Korean "ajumas" gone wild celebrating Korean Foundation Day!

Just got this picture sent to me from Jie,a Chinese exchange student, along with this explanation. "I went on a tour to a famous place two days ago. It is called Chang Bai mountain. South Koreans call it Paeg Du mountain, but they can not go there, because it is in north Korea. Something that makes the mountain special is there is a big lake on top of it. I took some pictures. It is said that 1/3 of the lake belongs to China, and 2/3 of it belongs to North Korea.The dimateur is said to be 4.4 kilometers."

Oct. 3rd-"Korean Foundation Day"

KOREAN HOLIDAYS
Solar
New Year's-January 1st and 2nd
Independence Movement Day- March 1
Arbor Day- April 5
Children's Day- May 5
Memorial Day- June 6
Constitution Day- July 17
Liberation Day- August 15
Foundation Day- October 3
Christmas Day-December 25
Lunar
New Year's (Seol-nal)- 1st day of 1st month, plus the day before
and after (Feb 9-10 in 2005)
Buddha's Birthday (Seokka Tanshin-il)- 8th day of 4th month
(May 15 in 2005)
Harvest Moon Festival (Chuesok)- 14-16th days of 8th month
(Sep. 17-19 in 2005)

National Foundation Day
According to legend, the god-king Tan-gun founded the Choson Kingdom in 2333 B.C. This day fills citizens with nationalistic pride over the 4,000+ year history of Korea.
KOREAN FOUNDATION MYTH
All nations have a historic past, and many also have foundation myths. Buried deep in the subconscious memory of descendants of Asiatic tribes that moved into southern Manchurua and the Korean Peninsula lies the myth of Tan'gun. Hwanin, the heavenly king, had a son, Hwanung, who wished to live on earth among men. Accompanied by 3,000 followers, Hwanung descended from heaven and appeared under a sandlewood tree on Myohyong-san in North Korea. he ruled over the people that he found there, teaching them agriculture, arts and social behavior.
There was a bear and tiger in this land who wished to become human. They prayed fervently to Hwanung to fulfill their wish, and he looked favorable upon them. Giving each 20 cloves of garlic and a bunch of mugwort, he told them to take only that nourishment and to stay out of the sun for 100 days. They retired to a cave and took the food. Because of growing impatience and hunger, the tiger left the cave. The bear, however, endured and was turned into a woman. Happy with the fulfillment of her wish, she prayed under the sandlewood tree to become a mother. Hwanung gladly obliged, and the bear-woman bore Tan'gun, The Sandlewood King. Tan'gun became the first human king of the people of the peninsula, establishing his capital at Wanggom (P'yongyang) in 2333 B.C. and calling his kingdom Choson meaning morning calm or morning freshness. He later moved his capital to Asadal, where he ruled until 1122 B.C. In that year, Tan'gul took on a spiritual form and a second legendary ruler, Kija, took his place.
Undoubtly of shamanistic origin, this myth is similar to the bear myths and cults of Ainu in Hokkaido and the people of central Asia. While no one takes it as historical fact, the myth of Tan'gun is still told to foster Korean nationalism.
(Source: Moon Handbooks. South Korea. Robert Nilson)

In Itaewon, I spotted a 2nd "year 2000 Best Toilet winner"!! Was 2000 a year that Seoul toilet cleaners worked harder than ever or have I only happened to bump into winners from that year?! I will not be able to sleep until I am able to answer such a lofty question! More to come...

Today is the last day of The Itaewon Global Village Festival. I'm wondering, why does the black person have to have dreadlocks, the German cook a Hitler like moustache and the Korean is the only one with a nice, big friendly smile?! Just some passing thoughts.

SIBC choir members faithfully practicing before service as they do each week.

"The Morning After Conversation"

What a nightmare to wake up after a night of partying and drinking hard to find yourself with someone you don't know at all and can't believe that you slept with!
NO, this is not something I've done recently but these are thoughts from my past that I have every Sunday morning as I am sitting drinking my coffee and reading my Bible and pockets of partying couples from the night before come in.
-Sometimes the couples are eerily quiet and you can sense their discomfort as they are so hung-over that they don't even try to masquerade their feelings hoping to part ways quickly after getting coffee and a bite to eat.
-Oftentimes they talk a lot and very fast hoping to hide their nervousness and discomfort.
-More often than not, there is a lot of swearing and joking used to try and "color up their conversation".
What can I do but sit there and offer up a prayer for God to pour out His mercies on them and to bring them out of such a promiscuous lifestyle which seems to be all about freedom but is in fact of the deepest bondage?! Part of me secretly longs for them to start pestering me about my Bible reading so I can share with them my experience but until that point, I just sit, read, and pray. Please understand that I do not judge such people (as that was exactly MY lifestyle years ago and I would still be in it if not for the Grace of God!) but rather my heart goes out to them knowing exactly what it's like to have a "sexual hangover" with a "Coyote Ugly" feeling in the morning, and doing the same thing the next weekend hoping to find "that partner who doesn't exist who will someone make it all seem worthwhile". (As a side-note, that has got to be the longest "run-on sentence I have ever seen! :-))
Partners will never satisfy as God alone was meant to take that place in our lives.
Let me just publicly Praise God for bringing me out of the darkness and into His glorious light!!!

Have You a Clear Conscience?

"My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me." (1 Corinthians 4:4)
I love this verse because it shows the ludicrousy of the world's thinking that "they need not follow/obey God because they have a clear conscience. This isn't far from people's argument that "I don't need God. I just try to live my life with no regrets." That's fine and dandy but it will not leave you guiltless on judgement day.
By the way, each person's conscience lets them KNOW that they have done things they regret so no one's conscience is clear anyway! We see this in Romans:
"since they know that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares." (Romans 2:15-16)

"If a liar and a deceiver comes and says, "I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer," he would be just the prophet for this people!" (Micah 2:11) You know you've drunk too much when you appear sprawled on the floor posted on "andyinkorea"! (Bad shot as no flash was used in order not to disturb this poor soul.) This is a common scene as I get off the subway at Itaewon each Sunday morning.
Same situation - different drunk dude.

World-Class or Worldly?!

"Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as wordly ("carnal" in the King James version)-mere infants....You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men"
(1 Corinthians 3:1,3)
VS.
"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3:20) & "These that have turned the world upside down are coming here also" (Acts 17:6, KJV)

Are we, as Christians (individually), polluted by the world and therefore not unlike many of "the Worldlings" or are we allowing God to use us to impact the world in a profound way through His grace?!

This is the typical "I'm-so-shy-but-yet-aren't-I-so-cute?!-pose" of many Korean females when trying to take a picture of them. Taken at 2:30am at a rest area 1/2 way between Pohang and Seoul.