Anyeong Hi Kaseyo!! Korea Sarangeyo!

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"Good bye!! We love you, Korea!"

I’m going to interrupt just before the last of the Blog-abrations to let you know what we’ve been up to lately. Lots have been going on, plus a week in Japan, so for the last installments of Blog-abration, I know you’re all on the edge of your seats, please stay tuned…

One last going away party, if you can call it that, was two days spent in Suwon, with a couple of our favorite ‘peeps’ (as Reagan would say) Reagan and Leandra. With the hanus traffic during the Korean Chusok (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday, it works out that Suwon is much closer to the airport, with a direct bus close by. Really though, we thought we’d spend some awesome time with awesome friends doing awesome things. It was just that.

So much of this year has come full circle for us in the last week or so. We’ve been visited by a wicked sickness (remember that cold those first 3 months in Korea? I sure do), some Yeoju magic (remember all those chance meetings and fortunate things happening to us? I sure do), battles with our monsterous luggage (remember packing for a year now getting all of it, and more, home? I sure do), and the last friends to see us were the first we met (we met Reagan in E-Mart one of our first nights and he invited us to bowling).

Inundated with questions like, ‘what will be your last meal in Korea?’ and ‘how will you spend your last day?’ We now have an answer.

On Saturday, Cass and I got up early, lugged all our baggage down to the parking lot of our building, and Yeoju Magic happened. Cass took the first elevator down so she was not with me. As I started heading down, the elevator stopped on the sixth floor. At this point, I’m thinking, ‘I feel sorry for the poor guy that wants to get smooshed in here with this mess,’ but to my surprise, it was a high school girl that I’ve seen many times over the course of the year. Like almost everywhere in here, the younger generation speak loads more English than older Koreans, so we’ve had fairly good conversations when I’ve run into her. It turns out that she was going shopping for the Chusok meal with her father.

Instead of running over to the Family Mart with our bags, that has been the easiest way to call a taxi to come get you, we asked if the father could call for us (well, the girl asked her father for us). Looking at our stuff, he shook his head ‘no’, and pointed at his minivan, as if we were silly thinking he wouldn’t take us. Yeoju Magic! I know that often talking English to the kids makes their days, they are just so psyched up after using their skills, I know I was geeked up to have this man and his daughter help us to the bus terminal. It’s exactly that kindness that saddens me to leave Yeoju. I had to take a picture of them, because that is a story I will share to give people an idea of Yeoju, and the Korean people.

Off to Suwon, we found our bags to be bordering insanely heavy, so I thought it our best interest to stick around, tie up some loose ends (love errands, eh?) and repack our baggage so that it hovers just around ridiculously heavy instead. Plus, my backpack I was going to be using in Japan was one I needed to check-in so that would test my pack/ repack/ pack skills.

Meanwhile Cass and Lea headed into Seoul for a lunch date, meeting Renata and Lynn for a girls day, and meeting up with Reagan later on.

The next morning, we passed the Reagan tried and true ‘right arm lift the luggage to tell if its too heavy to check-in at the airport’ trick of his, and with the repack from the day before, we were good to go. Our only requests now, were a lunch of Nang myeon, a stroll around the Hwaseong Fortress, and a dinner of the famouns Suwon Galbi.

It was a wonderful day, relaxing, hanging out with friends, checking out the fortified wall, and eating great food. Just what we wanted for our last official day in Korea. During dinner, we did some Korean tutorials that turned out to be a big hit on Reagan’s facebook page, and pretty darn funny, I’ll post them here.

Oh wait… did you say Norae Bang? Yes You Did! We rounded out our evening with some classics. Then, that got the creative juices flowing and an assault of Kpop was thrown at us back at the apartment. Enjoy the video... Now, yes, oly now, our last day is finally complete!

Rea and Lea so nicely escorted us to the airport, just out of the goodness of their heart, it was so nice of them. I don’t think I’ve ever had a goodbye send off from an airport before. That’s one for the ol’ memory bank. Plus, if it wasn’t memorable enough, I snatched a picture of them from the security line waving goodbye, just before a crowd of personnel swarmed on top of me with their arms crossed in the universal ‘no’ signal. Pretty funny, I thought, and well worth the scolding.

With that, our Korean experience in complete. Neither of us are really feeling too much about it all. It hit me a bit in Suwon, no knowing the next time I’ll be seeing several of my good friends next, but all in all, it really hasn’t hit us. I’m sure when I’m sitting at home in two weeks with nothing to do in the afternoon, I’ll get on the internet and want to facebook message if anyone wants to go get some grill-at-your-table for dinner… I think that’s probably when it’ll hit me the most.

Another chapter closed… it’s sad, obviously, and great also. As I told everyone, the characters in books don’t change from chapter to chapter, just the settings and circumstances, but never the characters.

That said, we are off to Japan for a week. Those blogs are already on their way! See you all very soon!

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Photos

Full circle
October 4th, 2009: Yeoju, South Korea

Full Circle
October 3rd, 2008: Butte, Montana

Hey Shawna... is that what I think it is? Focus on the song, sweety...
(someone must have pressed a wrong button somewhere along the line, we got quite a show until we asked the worker there to help us out. 2 buttons later, back to the ol' noraebang silly videos. yikes.)

The picture that got me swarmed in the airport
Goodbye guys! We love you!

Comments

[Susan Schott]

Thanks for the insight into Korea
Jon and Cassie, Cassie knows me because of my brother Jimmy, and my talking about my Peace corps days. When you come to Bozeman give me a call and I will cook a dinner or take you two out to dinner. I have so enjoyed your travel stories and the accompanied pictures. You have an amazing talent that will take you far in life. Good luck to you in your return home. That actually is the hardest part! Susan Schott 406-498-9620

[joncasssouthkorea]

@Susan
Thanks so much! We'll definitely give you a call when back in MT. It's going to be hard to leave, but exciting to get back. so many emotions right now. Gamsa Hamnida and thanks!