I usually don't have much that goes on in my life, but last week was a pretty exciting week. On Wednesday, my dad asked Priscilla to come hiking with us at a mountain near our church.

After my dad learned how slow Priscilla walked, he made me walk behind her the whole time. There were plenty of encouraging words to hurry up as I pushed her up 50 degree hills.

Here are a few convenient stairs.

Here is my patient father waiting for us to catch up to his "65 year old" body.



Pretty Priscilla had an excellent time browning her very white shoes and sweating her clothes away.

I finally found another excellent place to eat in Hong Dae. For the longest time, it was just Sam Gyup Sal and Dak Galbi (which are TOTALLY fine), but finding another fantastic place never hurt either. I love how this place just gives your table a huge row of various vegetables to wrap your meat in.

Then of course we have the bliss factor. After eating pork and chicken for so long, I forgot how good beef could be, too.

On Friday night, I had dinner with my white co-worker, Michael.

Here's him when he's normal.

Here's him when he's had a little too much to drink.

Anyways, Mike and I have become pretty good friends. He and I have so much Cali pride, and he's almost always down to have dinner with me. Well, last Friday, we were having one of our regular dinners at the Dak Galbi place. But 10 minutes into our meal, these Korean mafia guys came and sat next to our table! We weren't sure at first cause two of the guys were pretty big in these black suits, but the third guy was dressed in sportswear. Mike and I thought nothing much of it, but our loud English caught their attention. From time to time, they would make small talk with us. But with the more soju they were drinking, our conversations became longer and longer. It started off with...

Mafia: Where are you guys from?
Me: California.
Mafia: "California?" What's that?
Me: We're from America.
Other Mafia Guy: L.A.
Mafia: OHH! "L.A.!"

to...

Other Mafia Guy: You know, that guy's in the mafia.
Mafia: No, I'm not.
Other Mafia Guy: He really is!

to...

Mafia: You guys want to try some drugs (acting out shooting up heroin and sniffing cocaine)?
Michael: NO NO!

to...

Mafia: Do you want to tutor my kid?
Me: I'm sorry, but I'm really busy.
Other Mafia Guy: You should! There's a lot of money involved!
Mafia: What about you?
Michael: I'm sorry. We work 10 hour days.

I felt bad for Mike cause he had so much to drink, but he couldn't refuse their drinks and tried so hard to act politely in front of them. I was pretty nervous throughout the whole thing cause I was the mediator doing all of the broken translating. By the time we were done listening to all of the anti-Bush/America talk from one of the mafia guys, the whole restaurant was pretty empty with just the waiters curiously peering at us from the back. Mike and I decided to get up before they finished so that they wouldn't invite us out to more drinks and noraebang. That crap was exciting!


Finishing up the week, Pris and I went to the French Village in Seoul. It totally sucked, and we didn't even see any French people. We just went into this one cafe just so that we could use the bathroom.

We ended up having peach iced tea for quite some time, talking about our struggles with church. In case you're wondering, we're not doing too well at our church. We serve by teaching Bible study in English to elementary school kids. The ministry has no proper direction, and we gotta face all the hardships that come along with it. I briefly shared about my burdens with a good friend named Dinko who encouraged me with the words: "God is always worthy of what you can give, even when the little sheki kids are shekis. That's your worship." It's a great reminder that worship on Sundays doesn't only come from hearing good preaching or singing biblical songs...as much as I long for those.

Afterwards, Pris and I went to the famous "buger" place near Koryo University.

As you can see, it really isn't anything like a burger. More like a retarded sandwich that's fairly tasty, especially for its price.

Here's Priscilla being pretty again.

I've gotten pretty used to the bad Konglish in Korea, but this one really made me laugh.

I would like to conclude this entry with a performance that includes two songs that are pretty popular in Korea these days.



Thought of the Day: HOLY MOLY!
Song of the Day: Younha-비밀 번호 486