Return to The Far East

Yesterday, Tom and I arrived at our home for the next two years. We're living and working in Cheonsung Presbyterian Church in the city of Cheonan, Korea.
Our Journey to the church took a total of thirty-three hours and we took two planes, a coach, and a taxi to reach our final destination (excluding travel to the airport initially). The first flight was roughly thirteen hours long and brought us to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. We found that we coukd easily sleep on the first flight, so time went by quickly for us. Upon arriving at Kuala Lumpur, Tom grabbed something to eat and we went in search of Monopoly Deal in a toy shop. Sadly, we could not find the original edition of Monopoly Deal but rather a 'Millionaire' version, so we settled with Uno instead.
As we went through customs at Kuala Lumpur, I was careful to remove my pencil case and watercolour paints to avoid having to remove everything from my backpack a second time. Heathrow Airport customs had been very thorough in making sure that I wasn't carrying anything explosive or toxic in my bag. Still, even though we got through without any hitches this time, Tom was still through to the waiting lounge a good few minutes before me.
The second flight dragged on for quite some time so Tom and I entertained ourselves by playing several hands of Uno. The Goal stated by the instructions is for each player to try to reach 500 points before the other players...this took us 2-3 hours.
The immigration at Incheon Airport was swift and we entered Korea with no problems, phew! I say this because when we were at Kuala Lumpur airport one of the assistants that helped us mentioned that Tom may not be allowed into Korea without proof of a return flight. All was good however, God's got it sorted.
The coach journey took about two-and-a-half hours due to the traffic around Seoul. As you can see, Tom enjoyed this journey very much...

After arriving in Cheonan and hauling our 30kg suitcases from the coach, we took a taxi to the church. We arrived at the church in the midst of a thunderstorm, the thunder and lightning were like nothing I had personally experienced before. Mrs. Byun (a lovely lady who works in and is a member of the church) met us and helped us carry our luggage up to our appartment.
It didn't take us long to fill one of our bookshelves. I own about 6/7 of these books and a few of the bibles, the rest belong to Tom.

We made a mess and then relaxed.

Journey to The Far East - Shabu-shabu and The Korean Hall of Independance

Tom and I taught our first English lesson this week which wasn't really much of a lesson. We played hangman with our students and a few other games that we had fished from the internet. After spending an hour at Yeso Nursery on Thursday afternoon, Tom and I returned to our apartment at the top of the church and did a bit of preparation for the teaching on Sunday.

Dinner with Mrs Kim - Friday 21st
On Friday evening we were taken out to dinner by one of the church members; Mrs Kim. We met Mrs Kim and her daughter at five o'clock at a modern restaurant inside one of the shopping malls in Cheonan.
After being introduced and learning a little about each other, we were seated and served Shabu-shabu. Shabu-shabu is a type of meal that involves cooking very thinly sliced beef in boiling broth. The tables had electric stoves built into them that heated the broth in stainless-steel bowls/woks and once it reached boiling point we added a selection of vegetables including several types of mushrooms that I hadn't eaten before. Once all the veg had been boiling a while, we added the beef slices.
Along with the Shabu-shabu we were given rice paper and a selection of grated veg with three different sauces; I believe it's called Bulgogi. The idea is that you dip the rice paper into water to soften it, lay it on your plate and apply veg, add sauce, and then make it into a kind-of wrap. I documented the process that was initially demonstrated superbly by Jacob but didn't get a photo of the bright pink water that we were given to soak our rice paper in.

After this delicious dinner we went for ice-cream together. Mrs Kim told us that she'd been part of the church for several years and had known Jacob's wife (Beth) for some time and watched her grow up. Mrs Kim's daughter (I'm not great with names) enjoys performance art and is hoping to study singing (or music?) for the next few years. Her entry exam is in September and we're praying that she does well if it's God's will.
Mrs Kim shared a little about herself and her walk with God. She told us that she was prompted by the Spirit of God to bless the missionaries that are coming to serve in Cheonan and so in response to this she blessed us by taking Jacob, Tom and I out for a meal and ice-cream. Among the many other blessings from the wonderful people here, this is one that really touched me.

Jacob, myself, Tom, Mrs Kim and her daughter

The Korean Hall of Independence - Saturday 22nd
On Saturday we visited the Korean Hall of Independence together with Jacob & Beth, Mr Lee and the students from the Christian school. It was fun to hang out with the students outside of lesson time.

The approach to the Korean Hall of Independence is quite a sight and the Monument to the Nation stands in the centre of the promenade. The Monument to the Nation was designed to "evoke an image of the wings of a bird soaring in the sky, or the human hands in eager prayer", it "symbolizes the indomitable Korean spirit throughout history and the strong resolve of the Korean people for independence, liberty, unification and prosperity."

The Monument to the Nation

On the approach to the hall of independence there are a series of boards with information about the Dokdo islands and evidence that backs up Korea's claims that the islands are part of their nation. Korea certainly has no plans to release the islands to the Japanese: "Dokdo has long been the territory of Korea and is in full possession by the nation. Therefore, Dokdo will definitely remain in Korean hands". After we passed the Dokdo info boards and a large number of South Korean flags we reached a bridge that crossed a pond/river; I didn't make enough of an observation to decide which it was but that water appeared to be fairly still apart from in the areas with all the fish!

