Paparazzi, Beach, Ocean rafting, and Whiners.

Imagine putting 45 young adults who are very independent, are mostly very opinionated, and only speak your second language on a bus and then attempting to take them on a weekend trip.  Doesn't sound very appealing, does it? This is what our poor leaders this weekend had to deal with.

There are a few companies in Korea that do weekend adventure trips around the country - hiking, festivals, etc. - and they take care of transportation, accommodation and some meals.  A few friends have done a trip or two before and said they were fun, so I decided to sign up for a festival&ocean rafting trip that took place this past weekend.

The program, Adventure Korea, is based out of Seoul so we (Me, Amy, Loren and Brenton (both from Australia)) decided to just meet the group at the festival, as that was much closer and cost effective.  Saturday morning at 7am we hopped on the KTX (high speed train) to Daejon, switched to the slow train, and by 10:30am was at our destination, Eumseong, for the Pumba Festival.

Pumba was the word repeated in the songs of street singers, especially when Korea was once impoverished. They strolled around marketplaces or villages seeking food, money, or anything they could get. Pumba doesn’t have a specific meaning but is a language mechanism for keeping a rhythm. These days, the word pumba generally refers to gakseori. These performers do not beg for food or money, but do sing at events or festivals.  The festival has multiple gakseori (performers) who were on stage all day as well as a plethora of booths where you can learn about cutting yeot (Korean malt candy), pound rice for rice cakes (tteok), or buy some delicious festival food.

The festival itself was about standard - I wouldn't travel just to see it but we had fun overall.  The most interesting part was the photographers.  I'm not joking it was like paparazzi.  They had us dress up in Pumba costumes (mine was pretty normal) and then painted most people's whole face.  I opted for just a small watermelon :] but the Korean photographers were intense. Brenton got his whole face painted and they were all up in his face with huge lenses and clicking away.  It was funny to watch some foreigners ham it up for the camera...we went for the less attention grabbing positions and Brenton washed off his face after awhile.

After the festival we got on the bus and went to Boryeong, about 2 hours away.  Boryeong is this little tiny beach front town that hosts a HUGE festival in July called the Mud Festival.  Other than that, it really doesn't do much but have a nice, clean long beach and a few restaurants. Our accommodation was right by the beach, so we dropped off our stuff in our room - no beds, traditional style of mats on the floor - and were free for the evening.  The 4 of us found some dinner and spend the evening relaxing on the beach and watching people set off fireworks.  We had some good laughs and it was SO good to just be by the beach again - made me miss San Diego and California in general that much more!

Sunday morning brought sunny skies and beautiful weather.  It had been predicted rain so we were pleasantly surprised.  On to our activity for the day - ocean rafting.  Now you may think...what do you do on the ocean in a raft? there are no rapids, cliffs to jump, or whirlpools as I'm used to rafting.  And you're right...there isn't much to do.  There weren't even waves to maneuver over.  They put wayyyy too many of us in one raft - 15 people!! - and it was awkward and not very fun.  This is when I was really irritated with the group too...they were a bunch of whiners.  Some of the girls didn't want to get wet at all. Excuse me, but you are on an ocean. which is made of water. and you are rafting. get over it. Anyway, I won't rant about that.  Being by the rafts made me miss Kidder Creek so much and knowing that they were on their annual Memorial Day rafting trip made it even harder.  However, it was fun to just be on the water and hold a paddle. :]

Post rafting we were given lunch - yummy samgyupsal - pork and tofu and cabbage in a spicy soup like stuff with rice - and then Brenton and Amy went paintballing as an option and Loren and I relaxed on the beach for the afternoon.  It was sooo relaxing to just lay around, drink an iced coffee, and talk.

The way home took forever, as these things generally seem to do.  I think we used almost every mode of transportation possible in Korea.  City bus in Boryeong, Intercity bus to Daejon, taxi from bus terminal to KTX station in Daejon,  KTX to Daegu, and then subway home. The phenomenal part was all of that transportation only cost about $35. Fabulous.

Overall, the weekend was a nice getaway.  I had a great time with Loren, Brenton, and Amy and it was so nice to see the ocean and relax on the beach, even if I did get a bit sunburned.  We didn't take a ton of pictures on the trip, but I'll add a few soon, so check back if you want to!

Media Scramble [Seoul videos & pictures from school]

Technology loves me again! Well, I don't know if I would go as far to say "love" but it has finally let me load all of these random videos and pictures that I know you're dying to see! I've put a few videos together so hopefully it'll keep your attention!

