BEING TOURISTS IN CHEONAN AND ELSEWHERE, March 30, 2012

What a happy day! It was rainy and chilly, but we passed the day in delightful, novel experiences. The three highlights were the visit to the Hall of Korean Independence, lunch party with KNU English students and trip to the seashore with Martha and Larry Wilson.

We started the day again with washing clothes, having breakfast and devotions in the apartment before we met our guide, “Simon”, at Mr. Tenny’s office.

Jesus says, “I speak to you in many ways though most clearly through My Word. You need to maintain a listening attitude in order to hear Me. This requires both patience and perserverance; waiting in My Presence….Sheep are not designed to live independently….Similarly you live best when you follow me humbly, in sheep-like fashion” (Young, p 31).

In a KNU van, Simon took us to the Independence Hall. What a brilliant exposition of Korean history organized in seven pavilions circled around a great hall. See the pictures:

Then Simon took us to lunch at Jackson Bibimbap Restaurant, named for Michael Jackson who is said to like the rice fusion dish we ate with watery soup and having strawberry juice for dessert. Simon’s friends were there to celebrate the departure of a friend going to Melasia to continue his study of English. We were too tired to go to the 2^nd museum planned, so we stayed just to talk to the several English-speaking KNU students who wanted to chat with us and be Facebook friends! The youth here seem to constantly be texting or talking on their cell phones – even more than in the States. Quite a techy, dynamic generation. We enjoyed them immensely.

Delight #3 was driving with Wilson’s in their little car to the coast of the West Sea to Kekpo. We made one pit stop and bought hot walnut cookies to snack on, then drove on to a hotel where they have stayed before -- Hotel Starhills. The sea and seafood restaurants cluster around the hotel. We checked out the fresh fish, octopus and shellfish in aquariums outside of each one.

Martha told us that her Korean teacher friends ate the little octopuses raw, still squiggling, in fact. I said I could never do that.

We chose a restaurant with tables high enough to sit on, and then spent time trying to figure out what the Korean-written choices on the menu. We placed our order for a meal of flounder which sounded safe-enough to us.

The waitresses then began to set before us a meal of many plates.

One little plate had little live octopus pieces sprinkled with sesame seeds, and I ate one! Still squiggling!! Can you believe it?! I ate more than one!

Another plate had 4 whelk shells (cooked). She unscrewed each little shellfish from its shell and we ate them. Tasted like clams.

We tried the horse-shoe clams, the molluscs, the scalloped clams, the yummy freshly charcoaled mackerel, the pickled stuff -- all of the dishes except one – some sort of slimy green and black slices. And when they served the flounder beautifully deboned and displayed but raw.

We asked them to cook it and they graciously did, so we ate all of it, too. What an experience! I have a collection of "leftovers" that tells its own story.

We certainly have “done” Korean food in many forms, enjoyed it and have a couple of days left to do more! 

So, back in the hotel, I’m looking forward to the silk worm museum tomorrow, and more great fellowship with the Wilsons.

KOREA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY, CHEONAN, KOREA March 29, 2012

Early on we did one load of wash. Please don’t laugh – when you’re traveling with only one suitcase, getting laundry done is a big deal! Our apartment is on the 9^th floor of a dorm that has men on one side, women on the other. At the end of our hall, there is a very cleverly set-up 2-room laundry facility – one room of washers and dryers for guys, one for gals. The super-sized washers turn on with a 500 won coin (about 50 cents) and wash for 38-45 minutes. The dryers turn on the same way, but don’t dry a full load in 45 minutes.

However, our devotions reminded us that Jesus says, “A thankful attitude opens the windows of heaven. Spiritual blessings fall freely onto you through those openings into eternity…Thankfulness is not some sort of magic formula…it rejoices in the Savior in the midst of trials and and tribulations.” We find this truth to be very powerful.

