US-Korean Market Comparison #1

Ok folks.. we thought some of you might like to see the comparison in price of things here versus things in America.  Maybe we will continue to post random things we buy here that we would normally buy in the states and share the prices with you so you can get a little glimpse of the cost of living (like an American). The price is listed below the photo.

Half gallon of milk = $4.90

A Day with the Orphans

First things first... we want to direct your eyes to the right side of the page where the greenish looking sidebar is. In there, right above the little photo of us, is a list of prayer concerns/requests/praises that you can be going to God with on our behalf. Sometimes we don't always come right out and say what we need prayer for in these blog posts, so you can check that prayer list and find out how you can pray for us any time you want! Ingenious!

Now to the update. This past Saturday (September 20), we had the opportunity to participate in an outreach our church here planned with a local orphanage. The plan was to meet this group of orphans at a park where we would play some games, have a cookout and just plain have fun. Also, we were to going to mix in a simple salvation message in there to the best of our ability. Wellllllll.. it had been sprinkling a little in the morning, but not enough to deter us from doing the event. So we left the church for the park and arrived on schedule-- and right on schedule the downpour started. It started downpouring the minute we stepped out of the vans. We quickly set up our tents and the grill, but to no avail.. it was just too wet to do anything. So we shifted to plan B and went back to the church with the kids.

At the church, we played some games, which included one of my personal favorites - dodgeball - and a relay race where each person must run to a table lined with plates upon which sit a piece of chocolate in a big pile of cornstarch.  You have to eat the chocolate without using your hands.. this is what the result looks like:

This guy - can't even remember his name, it was so hard to pronounce - latched on to me during this game and clung to my side the rest of the day. Fine by me!

Promptly following that game, we went to another room in the church and ate ourselves silly with nice juicy American burgers and hotdogs (Ballparks, no less!). I think I (Russ) ate 3 hotdogs and a cheeseburger myself, along with some potato and macaroni salad. We were in heaven. During the meal pastor Chapman, the pastor of our church here, gave a brief salvation message which was translated by one of the Korean women who attended. Some of the kids really listened intently, and others were, well.. about 5 years old with the attention span of a.. well, a 5 year old. It was good though, and we have more things planned with this particular orphanage. After the meal, we played with the kids some more and then said our goodbyes after having made some personal connections to them.  Once we got home from the event, we laid down for a quick nap and didn't wake up until 5 hours later. 

We really felt blessed to have been able to be with those kids and shine some light into their lives.  We could tell that what they really wanted, or maybe needed, was JUST to be with us.  Just to feel loved and cared for.  Just to feel like someone is doing something JUST for them JUST BECAUSE.  

We've got Seoul...

The good thing about teaching at an American school in Korea is that not only do you get American holidays off, you also get the Korean ones. Last weekend was Chusok, the Korean equivalent to our Thanksgiving. We got Monday off, so we decided to spend our Saturday in Seoul with a friend from college who is originally from Korea and is back here living there. After navigating our way through the maze of a subway system, we met up with our friend Peter and made our way to our first stop: Gyeongbokgung Palace (gee-ohng-boke-gung). This was the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty; at least that's what the brochure said. We made it there just in time to witness one of the four changing of the guard ceremonies that happen each day (except tuesdays). I put a video below so you can hear the music and see the funny guards parading back around the outer wall of the palace. Pictures follow.

Here's the main entrance gate to the entire palace.  The palace contains something like 20 or more buildings.  All of the buildings look a little alike, but have their own neat little personality.  This big mass of people out front was the result of the changing of the guard ceremony..

This is right inside the front gate.  This courtyard was all stone and looked very neat.  Our friend Peter told us that someone burned down the palace about 400 years ago, but it was rebuilt shortly after.  So the buildings aren't the originals, but still very historic.

Some Korean women dressed in traditional dresses called Hanbok.  You got to get into the palace for free if you wore your traditional clothing, so there were a good number of people walking around in similar outfits.

This is inside the king's courtroom.  Official matters were taken care of here.  The outside of this building can be seen in the picture that's right above the two women in the Hanboks.  That painting behind the king's throne is on the Korean $10 bill.  Pretty cool.

We really liked this painting of two dragons.  It was in one of the buildings at the palace, above the king's throne.

Bulldog Leopards maybe.. we thought it was neat anyway.

Here's a little video of Jess and Peter playing a little game they had set up in the palace. The object was to stand behind a line and throw these little mini javelins into a bronze kettle. There were three small holes you could get it in. It was a lot harder than Jess made it look!

This building was really cool.  It was in the middle of a big pond and just had a really scenic quality to it.  Peter told us that the pond was the means of suicide for a prince or princess after being betrayed by their lover.  How wonderfully morbid!

Another view of the pond building with the mountains in the background.

We live in Korea, but today we were tourists.. 

When we were leaving, Jess snapped this picture.  It really shows the mix of traditional and modern in Seoul.  It's cool to see the two worlds come together.

After leaving the palace, we went to a shopping district to look around, even though we didn't bring any shopping money.  Peter wanted to show us some things.  This was one thing that we thought was kind of interesting.  Among the many vendors, we found this "ajima" (ah-jee-mah - means old married woman) making these little sugar cookie things.  All she did was melt some sugar in a big metal spoon looking thing and then add some soda powder, mix it around and plop it on some wax paper.  Then she took a small press and flattened it into a cookie and pressed a star or heart design on it.  They were really cheap, and tasted like burnt marshmallows.  Mmmmmm..

Jess liked her marshmallow cookie.

Korean street evangelism in action.  There were two other people with this ajima who were carrying their own crosses.  One of them had a small boombox that was blasting the salvation message to the people around them.

A few years back, the mayor of Seoul transformed a run down part of the city into a man made creek that now goes through down town.  It's a big place for tourism and is really neat.  Every once in a while there are stepping stones to cross.  Peter and I crossed these ones.

Jess, Peter, and I hanging out at the beginning of the downtown creek.  Those fountains behind us are the source of the creek's water.  They flow down a slope and form the beginning of the stream.

Jess goofing around on the stepping stones.

Ta da!  The end!

Market Day!

We have to apologize for the gap in updates.  It seems that things got really busy here for about a week and a half.. but we are starting to get back on track.  We have some things we want to share with you, so we will put them into a couple of different posts so you don't get information overload. It'll be like getting multiple presents on Christmas!

First, we wanted to share with you something that happens around our part of town every five days. In a lot of places there is a market that you can go to on any given day to get your veggies, fresh fish, pieces of cut up pig, squid, etc. But here, oh no, they have to be different. Here, they bring the market to YOU. There are these vendors that all they do is bring their market to a different part of town every day. One day it will be here, then the next it will be in another neighborhood and so on and so forth. Well, Jess and I have gotten used to it and we like to stroll through the market to see what kind of interesting things we can find. Here are a few samples:

Here are a few shots of the market itself.. a huge busy mess of old women and shoppers within a small city of tents. Craziness!

Fresh pork!

Mmm.. Kimchi, the Korean staple side dish- by the kilogram!

Slimy stingray looking fish, anyone?

This cowboy was selling ginseng tea ("You try, you try!") Maybe the nastiest stuff on earth.

Apetizing, eh?

We got 'em fresh, we got 'em cut up in pieces, and we got 'em dried. How do you like your squid?

I wondered out loud what these were as we passed. Some little girl who actually spoke English came by and told me they were worms. Yummy! Found out later, they are silk worms to be exact.