the other side of the world

Here are some shots from the Korea trip just to see if I can figure out how to post them. This was the first restaurant Jim and I ventured into, the first day we were there. We had no idea what to order or what to do with the bowls of food that came. They cooked the meat right there at the table on a grill over coals...cool. Please don't ask me what all the food items are, because I honestly still don't know. I can tell you that the bowl in the front, at the far right, that looks like lasagna, is that infamous Korean delicacy, kim chi. Jim ate it. I didn't. Yet.





This is called Bi Bim Bap. I did eat this. Most of it. But not those things that look so very much like earthworms. I really wanted to convince myself that they couldn't be earthworms, that they would be entirely safe to eat. But everything about them looked exactly like earthworms to me, (don't they to you?) and I couldn't overcome my aversion.


Jim is so brave. Look at him about to eat that "couldn't-possibly-be-a-worm" thing.

What HE was concerned with was this particle of some vegetable that was translucent and unidentifiable. He suspected and accused it of being tofu, which it clearly wasn't. I recognize, endorse, and accept tofu. But he was afraid to eat it, just in case. I asked him if he'd rather eat worms than tofu and he said he would. Can you imagine?

The chopsticks were metal, too, which made them more difficult to manipulate. He's a pro. I'm wondering if he's been to Korea before..... hmmm.

I really thought I should have purchased this classic Korean attire to speak in Friday night, but Jim said maybe next time.


I would love to show you pictures of the group we spoke to, but there were military personnel there who were in such a critical and sensitive assignment that they asked not to be photographed. No joke. These people take their mission seriously. But we met some wonderful people and were honored to have that time to share with them.

Here we are at another Korean restaurant on Saturday night, after the seminar. Look! You can tell we're feeling much more confident now with the food and the chopsticks because we've been in the country for three days. I ate all kinds of stuff you'd never believe. Even quail eggs and some kind of an omelet-looking deal that had squid in it. True fact.


They just kept bringing bowls out until there was no more room at the table for one more bowl. I'm still not really sure I want to know what they all were. I did take a teeny bite of kim chi. I wish I could tell you that it was surprisingly tasty and delightful, but that would be a lie.

We did not eat here, in spite of the fact that it's Jim's most favorite restaurant. (can you see that it's an Outback?) We saw about 5 of them in downtown Seoul. But we do have scruples. Nor did we eat at McDonald's or Burger King, even though we could have, because we saw both. And a 7-11. But we were torn, because we wanted to try authentic Korean fare. Just not this


Or this

Or this, tempting as it was

But our time wasn't entirely spent thinking about and eating food. We also shopped!


Jim was a good sport, and said he felt like he was spending Monopoly money, because the Korean "won" is like 1000 to the dollar. So we'd ask how much something was and they'd say "seven thousand".. we were such big spenders, throwing thousands around like that.
By the way, I'm realizing that my camera's date didn't get set ahead to accurately reflect the Korean date. Not that that's important. Just kind of interesting to see.


Our last day before flying home we were able to visit the DMZ -- the border of North and South Korea.


I have to say that that was a slightly scary thing for me. They cautioned us that we would be watched by the North Korean soldiers, and we should avoid gesturing to them or making any attempt to communicate with them verbally or nonverbally. We went into one building that was built on the border -- half of it was in North Korea and half of it was in South Korea. When we went in, the door to the North Korea side was locked, but we were able to cross to that side of the room. While we were in there, we were being guarded by South Korean soldiers and US soldiers who told us that our conversation was being monitored by the North Koreans. What an experience!

So cool to find out that Pam had prayed for our upgrade to business class for the flight! Talk about an immediate, specific answer to prayer! Wow. Now that I know her prayers have that kind of clout, you can bet with whom I'll be sharing my prayer requests from now on.