The Sunnyside of Seoul

The day has finally arrived when the rain has departed and the sun has moved in, praise the lord! It has been over a week since my last blog and I am happy to report it has only rained once, and only for a brief amount of time. Now for those of you following my blogs this is HUGE! The temperatures have begun to fall slightly and we are finally without all the humidity. It is currently a comfortable 85 with most mornings averaging the upper 70's. 

Since David has been working away I decided last week that I would do a little exploring and take Bear on a hike. I found Mount Achasan online, did some research on how to get there and decided to leave on Thursday morning. Now Bear had never been on a hike before so this was all very exciting for him. It was about a 20 minute subway ride and another 25 minute walk to the trail but it was well worth it. The trail took us up above the city where you could see the most incredible view of the river. It was mainly dirt paths with a bit of rock mixed in. Surprisingly Bear did amazing and walked the majority of the time. We even managed to find a little stream where he was able to drink some water. At the top of mt. Achasan we located yet another temple and a really nice lounging gazebo that puts you up above the tree line. The weather was a bit hot that day so by the end of our hike Bear and I were quite tired. I will mention though that we found the Koreans extremely helpful along our journey. When we first started out a very nice Korean man lead bear and I up the mountain and showed us where all the good trails were. He even gave Bear some water and offered to carry his Carrier. Two other Korean men also came up to us later on and tried to strike up a conversation and play with Bear. Had we been back in the states I would have been a lot more alarmed however Korea is much different. People here will bend over backwards to help you and ensure that you are enjoying their country.

On Sunday morning David and I tried our second church out and had a really great experience there. We went to Seoul Union Church which is designed specifically for expats and foreigners. It also just happens to be the oldest Protestant church in all of Seoul, founded in 1886. The church is now a non-denominational, English service lead by a rev. Prince from Africa. While the preacher wasn't the most charismatic teacher he certainly had some wonderful insight about the scriptures and used at least ten different scripture verses during his sermon. The best part about our experience there had to do with the people. The moment we stepped into the chapel we were greeted by four or five different people. Most of them were teachers or missionaries from the states and were very quick to offer their emails and any support we needed. After the service lunch was provided downstairs (lunch takes place once a month) and we were able to meet with some more members and mingle. We were very fortunate to have hit it off with a new couple from New Zealand. They arrived in Seoul only days before and were in much the same position as David and myself. They are a younger couple so we are excited for the opportunity to go out with some people our own age. We also met a really interesting Korean native. At the age of eighty he looks and sounds as if he is only 65. He was extremely friendly and was super excited to tell us about how he once lived in Houston and still remembered all of the sites. We too had traveled to his hometown of Jeonju so he was even more excited. We sat and talked to this man for at least a half an hour and he made us promise to return next Sunday.

Well that is about all of the exciting new stories in our lives except for the fact that we have resumed our Korean language training. We are taking two hour sessions twice a week with a Korean woman names Isabel-that would be her English name that is. We had our first session last night and all I will say is that the woman is a tornado of energy but we hope to learn a lot from her!

Enjoy and God Bless

Bears, Bugs and Urine Jugs

The day has finally arrived that I get to write about my most favorite place...the ZOO of course! The long awaited day finally took place on August 20th when David and I went to the Seoul Grand Park Zoo. I had been wanting to go for weeks but the weather has been more than unruly until just recently. So when we finally saw that it wasn't going to rain, we packed up the camera and head for the subway. It was only about a fifteen minute ride and once we got there we were completely breath taken. The view coming out of the subway was gorgeous to say the least. There were lush green mountains surrounding us in every direction and a walkway lined with vendors and lights that lead up to the Grand Park.

Now we new that it was going to be a big zoo after researching it online, but we had no idea just how big it really was! The park was miles and miles of wooded trails and picnic areas that surrounded the hundreds of different exotic animal exhibits. They had Giraffes, Hippos, Carnivores, Hoof-stock, Dolphins and Sea lions, regular Lions and Tigers, Elephants...I could go on and on forever! There were your standard cafeterias and side food vendors but they also had a huge botanical garden, rose garden, camping area, and two separate aviaries. David and I spent hours walking around the Zoo and still managed to miss about 30 percent of the animals. By the end of the day we were exhausted from all the walking. Thankfully they not only offer a tram to take you in and out of the park, they have a skyline (just like a ski-lift) that takes you from the top of the park down to the bottom with the most amazing view, so of course we rode that down at the end of the night.

