Korean Church Day

First off, here are some videos I took at the rehearsal before G Splash auditions, so you can see the kind of routines we were doing! We're all a little rusty/hesitant looking, but that's only because we were sooo sore and exhausted from Break and House the past two days, and we didn't want to wear ourselves out for our auditions! We definitely gave it our all for the real thing =)


First was Hip Hop. I think this was my least favorite. I couldn't really get into it, maybe it was the music? Some of the moves were kind of tricky too.



Lock!! My favorite genre and my favorite routine! Every time I did this one I had so much fun and started smiling and getting really into it =D They dance to such funky music!



Oh no, it's Break!! Every time the synthesizer part came in on this song I cracked up. I had the most trouble with the part where we first go down on the ground and kick our legs out in front... Haha, don't pay attention to the fact that none of the girls in this clip got the freeze!! Look in the back of the room, there's a group of guys there so look to them to see how it's done. I did it in auditions though!


House! This one doesn't look too impressive from this angle, and I started the video late, but this routine had the most footwork out of all of them and it was so easy to forget! When the real members do House, it looks so pretty and graceful and like they're having a good time =) Also, I apparently insulted Jeannette at the beginning of this video.



The last one, Girls/Girls Hip Hop! I made sure to film Hunter a lot in this one =) He was one of the few guys who actually seemed to have gotten the hang of it, haha. Is it that hard to shake your hips? I got my OWN car!



Today I went to church with Mia! I'm not exactly sure where we were, but it was somewhere outside of Shinjuku, she said it was sort of like the Korea Town of that area. The building was really tall, and there were different services on each floor. We went to the English service, where all the songs and stuff at first are in English, and then the sermon is in Korean but translated into English. They also have all Korean service, Chinese, and Japanese services. It was a pretty small room/group, but the church itself seemed to still be really busy with services even when we left! It was really interesting =) The atmosphere was kind of that revival, hand raising/clapping atmosphere (projector with song lyrics and everything!) like I experienced a lot in my church growing up. Although I think I've come to enjoy the more traditional services like the one I go to in Charlottesville (University Baptist Church) and the one here in Nishi Kawaguchi, it was really really nice to see people who were not only from a country foreign to me, but in a country foreign to them, having such passion about living for Christ.

Afterwards, they served lunch and had a Bible study. Lunch was really interesting! Mia told me it was sort of a common Korean dish called "bibimbap" (I did not remember that, I had to look it up, haha, though I did learn the Korean word for "and then" today from listening to the service!) which basically means mixed rice. It was a bowl of rice with various different vegetables and a sauce placed on top, and you're supposed to mix it up. I was explaining this to Mia afterwards and I should probably explain this to my parents/people who know me very well at all; I think that when there's a dish I'm familiar with that has vegetables I know I don't prefer, I usually eat around them as you probably all know, haha. But when it comes to something completely new and different, I've just been going for it! I ate that whole thing, and I couldn't tell you what was in it, except there was some ground beef, carrots, and maybe some of those funky mushrooms I've only seen in Japan. It was very fresh and greeny and kind of spicy! My first Korean food =D We also got little "tiramisu" (but not really) cakes for dessert, and Mia and I both ended up having two, haha!

The Bible study afterwards was nice too. Although my church here in Saitama is good listening practice for my Japanese, it was really nice having someone translate today (well, especially because I don't know Korean!). They talked about how God fills the emptiness in your heart, and through God you can do anything. My favorite part was where she talked about how when there are waves in your life, God can help you get through them and teach you to manage them, like a surfer! And how the Bible says to always be thankful and joyful no matter what situation God has put you in, and like how surfers really love the big waves because they're so exciting, we should be excited when God puts us in tough situations or tough times, and ride through them with his help!

Oh yeah, the usual church outfit update: I put together this outfit yesterday because everything else was in the wash, and Jeannette said it looked like I was going to church, so I decided to wear it to church! I wore my white jeans mom talked me into bringing even though I was hesitant, my black dressy tank top with tiny white polkadots which I love, a black light sweater, and black heeled sandals which destroyed my feet, but oh well. It was such a nice day today, I'm so happy it's warming up!

I was really sleepy when I got back, so I slept from about 4:30-7:00 ^^;;; And then I ate dinner, and I've not been getting much done since then.... I'm going to see which assignments I have for Japanese tomorrow and decide when to do them. Luckily we get Tuesday off from school this week because it's Children's Day! Thanks kids!