kimchi, kamsa, kal-bi

here we go! midnight flight, ETA at incheon international airport 7:50am. it was the deadest flight i've been on, everyone sunk into their chairs deep in sleep, but i didn't sleep too well. and i think it showed when we arrived, haha! we were immediately brought to calvary church for 2 services, and treated to a full course korean meal - nobody complained.

the next morning, after a hearty breakfast and a whole lot of caffeine, went straight on up to canaan farmers' school for 2 days of training and tour of nearby farming villages.

our visit coincided with a whole bunch of teenagers there for 3days-2nights. the writing on the wall behind me in the canteen is their pre-meal motto: "thank God for this food. we don't live to eat, we eat to live. if you don't work, you don't eat. a meal equals 4 hours' worth of work." and they say punishment awaits those who are found with even ONE grain of rice left on the plate. that's easy! i always finish my rice (well, 99% of the time)

that night, principal bum-il kim blew on his 20_yr old trumpet. the sound was deafening, and i don't mean in the physical sense. i've never met a more inspiring senior person. we hear of such heroes often, but to meet one! he's amazing, reminds me of caleb in numbers. the view outside of aster and my room the next morning - like mt K :) nice fog.

brought around the school site. what's this? funeral plots. philosophy: why occupy so much space for your grave? live your life well, tend to God's creation responsibly when you're alive. your grave doesn't need to be huge. size of korean traditional grave vs. what you see in my pic, the ratio is 1:12. we then prayed for korea and malaysia up on that mountain.

down from the mountain. myung sung church visit. hosts brought us to have GINSENG CHICKEN! my fave meal throughout this whole trip. one whole chicken for each person, stuffed with sweet rice inside. yummy!! then, the next morning, their early morning prayer service no. 2 (they had 5 prayer services a day!) - thousands of faihtful christians. the pic shows their choir made up of their young adults and youth. church of 100-yrs history (from pyongyang revival), they even have their own museum.

we had ONE free day. well, 'free'. korean folk village was an awesome idea! cool place to explore. BUT rained the whole time we were there, that's the down side. LOTS of laughter too! our whole team went crazy!! traditional korean houses, farming techniques, clothing, school, execution tools (aka killing instruments) - cooOool.

kal-bi (barbecued beef) - eat, eat, eat! bittersweet = the euphoria of heavenly tasting food with the terror of unending supply. we had too much to eat. after finishing what i'm TOTALLY sure was a whole COW, they asked us whether we'd like our main course to be noodle or rice. i almost fainted from overeating! still sure my stomache was ROUND that afternoon!

so i know the danger of sticking some body part out of a moving car, but awwww! just LOOK at that beautiful scene! never has traffic jam looked this beautiful...the sunset was breathtaking, my most heartfelt moment of seoul's cityscape :)

downtown. the dinner that wasn't a dinner for me - ate 2 cheeseballs and stopped. important korean phrase: 'me wo yo!' translation? SPICYYY!! (will later scout for edible NON-mewoyo food). upside was hip live performance, no wonder young people hang out here a lot.

the hosts brought us to seoul tower, a 300++m high building overlooking the whole metro in all its evening glory. overwhelmed by their hospitality! some of them hosts have never even been there themselves. costed around RM37 per person for the elevator ride, but well worth it. my panorama pic didn't turn out perfect - but at least i can say I'VE BEEN THERE!

near the hotel we stayed at for the final 3 days. took random shots, and found a nice seaweed roll stall - foooOOood! so i was hungry, can u blame me?! at least this wasn't mewoyo!

later took more random shots from hotel room, streets were clearing out, it was 1am. the whole street was great to tour around, i'd wanna go back there. off to bed, off to bed!

aah! the merchandise. bought gifts, gifts, and more gifts...i must say this is one trip on which i spent very little money. bought so little stuff for myself, i suppose it's good :) combination of aster and my merchandise. hmm, travel tip? buy kim (seaweed) when u go to korea. and ginseng, and green tea, bamboo salt, and cute tiny stuff that says 'made in korea' - lol!

had 'church growth seminar' with several speakers, e.g. dr joshua jong. insightful. then? eat lo, what else! the one standing up in the right-hand picture is prof. younglae kim. that would be my fave session.

youth hang-out place in anyang-jeil church's vision centre. also cafe, library, etc. later joined their evening prayer service, congregation was lively and responsive. most memorable characteristic of korean churches? they respond to speaker/preacher with loud, unanimous and faith-filled 'amen!', very impressive. happens often so if u fell asleep, you'd wake up and nod to agree with their amens. what?! no, i didn't do that...i just said IF u fell asleep *grin*

it's time to leave, last group photo. final one: me and my senior pastor-mentor-spiritual father, rev lee. half a korean, hehe.

i seldom like to post abt just events without my reflections. but from this trip i carried back so much, the funny and fun stuff aside. so much that i'm still reflecting through what i learnt, and want to better understand what God is saying these past few months and put together a bigger picture. that post wont be today :) so...

anyong.
(shalom in korean)