Here's what KNU looks like from our apartment:

The big deal of the day was our tour of Korea Nazarene University. Wow! KNU is impressive -- impressive in infrastructure, impressive in mission, impressive in energy. The young gentleman who set up the apartment for us on campus, Mr. Tenny Lee from the office of international affairs took us through the library, the department of support to special education students, and the special education school that has children from preschool through middle school. On the third floor the library is chock full of colorful books in Korean (!), research journals, and has a computer lab with 24 stations. The media lab had more computers, many dvds for entertainment and for class support.

KNU has won national awards for the Department of Support to Students with Disabilities. That occupies the first and second floor and has a corner dedicated to the printing of Braille texts, specialized computers for the blind to do their homework in Braille or orally. We saw other computers for the physically handicapped, including one that is operated by a pointer fixed on the head of the student. The radio studio records video instruction for distance ed and for the blind.

Seeing all these specialized adaptations made me want to visit such a campus in the States to compare.

The school for children with disabilities also has attractive, sophisticated equipment for the children of varying ages. The class sizes are very small (see the pictures). KNU students from the department of early childhood serve internships in the school.

Mr. Tenny arranged two more excellent items for us. He borrowed a router so that we can have internet in our apartment. And he took us to a very classy downtown restaurant for a full-course Korean meal – the kind where you sit with your legs down in a hole under the table and are served a meal with thirty small plates. What a treat.

Did I mention that the mattress was too firm for comfort? After lunch, I went scouting for a piece of foam to overlay it and found one to buy. Hurray!

We had one more very special time of table fellowship over supper with Peter and Amy Scott, who we knew in Quincy, MA schools and at ENC where their kids and our kids were together. We always kidded around about being “cousins”. They have been here in Korea for a year, teaching English in the KNU system. They are loving it and plan to stay longer. We ate “Vietnamese” and Jon and them got seafood rice served into a half of pineapple which is cut up for dessert after the rice is gone. We enjoyed so much catching up with the Scotts and their children. We hope to have another snatch of time with them to talk more before we leave here.

It was very nice to work on line for a while. I was grateful to figure out how to change my blog settings from Korean to English so now I can read the instructions, go back and post more pictures! We were happy to retire to our now-more-comfortable bed!

GETTING A BIT SETTLED IN CHEONAN, KOREA March 28, 2012

Breakfast buffet style at the Metro Central Hotel was…interesting. Familiar to us were the eggs, bacon, juice, cereal, and weak coffee. Unfamiliar was the lettuce salad, the tofu gelatin squares, the algae in fish broth soup, the tea made of who-knows-what. I should find out what in order to avoid it next time =).

We had a strong internet connection so it was easy for us to play catch-up on our laptops since we didn’t have to leave the hotel until noon. I had peeked at my FB birthday greetings the night before and there were over 100, but today there were 70+ more (!) so I had my work cut out for me to at least “like” them all, better to comment on them. What a blitz of blessing!

We checked out at noon, then hit the main street near-by to do our first bit of window shopping.

We looked for a gift for our granddaughter, Zoe, who turns nine on Sunday. We found a rather cool watch that hangs around the neck, but decided to find something better. The markets on the side streets sold foods and fishy stuffs that were new to us. The vendors watched us eye their goods – two-way curiosity! The best shop I went into made us leave our shoes at the door and put on slippers to go in the store. None were big enough for Jon so he sat with his I-pad while I looked at silk stuff, thinking of Zoe, but nothing looked the right size.

We caught a taxi from the hotel to the Wilson’s house on the KNU campus.

We stashed our suitcases there until we could get a key for the apartment on campus being cleaned for us. So, we had three and a half hours to fill with more adventures on the street. We ate lunch at the Han’s Delicatessen that Wilson’s took us to last night, then I shopped for breakfast foods while Jon got coffee and sat to relieve his ankles.

We were to get the key to an apartment at 5:30 p.m. We went early to not miss the young man, Mr. Tenney Lee, who arranged it for us. That was a mistake, but only the first one of several mis-connections, but by 6:40 p.m. Martha and Larry were helping us wheel our bags into an apartment that is the guest place for the International Teaching Program. It has a bedroom, kitchenette, bath and living room. So cool for us! We don’t have to pay for this! As Martha said, “It the Lord’s providence.” Yes, and it reminded me of the devotional thought we had read this morning:

Open your mind and heart – to receive My love in full measure. So many of My children limp through their lives starved for Love, because they haven’t learned the art of receiving [which] is essentially an act of faith: believing that I love you with boundless, everlasting Love. The art of receiving is also a discipline: training your mind to trust Me, coming close to Me with confidence (Young p 29).

