No. 1 fan

i must say my husband is quite the popular fella these days.  he's probably one of the most coveted golf partners in daegu right now and he's making new buddies left and right.

in fact right now, i can hear peter speaking to a friend on the phone right now and he's offering so much encouragement, love, kindness, and hope.  he's really a great friend to have. 

 i'm a big fan of him.

these past few months have been a mixture of pain, joy, excitement, anxiety, and about a dozen other emotions.  each day has held its challenges, it's celebrations, its stress, its hope.  

peter, you encourage me to pursue hope and your strength and gentleness inspire me.  i'm so glad we're in this together.  i thank God for you.

she must be from around daegu...

just a brief little story to celebrate my improved korean conversation skills:

this week while walking in the subway terminal I was approached by not one, not two, not three, but FOUR strangers and was asked questions about directions, if i wanted to join a church, and the subway system.   i'm astounded by how often i am approached by strangers.  seriously, there will be crowds of people passing by and strangers will single me out and ask me for directions.  i must have a sign stamped on my forehead that says, "hey, you!  got a question?  ask me so I can stutter in korean that I have no clue." : ) not only is my korean bad but my directional skills are worse!

but this week...this week was different.  I had four successful mini conversations with strangers like a real daegu local!  granted, i didn't know the answers to all of their questions, but i was able to carry a conversation without using lots of "uhs" and "ahs" and long pauses.  

four months ago i would have turned every stranger who approached me away with a polite, "i'm sorry.  i have no idea."  but now, four months later, i can converse with people and they don't even seem to notice my broken korean.   i'm glad.  it feels good to be seen as a local.

so, to all you strangers out there, keep the questions coming!  but, i wouldn't follow any of my directions if i were you...

subways and elderly on bikes

so, i'm riding the subway just about everyday.  it's clean, cheap, environmentally friendly.  it's super.  i'm a huge fan.  the subway runs just about every 5 minutes.  we have a subway station about 5 minutes from our apartment--which is great!  parking downtown can be quite congested and expensive, so it's nice to just hop on the underground train to get around.  daegu only has 2 lines, but it's plenty for me.  here's a pic of what they look like here.

this is a picture of a subway station in daegu.

a subway car in daegu.  (they are usually NEVER this empty)

i almost always stand while on it usually because there are no seats and also because handicapped, women with children, pregnant women, and elderly (generally people 65+) are given priority for seats.  It's common to see younger people offer their seats to elderly when they get on the train.

speaking of elderly, i've realized one of my favorite things is seeing grandpas on bicycles.  it just brightens my day.  lucky for me, there are lots of grandpas that ride bicycles in daegu.  i'm always amazed by them, because many of them look 75 or older!

easter

easter sunday we attended a service at Dongshin Church.  It was an english service with several members from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  We have met a lot of cool people.  The interim pastor, Andy, is actually a St. Louis native!  small world.  he shares a lot of the same interests as pete (both big cardinal fans).  we've already hung out with him and his wife (and their adorable baby) a couple times.  we're looking forward to getting to know other people better too.

our first easter in korea was nice, but we were missing all of you friends and family.  i made leg of lamb for dinner on good friday.  wish we could have feasted with all of you.  i always have loved easter.  it's one holiday that always feels very peaceful, joyful, and celebratory. 

It's always freeing to recall the freedom that God has given us and how dearly we are loved.

my baseball playing hubby

so, many of you know peter has been playing on a local baseball team.   Two of his teammates are korean players who are on the professional roster.  here are some pics from the game. 

the name of their opposing team was "papas".  I'm not sure if their team name meant 'papas' like "big daddies/don't mess with us" or 'papas' as in 'we are all fathers'..?  i'm not sure.  i imagined their name was meant to mean potatoes since 'papas' means potatoes in spanish.

pete is on the far right playing 1st base.  

this field is at a local middle school, just 10 minutes from our house.  lots of locals come to watch for fun.  i've even seen some people crawl up on their roof to watch a game.

during the game, there were tons of little seedlings blowing around in the air.  i was sitting under a cherry blossom tree and literally, thousands would blow and land in your hair and on your clothes.  you'd frequently see people stand up and shake their heads, shirts, and pants.  

these little guys will just blow in the wind and sweep across the ground.  here's a pic of them gathered in the cracks on the tile ground.  below you'll see one of the little guys in my hand.  one day it might become a beautiful cherry blossom tree...

pete's team, the aces, beat the potatoes.  i realize i didn't write a whole lot about the actual game.  peter played wonderful defense and made some excellent throws and catches at first.   i guess i was distracted by nature around me.  it was a beautiful day.  a great day for a ballgame.

goodbye, mr. cherry blossom

korea has amazing cherry blossom trees that are just lovely.  the flowers are pale pink and its petals just float off the trees into the sky.  i love driving or walking around so i can feel the petals land on my face and hair.  there is even a cherry blossom festival that takes places in jinhae to celebrate the blooming of these gorgeous buds.  

but, as with many good things, the flower petals soon blow away and the trees are replaced with bright, vibrant green leaves.  so, goodbye mr. cherry blossom.  i'll miss you.

