Our first Korean mass.

Today we attended our first Korean mass. Our coworker, Gloria (one of the Korean teachers), gave us directions to one of the two Catholic churches in Sokcho--Kyo Dong Sung Dang. Sung Dang literally means "holy place." Kyo Dong Sung Dang is on top of a hill in downtown Sokcho. We had a little trouble finding the entrance, but luckily (and after a quick prayer), a man who spoke English directed us. The church was completely packed! We sat in the back on plastic stools. I've attended masses that weren't in English before (but they were in either Spanish or Latin, so I could sort of follow along). It was interesting being there listening to every part of the liturgy entirely in Korean. The cool thing about the Catholic mass though, is that anywhere you go in the world, the content is the same. Only the style varies. So we knew what the priest and the congregation were saying even though we couldn't give the responses in Korean. The only part I couldn't follow was the homily.
A couple notable differences about the mass in South Korea. Almost all of the women had on white lace head coverings--I'd only seen that in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Also, there were no kneelers in this parish. In the parts where we're used to kneeling, they stand up. And instead of shaking hands during the passing of the peace, they bow to each other. Also, instead of being wheat-based, I think the host is made from rice.

Very different from our parish in St. Charles...but it was good to be back in church.

We just had a lovely dinner with our directors, Yang-Su and Won-gi. They took us out for Korean barbeque, which is awesome. There are open pits on each table, where they barbeque the pork right in front of you. In addition, they serve about a dozen side dishes (unlimited side dishes!): squid kimchi, pickled radishes, vegetable pancakes, salad, a couple different kinds of soup, noodles, regular kimchi, etc. We had a great time trying our first barbeque and talking with them about their experiences in America (where they lived for 10 years, near Boston), their dreams for the school, and our initial reaction to Sokcho and teaching. They are a very special family (they have one son, Yon Sei, who is 14) and we are fortunate to be working at their school. They are very supportive, warm, and helpful.

Friday night we also tried a new Korean food--gamji tang. Gamji means potato and tang is one word for soup. They serve (again, each table has its own burner) huge pots of potato soup that has pieces of boned-in pork (that just slides off the meat) in it. We ate gamji tang, which is followed afterwards by fried rice. They bring in the rice and mix it up in the pot that had the wonderful potato broth, which gives it a rich flavor. We also had cider (which is what they call 7-up here) and soju (their alcoholic rice drink).

It's been a very experiential weekend for eating! But seriously, Korean food is quite good. I had plenty of people tell me that it's not the greatest and that kimchi is awful. Kimchi is pretty good, I just can't eat a lot of it because it's doused in red pepper paste, which upsets my stomach if I have too much of it. But they have awesome barbeque, and their soups are very interesting in flavor and quite tasty.