Grub 음식

all hands in the kitchen

This morning I chatted with the Henne's for a little bit and then we had to get going, Jane and I helped take a delicious meal to the class of elders attending the week-long seminar.

BIG bowl of salad

The other sisters, who have much more experience with Korean cooking, worked so hard yesterday and this morning, buying the food and preparing everything.

Whereas an American meal may end up in one pan labeled a casserole, or just be more basic (meat & potatoes) meals here must have many little salads and dips and vegetables and kimchi and soup and rice ....

re-heating

How much does your rice cooker make?

dishing out soup

all ready!

I was astounded at the fabulous table these ladies put together.
I helped cut strawberries and set the table.
And then afterward I helped with the dishes. It was a lot of work, but we had a great time!
And we had a tasty lunch too:
A. rice
B. spicy radish kimchi
C. marinated stir-fried beef, topped with little mushrooms
D. sutffed sesame leaf and fish pancakes

even our aprons are cute!

E. garlic leafy salad
F. salad with oranges
G. spicy cucmber and carrot salad
H. peppers, cucumber and carrot slices
I. spicy chile paste dip for veggies
J. fresh fruit -strawberries, pineapple, grapes
K. special rice-cake dessert
L. bean curd paste soup with cabbage

eating a rice-cake snack (what else?)

On the way home we stopped for a coffee and I snagged Keum-ho Shin to be today's guest blogger!


Thank you for letting me volunteer you today,
Keum-ho. Even though I've heard you speak English, we'll keep Jane here to translate just in case ;)


How old are you?
K - 23

I heard you just recently were released from prison, is that so?
K - yes, February 28, 2013

You were a great help today with lunch, what's a nice young man like you doing in prison?
K - All men in their 20's are required by law to serve in the military. But my Bible-trained conscience doesn't allow me to participate. How could I wage war against my brothers and sisters, my fellow believers in another country? I refused. And so I was sent to prison. 

I see. That's quite a decision for such a young person. How long was your sentence?
K - A year and six months, but I was released after a year and three months because of good conduct.

I'm glad to hear that. Tell me, what was a typical day like?
K - We woke up at 6:20am, headcount, and then breakfast at 7:00am. 
On weekdays, by 8:00am we got to work, until 5:00pm. We had a mid-day break for lunch and exercise. 
5:00 - 6:00 was dinner, then 6:00-6:30 was shower time. Then I had time to myself, I could do personal Bible study.

At least you got three meals a day--
K - yeah, but the rice was so old and stale, and mixed with barley. ugh. It wasn't clean either, and hard to chew. We ate that at every meal. And the meat wasn't great either, it was like powder it was chopped so small and mixed with other things. Sometimes we had like a casserole, or a salad with mayo for dressing, but I don't really know what I was eating! haha but Saturday mornings we got toast with breakfast!

Mmm, makes me appreciate our lunch today! So what kind of job did you have there?
K - I was like a caretaker. I worked with the two nurses, four doctors, and one dentist on staff that took care of the over 3,000 inmates. I'd say we would examine about 100 inmates every day. Some were really sick, others were just faking. One of the brothers handled prescriptions, another did over-the-counter medicines, but me, I just did wound dressings and IV's, or disposed of the trash from the surgeries.

Oh my! So you must have had some nursing training before going to prison?
K - (chuckles) no, I have absolutely no medical training. The nurses couldn't keep up with everything, so they showed me how, It's easy, just tap the vein and then stick in the needle!

[gasps] ahhhh! Oh dear .... so you mentioned surgery too??
K - oh, well, minor things like taking care of an infection or sores. Its an old building, and it wasn't very clean, so it was common to get infections. 
But other days I did other things, just general labor, moving things, we had to get rid of old records and things like that.

Sounds like you kept busy.
K - The Witnesses are given good jobs because the wardens know we are good workers and they trust us.

So you weren't alone in prison, how many other Witnesses were there?
K - People move in and out a lot, but I would say there were usually around 30 of us. 
And actually we had other privileges, like a shower everyday. If you weren't responsible enough to have a "job" daily, or if you were awaiting sentencing, you only got a shower once a week. 
Our shower was small, and all of us had to be done in that half hour, so we actually got about 5 minutes each to shower. But at least we had hot water!! The other people had a little bathroom area in their cell, but only cold water. So during Winter they wouldn't take a shower at all. UGH, they were so dirty and their hair so greasy --

Eww, ok ok, we get it. Moving on. You mentioned you did Bible study, how were you able to accomplish that?
K - Family can bring books and other literature in. Actually, we're limited to 30 regular books, but when it comes to religious books there is no limit. So I had my Bible and other books to read.
And since the Witnesses were grouped together in cells, we were able to discuss together, and have our routine of Bible study, exactly like the congregation does normally. The older, more advanced brothers would take the lead, and assign parts. At first it was difficult for me to write a 5-minute talk, because I was so new. 
See- I wasn't raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. My parents and I studied together and got baptized at the same time, pretty recently. It was only 10 months after my baptism that I was incarcerated. So while I understood how to give a talk, I needed some help understanding scriptures. I'm glad I had another mature brother with me, he helped me a lot. After some time I was able to do it on my own, and now I can prepare a part in a few hours, not a few days. But, I don't know ... I haven't given a talk in the congregation yet, maybe it won't sound so good then ...

Oh I'm sure you'll do just fine! So that must have been hard for your family to deal with. Were they worried about you, or did you get to see them often?
K - Ummm, I think they were ok with it. They knew where I was, and when I got home, they were glad.
I had three phone calls per month, but I didn't really call home. Except - someone told my mom that I had those three calls, and then she wanted to know why I wasn't calling her! haha So I did call her more, especially when I needed something! haha

Wow! sounds like a good system you worked out ...

waffles: better than prison food!

K - and family could visit up to six times per month. But, they didn't really visit. Well, I told them not to visit. It was such a long process! I had to wait 30 minutes first, then we had to be escorted to the meeting room. We had a 10 minute visit, and then it was another long wait to get back. It wasn't worth it! haha
You're going to think I don't love my family! It's not like that!! We have the saying - no news is good news. So really, they weren't worrying if they didn't hear anything, it meant I was fine. 
No, we're a really close family!

Hmm, that reminds me, I need to Skype my mom .... ;)
Any final comments? How do you feel about this experience?
K - I would say it was actually a faith-strengthening experience. I don't regret my decision. And if someone else is facing this issue, I would encourage him not to compromise on his faith, and experience for himself the good relationships you form with your brothers in prison. I really value that. 

Thank you so much for telling us a little bit about your story!
K - Thank you for asking

Are you going to eat the rest of that waffle?
[fork-fight]

smile!