David and I both agreed that not only was this the largest Zoo we had ever been to but it was also the most beautiful and creative. The Zoo is centered within the mountains and everything is built into the natural setting so there are trees and greenery everywhere. The three exhibits that we enjoyed the most had to have been the Ape Forest, the lions and the Rainforest. The Ape Forest included all your major primates such as chimps, orangutans and baboons. The thing that made it so cool is the structures and the animal interaction. The Chimp exhibit in particular had a two-fold scaffold that allowed them to climb as high as they desired with lots of ropes and toys included. The Orangutans were equally as cool because one of the females would climb up to eye level and reach out her hand as far as it would go. She was prompting her watchers to feed her, and many people obliged despite the no feeding sign. Now the loins also caught our attention because of how wild and natural their housing was. We could pretty much walk to any destination around their enclosure and have a perfect vantage point. We could even view them, and hear them I might add, from the skyline which was an added bonus. Finally we found the Rainforest to be a lot of fun because of the layout. The two-story  building allowed us to be right where the animals were, whether that was at ground  floor or up in the tree tops. They also had David's most beloved species, the Macaw, so that just made it even better.

We ended up leaving the zoo around 8pm but will most likely return for more at a later date. Now upon leaving the zoo and heading back to the subway we wanted to stop for a potato twist on a stick, which we did. However, the most memorable thing we saw and smelled upon our departure was a particular food item we had encountered a few times before...BUGS! Now these aren't your standard chocolate covered grasshoppers. When you pass by them they look just like brown and white colored larva. David didn't believe that they were really bugs but I was most positive. He wanted to get just a bit closer to examine them so as we did I got a nice whiff of their delicious scent, in all honesty the smell was so bad I nearly lost my dinner. The next day David and I were at the grocery store and sure enough what do I find just sitting there on the shelf with other supposedly normal food, right next to the tea...Silkworm pupae. That's right you can buy it in the grocery store as well as served hot from the skillet right there on the street.

My final little tidbit of information for people traveling to Seoul, don't get too close to any homeless looking person carrying a white bucket. Unfortunately there is no shortage of homeless people in the streets of Seoul. However, there is also no shortage of public restrooms yet they persist to use the restroom in these white buckets. Buckets that they then pour down the drains in the middle of public walkway. Needless to say that smells no better than the cooking baby silkworms!

23 Side Dishes and a Main Course

Annyong! It is Monday morning here in Korea and We have been recuperating from our full day of activities yesterday. It is considered a Korean holiday today so my husband gets to stay home with Bear and I for a change. I would like to begin by talking about all the amazing things we got to see and do complements of David’s work colleague, Mr. Harris and his wife. We feel greatly blessed to have been so well taken care of.

The day began for us at 5:30 in the morning. We met David’s boss Mr. Turnblad in the lobby to head on over to Seoul Station. From there we took the subway over to Yongsan station where we were greeted by Mr. Harris and his lovely smiling wife. So in true Korean fashion, Mr. Harris paid for all of our days expenses and even provided our first class KTX tickets to Jeonju Province, which by the way is a very nice bullet train. Cruising at around 180 mph, we arrived at our destination some 2 hours later.

The weather was very nice when we stepped out of the train station and we actually had about three hours of clear sky until it began to rain again. The first of our many activities was a nice, steep, uphill hike to a temple located halfway up the mountain. The hike itself was a challenge  merely due to the constant and relentless uphill walk but the view was worth it all! When we had finally reached the temple we got to see the whole magnificent view of God’s amazing creation. It actually reminded us of back home in the Appalachian mountains.

