A weekend in Seoul

I spent this past weekend in Seoul which almost always means more excitement than bumming around Dangjin :)

On Saturday Tracy and I headed for Seoul on the 9:00 bus.  Once there we got Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast/snack and hopped on the subway to go to Insadong (the arts & crafts area of Seoul).  It's a nice street to walk down with tons of souvenirs and artwork to look at.  Most shops sell the same things, though.  I did a good amount of Christmas shopping there.  When we reached the end of that area, we came out upon a busy road that I recognized from my trip to Seoul with Jason.  I was excited that I could get us around from there!  By this time we were ready for lunch, so we stopped at a Subway.  It's amazing how they smell exactly the same as they do in the U.S. and taste the same, too!  Definitely a good taste of "home."  Oh, and their chocolate chip cookies were probably the best I've eaten in this country so far.

From there we continued to Itaewon (the foreigners' district) to seek out some tastes of home to have for Thanksgiving.  Itaewon is so strange to me.  There are TONS of foreigners there.  Tracy and I are used to living in a small town with barely any foreigners, so at first we always turn around when we hear English and are surprised to pick up pieces of conversations and people walk past.  Anyway, we found a couple international grocery stores and bought some overpriced groceries (like a 3500 won can of cranberry sauce...).  That took more time than expected, so it was already time for dinner.  We chose an Indian/Pakistani buffet.  It was quite yummy!!  Also the first buffet I've been to here.  Our waitress was SO sweet.  I guess this is her first job or something, so she's trying really hard to give good service (and they don't even do tips here!).  We left a few pounds heavier than we came and waddled down to the subway station where Tracy and I parted ways.  She took the heavy bag of groceries and headed back to Dangjin, and I went North on the subway.  I had arranged to meet a new Korean friend at 8:00.  Here's the background on that: 

A while back I was googling "English Worship service in Korea" or something along those lines.  One of the results I got was AndyinKorea, a blog of a Canadian guy who was apparently very involved in a church here.  So, I left a little note on his guestbook mentioning that I was also in Korea and I didn't meet many foreign Christians and such.  Later, he emailed me and invited me to come to his church, Seoul International Baptist Church, the next time I was in Seoul.  So, I told him I'd be up this past weekend and he hooked me up with three Korean sisters who would show me a cheap hotel to stay in and help me get to the church.

So I met Ahn Jeong-Yeun at the subway station and we went to Starbucks and got to know each other a bit.  Then we drove to pick up her two sisters and their 5 dogs from the vet.  They took me to a hotel and helped me check in and planned to pick me up in the morning.  The hotel was nice and clean for 30,000 won and I should've gotten good sleep.  However, I had Starbucks way too close to bedtime.... it was a long night....

Sunday morning the girls picked me up and we went to Dunkin' Donuts in Itaewon where we met Andy for breakfast.  From there we went to church and I met a bunch of foreigners and participated in a great before service Bible Study and then the main worship service.  It was like I was whisked back to the U.S. for a bit.  Really, it was a reality check for me when the offering plate came around and there was won in it instead of dollars!  It was SO nice to discuss the Bible with people and pray with them in English that wasn't scripted!  I was certainly blessed.  After the service, the Ahn sisters, Andy and I joined two couples and their adorable children for lunch at Pizza Hut followed by Starbucks again.  So much western stuff!  And I felt really welcomed by those I was with.  It's great to just blend right in with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Eventually I got back to the bus station and headed back to Dangjin.  While it was nice to be around more foreigners for awhile, it was also really strange.  It was actually nice to go back to being the only white face around, strange as that may sound.

 

And now it is cold here.  I just started wearing my winter coat.  And, I've decided it's ok to play Christmas music now.  I'm not sure if it will ever feel Christmasy here, though... maybe if we get some snow....