RAIN

In the handy little book "Seoul Survivor" it is highly recommended that one bring proper rain boots, rain jacket, and yes, maybe even a rain HAT to Seoul. I was VERY excited that rain boots are actually trendy now, so I bought a pair. A GREAT pair, AND I even bought a couple of outfits to match the boots (yes, you heard me right). I also bought a great rain coat from EMS. I mention the fact that it's EMS so that you all know that I really took this rain coat business seriously.  T also took this rain coat business seriously and he also got a great, hi-speed rain jacket.

You can IMAGINE my excitement when I opened the curtains to our hotel room on Saturday morning and saw that it was raining! "Yippee! What a fun day this will be!" I thought! "I can finally wear my yellow rain boots!" OK. Well, a typhoon is more like what we were experiencing.........and SOAKING WET is what we ended up being. Our great new wet weather gear was no match for Saturday's weather.... So when Sunday's weather looked to be the same, we bought umbrellas. So. We had umbrellas and raincoats. And. We. Still. Got. Wet. :) 

Did I mention that Seoul SOMEHOW has the ability to be pouring down rain AND humid at the same time? 

Oh. And Hot. 

I felt like a greenhouse. I didn't know what was sweat and what was rain water on my body.

Even still though. I think the rain is spectacular. I'm serious.

I've never seen rain like this, and even though it's actually RIDICULOUS. I love it.  Also? Everything here is BRIGHT GREEN. Like BRILLIANTLY bright green. The flowers are brilliant. It's gorgeous. 

T and I went to church yesterday. We actually found out about the church here, through our church back home. That's pretty cool, no? 

Looking at the map we judged it to be a doable walk. I had shoes that I thought would be... well.... not ideal ... but, I'd manage.... because after all .. it didn't look like it was too, too far. 

After about 40 minutes of walking we stopped at a little market. The man didn't speak English. We don't speak Korean. I scanned the shelves and found BAND-AIDS!! YES. We bought them. While I put band-aids on the blisters that had formed and already burst on my feet, T "asked" for directions and showed the 

kind man the map we had brought along (I put asked in quotes because really, when neither of you share a common language, it's more pointing and nodding, and shaking heads, etc....)..... So .....we walked some more. 

We were soaking wet with sweat at this point (the rain hadn't started yet). 

After about 10 more minutes had passed we decided to take a taxi. 

The driver didn't speak ANY English. And again, we don't speak Korean. Our map didn't help him. We knew the general location of the church, so we said "UN VILLAGE" (because that's what it is near).... nothing. "UNITED. NATIONS. VILLAGE".... "MAL-AS-SHIAN EM.BA.SSY"...... nothing.... T even tried listing different countries in a row.... one by one... thinking one (or more) would sound familiar .... even if it was in English....and the driver would then say OH YES... EMBASSY!!!.......nope.

So, there we sat. In the taxi. Pulled over to the right. With the directional on. Stopped.

THANKFULLY, my VERY BRIGHT husband had programmed my new (super cool) cell phone w/the numbers of our two contacts at this church. AND? They speak Korean. So we dialed them and gave the phone to the taxi driver. Two phone calls and about 15 minutes later, we were at the church. :) 

It was really neat to be in a church all the way over here... that our church all the way back home helps to support. There is something very cool about that. If people ever wonder if God can multi-task, well, He can. How awesome is it that He has us over here where we will be able to help serve in this little church? 

Anyway..... after church we gathered our "won" and took the bus back to Itaewon (with the help of "K" who gave us very CLEAR instructions, and even wrote things down for us in Korean, in case we got lost). Once we got back to Itaewon the rain started. BUT WE WERE PREPARED!! We put on our raincoats (that I had been carrying in a bag this whole time) and pulled out our umbrellas..... and off we went. 

Oh - and incidentally - to those who shared the stories with me of sightings of people who "relieve" themselves right in the middle of the sidewalks here? T and I were wondering if you were sure those people weren't actually AMERICANS relieving themselves....... because maybe they had been wandering the city lost all day....... and they just couldn't hold it anymore................ 'Cause let me tell you something.... I was pretty tempted. :) 

xo

K.