After taking some nice pictures and enjoying the fresh air we explored the newly renovated temple grounds. At that time a Buddhist funeral was taking place so we could hear a lot of praying and chanting. The interesting part of the temple was actually the housing. On the outside it appeared to be your typical simplistic temple homes but upon second look you could see a very nice modernized kitchen, full access to electricity and satellite TV dishes located outside. We had a little bit of a laugh at those, I guess even the monks like to watch TV. Anyhow, by that time we were pretty sweaty and hungry so our generous hosts sat us down for a nice snack. They had prepared a delicious apple, peach, grape, tomato and rice cake  snack. Even I enjoyed that!

After a bit of a rest we headed back down the mountain a second trail in the woods. This trail led us to a very unique tree called the lovers tree. It was an old tree that had a branch that was fused to the tree next to it. We of coursed loved the sign that accompanied the location.

Finally we went to explore a second temple site and partake in a short break at the local stream. The second temple we visited however was a lot larger than the first. The shrines to Buddha were on a much larger scale and people from all over would come to bow down and pray before the idols. From a Christians point of view it was cool to see the craftsmanship but a little uncomfortable to watch so many people laid out before a gold statue three stories high.

The second half of our day was filled with a lot of eating and a lot more walking. Before heading to our second location we stopped at a local Korean restaurant to enjoy some local Korean food. While David and everyone else partook of baked anchovies, kimchi, scaled and NOT de-boned fish, as well as several side dishes of various odd looking vegetables with chili paste, I enjoyed my nice bowl of white rice. Yes I know that I probably should have tried to eat at least some of the food, but that poor fish was just staring me in the face so I stared at my rice bowl instead! At this point in time it had begun a torrential down pour with copious amounts of lightening and thunder. So after taking out our rain gear and umbrellas we got in a taxis and left for a traditional folk town called the slow city…or Hanok village.

Here we walked around taking in all of the traditional Korean style housing and small shops and restaurants. We learned about the amazing things that the Koreans had accomplished with paper….Korean paper that is, and visited a historical palace in the area. After all that walking the rain had subsided and we stopped at this nice café to enjoy afternoon tea and refreshments. If you look at our pictures you will see David eating a giant bowl of ice cream. Well apparently Koreans have their own way for preparing ice cream here. It is a giant bowl of shaved ice, lots of different fruits, red beans…yes I said beans, and some cherry ice cream with a cherry on top. I had a few bites while everyone else downed two separate orders of it, so I suppose it is quite good.

Next we resumed our walking, found some more historical building and 10 minutes later it was time another meal! This time dinner took place at a family restaurant. Now you know what that means; Korean style food. This time they presented us with 23 side dishes, rice water to drink and of course the main dish which consisted of rice, chili paste, sprouts, vegetable and an uncooked egg yoke  in the middle. Thankfully some of the dishes weren’t as intimidating as before so I ventured out and had a bit of the sweet potato in a sweet syrup, dried radish in chili paste, egg puff soufflé and bean sprout soup. By this time it was past seven and time to debark for our journey home.

We had a wonderful time with Mr. and Mrs. Harris and met some very nice people along the way. Upon arriving the Jeonju a very enthusiastic man at the train station welcomed us to his city and ran to retrieve tourist maps for us in English. Another Korean local sitting next to David on the train ride home gave him his business card and invited him to call him for lunch sometime.  So that was the completion of our big day out and to say the least we were exhausted upon our return home. This morning I can easily say that my legs are still worn out! We definitely enjoyed ourselves though and hope you also enjoy the many picture we took.  Have a very blessed Sunday and remember to meditate upon God’s glorious creation as much as you can, we most certainly have been!

Juice Conundrum

Greetings,

Well it is a beautiful day here in the city and I can actually see some sunshine peaking through the clouds. We have a had a lot of rain these past few days so regretfully I have not been out doing a whole lot. While my husband has been working away its been pretty quiet on my end. I did however manage to go shopping yesterday afternoon. I wondered over to Myeongdong (a wonderful shopping area about 20 minutes walk from the apartment) and went to a few clothes stores within Noon Square. While food may be an issue for me here in Korea, clothing on the flip side is not. Unfortunately clothes are extremely expensive but I was able to locate an H&M as well as Forever 21. They have quite a few familiar stores here in the city, if only I could say Prada, Louis and Kors were within my budget. Anyhow, it ended up being a pretty successful venture, I only managed to get lost once underground and this lovely Korean man with the word English written on his chest promptly directed me in the right direction. If you caught that I said underground, that is not a typo. They have this amazing underground system here called the "Arcade". Basically if there is anywhere you need to go, you can get to it without ever having to walk outside. The Arcade includes the subway system, hundreds of little shops, 7-elevens, hair salons, restaurants and the list goes on. Its pretty amazing really and thankfully its very clean and very safe.

