Asian Invasion: Day 4 - A Day of Grey

Good morning America! It is strange to say that, as I am now another hour ahead of the U.S., this time in Korea. This evening, we arrived in South Korea, after coming through a typhoon in Hong Kong. The picture from the left is the sky outside the airport before leaving this morning. It was raining pretty hard and was quite windy on the way to the airport, but the second picture below is when the typhoon was directly over the airport. There was a lot of rain, as you can see. We made it safely out of Hong Kong with about a two hour delay. While we were boarding the plane, there was lighting that was striking within a second of the thunder, and it was raining very hard. Needless to say, our skillful pilot got us out of there, but the take-off was less than smooth. I would say that is acceptable under such conditions.

Today, along with slaving over some more Calculus homework, I finished the book This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. After reading this book for the first time in a few years, I am amazed at the relevance it has to my life, and spiritual warfare. The way that the demons in the book spoke to their subjects and the subtlty of their seduction to sin reveals how little we attribute temptation to actual demons. For me, the book vividly portrayed the reality of geniune spiritual warfare and the importance of prayer to the community of believers and our well-being as Christ-followers. I tore through that book, as it is incredible well-written, action-filled, and fast-paced, but very pertinent to our culture. Props to Frank Peretti.

Upon arriving in Korea, a few things seemed akin to home, as opposed to Hong Kong. First, we drive on the right again. Woo! In Hong Kong, my driving reflexes screamed at me the entire time I rode in some vehicle on the roads. Also, the highways in Korea are very large, and the freeway resembles I-40, enough to be obvious to me. As we neared the city from the highway, the countryside resembled something that you might see driving along a highway in the mountains of North Carolina, until we actually reached the city. I think part of my cultural experience is not only going to a foreign countries, but also staying in large cities. After spending most of my life in small town NC and VA, even a small metropolis is something new to me.

The city, as you can see in the picture, looks as most large cities in the U.S. would, but all of the signs are in Korean. (Imagine that... ). My grandfather and I are staying in an apartment that is owned by OMS, and we are enjoying having our own rooms, instead of staying with someone as in HK. Today has been a grey day, as told in the title, not because it was a bad day, but because the storm was grey, the airport was grey, and the buildings in Korea are grey in the dark. Interesting. For me, however, it is time to enjoy the bed I have and to get some sleep.
Until tomorrow...


As always, more pictures at picasaweb.google.com/nate.tilley/Asiatrip

nate.