Dancing, Movie, and a Valley

The weekend as I remember it.

After work on Friday, my friend 바우 형 and I met up and decided to head to 강남. Another friend was supposed to meet with us at this point, but was out with his co-workers and said he would meet with us later. We arrived in 강남 and decided to get some food while we waited on our friend, JK. This led to some pretty good conversations all the while having some Korean girls eavesdrop on us the whole time. I still wonder if they understood what we said. At one point, I made direct eye contact with one of them at which point she smiled quite big, so I returned the favor.

Our friend arrived and we headed out. We wanted to go dancing. Now, some people go out to meet girls or whatever, I on the other hand, simply want to goof off and have a good time. We got to one place that pretty much played rap. If you know me, then you know I am not the biggest fan of rap. It was also very crowded... too crowded for me. We decided to leave and go to another place. This place was a bit better. The music was a mixture of Rap, Korean Pop, and some Indie Pop from the States. At one point, I was feeling the groove (so to speak) and had a blast. Afterward, 바우 said my dancing was quite different from the way Koreans dance. Maybe I will start a trend, haha. (I did get a thumbs up and a pat on the back from some guy wearing sunglasses.)

Saturday, I slept in since we were out pretty late the night before. I ate lunch around 1 PM, then met with my friend 은진. I wanted to buy a derby hat but I am apparently too tall or too small for anything in Korea to fit me. The lady selling the hat pulled the hat over my ears and said, "It fits!" This was of course in Korean to which I said, "No, it doesn't. I want it above my ears." (I pulled the hat up demonstrating how I wanted it. She said she could fix that by putting sizing tape on the inside. I said it would still be too big and left.

Afterward, we went to eat my favorite Korean dish, 닭갈비. During this time my friend, 바우 and I were planning on watching Public Enemies. We found a time and a way back home. Most buses stop around 12, but there are a few that will go until 1 or 2 AM. 은진 was acting silly and kept asking to see my text. I told her no and that she was being nosey. (All in good fun.) We met my friend and watched Public Enemies. Maybe I will write a review for it in my next post. Parts were good, some not so much.

Then on Sunday, I went to church in the morning. I met again with 형 so we could go food shopping for our afternoon in a valley. I am not sure the name and will hopefully add it soon. We met with a few other friends, found a nice spot to lay everything out, and began preparing out food. I cooked chicken while my friends cooked pork. Well, they guys cooked and the girls washed the vegetables and pots once we were done with them. We sat next to a few older ladies and an older man who were quite nice. They wanted to trade us an apple for some mushrooms but we had just used the last of our mushrooms for our chicken. They insisted we take the apple anyway. We ate, played Go-Stop and Dutch Blitz. Also, I was able to have another great conversation with 형. We packed everything up and left. On our way out, we stopped at this bridge in the mountain where you could see the city of Seoul. The sun was setting and made the site really beautiful.

This was a great weekend with good friends. Now if I could only stop being lazy and work on my photos.

Who is the Villain?

I have been reading a book called "The Writer's Journey" and in it, the book talks about all the archetypes in a story. One is the villain. Every story tends to have some sort of a villain, whether it be the guy who is trying to take over the world, the man who is trying to steal the hero's girlfriend, or a con-artist. But a question came up. Does the villain see themselves as the villain?

My friend and I had a discussion about it today. Does the villain really see themselves as evil? Do they think what they are doing is wrong or that it is something necessary in order to survive? The dictionary defines evil as morally wrong; injurious, accompanied by misfortune or suffering. Does the villain believe what they are doing is morally wrong? Does everyone believe in the same standards of morals? Did Adam and Eve see themselves as evil when they ate from the tree of life?

So, now I ask you, does the villain see himself as evil?

Unexpected

"Now, I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride."

The last part of this verse hit me. "He is able to humble those who walk in pride." I have a tendency to walk with pride that is not rightfully mine. Just last night, I was given a blow. A few friends and I were talking about church and when I asked if they knew I was a Christian, I was told no. Until this point, I thought I was doing okay. I thought I was living my life for God. I thought, I was showing through my walk and everything who I lived for.

This is what I thought.

Last night, when I got home, I began praying and asking for forgiveness. Then, I cried. I was crying because of my pride and shame. However, I will not live with this shame. God has restored me. He gives us people to show us an outside perspective. I thank God for showing me this. I hope I can continue to grow and that He continues to show me more of the things I am doing well in and the things I should change.

Thank you.

From July to August

Well, it has been awhile since I have posted anything on my travels in Korea. I have been quite busy with working and doing some traveling. I have been thinking about my future in Korea as well, but that is another subject for another time. Where to begin?

Well, the last place I left off was my trip to the Mud Festival. Since then, I have traveled to 궝주 to visit my friend Wes. He moved here from FL as well and this was the first time I have been able to visit him. While here I was able to visit a bamboo forest and a bamboo museum.

The day we went to the bamboo forest was probably the hottest day in Korea. I don't really know if that is true or not, but it definitely felt that way. But once you got into the forest the temperature dropped to a reasonably temperature. To get there, we took a bus for about 45 minutes which dropped us off at a small station. We decided to get a taxi to drive us to the forest. As my Korean is not very good, I tried the best I could to tell the driver where we wanted to go. After a few minutes and some conversing with other drivers, we were finally on our way. We began our drive on a nice paved road which turned into a long, wavy dirt road that eventually dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. However, we got out of the cab and enjoyed our time there.

Afterwards, we got another cab and headed towards the bamboo museum. It was neat to see the different things you can do with bamboo. We walked around the shops and left to head home. Also, while in 궝주 we went to a baseball game. We actually got the crowd to do the wave which went around the entire stadium around 3 or 4 times. I guess you can say we were proud of ourselves, haha.

I also met a girl who I thought was cute. Found out her name, that she lives in Seoul, is an actress, and a Christian. However, I failed to get any sort of contact information. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Then there was 가평. A few weeks ago, I was asked if I would go with a group of kids. They said it would only cost about 50,000 won. I thought that was a good deal to venture around Korea some more. We all met at a subway station in Seoul and headed towards the train. When we got to the train station, the train we were supposed to take was leaving. Therefore, we had to wait about 2 hours for the next train. This is also when I found out we would have to stand for the whole hour and a half train ride. (Was not a fan of this. But it only cost about 3,000 won, so who cares right?) We made it to our destination and unloaded our things. We jumped into a van and headed to the river. Once there, we began riding on a banana boat and some other floatation devices. It was definitely a good experience. We also went swimming which had a small slide. We played around trying to knock each other off some floating objects you would see in a game show like "Wipeout."

We left to head to our pension. Once there, we showered and begin preparation for our dinner. We began cooking and they began watching me as I began grilling the chicken we had brought. It is funny how grilled chicken is such an oddity here. But once they ate it, they loved it. It is such a good feeling to have someone appreciate something you have done (even if it is something as simple as grilling chicken.) We all hung out chatting until we fell asleep. The next day, we woke up quite sore from our day at the lake. We cleaned up the place and put our things together. We jumped into another van and headed to the train station. Again, we had to stand on the train. Well, we eventually just sat on the ground. I guess we were too exhausted from our trip to care.

Now, I think this has caught you up to where I am. Korea has been a blast. I have been meeting so many people lately. I thank God for every day I am here. This will be an adventure to remember and one that I think will continue for quite awhile. My promise is to keep you updated as much as possible.