After church with Wilsons, we unpacked our bags, then fell exhausted into the bed, a little too firm for our achey joints, but way good enough to rest our tired bodies. 

PLANE TO SEOUL TO CHEONAN, KOREA March 27, 2012

KOREA! We landed at the lovely airport in Seoul before 8:00 a.m. No sleeping on the plane; too crowded and too many good movies. Then we got on a bus for two hours, walked through the bus terminal mall and then took a taxi to the hotel that we’re in for tonight. 

Our friend from Eastern Nazarene College land, Martha Wilson picked us up at the hotel and took us to the apartment on the campus of Korea Nazarene University where she and husband, Larry, live. They teach in the joint program of the Korea Nazarene University and the Cheonan Department of Education. They just signed a contract for the fourth year here. Native speakers of English are recruited by KNU and placed as teachers by the DoE. Martha teaches in a boys high school and Larry to children in an elementary school. They work as volunteers at one of the 50 Churches of the Nazarene in the city.

As we climbed the stairs to a clean little fast food place on the second floor, they said Korea is built vertically. Churches can be found at any floor, rarely on the ground floor. Supper was yummy and fellowship was great! It was good to get to know them better.

 The “dessert” of the day was the gala ordination service that we were priviledged to attend at the last day of District Assembly in Korea. Dr. Eugenio Duarte, our friend and leader from many years back and from many places. 

He preached a great sermon on Ex. 25:22, God’s careful instructions for the construction of the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant. Three items in the ark:

1)   the tables of the ten commandments – focusing on our being holy, being the people of God,
2)   the golden jar of manna – because He is the God who provides
3)   the rod of Aaron – symbol of the power and authority.

They were built of acacia wood. Why that wood? There are 1300 types of acacia wood in the world. It’s not special, it’s found in Cape Verde, a dry land, it resists drought. What use common acacia wood? It is available! Let us be available and covered with gold – the divine covering.

He ordained 38 men and women. The wives of the ordinands wore those elegant, colorful Korean silk dresses. The three women who were ordained wore classy pantsuits. It seemed to be a subtle statement of their change of rank or station.

We loved being able to joining in with the Korean and other elders in the laying on hands for the ordination ceremony itself.

Then there were pictures and chit-chat. The pictures were enhanced by the presentation to each ordinand of a clerical stole, red embossed with gold. Nice! We loved talking with Eugenio, who was surprised, of course, to see us in Korea, and with our new World Mission Director, Verne Ward, and with Dan Copp, head of IBOE and Clergy Services. We spoke of how many Koreans live in Federal Way. How good it might be if God might call one of the young ordinands, especially

one who could get a job there, could come to
Seattle area to raise up Korean congregations.

What a birthday for me! I think going to ordination services is even better than a party!

SHIP to BARCELONA to VENICE, Sunday, Mar. 25th

Early awake, in fact one hour earlier than planned because of our misunderstanding the change of hours, we had dressed, eaten breakfast and waited for our luggage on board, caught a taxi, and got checked in and were ready for take-off by 9:00 a.m. We flew Barcelona to Venice, the airport where we spent a long time on the way to Barcelona. Since we knew the Venice airport well, we stashed our big suitcases so we could travel more freely.

The hotel that we book sight unseen on line, ended up being a great choice that we would recommend to friends in Venice – The Tritone. You can buy a 24-hr. public transit ticket at the airport, and take bus 15 to the Mestre train station. The Tritone is right there by the “Mestre Ferrovia” bus stop. There are two fast food restaurants right there, too, a pizza/lasagna place and another which sells Middle Eastern kababs or swarma. The hotel breakfast which is included was a classy buffet with everything you could think of for European fare. We were very happy with the hotel.

