d-Wizz Hankuk Travel Diary [2005]
Day 25 (2005-08-20) / Day 26 (2005-08-21) / Day 27 (2005-08-22) 
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Day 26: 2005-08-21 (Sunday)
This was looking like a very busy day. It was to be my last day in Seoul, as I would go to Chungnam to meet my best Korean friend, Jamie, and I would be staying there for 5 days, before going to Busan and leaving Korea. I wanted to meet some friends for the last time before I left Seoul, so I called Dae-Young and asked if I could visit his church that day, because I had not yet done so on my trip. He said to meet him at Seobinggo station at 1030. Before that, I wanted to meet Kwon Chang-Hee at Beomgye for a few minutes to ask him about something, and also find out about the possibility of visiting his church in the afternoon. I severely underestimated the time required for all this commuting. I left the guest house at 0920, arriving at Beomgye at 0950 and then I realised I would be late to meet Dae-Young, even though I only spent ten minutes with Kwon. I left Beomgye (442) at 1015, and had to change at Ichon (430) to the KNR branch line (Icheon: K131), to get to Seobinngo (K131), just one station away, but there were not many trains on this line. I eventually arrived at 1110, and called Dae-Young for directions. I was a little lost for a few minutes, because I had gotten out of the station on the wrong side, but once that was fixed up, I found my way rather easily, and very soon Dae-Young had met me and escorted me to the church (called 온누리교회: Onnuri Community Church). One of my sister’s friends, Elle, was also there with Dae-Young.
It turned out I was not so late as to miss the start of the meeting, as it wasn’t scheduled to begin until 1130. To my surprise, I learned that the service would be conducted in English. It was not unlike an Australian service; the worship team played songs such as “Every Move I Make” and “Still”, the latter becoming so familiar to me it was almost like the anthem of my trip. I wanted to meet some people after the service to introduce myself, and possibly add to my rapidly growing list of Korean friends, but I really had no time, because I was due to meet James (김재홍: Kim Jae Hong) at his church in Gangnam at 1400, and I only had about 50 minutes to get there.
Dae-Young suggested that we walk together to Icheon station, as there were not many trains at Seobinggo, so he led the way and I followed. I invited him to come with me to Gangnam, but he said he had to meet another friend, so he could not join me. We walked quite a long way, but we eventually arrived at Icheon, and Dae-Young said his final farewell to me as I went to catch a train. I went down the stairs just as a train arrived, so I got on. I needed to travel on line 4 from Icheon (430) to Sadang (433), and change to line 2 (226) to Gungnam (222) – only a short trip, really. A little while later, I noticed the train was at Seoul Station (426) and I realised I had caught the train going the other way! I cursed myself under my breath, as I was already running late, and my mistake had just wasted 14 minutes on the subway. I got off and went back the other way.
I arrived at Sadang and went to transfer, but somehow I found myself having to pay for another train, which does not usually happen if you are transferring at a subway, but when I came out of the line 4 train, there was no way to get to line 2 without going out of the ticket gates and then immediately back in the other side. This cost me W800, which didn’t make me happy. At 1410, I finally arrived at Gangnam, and waited at exit #6 for James to meet me. He took me to a restaurant, where two of his friends were already sharing a meal with him. James introduced me to them, and talked with them as we ate Japanese-style food for a change. It appeared to me that James had not met these people often, as he was talking with them a lot, and was more interested in chatting with them, which for me was a surprise, but not a problem. They were using Korean anyway, so I did not understand.
We left the restaurant and James led the way to Sarang Community Church, which turned out to be a very large church. There are six services each Sunday: four in English and two in Korean. Because I was late, James had decided to have lunch in place of church, and go to church afterwards, so we had missed the final English service at 1400, and were going to the first Korean one instead, which was due to start at 1600. James apologised for the probability that I would not understand much of what was being said.
