Big news!

We have a lot of exciting news to share today. First, today is our last day of our last term here in Korea. Wow, I just can't believe eight months have flown by SO fast! I'll be sad to leave this wonderful office and great job, but I'm excited to move on to other things, too.

Second, and most importantly, at this moment my parents and younger brother are in an airplane flying over the Pacific. They're coming to visit us for a couple weeks!! They'll arrive at Incheon International Airport around 6:40 p.m. and take an airport shuttle to a subway station just one stop away from our apartment. We'll go wait for them around 8:30 since it will take a little bit for them to get through customs, get their bags, and then get through the evening traffic on the shuttle. I can't WAIT to see them!

These amazing people are coming to visit!

Third, after my parents leave Korea, Jonathan and I are taking off on an adventure of our own. We'll spend two weeks in southeast Asia. We just picked up our Vietnamese visas a couple Fridays ago. From Vietnam we're planning to go to Cambodia and Laos, and maybe even into northern Thailand as well.

Our Vietnamese visas

Fourth, and finally, we'll be back in BC on July 27! As much as all this traveling is going to be fun, I just can't WAIT to be back "home" again. On August 5 my family is putting on a celebration for my grandparents' 60th anniversary and my great-aunt's 90th birthday. I am SO excited to see most of my extended family again and hang out with friends from home as well! Wow, there's a lot of changes in our lives right now, but lots of excitement, too. I'm sad to leave Korea, but happy to be going home.

Wild Goose Chase

Well, today was a new experience for me. Sorry, there aren't going to be any pictures, but there is going to be a long story... OK, let's start at the beginning.

Exactly a month ago, Jonathan and I went downtown on a Friday afternoon after I got off work. I had to get some papers from the Canadian embassy for a few things for the process of moving to the U.S. I got the forms I needed, as well as directions to the nearest large police station. At the police station I got the interesting experience to go behind the front desk and follow a woman officer through back hallways, sliding gates that were unlocked with a key card, and up a very slow elevator to the fourth floor. There I sat for about 10 minutes as the lady rushed around a room full of Koreans working on computers, zooming in on fingerprints and passport-sized pictures. When the lady finally had gathered all the things she needed, she mistakenly gave me a purple ink pad and doused my thumb in purple ink before she realized she needed to use black ink. Thankfully she realized this before placing my purple thumb on the form, so I didn't have to go all the way back to the embassy to get another blank form and then come back to try again. After a long procedure of putting all my fingerprints down in black ink, the form was complete and ready to send away. I then asked her about a second form I had gotten at the embassy, one for a Korean background check. She stared at the Korean form for a few seconds and then pointed to parts of the first form and then the blank boxes on the second form to show me where to write certain information. Did I mention that she spoke little to no English? So once the Korean background check form was filled out, we went back downstairs and she bowed goodbye. Then, before we left I looked over the form again and noticed that she hadn't written the name and address of the police station on the first form. So I showed it to the receptionist and she had to call the lady back downstairs to do that. She came with ink pads and stamps and quickly stamped the information on the form. Then I handed the Korean background form to the receptionist, figuring once it was in the hands of a Korean police office receptionist all the necessary steps would be done to check into my behaviour while living in this country and then it would be given back to me completed. The lady just nodded and handed it back. I tried to explain what I needed done, but no one seemed to understand me or care that I still needed one more form looked at. So finally we left, deciding to ask some of our Korean colleagues to help us figure out what we were supposed to do.

We did just that in the next few days, but no one seemed to really know what to tell us. My coworker said to talk to the institute office that deals with immigration. I brought the form to our morning worship the next day and asked one of the ladies in that office if she could tell me what I had to do. She called numerous places and ended up giving the form back to me about a week and a half later with no answers for my questions. Finally one of the Korean teachers at the institute told Jonathan to call Korean immigration and gave him the number. He called and was told to go back to the Canadian embassy to give them the form. That surprised us because at the embassy when they had given us the form, they had said to just take it to the police station and the officers there would take care of it. At any rate, Jonathan headed back down to the embassy last Thursday during his afternoon break to figure out what we could do. The people there told him the background check form had been filled out wrong (the police lady had told me to put my Canadian address and phone number on the form, even when I questioned her and asked if it really should be my Korean address and phone number - turns out I had been right). They gave him a new form, telling him what should go in each box and said to take it to any main police station in Seoul to get the form checked out and a background check returned to us. The process was supposed to be about 10-15 minutes from when we turned in the form.

