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Winter
Evidence of the long cold winter. I have finally had time to post after four months! Since going to China, we have endured a seemingly never-ending winter especially coming from New Mexico where winter ends in February!
Spring finally arrived in May, w/ summer quickly coming. In February our church moved to a new beautiful building and we have been enjoying the services there. Richard briefly grew a beard—it came out grey and he looks much younger without it—so it did not stay long.
In January, I was part of the teaching staff for a one-month program and one of the interesting phenomena was how close the middle school students become to each other. There were streams of tears and wailing on the last day when they had to leave each other.
I went to a “nori-bang” w/ a couple of friends. It is a karyoke room, which you rent for an hour or two. It was great fun. The Koreans love their song and dance.
In February I was able to teach in a month long program to a lovely group of preMBA students going to a grad school in the USA. They were from China, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. They were
so responsive—I have never taught such cooperative students and it was a welcome joy for me as a teacher.
One of the students invited me to their wedding! The ceremony is very short and the parents of the couple play a main role in the ceremony. During the meal, the new couple greets all the tables and there is long picture taking session. The whole thing only lasts about an hour and half. Koreans are efficient and do not linger—even at weddings.
The boys came w/ us to Seoul tower, which was fun. We had dinner together and then enjoyed taking a tram up to the tower where we saw lovely night views of Seoul. Richard and I lost track of the time and had to stay overnight at the dorm because we missed the last bus back to where we teach and live.
Over several weekends, Richard and I visited a Korean neighborhood w/ traditional houses, a prison where Japanese persecuted Koreans during the Japanese occupation of Korea and the tallest building in Seoul.
We also went on three field trips with the boy’s school which were great. We visited the National museum in the
Wailing Korean students
They are not faking it--many real tears after one month together. country, a Korean Folk Village, and a boat trip on the Han River. All were fantastic and we had decent weather. It’s wonderful to be around the kids.
This last week, I participated in a traditional rope pull sponsored by Ewha University which was great fun. I helped make the rope from straw one evening and helped in the tug of war a few nights later.
Last weekend the boys’ school had a sports festival. Chris made a winning soccer goal and Nick smoked the other runners in his leg of the final relay race.
So that’s our last four months in a nutshell. Thanks for reading. God Bless you all. Kasia
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