Apgujeong Bowling

"If anyone told me I'd break one hundred, I'd have told them they're crazy," I said, standing on the slippery bowling lane in my retro blue and red shoes.

Hiddens in the maze of Apgujeong's streets, in the basement of a hotel, is a small, ill-functioning bowling alley where about 100 people from New Harvest Ministries met for a night of fun and backslapping. Ages ranged from 18 to 40-somethings, but the skill level was the same -- terrible. I've noticed that Koreans view leisurely fitness time as a debit against their studying hours, so I shouldn't have been surprised that the high score of the night was about 160.

It's bowling with the people in my Bible study that makes it fun -- the crazy faces, ball wars, smack talk and one-upping each other with new tossing styles. With all that, I did, in fact, manage to break one hundred, but can I do it again? You're probably crazy.

Buddha's Birthday: Christmas in Asia

No one could possibly feel alone. I flew solo at Seoul's Lotus Lantern Festival parade this weekend, but there were no strangers in the tens of thousands of people who marched to illuminate Jong-ro in South Korea's capital.
It's Christmas in Asia. Seoul, an ancient city of stark contrasts, celebrates Buddha's birthday (May 21) this week. Buddhists from around Asia congregated for the long-standing tradition. Monks from every corner of the city took turns pouring holy water over the baby Buddha, a ceremony I found almost as interesting as these friendly folks I met at the pre-parade pep-rally.

Seoul's vibrant mash-up of tradition and modernity has slayed me, but seeing the strength of a futile practice was disheartening. As ornate and stunningly beautiful as the festival was, my front-row view of the procession of souls past Dongdaemun's ancient gate was far more interesting.

Cherry Blossom Season!

On a recent, leisurely Saturday afternoon, spring suddenly arrived.

Granted, I'd have preferred her late entrance to be a bit more flamboyant, but I was still happy to congregate in Yeouido with four girlfriends.

I've been not-so-patiently anticipating warmer weather since, um, February, so the sight of flowers, the Han river and tandem bikes resolved my spring fever.

Yeouido's cherry blossom festival is where Seoul's couples flock to take pictures under the canopy of blossoms on the three-lined street leading to the river. In Korea, girls with blossoms in their hair symbolize craziness, a rumor we all confirmed this weekend. Spring is here and I couldn't be happier (see balloon).

Girls Generation in Gangnam

The group of friends was split into two camps. One turned up its nose at celebrities and one was ridiculously excited at the sighting of pop group Girls Generation in Gangnam. Gangnam is an upper-class district in Seoul with a surplus of nightclubs, restaurants and plastic surgery clinics. It's also where an American breakfast joint called Butterfingers Pancake House is -- and where Girls Generation was spotted.

First, some background. Girls Generation is a popular music group that won the Artist of the Year Award last year. Don't ask me why it's singular, because there are freakin' nine of them. I really don't know much more than I did when I joined the group running toward the pancake house. A crowd stood outside, looking at the second story window and silhouettes of microphones for a TV interview. A few brave (obsessed) souls went inside to "go to the bathroom" and got to see them -- one guy even said a girl looked straight into his eyes.

After about an hour of waiting, my friends and I were the only ones left in the frigid cold when suddenly, all the girls dashed out of the restaurant and hopped into a monster of a black van that was waiting for them. I managed to get ONE clear (not really) shot. And there you have it.

Lucy's Cool SBS Job

Meet Lucy, one of my cool Korean friends with a cool Korean job.

This fashionista was awesome enough to give me a tour of her territory in the SBS broadcast building in Mok-dong. Her job? She designs outfits for the broadcast anchors. Some get stripes, some get special colors, all get a look to keep the news fresh. This means she has to constantly watch the anchors to make sure a tie isn't crooked or a blouse creased. If they are, she runs down on set and fixes it in a commercial break.
As a journalism grad, I was thrilled to be back in a newsroom (I even got to meet an anchor) and also happy to see Lucy's workspace to be the perfect den of activity. Check out all those clothes. Every week, a driver takes her to scout out the new fashions at major designers. As a 24-year-old girl in a city as fashion-conscious as Seoul, she's gotta be good. Congrats, girl. Here's hoping you can accompany the reporters to the World Cup this summer.

Largest Church in the World

South Korea only slightly trails the U.S. in the number of evangelical missionaries it sends out annually. This is especially remarkable because the U.S. population is around 308 million and South Korea's is 48.5 million. Considering a fervent population of that size is crammed into a space the size of Indiana, it makes sense that Korea is home to the biggest church in the world. At 500,000 strong, it blows America's Saddleback out of the water. Amanda and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to attend one of the seven Sunday services at Yoido Full Gospel Church. Even though the service was in Korean, there were a lot of American songs (translated for us) and U.S. references to people like Joel Osteen. We donned special head-sets in the "foreigner" seating section and flipped to the English channel where the service was translated live for us. Seven other languages were offered, too, from Chinese, to Russian and Arabic. I enjoyed the service, choir and energetic worship, but was sad that such a powerful Christian presence is preaching a health and wealth gospel.