Weekend in Seoul

I tried to think of a much wittier title for this blog, but all my ideas looked rather lame in print. So I opted for the standard description for this trip. I went to Seoul on Korean Independence Day (8/15), when they were freed from Japanese rule after WW2. I met up with Kris' girlfriend, Yun-Hye, and two of her friends, who happened to be twins. We walked around downtown, where I saw my first demonstration. There was a large group of people holding the Korean flag and chanting, and I couldn't tell exactly what was going on at first. Two men began fighting over the flag, and as I was filming (against Yun-Hye's wishes) they began yelling violently. I found out later it was a dispute over Korea's much-disputed president, Lee Myung-bak.
From there we went to Insadong, an ancient Korean street where they sell traditional clothes, food, and miscellany. We bought some snack there--peanuts wrapped in strung-out honey. It's one of those "you have to be there" kinda things. Oh, and some Koreans randomly asked me on the street to pose like a Mortal Kombat character for some kind of photographic scavenger hunt. I eagerly obliged.
The weekend was a little rainy, so we stayed inside cafes mostly. We did take the subway to Yong-San to visit the electronics market, and I got a power cable for my 360 that was 220 volts. We also walked around the downtown areas where the riverwalk is, and saw many Koreans watching the Olympics on a big screen. Later that night we went to the fish-cafe, where you can pay $2 for 25 minutes in a fish tank. You dip your lower legs into the tank, and small minnow-type fish come and nibble on your dead skin. It has a very ticklish feel at first, but after you grow accustomed to the sensation, it feels quite therapeutic.
I stayed in an amazing bed-and-breakfast in Seoul's wealthiest neighborhood. I'm still not sure how this happened, as Yun-Hye made the arrangements, but it was incredible. I had my own bedroom and bathroom, free internet and towels and travel maps, and the best part was that the wife of the owner made my breakfast promptly at whatever time I asked. I stayed there quite happily for two nights.
Saturday brought myself, Yun-Hye, and a different friend to Nam-dae-mun Market, then Myeong Dong. We met up with a friend of mine (well, Kris' really) from Atlanta who starting her first year of teaching next month in a public school in Seoul. Her name is Danah, and we made some arrangements to go to her church the following afternoon. We walked around for a while and found a Krispy Kreme shop where you could get a free donut. It was quite delicious. That night I went to Itaewon with a friend of mine, Eun-Jin, from Jacksonville (who I of course also had met through Kris) and we ate some sushi and went to Starbucks.
Sunday morning Danah and I went to the Korean War Museum, where I finally had some of my lingering questions answered by the quite-detailed exhibits. We grabbed some lunch at Burger King, making sure we ate before the 1:30p church service. While there, Danah recognized a guy that had been a guest speaker at her church, and as he was alone, she invited him to join us. His name was Malath, and he was an Iraqi Christian from Baghdad. He traced his Christian roots back to the first Assyrian Christians, and I don't know enough about this to comment further. Anyhow, he was in Korea completing his last year of seminary, and he led a small Arabic-speaking church. I cautiously brought up politics with him, and he was quite willing to discuss his views on the Iraq war with me. We had a really good chat about that and the church in Iraq.
After lunch we went to Jubilee Church. It reminded me of Discovery Church in Orlando, where I had visited a few times last September during a special push they were doing (Apathy to Entropy, or something like that). Anyhow, the church was great. The music was unfamiliar to me but good, and the guest speaker was excellent. It is an English-speaking church, and most of the congregation seemed to be Koreans who knew English or wanted to increase their skills. If I lived in Seoul, I'd definitely become a member of that church. This week I'm visiting a large church near my house that has an English ministry, so I'm hoping it is comparable to Jubilee.

So, the trip was great. No complaints. Good people, good friends, good food, good church, good everything. God is good!

Well, off to do some actual work. Oh, I finally was able to purchase a couch and a table and two chairs, so my apartment will soon leave the Stone Age. Next month I hope to purchase a TV, and if I can also get internet access, I'll be ready to rejoin the 21st century.