This first video was when we were in Seoul and stumbled upon the World Vision Charity Festival and saw these young girls doing some sweet moves! Some of the songs are familiar, and the others are now very common in my life - they're kpop (Korean pop) songs!

This is from that crazy acrobatic show we went to.  I promise it doesn't do the weirdness level of the show any justice - you'll just have to take my word for it.  Notice how strange it is, and multiply by about 100 for witnessing it all live.

 Sports day! Every school here has a Sports Day in which they all are in teams according to their class and do ridiculous competitions.  It's different for elementary, middle, and high schools - and I've heard enough stories from friends to know that they're all entertaining!  A favorite of mine is shown in this video - lift a girl up on your shoulders, then run at other groups and try to steal the baseball cap! It's like a game of chicken we play in the pool.  But with no water and more entertainment.

I missed capturing the warm up/stretching shown in the video, but here are my school's girls going back to their tents.

 

Post warm up - pre-competition.

don't mind me, I'm a celebrity.

For racing, no one wears their hair up and they are often in converse and vans. and yet they are very serious about it if you ask.

RUNNN

steal a hat!

love these two!

Giant game of Tug-o-war.

random 3rd year class.

This class is one of my more boisterous and unruly.  However, if I snap at them, they get in line and actually are a pretty interactive class so I can't help but like them!

Kyungwha Girls High School.

Left Behind.

Apparently, according to good ol' radio/tv evangelist Harold Camping, the rapture should have happened at 6pm on May 21st. However, since it is currently the afternoon of the May 23, 2011 in South Korea and there have not been outrageous earthquakes or mysterious person disappearances, I can only assume that Harold was a bit off.

However, it did get me thinking as things in this world often do. I'm sure you've heard of the fiction series "Left Behind" which is a depiction of what the end times might look like. Basically, it shares the a thrilling account of Christians being taken to Christ at the Rapture and what those "left behind" must endure. When they were first coming out, I read a few of them and while I don't necessarily agree that that is exactly what will happen in the end times, I thought they were interesting and thought provoking reads. Let's tie this into everyday life.

Lately, it seems as if I am on a different wave length, time schedule, or life outlook than many people my age. Many of my closest friends are married, engaged, in serious relationships, starting careers or the latest phenomenon that has taken over - being pregnant. I am undeniably and genuinely joyful for these people and what God is presenting them with in this stage of their life.  And while I am quick to say that I am definitely not in a position financially, mentally, or emotionally to be where they are, I am going to confess to you something. Recently, I have been feeling a bit left behind.  Friends are moving on relationally with others, and sometimes it feels as if I'm standing still. The common reaction is "But Rachel, you're traveling the world!" and you're right. I am. But this isn't all that I want to do with my life - so while that argument is true, there's so much more that I desire for this life.

Living by myself has given ample introvert time alone with my thoughts and has led to some questioning. I know I'm only at a young age of 22, but should I be taking my relational future more seriously? Is it time for me to "settle down" and give up this life of traveling solo? Should I only apply to grad schools that are near home or somehwere where I want to eventually create a long-term home? Am I unknowingly closing doors for potential relationships by always moving?

None of these questions are ones easily answered as I'm discovering. And the more I have thought and prayed about it, I've come to a conclusion. I am not left behind.  I am exactly where God wants me.  I am doing what He has called me to do at this point in my life.  I may not have weddings within the same 5 year period that everyone seems to be getting married, but if God desires it, I will get married in His timing.  I may not have children the exact same age as some of my closest childhood friends' kids, but they definitely can still be close family friends.  There is no "perfect" life schedule for me - or for you for that matter.

On a grander scheme, we need to remember what God says about timing overall.  Just like how we can't predict the time and date of the ending of the world as we know it - Matthew 24 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.", we don't and can't know God's timing for what happens in our lives.

So give it up folks, we can't figure it out and nor should we try.  Insert trust, and work on that.  That's my current cry out to God - "Lord, help me to trust your timing with my life. Also, if possible, please let me find good Mexican food in South Korea. I love you. Amen."

food for thought:
“You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future”

I've got Seoul.

Sorry it's been awhile since I've written - technology has not been my friend recently. My internet in my apartment was out over the weekend and now it is working but uploading pictures is acting funky now also. So, I got a few pics to go up, but the rest will follow later - I promise! check back in a few days and you can see some visuals! :]


In case you don’t know, Seoul is the largest city in South Korea and has about 11 million people all crammed in a very small geographical area. 

