Goodbye Korea, you will be missed.

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.  --Luke 14:12-14

In case you haven't noticed from my pictures, I came to Korea mostly to see friends.  I basically didn't plan anything I would do on this trip and haven't had to pay for a single night of living accommodations.  I knew, going into it, that I was getting a great deal.  But so far, I've received so much more than what I expected and what I think I deserve.  While the tourist destinations I've seen on my trip so far have all been great, the highlight of my time in Korea has really been about the people I've gotten to spend time with.  Currently, I'm with my friend Hyuna at her apartment near Seoul.  Before this, I've stayed with four different households, all of which have lavishly welcomed me and expressed hospitality in their own ways.  It's hard for me at times to receive their generosity without the language ability or cultural proficiency to communicate my gratitude.  I guess that's part of the beauty of their generosity.  My Korean hosts have given to me in ways I might never have the opportunity to reciprocate.  And since I'm into using pictures when I have no words, here's a narrated photo timeline of sorts to capture a bit of what I've experienced over the past ten days.

Jiyoung is one of Joseph's students.  I stayed with her family for five days.  Even though she doesn't speak much English, she tried earnestly to orient me into her household and hometown with all the youthful charm and innocence she displays in this picture.

Jiyoung's mom planned ahead and toiled for hours to prepare this extravagant meal on my last night in their home.  The love put into this food was so real, I think I can still taste it.

Me with Jiyoung's family on my last night.

I took a KTX train to the southern port city of Busan where I met Hyuna and Aileen.  Aileen took two days to give us a tour of her hometown and was a great guide.  Here we're sitting on the top level of Shinsegae which claims to be the world's largest department store.

Aileen's mom treated us to yang yang chicken and Korean pizza.  This one is sweet potato flavored.  :9

I told Aileen I enjoy museums and she brought me to two of them!  Here, I'm learning about open-air classrooms and the Korean war.

I stayed with Hyuna's family for a night and her mom would yell the few English phrases she knew to me really loudly and then insist that whenever she needed to say something to me, Hyuna should tell her the English and let her say it instead of translating directly to me.  She's probably the funniest Korean I know.

 More good food from the Lee household.

This is Minjae touching the tip of Namsang tower in Seoul.  Over a year ago, Minjae and I went Black Friday shopping together in the US where she bought the jacket she's wearing now.  Here, we are in the Myungdong shopping area where I got a new pink jacket which I'll probably be wearing in a lot of pictures to come.

This is Seonghyuk.  He might be one of the most studious Koreans I know.  (And that's staying a lot.)  He took his one day off from studying for diplomacy exams to show me around the National Folk Museum of Korea.

Here, we're learning about how, back in the day, Koreans used to take civil service examinations.  Guess things haven't changed that much.

I spent my last day with Joseph and Hyuna.  Here, Hyuna is about to give us a tour of her campus while Joseph and I pretend to be college-bound high schoolers.

Yonsei University was started by an American missionary and has a roomful of paintings depicting Jesus' life Korea!  I think I took a picture of all of them, from the nativity to the ascension.  Here, Jesus is probably having kimchi for his last supper.

 Goodbye friends!  Even though we never took a frowny face picture, I'm sad to be leaving.  :(