Last Trip in Korea - part 2

Final Visit to SeoSan & DaeSan where we spent the majority of our time here in Korea:

After meeting with Karen, we had planned on heading out to DaeSan to spend the night in a motel there ~ but when things got later than expected, that's when Park Soon Cha extended the hospitality of her home to us. It was so nice to see where she lived and to be able to spend more time with her. We had missed saying goodbye to her when we came to Wonju. She was the one who treated us to Lotteria (like an "off-brand" of McDonald's) when we first arrived, and was our personal "tour guide" on the teacher's trip we went on when we first arrived at the school. I believe those pictures are under April 2008. Her English has greatly improved in the time that we've known her. She and Sunny are among the closest Korean friends we made here. We're going to do our best to try to get them to visit us in Japan. :)

I accidentally deleted the picture above from where it's supposed to be down below. But something is not working right with my blogger right now, so I can't move it. So I will refer to this picture later on down in the post.

Here is the complex where Park Soon Cha lives...she is on the 7th floor, and this picture was taken from her balcony.

This picture is also from her balcony, looking the other direction - to a nearby school on the left, a shared garden for the apartments, and a playground on the right.

Park Soon Cha's husband and daughter were gone for the night, so John & I got one bedroom and the kids got the whole living room floor! Joy's an early bird as you can see.

Park Soon Cha was up before 6am to make breakfast for us before we left to visit DaeSan School again. Her kitchen has some awesome things in it.....there's a pedal in front of the sink to turn the water on instead of using your hands, especially when they're dirty/greasy. This helps save on water, too. Then, there's an extra 1-burner stove out in a side room off the kitchen which is for boiling soups on, especially in the summer so it doesn't heat up the house. I thought these things were really neat!

Park Soon Cha cooking up some eggs to go with the breakfast. The night before, she made us up fresh kimbap for a snack. The thing-a-ma-jig above the sink is actually a built-in refrigerator to store small items. This is especially useful in a Korea kitchen since the meals here are full of small amounts of many different types of veggies and foods.

We ate in shifts - the kids went first. Though I used to curl my up my lip at the thought of rice, kimchi, and soup for breakfast when I first heard of it, I am beginning to really like it. It makes for a good, filling breakfast.

Here is a picture of the mountain that is right by our old DaeSan house. I've tried getting this picture from the bus before, but it just didn't take too well.

Here's where that first picture is supposed to be....and what I was writing before I accidentally deleted it:

We were welcomed back into the school with excitement and smiles and "Hi, John, hi, John!!!" We gave gifts to the principal and vice-principal since we didn't know what the protocol was for dropping in unannounced at a school. We arrived about 45 minutes before classes began, so had time to see quite a few teachers and students. We met the new English teacher who is there now. She is from S. Africa and is very nice. It was nice to see Mrs. Saw again (the teacher who took Jeong Won's place as John's co-teacher) They have made some great changes to the classroom.

On our way back out to catch the bus back to SeoSan, John got a picture of a class that was outside for something.

One surprise was the massive construction underway at the school's playground. A track is being put in, so everything is torn up right now. Then they are putting in...soft cement? or something like that. It won't be just hard pavement, but it also will no longer be sand.

De je'vu - headed to the bus stop.

John took quite a few pictures of me and of Joy and me with our umbrellas.

Here we are at the bus stop. We had to wait 30 minutes since we'd just missed the bus. We were late because we had stopped by another friend's house to tell her goodbye, but she was not home. :( So we left her a note instead.

Just across from the bus stop is a government building with a flag flying from the top. In case we haven't posted a picture of the Korean flag yet, then here it is!

And here comes the bus!










"The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round; the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round - all through the town!....." Out of DaeSan, and on to SeoSan, and then on to Wonju. Eventually by next week, they will take us on out to the airport where we will say farewell to our home for the past year. It was good to go back to DaeSan for a last visit. It helped to close that chapter of our lives and to look forward to another move.