What Was I Thinking?

Last week, Korea celebrated the Lunar New Year, sometimes called Chinese New Year, over the course of three days. It is a time when families travel to be with older relatives to pay their respects. Children get to see their grandparents and, perhaps, aunts and uncles too, who often give them money. The new moon was on Thursday, New Year's Day, so very few businesses were open, but Tain, William, and I were able to catch a local bus to the area near Uijeongbu station and find an open budae jjigae restaurant. We joined families, some dressed in traditional clothing, to eat a holiday meal. Recently, Tain and William have had terrible colds with fever, sinus issues, coughing - you name it - so I have been praying for them to get better and for me not to catch their virus, because they've been miserable and I am scheduled to fly to Budapest on Thursday night. God has been SO GOOD, because I usually catch every cold that comes down the road. Those few hours riding the buses an...

So, I see that it has been a while since my last post. Please allow me to give my feeble excuse as to why I have been lax in my writing. As you can see in the picture above, Snoopy and Woodstock have their bags packed and are headed for somewhere either in Europe or Asia. Like the famous beagle, I found myself wearing a backpack and with a bag in hand heading for Japan a little over a week ago. I had not planned to go to Japan, since I had been gone for so long in December and the beginning of January. I thought I would forgo another trip out of Korea since I already had another trip planned for Budapest, Hungary from  February 26 - March 15. But God... well, God had other plans for my time.  One of the people originally planning to go to Japan got sick and was told by her doctor not to travel, so her spot was available and it was offered to me. I had had the same sickness as Joy, the young lady who was not going, and it was an act of faith to say I would go in her place....