This would be it for the sight-seeing... Suwon Castle, or Suwon 'Fortress' if you'd rather...
David, MeriKim, Pastor Park, Kevin, Mark and Elder Kim met up with Jong-Hyun and I at Dongan church, and one of the very nice deacons took off work to drive us. We met up with the Nicks, Raia and her host family and Shi Bong there...
Ah, yes... Working camera, again. :) The big gold thing is a Buddhist-something. It's not part of the castle...
What kind of Korean place would be complete without a souvenir shop? :P
Something was going on.... Lots of executive cars all lined-up... Mostly Equus's (whatever the plural of that is) and one S500. Never saw what was going on, but they were in the same parking lot as the other tourists...
Ok, so for some 'real' pictures! As soon as we all got there, we scurried off to the main gate to see a martial arts demo, which had JUST started.... I had to shoot over the tops of ppl's heads. :(
At this point, I was just shooting... I couldn't even see for myself. :P
...But I found a good spot to camp out and get some decent action-shots...
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get my camera setup to make these look really cool...
The demo was kinda short. :P
...But, they were certainly ready to get pictures taken w/ppl after...
This was actually Pastor Park's idea. :P
I wanted to see HIM use that sword... Freakin' huge!
Ok, this sign was ridiculous.
Layout of the castle...
Not really sure why it's the 'fortress of filial piety'... There was some bits about it on a brief video we watched on it, but I never got a clear answer on the 'filial piety' part, except that it was important? Erg.
Lots of history here... Suwon was actually burned down in the Korean War, but because they had the blueprints from way back when, it was rebuilt in 1975. The wall is 5740m long... The castle is so culturally significant, it was selected by UNESCO as one of the things to represent Korea (that's apparently a really big deal).
The girls really liked the idea of being carried around in a palanquin. :P
This was the courtyard... Huge!
...All the way across the courtyard was our restaurant for lunch.
Kalbi tang! Yummm... It was served in a fancy bowl thing that was heated from underneath. See that bronze bowl over there? That's what you got bibimbap in.
A modern map of the castle.
Time for some archery!
Making sure Raia didn't shoot anybody...
...Whenever I let Shi-bong take pictures...
...I always got my camera back with pictures of cute kids. :P
Ready...
I hope I look cool in these pictures...
...B/c I hit the board twice out of ten times. :P The arrow doesn't go anywhere near where you point it. :P It shoots way off to the right, and then the trajectory is tough to gauge, too. Guess you'd have to practice quite a while before you could actually kill anything with this... But, the arrows made quite a 'thump' when they hit the target.
Guess...
Who...
Was taking pictures? :P Haha...
One of the main gates...
Inside, you are greeted by a wall, which would be filled with archers, and you'd be a pin-cushion if you were an enemy.
One of the archer attack points... Some pointed down, others went straight out for long-distance.
See Elder Kim trying to snipe a picture of us?
Up on top of the gate...
The view out...
Better view of the vantage points for the archers... Though I think canons may also have been placed in the non-angled windows.
The ceilings in this tower were kinda low, too... Ppl were definitely shorter back in the day. :P
Eh... I will actually write this one out:
"Yeongrongdam: A flower-shpaed wall made of tiles. It is called Yoengrongdam, meaning a flower-shaped wall which makes beautiful sounds, as if pearls are rolling on the ground. 165cm high and it is constructed over a patterned enforcement called muns(something-something) at the rear w(something something) yeonmud(something something) to heighten its aesthetic beauty."
I'm not sure how a wall makes sounds, but ok... :P
Pretty dinky canon. :P
We went for a walk, alllll along the watchtower... Said the... oh wait. :P
But, yeah. That is Pastor Park, the oldest, and Jong-hyun, the youngest, way ahead of everyone else. :P
MeriKim was saying how she was gonna take a picture of this, then show her folks back home and tell them this was the public transportation of Korea.... Hahahaha!
Stairs go nowhere?
...Actually, they go through the 'secret gate.' It didn't seem so secret to us, though. :P Seemed kind of obvious.
Fun pic from one of the look-out spots on the wall...
Lens distortion, much?
A look at another 'secret gate'...
This was a nice, breezy spot...
...And the floor was nice and cool...
...And the scenery was great...
...But we actually got yelled at for lying down on this thing, b/c it's actually a national treasure. :P Oops...
I uhh... Forgot to take some pictures. :P We stopped by Raia's host family's church to say 'hi'... We were greeted by the pastor and some others. We just gave a brief introduction and they told us to feel at home and chill from the day. They gave us red ginseng extract (I got a couple ppl's... hehe...). It was good... But, then after, we went to go eat dinner. And this was a big dinner....
Check out the teeth on that thing!
This was actually a multi-course meal... The food just kept coming out!
So amazing...
At dinner, CK, Youngchai and Ju Eun met up with us... Then we all headed over to Elder Kim's apartment to hang out a little. We ate some fruit and changed into nice clothes for Wednesday service.
Then it was off to church...
Maybe it was just because this was Wednesday service, but everyone seemed younger... The praise was a little more contemporary.
Pastor Park did his thing...
...And then Raia shared her testimony.
After, they gave us a special gift... The pastor made a company which hires North Korean refugees. This enables them to support themselves in South Korea, which is significant b/c they usually can't find jobs, or are ineligible for them. So, the gift we got was pretty special... Hand made by refugees, trying to make a better life.
Then they sang a special song to us (Chuk Bok Song)... I got all choked up immediately looking out in the audience and seeing our guides and my host family and total strangers singing something about love... I have no idea what the words meant, but I know the people love with God's love. Is this what it takes for us to understand what love really is? To understand what unconditional love is? These people don't know us, but they love us. God knows us inside-out, and yet He loves us even more compared to these people. The six of us stood under the stage lights, vulnerable and accepting their song.... Trying to keep my composure, I was looking around and things, but I really just wanted to listen and sob. They prayed for us right after - prayed for God to heal our hurt and comfort us so that we could comfort others... By then, I am sure change had taken place in us, b/c everyone of us, for the first time I've noticed, were all puffy-red-eyed, fighting to keep the tears back. God, is it even possible to love us more? Help us accept it and claim it as ours, as Your sons and daughters. Our parents may have birthed us, and our adoptive parents may have taken us in, but God, You created us. How much more do You love us than our parents, and these people that stand before us and bless us? It is not possible to comprehend, but God, help me to love like You love... To the people I know, and like all the people we've met on this journey, to the people I don't....
Cute-kid-relief... :P
We were pulling ourselves together... Then the Pastor gave a message...
And then group photo...
After, we went down to the cafe, and they had prepared some fruits for us...
And also some special tea. That's Kevin, then the Pastor (Lee) and then the Senior Pastor (also Lee)...
MeriKim, Mark, the deacon from Dongan, Haften and David...
A very happy Pastor Park...
MeriKim and I went home with my host family... The day was so long that both Jong-Hyun and Ju Eun both just passed out in the car. I don't remember much else from that night, b/c I was super-tired and half-passed out, too... Except Ju Eun was super cute and sleeping in MeriKim's arms, rather than gnawing on them like she usually does... I don't really remember what I did when I got home, either... Except make breakfast plans. :)
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