Korean Finale & Fourth of July

Now that summer has finally come to WI (Translation: The average high is above 60 degrees.), it's more difficult to motivate myself to blog. I'm loving being outside and enjoying the weather and relaxation. However, today being the 4th of July seemed to perfect day to conclude my Korean entries. So, here goes: The last day I was in Korea, Brent and I took a two hour train ride to Seoul (sweating every minute as we thought we might be late for our tour) where we caught a bus to begin our tour of the DMZ (de-militarized zone), which is an area of land about 2.5 miles wide and stretching across the whole Korean peninsula, splitting North and South Korea, that was created as a peace zone following the Korean war. On the bus ride there was a lady who'd recently defected from North Korea (2009). She answered questions about life there and about her escape...what a sad, sad story...

South Korea has built a train station that is ready to be connected to North Korea in hopes that the two countries will one day be reunited. Knowing the pain, suffering, and persecution that happens in North Korea, that would be a beautiful sight to see and I hope I'm alive to witness it. It was strange being next to the tracks at a beautiful station that has never been used.
We were able to visit the Joint Security Area (where N and S Korean officials meet in peace) but there were very strict rules on picture taking, clothing, and gestures. We even saw one of the North Korean soldiers checking us out with binoculars! Although it was really interesting to see, it was also really sad to see the division and the paranoia and hatred that results.

Upon returning home I've been reading a book put out by Voice of the Martyrs called "North Korea". The persecution that Christians face there is unbelievable, yet their faith is unwavering and inspiring, as they give up comforts, safeties, and securities of this temporary world and trust in full expectation that their abandonment of earthly pleasures will be well worth it in eternity. What a great mindset and a lesson I too must take to heart daily as I feel the pull of the world vs. the calls of God on my life.

John gives me a good reminder of where my priorities should be in 1 John 2:15-17:

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

So as we celebrated Independence Day today I was especially mindful and thankful of the freedoms we enjoy in this country. I'm so thankful for the ability to worship, speak, and live freely. Please join me in praying for Christians around the world who do not have the same luxuries.
Enjoying fireworks at "Rhythm & Booms" in Madison with friends...
In attempt to be festive I decided to make these cake pops...take a good look, these will never be made by me again! haha....okay, perhaps that's a bit strong, but they were not easy for me to make!
We had some family over swimming today...and my mom was getting festive...check out the impressive ice cubes! Way to go Mom! :)

Happy 4th of July!

Korea, part 2-- "The Hike"

After experiencing the amazing Korean cuisine, Brent and I decided that next up on the agenda was to spend my first full day in Korea hiking-- a decision I paid for throughout the next four days! Don’t get me wrong…I love hiking and it was well worth it, but here’s the story:

The night before we did a little bit of research as to what trail we wanted to take. We thought a 2 hour hike sounded good; then we could catch a bite to eat and wander around Seoul checking out some of the markets and shopping areas. However, our plans quickly changed when we met our “Korean Daddy” (the name he gave himself when he found out he was the same age as our parents) on the train on the way to Bukhansan National Park. He asked where we were going and when we told him and found out we were both headed to the park to hike, he told us to follow him.

So we followed him through the train station where we met up with his group. As we approached the group, a bit of apprehension creeped in. Every single member of the group was fully equipped from head to toe with hiking gear—we’re talking hiking shirt, vest, boots, walking sticks, visors, stools, and some even had hiking gloves! They don’t mess around! Here we wander over in our t-shirts and I suddenly felt that perhaps this hike was more than we bargained for. But…I like hiking and am always up for an adventure, so we proceeded. The apprehension grew a bit as we did group stretches and began making the climb while rarely pausing to take a breath. We made it to the top of one mountain after about one hour (Imagine doing squats and/or lunges for one hour straight and then you can imagine what my legs felt like!) and the view was beautiful.

We went down and had a great “picnic” lunch Korean style. Since we only planned to hike for 2 hours we brought some meager snacks, but thankfully our new Korean friends willingly shared their food with us and wanted us to sample everything they brought. After a short re-fueling, we were off again to conquer the second mountain. There were times during this ascent that I didn’t think my legs could make one more step, and at one point as I was plodding away, one of the men in the group looked back at me and said, “No problem?” to which I smiled, laughed and responded, “No problem!”. (What I was thinking was, “Yeah, no problem if my legs fall off! Who needs them anyways?!”)

Again we made it and admired the beautiful view for a brief time and headed back down. This time we stopped by a small stream of water to cool our feet and just relax for a bit. I got a kick out of it when our “Korean Daddy” asked us (after hiking for 4 hours) if we wanted to do a long or a short hike. Short hike? We’ve already hiked for 4 hours…how can that possibly qualify as a short hike??? Brent—being the smart man he is—said that a short one would be better because I was pretty tired. The man looked at me and said, “Yes…she DYING!” (Side note: I thought I actually held up pretty good but I was exhausted.) So we had an hour of downhill and we made it safely back to the train station with legs that dreaded every stair for the next few days! That—my friends—is the story of our 5 hour “short hike”!

All that being said, it was actually a very fun day with beautiful weather, beautiful views, and good company. I was glad we went.

Korea, part 1

My older brother, Brent, has been living and teaching English in South Korea this year, so it seemed like the perfect chance for me to stop there and visit him and explore Korea on my way back to Wisconsin for the summer.

