SEOUL TRAIN

Heart shaped shrimp cakes for
a morning snack.

How about a side order of squid
rings. Yum! Yum!

Dongdaegu train station.

Riding the KTX is one of our Korea bucket list items. The KTX is also known as the bullet train because of its speed. I think I have established our continued challenges while traveling in or from Seoul, but for the sense of setting the stage I will try to provide a brief summary. We have traveled to Seoul four times. Seoul is a huge city with crazy drivers and wildly confusing streets. We expected our first trip to be stressful and we weren't disappointed. We got lost, got stuck in traffic and ended up leaving town an entirely different way than we came in. We didn't expect the second and third trips to be even worse. During trip two our GPS took us in a 3.5 hour loop around Seoul depositing us right back where we started. Which caused us to regroup and start again, then drive home in the dark.  Trip three we didn't get lost. We shouted a premature "Hallelujah" as we left the big city. Traffic accidents, road construction and rainy roads slowed us down to a crawl and over six hours later we arrived home to Daegu.



 

Looking out over Daegu from
the train station.

You don't have to hit us over the head.... well, more than three times. As we prepared for yet another trip to Seoul, Fred decided the train would be the way to go. We couldn't get lost on the train and he could relax and not worry about the traffic. Oh, we were so excited. To add to our excitement, we decided to take the slow train to Seoul (about 4 hours) and the bullet train home (about 2 hours). What a brilliant plan and fun way to experience the KTX. We knew there would still be a few challenges once we arrived in Seoul, but we had ample time to deal with them when we got there.

The train ride was wonderful. Comfortable and relaxing. I loved watching the scenery through the train windows. I especially loved having Fred sitting next to me calmly enjoying the ride. Once we arrived, we had to get to the church. According to our instructions we had to take the subway, transfer once then walk about three blocks. It would be so easy if either one had more than extremely limited skills with the Korean language. We have learned a valuable lesson since we have been here. If you just stand at the map and look stupid a kind hearted English speaking Korean will show up and help. It happens all the time. It happened this time. We were able to get on the correct subway, make the transfer and arrive at the church without a hitch. We were pretty proud of ourselves. Our meetings were wonderful and inspiring. Fred gave a great talk. Ironically it was about not being stupid in a crazy world. We were able to reverse our steps and find the same train station we came into. We were 100% sold this was the way to go. Nothing could go wrong now. We had extra time, so we stopped and had dinner before we went to see which track the KTX was coming in on. That's when we found out how Seoul was going to get us this time. We...were...at... the...wrong ...train station! The KTX doesn't stop at that station. "I HATE SEOUL! I AM NEVER COMING HERE AGAIN!"  I might have actually said that out loud. I immediately went from feeling great about our wonderful day to being exhausted, stressed and completely frustrated. Fortunately the train company is very good about refunding tickets. We traded our KTX tickets in for the next slow train, which was about an hour later. The train arrived back in Daegu at 2:00 am. We found a taxi driver who had no idea how to find our apartment and spoke no English. So between a GPS and Fred gesturing and pointing, we finally made it home. We aren't quite sure how we ended up at the wrong station in Seoul. The best we can figure is that the Korean speaking ticket agent that sold Fred the original tickets had tried to tell Fred it would be a different station. I guess we will never really know.

It has taken a few days, but I am finally finding this funny. We are the "Keystone Cops" of travel in Korea. If it was up to me we would never go to Seoul again. But we have duties in the temple one Saturday a month. The truth is, attending the temple is worth overcoming any barriers put in our way. Being in the temple puts things into perspective. The world's problems, small or large, seem manageable and the blessings of eternity seem attainable. I love going to the temple.  So in a couple weeks we will try again. Wish us luck.





SUNDAY SUPPER

 We just passed the five month mark of our mission. Time is passing so quickly now. Our routine is made up of scheduled events which repeat daily, weekly or monthly. We also include planned or spontaneous adventures. These  are the kind of experiences that we will only be able to enjoy here. They are the truly Korean adventures. I enjoy the routine and the adventures.

One of my very favorite routine events is what we have come to call "Sunday Supper". Like everything else we have done here it started as an idea and evolved into a tradition.

We began by inviting a different family from church  to come to our apartment for a meal after church each week. Our goal was to have every family in our small branch in our home for a meal at least once. We almost completed that goal when we began to feel a need to invite the unaccompanied soldiers over for a home cooked meal each Sunday. Then after a couple of weeks we realized that others, not just soldiers, were also alone on Sunday afternoon. That is when it morphed into the "Sunday Supper". Some Sundays we have only two or three join us. Some times a lot more choose to come. So now I just fill two slow cookers, prepare sides or dessert to go with them,  then head to church. Our meetings end at 1:30 and I walk home quickly to take care of any finishing touches and wait to see who comes.

Yesterday we had ten guests. This included four soldiers here without families, another soldier and his wife, a young American English teacher, an American college professor, a  student here from Bangladesh and a young Korean woman who is also a teacher. Our apartment has become their Sunday home away from home. They are so appreciative of the meal, but that is not the real gift. The gift is a sense of belonging, a sense of family, a place to go where they feel welcome, a place to relax. I love to watch them talk and laugh. Its so rewarding to hear them share their ideas, experiences and offer one another support. I am so happy to have them here to share our Sunday afternoons, it keeps us from feeling lonely also.

When we were raising our children we tried very hard to have our dinner meal sitting together at the table. We were mostly successful. As they grew and got busy with sports and school activities it became more difficult. We still had family meals at the table, just not as often. The family meal was and is an important part of our lives. Having dinner together is about so much more than just food. It was true during those busy years raising a large family and its true here on our mission.

            Food feeds the body. Friendship feeds the soul!

Happy Pepero Day

Here's some information about an interesting Korean holiday.

 Pepero Day is an observance in South Korea similar to Valentine's Day. It is named after the Korean snack Pepero and held on November 11, since the date "11/11" resembles four sticks of Pepero. The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts. Lotte denies starting the holiday and instead states that they noticed a bump in Pepero sales around November 11 and after continued popularity they decided to then encourage the holiday with special gift boxes and other promotions.

Lotte usually does about 55% of their Pepero business in November every year.
 

Lotte is a huge corporation here. Lotte Mart can be compared to Walmart. The one we go to here in Daegu is smaller than the average Walmart back home, but similar. It includes a Lottetteria! I bet you can guess that is their in-store cafeteria. They don't sell burgers or subs, but traditional Korean dishes. Lotte also has a huge amusement park in Seoul called Lotteworld! I have also seen apartment complexes called Lotte Castle.

So it appears that marketing is alive and well right here in South Korea. Who else has a holiday built around a type of food? Well I guess America has a few, doesn't it! But not necessarily a holiday for one brand of food. Maybe we should start Oreo Day. My son-in-law would promote that one. So what date would Oreo day be celebrated anyway? Since we don't have a month that has four zeroes I would suggest February 21st. That is the birthday of the son-in-law previously mentioned!