And we were delighted with Venice! Mestre is on the “mainland” of the island of Venice and the transit passes took us everywhere we wanted to go in this charming city of famed canals and channels and historic churches, palaces and homes. It shot up to near the top of my “most favored cities” list. I think Rio de Janeiro is still at the top of the list, Seattle is second, but Boston, Lisbon, Sighisoara, Johannesburg and now Venice tie for third, all for different reasons. We took dozens of pictures. We’re ready to bore you with them ;) The art, the theater, the masks, the architecture, the romance, the gondolas all beckon our children to visit Venice as soon as possible.

It was nice to sleep together in a nice double bed after sleeping on comfortable cots on the ship. After breakfast, we took Bus # 15 to the airport, picked up our overnight stashed luggage, then flew to Paris where we are now. We’ll fly Paris to Seoul. I have a terrible time remembering how to spell “Seoul” but I’m learning. A young Asian women in front of me is taking pictures in all directions. Reminds me of the Hungarian lady on the water-bus-boat yesterday taking pictures of everything!

Next stop is REALLY adventure! We’ve been to Europe, we’ve been to islands before and they are wonderful. We have enjoyed them immensely. Now Korea for a week, then Australia. Whew. Newness awaits us for sure.

 Our reading today from “40 Days with Jesus” is/was rich in imagery and meaning. Jesus says,

”Wear My robe of righteousness with ease. I custom-made it for you, to cover you from head to toe. The price I paid for this covering was astronomical – My own blood. You could never purchase such a royal garment, no matter how hard you worked…When your behavior is unfitting for one in My kingdom, do not try to throw off your royal robe. Instead, throw off the unrighteous behavior. Then you will be able to feel at ease in this glorious garment, enjoying the gift I fashioned for you before the foundation of the world’ (27).

On the plane, I picked up the Fashion magazine, full of colorful, funky, lavish European clothes. These are rags compared with the robe of Jesus’ nature that He wraps around us.  

AT SEA, Saturday, Mar. 24th

Today was a slow day on the ship, a day of closing things– finish packing and close up our suitcases, close out our on-board account, turn back the books loaned from the library, eat fish one more time at our last meal dinner, say “good-bye” to our new South African friends, Neil and Klenky, and attend the closing spectacular at the ship’s theater. It wasn’t sad – we have too much to look forward, ahead in our trip and ahead in life.

Since we also closed our internet account, and we didn’t do anything particularly special, I didn’t plan to post a blog today.  I hope to have free internet tomorrow night at our hotel in Venice, then I’m hoping to post, with pictures.

“God did this so that…we who have… taken hold of the hope offered to us may

be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor or the soul, firm and secure.” Hebrews 6:18-19

MALAGA, SPAIN, Friday, Mar. 23rd

Bright green parrots zoomed from tree to tree in the city park. They surprised us! We wanted to see green parrots in Africa but only managed to see one once fleetingly at sunset in Liwonde. But here they were in downtown Malaga – lots of them, plucking twigs from one tree, swooping to another to build a nest, then raucously squalking at each other. I guess the she-bird didn’t like the building design! The bright yellow weaver birds in Africa would argue about nest-construction, too.

Malaga is a picturesque city, extending several miles along the coast. We walked along the docks from the ship to the cathedral, taking pictures all the way, visited the Malaga Museum, enjoyed expresso coffees, of course, with dozens of other visitors on the square between the Cathedral and Cheer’s Restaurant!

 

It took us a while to find stamps to mail postcards, then to find the bright yellow mailbox, shaped like the columnar “boxes” in Portugal that we used to use. The Visitor Information Center pointed us to the stop for the shuttle bus back to the ship. We ate lunch, took a nap, then dove into the hot tub and swimming pool.

Sometimes we watch TV in our stateroom. We like BBC World News and were surprised by a new items about Portuguese young  professionals moving to Mozambique to get jobs because the job market in Portugal is so tight. The report interviewed a couple of them in Mozambique. We recognized the restaurant where they were sitting – Costa do Sol – in Maputo. The report spoke optimistically about Mozambique. It was good to hear.