Outside the church, the narrow street was full of people going to and from the church. It appeared quite chaotic, but there was a semblance of order. Vehicles on the road drove between the massive crowds at walking speed to get through. Watching it was like seeing the Red Sea parting and then returning. We walked about 100m past the church and joined a very long queue, which moved very quickly, yet never seemed to get shorter, as many other people joined behind us.
We were inside the church after only a few minutes, and James directed me to the left side of the auditorium. He wanted to sit in one of the front three rows because they are right behind the drummer, but unfortunately, we were a bit late and they were already taken. So we were about 12 rows back; still with a good view, but not what James was hoping for.
The service began with singing in Korean, again the musicianship on display was high standard. I was not able to recognise any of the songs this time, except for a hymn which I could not remember the title of.
During the singing of this hymn, the pastor motioned to the musicians to stop playing, as he told the congregation he would sing it acappella with two of the other senior members of the church. They sang one verse as a very moving three-part harmony together, which drew huge applause. Then the congregation joined in for the last verse. It was very theatrical, and I regretted not using my camera to record even the audio part of it.
The service was supposed to be in Korean language, but the speaker was actually from the United States. He spoke about the global missionary organisation OM (in English, with a Korean translator) sharing about the ten most needy countries in the world from a missions perspective.
After the service had ended, I had my photo taken with James outside, as we took one of my Blastix each and posed as the drummers we were. Then James introduced me to one of his friends, Kim Su-Jin (김수진), and I took another picture of both of them. They were going to the 1800 service, and I had to prepare to go to Chungnam, so we went our separate ways.
On the way back to the guest house, I called 김치웅 (Kim Chi-Ung) in Asan to advise him that I was now on my way to see him, but it would probably be about 3 hours, as I had to pack first. This time, I would not be coming back, so I had to make sure that I took everything away with me. I realised that I had brought too much to carry at one time: I had two suitcases and a box for my snare drum, but I only had two hands, so it was going to be difficult.
I managed to get everything packed away in the two suitcases and the box, and also filled my bag to near bursting point. The guest house host drove me to Hongik University station (239) and I took the two suitcases to the ticket gate, then returned to get the snare drum, reaching over the gate to put it on the other side, while I paid to get through with the suitcases again. I took a line 2 train to Sindorim (234), and again left the snare drum on the platform for a few minutes as I took the suitcases up to the line 1 platform (140); then I went back to get it. I waited there for a train going to Chonan; this time I was going all the way, so a train going only to Suwon would not do. After 30 minutes, I decided to get on one of these trains anyway and catch another one at Suwon (P154) the rest of the way to Chonan (P168).
I negotiated my way on and off the two trains, playing ‘soccer’ with the snare drum box to gently move it around while I pulled the suitcases with my hands. I arrived at Chonan at around 2220, and Chi-Ung was waiting at the ticket gate for me. He took both suitcases while I carried the snare drum down to the car park, where his friend Insu (박인수: Park Insu) was waiting for us. We drove 30 minutes back to Asan while we talked about many things, including Jamie, who was due to arrive back at Incheon from a 2-month scholarship in the U.S. in about one hour. I had previously said to Chi-Ung that even though Jamie would probably want to meet me straightaway, he would most likely be very tired and jet-lagged from the trip, so I had arranged to meet him the next day and give him some time to readjust to Korea. So, I would stay with Chi-Ung overnight, and on Monday (2005-08-22).
Chi-Ung’s parents own a restaurant in Asan, so his mother had prepared some food for us when we arrived at around 2300. While we were eating, Jamie called Chi-Ung’s phone to announce that he had arrived back in Korea. He asked to speak with me, and was very excited to hear my voice.
After our meal, Chi-Ung showed me to his home, which was on the fourth floor of the building. We had to climb stairs to get there, as the building did not have an elevator.
Inside Chi-Ung’s room, I slept on a mattress on the floor, while Chi-Ung himself slept in another room. I was very tired from all the travelling while carrying my luggage, so I fell asleep rather easily.
Day 25 (2005-08-20) / Day 26 (2005-08-21) / Day 27 (2005-08-22)
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