Busan Trip: A time of restoration

We returned to Seoul this afternoon via the KTX (after visiting the Gwangan Bridge and walking along Gwangalli Beach one last time). I appreciated the slowness of today and the opportunity to reflect more upon our trip.

Although the buildings and historical sites of Gyeongju were not exactly meaningful or thrilling to Sara or I, the time we spent together (and with the Lord) was a real blessing and encouragement to me. One word kept coming up while Sara and I were in Gyeongju on Monday: restored. Allow me to explain.

Gloves
We were on and off a lot of buses on Monday. There were a few times we had to get off really quickly, so I didn't have a whole lot of time to make sure I had all of my belongings with me. As soon as we got off the bus to go to the temple, I realized that I had left my gloves in the bus - the ones one of my co-teachers gave to me for Christmas. I was kind of sad... and a little worried about being cold the rest of the day. Sara, full of faith, prayed, Lord, restore Holly's gloves to her. We trust you to return them to her. You are more than able.

I was thinking to myself... well, I guess I'm going to need to go buy a new pair of gloves. Which color would match my coats and scarves best? Hmm... So lacking in faith.

Well... Probably only 15 minutes passed before a random Korean man came up to us, asking us if we'd just been on the bus. As he approached us, he pulled my gloves out of his pocket!!! He said he thought he had seen that I left them there on the bus. So, he got off at the next stop and brought them to the temple to return them to me!!! I was speechless. God answered Sara's prayer.


Here I am (squinting with a cheesy smile) with my restored gloves... God is so faithful!

Key chain
This was not the only episode of restoration on Monday. As I mentioned earlier, we were on and off buses a lot. Sometimes when you're on a bus, you get kind of thrown around because of bad shocks, poor gear shifting, unpredictable traffic, etc. Well, somehow as we were getting off another city bus later in the day, I managed to leave my key chain behind, containing my bus/subway cards, Alien Registration Card, and room key for the Co-op. All somewhat replaceable, but important things. I didn't notice that my key chain was missing until about 10-15 minutes after getting off the bus. I was somewhat worried and frustrated. Losing two things in one day?!

Sara, (once again), full of faith asked the Lord to restore my key chain - to put it into hands that would take care of it and return it to me safely.

Do you think I learned my lesson from my gloves earlier in the day? Of course not! Once again I was lacking in faith, already thinking about how I would go about replacing each of the things I had been carrying in my key chain. At least I didn't add extra money to my T-money card before I left Seoul... it's going to be such a pain to apply for another ARC card... now I'm going to have to pay an extra 10,000 won for losing my room key...argh!

Well, Sara and I went back to the tourist information booth and informed the women at the desk of my new problem. They were quite helpful, made a few phone calls, even ran outside to try to flag down the bus I had left my key chain on... Sara and I waited for several minutes. Finally, one of the women returned to the desk and informed me that they had found my key chain on the bus, but that the bus was in a repair shop and I would have to go there to retrieve it. She wrote down directions for a taxi driver to take us to the bus station... and then wrote a note to the people at the bus station to explain my purpose for being there.


So, we got into a taxi and were on our way to the bus station. When we arrived, the taxi driver was very kind and helpful. He got out of the car to try to help me find the people at the bus station that had my key chain. However, the place seemed kind of abandoned (particularly because of the holiday). He kept mumbling something in Korean to me - I think he was saying something like, "No one is here. No one is here." He headed back to the car and I followed behind him, feeling somewhat dejected. We started to drive away, but then I noticed one other building we hadn't checked. I asked him to stop and ran toward the building. He honked his horn to try to get the attention of anyone that might be there. I was SO relieved when a man dressed in mechanic's clothes came out of the garage holding my key chain in his hand! He smiled and handed it to me. I did the traditional Korean bow for respect and said, Komsamnida! Komsamnida!!! (Thank you, thank you!)

Then, Sara and I were on our way to continue our sight-seeing for the day... with a lot on my mind to reflect upon.

Restored
Both of those instances really affected me. As I thought more about those things, I began to realize that perhaps God was trying to show me that I need to have more faith in Him - to trust Him with little details as well as bigger ones! Sara kept using the word "restore" in her prayers. I later remembered that I had recently been praying the words of King David in Psalm 51:

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

As I mentioned in previous posts, this winter has been really challenging for me. I've felt discouraged a lot. I've felt joyless at times. I've felt purposeless at times. However, I'm realizing something now. Just as God answered Sara's prayers to restore simple material things to me, God can (and IS) answering my prayer to restore His joy and purposes in my heart! My faith is small, but He is growing it.

