Leaving but Wait

In a few hours I board a plane for Thailand. I am super excited for a vacation where I get to make all the decisions. I have had many wonderful trips this year, some of them I even had a fair amount of input into. But this trip is all me! All week I have been saying my goodbyes to people, but many of them I will see again when I blow through Korea on the back end of my Thailand trip. In many ways I feel like when I went to Japan or China this year, a see you later of sorts. But there are many people, like the kids at my center, who I will never see again. I am hoping to use my time in Thailand not only to site-see, and feed elephants, but to reflect on my year, and all the people who made such an impact on me. That being said. This is not the last blog post. Check back after August 15th, when I am back in the States, for a few last reflections, and I am sure some interesting antidotes on reverse culture shock!!

Family Road Trip

I had the opportunity this weekend to join the Jeon's (my bosses at the children's center) on a family road trip to Illsan. It is a city between Seoul and Incheon where we visited Mrs. Jeon's brother's family. It was very similar any road trip you might go on with your own family. Eating snacks in the car although the car snacks were a little different

Jin eating grilled squid - yummy!!

We spent most of the time just hanging, eating and talking, shopping and going to the movies. Apart from everyone speaking Korean, it felt just like any family trip I have made in the States.

At one of the road side tents eating an after dinner snack

The main purpose of the road trip was to visit the Jeon's oldest son who is in the middle of his two years in the military. There younger son is starting soon so it will be the last time they get to see each other for a while. We drove out into the country where the his base is. There are hundreds of such bases all over Korea as every Korean male is required to spend two years in the military before he is eligible to work. Interestingly most guy choose to break up their college years and serve after two years of school, then go back to finish school. Exactly why I am not 100% sure, but something about it is easier to find a job if they are coming out of college. During the two years housing and food is taken care of and the soldiers receive a modest stipend and a few weekend off a year to go home and visit family. Then for the next ten years they are in the reserves and are called back once a year for refresher courses.

We spent the day in the visitor's center at the base talking and eating. It was great being considered part of the family, even if most of the conversation was lost on me. I was fascinated by all the anti-North Korean government propaganda there was on the base.

The Jeon family

Chen, Rev. Jeon, Mrs. Jeon (Daisy), Jin

Brothers

Birthday Celebrations

Saturday and Sunday were spent with Kristin and Jenny and Buddhist Temple. One of the big things to do while in Korea is a temple stay, and we were not going to miss out on this experience. According to our hosts 90% of the people who do temple stays are Korean, only about 10% are foreign. The Monk we talked to has met with people from all over the world.

Our Buddhist Clothes - incredibly comfortable

The nice part of our temple stay is we also spent time away from the temple experiencing traditional Korean culture. First we went to Gong-ju and watched a traditional Korean music performance. There was singing, dancing, drumming and a skit. It was great because while I had seen similar performances while I was in China, I hadn't seen this type of show in Korea.

The we visited the elderly home that the money from our temple stay goes to support. The people there were very excited to see us. I was just impressed that at their age they were some who were still sitting and sleeping on the floor. I will admit I am getting better at the sleeping on a blanket on the floor, but still.

Then it was back to the temple where we meditated.

Walking- it is important to keep your foot flat.

There are three different meditative walks, the first: right-left... the second: up-move-down... and the third: think up - up - think move - move - think down - down.... Trust me it isn't as easy as it sounds.

Then we meditated sitting. We were encouraged to just think about our breath and nothing else. The philosophy is all about just living in the moment. I will admit that I used our hour of meditative time to reflect mostly on my time here in Korea and preparing myself mentally for going home.

Finally the workout, 108 bows. Monks have got to have wickedly strong legs, because to them 108 is nothing. They will bow 1000 times in the morning and 1000 times at night.

The real highlight of the weekend was when we spent two hours talking with Monk Bubwon. We talked about ourselves, about travels, about philosophy. It was a great time and in the end he told us we were all good Dharma friends.

Monday was my birthday! To celebrate I treated myself to Western breakfast at one of the near by coffee shops. The pancakes aren't as good as Daddy's but good none the less. For dinner Jenny, Becky, Mike, and I went for Ddaukalbi (spicy chicken and rice cake stir fry) and then headed to the Nore Bang (Karaoke room). We rocked it at the Nore Bang - receiving multiple 100% (a very forgiving judge) and extra minutes. Thankfully the Nore Bang has numerous English songs as Koreans like singing American songs to practice their English. Also the plus of a Nore Bang is you are only making a fool of yourself in front of your friends instead a the whole bar because you have a private room. The funny part of it all is the Korean movie clips that they have chosen to play in the background. Usually completely unrelated to the song.