Another news item concerned a newly found work of Wolfgang Mozart, performed  by a professional on Mozart’s piano in Saltzburg.

I wore a red blouse and colorful satin scarf to supper this evening in the Pacific Garden. It was fun for us to notice that the scarf was, in fact, a signed print by Picasso! Ironic -- he was born in Malaga. His birthplace and museum are there. Several of his works are still in the art gallery on board to be sold at the art auction tomorrow. I (accidently) dressed quite appropriately!

Jon and I want to make note of the excellent menu items we have had to select from all these days. He took a picture of the menu so we can try to reconstruct a list of the good foods.

Can you imagine a low-lit dining room with six double-sided counters of chocolate desserts, decorated with chocolate sculptures and ice sculptures?  That’s what the staff produced for the guests on the ship tonight. What a spread! It’s called “Chocoholic Buffet”. Up until then, I’d avoided most sweets, but tonight was unavoidable! We took lots of pictures and tried several little desserts.  

The show tonight was a variety show presented by the staff of the ship. They were fun entertainment, singing, dancing, doing magic tricks. The finale was the funniest – called “The Fountains”, 8 staff persons draped in white, Roman style, carrying chrome pitchers of water on their shoulders, slid onto stage to music, then preceded to drink water from the pitchers and spray it like fountains in several ways, making us laugh every time. Good show!

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forevermore. Amen.” (Jude 24-25)

AT SEA AGAIN, MADEIRA TOWARD SPAIN, Thursday, Mar. 22nd

We’re been at sea since 5:00 p.m. yesterday and will land only tomorrow, so today was another full day at sea. The cruise staff offers many options to keep us passengers active and entertained.

Each evening they print and distribute a bulletin with the choices for the following day. A television in each room has an international news channel, an international business channel, a few within-ship channels that inform about activity options, but they also show a couple of movies each day – in English, or dubbed in Spanish, German, or French at least. We’ve flipped through the channels to hear “Puss in Boots” in Spanish, quite appropo, of course, “Dolphin Tale” in German, “The Help” in French, etc., but we’ve also caught a couple of films in English we had not yet seen – “Moneyball” and “The Illiminati”.

Today at sea we chose to go to a health seminar and one about Diamonds. I won a door prize at the Amber seminar, Jon won one today at the Diamond one! Now we have two blue topaz stones. What to do with them??? We also choose to attend an art auction. We’d never been to one. A young American from Buffalo, NY is the art expert on board, who gives seminars on art, and conducts the auction. We appreciated seeing the fine art pieces by artists new to us -- Picot, Krasnyansky, Marcus Glenn, Dominic Pangborn, Nano Lopez. We’d never heard of them before, but we’re learning a lot of stuff on this trip. Of course we thought of our own favorite painters, daughter-in-law, Kate, and her mother, who are both very talented.

In the auction, the lowest price original work went for $65.00. Some pieces went for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. A special collection was shown of five original works by “masters” who were famous to even us – Goya, Rembrant, Picasso, Renoir and Chagall. The bid put on the floor was $24,800 but no one accepted that bid, so they weren’t sold. Interesting activity.

There are shows every evening on a large stage in the theater called “The Stardust Theater”.
We don’t always go to them, not being of our taste, but we’ll go to hear the male quarter tonight; “4Ever” is their name. They have great voices and sing several styles in English. Spanish and Italian.

The devotional thought that I chose to share today is from Sarah Young again (p20). Jesus says,

“Seek my face, and you will find all that you have longed for. The deepest yearnings of your heart are for intimacy with Me. I know, because I designed you to desire Me. Do not feel guilty about taking time to be still in My Presence. You are simply responding to the tugs of divinity within you. I made you in My image, and I hid heaven in your heart. Your yearning for Me is a form of homesickness; longing for your true home…” (Young, p. 20).

We’re off to supper at the Pacific Garden restaurant with the South African couple we met yesterday, then to the concert. Vacation continues happily!