South Korean Freedom

The Taliban has agreed to release the remaining 19 S. Korean hostages. However, Seoul had to promise to withdraw Korean military from Afghanistan and cease missionary efforts (or some degree of that). Even though I can't understand the newscasts here on my TV, the whole nation is celebrating. When the entire country is the size of Indiana, news like this is enormous. Praise the Lord for the release of these individuals! It's a happy day in South Korea...

I've had the blessing of conversing spiritual matters with several of the dorm students. There are so many here who are searching so hard for something that's right in front of them! I've talked to a student who just can't accept the concept of an all-powerful God. Tonight I talked to another student who believes that Jesus is the Son of God but hasn't been able to accept His saving grace yet...too many things in life have gone wrong for this student to reach out and trust. My heart cries for them. I find myself praying each day that my words would be seasoned with salt and will proclaim truth. I get to defend the Gospel every day here, something very different from the bubble of IWU but something so refreshing and energizing. I feel like I'm living a life of purpose.

On a lighter side, yesterday I ate a Korean dish called chicken mayo. I'm discovering that it's better 1. to not ask questions and 2. to just dive right in. So...I did. The dish consisted of rice, egg, chicken, soy sauce, seaweed and mayonnaise. It was surprisingly amazing.

RANDOM KOREAN FACTS:

Sandwiches are basically an American food. Apparently, Koreans think that most sandwiches have egg in them. I thought it was a one-time thing the other day. But, everywhere I've gone for a sandwich gives me one with egg. So, if you go to one of the sandwich shops or even to a nicer restaurant that happens to serve a few sandwiches, chances are you'll get an egg, cooked over-hard on your sandwich.

It's completely normal to walk down the street and come across someone peeing on a wall. It's not illegal to relieve oneself in public. While it's much more common to see children enjoying the liberty, once in a while you'll see an adult as well.

While Koreans enjoy spicy food to no end, they don't care for Mexican food. There is not a single Taco Bell in this entire city nor is there an other Mexican restaurant...it's going to be a rough 2 years.

Here's some irony...Korean baked sweets (especially cakes) look absolutely amazing. The corner bakery by my apartment has some of the prettiest cakes I've ever seen. But if you were to eat them, you'd be disappointed. Korean's don't like too much sugar in their baked desserts. Instead, cakes, cookies and muffins are bland and dry. However, if you go to buy a good cracker, maybe even a wheat cracker, it'll be sprinkled in sugar. The only crackers you can buy that aren't sweetened are saltines. Even the Korean version of Ritz crackers are sweet. Potato chips are also sweet. What we have here is a classic case of sugar displacement. Instead of putting it all in the wheat crackers, just put it in the cakes. C'mon, Korea, how hard can it be to change your taste buds??