Seoul, Korea
Thursday, 14 November 2019
The best things in life ARE free. The best things in life are the unexpected happy surprises.
The first surprise of today was a strange clattering sound that I heard while walking down a quiet street (another surprise—most streets are not quiet) in Seoul. At first, I thought it was some kind of strange machine. I stopped and listened and then wondered if it was possibly a bird, and then I saw a beautiful black and white bird, a bird between a crow and a blue jay (if blue jays were black and white instead of blue and white) in size and bawdy vocalization. I took a photo, but bird was not particularly cooperative and kept flying behind a tree. From the racket, I thought it was a flock, but the flock seemed limited to maybe four members, all engrossed in some flight and chatter one-upmanship that marks any sort of a community and so noisy.
Tonight I learn from my Korean friend Lia that these are magpies and to hear them brings good luck! 
The second surprise came walking on a less quiet street in Jung-no on my way to the Seoul Museum of History. Suddenly appeared before my eyes the most marvelous sweep of brown sculpture that swooped from side to side in a great concave wave, even while soaring with either end point upward and skyward. Words cannot do it justice, nor even were I able to upload the photo would its splendor be apparent. It has to be seen. The building was completed in March, designed by Choi Dong-kyo and Lee Eun-seok of Seoinn Design Group, and received the Architecture Master Prize of 2019.
Underwood Memorial
Surprises continued. Saemoonan Presbyterian Church of Korea, was founded in 1887 by Horace Underwood, the Presbyterian missionary who arrived in Korea in 1885 and not incidentally one of the missionaries of my research. Underwood was one of the first missionaries to arrive in Korea, organized its first Christian church (Saemoonan Church), established its first orphanage, compiled an English-Korean dictionary, a leader in church organization until his death in 1916. Saemoonan Church joined religion with patriotism, and Rev. Cha Jaaemyeong was removed from his office by the Japanese because he refused to bow in worship of the Emperor. Daemoonsan Church is the Mother Church of Presbyterianism in Korea; the image of mother inspired the architects in their design of the church building.
