Sunday

I woke up early again but fortunately I was able to go back to sleep until 8. Yay!! We were pretty lazy in the morning. I worked on my blog forever. Sorry it was so long. I had a really hard time with the pictures loading too.

We left the apartment around 1:15 headed for church which is at 2:30. We took the bus from the apartment to the subway. We stopped for kimbap (or gimbap) which looks sort of like sushi. I ate some of it and it was OK but definitely not my favorite. Jennifer says it's a popular, healthy snack. It's pretty cheap--1,000 won which is less than $1.



We took the subway towards Incheon to Songnae station which is still in Bucheon where Jen lives. We then took another bus towards the church. Jennifer is definitely no longer directionally impaired. She said she pretty much had to learn it all on her own too. She gets around this place very well and to me it's very confusing. I've navigated New York City much, much better. It's hard to get your bearings when you can't really walk or drive. I'm thinking Bucheon is much larger than I first suspected.

It was still a walk of a couple of blocks to the church. There were absolutely no signs of a church so I'm amazed that she was ever able to find this place. We went though a small side door on the building and walked though a hallway that smelled like a Korean fish market (not really good) to the elevator. Even on the elevator there were no signs of an English speaking church. One floor did say Acts 29 but that was not Jen's church. I'm sorry to say I don't have any church pictures because that would have been too weird to do. It probably wasn't that different than a small church start up in the US that meets in a non-traditional space. The dress was casual maybe even moreso than Steele Creek. The pastor who wasn't much older than Jen wore jeans. The worship team led us in probably 4 songs. I only knew one of them--Hosanna. They had keyboards, guitars, bass, and drums. One of the guitarists used a mandolin on one of the songs.

The pastor teaches English here as well. I'm pretty sure the pastor position is part time. Jen said he's an English major. It's a pretty transient congregation because most of them are here for only one year. I believe the church is part of a larger Korean ministry. The two elders were Korean. They were dressed in suits and wore white gloves as they served communion. The service was from 2:30 until 4:00.

Afterwards there were refreshments and fellowship. Jen's friends Kristina, Katie, and Abby also attend the same church. You may remember I had dinner with them on Friday night. Katie is on the worship team and Abby was responsible for snacks on Sunday. Kristina's mom Sunyung (sp?) was also at church so I was able to meet her. She is Korean but until last summer has lived in Hawaii for 20 years. It was really nice to meet her and talk with her. Her family was Buddhist when she was very young but had converted to Catholicism. She became a Christian in the US and worshipped in a non-denominational church in Hawaii that met in, guess what--a tent. It sounded a lot like Steele Creek.

I also met another mom at church who was visiting her daughter. This lady was originally from Hong Kong but now lives in Syracuse. Her daughter was not at church because she had to work. Some of the schools had closed because of the swine flu scare so her daughter was making up missed days. Sunyung and this lady (don't remember her name) talked of how they are the only Christians in the their extended family.

After church we went with the girls and Sunyung for more Korean BBQ. We ate outside this time and the grills were different. The ones on Friday were electric. Here the waitress brought out two cylinder shaped charcoals that were probably 15" high and looked heavy. They were very hot. Seemed like a dangerous job carrying these things with tongs (one at a time). Then she brought a bowl full of meat (pork, I think) and lots of sides. Abby ordered blood clot soup. Here's a picture of the soup and the blood clot. I can promise you, I didn't go near this stuff.


Abby ate one blood clot and I guess she'd had enough.

We kept the waitress hopping bringing us more and more sides. I'm not sure how many times we had to get her to get more garlic. We ate lots and lots of garlic. This place also brought out sliced cucumber and carrots. We probably had her go back for more of these 4 or 5 times. I really enjoyed these. The cukes are really good here and very inexpensive in the markets. I also improved greatly with the chopsticks and was able to eat the entire meal with them. It was probably still very comical to watch but I was happy about it.







We had a great time together and again I really enjoyed talking with Sunyung. She seems to really love Jennifer and all the girls. It's nice to know they have a mom here and they all love her. Abby left us then the rest of us went to Baskin-Robbins for dessert. Koreans love ice cream and cakes. I guess we Americans do too.

Jen and I said our goodbyes for the night and she took me to E-Mart which used to be Wal-Mart I think. They have everything there from a pet store which sells puppies (and veterinarian serivce) to groceries to clothing to appliances. The clothing is higher end than Wal-Mart. They had Gore-tex jackets and hiking boots in their camping section. Jen got a nice pair of Levi's that cost 9,000 won which is less than $9. Prices here are interesting. For instance most of the umbrellas seem to be 15-30,000 won. Again these are high-rise buildings but they have an interesting way of getting the shopping carts from level to level.


Jen explained that the wheels lock in place so it's not so difficult to hold them on the incline. The grocery part of the store was very interesting. It was large like our grocery stores but they have sales people urging you to try samples and calling out loudly for you to buy. There are often free samples of other products attached to anything you buy too.

Once again it was close to 11pm when we got back to the apartment.