GARLIC

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In South Korea, most people eat a lot of garlic. You can buy it in a huge bag like this (above)

Or you can buy it in large bunches of bulbs - about 40-50 in each bunch. There are ladies who sit on the street and peel garlic all day long. You can buy peeled garlic in a bag - 100, 200, 300. One person can eat 10 raw garlic cloves in a bowl of soup!

It seems like you would have to own a restaurant to buy this much, but there are bags and bags of it on sidewalks and in stores.

This bowl was the smallest amount I could find (25 - 30 bulbs), so I brought the manager over and asked if I could buy just one bulb. He laughed! Then he gave it to me, no charge. It will last us a month.

Basketball P-Day

One of the Assistants to the President had an idea for a fun P-Day! Basketball and BBQ Pizza! He asked Bryan to be the "Commissioner of Basketball" and made some certificates.

He invited a bunch of elders to the mission home - those who loved to play basketball, of course.

They played hard and had a great time

 and were exhausted afterwards! 

(Sister Qaqa, from Fiji, came over to be a spectator)

 One of the prizes was for the "Best Dressed" - notice  Elder Labrum has a Golden State Warriors jersey!

This elder got a certificate for having the worst haircut.

The commissioner handed out the awards and congratulations.

Elder Orndorff masterminded the whole day, barbecued pizzas made to order, and cut up watermelon. What a great day!

 

 What's wrong with this picture?

 There are some huge high rise apartments being built in the nearby environs, and banners are everywhere advertising the "Grand Open"!

Missionaries

 These hardworking missionaries rush in from outside and don't even have time to take off their backpacks!

Sister Lee Hongbee (L to R) and Sister Bergeson are so happy, because a girl they have been teaching just got the OK to be baptized! The girl is from Laos, and her mother was against the idea of her joining a Christian church. After President Barrow interviewed her and spoke to her mother extensively, she got the OK for the baptism.

 

She is very excited, as you can see (jumping up and down), because now she and her boyfriend can be married. Happy!!

Dadaepo Sunset Fountain of Dreams

 We took the subway to Dadaepo Beach one night to see the "Sunset Musical Fountain of Dreams". It is the largest fountain in the world (Guinness Book of World Records), measuring 27,114 square feet and was built in 2009.

Fountains typically spray water from a water tank. This particular fountain, however, sprays water from the ground and offers various fountain shows without the need of a water tank. The water reaches a height of 180 feet. There are 1,046 nozzles, 1,148 lights, and it cost an estimated $ 6.1 million to build.

The last ten minutes of each show are designated for people to get out in the water and run around - especially popular in the heat and humidity of summertime.

Kids

I love kids! They are so adorable. I really wanted to say hi to these two. The older brother was holding his little brother's hand and wandering around with him while their mother sat on this bench. As I got closer (15 feet away), the little one got so scared that I gave up! The look on his face is so sad.

These two were walking down the street yesterday. I kept watching and following to see if they had been part of a wedding, or if some adult would come up and "claim" them, but no one ever did, and I lost them around the corner.

Home Sweet Home

We pretty much spend our lives here, although the blog looks like we "goof around" most of the time. The steeple to the right is the classrooms, the middle area is the Mission Home, and the "house" on the left is the Mission President's home.

Toilet Paper

Several blog posts have "featured" a roll of toilet paper in a peculiar place - on a hook on the outside of a store, hanging on a wall in a restaurant, or in the Post Office. In Korea, at home, in restaurants, eating establishments of any kind, or "on the go", people don't use napkins, tissue, or paper towels. The restaurants, in order to save time and money simply put a roll of toilet paper on the wall of the restaurant or just set a roll on the table! In some of the Sunday School rooms at church there may be a random roll of toilet paper sitting on a file cabinet or anywhere else! Because toilet paper has so many uses, it is logical to think that people have invented cute little dispensers like this green one below:

Happy June - Welcome July