Spring has sprung...I hope!

FINALLY! It is amazing what warm weather and sunshine can do for a persons attitude. Come May, we got our first 75 degree weekend, and I took full advantage of it! On Friday, the trio (Britney, Shauna, and I) headed to a mall on the outside of Seoul for dinner and a movie. After walking around the entire complex (it's actually a convention center) we finally found 'On the Boarder,' our favorite Mexican restaurant. Although we shared some double decker quesadillas with fresh avocado and an unlimited supply of chips and salsa, we had room for more. At this theater, picking your popcorn for the evening isn't so easy. They have: original, cheddar, garlic, and sweet. Yet there's more options! You can get them all together as a mix or all together with sectionals keep the flavors separate...how do you even choose?! I went for garlic, cheddar, and sweet all mixed together. Let me tell you...it was like a Christmas tin, but better! We saw The Hurt Locker at 10pm and headed home after a relaxing Friday night out.

On Saturday, I slept in until noon, which is sadly early for me! I was able to talk to friends and family before heading into Seoul for the afternoon. We ventured to an oriental medicine market. I don't what it is with the markets here in Seoul, but we had a few more "experiences"...none quite as exciting as those at the fish market. We saw pigs feet and heads along with our first real dog, skinned with the claws left on. Sad. We also had a few more yellers and friends calling each other "crazy" as the workers said things to us that we clearly couldn't understand. Probably the most entertaining was the person who asked, "Where you made?" to which we had no response because we didn't understand what he was asking. After repeating it several times with no response, he finally said, "I made in Korea...where you made?!" Oh...silly us. We should have known he was asking, 'Where were you made!?' At that, we replied, "We were made in the USA...Minnesota to be exact!" Pretty funny translation for 'Where are you from?' Thanks for making me in the USA mom and dad! :) By dinner we were had all built up an appetite after our Friday night splurge. Don't worry...we splurged again in Itaewon (the military base with many different cultural foods) at an Irish pub. I wanted a cheese burger and when it arrived, that included: a bun, a hash brown patty, a hamburger patty, an egg, cheese, lettuce, and onion! I can already see you tipping over in your chair mom....but it was REAL good! :) So the night ended with a bus ride back and a fairly early bed time with plans for church and a hike on Sunday.

Since I've walked in a few minutes after church has started the last couple times I've gone, I decide to be prompt and catch an earlier bus this week. The ride into Seoul was great until we got to the intersection right before my stop and sat for 15 minutes at one light without moving an inch. I kept watching the time go by thinking I was going to be late again, even with my intentional plan of getting there early. People on the buses behind ours were getting off and walking, which I was about to do until we finally moved in time for me to get in the doors of church just as it was beginning. As if church wasn't spiritually rejuvenating already, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so Britney and I headed right back for a local hike in Suji. The bummer with summer coming up is that we waste two hours riding to and from church on a Sunday afternoon when we could be spending that time outside. By the time we got home at 2:00pm, we were worried about getting started to late and not finishing our hike without having to turn back before sunset. However, we were trucking up the mountain by 2:45pm. After the chilly weather we've been having, it felt absolutely wonderful to be dripping sweat. Britney and I could hardly believe that it was six months earlier when we were doing this exact same hike to see the peak of the leaves changing in the fall! It was just as good as the first time and so fun to see the many families from toddlers to grandparents out enjoying the scenic points along the hike. The only difference between them and us, was the amount of clothing. Britney and I were sweating in capris and t-shirts while most Koreans had on their matching wind suits, gloves, scarves, hats, visors, AND masks literally covering themselves from head to toe. It's unreal the amount of clothing they wear to prevent any sun exposure in this amount of heat. Don't they know Vitamin D is healthy for their skin?! I don't know how they avoid passing out on the mountain. Anyway, there were people sitting on benches, reading, lifting weights, stretching, hula hooping, eating, selling ice cream...you name it, and people were doing it on the mountain. We were happy to see so many Koreans enjoying this beautiful part of their culture right in the middle of their city, and happy to be a part of it! We made it to the top in about two hours and spent some time in the fresh breeze enjoying our nut mix and the view before heading down. After a solid three hours of hiking, we ended our night at no other place than our favorite restaurant for Bibimbop. It was truly a perfect end to a perfect weekend! Let me share with you the prayer I said at the top of the mountain:

Thank you God...for this beautiful spring day in Korea. Thank you for long, cold winters that are necessary to remind me how thankful I am for the pattern of all your seasons. Thank you for calling me to serve away from home so that I have the chance to experience the joy of nature in a different form than the prairies I am used to. Help me to use the remainder of my time to see and feel your presence in all that that surrounds me. Amen.