Seoul! Part 1

For Thanksgiving this past year, Joel and I took a trip to Seoul. I cannot believe we haven't visited Korea until now! It's SO CLOSE and probably the cheapest place to fly from Japan. There's a lot of rivalry and competition between Korea and Japan so we were able to observe many of the areas in which they are trying to top one another. One thing Korea has over Japan is their train/metro system. Holy cow, it was awesome! Clean, fast, efficient, and fairly easy to figure out as foreigners. 

Just waiting for the train... it was FREEZING the whole time we were there so we stayed bundled up!

We found an amazing French inspired bakery/restaurant for breakfast and had home cooked goodness! Joel ordered the homemade sage sausage which was out of this world good! And of course he goes for his eggs over easy.

I had hash browns, bacon, a fried egg over hard and a homemade buttermilk pancake with REAL butter and REAL syrup.

Joel also ordered the German pancake cooked inside a cast iron skillet. It had a custard-y texture on the inside and was so good that words CANNOT do it justice.

We explored the city for a while and discovered the juxtaposition of the old mixed in with the new just like in Japan. (like that, Mr. Diller??) :)

This cool canal goes on for miles!

My ears were getting so cold I HAD to have a hat. And I HAD to have this one. :)

Cool, LOL.

Guarding the palace

We wanted to go somewhere authentic for lunch so we found this hole in the wall fish shop that had fantastic kimchi and other sides. Cass is the local beer - it was OK.

Fried to perfection - just watch out for bones!!!

This is Bibimbap. Token Korean food and all around good stuff (Joel poured the sauce over top of it after we took the picture).

Tofu soup

We share everything, but there was still so much food! All the sides alone fill you up! Korea definitely has unique flavors that are very distinct from Japan. I think we could get used to eating kimchi...

That evening, we went to Nanta, a cooking/dance/music/martial arts/comedy show. It was the most unique thing we have EVER SEEN. And even though it was in Korean, we didn't need any translations to follow along. It was hilarious and the actors are SO TALENTED!!!

Illegal picture of the stage. Didn't realize there were no cameras allowed until later. 

Seriously. Words cannot describe how cool and unique and so far out there this show was. Every single scene was very different yet it somehow all congealed into one story line, LOL. They got audience participation for some portions, had these crazy long drum solos with kitchen utensils, and even performed some magic tricks. It is simply one of those things you have to see to believe. We did hear Nanta made it to Broadway... so, maybe it's coming to a theater near you soon. :)

For dinner, we got another huge meal. I don't even know what all the things we ate were, but you'd better believe they were all amazing! You can see in the background that the guests receive covers to protect their clothes and pursues from the mess we all make by using the grill. So nice and thoughtful of the restaurant.

We cooked everything the way we liked it and ate and ate and ate. One of the most memorable dishes we had (that we somehow failed to photograph!) was raw ground beef upon which they cracked a raw egg. Joel and I briefly discussed the potential deadly dangers of consuming it, but threw caution to the wind and devoured the whole thing. Worth it.

More to come on the next post!

FINALLY!!

I (Kirk) have wanted to be baptized for a REALLY long time. Don't ask me why or how it took me so many years, but I simply haven't felt connected to a church body for so, so long AND I wanted it to be in a setting with impact and meaning since baptism is such an enormous testimony to my faith and belief in Christ.

So now I can say: that place was Iwakuni, Japan. In November. On base. In the gym pool.

Joel and I have made some AMAZING friends and can truly say we have "family" at our church, Calvary Chapel Iwakuni. A bunch of folks gathered on a Friday night to witness myself and one other church member be baptized. These are truly stellar people and we cannot say enough about how much we love them!

We met with Pastor Glen and his family prior to the baptism where I shared my testimony. How freeing and therapeutic to share my journey and recount the many ways God has blessed me throughout my life and the many experiences I have had that have shaped me into who I am today. I truly believe that I have grown in leaps and bounds spiritually since moving to Japan and KNEW it was time to make a public proclamation via baptism as a testimony to my faith in Jesus.

Here's a little play-by-play action:

Getting my serious face on for answering a few questions about God's role in my life and my belief in Him...

OK, serious stuff out of the way...

Oh man, here comes the dunk! 

Joel was really happy to be a part of my "dunk-age". I wasn't sure I could trust him not to hold me down for a couple extra seconds or not, but he did a fine job. :)

It's official!!! Baptism COMPLETE.

Why did this take me so long?? I LOVE YOU, LORD!!

A good sampling of our church family. Y'all are such leaders, mentors, family and friends. Thank you ALL for all that you do!!

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME. AND ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD.

Swine and Pig, Together in Japan Part Deux

For the grand finale of Katie's trip to Japan, she and I took the Shin up to Tokyo and spent four super packed days there. It was SO much fun and we ate amazing food (of course). We also REALLY made an effort to observe and engage in the Tokyo culture. Japan is such a fun, safe, and hilarious country. I really LOVE living here.

Waiting for our Shinkansen. It's also known as the Bullet train and is in the top 3 fastest trains in the world! It's top speed is right around 200 miles/hour. We were able to make it to Tokyo in just over 4 hours. It would have taken about 10 to drive. 

We made it! Roppongi is a happening district in Tokyo and we were able to explore it quite a bit since our hotel was here.

This is a picture in Miraikan: The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. It was SO COOL! In this picture, I'm playing with an animated stuffed animal that is used to help folks with depression. It responded to various types of touch and petting and really moved, sounded, and behaved like a real animal. 

Just holding up the globe. No biggie.

There was the futuristic "town" we could operate in as a character on the screen. It was like using a Kinect - it was all motion operated with our hands.

We were able to watch Asimo, the robot, in action. He could jog, kick a ball, dance, etc. His moves were really loose and limber so it looked more lifelike.

We ate a snack at the museum and I just HAD to point out the option for a "Pork Frunk Dog". I love Japanese translations of English words, LOL.

Underwater pincher fingers!

Yeah, so there's a GIANT robot outside the mall. It lit up at night and was SUPER cool!

Preparing to brave the famous Shibuya crossing. Hundreds of people cross in every which way, including diagonal, every few minutes. It's insanely busy.

I had to.

Only in Japan... you gotta love it. :)

We went to the Shinjuku Gyoen Garden. which is HUGE. It's beautiful though, and we could have spent all day roaming around. It was really quiet and peaceful even though it's completely surrounded by massive and bustling Tokyo.

The French inspired rose garden

We traveled to the famous Meiji Jingu Shrine and came upon an authentic Japanese wedding ceremony!

I can't believe I'm adding this to the blog, as y'all are probably aware of my arachnophobia, but this is a famous structure in Roppongi Hills and I was brave enough to not only look at it, but to get close enough for a picture.

More of the Roppongi Hills area

Katie is really good at capturing unique photos

We tried out a "scary" Japanese cafe and ordered a delicious dessert, chocolate milk, and blood orange juice. Scrumptious! Love the attention to detail.

There was a ridiculous wait to go up in the Skytree Tower, so we decided to see our city view from the Mori Museum Tower later in the day.

So, not as high up as the Skytree, but still a rockin' view of the city.

You can see Mount Fuji in the distance!!

The Mori Art Museum is obviously a home for contemporary art. We were permitted to take pictures of most of it, which I found super awesome.

This was originally an ant farm,hence all the ant trails. I can only imagine how long it would have taken to build all the nation's flags out of sand, then allow little ants to walk through it! Makes for good art though.

I think Katie would move to Japan if she could, LOL. She really embraced the culture and was a pleasure to host. Thank you for sharing this fabulous adventure with us, Swine!