Good Bye Global!

On Monday, I said, "good bye" to a very special group of people. Twenty-five (all girls, except for two boys!) St. Olaf students were here for three and a half weeks after traveling the world for the past five months. I knew one of the girls in the group and had anticipated her arrival sometime in January. What I didn't anticipate was how God would bring us together. The first Sunday of Epiphany, I arrived as usual at the International Lutheran Church in Seoul. The first face (honestly!) I saw when I walked in the doors was Ali Wertz, daughter of pastor Tania Haber, who I had done my Junior year ministry internship with! Ali and I were more like acquaintances than friends, but I was I still eagerly looking forward to her arrival. When our eyes connected (ahhhh), we literally jumped into each other's arms. From that moment, I knew we had a different connection than before. We were both far from home, but felt so at ease in each other's presence. I sat with Ali and her other travel buddies in church. We could hardly stop whispering like giddy, young children the entire service. Ali also asked me if I was still considering seminary in the future (which now is a whole other blog posting to come soon), because she was now considering it after her travel experience. Pastor Steve also pointed us out in his sermon as an example of God's epiphanies in our lives, like the unexpected meeting of two people who know each other. God's epiphanies are what make us, as he said, go, "Ooooooh...Ahhhhh!" That's pretty much what Ali and I thought when we saw each other.

Immediately after the service, Ali and I made plans to get together the following weekend. The next Saturday evening, Britney, Shauna, and I met up with Ali and friends for dinner and some drinks. We ALL had a delicious Cheeseburger and fries (I guess we were craving American) before heading to the "free drinks for women" bar in Itaewon. We were literally the only people there when we walked in at 9:30pm, which gave us lots of time to chat and get to know each other more. By 11pm, the bar was filling up and we sent the girls home on the subway with plans to meet up the following weekend. Shauna, Britney, and I all headed to Seoul right after work the next Friday to meet the girls at the university they were staying at. We spent two full hours singing at the top of our lungs at the Noraebong (Karaoke bar) before parting ways once again. I met Ali that Sunday for church and lunch and then saw her for the last time on Sunday, the day before she headed home to MN. I had NO IDEA how close you could become with someone in such a short amount of time with just a few encounters. Ali and I both feel a strong connection to each other now and joke about being roommates at seminary just a few years from now, which actually might not end up as a joke after all. While I said, "good bye" to Ali and her wonderful friends this week, I can't wait to get back on Olie ground to see them all when I return in September. I haven't heard from any of them yet, but I pray that had a warm lay-over in Hawaii and have arrived safely home to the arms of their family and friends in MN. The St. Olaf Global group has added another rich memory to all my South Korean experiences.