Monday, September 26, 2016

The local branch here has family home evening every Monday evening but we've been traveling so much that we've only got to go once.  Tonight was a must because a very sweet Halapoji in the branch was teaching "well being exercises".  Think Korean yoga/stretching.  He has done these stretches everyday for 7 years and is pretty die hard about it.  It was just us, the missionaries and another sister in the ward and boy did he give us a run for our money.  There was one stretch in particular where this 75 year old man was almost in the splits and the put his nose to the ground.  We all had our legs  at about a 90 degree angle and couldn't get close to the ground.  It was pretty impressive.   Our new Korean word from the night? 보라 (bo-la) means something along the lines of "ok, you've tortured yourself enough in that position...let's move on.  It seems like an important word. Tonight it was our favorite.  This particular Halapoji is one of my favorites in the ward already.  He is  great at annunciation and reading with lots of feeling.  This makes it so much easier for me to follow along as he reads and raises the odds of my picking up a few words.  He also speaks with a lot of passion, which is probably why the annunciation happens.  I appreciate it nonetheless.

My Korean class is only twice a week for an hour and a half so up to now I've been riding the bus with the kids and twiddling my thumbs for the time that I'm not in class.  I study. I walk around the local market.  I do a little bit of sightseeing.  I just have to do it in 2 hour increments so I can come back and have lunch with them.  Today we got brave and I left them after lunch.  My theory was that their bus would be heading towards our home, making it less likely that they would get lost in the middle of Daegu.  The scariest part? Chloe's unpredictable sense of direction. It's either really good or...really bad.  I headed home pretty nervous but ultimately felt like they would get home safely.  Halmoni and her friend were home so I got to practice a lot of Korean for a couple of hours.  I think it went ok but I said "I don't understand" and "please say it again" a lot!  I then got a text from Chris. He couldn't sleep. Apparently someone was more worried than I was about the girls! We talked for a while and when the girls finally walked through the door, Chris was relieved and went back to bed. I know this doesn't seem noteworthy, but with me winning the award for worry wart at our house, it was nice to have someone else be more concerned than me.  Of course, it was only nice because the girls all got home safely.   The local buses are used mainly by students, Halmonis and Halapojis.  Because they are so commonly used for transportation, they feel so much safer than in the US. Everyone is also pretty mindful of the littles, especially Lilly.  They give her their seat, pat her cheeks and call her cute.  The seat is definitely the best part of the deal.  


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