These fish were going crazy for the food we were throwing to them. After spending some time observing the fish we reached the Hall of Independence itself. It's a large structure mostly made out of some sort of stone or granite (I'm speculating here), inside is a large carved statue of group of people united together. I didn't get a photo of the statue but you can easily find it through Google.

The Korean hall of Independence

Jacob and Beth in-front of the hall :)

Before reaching the hall, Mr Lee had told me the name of the South Korea flag; Taegeukgi. I think 'Taegeuk' is the name for the yin-yang in the centre of the flag. Once we were inside the hall, Jacob explained the meaning of the Taegeukgi to us. White is a traditional colour of the Korean people and represents purity, the brightness and the peace-loving characteristic of the people. The red and blue Taegeuk in the centre of the flag stands for the perfect harmony between yin and yang and "symbolizes the truth of nature in which the universe was created and developed". The four Gwae that surround the yin-yang show the mutual change and progress of the yin and yang. Each Gwae represents a different element; sky, land, water, and fire. When Jacob described their additional meanings, it seemed to me like they represent seasons as well.

Taegeukgi

The Korean Hall of Independence has the largest museum in South Korea that consists of seven buildings that focuses on the independence movement of the Japanese colonial period. The first building, The Hall of National Heritage, covers from prehistoric times to the Joseon Dynasty but the rest of the buildings are dedicated to the independence movement.
We went through five of the seven halls because we were tight for time but what we saw in those five halls grew our love for the people of Korea and the nation. Korea's history is sad but also inspirational and we can see God's work here despite the hardship.

Journey to The Far East - Monday 17th June

Monday 17th
Tom and I took another walk up the hill behind the church and along the woodland paths towards the centre of Cheonan.

The view as we emerged from the trail

We didn't quite reach the centre of Cheonan but we took a wander down a few streets on this side of town, contemplated buying a kettle, decided against it, and then headed home. On the way home we spotted a 30kph sign integrated within the design of some railings, we also noticed that the sign was on both the road and pavement sides of the railing. It looks like some pedestrians need to slow down!
As we're on the subject of pavements, railings, and speed limits, I'd like to mention how zebra crossings work here in Korea. As far as I'm aware, all zebra crossings here in Cheonan have a coundown timer/indicator next to the universal green man. These timers show you how much time you have to cross the road before the traffic lights change for the vehicles. I think this is a great idea as you'd assume that if someone wanted to cross with only three seconds left, they'd wait for the next opportunity to avoid being run over. However, I can also see how some would take the risk with only a few seconds to spare.

Pedestrian speed limit...

Countdown to impending death...

We still had no running hot water in our apartment and the kettle takes some time to heat up so Tom found an alternative method to heating our water that seemed to be fairly effective. I stuck with the kettle.

Our alternative water heater

Journey to The Far East - Days 1 & 2

After a ten hour flight from Frankfurt, Tom and I arrived at Incheon International Airport internation airport around midday and met with Jacob. Jacob is a good friend of Tom (and now me) and is the current English Pastor at Cheonan Cheonsung Presbyterian Church.
Jacob drove us back to the church where we spent a small amount of time before going out for a superb meal with Senior Pastor Kim and the associate pastors.
The restaurant that we went to eat at was recently opened by one of the members of the church, so we were visiting to pray for the restaurant and support the owners in their new business.

Friday
We had a well needed lie-in before heading out with Jacob to a popular walking destination not far from the church that I can't remember the name of. We treked up some wooden steps to a stop off point where a outdoors goods salesman was selling his wares. There were a lot of people walking here (a lot wearing 'proper' walking gear) which said a lot about how the Koreans view their health and fitness.
Jacob played the guitar and sang whilst Tom and I gave out small drinks that resembled Yakult to walkers. This is something that Jacob does every Friday to serve the people here and bless them. It was a real joy to take part in this and we came away on a bit of a high.

On the way back down we stopped by some funky stone tortoise taps to get a drink. These taps dispense water from a natural spring under the hill.

We went out in the afternoon for lunch with Jacob and his wife Beth along with a close friend of Beth's. We ate at a place called 'All that Barbeque' which was an 'all you can eat' buffet. The food was delicious but not all of it was authentic Korean food. Similar to when you have a Chinese or Indian in England and it's not 100% the real deal.
In the evening however, we went out for a meal with Jacobs parents to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary. We traveled to a restaurent located in the hills just outside of Cheonan that served delicious authentic Korean food. I'm not quite used to how spicy the food can be so I often have to stop myself from coughing after my first mouthful. It was a real pleasure to spend time with these guys but I found it hard staying awake due to the lingering jetlag.
The night ended with myself falling asleep on the floor at Tom's amusement.

It's actually more comfortable than it looks.

"Visit to the land of the rising sun"

 

My Aunt Susan e-mailed me today with a link to my cousin's travel blog. Khan and his friend Ed are currently engaged in an exciting adventure in Japan. His blog about all aspects of their travels is really exciting (and well written!) and he gives some great insight into Japanese culture and society.

If you're interested in Japan, I urge you to check it out:

Visit to the land of the rising sun

Have a great day!

Bless You.

Benj