While Halloween isn't big in Korea, it is huge at school. The Kindergarten staff did a great job of decorating the place. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun.
My youngest class was adorable. They were so excited... and just silly. :D
Really, how cute are they!?
I also had a class of only girls that day. They're sweeties!
The teachers were all decked out as well. How great is Halloween?
In other news, fall is beautiful here!
And aside from just hanging out at our usual destination with the usual suspects every Friday night (Eddie, Teddy, and JK among others, Korean and foreign)...
... I've been trying to keep myself entertained by enjoying different musical adventures! I've been to All That Jazz, a jazz club in Itaewon, twice now. They have good live jazz, a fun atmosphere, and (maybe most importantly), excellent margaritas. Mmmm. 맛있어요! Really hits the spot.
One night, I went to a gospel concert in Seoul. And it was fantastic. It was probably the first time that I ever really felt connected to other Koreans. What a great experience. The choir was great: Heritage Ministry Mass Choir. So much fun!
And the crowd was huge and very responsive! I can't wait to see them again!
And while Korea, as Western as it is, rarely reminds me of home, I was kinda shocked when I saw this in a random little store in a mall:
Yesterday, I headed to the library! What an adventure! It's a beautiful building with lots of books! English ones, too! How exciting! English books here are so expensive, so now that I have a library card (which was a tad difficult to figure out, haha), I'm excited to not spend money on books! And there's a nice new coffee shop where I go sometimes after work to sit and study Korean. When I was heading to this coffee shop, there were tons of people from some random church that were handing out a lot of clothes and some food to passersby. They invited me to their Thanksgiving church service today, and so I decided to go.
What a Korean experience. Haha. I showed up around 11am today, and they were so excited. You'd think I'm some sort of celebrity. The pastor who can hardly speak a word of English came up to me and gave me a huge hug. "Thank you! Thank you!" There was a big Thanksgiving feast, so I stayed and talked to a few of the 50 total congregation members. It was a really nice way to spend my Sunday... They were pretty intense, though... so I'll go back at some point, but probably not too regularly. Hopefully, though, it'll get me more integrated into a Korean community. I feel kinda bad using religion as an avenue for that because they think I'm an entirely devoted Christian (because I lied and told them so...), but I guess it's a means to an end. Am I going to hell for that? :D
In any case, I had a nice weekend... Very relaxing and productively Korean. Keep in touch!
3 comments:
People use religion and religious communities for different things... I definitely don't think it's "using them" if you want to feel a part of the community. I mean, that's the only reason I go to church these days. ^^; That and I would feel desolated if I didn't go on Christmas and Easter.
I agree, there is a lot to be said for the social value of religion. I also am not a devoted Christian/Muslim/Whatever, but I do believe a form of existence (call it god/love/karma) naturally connects us all.
I've seriously considered going to the Mosque regularly and subconsciously it's probably because of that community aspect of it. If we go to Hell for that, it's a pretty selfish god out there.
Just an added note, I think since religion is ultimately man-made then it was made for man; hence one of its' integral purposes is to allow a community of people to gather together. It is almost synonymous with the other cultural aspects that we grow up with and learn. Who's to say which God is right or wrong any more than anyone can say which language, food, and music is right or wrong?
You can't be guilty for going to church as an unbeliever. Why? Because if you're guilty than each of the writers of every holy book that clashes with another holy book yet says it is the ultimate authority on "God's Words."has a much, much greater risk of eternal damnation than you do for getting to know your community better.
Because of those much greater discrepancies, I doubt any deity either knows or cares about the things we think it cares about.
Do what suits you best and be a good person to the people around you. ~just my opinion on the subject matter.
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