God answers prayer.
I think this year I've really wanted to branch out and meet more Koreans who live in the area and not just students and those I work with on a daily basis. Sometimes it's just good to have a different change of scenery or faces, ya know? Well, on Thursday, Jana, Erin, and I went to go to the pottery village that's close to Daejeon. We got directions to Sutongol (수통골) from which we were supposed to tell a taxi driver directions and all would be fine.
Well...
That didn't happen.
We got off the 40 minute bus ride, found a taxi right away, explained that we wanted to go to the pottery village (in Korean of course), and the driver said he had no idea what we were talking about, we got out of the taxi and found ourselves stranded in the middle of no where with absolutely no taxis around whatsoever. A few minutes went by and I'm trying to figure out how exactly to get there and all of a sudden a car screeches to a halt in front of us and we hear "HELLO! WHERE ARE YOU FROM?!"
As we looked up, there in the car in front of us were three Korean ladies, all dressed in hiking apparel. We immediately said "America." and I think, all at once, we thought "THEY SPEAK ENGLISH! ASK WHERE THE POTTERY VILLAGE IS!" So Jana did so and the lady driving said "OH. VERY FAR AWAY." ...great.
So she motioned for us to follow her to the nearby parking lot. We got there and she explained that a friend was going to pick up her two friends and after that, she could take us to the village. We all thanked her but reassured her that she really didn't have to take us, if she just just send us in the right direction, but she kept insisting "No, I'm happy. I want to." So all three of us piled into her tiny little green car and pulled away, back TOWARDS the way we came.
Conversations flooded with broken English and about 20 minutes later, we arrived at the village, which was tucked away ever so snuggly into the hillside of the mountain. It was a cute area and the lady, who we eventually found out was, Namhee, said that she would love to guide us around the area. We found out also that Namhee is a Christian, is married, and has 2 daughters. She was so helpful and we really appreciated her translating help when it came to making our pottery.
We walked into a shop and found a couple happily working on painting pottery and Namhee explained that we'd like to make something on the wheel. It was awesome! (The guy helped us out a TON.. because I really don't think my pot would have come out so great the first time around...haha..)
The whole point of our trip out there was to make pottery that day, but looking back on it now, I realize that that wasn't even what made this day so memorable! Namhee watched and translated as we made our pots and once we'd had our full of pottery, she drove us back towards the bus stop where she found us. ON the way there, we passed bus 102 (which happened to be the bus we needed) and so she offered to have us over to HER HOUSE! Oh man... We felt like she had already saved us from the headache of getting completely lost. It was such a blessing to have met her and now she was offering to show us her place and give us food! So crazy!
We also found out that her hiking club goes out every Thursday morning and meets exactly where we got stranded earlier that day. So next week guess what we're doing?? If you said hiking a mountain with a Korean hiking group then, *DING! DING! DING!* You are correct! We'll be meeting up with them on Thursday and are all very excited to do so! So anyways, we made it back to her apartment up on the 17th floor, met Namhee's two daughters, who shared their violin and piano skills, as she fed us noodles, kimchi, and tea on the floor of her living room!
It was such a crazy series of events for the day, but how cool that God orchestrated this whole thing?! I have no idea how we would have found the pottery place on our own and how neat for God to bring Namhee into our lives and what timing! What an awesome way to spend a day off! God definitely answers prayer!
Hugs, Blessings, and new friends!
Sarah
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