The Days Are Packed

Along with spring have come the rains.  Yesterday night I heard thunder for the first time in Korea - I'd missed it.  And the forecast for the rest of the week is more rain.  I don't mind the rain except when I'm getting soaked, driving my scooter to and from school with Alisa on the back so that she doesn't have to walk on her sore foot (did I mention she hurt her foot?  Pohang seems to have a negative effect on the health of foreign teachers.  My broken thumb is only one of many other recent injuries among the foreigner group.).

Along with spring has come Easter.  And, though it had the potential of going by without very much recognition on my part, it turned out to be a memorable one, thanks to some good friends and my new toaster oven.  A couple of weeks ago Teagan decided to buy a toaster oven off of G-market, the popular online store in Korea.  He said I could also get one for only fifty bucks, so I thought, why not?  But that was around the time that Alisa had just arrived and was living in my apartment, so it sat in it's box for a good week and a half, until this last weekend.

Jane is a very cool person from Sydney, Australia, and when she found out I had an oven, she was quite a bit more excited than I was.  She loves to cook, so it didn't take long until she found the chance to show me the capabilities of my new appliance - an Easter dinner in my apartment.  So, Saturday afternoon, Jane shows up with Sara, Gayle, a salad, a mac-and-cheese casserole, wine, and 2 small chickens.  An hour later, along with Alisa of course, we were eating the best home cooked meal I've had in months - on my small, uncomfortable, apartment floor of all places. To top it off, after dinner we played card games, which I think is the perfect thing to do after an Easter dinner.  It was surely the best time I've had in my apartment yet.

(Notice the wonderful curtains that mom made for me)

Early the next morning, the same group of us, along with Jonas, Sara's husband (who got me my djembe), drove out to Handong University for church.  Handong is a Christian university just outside of Pohang, that, even for the short time I was there, reminded me a little bit of Calvin.  There seems to be a good community there.  I enjoyed the service a lot.  Alisa and I even met a guy who went to our high school, HDCH, though much earlier than us.  Small world.

Then, in the afternoon, I joined my soccer team on a bus to Busan for our game.  We had been told that the team we were playing had had trouble finding a field to play on, and the one that they'd booked was up in the hills a little bit, which turned out to be exactly right.
Korea is hilly - rugged, it's been called - and something I've been amazed about in Busan is that the city just continues right up the slopes like waves hitting the rocks; reminiscent of cities in Central America I find. 

Somewhat like this.

So our bus got us as close to the field as it could, grinding it's gears up a pretty steep, yet still very populated, hill.  And then we had to hoof it the rest of the way, up one of the steepest slopes I've climbed, passing apartment buildings the whole way. And I'm wondering "how do people live on this?" and "how is there a soccer field up there?".  But there was a soccer field up there - a small one, but a soccer field.  Except, despite it's size, and despite being located on a steep hill, the fences around the field weren't that high.  This resulted in at least three lost balls during the game just from wayward kicks.  We lost the game as well.  But it was close, and more fun than other games we've had this season.

Outside of my good weekend, I've become very busy.  I should admit that my obligations are all commitments that I've chosen to take on, but I'm finding that I have very little free time just to relax.

But enough about me.  I promise that next week, I'll bring back another instalment of "Crazy Korean Culture with Mike".

Thanks for reading,
 Michael

Bonus: extra pictures from a field trip that our school took a couple of weeks ago to a nice place in Pohang: