Every Friday, ladies from each church - Koyo Chapel and Kabe Chapel - meet to have their weekly Bible study at their respective churches. On Friday, January 14th, they had their New Years' celebration together at Koyo Chapel and they invited us to attend. As it was a New Years' party, we dressed Juhee in her hanbok (Korean traditional dress). She loved wearing it! :) She especially liked the "puffiness" of it so she kept on sitting down... On the floor. @@
There were performances from individual ladies as well as a group performance from the ladies of each church. Both performed plays. Koyo's was about a cobbler named Martin and how he came to faith. They'd prerecorded the voices/words of the play (very smart - no need to worry about microphones!) and one of the ladies played the piano to fit each scene - amazing! "Martin" was so well disguised, people couldn't tell who she was so she was asked to reveal herself at the end. :) Kabe's was the story of Queen Esther from the Bible. Their costumes were amazing! Their play was set to music too. It seems to be the norm here. Plays aren't just plays. They always have music playing in the background too to help set the mood. Book reading is like that too. So much effort is always put into everything they do! Nothing is merely just simply done.
The food was of course delicious and beautiful. :) There was one thing though that I took one bite of and just absolutely could NOT finish... I can't remember the name but it was a pickle dish and it was marinated in sake (and other stuff too I guess). One of the ladies tried really hard to explain it to me and then said, "Traditional Japanese pickle. Please try." So I put some on my plate. It smelled like sake too but the potency of the sake was what really caught me off guard. I felt like I'd just gulped a glass of it! Well, let's just say that it's one of those acquired taste things and I haven't quite got there yet... I didn't even take a picture of it 'cause it looked so simple and I guess plain, but man did that simple plain looking pickle really have a kick! :P
One thing that I thought was really awesome was the way in which the two pastors, Pastor Haitaka and Pastor Kitano, served during the party. They took care of the kids so that the moms could sit comfortably, act/perform, eat, chat... It was also obvious that the kids were comfortable with them and that it was not the first time that they'd been taken care of by them. I just thought this really showed how loving and caring the pastors are to the church members. They're really more like family than just church members. Keiko-san, Pastor Haitaka's wife, is a~lways watching kids during Sunday services and at any and all other events too. 
The special Tea Ceremony sweets and tea were served to us while we were sitting watching the performances, which is why I say that it wasn't a "real" Tea Ceremony. I was told that the sweets would be very sweet and the tea very bitter. The sweets were very sweet but delicious (I wanted more!!!) and the tea wasn't actually that bitter. I think the green tea that they drink normally with their meals is more bitter (and very very strong). I have a hard time finishing the green tea that they serve with every meal. I hope I get used to it soon!After the performances were done, Juhee and I were at the back and Pastor Haitaka showed Juhee how to make the green tea frothy. She loved it! He then showed her that before one drinks it, one turns the tea bowl around a few times and then drinks.
Hopefully we'll be able to go to a real full-blown Tea Ceremony soon. It'll be difficult to keep the kids quiet and respectful and to keep our legs from falling asleep but we'll try. I love traditional stuff like that. :)
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