A Happy Heart

July 12, 2009...

It was raining hard outside today, but my heart was shining on the inside! Okay, so I know that's cheesy...but y'all know me well enough by now to expect such corniness. I have had plans to attend mass at the Myeong-dong Cathedral for two weeks now, so I was bound and determined to keep that promise. This Cathedral was built in the late 1800's and was the first brick-laid Gothic style building in Korea. Inside the church are beautiful granite pillars, stained glass windows, and a gorgeous altar. And while the physical attributes of this cathedral were exquisite, the best part was sharing something in common among individuals with whom I couldn't actually share verbal communication.

There was an opportunity to attend an English mass, but neither I nor my friend, Julia, cared to attend that service. We have attended countless masses in English and will continue to do so when we return home; we wanted to experience the mass we know and love in Korean with the local community. While we weren't able to understand the words, we followed along by memory as best as possible. The part about today that made me the most excited was being able to actually sing in Korean by following along in the hymnals. Both Julia and I have been taking Beginner Korean Language and the songs were slow enough that we could follow along and sing with everyone. Granted I don't have any idea about the words I was singing, but that isn't the main purpose.

The main purpose is that when I arrived in Seoul nearly three weeks ago, I never would have expected to participate in the mass and actually be able to read Korean and sing along. When I first arrived here I was completely clueless...about everything. I could hardly find my way to my bedroom, let alone read or understand any of the language. Three weeks ago the Korean alphabet was just a bunch of symbols that seemed nicely put together; and now I am finding the meaning and purpose of those symbols...and I feel very delighted by that. It's the little things that bring me happiness and make me feel like a part of the community, and today was a perfect example.