Today was far from a typical backpacker's day. A Korean girl and her mom, sent by Pastor Lee (a Korean missionary who I met a couple weeks ago when he visited my church in Gongju), picked me up at my hotel around 10am. They took me to church, which was nearly an hour's drive away. There were about 40 people there, all Korean, and Pastor Lee preached from Ephesians about the unity of the body of Christ. I could surprisingly understand about half of what he said!
The church "building" itself was really just a big aluminum tent frame with screen-printed vinyl tarps for walls. Lunch after the service (a staple of Korean churches) was simpler than what we have in Gongju - a bowl of guksu (noodle soup).
I had the pleasure of visiting the 1pm children's worship service, where I introduced myself and taught the kids how to sing "Jesus Loves Me" in English with hand motions.
After the services, Pastor Lee suggested that Yuri (the girl from this morning) and her mom show me around the city a little more. We went to the Reunification Palace and to the War Remnants Museum (which holds a very moving collection of photos depicting the horror and cruelty of war).
They treated me to an amazing dinner at a place called Quan An Ngon, which I couldn't otherwise have afforded on this trip! I got to sample a variety of dishes, including noodles (of course!), spring rolls, dumplings, roasted squid, banh xeo (bean sprout and shrimp pancakes), crispy sweet pork, rice cakes, and the Vietnamese equivalent of Korea's bingsu (crushed ice with coconut milk, tapioca, red bean, glutinous gummy rice balls, and jelly).
After dinner we walked to a popular modern shopping complex - Diamond Plaza - just to look around. Because it was Sunday, we also got to peek inside the Notre Dame Cathedral during mass. We strolled around the night market near Benh Tanh as it got dark, then took a taxi out to District 7, where we walked around an affluent Korean neighborhood and had sweet, rich iced coffee at a fancy cafe called The Garden.
And now for the surprise twist! During the course of the day, it was decided that I will take Yuri with me to Hanoi, where she will meet up with her father who is there on business. Yuri is about 17, she's lived in Ho Chi Minh for 4 years, and she's never travelled outside of the city (except for a short jaunt south to the Mekong Delta). She's also eaten very little street food and is not used to walking long distance in the heat! However, she seems to be looking forward to the adventure and is very excited about the chance to practice her English (and help me with my Korean!). It's definitely an unexpected turn of events, but I think I'm up for the challenge. :)
The church "building" itself was really just a big aluminum tent frame with screen-printed vinyl tarps for walls. Lunch after the service (a staple of Korean churches) was simpler than what we have in Gongju - a bowl of guksu (noodle soup).
I had the pleasure of visiting the 1pm children's worship service, where I introduced myself and taught the kids how to sing "Jesus Loves Me" in English with hand motions.
After the services, Pastor Lee suggested that Yuri (the girl from this morning) and her mom show me around the city a little more. We went to the Reunification Palace and to the War Remnants Museum (which holds a very moving collection of photos depicting the horror and cruelty of war).
They treated me to an amazing dinner at a place called Quan An Ngon, which I couldn't otherwise have afforded on this trip! I got to sample a variety of dishes, including noodles (of course!), spring rolls, dumplings, roasted squid, banh xeo (bean sprout and shrimp pancakes), crispy sweet pork, rice cakes, and the Vietnamese equivalent of Korea's bingsu (crushed ice with coconut milk, tapioca, red bean, glutinous gummy rice balls, and jelly).
After dinner we walked to a popular modern shopping complex - Diamond Plaza - just to look around. Because it was Sunday, we also got to peek inside the Notre Dame Cathedral during mass. We strolled around the night market near Benh Tanh as it got dark, then took a taxi out to District 7, where we walked around an affluent Korean neighborhood and had sweet, rich iced coffee at a fancy cafe called The Garden.
And now for the surprise twist! During the course of the day, it was decided that I will take Yuri with me to Hanoi, where she will meet up with her father who is there on business. Yuri is about 17, she's lived in Ho Chi Minh for 4 years, and she's never travelled outside of the city (except for a short jaunt south to the Mekong Delta). She's also eaten very little street food and is not used to walking long distance in the heat! However, she seems to be looking forward to the adventure and is very excited about the chance to practice her English (and help me with my Korean!). It's definitely an unexpected turn of events, but I think I'm up for the challenge. :)
We think you're up for it too.
ReplyDeleteGod's plan is always best...keep following!!