d-Wizz Hankuk Travel Diary [2005]
Day 32 (2005-08-27) / Day 33 (2005-08-28) / Day 34 (2005-08-29) 
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Day 33: 2005-08-28 (Sunday)
We had breakfast and prepared to go to church. The service was to begin at 1015, but Keith was on duty, so we needed to arrive at about 0930 to set up. The church has only a very small congregation; there are about 8 regular attendees, and probably about half a dozen others who come from time to time.
I suggested that I might play a song on my snare drum with my brother, who plays clarinet, as a special item. Tsuyako was enthusiastic about that idea, and mentioned it to (pastor) Keiko Utsumi, who then took it one step further and invited me to play my snare drum throughout the service. She said I would be the first drummer ever in that church. I was chuffed at the opportunity, so I began investigating a suitable playing setup, as I did not have a proper snare drum stand, and I needed to find something to support the drum without choking the snares. I found a small children’s chair whose legs were perfect for the task, so I put two of those together and made a crude “stand” for my snare drum. I sat in the back pew next to my brother, who was controlling the MIDI box, and tested the setup. I had to sit a little awkwardly, with my knees around the two chairs, but it was OK, as I would only be sitting that way for a short time.
I wish I could say that it was easy to play the snare drum for the hymns, but in fact, it wasn’t; one of them was in a strange timing with some bars of 7 beats and others of 8. I struggled my way through it, studying the music in the book intensely as I tried to follow the rhythmic twists and turns of this strange and unfamiliar ancient European melody.
After the service, I was invited to have lunch at the church with Keiko, my brother and his wife and Tsuneko Isozaki, another church member.
My brother and I played “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” together, and then “Power Of Your Love”, with the three women singing along in Japanese. A short video of “Power Of Your Love” was also recorded with my brother’s camera.
Keith took me for a drive around the area of Odai after lunch. We looked at the Ouchiyama and Miya Rivers and Miya Dam, then drove a little further to explore some of the surrounding areas. Eventually, we came to a popular resort style area called Forestpia, in Miyagawa-village (next to Odai), where Keith took a few photos.
On the way back to the apartment, we stopped to say hello to a few friends that Keith & Tsuyako knew.
We were only at the apartment for a couple of hours, as we had been invited back to the church for dinner with Keiko. When we arrived there, some people who lived near the church were preparing some fireworks (this is legal in Japan).
Dinner was a large meal of spaghetti and chicken, which the pastor had specially prepared for my visit.
During dinner, I began to feel scatological, but I decided to wait and see if a better opportunity presented itself the next day.
We talked for a long time after we had finished eating, before returning to the apartment. The batteries in my camera were completely exhausted, and, as I had left the charger at Spike’s apartment in Gwangju, I was unable to recharge properly. I had noticed the charger missing upon my return to Seoul on 2005-08-17, so I began to use the AC adaptor for my MP3 player, which was not really suitable, but it gave me about half a battery if I charged it overnight. Unfortunately, I think I left the AC adaptor at Jamie’s house in Asan, as I had not seen it for a few days, so I did not even have that to recharge the camera batteries.
I asked Keith if he had a similar cord which might enable even a partial recharge. He searched for a few minutes, but was unable to find one. He then suggested we could try to recharge the battery with his mobile phone recharger, by disassembling the connection at the end and attaching the respective polarised wires to the battery terminals. This was done in a few minutes, and we worked together to connect the wires to the battery, and held them there with a small amount of sticky tape. Keith said to check the battery after about 45 minutes.
While the battery was charging, we decided to use the wireless Internet and ISP phone to make a few (free) phone calls to various people in Korea, Japan and Australia. The quality of the line was not very good, but I was able to communicate well with most of the people I called.
After making these calls, Keith suggested I should test the battery, so I disconnected the wires and put it in my camera. I had full power! We then put the second battery on charge also.
I went to bed, happy that I would now be able to use my camera again for a few more days, and also excited about the now stronger scatological feelings I was experiencing. Tomorrow promised to be a very good day, for many reasons!
Day 32 (2005-08-27) / Day 33 (2005-08-28) / Day 34 (2005-08-29)
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