Getting to know Korea

Well, we finally got our luggage on Tuesday morning.  So that means we had been in the same clothes for 3 1/2 days.  Can't tell you how good it felt to take a shower and get in some different clothes.  We met our Mission President on Monday.  We joined him and his wife and also the AP's and Office Elders for their P-Day.  We went to a huge park right in the middle of Busan.  The Elders played some soccer and then we went out to eat.  Wish we had our phones with us to take pictures.  I will try to describe.  The tables had a hole in the middle where they place a pan with charcoal in it and started it.  They then brought a wire mesh thing that fit over the top.  The meat was brought to the table rare and Sister Kim cooked the meat for us over the open flame.  It was so good!!!!  They also had little dishes of onions, leeks, coleslaw and carrots, kimshi, lettuce leafs, and a spicy sauce.  The meat was placed on the lettuce leaf and you added whatever else you wanted.  Then they brought this cold noodle soup, which looked so gross, but was actually pretty good.  We were stuffed.  After dinner the President took us to get some ice cream.  Oh my goodness!  It was just frozen shaves of milk, but they piled on top  - pieces of brownie, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate sprinkles, and some chocolate powder.  I could only take a couple of bites.  And we were so tired.

So Tuesday morning we went out for a walk.  We woke up at 3:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep.
We didn't get lost, but it was amazing to see how many people were up and about.

Remember we said that on our application we had asked to go to Washington DC.  Well guess what, we did find the White House!

This is a bus stop

And a convenience store that was open.  The streets are very narrow.

Here are some pictures of our apartment.  We are on the 10th floor of a 15 story building and there are 16 buildings in our area.  Everybody lives in apartments.

Looking out our balcony.

Playground in the middle of our complex.

Kitchen

Bedroom

They do recycling here like you can't believe.  Every bin had something different in it.

Living/dining room

Bathroom

Study room

The washing machine is out on the enclosed balcony.

Our first day of learning the office was Tuesday, but I think they could tell we were tired, so they let us go early.

Wednesday was very grueling for both Wayne and me.  Every place uses the church systems, but there sure are different ways to doing things.   And we only had this one week with the elders to train us.  It's transfers on Tuesday.  

We also took time out of our learning schedule to go to District Meeting.  It is held in the church right next to our office.  The President lives on the enclosed area also.

This is the block the church is on.  It is the building on the right.  The President's house is to the left and our office is upstairs over the church.  the APs and Office elders have an apartment there also.  We walk to the office.  It is about a 15 min. walk.  We do not have a car.  It's walking or cab or bus.

Everyone takes off their shoes at the door.

Office Elders computers and working area.

This is my desk.  Wayne works in a room that sits behind the cabinets  Very nice office.

These pictures are of District meeting.  We weren't the only ones tired.  Elder Aubree had a hard time staying awake too.

Elder Reiley was translating for us.  His companion, Elder Oh is next to him.

There were three sisters in the district.  And we all had an orange, thus the peelings on the table.

Well, it is Saturday here.  We have gone shopping, cleaned the apartment and did some laundry.

Hopefully, Wayne and I remember what has been taught.

Onward and upward!

We love you all.

Travel

I had to post another one today.  Had to tell you about our exciting time we had to get to Korea!

We got on our airplane in Salt Lake City at 7:45 am on the 18th.  They escorted us off the plane at 8:15 am for mechanical problems.  They didn't know when they would be able to fix the problem.  So we went back to the counter inside the terminal to see what we could do.  This was American airlines.   They could not find a flight that would get us to LA in time to make the connection for our next leg from LA to Tokyo (Narita airport) so they put us on an Alaska Airline flight to Seattle to catch a Delta Flight to Tokyo (Narita airport) which would get us there in time to catch our last leg of our original itinerary which was from Narita to Busan (final destination).  So we left on Alaska airline.  We sat on the tarmac for 20 minutes before leaving.  When we arrived at Seattle, we had to run to catch the Delta flight.  And guess what, they would not let us on, because they had closed the gate.  We could still see the plane sitting there, but they would not let us on. Then they told us we would have to go over to American Airlines to get them to help us.  We did find an agent at one of the American Airline counters that was really nice and tried to help us.  But because our last flight was with Alaska Airline, they would have to help us.  This we found out after about 2 hours.  Alaska found us a flight from Seattle to London to Tokyo.  We were so tired by then, that we just said sure.  It at least got us closer to Busan!  So the flight to London left at at 6:35 pm on the 18th.  We arrived in London at 11:00 am on the 19th.  Our fight to Tokyo left London at 1:50 pm and we arrived in Tokyo at 10:30 am on the 20th.  In Tokyo, we went to the gate to catch our original flight from there to Busan, but our ticket was for the 19th not the 20th.  So they made us go through customs to be able to talk to an American airline service agent. 

Our passport now has a Japan stamp.

So we finally found the counter agent for American Airlines and had to explain everything that we had gone through thus far.  They got us on a flight on Korean airlines that was leaving at 1:00 pm.  Again we had to hurry to make the flight.  They also told us that our luggage was in LA.  WHAT!?!?

And we would have to talk with the baggage claim people in Busan to get it sent to us.  So we arrived in Busan at 3:10 pm.  It took us about 90 min. with the baggage people to explain all that had happened.  And we did not have the phone number to the mission office or President.  It was in my luggage!

We had to call Missionary Travel (it was midnight back in SLC) to get the phone number.  By the way, the President didn't even know that we had arrived, so we had to call and let him know also.  So today is Monday, the 21st.  We still don't have our luggage - have been wearing the same clothes for 3-4 days.  But we did get a good night's sleep last night.  We were dead tired!!  It's hard sleeping on a plane.

Looking back, we should have stayed in SLC and left another day with our original flight itinerary.

Love you all!

Korea - Here we come

Our family met one last time before we left.  Everyone was there except for Teri.  She came the week-end after we entered the MTC.  And Michelle, Maui and Kala.  They were sick.

Four generations - me, Teri, Desiree and little Avery.

Our experience at the MTC was awesome!  Picture outside and the famous one at the map!

We were in a district with 3 other couples.  One of them was going to Ghana West Africa as the YSA couple.  They will be visiting all of the countries in West Africa.  We tried to give them some comfort about Africa, but she was still apprehensive.

Elder and Sister Miller (W. Africa), Us, Elder and Sister Cooke (North Carolina) and Elder and Sister Wilson(Canada)


They also paired us up with one couple that we were to get to know and then be able too teach them something that might help them as we learned about their lives and family.  It was a wonderful experience.

Elder and Sister Kirby.  He's a Patriarch.  They are going to Australia.

This was our teacher in the morning.

Bro. Roberts.  His uncle played for BYU

And this was our teacher in the afternoon.  Sister Krebs.

Before we left for Korea on the 18th of January, we met with our Senior Couples from Poland.  What  wonderful friends they have become!

Hutchinsons, Reeds, Sheleys, Durrants, Lloyds, Jensens and Tuellers.

(Here is the one with Bro. Hutchinson)

We will be leaving on the 18th of January.  We are very excited!

We love you all.