Apart from my many shopping adventures David and I have been working out pretty regularly. So the other day my muscles were pretty sore and I really wanted to hit the hot tubes. After our work out David and I headed to the pool area and sat in the hot tub for a few minutes. Now regretfully the hot tub was more of a warm tub so David convinced me to separate from him and get into the woman's locker room to sit in the "bath" and dry sauna. I was already pretty skeptical because a "bath" in any non US country pretty much means naked people sitting around together. However, I pushed on in hopes that the sauna and bath area would be empty. Well....This was not the case! Lets just say it was naked Korean woman-10, swim suit clothed American-1. David on the other hand has accepted the naked Korean men and apparently has no issues with joining them for a relaxing bath....I guess when in Rome, do as the Romans do....I however am not in Rome!

Anyhow, I have one more piece of little wisdom to pass on to you today, you can make juice out of everything and anything! David and I are fortunate to live in an apartment that provides a continental breakfast to us every morning. Well, about half of this food is Korean style and the other half in Americanized. Every single morning they have orange juice and a second type of juice that changes every few days. The first few days we were there it was a delightful grape juice. Last weekend they replaced that with an interesting, very sweet, but apparently good for you Plum Juice. Today however we had another lovely choice to choose from. The juice of the day was Aloe....yes I said Aloe. Chew on that for a while....talk at you next time.

Sunday Stuper

Good afternoon and happy Sunday!

It is about 5 pm here in Seoul, South Korea and the family and I are just enjoying a little R&R. David, Bear and I have been doing wonderful however, the Korean lifestyle has finally started to catch up with us, not to mention the time change. The last two days it feels as if David and I have walked at least 20 miles, now this is a bit of an exaggeration but when you aren't used to walking everywhere you go it can be exhausting. Yesterday the hubby and I attempted to locate a bookstore one subway exit down. While this seems to be simple enough...its not. In short we never found the bookstore and ended up walking the entire way back to our first point of entry at the subway station. Our Korean is next to non so it makes navigating the city that much harder. Anyhow we were able to salvage our evening with meeting up with a wonderful friend of ours (Mr.Kevin Tanner) from North Carolina for some dinner and Cold Stone ice cream in Itaewon. Now yes I did say Cold Stone and I meant it, our beloved creamery has surfaced pretty much all over Seoul, thank the lord!

Now for other exciting news David and I attended our first Korean church service this morning. Now you may be imagining a small church congregation with perhaps a hundred Koreans all stuffed in like sardines. Well you have the sardines part right but now multiple those numbers by 3,000! We actually went to the largest church in the entire world, right here in Seoul! The church is called Yoido (do meaning island) Full Gospel Church. There is approximately 850,000 active members and around 9 services on a given Sunday. We had no idea what to expect however, so we went into it with a skeptical mind. I am pleased to say however that we came out truly blessed for having attended. The service was in full Korean however they offer live translation for about 7 languages, English included. The best I can do to describe the service is to imagine a Methodist service on steroids. There was a massive choir, full orchestra, huge pipe organ and about three levels of wooden pews with Koreans all smooshed together. The music of course was out of this world and we found the message on discipleship to be right on. The lesson came straight out of the book of Mark chapter 8 and stressed the importance of serving others instead of ourselves. After the hour and a half service with communion and offerings included, we were ushered over to a separate building on the 11th floor for the international briefing of new comers. Now this is where it got really interesting for us. We met with an elder of the church that was a New Yorker and had lived in Korea for the past 17 years. He gave us a full church history and the low down on the founder of the church, a Dr. Cho. I don't want to overwhelm you with details but I want to highlight some of the amazing things this church has accomplished since the Korean war. Dr. Cho firmly believes that the only reason his church has flourished the way it has is due to prayer and the glory of God. The church itself owns five building downtown with a main auditorium that holds about 20,000 people. The ajoining buildings account for 22 overflow rooms with direct access to the service via television. They have an entire building just for children's Sunday school rooms and another building that holds the church offices and news paper operation (the fourth largest paper in Seoul). If that is not impressive enough the church has a college, a trade school village for children that want to learn a trade (free of cost) and hundreds of planted churches affiliated with the mega church around the city. Dr. Cho is the founder of CGI-Church growth international which has taken him around the world about sixty times to spread his ministry to other nations. Anyhow, we were dually impressed and are continuing to look into the church and its many outreach programs. If you have a desire to learn anything else about their ministry here just let me know or you can look it up online.