Friday.

With full backpacks, Friday evening, the four of us traveling together: myself, Amy (from Minnesota), Holly (from Canada) and Orla (from Ireland) met and took the slow train at 6:45pm from Daegu Station.  The slow train takes about 4 hrs and is less than half the price of the high speed train (KTX) so we opted for more hang out time and less money.  After an uneventful ride in surprisingly spacious and comfortable seats, we disembarked at Seoul Station at 10:45pm.  We were staying at a hostel that Amy had stayed at previously, Backpacker’s Space, and had to take the subway to get there.  The Seoul subway is insane. Here’s a picture of the subway map.

If that doesn’t give you heart palpitations, then think about 11 million people using this subway and pushing you around while you’re trying to figure out when you need to shove your way off at a stop. Yes, chaos.  

With only minor difficulties, we made it to our hostel, figured out our tourist plan of attack for the next day, and went to sleep.

Saturday.

In the morning after little sleep due to the orchestra of snoring surrounding me, we started a daily tradition of stopping at Paris Baguette (a reasonably priced bakery with pastries/bagels/etc that is all over SKorea) for breakfast and coffee.  With full bellies, off we went to Seoul Tower on Mt. Namsam.  From the street there was a weird slanted elevator which took us to a cable car that would bring us almost to the tower.  The area around the tower was beautiful with lots of trees, walking areas, and of course, people.  Forgetting to actually go UP in the tower, we wandered around, took lots of pictures, and then just headed back down the mountain. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll be back eventually!

Next stop was Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was beautiful. There were traditional guards doing demonstrations and I’m forever amazed at the artistry of the paintings on the buildings.  The surrounding grounds were also gorgeous with blooming flowers and trees with vivid green leaves.

Seoul Folk Museum was next but because we had just learned so much history at the palace, our attention was waning and it didn’t take us long to move on.  We found the large statue of General Lee.  He is very important to Koreans in that he played a major part in Korea gaining independence from Japan. 

By this point it was almost evening, so we took the subway to the area where the Lotus Lantern Parade was supposed to take place.  Holly had friends who are teachers and were visiting Seoul also, so they saved us great seats right along the street. The parade began and I kid you not, it lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes. It had everything from paper lantern floats to masses of people both in traditional dress or not depending on the group holding paper lanterns that they were giving out randomly to traditional musicians playing as they walked to dancers to baby Buddhist monks.  The parade was amazing.  It just kept going and going!

Exhausted from a whole day of being a tourist, we stayed for a bit of the festivities after the parade but then headed back on a very crowded subway back to our hostel.

Sunday.

Post Paris Baguette breakfast, off we went to Insadong. Insadong is a more traditional shopping area with lots of little shops and street vendors that basically sell a ton of souvenir type stuff.  After walking around there for a while we happened upon the Lotus Lantern Festival.  Little did we know that by the end of the day we would have “happened upon” a total of 4 festivals!  We walked through that, looked at some of their booths, and kept going.  Cheonggyecheon Stream was close, so we grabbed take out lunch from various places and sat by the water to eat.  The stream is beautiful with walkways on either side, places to wade in the water, and stones to walk across to the other side randomly.  It’s a very popular place to be and looked extra amazing with lanterns strung up in honor of Buddha’s birthday on Monday. 

As we meandered along the stream, we went up to street level and found yet another festival - the World Vision Charity Festival (don't know the official name, but they were raising  money!) it had performances on a huge stage, ways to donate, and I got a sweet KungFu Panda visor!

Next we stumbled upon the World Festival where they had booths with people/food/culture from around the world! Each booth was a different country and the smells of the food were amazing - totally reminded me of December Nights at Balboa Park in San Diego.  At the festivals we had gotten a map (which we lost but then eventually found another) that told us about other performances happening that weekend and were intrigued by some circus sounding ones that were taking place by the Han River at a large park.  Lots of walking later, we found it and after grabbing snacks, settled in to watch a performance that was free and outside.  We had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into.  Everyone was sitting down waiting when an announcement (in Korean of course) happened and everyone got up and started moving.  We found out that we weren't allowed to sit, just stand.  Baffled, we moved in closer to the stage and waited for it to start.  It was the weirdest performance ever. so hard to even explain.  

First, people (acrobats we assumed) were on scaffolding yelling and doing weird movements. 

