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).

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.