Kinsinger's International Adventures: A blog from Kendra's perspective!

I'm finally in S. Korea!!! My flight over here was great. I had a window seat by two brothers, Jesse (20) & John (18) - amazing that I can remember their names! They were very pleasant to sit by for 13 hours & happily let me through every time I wanted to get up. I was impressed by the 2 meals we were served by our wonderful stewardesses. One of the highlights of the trip was having the opportunity to brush my teeth (twice!) during the flight. Don't you always feel sooo much better with clean teeth? I do!

Once landed, I followed Wanda's instructions & followed the crowd. When I found myself waiting in the "transfer" line, I realized I wanted to stay in Korea...not fly away! So, I found the line for entering Korea. Wanda told me later that I could have been smart enough to at least read the signs - not JUST follow the crowd! Oops! Oh well, I made it!

Special "Thank You" to each of you who prayed for my safe flight & arrival. I appreciate your love for me & willingness to uplift me in prayer! God bless you!

John & Wanda, James, Jesse, & Joy at last!!! Yea!!! I feel like I've been waiting sooooo long for these 2 weeks! I'm thoroughly enjoying "living" with them again! Lots of hugs, talk, laughter...& memory making! I already feel quite at "home" here in Korea & in their tiny little house :)

Some of my favorite things here in Korea are:

1) Their tiny little house! Unless you go into the "outhouse" smelling bathroom, you can't hide anywhere. You can basically see everyone at all times. And, with 6 of us living here, you can hardly walk anywhere without literally bumping into someone. You know what? Sometimes in life, you "bump" into the nicest people!!! Smile! Maybe I'm crazy, but for some reason, I love small houses...it seems they tend to foster a more thankful spirit, a more family-friendly atmosphere (not to mention, living in such close corters makes it highly important for individuals to "make-up" quickly to each other if you want to maintain peace in the house!), & it's easier to not be consumed with unnecessary things (because you don't have room for them!).

2) The Korean tradition of "bowing" to people is growing on me every day! It is so much fun to walk down the street & bow to people as you go!

3) I love to go to the Bakery! It's so neat to buy things that have been freshly made that day!

4) I am impressed by the honesty & overall kindness of the Korean public. It makes for an entirely more enjoyable place to live! :)

5) Korean people are in NO rush! They take their time & enjoy life & other people. I REALLY like that!

Interesting tidbits:

1) Not too many fancy things here in this part of Korea. They continue to fix up & use their older run-down buildings. Instead of living in big houses, majority of people live in appartments. They do a super job of conserving space. You'll typically see gardens or rice planted in any space not taken up by buildings or roads.

2) They use very little airconditioning. From what I observe, what they consider a "cool" room certainly is not what American's would call cool! They'll even leave a window open when the airconditioners are running! I don't get that. It is very humid here. However, something I find odd, is that it can be humid but not necessarily hot. Like, you can feel sticky & warm from the humidity, and not even be sweating. It's hard to describe!

3) We found out that it is rude for a Korean schoolchild to call their teacher by their first name or Mr./Mrs ___. Instead, they are to address them by, "Computor teacher" or "History teacher." In general, they don't make it a practice to call people by their names. Anyway, I found that interesting. I told the "Computor teacher" who told us this that in America it is the opposite way around. She laughed as I told her to please call me "Kendra" - not "Wanda's sister." If I was Korean, I could expect to be called "younger sister" or "dental assistant." That's strange!

Funny Event:

My second time I was trying to buy something, I gave the lady $20 instead of $2! She smiled & motioned for me to hand her my purse. Then she put back the two 10,000 won bills & took two 1,000 won bills instead. Good thing they're honest here!

Ok, now for Sunday & some pictures!

We had our own "church" service at home before the "bus" (a van that goes around town & picks up people who need rides, mostly older people) came & took us to church. Upon arrival, we were greeted by many friendly people. I smiled & bowed at them (good thing a smile is universal!!). For the Koreans who knew that American's shook hands, they appeared quite pleased to "greet" me with a handshake!...doing it the "American" way ;) The main difference in church was that I could not understand what was being said (I guess that's a big difference!). And, the minister talked really loud. Perhaps things seem louder when you can't understand them? Anyway, we tried our best to sing along with them on familiar songs from the Hymns of Zion. After the service, we went to the kitchen. Everyone took off their shoes before entering & then went through the food line. This was my first experience for eating around their little tables. So far, I've been doing a good job trying new foods. However, I still was not brave enough to eat the tiny little fish that James, Jesse, & Joy savor (you could probably fit 5-6 fish on your largest fingernail). But, I don't feel too bad, as Wanda's only eaten one of them since her stay!

-Note the umbrellas with the shoes.

~Joy eating her spoonful of tiny fish!

After church, we had a job do to! During our "mud day outing," we had gotten very burnt. And, here in Korea, it is like a sin to get burnt! It is beautiful to be "white" not "tan." And, furthermore, it is not healthy to be in the sun too much! Therefore, Korean ladies carry sun umbrella's to prevent burning. It appears by the looks on their faces, that the Koreans have not seen someone so burnt! And, when they look at you, it makes you feel like you must have done something very, very bad (at least that's how I felt!). I'm certain they were not trying to make us feel bad, but to them, it must have seemed stupid of us to not take better care of ourselves! On my defensive side, I'll say that it was raining & cool when we left our house, so who would expect to get burnt? Furthermore, it seems like you can get burnt here easier than you can in the US. Anyway, we aquired some advice from a friend on how to treat sunburn. We were told to chop up potato & place it over gauze on top of the sunburn. So, here are pictures in order of the steps as I performed this process on Wanda. Look fun?

That treatment seemed to help some. But, we later found out that we were suppose to blend the potatoes up instead of chopping them (but, John & Wanda don't have a blender, so that wouldn't have worked anyway). Then, we were told we could slice up cucumbers & cover the burnt area. So, we tried this too!! I even chopped some cucumbers up & put them on her burnt scalp! The first time I put the cucumbers on Wanda, she said it felt "delicious!" Believe it or not, the cucumber treatment actually works very well to relieve the pain & help the healing process!