first impressions

My good friend Key, who I met while he was studying English at my university, came to pick me up at Seoul-Incheon Airport. It had been ten months since he left the U.S, and I was so grateful to see a familiar face, so I was very happy to see him!! His wife, Soo-ah, and their daughter, Ah-in, were there to greet me too.

We went directly from the airport to Soo-ah’s cousin’s wedding. The wedding was at a beautiful convention center on a marina in Gimpo. When we arrived, we went to greet the bride. The bride sits on a little couch just outside the ceremony hall, and people can come in to greet her and take pictures together. I met the groom and Soo-ah’s parents outside of the ceremony hall before we went in too!

The ceremony was short and lovely. The couple received some words of advice from their pastor, they took their vows, the husband sang a sweet song to his new wife, and they cut a huge four-layer cake on stage together. A friend of theirs made some remarks at the end of the ceremony, and somehow it ended up with the husband doing pushups and shouting promises of love to his wife! After the ceremony there were family pictures and an elaborate traditional Korean meal.

From there we drove to Mapo-gu, where Key and his family live. By the time we arrived at their apartment, their daughter Ah-in had warmed up to me (it helps that I gave her a little gift from America ;) ).

On Sunday morning, I went to church with Key while Soo-ah and Ah-in were in "children's church". In the service, the band of ten 20-somethings sang some American and some Korean songs, and there was a short teaching about thankfulness given by the woman who is the young adult pastor. Key translated the main ideas for me so I would understand what was going on! They passed out small gifts of fruit and rice cakes to everyone after church for the “day of thanksgiving”.

After church, several couples came over to Key and Soo-ah’s home for a small Bible study. They wanted to take a picture with me, so here we are!

Key then took me to Jongno-gu, which is where I will be staying at a hostel until Tuesday morning when I go to my school to begin working. We took a subway from Mapo-gu to Jongno-gu, and just outside the station was this beautiful statue of King Sejong!

King Sejong was the king who invented Hangul, which is the Korean alphabet. Hangul is known as a linguistic marvel, so as a linguist I’m sure I should count this man as one of my heroes!

Key took me to dinner where we had bibimbap, octopus kimchi pizza, and broth soup. I’m here at Seoul Hostel Center and looking forward to exploring the city for myself a little tomorrow!