Are you happy? (Or: Daecheon Mud Festival)

It's been five months in Korea. Five months of culture shock, new food, new friends, new travels. Just hair-stand-on-end newness. Nothing South African at all in a country that speaks one language and shares one cultural identity.

I feel right out of Gulliver's Travels, a stranger in a land of midgets! Where the rules operate so differently from my own - sometimes I'm the hero and sometimes I'm the freak. Like Gulliver, I don't know whether to marvel at what I see or idealise what I have left behind.

The Koreans ... their insane work ethic..and even more insane alcohol-work ethic... their refreshing openness, and shocking directness. It's easier to learn English words than to learn how to use them in a Western context. And just learning the English words is an uphill battle.

One thing I really admire about Korean culture is how young Korean guys treat each other. Teenage boys show such public affection for each other, hugging and walking arm in arm - surely the rest of the tough guys out there can learn something from Korean gentleness!




















On Saturday we went to the famous Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon beach. So the mud from this area is supposed to have many minerals that are good for your skin. But aside from that, people are always looking for an excuse to get muddy, so the mud fest would probably be popular even if it was just ordinary sand stuck to your face!




















As I arrived in the bus, I was able to watch a procession of Korean musicians playing traditional Korean drums. There was a definite carnival atmosphere. It seemed as if every white-skinned foreigner had crawled out from under a rock to attend on Saturday.

Now, so many drunken, loud, near-naked mud-covered foreigners can be a scary, scary thing. But we found our little spot on the beach among the masses. The sea with perfect - warm water and glimmering sunlight. Time to get muddy!




















So we walked in the mud bath and painted ourselves with mud paint. And the mud felt pretty good on my skin. (So perhaps the Boryeong tourism board didn't invent the medicinal properties of the mud entirely!) It dried into a white ghost-like chalk. After the required five minutes of mud on skin (to soak up all the goodness), we went into the stunning ocean, to wash off and swim. Swimming out far enough provided some escape from the madding crowd. Mud Festival was an awesome, crazy experience.

Now for the five month assessment:

Am I happy being in Korea? Happiness is such a temporary state, so influenced by the events of the day. Now its weekend, so I'm happy. Monday morning, I probably won't be. Life can't really be based on such fickle changes of mood and entertainment. Living in a country that is this foreign requires a certain amount of flexibility in the definitions. There are days when I miss home, and the lingering unease of disconnection from South African family and friends.

But I think I've learnt how to make Korea work for me. I've learnt the value of friendship, and the value of God-ship (the character of God), which is infinitely higher. I'm learning (the hard way, and the easy way) to rely on the Source, not on people.

Am I joyful? Am I at peace? Without knowing tomorrow's plan, I can only rest in the life He has given me, in the place He has put me, and the opportunities He has provided for me.

May He continue to hold my Korean adventure in the palm of His hand.