Spring in the Desert

I had a wonderful trip to Tucson, Az in March. The desert was in bloom, the blue skies shone brightly, the nights were crisp. I had a good long chance to visit family and friends. I went camping and fishing on an enchanting lake in the mountains. It was a quiet time--a time for reflection and reevaluating--a clearing of the mind.

Key West on the Pura Vida

I returned home to the USA. After a week of jet lag and another week of getting used to not working, I went to Key West with my son, daughter-in-law,grandchildren, and daughter. We stayed on Tommy's boat, Pura Vida. We moved it from one marina to the Key West Marina. Stacy got to drive it there which I'm sure was a big highlight for her. She also got to drive the tender in and out of port. The weather was cool the first few days, but it warmed up, and we got some sun and pool time in. We ate lots of good fresh fish while there. We roamed the streets of Key West with all the quaint shops and homes. We went fishing and beached on an island 13 miles south of Key West. It was a bird reserve with a fabulous beach.
We had a great relaxing time. I really enjoyed being in Florida again. The sunsets were amazing. The street acts on the pier were many. The atmosphere was laid back. Just what I needed.

GOING HOME

On my way home tomorrow morning early, early--about a day of traveling. My bags are mostly packed, although there are many items I'm still not sure where they will go. I must clean the apartment for the new arrival and dinner tonight with my friend Jodelle. While I'm very excited about going home, there is also some melancoly for leaving Korea. I've had a great send off from the teachers and kids. There was a farewell dinner last night from Mrs Kim and the teachers. They gave me two books of letters and drawings from each class of kids. I will always treasure these. I have even received one email from one of my kids. So sweet! I will miss them.
This year has gone by quickly overall. I've seen some great places in Korea thanks to my new friend Eun Hui. She took me to a farewell lunch in the mountains. After lunch we sat by the big fire and drank a Korean tea.
Ju Yung, my Korean language teacher, also took us on a goodbye lunch. Oh, and Jung Mi took me to dinner. Such hospitality! I will always remember my time in Korea as a time of learning a proud culture, the sweet innocense of the children, making new friends and eating the dog. Sorry Cindy and Horace.
Good bye for now. I praise God for the path he is leading on. I will follow.

My Kingdom

It's been rainging for three days straight, and I've had enough. Time is getting short and so is my patience. I only have a week left in Korea, and I'm anxious. I'm anxious to start something new. I need to be around new people. I'm feeling stifled for some reason. I seem to have a different opinion than everybody. Can everybody be so ignorant. I need my own kingdom I guess. Will I ever have peace?

THAILAND ADVENTURE

I just got back from a wonderful adventure in Thailand. I went on an all Korean tour with my friend Jodelle. We were the only English speaking people on the tour. It turned out to be a wonderful experience, and we made some new friends. In Bangkok we got to explore two great temples--the Wat Pho Temple and the Wat Arun Temple. They are very different in style; both unique and beautiful. Then we took a long boat down the Pho River to see the many water houses along the edge with people on small flat boats selling fruits of all kinds--many I have never seen before. From Bangkok we went to Pataya, a smaller city on the beach about 2 hours from Bangkok. Our resort hotel was great--beachfront with five swimming pools. We had Thai massages (2 hours) and went to see the nightlife. We had front row seats at the kickboxing match. I wasn't too thrilled about this at first, but it was exciting! At halftime there was a snake charmer with bags of poisonous snakes including the cobra. It was fascinating to watch. Many people ran from the front row when the snakes came out. Dummy that I am, I stayed and took videos.
We rode elephants--I had to do this--it was on my bucket lists of things to do. I loved those elephants, such amazing animals. There was a show and the elephants played scoccer against each other as well as basketball, darts and bowling. Oh, and hula hoop on their trunks. We went to a crocodile farm (another show) and zoo. I fed a baby tiger his bottle of milk. I mean holding it and all. Just a big kitty! We visited a pineapple farm, an open street market, and a monastary.
Beach anyone? Plenty of beach action with sea walking (yes, under the sea with a bubble over the head fed by oxygen tanks), parasailing off an ocean barge, speedboating, and relaxing on an island beach. There were people from all over the world there: many Russians, Koreans, Chinese, Americans, British, Spanish, and Italians. The mixture of languages was fascinating to say the least. I enjoyed trying to identify them all.
Thailand is tropical so it was hot and humid with palm trees of everytype, banana trees, every fruit imaginable, and some I've never seen before. Dogs have it made there. They don't eat them, and many run free. They sleep anywhere they want including the side of the street. No leash law there.
It was a great trip, but alas, too short. Too soon we were headed back to Korea where it had snowed again and is experiencing some extremely low temporatures--quick change in the airport from shorts and sandles to boots and coats. Life goes on!

