Fall Reflections

One more day and our first October in Korea ends. Since our mission is 18 months, we will have a second October here... a second fall and a second summer but only one winter and only one spring.  Each month seems to pick up speed, like a runaway truck coasting down hill. The passing of time is a mixed blessing in this case. I still struggle with being homesick on a weekly basis. For instance the first big snow of the season hit our home-town this week- announced by a multitude of Facebook posts and pictures. My thoughts turned to our big warm house, a cup of herbal tea, and lots of family and friends coming and going. The first snow is so beautiful. Clean, bright, white and soft! Its so quiet as the snow falls. Looking at the big picture reminds me that it initiates the onset of winter. Which also brings icy roads, frosted car windows, piles of coats and boots by the front door, runny noses and bone chilling cold. I try to keep things in perspective, but I can still find myself longing for home. On the other hand, as time passes we get closer to the end of a once in a life time experience. So though I do feel the pangs of homesickness some days, I also enjoy many days of awe and excitement as we explore beautiful Korea. I have failed at my plan not to get too attached to people I may never see again. I must confess that in our nearly five months here I have fallen in love with the people in our branch, in our FHE and in the Korean ward. Yes, passing of time is a mixed blessing!  This last week of October has been  busy and fun. Here are some pictures of the highlights:

HARVEST HOE-DOWN

Fred and I, together with Brother Kim from the Korean Ward,  organized a combined fall festival for the Korean Ward and our Military Branch.

It began with a short musical program.  That was followed by food and games.

I think its amazing that we had hot dogs and chips, plus ddeok (compressed rice filled with sweetened read bean paste) and Korean fruit. Truly symbolic of the merging of  two cultures and languages into an evening of fun and fellowship. Missionaries and families from our Military Branch learned one of our children's hymns in Korean. They were excited for the chance to share their talents with the members of the Korean Ward. Their number was beautiful and very well received by everyone. 

                              TRANSFER BREAKFAST

 

Once every six weeks we fix breakfast for all missionaries in our zone. That's 37 young men and women who are ready for a nice warm "home cooked" breakfast. This time the menu was pancakes, sausages and hot chocolate. They loved it.
Elder Fairhurst could hardly keep the pancakes coming fast enough.

ZOO ADVENTURE

With an open day after two big events we were ready to set out on another adventure. We put on our walking shoes and headed back to Seomun market. I did much better this time (refer to the previous post entitled Seomun Market). It was not crowded and the weather was cool and comfortable. We actually had a snack and did a little shopping while we were there. No panic!

Then off we went on a quest to find the zoo. Elder Fairhurst loves zoos and we have visited them all over the world. We found a beautiful park, with a small but delightful zoo. What a find!

The park is on a historic site that dates back to the 1300s! Now that's not something we see very often back home. We crossed paths with a few school groups. The kids were astounded to see Americans. We were quite the celebrities.  Some could speak English and couldn't wait to ask us where we were from. We are finding it a little easier to communicate using a few simple Korean words and lots of gestures and facial expressions!

We walked around the park for about an hour, then decided to begin our walk home. I felt a little like Lewis, or would it be Clark? Our trip home turned into a four hour expedition! Fred won't admit we were lost, but we didn't know where we were about half the time. We did make it back to our neighborhood long before dark. So we treated ourselves to a traditional Korean meal at the local Donga Mart food court. What did we eat? Potato and ham pizza! It was "jung mal mahshee suh yo" (really delicious).