So ever since Elder Westbrook came to Bong Choen, we've been working out with the elderly on the public exercise equipment in the park by our house. At 6:30 every morning, there is a group of about 6-10 Grandmas and Grandpas that get their workout on with us. I think I might have mentioned it a while ago but something fun about Korea is that in pretty much every park they have exercise machines for everyone to use. Anything from leg press to stairclimbers and everything in between. The only thing is I've never seen anyone under the age of 60 use the machines, but they do get used! Korea has some really fit senior citizens in case you were wondering. So one of the more bizarre machines they have is what looks like a giant steering wheel to some ship and apparently your supposed to stretch or work out your arms with it. I was trying to figure out how to use it this week but it was also 6:30am, so I can't say i was giving it my all. An old grandma came up to me and said 피건해?(Pretty much a really low form of saying you tired?) She then proceeded to kick me off and said I'll show you how its done! They are definitely keeping me young.
I have to admit I had a pretty rough day this week. We did lots of streetboarding and talking to people around Seoul National University, but I just happened to talk to a lot of uninterested people which was a little bit of a bummer. It was the end of the day and we were walking back to our house along side this guy eating Korean Fried Chicken (which is beyond good by the way) despite being bummed out I still wanted to talk to him but I didn't know how to really start the conversation. So I just asked him "are you eating chicken?" he smiled and said yea!, then I asked him if it tasted really good and he then picked one out of the cup and literally spoon fed it to me! If that doesn't make your day I don't know what does. Reminded me no matter how hard its going that day you need to keep going because there is always someone at the end of the day ready to spoon feed you chicken!
So Saturday, one of the older members in our ward turned 70 which is a big deal here, I think. We call him the Silverback (silverback Gorilla) of the ward, one because he has really bright white hair and two everyone respects him and goes to him for wisdom in stuff. We ate shamu shamu which is easily my new favorite Korean food! We went to a restaurant with almost half the ward and just had a feast!
Lots of crazy stuff happened this week as you can already see. but last Monday night we were talking to people in the busiest part of our area when we started talking to this Swedish guy that came to study here at Seoul University! Our area is super fun in that way it's crazy diverse because of all the people studying at Seoul National. We get talking to him and find out it is his first day of school and that he can't speak any Korean and just wants a good place to eat. So we showed him our local favorite kimbab joint and had dinner together. He told us all about Sweden and we got to talk about Mormons and missionary work. He didn't seem to have tons of interest or time but he was super nice and who knows later on. The reason I wanted to share that is because that night I was reminded of how awesome this is. Who would have ever known I'd be eating Korean food in Seoul with a Swedish guy when I'm barely 20 years old?
Sorry this update was more crazy weird experiences than spiritual experiences! Both types of expereinces are making my time here totally worth it.
Hope everyone has a good week!
From 봉천, With love.
Elder Nixon
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