THANKSGIVING 2009

The Korean Thanksgiving or Chuseok is in October. Families have huge meals together, and they exchange gifts (mostly food). The kindergarteners came in their traditional dress and lots of food gifts were exhanged. But for the American Thanksgiving, there was a program of entertainment by every class and sooo much food---tables and tables of it. The kids were so great. Each class did their own skit, song, or prayer in English or both. They weren't perfect, but their little hearts went into it. I really loved it. The parents were there, and I'm sure they loved it too. AND then their was FOOD!!!!

My life has settled in pretty well. I've decided to live in the present. I'm becoming more comfortable with the culture and place. Learning Korean helps alot. My friend and I are taking Korean lessons twice a week on our lunch break.. It's a very difficult language so I'm sure it will be a very slow process. I do enjoy it though and feel like I've learned something everytime.
I started a small ladies Bible study in my apartment on Friday evenings. It's kind of hit or miss right now. There's a Korean lady who comes regularly and, of course, Jodelle and I. There's a couple others who occasion it. We're studying the book of John. I'm picking up on many things I've missed in previous readings.
I've wanted to do something for the poor, but it's difficult to find services here in Iksan. Seoul has alot going on in that area, but that's Seoul. I've investigated locations of orphanages in the area and have found two. Our Korean language teacher, Ju Yung, did some intership work for college there and agreed to speak to the director about our volunteering. They were very positive about it. So, next Saturday we'll start working there a couple of hours a week on Saturdays. I'm really excited about it. I'll report on that adventure next.

IKSAN ELDERLY

So many of the now elderly lived on the farm; so, city life is a bit foriegn to them. The open markets and street vendors are generally those that have stayed on their farms growing vegetables to sell--many elderly. They squat on the sidewalks and walk bent over all day showing their wares laid out on the street. I love to buy my vegetables from them. You know they will always be fresh, and handled with care. They patiently hand peel all the garlic gloves and green onions. The white radishes are HUGE--a foot long many times. I love the market. Many of the elderly work in community areas such as parks and along the streets weeding and clearing dead foilage. I'm not sure how that works, but it's very organized. They wear their hats and bonnets and safety vests. Many elderly have hand trailors that they pile high with cardboard and other recyclable items and trudge through the streets to the nearest recycle station. And there's the parks where you can exercise or just meet with other friends to play a game of cards. It's really nice to see them gathered around enjoying the comradary.

WOONUM SAMUL

This is where I live in Iksan. I bet you never thought you'd see me in an apartment again. I like my apartment. It's pretty small with lots of character. I've difinantly made it mine. I am the Queen of my castle--lots of furniture and plants, even outside my front door. There is a shortage of land here so most people live in these apartments. Most don't look great outside, but are quiet nice inside. The problem is they squeeze alot of people in each apartment with no problem. The Koreans don't like much furniture though. Getting home is easy because all taxi drivers know where Woonam Samul is. They don't use street names. They give directions by landmarks. So I only have to say Woonam Samul, and they take me home. To go to church I tell them "The Wedding Hall" (it's across the street from Faith Baptist). They also know the bus station, train station and McDonald's; so I'm pretty set.

Communicating

I've been in Korea now for five months. In many ways, it has gone by so quickly. I'm anxious to learn more Korean so that I can communicate with the people better. If you don't learn the language you really are stuck in a limbo of semi darkness. It's necessary to get into the people's heads to completely understand the culture. So many things here are similar to American culture--I call the Koreans yuppies. They seem to be most interested in cell phones, large cars, FASHION and making money. However, it's the other side I am most interested in knowing. The ones who grow the crops, live in villages, fish for a living. I've visited all of these senarios, but I'm unable to communicate. Christianity is big here. Airports are jammed in the summer with large groups going on mission trips. Going to and from China, there were several large groups stopping to pray in the airports before and after flights. It was heartwarming. Most of the men wore safari hats. I wanted to ask about their trips but didn't know the words. I'm looking for a tutor and may have found one. Hopefully, I'll hear something next week on that. Time keeps ticking on by.