Then, a shaved headed woman was carried through the crowd and hooked up to a crane where she was lifted high into the sky and flapped wings of some sort.

It gets better. She comes down, get's on this weird robot looking thing and starts going through the crowd. I kid you not, it was coming fast, changing directions, but don't worry, they had people with torches running through clearing the way.  All 4 of us got split up and I know we looked like chickens with their heads cut off.  Every time I tried to get out of the way I'm pretty sure I ran right back in the path of it. Once it stopped, adrenaline was flowing, we were reunited, and couldn't imagine what else the show would bring us.

But it wasn't over yet! next a large hamster wheel looking contraption was hooked up to the crane and lifted...with people inside. It spun in the air and then was slowly lowered to the ground in the middle of the crowd and yes, it started rolling through the crowd.  At least this time we were a little more mentally prepared for flames running at us and large metal objects but it was still scary! Maybe they did a warning in that Korean announcement in the beginning...but we'll never know!

To top it all off, people started walking in lines wearing what looked like white haz-mat suits and connected together by large cables. Surprise, surprise, they were hooked up to the crane! This time it wasn't scary and didn't cause me to have a nervous breakdown to watch.  Up and up they were lifted into the air and did some simple yet amazing movements while hanging there! During this final hurrah, there were musicians and someone singing a song that most of the performers seemed to know.  Finally, after very close fireworks, the show was over. We wanted an exciting weekend, and boy did we get one!

Monday.

Unfortunately, Monday brought a dreary morning but we had planned to meet some other friends, Brenton and Loren at Lotte World – a big amusement park that has a large portion of it under cover. However, after waiting 45 minutes in the line just for park admission tickets and we had only moved a few feet, we gave up on that idea and it turned into a relaxing, meandering day.  We ended up heading to Itaewon, which has the highest foreigner population in Korea. Emerging from the subway was almost culture shock in itself – most of the signs were in English! We found a Mexican restaurant and I had a chimichanga.  Definitely not up to Old Town Mexican Café in San Diego status, but came with a good size dollap of guacamole and sour cream, so I was a happy camper! Definitely will curb my craving for awhile.  At this point, it’s raining at a steady pace and the cold that I’d been fighting decided to hit full force.  We spent the rest of the day back in Myeongdong in familiar stores such as Forever 21 and H&M.  With lighter wallets and full shopping bags, we went back to the hostel and because I was feeling so lousy, I showered and went to bed as they went out for a late dinner.

Tuesday.

A pretty uneventful day. Took our time leaving the hostel, took our stuff to the lockers in Seoul station, and wandered around the area – a little shopping and then a late lunch at Bennigan’s.  Slow train back to Daegu left at 3pm and back to reality we went.

While I wouldn’t call our weekend in Seoul a restful one, I think it was definitely refreshing as a foreigner.  The high probability of encountering someone who could speak English was a welcome change of pace.  Even though I’m in South Korea and it still feels like a dream at times, life here is becoming routine and dare I say it, normal.  So it’s fun to get out of Daegu and experience something different yet again.  However, while I’m excited for my next adventure out of the city, I’ll also say what I’ve been saying since I’ve been here – every day in South Korea is an adventure in itself!

Fish intestines and martyrs museum.

I know what you're thinking after reading the title - and yes, I realize this is a weird combination.

However, I'm in a bit of a time crunch and want to write this blog now because we're leaving this evening for Seoul for 4 days and I know I'll have even more to blog about!  So bear with me and don't critique my writing because I can bet it will not be my best work.

Teacher's Room Dinner.

Sadly I don't have any pictures from this endeavor, so you'll have to use your own imagination.

We've been having midterms this week which has resulted in getting off work at 12pm and lots of relaxing for me.  However, the teachers are a bit more stressed and busy so my teacher's room decided to go out to dinner Wed after our only full day of classes. Why we had a full day in the middle of midterms, I have no idea. I was conflicted in if I wanted to go - I knew they'd be drinking a high amount of soju and beer and would be out late.  However, it would have been really rude if I declined and I decided I would go to the dinner, refuse any soju, and go home right after dinner.  I knew I had to get up at 6am the next day for the church trip!

Promptly at 4:30, we left school and went to some restaurant about 10 minutes drive from the school.  There were about 12 of us at the dinner and it was interesting to say the least.  Each table (we had 3 pushed together) had it's own burner on which they put a huge bowl of broth.  Apparently it was self serve buffet, but they told me to just sit there so I munched on fresh pineapple as they brought plates and plates piled high with things that honestly didn't look appealing to me.  Oysters, snail looking things, huge shrimp, mini half crab things, squishy looking intestine type stuff, and full baby octopus. I started getting a little nervous.  I'm all for trying new food - but this was a bit much.  The only thing that saved my hopes was a plate of frozen beef strips and veggies. 

