first weekend.

I have been in Korea for seven days, today. I'm posting for the first time at 2:17am on Saturday morning, I'm still in the mode where I'm calculating what time it would be if I were still in the U.S. Right now, it would be 9:18am, and I am thinking of my family and friends back in California, imaging them hard at work at their jobs this Friday morning. Friday is just beginning in California while people are just coming home from their Friday night revelries here in Korea, and I sit and blog.

I've spent the week getting settled in at my dad's office'tel in Mokdong, Yangchun Gu, in the northwest part of Seoul. When we arrived last Friday night (around 7pm), the temperature was around 19 degrees Fahrenheit! Now, it's a cozy 40 degrees, like good 'ole San Francisco weather. I have some funny stories to share, but they'll come later. It's too late to be entertaining at this hour, but here are some pictures from my first week in Korea.


Friday.

















You have to pay a toll to go to the Airport, and on any intercity travel in Korea. This trip cost about $5, U.S.


















Friday night traffic in the way home from Inchon International Airport.

























Winter Trees on the freeway. You can see the reflection of my dad's Xylitol gum container.


Saturday.

















My dad with Gwa-il (fruit).
















My Kun Appa and Kun Umma ("big" dad and "big" mom) from Bundang treating my dad and me to some excellent Korean cuisine. This restaurant was beautiful, but in a really odd, rural location, and it's worth noting that if S. Korea were attacked by N. Korea, this would be one of the first strategic points of attack because all of the nation's oil is stored there, making real estate investment in this area a gamble. Driving through the dirt roads with no signs or any navigational system I was able to decipher, I wondered how people found places like this, there are no google maps or yelp in Korea. Everything is discovered by word-of-mouth.
















Kun Umma's boutique in Bundang.


















Ugly pad things left on cars when purchased, just to keep the doors from being dinged. Many people leave these pads on their cars, sometimes years after they've been purchased. My dad and I joke about how ridiculous they look when we see them on the road.


















View from apartment in Bundang. Korea is the land of apartment buildings. Land is limited, so everything is built upwards.


















Another view of the many apartment buildings in Korea. Apartments in Korea can be purchased like condos.


















Driving home along Han Gang (the Han River) during sunset--and yes, through more traffic.


It's 4:30am now, more to come later. My dad is already getting ready for early morning prayers at his church, and I must sleep. Happy Friday or Saturday!


Sunday.
























(Left) Dawn, at our MokDong officetel. Due to the time adjustment, I was waking up very diligently and going to sleep at a decent hour for about four days. Then back to business as usual--I am nocturnal by nature. (Right) View from our our window at dawn.

























First snow! I had been taking pictures out of the window since dawn, and was ecstatic to see snowflakes fluttering down from the sky! This was the view of our street after it snowed for half an hour.


















Sunday service, River of Life Christian Fellowship (ROLCF), Seoul. The reason my dad moved to Korea in May 2007. He pastored ROLCF in San Francisco for seventeen years, and his church in Seoul is now just over one year old. This was my first visit to ROLCF, Seoul.

















Fellowship after service. I can't help thinking about how my mom helped my dad build his first church so whole-heartedly, so many years ago when my sister and I were just little kids in elementary school. She is such a good Samoneem (pastor's wife). My sister and I grew up with church fellowship all our lives, at church and in our home, as my parents would invite church members over to dinner and coffee almost every week. It didn't hurt that my mom is the best cook ever. Her food is truly comes from the heart.
























SunMineemo (aunt) calling us to lunch. She isn't really my aunt, but she befriended my parents while studying in seminary at the same time as my dad, and so has been eemo to my sister and I since we were very young. She's been letting my dad stay in her officetel, free of charge. What a great lady. Her family invited us for dinner later that evening.

















Driving range. It was snowing when I took this shot. Koreans sure love their golf.

















Snowing, on the way to dinner in Yuh-eueeDo (do means island). We crossed a bridge onto this ritzy part of Seoul. Although this image doesn't show the island, the buildings on it reminded me of Vegas, sort-of. YookSam BeelDing (or simply, Building Six-three), is famous for its restaurants. SunMineemo's family lives in the building adjacent to the YookSam Building.
























Still snowing as we drive home after spaghetti and wine.