Spring has sprung

We've gotten the warmest of welcomes from the Korean people. Mother Nature, on the other hand, has been a bit frosty. She has finally come around this past week and is showing us a beautiful apology. Spring in Korea is gorgeous.

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King Spanberger

We wrapped up our traditional Korean village movie set tour by trying on some costumes. Jake was chosen to play the king. Nanci was his queen. Jake had no problem keeping his Korean smile on the entire time. We have many guesses but are not quite sure what he is holding. As usual, Nanci is having the time of her life!

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Korean Folk Village

Yesterday, we visited the Korean Folk Village in Yongin. This was a very expansive property, with over 200 traditional-style properties on display. We watched an old blacksmith forge iron to make tools, witnessed what jail and torture were like in the 19th century Korea and shared a few glasses of the traditional Korean rice wine, Makkoli. During a one-hour free period, Jake and I found an empty, open-air temple to relax in. Relax, being relative as there were over 10,000 school kids wildly running around the property for a joint picnic trip. As I laid in the temple, several kids used me as a hurdle during a game of chase. Not a bad day at all.
- Colin

  

English Village

Last week, we visited a unique educational campus in Yeongpeong called the "English Village". They call the design "Virginian", meaning the place looks like Georgetown or D.C. The buildings are very modern and the purpose of the school is to give Korean kids a crash course in English. The typical course lasts only 12 days, though children are required to speak English in the onsite stores. The government supplements part of the tuition and it sounded like the parents are only responsible for around $150 for the 12-day course. Jake, the Florida Gator, found a kindred spirit on campus. -Colin

What a relief!

Over the course of 3 weeks, we have slept in 10 different places, some beds and some floors (aka Korean style). The longest we have stayed in one place is 3 nights. We just found out we get to stay in this place (Yongin) for 7 days. Finally, I get to unpack and settle in. I can't tell you how good this feels.

-Jake

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High-end Ceramics

There's no way to explain how important the role ceramics play in the Korean culture. We've been to at least 10 separate ceramic museums, workshops, etc. For me, none were cooler than our visit to the private studio of Park Kwang Chun in Yeoju. Mr. Park is famous for his artistry and we were told his works are some of the most expensive in the world. His larger pieces retail for $30,000. After watching him detail a half-finished piece, he presented us each with a coffee cup-sized pot laced in real 14k gold. We were told these were pricey. Mine is wrapped in bubble wrap and towels inside a box we had shipped home. Cross your fingers. In 45 days, the ship will arrive in America and I'll be curious to see what I find.
- Colin

DMZ

We visited the DMZ and received special permission to get an inside look at the actual line.  When we got off our bus, we were greeted by a 3 star General.  Then we went to the actual DMZ, the line on the 38th parallel that separates North and South Korea. It was a unique experience that not many people get to do. We were only allow to take pictures in certain spots because the North Korean's might take it as a hostile measure. This whole experience was amazing.

Above is a picture of Colin bowing to the General. We were with a Korean translator who is actually leaving in July to go to the University of Florida (I taught him to say Go Gators, by the way). He served in the army for 3 years and he said he has never met a 3 star General.  It was a pretty special moment for him.

After meeting the General, we were taken to lunch by some soldiers who studied in the States so they spoke impeccable English.  Lunch was served in the soldier's mess hall. The picture above was my meal.

Driving to the DMZ was pretty intense. Our guide said "you are now entering the DMZ", and the whole bus of Korean went silent. This is a shot of one of the soldiers guarding the door to North Korea. He obviously looks very intimidated of me.

This is North Korea in the background.  The soldier is a Major in the army.  It was interesting because other soldiers were asking to get their picture taken with him.  I asked him if he was a celebrity and he said yes.

I added the above shot because this soldier is half looking at a the building, half North Korea. This is done because they only want him half exposed if the North Korean's start firing.

-Jake

Meeting the Mayor

We toured Guri City Hall and were treated to a special meeting with Mayor Young Sun Park. We shared coffee in his office as he described his city's plans to become the design capital of the world. He spoke very good English and was very sharing with his time. We then toured several floors and met dozens of city hall workers. Departments were separated by rooms and workers were stationed in cubicles. It looked very similar to what government buildings look like in the states. One special treat was meeting up with Charles, the former secretary to the Mayor who we all met last month when his Rotary GSE team visited Fort Myers.
- Colin

Korean Red Cross

We visited the Korean Red Cross, which was one of the highlights of my trip so far. I've worked for Red Cross for nearly five years and to see how our mission is carried out in a foreign country was a great privilege. We met with the regional director, who explained their service delivery projects in good detail. The office was fairly basic. We saw several volunteers prepping a large meal for elderly residents, which is something they do everyday from what I understood. I really enjoyed the warm handshakes and hugs from fellow Red Crossers. We're family, even if we don't speak the same language.

- Colin 

 

The District Governor's Office

The other day we stopped into the main Rotary office, where the district governor and his staff work. It was an unplanned visit, so at first it seemed weird to be interrupting the day of the district governor. We sat in his office in comfy chairs and shared vitamin C energy drinks as he asked us questions about how our tour was going. He's very polite and we had many good laughs. We were concerned that we were keeping him from his busy schedule, but he assured us that our visit was a nice break from his hectic day. As it turned out, we would see him later that evening at a large assembly for Interact, the Rotary program in high schools, as well as the next day at a Rotary leadership conference. It's nice having friends in high places :)
- Colin

Police escort to the DMZ

.....20 passenger party bus

.....police escort for our 1.5 hour trip to the DMZ

.....greeted by a 3 star general

.....that's life as a GSE team member

-Jake

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We're in a helicopter

I'm writing this from a helicopter over Quangju. What a time! -Jake

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Not easy saying goodbye

Jake and I are 30 minutes from leaving our second host family, who we've spent the past four days with. It's too hard to explain how well we've been treated and how much we've appreciated it. There is almost always something happening in the family room and it's always fun. We've Skyped back home with our families daily and we love it when the kids jump into the shot to say hello. We extended several gifts after breakfast and they returned the favor. We're not sure where we are headed next, but we are sure of where we've been, and we loved every minute of it.
- Colin

Korean Sauna - Hot!

Our Sunday holiday was great!
After visiting Namhansanseong Castle atop a mountain yesterday, we headed off to the Korean sauna. Men and women were divided into two large locker rooms. The men were asked to shower first. Following that new experience ;), we entered a separate building to find five giant chimineas with flap doors. The chiminea at the end was the least hot, and was pretty similar to the heat of an American sauna (like a Florida car in summer). The heat was dry (no steam). After spurts in and out of the first level, Jake, myself and one of the teenage age sons we're staying with attempted "level 3". It was by far the hottest thing we'd ever witnessed. David, the son, danced around for 30 seconds before flying out the door. Jake and I made it five minutes, tops. Yikes! After some relaxing time upstairs on yoga mats, we came back down for an awesome Korean BBQ. The main dish was pork and yes, there was kimchi. A few glasses of so-mak (soju and beer) left us feeling great after an interesting, busy and exciting week. We love Korea!
Keonbae! (Cheers)
- Colin

- Colin