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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“Honoring our good friend, Jack, and his late wife, Margaret” |
The main reason that we made this layover in Seoul (other than Korean Airlines offered it) was because good friends of ours from Jackson Hole have a strong tie here and we have heard about their missionary connection to Seoul for years. Jack and Margaret (who recently passed away) Huyler are longtime JH and Oija, Ca. residents. Jack taught at English Literature at Thatcher, a prep school north of LA. His family also owns a dude ranch in JH where one summer he met the lovely Margaret. She was a daughter of a missionary family -- both her parents and grandparents. In fact, her grandparents were the first protestant missionaries to arrive and build a church here in Seoul in 1885. A friend of Jack and Margaret's, Dwight Strong, also a missionary here teaching English at a local university, met us yesterday and took us to the very church that Margaret's grandfather built brick by brick. We also saw the statues erected in his honor and saw where a museum dedicated to his Christian influence in the community is being built. Dwight took us to the places of Margaret's youth, her neighborhood, where her homes once stood, the rectories in which she lived. It was a wonderful trip through the Christian history of Seoul. Dwight, like Jack and Denny, can weave a tale and make history come alive!
Saturday night downtown in Seoul was another cultural experience! Families were out walking on this pleasant, if slightly cool, evening. There is a reclaimed drainage ditch that has been made into a canal area -- much like the river walks springing up around the US. One area is an ice skating rink, another a place for movies, and others have bands playing with people dancing. It was really charming!
Jack had recommended a traditional Korean restaurant, Han Il Gwan, for dinner so the three of us went there. All of the tables have gas stoves built into the center. They are famous for this and the dish that is prepared there before you -- a stringed beef and leek mixture cooked there in front of you. Another probably seven or more dishes of condiments are also served -- fish, octopus, turnips, lotus roots, etc. You wrap all that you want in lettuce leaves and eat away! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
As we walked back toward the subway there were also political gatherings with men yelling over microphones and writing on large signage. Police teams were obviously present with shields and long sticks like things, not quite clubs and also not rifles. The foreign embassies are heavily guarded here and it did seem strange to see the residency of the American ambassador with very serious armed guards every few feet! One couple -- a very stately gentleman and woman approached us to ask if we were Americans. Dwight talked to them in Korean and they moved on, Denny thought they wanted to talk politics... Dwight says there is definitely anti-American sentiment here.
It was a wonderful, but LONG day! We walked our legs off!
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