Day 27

Wow! That was a wild night of soccer. My wife and I headed to one of the Han River parks for the ROK-URG game where several gigantic screens were set up for viewing and a stage for hours of pre-game entertainment. I had decided that bringing Bear would be the best option since there were going to be well over 100,000 people down there cheering in the same area and if I had Bear then maybe he would scare most people away (Koreans don't like big dogs) and we would get a nice large seating area. I was right for about three hours, but as more and more people started filing in, their support for the team overrode their fear of extra-cute dogs. 

However, about an hour before the game started, the rain came pouring down. We weathered the first half and then headed home on the bikes for the second. Korea lost, but they played well. After the game, my disappointed wife went to sleep and I powered through until the US-GHA game only to find myself equally disappointed. So for me, this World Cup is essentially over and hopefully soccer won't take too much time from this project anymore.

Since today is Sunday that means I had to venture out to my Meeting and I've gotta be honest here; it was a hell of a battle. I was a mixture of tired, hungry and angry and none of those fair well for sitting in a quiet worship service. I made it out there though. I was a little late, but it was alright. I made my way into the brick building, up the stairs and walked into the room. No one was there. Not a single soul, but the candle was burning on the table, so I figured I would be the one to start the worship (with my presence). I sat down next to a window and kicked my legs out in from of me. My eyes slowly shut and just like that, I was out. 

The next thing I remember was the sound of shuffling feet which jarred me from my light doze. I figured it was time to worship, but apparently I was wrong. The worship had concluded. I slept through the whole thing. The shuffling sound was from the feet of the other two people there. The three of us chatted briefly about a few things, but none of them had been Quakers for more than a year, so the conversation was a bit stale. 

I did learn that both of them (Korean) had decided to join the Meeting because they had grown tired of their Presbyterian churches. One gentlemen felt that his church had become too social while the other one felt that the elders at his church were too judgmental. 

Kim: Well, why did you join this Meeting?

Me: Um...

I honestly didn't know what to say. I had thought about my response to this question before, but never really formulated it. I pulled an easy one out for the save.

Me: ...some of my ancestors were Friends in the US, so I guess that kind of tweaked my curiosity. 

They were bored with my response and used that as a springboard to discuss the challenges of changing religious heart. It was pretty interesting, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that.