Jenny Rocking Out

Kung-Fu Fighting

Side note, best birthday present apparently the rainy season is over - now will someone tell the rain!!

A year of being Served

Monday I leave Korea before I go to Thailand for two weeks, and then eventually home. I am looking forward to seeing everyone when I get home and sharing all the stories and adventures of my past year. One thing I know I won't fully be able to describe, no matter how I try, is how truly thankful I am to everyone who has made this year possible. All the people back home who have read this blog, sent me email, care-packages, and prayers of support. I am extremely grateful to all who donated money to my year here. Without any of this support I would never have been able to come.

But I also can't begin to describe my gratitude to the people I have met here in Korea. People who have invited me into their lives and into their families. People who patiently work with my broken Korean, or invited me on adventures around Daejeon and Korea. While in theory I was here helping low-income children. I was truly blessed to have to opportunity to be here and ended up feeling more like the one being served by the people around me.

To everyone who has made my year possible. I can not thank you enough!

Dodging rain Drops

Things are winding up for my time in Korea. I am sorry again for the break in posting but now that I am done with work, I have vowed to finish all my half written posts, or else!! So hopefully you will be bombarded with blogs to read while I travel around Thailand, and I look forward to sharing even more stories with you once I am back in the States.

Summer is here, with it comes the rainy season. Way back at the beginning of the year, back when I was in language classes, we learned our seasons and weather for the seasons. One activity was to write what seasons had what weather. So in winter it snows. But I struggled because growing up I learned April showers bring May flowers. So I put it rains in the spring, but my teacher corrected me it rains in the summer. And while buckets begin to fall outside, I now know what she means.

But before it started to rain, we managed several exciting outdoor activities. The kids at the center went for a bike ride. These were the same kids I went biking with in the first weeks of arriving in Korea (and they remembered how much I struggled!) This time I was considered one of the adults in charge - of the rear. This time however we were biking a flat course along a river in the valley of beautiful mountain ranges. The issue this time was when the kids and I reached a fork in the road, if I couldn't see the rest of the group I really didn't know which way to go. Thankfully intelligent guessing meant I didn't get us lost. But whose bright idea was it to put the girl who doesn't speak the language and never been in this area of town before in a leadership position. At the end of all good Korean bike rides though is a tradition I am a big fan of. PICNIC!! The watermelon is in season right now and delicious. And with a quick dip in the river we were refreshed for the return journey.

We also went on a retreat with the congregation from University Church. We went to a national park and stayed at a Pension for the weekend. There was fishing, biking, hiking, basketball, and frisbee. All in all an excellent time to socialize with people that we have been seeing all year at church but haven't had much time with. We had gone to a similar retreat with just the college students in our first week in Korea so this trip made our year feel as though our year has completed the circle.

The group at the retreat

Finally it is the beginning of the end. I had my last day with the women at the library. To celebrate we all went to a near by mountain to hike and picnic. Again in true Korean fashion there was more picnic than hike (not that I am complaining). But it was a great last fellowship time for us.

But now that the rainy season is here with a vengeance our outdoor activities are going to have to be put on hold. The center had been planning a trip to the beach but instead we are going to the movies! Quick note, when in Korea during rainy season, if there is ever a doubt in you mind if you need your umbrella - you do!! Although the umbrella is know to leak a little when the rain really gets started.

Community

The warmer weather has brought on a rush of outdoor activities. There has been lots of hiking, and picnics. Becky and I joined the women from our library English class on a picnic on the mountain. It was a fun social time eating Korean picnic food like Kimbop (kinda like sushi)

A few Saturdays ago I joined my center at the community festival. We sold tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) and oodeng (fried fish cake) to raise money for the center. It was a real hit to watch the American girl making Korean food, and we sold everything before the end of the festival. There was the feeling of family at the festival, everyone laughing and eating together.

The whole community came together to celebrate Korean Memorial Day

They also raised money by letting you throw water balloons at your friends, my boss even paid to let me throw balloons at him!!

Making the tteokbokki - it was a big hit!

It was nice having the whole town come together. I saw most of my kids come through at one point or another and got to meet many of their friends from outside the center.

So Far From Peace

I have now been to the DMZ twice; once when my parents and older brother came to visit, and again last week. I am very grateful for both experiences because I got a lot out of both visits. When I went with my family, we were there first thing in the morning, before the other tourists started going through. It was also extremely foggy, you really could not see North Korea, and the military personal were a little more on edge because with limited visibility there is a greater chance that someone would interpret a tourist’s actions as a threat, so part of the tour was cancelled.