I'm so thankful for our time in Busan over the weekend. God restored my gloves... my key chain... and my heart! He blessed us with smooth travels, great conversations, and time to relax. He allowed us to see the beauty of His incredible creation once again. I had lots of opportunities to recall memories from my PacRim trip and VA Beach, both of which were incredible experiences that left major marks upon my life. Sara and I also had opportunities to make new memories and experience God's favor and care - in small details and larger ones.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep... How priceless is your unfailing love! Psalm 36:5-7

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3: 21-26

Now I'm back in Seoul in my nice, clean apartment. I feel refreshed... restored... and ready for the next adventure! Praise God for His great faithfulness!

Busan Trip: Monday in Gyeongju

Monday was the official holiday for Sollal. Sara and I decided to take a little trip out of Busan and went to Gyeongju (about an hour away). Gyeongju is a very historical place and several of my co-teachers recommended that I see it at some point.

There were so many times throughout this trip that I felt the Lord just blessing us with His favor - didn't have to, but just wanted to! For example, we did not know what time the bus was leaving from Busan to Gyeongju. However, we arrived at the bus station at 9:07 a.m. The bus departed at 9:10 a.m. We managed to get tickets and caught the bus just in time! Such a blessing...

The first place we visited in Gyeongju was the Tourist Information Center. I was surprised (yet thankful) that they were working on the holiday. Sara and I decided to be somewhat spontaneous with the day, so we didn't plan things a whole lot ahead of time (which worked out pretty well). We just went to the places recommended to us by the women at the tourist desk.

Seokguram Grotto
The first place on our list was the Seokguram Grotto. I still don't know a whole lot about it, but I think it's basically a place people go to bow to their ancestors/pray to Buddha. Although there is a strong Christian influence in Korea, Buddhism is also quite prominent. It was intriguing for Sara and I to visit and observe some Buddhist practices. Both of us feel more of a responsibility to educate ourselves more about the beliefs and practices of Buddhism.


Holds a bell in the middle


Lots of fruit...


A Buddhist woman bowing


I wonder what they do with the fruit when it starts to go bad...


I think these lanterns might be for the New Year.


Some people paid to have wishes written and tied to the lanterns.


The view of the mountains was breathtaking. My camera didn't even begin to capture the beauty...

Bulgeoksa Temple




The temple seemed somewhat similar to the Grotto.


These guys were pretty interesting.


In front of another building


These piles of stones were really intriguing to me. I kind of wish we would have had someone to explain these things to us.


A really steep set of steps leading up to a statue of Buddha.

Honestly, Sara and I were a little bored with the temple and the grotto (am I allowed to say that)? We didn't understand much of it, and it wasn't an entirely meaningful visit. We realized toward the end of our visit at the temple that we felt like we were visiting those places mostly because they were places you must see when you go to Gyeongju... So, we went and saw them. We were glad that we went to visit, but also thankful for our honest realizations and good conversations.

Daereungwon Royal Tombs
Everyone that told me about Gyeongju told me about the tombs. So, I was kind of excited to see what the tombs were like. I guess I was expecting catacombs or something. I was really surprised when I found out that the tombs consisted of large mounds of dirt:





More tombs



And a few more...

This corrected sign struck me with laughter. The "b" was left out of tombs and someone took it upon themselves to make a correction on the sign. I don't know why it was so funny to me... but it really made me laugh.

Perhaps the highlight of the tombs visit was enjoying a nice walk in the park and beholding some more beautiful landscapes:


A lovely wooded path.


Majestic mountains (and more tombs!)


The sun beginning to set...

Cheomseongdae Astronomical Observatory


A little bit about Cheomsongdae...


In front of the ancient observatory.

Anapji Pond
Of all the places we visited in Gyeongju, Anapji pond was definitely my favorite.


This place kind of reminded me of Yu Yuan Tan Park (the place Katie Cline and I visited with our friends Cat & Penguin when we were in China last year). Fond memories.




It is really beautiful when it is all lit up at night.

After hitting the main tourist spots, Sara and I headed back to Busan to grab a greasy dinner at Lotteria (Korean version of McDonalds - which I never plan to eat again) and watched a movie at the Lotte Cinema!


