“Greeting Card mishaps, getting lost, and being found” :)

Well, so much has happened since my last post and there have been enough adventures to cover two blogs.

AK Plaza: I confess this picture was taken off the internet – it was PACKED the day we went and to have stopped for pictures would have meant being trampled.

Two weekends past, Jen and I set off on an adventure to a giant shopping centre known as AK Plaza. Upon reaching the facility, both she and I decided that neither one of us were big ‘mall’ fans, and attempted to find a more quaint area in which to stroll and observe Korean life. We ended up in a relatively large store which seemed to sell a bit of everything (reminded me of a cross between Chapters/Indigo, Michaels and Staples) with a small bit of a toy store thrown in for kicks. It was there that we discovered some awesome greeting cards, and were impressed to find an English card section. The only problem was that the Korean attempts to express themselves in English were a little off base… resulting in some rather humorous mistranslation of ideas:

“Beautiful people make beautiful love like flowers in a Garden. Thank-you for your love.”

“YOU ARE NOT UGLY.”

And then there were the random language swaps, where a card would start off in English, and end in French (PS – Chrissy, this is your birthday card! I have yet to find a post-office so I can mail it! I hope you had a great one!):

“HAPPY Birthday; je te souhaite un heureux et joyeux anniversaire.”

It was also at this store that I found my travel mug:

A very blurry “loveing sky without wings.” Classic.

After stopping off at a local coffee shop we headed home for the evening.

The next day we set out on our 1.5 hour walk to find our English speaking church while in Korea. We only got lost twice! Eventually we found it and were pleasantly surprised to find that it’s a decent sized congregation – mainly English-speaking Koreans – who all seem really sweet. There was a great welcome centre type deal where us newcomers got to sit down with some other new people as well as meet the pastor and pray. There were a few other ‘foreigners’ who were extremely kind as well, and many people have offered to help us find our way around life in Korea. One of the young Korean girls offered to teach us how to use the subway system and got us an English copy of the subway maps. With her help we were able to get home much faster with only a half hour walk after getting off the subway. So far, Global English Ministry seems to be an awesome church, and we’re excited to be going back next week :) They also have some sort of orphanage ministry starting up again in the fall, and we’re super excited about that!

Later that week, I got a strange knock on my door. Very persistent, someone kept yelling “Annyeong?! Annyeong?!” (translated that means “Hello?! Hello?!”), at which point I would respond with “Hello?!”. The lady sounded confused and yet kind enough to warrant a response, so I opened the door. I’ve never seen Korean women look so shocked :) Eyes wide, they bowed and handed me this:

Having no idea what this was, I smiled and thanked them, returning their bow. Apparently they hadn’t seen too many foreigners before, and looked utterly perplexed at my presence. To fill the awkward silence, they offered another bow. As is polite custom here, I again returned their bow. Then they bowed again. Thinking that this was the final goodbye bow, I returned it once more and took a step back into my apartment… but they didn’t stop… they kept bowing. Not wanting to be rude, I kept bowing as well. Eventually, as time continued to pass, and no end was in sight, I offered “Komsumnida” (“thank-you”). They bowed again, I bowed again, I waved and backed into my apartment, closing my door behind me. Looking at the nifty pamphlet, I thought it was an advertisement for a fruit store or something… until I spotted this:

 

That’s right. Korean Jehovah’s Witnesses. Fascinating! I’ve never had any come to my door in Canada, and yet here in Korea they have already found me. Later there was a giant group of them meeting in the park outside my apartment. It was quite the sight.

Well, that’s it for today! We’re on vacation this week so sometime within the next couple of days I’ll have the next post up – this one will involve last weekend’s adventure in Daejeon: “Filled with hot air, doing loop-de-loops, kung-foo fighting and meeting Romeo.” There will be lots of pictures :)

Hope you’re all doing well!!!

~Kate