(photo found online)

our weekend getaway to busan

last weekend we went to busan.  peter had friday off, so we decided to leave friday morning and stay through saturday.  we met several people who were from busan or visited there often.  They gave us tips of where we ought to stay and places we should go.  we were also itching to do some more "traveling" around the country.  Busan is only about 1 hr and 40 minutes south of daegu and it's located right on the southeastern coast.  the water is a lovely shade of blueish green and the city of busan is 2nd largest in korea.  being only april, the water was too cold for swimming, but we enjoyed looking at it and listening to it in our room.  our hotel, the westin chosun, sits right on hyaeundae beach, overlooking the ocean.  

our room was lovely.  it had a spectacular view and the ocean waves lulled us to sleep.

when we first arrived in our room, we were immediately drawn to the window for our first look at the water.  to our surprise we had a little "show" beneath us.  there were over a dozen school girls, still wearing their uniforms, on the beach trying to pull one another into the water.  they were relentless!  often times they would gang up on one girl and grab each foot and arm and throw her into the ice cold ocean.  one school girl, we not so creatively named "green girl" (she was wearing a green hoodie), was a big bully, pushing nearly every girl into the water, yet somehow maintained dry clothes all the while.  finally, some of the other girls caught on and started to pull her into the water and she was finally dunked.  we were cheering the girls on as it all happened : )  they kept at it for over 40 minutes.  we were amazed by their tenacity and aggression.  lesson: don't cross a korean school girl-- they can get nasty.  we saw some school boys come on to the beach and try to dunk one another also, but their attempts were much lamer and not so dramatic.  they lost interest after only a couple tries.  the girls were much more intense.  it was all very entertaining and way better than tv.

shortly after, we rested from our drive down and then decided to go walking on the beach ourselves.  we felt how cold the water was and tipped our hats to those girls who got soaked, cause that water was cooold.  

we had dinner at a place called, "hello sushi" which is a nice seafood buffet with really nice rolls and sashimi.  it was delicious.  afterward, we took a stroll around the town and went back to the water.  we found out about a place where we could get a 2 and half hour massage and decided we'd give it a go.  i'm not really big on massages, but i thought i'd try it.  peter was excited.  it was a thai massage place and they didn't have an appointment opening until 10:45 at night!  so we hung out at the beach and walked around downtown until our appointment.  

this was my first massage ever, so i had no idea what to expect.  we came in to a dimly lit building with classical music playing and hot tea waiting for us.  they gave us clothes to change into and encourage you to shower before and after the massage if you'd like and then they gave us a nice hot foot bath/massage.  afterward we laid down on a nice heated pad on the floor with a blanket.  this massage starts with feet and works toward the head.  the massage therapists were both ladies, very small, but alarmingly strong.  a few times i had to let my lady know her fingers were hurting me.  peter, having little korean skills, couldn't communicate that to his masseuer so i tried to translate as often as i could.   there were moments i was in real pain, but didn't know if i should say something or if i was just being a wuss, so i stuck it out.  my mistake, because later on  i was in pain.  i actually felt more sore after the massage than i did before.  

the lady who massaged peter seemed to be really experienced.  she did all kinds of crazy things using her arms, feet, elbows, and legs.  she pulled, twisted, and even lifted peter (on her back).  sometimes i looked over at him and the two of them looked like they were in a WWF match (and i think the lady won).  

overall, it was a good experience.  both ladies were extremely gracious and professional.  we left our massages feeling tired, in some pain, yet also relaxed.  we didn't get home until almost 2 am!  it was definitely an experience i will remember!  in fact, i'm still laughing about it now.

the next day we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and laid out on the beach for a little while.  peter, being part dolphin, did take a very brief swim.  just short enough before any hypothermia could set in.  afterward, we went to a restaurant called, "O'Kims", an Irish pub and had burgers.  

the drive home was beautiful.  the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and just gorgeous.  the petals from the blossoms covered the streets and danced across as cars passed. 

i can't wait to go back.

busan!

my halmonee, my grandma

dear halmonee,

It's been a long time since I last saw you.  I wish you were here.  Living here makes me wonder what life would have been like if I lived near you...if I would know your face better.  your voice better.  i miss you.

sometimes i think i see you in crowded streets.  other grandmas walking along with the same glasses you wore, same hairstyle and the same gait.  the thought of you crosses my mind each time i smell ginseng tea, tiger balm, or sesame --I still have vivid memories of after school snacks of kim chi bogumbop, hot and ready to serve when i came home.  you'd spoon feed me even though i was 8.  i let you, cause i secretly liked it and could feel the depth of your love for me in each nourishing bite.

you taught me how to tell time.  you'd point out where the big and short hands needed to be so i could catch the bus.  you'd explain in your korean, but i only understood so much.  

grandma, do you remember when i was little and sang really loudly in our basement?  i sang along with all of the tv jingles and commercials and when I sang along to a commercial that said "love and harmony" you would always answer sweetly from the top of the basement steps because you thought i was calling your name.  i would always giggle and you would just look at me gently, lovingly.

halmonee, i think you'd be proud of me.  sometimes it's hard finding my place here but i'm learning a lot.  i'm learning korean, cooking korean meals, and surviving here in this unfamiliar place--this country of my heritage and i'm slowly getting to know it better.

and one day, i hope, i will feel like korea is mine, just as much as it was yours. 

love,

your granddaughter, sora