Once the broth was boiling, we (meaning them, not me) dumped in all of the seafood.  To cook the beef, you just held it between your chopsticks and dunked it in the broth a few times until it was all brown and it was actually really good!  I tried to get away with just beef and veggies, but I accidentally said, sure, seafood is fine, and all the sudden there was a HUGE pile of it on my plate. oh no. I started with the oysters, which I knew I could handle and moved onto the snail type thing.  I had to grip it with my chopsticks and pull it out of it's cute little swirled shell.  Basically tasted fishy and felt like I was chewing rubber.  I avoided the crab and shrimp because I knew I would make a face at those and moved onto the dreaded octopus.  It was about the same size as if you put your thumb and first finger together to make the A-Okay symbol.

Right as I was getting up the guts to put it in my mouth and knowing most of them were watching me, one of the English teachers says "warning, the head may pop in your mouth when you chew it." umm gross. I almost lost it right there.  But, being the adventurous person that I am (and great internal pep talk) I ate it.  Once again, the taste wasn't bad, but oh the texture.  It was awful. I could feel the tentacles and it took soooo long to chew.  But I kept the facial expressions to a minimum and it was successful!

I didn't take this picture, I found it online, but this is what it looked like!

Next I decided to go for the intestine looking thing.  When I asked what it was, they wouldn't tell me but just said "try it!" and I knew I was in for a surprise.  It. Was. Horrible. It literally was fish intestines and was squishy and mushy and all you can imagine fish intestines to be. They were laughing because I couldn't hold the facial expressions on that one and was trying my best not to gag and just swallow the food.  Swallowing was successful, and I stuck to beef and veggies the rest of the evening.

The table talk was mostly in Korean, so I sat there and decided to make up my own translations in my head of what they were saying, which was totally entertaining.  There's a young teacher that always tries to speak English to me even though his English is very limited.  He decided to try really hard during dinner and had the whole table laughing as he would try to understand me and formulate his own words. so fun.

4 1/2 hours later, they decided it was time to go...but were then going to noribang (karaoke rooms) but I bowed out and headed home.

I had a great time of trying new food and hard laughter - and I'm so glad I decided to go!

Church Mission Trip

The English church service I've been attending at Dongshin Presbyterian was offering a day trip to learn about the missionaries who came and spread the Gospel to Korea and because we had the day off, I decided to go.  It was only 10,000won (like $10) and they were giving us breakfast, dinner, snacks and a bus ride there and back from Seoul! amazing!  We met at the church at the early hour of 7:30am to eat breakfast and hop on the bus.  The bus was about 3 1/2 hours but Holly and I had great conversation and I was able to sleep a bit also. 

We visited Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery and learned through a few videos and our tour guide about the early missionaries that helped get a translated Bible into Korea and sacrificed their lives to be God's hands and feet in Korea - building and leading orphanages, schools, and hospitals.  It was fascinating and inspiring to learn about them. We then ate lunch outside and luckily it was a gorgeous day. 

on the way to the cemetery... please notice all the hazardous wires.

Foreigner's Cemetary

The Japanese hated this missionary so much they marred his headstone so it was not readable.

beautiful day!

Effects of the Korean War on a missionary's tombstone

Next we rode the bus to the Martyr's Museum where there are 600 martyrs buried on the land that would not deny their belief in Christ.  Christians were persecuted heavily by the communists and the Japanese and various awful torture methods were used.  There have been 2,400 Christian martyrs in Korea.  Makes me sooo grateful for the endless opportunities I have had to worship God without fear of being persecuted.  After stopping at a super nice rest stop (as far as rest stops go) we headed home.

There were paintings of all 600 that were buried on those grounds

The group in the Martyrs Museum

view from the museum

 The picture below shows two scenes.  The bottom painting depicts when the translated Bible was first brought to Korea and then they abruptly beheaded the missionary who brought the translation.  However, in contrast, the top is a photo of 100 years later, when 3.5 million Korean Christians gathered to worship God together.  Isn't that amazing??

Martyr's Museum

outside the museum, different country, but reminded me of Loma!

It was a long day of being on a bus, but so enlightening and fun to meet/get to know better other members of the church!