Another Saturday in the Mountains

      My week was action packed and I couldn't believe it was already the weekend. Although I was excited for a day with my new friends at Sangdang Church I was beginning to feel overwhelmed by a new culture, lack of sleep, school load, and well.... just life. These emotions were enhanced by a restless night of sleep and a missed alarm causing me to scramble out of bed, into my clothes, and out the door to join the group.

      As the day began I wished I could create a new expression. Everyone knows the saying, "I woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Well, I didn't "wake up on the wrong side of the bed," I was not crabby rather I was quite enamored by the beautiful sunrise. I do believe that on Saturday, "the bed woke up on the wrong side of me." Not only did my alarm not go off, I missed the bus, barely hailed a taxi in time, and forget my cell phone in the taxi and it was only seven thirty in the morning. The day turned out to be extremely fun. It was filled with countless laughs, new friends, singing, sweating, pictures, food and bikes. 

       In order to have a view from a look out bridge we had to wait in a long line of people. While waiting, I began to reflect on the wilderness of South Korea; sixty percent of Korea's land is mountains and thirty percent is inhabitable. This being so, the fifty million people in Korea live in well structured cities and on the weekend many escape from the city to be in their natural surroundings. The wilderness however, does not offer the serenity of Canada, Minnesota or northern Wisconsin. Quite the contrary, the country side if filled with buses, upon buses of people streaming up and down mountains. Initially this did not bother me, but as I was having a, "the bed woke up on the wrong side of me day," it was a little frustrating. Later on the in hike however, I had an epiphany and became thankful for all the people surrounding me. They are a testament to Korean's desire to be outside and healthy. In addition, they are a wonderful example of ..... if we care for God's creation it can provide for many. 

     This hiking trip ended differently from previous ones. On the way home we were taken to a bamboo forest. This was my first time seeing bamboo and I was not aware how hard it is. I learned that the latitude Damyang is the highest latitude bamboo can grow. After our journey through the bamboo forest we boarded the bus for a three hour drive home. It was not long before the microphone was broken out and the whole bus was singing for the WHOLE ride. When we arrived home my luck was still following me, the buses had stop running and taxi's were hard to come by. I was thankful for my day of fellowship with new friends but equally thankful to curl up in bed.