vacation

This week, we (as in most of Korea) had Monday-Wednesday off for Chusok. At the last minute, a group of six of us decided to cram in one car and take a short trip to Seorak mountain, one of the most famous tourist sites in Korea. We left Sunday night after church and drove for 3 or 4 hours to get there. We found a really reasonable place to stay for only around 8,000 won apiece. We had a room for guys and a room for girls, each with their own bathroom and bathtub! Wow. We got up the next morning, found a convenience store for some green tea and crackers for breakfast, and took off to the mountain. We rode the cable car up and then climbed the rest of the way to one of the peaks. They even had a little stand at the top of the rock peak where you could purchase an engraved medal for making it up to the top! Seorak mountain is near the beach, so after we ate lunch and saw a nice waterfall, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach where the guys rode ATVs. We ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking the beach, then headed back home.

On Chusok day (a little like our Thanksgiving day), I got up early to meet my friend at the train station. We rode for about three hours to meet her brother in a little country town. We visited a natural mineral spring and an underground cave (like a mini Carlsbad Caverns) then ate some yummy sashimi for dinner. We spent the night at a prayer mountain retreat center, near where her brother works. It's a pretty cool story. He went out to the country ten years ago because he was chronically sick. He thought the fresh country air and water would do him some good. He ended up meeting Jesus there, and was healed. He's been there ever since, working at the hospital at the bottom of the hill from the prayer retreat center. Staying at the retreat center was an experience within itself. The routine there is to get up at 4:30 and go to corporate prayer. They take their prayer pretty seriously and don't hold back a bit. I was awakened at that time by the yells of prayer and worship. That went on until 7am, when everybody breaks for breakfast (this morning, breakfast consisted of stewed eggplant, rice, and beansprout soup!) After breakfast, most people take a nap, then get up again at 10 for more prayer and worship. They have 4 services a day, I think.

I got back Wednesday afternoon and was so hungry for some Western food that I caved in and went to Burger King for a Whopper with cheese set. I usually don't get tired of Korean food, but a few days of nothing but that straight for breakfast, lunch, and dinner got to me. That Whopper was so tasty! If I lived out there in the country, I could really lose some weight and learn Korean much faster!