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