Beijing, China

My week off from school has gone by too quickly--as they always do. The trip to China was terrific. I was so surprized about China. It was not what I expected. It's modern, capitalistic, and much freer than I thought it would be. The people were friendly for the most part. They are very different from the Koreans. They don't mind the sun. Koreans are the yuppies and Chinese the blue collar workers. I'm sure that's way too simplistic, but Koreans do love their fashion and big cars. Both live in modest homes. The Koreans keep their traditions of no shoes in the home, sleeping and eating on the floor at low tables--the men in both countries smoke and drink alot. I felt more at home in China. I don't know why. It was easy to get around. Names of businesses were in English as well as Chinese. We found Bibles at the bookstore and a fully operating Catholic Church. A bride and groom were having pictures taken out front. What's wrong with this scene?? I had a whole different picture in my mind. However, Facebook and some news items were blocked on the internet.

I saw the most magnificant palaces, temples and architectual feats--The Great Wall was "fantastique" as discribed by a Frenchman coming off the wall. We also saw the jade factory, the silk factory, the pearl factory, a Chinese doctor who prescribed herbs for our ailments and visited the inside of a Chinese home in a hutong in old Beijing. Oh yes, and the pandas in the zoo!!

ON THE ROAD KOREA

The three of us hit the road Saturday for a drive in the country. The rice fields as well as everything else is so green. Because of all of the rain and wind lately the river was pretty stirred up but still enticing to the eye with the waving rice plants meeting it at the shore. If it wasn't so humid here, the countryside would be perfect.
We had a great lunch at a country restaurant that had tables set up over the stream. It was great! The stream actually flowed underneath you. Food was good, too! Then we visited another Buddhist temple in the mountains. Each one is a bit different from the next, but all so beautiful with the colorful artwork. Bogwangjeon Sungnemsa was no exception. It was established in 1325 AC as a zen temple. It has since been rebuilt of course.
Later we stopped at a rice farm to buy rice. We recieved a tour by the manager. The rice is grown organically. Instead of insectocide they use snails to kill bugs. I thought that was interesting. We bought several bags of rice that we watched being filled from the machine. FRESH RICE!!

LUNCH NIGHTMARE

HORRORS!!! My friend and I went to lunch today at a restaurant we had eaten at before. They serve a beef bone soup that is very good. We pointed to the picture of the soup when we ordered. When it arrived it looked different. We tasted, and it was good. Tasted like pot roast.
However, it looked different so we asked the waiter in Korean what it was. He said, "dog". Oh my gosh. We started screaming, "no, we can't eat this!" Jodelle started gagging and almost threw up. People came running out of the kitchen to see why these crazy Americans were yelling. Appetites gone, we left the restaurant. They would not let us pay. It was horrible! We found out later, the restaurant had changed hands, and so had the menu.

FEELING FREE

Today I've been enjoying some great music of the 70's while working on my plant collection. It's very humid here--great for plants but I'm suffering. However, I don't use my air conditioning much. By the time I'm home in the evening, it's fairly cool. It's Saturday, and I'm really enjoying the day. I went down the neighborhood plant shop and bought a new potted plant to put outside my front door. Yes, you can do that here in an apartment building. There doesn't seem to be a big problem with theft. People grow vegetables in their yards with no fencing and still have vegetables to harvest. It's amazing to me. I walk by vegetable gardens all the time with amazing food for the taking. Also, people prop their front doors open in the apartment building to create better air flow. Can you image? Anybody could just walk in! I love it! Of course, the kids playing in the parking lots and running through the streets is wonderful too. These are wonderful things! For me, it's a sense of freedom that I haven't felt in such a long time.

Saturday on Seon-ya-do Island

I've been so tired lately with all the extra work since Carrie's on vacation that I decided I didn't want to go anywhere this last weekend. But plans change, and I decided to go with friends to a small island off western Korea called Seon-ya- do. Only for the day though. No long weekender. We left Kunsan at 8:30 am on the ferry for the one hour and 30 minute ride over. Unfortunately, the weather didn't look so great--very overcast. It was a nice ride though. We arrived fairly early for the island (I guess) because there were no other visitors around. Everybody was fighting for our attention hoping we would rent their cart to tour us around. The island is actually a group of islands; three of which are inhabited. Total poputation of the three is around 900. The island was very beautiful but would have been so much nicer with sunshine and warm weather. The beach was very nice, but noone was on it. We ate an early lunch of fresh seafood and decided to rent motorscooters. At first I said no way, but eventually gave in. It was great fun! The only problem was the rain which came down in buckets as soon as we got on the road. OH well--next time. The ocean was rough with the stormy weather on the trip back, but we took naps on the floor in the passenger room (there is no furniture). It was great! The floor is heated!

WHAT AM I DOING HERE?

