A Good Idea. . . . . In Theory

We love our life in Busan. It is easily our favorite post thus far. So many reasons, beautiful city, great friends, terrific things to explore. In our minds there is really only one downside, the church situation. There are not a ton of expatriates in Busan, especially not many who are LDS. There was until a few years ago a US military instillation here, but in the global repositioning of our military units, the base was closed. With the closure of the base, brought the closure of the English speaking branch here. For most of the LDS families here, it is really not a big deal. They either don't have kids or have kids that are bilingual. For us, attending church in Korean is really just not practical. If it were just Tyler and I we would do it, no questions asked. But we really feel it is important for the kids to have a strong primary program in their native tongue.

The result is each week we make the 3-4 hour round trip trek to Daegu, and attend the Camp Walker branch. It is a small branch, but a strong one. With a great primary, fantastic teachers, and friends for the kids. It's a long trip, a long day, and it usually leaves us exhausted by the end, but it's worth it. On occasion that we couldn't travel we attend the local Korean ward, which is a neat change, too. But all in all the drive is worth the chance to worship in our native tongue. We hope maybe someday there will be a branch again Busan. . .  but until then we make the trek.

The hardest part of the trip each week is food. The kids usually eat lunch in the car and dinner plans are all over the place. Sometimes we spend the evening at the home of a member of the church for dinner. Sometimes we end up grabbing Burger King before we drive home. Sometimes we treat the girls to a lunchable for the drive home. Every two to three weeks we end up grocery shopping on base on Sundays (I know, I know, not good. . . . but seriously it's the only way we can do it). Sometimes if we rush home we can grab dinner at home before we lay the kids down to bed. 

With the spring weather in the air, I suggested we stop in Gyeongju for a picnic on our way home from church. The cherry blossom were in full bloom, and the area is covered with the pink trees. And our children just love a good picnic. Jinhae is traditionally the city that you go to to observe the cherry blossoms. Koreans very much have a pack mentality. There are certain places you go for certain things, certain days to do certain things. Haeundae is the best beach, Jinhae for the blossoms, beach season starts on an exact date, etc. And these places get mob-like. So we thought we would be safe picking an alternate location (in terms of crowds). Turns out we could not have picked a worse day or place for a picnic! Traffic was unreal, backed up all the way on the highway, through the toll booth, throughout this little town. We stopped for our picnic, enjoyed a few trees and loaded back up for what should have been an hour drive home. Three and a half hours later we finally stumbled through our front door. There was so, so, so much traffic. Solid brake lights the entire way.

Such a good idea. . . . in theory. Next year I think we will skip Gyenongju for the cherry blossoms. Maybe we should ask everyone were the worst place in the area is to view the cherry blossoms and go there instead. 

Pretty blooms. Hannah is yawning, I promise, not screaming. . . .

I love these two!

The kids love to picnic. Hannah, yawning again. . . . I told you it was a long drive each week!

Anapji Pond