Well that is the main purpose of my post today but I will say that we are learning to love the Koreans more each passing day. We have found them extremely helpful and kind. Our experience at this church today only solidified our earlier impression. Once you make friends with a Korean, you are friends for life. The saying of the day is Hallelujah! Have a blessed Sunday everyone!

Week One: Indroduction to Seoul

Hello to my happy readers!
     I have decided to create this blog for our family and friends interested in our time here in Korea. I will do my best to update as often as I can but this whole "Blog" thing is all very new to me...

Well David and I arrived here Tuesday afternoon after a 16 hour journey from Houston. Bear made the trip quite well, I however had seen better days. Since then, the motion sickness has subsided, thank God, and we are now settling in to our new lives here in Seoul. For those of you that know little of Korea, Seoul is a major city that holds over a quarter of the South Korean population. It is also the second largest city in the entire world (If I remember properly). Needless to say the city is HUGE and there are people everywhere, pretty much all the time. For a young married couple such as David an myself, this is all very exciting! Our main itinerary at this point has just been to unpack and conquor the basic necessities such as making it to the grocery store and finding a good gym etc etc. Well since David is at work all day, that leaves me to take care of the puppy and handle all of the exciting domestic chores. Thankfully we have a wonderful maid that comes every morning to clean for us. While she doesnt speak any English, she loves Bear and is a fabulous worker. She does the dishes, makes the bed, dusts, vacuums and even picks up the dry cleaning. It is Fabulous! That just leaves the laundry, cooking and walking the dog up to me. The cooking has been the biggest challenge so far since we are still awaiting our food shippment from the US.  I went to the grocery store yesterday but it isnt as easy as one may presume. Since we do not have a vehicle here in the city, I walk everwhere. Well for those of you that know me Im not exactly bursting with muscles. I ended up having to go to two seperate grocery stores and drag my groceries back home. The closest store is located underneath the sub station and is about a ten minute walk. While it is a nice little store they are lacking in a LOT of the foods I require such as noodles and recognizable teas and snacks. They did however carry the most essential paper towels, chicken and bread. While on my way to this particular store I happened to walk past an allyway that just so happened to EXPLODE right as I walked by. Thankfully I was far enough removed from the explotion that I was unscathed, however my korean friends were standing just a little close to the electrical box when it blew up. I think they came out ok but there was smoke and chaos everywhere. Anyhow, after my first trip I realized I still had a great deal of things to buy so I headed out for a fifteen minute walk to the train station where the Lotte Mart is located. This is a MUCH larger grocery store, pretty comprable to a giant walmart. I was even able to locate some peanut butter, classico spaghetti sauce and some special K cereal.

On the flip side I have found the Korean people here to be very helpful. While at the store an elderly woman gave me her cart in the attempt to save me 100 won...which is approximately 10 cents. Another woman wanted to help me save money on the tea that I was purchasing. It also seems that they are very fascinated with Bear. Whenever I walk him outside, all of the Korean smile at us and want to show their kids. This is big because the majority of Koreans will not smile at you on the street, it just simply is not normal to say hi to a stranger.

Well that is about it for the day. This afternoon I will be doing some more exploring outside since the sun has finally come out! Until tomorrow...

Annyong