If you know to look for it, there is the North Korean building across the way, we weren't allowed to stop and take pictures. The mantra was KEEP WALKING!!

Going to the DMZ is also a strong reminder that South Korea is also far from being at peace. Living here we have had several reminders, the bombing of Yeonpyeong Island and the subsequent air raid drills for instance. But for Bill and my parents, it was strange leaving Seoul and feeling like you are entering a war zone. On the hour bus ride from Seoul on you way to the Joint Security Area there are constant reminders. Over the roads are massive concrete billboards, which are actually tank deterrents.

The Han River being lined with barbed wire fences and guard posts every 100 meters.

And landmine signs – the 4km wide wildlife preserve also known as the De-Militarized Zone (the biggest oxymoron in the world) is no nature hike. It is required that every Korean man must serve two years in the military, as a result you see hundreds of young men 19-22 participating in military exercises along the river. Upon arrival you are taken to a briefing room where you sign a waiver, acknowledging that they are not responsible if something happens and you are given a history lesson on some of the times that something did happen (twice, something happened twice – neither time were American tourists involved)

The first trip we were the only tour group at the time, and we were being shown around by two U.S. military personal. The stories they can tell are worth the tour alone. Although part of you starts to ache for the other side of the story. As they tell you stories of all the crazy childish antics of the North Korea Guards, you know they must tell the same kinds of stories on their tours. The first time I was at the JSA (Joint Security Area) we spent a long time in the conference building, where you can actually stand in North Korea, while we were there we were treated to a rare treat.

The North Korean Guards actually marched down and took their positions. Normally guards don’t stand in position like you see in all the pictures, which is only during times when people are meeting. The guards were probably taking their positions so that a North Korean tour could go through. Shortly after the guards came down, we were escorted out and on to another part of our tour – no need to push anyone’s luck.

We continued to the Dora Observatory where you can look out on North Korea. But again it was foggy; we had a hard enough time seeing South Korea. So it was off to the third infiltration tunnel. There are four of these tunnels that South Korea will admit to have found, they were dug under the DMZ by the North Koreans to attack Seoul. The one we toured was the largest and closest to Seoul. Capable of moving a full division per hour, it was designed for a surprise attack against Seoul. Of course these soldiers are a little smaller than I am, at only 1.95 meters high; I had to duck while climbing through.

No pictures past this point

Our final stop was Dorasan Station. The northernmost station of South Korea, it considers itself to be the first station to the North. South Korea hopes to improve relations with North Korea in order to open rail service through to China and beyond. As things stand now, South Korea must act as island, what would take a week to ship something by train, takes a month by boat. And the South Korea government is constantly having to pay ransom to Somali pirates.

If you can't read the sign it says: Pyeongyang 205 Km - Seoul 56km

The second time, it was clear we were part of a tourist machine. Two tour buses go in as two buses leave, an average of 500 tourists paraded through everyday. It was a clear day so we were actually able to see the fake North Korean village with the world’s tallest flag pole (unfortunately we didn’t go to where we could take picture of it). Our tour basically went: bussed here, take picture, bussed there take picture.

Here I am with a South Korean Guard, that is about as close as you want to get. If you touch them, apparently they will fight back

You could actually see what we were supposed to see!

But our tour guide defiantly knew what she was talking about. And being able to see North Korea, gave me a better feeling for the stark differences between the two countries. Although I still think the best example of this is looking at Google Maps night image of the two countries. Driving up to the DMZ this time, we were able to look across the Han River at one point and actually see North Korea. Our tour guide explained to us you can easy tell if you are looking at South Korean mountains or North Korean mountains. Do they have trees? It is true! The North Korean mountains have no trees, except for at the base – to provide cover for soldiers. The rest of the trees apparently have been cut down to be used as fire wood.

We did get to do the entire tour of the JSA this time, getting to see the Bridge of No Return. Named because this was the bridge where the prisoners of war were exchanged. Once they crossed the bridge, however, they were not allowed to cross back.

Slightly less climatic, when you have been standing in North Korea to look across a small foot bridge and say look the other side is North Korea.

And thus concluded our tour of the DMZ. Both times I was reminded of the strong tensions between the two Korea. Each time you are told all the rules for visiting the conference building, stressing not to do anything that the North Korean Government could use as propaganda. Or see the large military presence you are reminded how very far from peace we really are.