We haven't gone to the movies since we've been to Korea. After five months, we decided it was time, especially since Busan is somewhat famous for film festivals and such.


Our tickets - comparable in price to movie tickets in the States.


Our chosen movie: Walt Disney's Bedtime Stories starring Adam Sandler. We both enjoyed it immensely. The movie was in English with Korean subtitles. We almost felt like we were transported back to America for about 90 minutes. It was glorious.

Busan Trip: Sunday with Sunghee!

Sunday was another very full day! We met up with our dear friend, Sunghee in the morning. Sunghee is a medical student in Seoul (I met her through choir at OEM), but her hometown is Busan... and everyone goes to their hometown for Sollal, Lunar New Year. We were SO excited to meet up with her in Busan!!!

Jagalchi Fish Market
Our first stop was the famous Jagalchi Fish Market. Since Busan is located on the coast, they are famous for seafood - especially raw fish! I regret (?) to inform you that I was not so adventurous with the raw fish. I took lots of photos, but stayed an arm's length away from most everything...


The entrance to Jagalchi


Random sea creatures/treasures/future meals on the ground


This one looked especially tasty... I couldn't help thinking about what my mom's reactions would have been at this place!


drying seaweed (almost a staple in our diet these days)


Drying out the fish skins - probably to be used as snacks later on... People like eating dried squid, dried fish, and other random things here. Definitely not something I grew up with!


I think these are sea sponges...


Inside the actual market building. You pretty much choose whatever you want to eat...


Then they cut it up for you and you can go eat it upstairs on the second floor (no need to have it cooked - it's meant to be eaten raw)!

Gukje Market
We mostly did window shopping and had lunch in Gukje Market (just lots of shops with clothing and random home accessories).


This was the most interesting item I found at the market. I immediately thought of my brother Zac, a proud Purdue student. I think this sweatshirt is supposed to say Purdue University. Instead, it says Purdue Univergy. Oh dear...


Sara, Sunghee, and I chose a small noodle restaurant for lunch. We all ordered shrimp and noodles (yes, I'm starting to eat shrimp these days). I forgot the Korean word for this soup... but I liked it! The only downside to the restaurant: apparently the people in the restaurant prefered to eat in silence. They admonished Sunghee for talking loudly (which seemed like a somewhat normal tone to us). It was kind of sad...

Yongdusan Park
After lunch, as we were walking along the street trying to find how to get to Yongdusan Park, we very RANDOMLY ran into one of the guys (Thomas) in my small group at OEM. I'm still shocked that we ran into him... it was SO random! He was also in Busan visiting his family and was just taking a walk because he had nothing to do. So, he took us to Yondusan Park and spent the rest of the day as our faithful guide. I'm so thankful we ran into him - I think it was part of the Lord's provision for us! It would have taken us so much longer to get around without his help.


Yongdusan Park - at the top of a small mountain/hill.


An important war general from the Shilla dynasty (?)... I don't exactly remember...


A dragon holding a ball. Thomas told us that whenever you see a dragon, it is always holding a ball.


There was a small art gallery inside one of the buildings. This was my favorite painting. I like how green it is.


The flowers looked like cabbages... (these were scattered throughout all of Busan).


Taejongdae Park
*I think this was one of the trip highlights for me. I absolutely LOVED the forest, winding mountain trails (which we enjoyed on the tram), and seaside view. Once again, I was flooded with sweet memories from my Pac Rim trip. And I think seeing the beauty of God's creation just makes me feel closer to my Creator.


Absolutely gorgeous!


Apparently this is called something like "Suicide Cliff" or something...


A tiny island visible from the Taejongdae view


The water was SO blue!


Thomas, Sunghee, me and Sara


Sunghee and me!


Pretending to be Korean and hiding our faces...


Silver lining...

After Taejongdae (which was about an hour from downtown Busan), we went to one of Thomas' favorite Korean restaurants. The meals are pretty reasonably priced and you get to enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet with lots of different side dish options. So delicious! I tried another new dish: dwen jan chee gae. It's basically like a bean kind of soup with shellfish and other random things. It was pretty good.

The rest of the evening was spent doing a little bit of shopping with Sunghee and Sara. Then Sara and I went back to Gwangan Bridge, checked our email at a PC Bang, and split a strawberry smoothie at Smoothie King. When we returned to the apartment, we were delighted to find that the heat was working properly! It made for a much better night of sleep.