................Taking Flight...............: Wedding Day

We woke up and heard voices in the guesthouse. Apparently there were 2 other Korean girls staying there in a different room. Jacob and I got ready and I grabbed some bakery for us for breakfast. We were going to stay at the guesthouse til closer to the wedding, but figured maybe other people were there and I could visit with my Inje University friends. We grabbed a taxi and got to the church about 30 minutes before the wedding--it turned out to be the perfect amount of time I think. There were already quite a few people there.

We stood outside--it was sunny and warm, but very windy which made it a bit cool. I saw my friend Bit Chan and he came over to talk to us. He was surprised to see me there. In the foyer of the church were tables set up with wedding pictures and tables to pick up food tickets for lunch and a place to drop off money (typical Korean wedding custom is to give money and not gifts; Koreans can expect to have the wedding paid off by the wedding gift money given). We saw Ji and gave him a hug and met his Mom and Dad. He told us to go have a seat in the church on the right side. We sat down and waited as the church filled up. They had a nice service--after the homily, Ji gave a speech to Yeojin, then her parents and finally his parents. Then Yeojin gave a short speech to the parents as well. Finally, they did this cute thing where we all said the different parts of their name. We said "Jeong" (Yeojin's last name) and Ji said something that started with "Jeong"; then "Yeo" and "Jin". I guess it's kind of hard to explain... Finally, they said their vows, exchanged rings and lastly had two friends sing songs to them before finishing up the ceremony.

After the ceremony, they had a big family picture taken. Then, it was time for the friends' photo. When that was finished, we headed out to have lunch. It was a big buffet and the seating was mostly outside which was nice, but windy and a little chilly. At first Jacob and I sat with a few ET friends, but then we all decided to move to tables in the sun, so we sat with a few different guys the next time. It was good to see them all, but it was hard to catch up with all of them. I was just happy to see all of them and remember all the good times we had together in the past. It was nice to be around them all again like old times. We saw Ji and Yeojin take some pictures in the traditional Korean hanbok and we took some group pictures with friends outside. Then, people started heading out and finally we got a chance to snap a picture with Yeojin and then Ji before they rushed to the airport for their honeymoon.

Jacob and I had a lot of time to kill in Suncheon, but unfortunately due to Jacob's ankle and the windy and cool weather we didn't want to do anything outside. When I booked the train ticket, I didn't realize Ji and Yeojin were leaving immediately after the wedding for their honeymoon and had hoped we'd have some time to visit with them so I had gotten a 7:20pm train. We went to the station to see if we could switch to an earlier time, but there wasn't any room. So, we walked to the Emart to look for a snack. We hung out in the food court there and then walked back to the station and waited in a cafe there. Another long 3 hour train ride back and we were back in Seoul.