100 Things I Love About Korea # 59: Replay - Icheon Pottery Village and Bath House

This is a repost from January 30, 2009.

This week, we did a little alternative vacationing.  I worked Tuesday (instead of taking the red-letter Lunar New Year holiday).  Then, on Wednesday, I took half a day off, and we all headed out to Icheon for a little overnight  tourism.  Our friends Adam and Elisa introduced us to this little gem, and we followed the same pattern this time.

We arrived in the afternoon, and after securing nice little two rooms in a "Love Motel," (which just means a walk in motel), we enjoyed a nice supper of galbi and an evening at Spa Plus, one of the best bath houses in Korea.  It also has a water park attached, but we've always been content with the bath house part.  This time, for all of us, our favorite part was sitting in the hot tubs outside while breathing in the cool winter air.  I also enjoyed the steam bath.  The steam got so thick that I couldn't see the other side of the room.

In the morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at Paris Baguette Cafe, and we taxied over to the Icheon Pottery Village. This is one of the coolest places in Korea, in my humble opinion. There is shop after shop after shop with all sorts of locally made pottery. We really, really enjoyed ourselves.

Sarah and Mom both had birthday cash to spend. Sarah got a nice, round white vase with muted leaves. Mom got a blue/green pot for a house plant.  We saw lots of stuff we loved but couldn't (or didn't want to) afford. We also got some cute little gifts for other folks.

Icheon is about 2 hours away by bus. If you wanted to go on a day trip, it would be a very full day trip (maybe not so bad if you don't have kids). If you spend the night, it turns out to be pretty relaxing (except that I was always worried that one of us would trip and knock over a table full of thousands of dollars worth of pottery!). All in all, it was a great little trip.

Retro Poem #13: Compared to You

When I see other women

Whose frames are alluring,

My manhood enjoys their luring,

But then, my dear, just then - 

I think of you and who you are

Though their suits reveal alluring limbs,

Next to you, their beauty dims

Like a candle before a star.

(written in 2000)

Art and Worship

Part 1: “Art-Full Worship”  (Exodus 31:1-11 and John 6:47-58)
    “In the beginning, God created...”  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).  And what a wonderful, resplendent, beautiful world God created. 
From fish to flowers ...
From atoms to Alps ...
From galaxies to germs ...
Our God has created an infinitely complex world.  From its smallest to largest dimensions, the beauty and complexity of our world staggers our minds and enraptures our hearts.  Our God creates.  Our God creates flowers that no one will ever see and stars that no one will ever reach.  Our God creates bacteria and electrons and magnetic waves and thermonuclear reactions and sea currents and black holes and nebula and more species of animals than we have even discovered.  Our God creates.  Beauty and complexity, simplicity and profundity, majesty and glory ooze from God’s very Being.  God is Creator, and creation bears God’s glory.
   
    From the beginning of time, people have worshiped God through creation.  Adam and Eve joined the creative process by naming the animals, caring for the garden, and creating more human beings.  Noah joined the Creator’s mission by creating an ark as an instrument of salvation and then building an altar as a sign of worship.   Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all worshiped God by building altars to hold their sacrifices. 
    Creation and beauty have always been part of worship of the Creator.  Worship has always been art-full (full of art).  As people made like the Creator, we cannot help but to create when we express our worship of the Creator.  Our creation - our mutual display of beauty - draws us closer to the heart of the Creator.