Sometimes I wonder why I'm here. I thought I was here to serve the Lord in some way, but I don't feel like I'm doing that very well. In many ways I feel like I'm growing spiritually through the Church I'm attending, but I can't embrace all their ultra conservative practices. For this I feel a bit of a failure. Also, my job confuses me. It's a Christian School, but most kids there are from well to do families; and in my mind, not needy in any way. So, what am I contributing? The kids can drive me crazy at times, but at other times melt my heart. I love to teach them things--when they want to learn. Alot of them don't want to learn though. They can't sit still or concentrate on anything. They're mean to each other and me sometimes. I get frustrated with them. I don't like to have to discipline them either. I've never liked that part. And I hate to sing!!! But when I know they're getting something out of it all, it's the most wonderful feeling.

I want to know I'm doing something right, but I may never feel that I am. I'll just keep thinking about it. Maybe someday the light bulb will go off.

THE DMZ

My visit to the DMZ was very interesting. I learned alot about the Korean War and the history surrounding it and preceding it. The countryside is beautiful there--mountains, green fields, rice fields underwater. The DMZ is a two mile strip of land between North and South Korea that belongs to noone--except the migratory birds that gather there. In the 70's three tunnels were discovered being dug from North to the South by the North Koreans. These tunnels ran for miles and were suppose to be used for a reinvasion. It is believed there are many more. There are three which can be toured part way. We went down in the second tunnel. This whole area is patroled by the Korean army from various outposts along the fence line. There is also an observation area where you can look over into North Korea. We visited several monuments honoring the South Korean soldiers that lost their life. The largest stood on top of a hill where the largest and deadliest battle was fought.

We returned on Sunday evening after spending the night in a Korean home in a small village near the DMZ. The next morning North Korea performed a massive underground nuclear test

and subsequently 6 missles were launched that week.

Man's Best Friend on the Market

I just love calls from home! My magic jack affords me the opportunity to call and be called from the US. Of course, the time difference is significant. Being able to stay in touch with family and friends is so valuable. Lately, I've really missed my critters; Oreo, Cindy, and Horace. They were my little family, and I loved them so much. Unfortunately, I can't call them. They do not know that I miss them. You don't see alot of pets here because so many people live in apartments. Out on the farms the dogs are mainly watch dogs that are tied up at their dog house. Most of the dogs I see have Siberian Husky in them--many are white.

It was in the DMZ that I saw the most upsetting thing though. There was a dog farm in the small village we stayed in. I understand most of those dogs are of the labriador retriever type and are grown in a small area and never allowed out of confinment. They are sold for meat. Evidentally, the meat is very therputic in some way. It is prescribed by docotors for certain ailments. It was very difficult hearing them bark continuously begging for help. It was nauseating. Yes, it made me sick!

PLANTING RICE

I've been fasinated by the landscape of rice fields in this country. The rectangular fields of water that cover the countryside at the foot of the mountainsides are truly beautiuful. I've been very curious about this grain which is so necessary to the Korean diet--along with KimChee. It grows in water (in mud)and is planted in straight rows. How do they do that? Well, now there are machines that do it, but you still see it being done by hand occasionally. I thought that would be an interesting experience. As it happened, I got to try just that on a recent trip to the DMZ.

I first tried wading out in the mud with tall boots on. That became too difficult very quickly. My boots literally got stuck so far in the mud that I felt like I was in quick sand. I couldn't pull it out, and I was losing my balance. I was told to pull my feet out and leave the boot--go barefoot. At first, I thought, "Is this man nuts?" But it was so much easier, and I quickly got used to the squish of mud through my toes. I made my way into the field and positioned myself along a string that was strung across the field and attached to two poles. There were tiny red strings attached along the string at about 6 inch intervals. People were lined up along the string. We were given little squares of grass looking plants (like sod). You would tear off the sod with 4-5 tiny plants and plant them in the mud at every red string marker. When that was done, you stepped back two feet while the poles at the end of the field were pulled up and moved forward two feet. The process was then repeated. So it goes until the field is planted!!

RECYCLING

Hey, they have it down here in Korea! It's taken me awhile to get organized in this department, but you have to--out of guilt. They don't give you bags at the grocery store--or bag it for you. If you don't have your own, you have to buy a plastic bag. However, you probably won't accumalate too many of those because you can use them in your trash or garbage can. They don't use these big trash cans here. They have these small little cans in the kitchen that are perfect for that plastic bag you get at the grocery store. In the kitchen, you separate your paper trash, plastic, glass and food garbage. You carry this all out everyday--no large cans or bags--to the collection area at the apartments. There you find a place to throw away plastic, boxes, styrofoam, glass, and yes, food (which goes to the pigs). Trash is picked up everyday at the apartments. Pigs eat pretty well too.