Trip Updates #8--Thursday

In the cafe this morning we got to talk to Robin and Ashley face to face on the computer. I took a picture of the screen so they can be in our trip pictures too!

Today is Isaac's birthday. We sang in the cafe and the van.
Every morning with breakfast we have had incredible fruit. Sayone told us this morning that apples are only good in the morning. She said Korean mothers do not give their children apples at night, because it is bad for them.

English Village was short today. The kids came through "immigration" and went downstairs for songs. Todd talked to them about David and Goliath. Then each team worked on songs for the presentation time. I missed the preparation time. One of my team's kids spilled her milk, so I went upstairs to get napkins. I cleaned it up and went back upstairs to find a trash can. (Trash cans are tiny and elusive in Korea.) I still had the wet napkins in my hand and someone grabbed me to go share outside. We shared with a woman who had lots of questions. At one point she decided to pray to receive Christ, but stopped the interpreter in the middle of the prayer to ask more questions. I couldn't understand the conversation, but I wanted to stay, to pray and to see the ending. But someone pulled me away, I think to share with someone else who had left when we got inside the cafe. Pastor Won then sent me back downstairs, because parents were already there and presentations were starting. The kids sang the songs for the parents by sections. Then the parents were asked to sing one of the songs ("I am the Music Man") for the kids. Again, "Behold the Lamb" was the last presentation. Sue, one of the teachers and part of Todd and Leeanne's host family, told me that Pastor Won asked her if they could begin learning the dance too. While we were in presentation time, I saw the lady I had shared with outside. Her daughter was actually on the yellow team, my team. Later I found out that her name is Grace and that she chose not to accept Christ. But now she has a tie to the church through English Village; Calvary Church, I'm sure will follow up and not give up.

After English Village we again were "celebrities," taking picture after picture with kids. But this time we were tired and sitting down so the kids would sit on our laps for pictures. No longer Mickey Mouse, now we were a room full of Santa Claus!

We ate at the church and then left for another afternoon of being tourists. Isaac, Caleb, and the man we call "the Ninja" (long story) took us to a palace in Seoul (no longer occupied) to tour and watch the changing of the guard. It was stupendous (our word for the day). And, even there away from the church, people wanted to try out their English on us. So many people would ask "how are you?" but it may have been all the English they knew. Leeanne, more than once, was surrounded by a group of girls asking her name, where she was from, what she does and if they could have a picture made with her. And Jeff, of course, had a group of women from the church with him most of the time. You've probably seen most of their pictures on Todd's blog. :)

From the palace we went to a shopping area. Kellie and me rode with two of the girls in a car. Korean cars have so much technology, including talking turn-by-turn GPS. And yet we passed our starting point twice, asked two taxi drivers for directions and went the wrong way down a one-way street. And it seems that remembering where you park in the garage (or even in which garage) is very low priority--for all Korean drivers, really.

We shopped at an outdoor market area--shops down both sides of the street. It's funny that so much of the stuff said "made in China" just like at home. There were some high school girls doing a school project there. They would video foreigners saying in Korean that they loved the school. (I can't remember the name of the school.) They told you how to pronounce it and had a homemade cue card with the phrase written phonetically. Samantha and me both took part and they gave us each a small gift. They were really impressed when I said "thank you" in Korean. I may only know one word, but I know it well. Ha! Acutally, I've picked up a few more, but "thank you" is still the easiest to remember.

Then we went to dinner. . . Outback!! We had passed Outback several times during the week and each time Todd would say how much he wanted to be there. And then we got to go! It's a little different than ours. If you don't ask for a drink, you may not get one. They did, however, bring an orange drink to our table. The waiter put two straws in each glass and set a glass beside every other person. For a society that prides itself on cleanliness, there is a lot of food sharing and eating from the same dish. But the most important part, the Outback bread, was very much the same. Stupendous!

We were hoping to go to a fabric shop and Isaac had arranged for us to after dinner. . . but then it rained so we went straight to the indoor mall. (Still a little sad we didn't get any fabric from Korea. Rain seems to affect activities more than at home. Sunday night it rained before we drove to dinner. Isaac said the reason the restaurant wasn't crowded was because of the rain.) This mall stays open from 10:30 am until 5:00 am! What an experience. Our malls are seperated by stores; theirs are seperated by products. Each level had a different theme: children's, souvenirs, home, etc. Each person works for a certain area, but how you tell where one area begins and ends I never figured out. Most don't have check out lines--they come to you. "You ready?" And some things don't have price tags; they tell you the price once you look interested in something. When you pass people you know in the mall, it is apparently normal to say "let me show" (which must mean both "show me" and "let me see") and pull items out of the other's bags. (Glad I didn't buy any underwear.)

The young women here have given us all Korean names. Some have special meaning, like Todd's "blessed man" and Leeanne's "love." Some of us share a name with an actress or model. Leah's namesake is a model. The girls spotted her on a lifesize carboard cutout advertisement for a phone, so Leah had her picture made with her. "The ninja" bought for me, Kellie, Robert and Luke pictures of our namesakes.

When we got back to the church, Samantha and I stopped at Leah and Kellie's "home" for a few minutes. When we left I sat off an alarm. So there we are around midnight trying to turn off this alarm. The doors are different than ours. They may have a deadbolt, but they also have a button to unlock. Guess I picked the wrong button.

When we got back to Isaac and Sayone's house, they had gifts for us. Sayone had printed pictures from the week and put them in an album for us. They gave us some other things, including chopsticks, with the warning that we better be experts when get back to Korea. Isaac talked to us about his vision for the church to have a school with English-speaking teachers and that he included us in those future-teacher hopefuls. (Don't worry. Not feeling that calling.) He also told me to bring my boyfriend next year and told Samantha she couldn't; she should just keep studying hard.

More later. . .