After travelling around Asia quite a bit, I kind of thought I knew what to expect—after all, a big city is a big city, right? Wrong! I was pleasantly surprised to get off the bus in Brent’s neighborhood and feel like I was in a “small neighborhood”. (I think I’ve been in HK too long!) As Brent introduced me to his neighborhood and as we gallivanted around Seoul, I was excited to discover that Korea has a heartbeat and personality of its own.

The hustle and bustle of HK was replaced by more spacious and relaxed sidewalks.

The concrete jungle and mazes of HK life were replaced by quiet pathways lined with freshly blooming roses.

Being there was a breath of fresh air (literally AND figuratively!).

Some of the most significant differences I was able to experience came with mealtimes. The first night I was there, Brent took me to Korean BBQ which I quickly fell in love with! Upon entering the restaurant, we took our shoes off and placed them on a rack and went to our table where we sat on the floor… a new experience for me.

A grill was right on the table in front of us and we ordered samgyeopsal, which is “pork belly”. I told Brent that I prefer to not know which body part of the animal I am eating. I’ll stick with “bacon”! Anyways, I was able to hop that mental hurdle no problem, and dug right into the delicious food.

At most of the Korean restaurants you pay for the meat only and they provide a variety of side dishes that you can get refills of if necessary-- the most prominent one being "kimchi", which is spicy fermented cabbage and is served at nearly every meal. After grilling the meat, you wrap it in a leaf along with some fresh garlic (resulting in me having bad breath all week, but it was oh so worth it!), soybean paste, and rice and fold it up and eat it! It was delicious!

Let’s suffice to say I didn’t go hungry!

On Tuesday two of Brent's co-workers graciously offered to take us out for lunch, so here we are!

Miscellaneous HK Moments

Growing up in small-town America I took for granted the fact that you knew just about everyone in town...well, maybe that's a small exaggeration. BUT, my mom really did! :) (Hi Mom!) Then when living in Africa, everyone and their brother (literally) wanted to talk to the oburoni, and it was nice to be in community with people.

In Hong Kong, with a population of over 7 million people, you just don't have that kind of community. In fact, I've been living here for 4 1/2 months and I met my next door neighbor for the first time today...sad, but true. Anyways, we do have one neighbor-- Herman-- who is very friendly and loves to stop and talk as we pass by. I think he's taken it upon himself to introduce us to as much Chinese language and food as possible, so the last 3 weekends, he has rung our doorbell and delivered noodles...and lots of them. Here's what we got today... not picturing the 3rd plate that I had to graciously turn down. :) It's actually really thoughtful and definitely makes it feel more like home to have a neighbor who actually knows our names. (On that note, although he knows our names, he prefers to call us "Teacher"!)I had to take a picture of this man walking around with parakeets on him...no big deal! :)
Earlier this week, Mary and I contemplated moving as our landlord wanted to raise the rent, and as we were apt. shopping, I was able to capture this photo of the area that I live in to give you a picture. The river there is where I run by, and if you follow the river about 3 miles, you'll get to my school! :) And to think Hong Kongers call this the "boondocks"! They've obviously never been to Waupun! (Side note: I have nothing against Waupun, but let's face it...it's kind of the boondocks comparatively speaking!) P.S. We decided not to move and then our landlord decided not to raise the rent.... praise the Lord! :)

Extreme Home Makeover: Living Room Edition

Well, since I'm here for another couple of years, I decided it'd be nice to make our place a bit more home-y, so over the last few weeks, Mary and I have made a few IKEA runs and have had fun doing some redecorating in our living room. We both really like how it turned out and it's so much more enjoyable to be home now. :) Here's the before....

and the after....

Junk Boat Birthday Celebration

Saturday night I headed out on a junk boat with some friends to celebrate two friends' birthdays. Even after living here for over two years, the harbor still amazes me. I can never have enough harbor pictures! :)

Beth, Abbey, and I

We cruised around the harbor and a bit into the sea for about 4 hours...eating, hanging out, trying not to get seasick :), gazing at the stars which are such a rarity in HK, and just taking in the beautiful night with friends.

Mary, Mel, and I

Mel, me, and the Birthday Queen, Cath :)

A "Ritzy" Birthday

I've often claimed I could probably live on sweets and this weekend I had the opportunity to do just that. Did my claim prove true? Read on for the verdict.Over the last two weeks or so, I've had 8 friends who've celebrated birthdays! That's made for lots of fun get togethers to celebrate. On Saturday, some girl friends at I headed to the Ritz Carlton to celebrate my friend Beth's 30th birthday with high tea, which was quite the experience. I was greeted in the lobby and then escorted straight from the 9th floor to the 103rd floor! The Ritz is now the world's tallest hotel (just a little fun fact for ya!). I'm definitely not used to being that "ritzy" (pun intended) but it was fun to act for a few hours! ;)

Maria, Beth (the b-day girl), Renata, Jen, Abbey, me, and Rachel

The "tea" was in the "Chocolate Library"... now, going into this I knew it wasn't going to be cheap, so I purposely didn't eat much that morning since we met at 4. If I was going to pay, I was going to be hungry! :) So, I was a bit surprised to discover that the whole "meal" was chocolate (minus one small item). Please note: surprised does not equal disappointed... just surprised! :)
On top of the 8 desserts and one other bread-appetizer, we got their signature hot chocolate. Wowwwweee! The first 5 sips of so were pure delight, as it was literally like drinking melted dark chocolate, but after 8 other chocolatey desserts, even this addict thought enough was enough!

It was a hazy day, but still a decent view if you got close enough to the window. :)

So...the verdict? Bring on the sugar! However, I do have to admit, I was craving some broccoli afterwards...