers was playing in.

From L to R: The boys jumping on the game pad, the Daejan mushroom mascots, the entrance to the Science Park, Song Hi and I ready for the 3D movie, me with the inventor of the gramophone, the guard robots, and a robot zodiac statue

y

Cookie Baking
I wanted to bake lots of cookies for the church potluck the next day, so I went to a church members’ place the same night as a young adult supper event, and lead a little baking class. They were thrilled to help me mix the ingredients, to put the cookies on the tray (mostly so they could make their silly heart, star and cookie man shapes) and even more thrilled to taste test them afterwards. I find disasters, or potential ones, offer good bonding moments. When the host had all 4 stove elements in use, and when I had 2 cookie trays in the oven, the gas suddenly disappeared from the stove. Uh oh. We had a mutual comedic panic attack, when before long, the gas came back.

From L to R: Our cookie tray (with the letters JVC), Su Jin with the trays

Visitor Sunday
This past Sunday at our church was a day in which all members were encouraged to invite a friend. This sounds similar to ways that other churches evangelize/share the good news, etc. For the month leading up to this important Sunday, every member was given a fasting schedule, a meal that they were to fast and pray for the service. It was a very different and interesting experience for us.

Other Thoughts
-There are cell phones here that ring at a frequency that only teens can hear, apparently. As we get older, we are no longer able to hear this certain noise. Anyway, Will said that during one of his after school classes, all the girls frantically told one girl to turn her cell phone off, and Will didn’t even hear it ring
-We have noticed that ambulances don’t get any respect here, like they do in NA. We have seen ambulances with lights flashing and sirens on, and no cars move for them!! They just have to wait like everyone else.
-There’s a love of Chinese food in Korea, but Koreans like to invent their own versions of “Chinese food” that aren’t even available in China! We went out for our supper with our Korean tutor one night, and we ordered this popular Korean “Chinese” dish that was highly recommended
-Koreans love to laugh, and we have observed that any hint of a joke or funny anecdote is laughed at whole heartily, which always makes meetings and gatherings wonderful, especially if you are the successful story teller.