We tried to get it completed on Friday, but no one - not the police officers at the police box near our campus, or the taxi driver we asked, or anyone in the shops nearby or at the tourist information center - could tell us where the main police station in our area of town was. We ran out of time on Friday afternoon and had to return home with the empty form still in our possession.

So today Jonathan and I again headed out, this time as soon as our staff meeting had finished. Earlier Jonathan had looked up the nearest police station online and had taken a picture of the Google map for how to get there from the nearest subway station. I only had an hour until I was supposed to be back at work. We rushed to the subway and then waited for an eternity (about 10 minutes) for the subway to show up. (This particular subway line only has four trains an hour, so it could be up to a 15 minute wait if you just miss a train.) While we waited, we scarfed down subway sandwiches that Jonathan had gotten just before staff meeting. Finally the train arrived at almost 1:30. I had half an hour left before I was supposed to be back at work. We decided to just go get this thing done once and for all, even if it meant I would be back late for work. We changed subways after two stops and took the next one another stop before coming back into daylight. Jonathan's Google map worked well and soon we were standing in front of the police station. Except, to our disappointment, it wasn't a police station, like it had showed online, but a mere police box (like a neighbourhood police station, not a larger station that could do the background check). We went inside anyway. It was probably the best choice we made in this whole month-long kerfuffle. There were about seven police men in the front area, three at desks and four or so lounging on the waiting room couches glancing over the Korean newspapers left on the coffee table. Fortunately one of the men behind the desk spoke very good English and understood what we needed right away. He even guessed correctly that Jonathan was American once he knew I was Canadian and needed the Korean background check completed to move to America. He told another officer something and then that man made a phone call. Then the first officer told us that they had called a patrol car to come to the office, pick us up, and take us to the big police station. Wow! We were so thankful! And quite impressed, too. I highly doubt there are any police in North America who would be willing to drive from one station to another to pick up a couple of foreigners who were completely confused, and take them back to the first station. Maybe there are, and I sure hope, for foreigners sakes, there are, but I have my doubts.

The officer who spoke English chatted pleasantly with us for a few minutes before excusing himself to go back to his desk. A few minutes later he got up to wait outside for the car. And about a minute later one of the men behind the desk indicated that the patrol car had arrived and we should go outside. The first officer talked to both the driver and the second officer in the car and then told us that if we had ANY trouble, to tell someone to call the Wangsimni patrol station and he would talk to them. We thanked him several times over and then slid into the back of the patrol car. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever been inside a police car (unless I went on a field trip to a police station in preschool or kindergarten, but I don't think I did). It was pretty high tech, while still feeling like a normal car. There was even a little web cam mounted on the ceiling just behind the front seats. I smiled at it a few times, haha. Anyway, the officer driving didn't say much to us, but the guy in the passenger seat asked us where we were from and a couple other things. Within a few minutes we were pulling up into a huge police station. The passenger officer hopped out and opened the back door for us (I'm guessing maybe it could only be opened from the outside, but we never tried to open it ourselves so we'll never know) and then took us into a side building that was probably Information or something. We sat on a couch for about 10 seconds and then he told us to follow him. He took us into the main building, around the waiting and reception area and then into a hallway with a window. He talked to the man inside for a minute and then said goodbye to us. We gratefully thanked him. Then we handed the man inside the booth my form. He looked at it and printed us out a different one, with some extra information added and indicated that we had to fill that new form out. We went back to reception to the desk with pens. Then the lady who was behind us in line came over to us and said the man wanted us to fill our the form in Korean. Well, we can read Korean, but making sure to write everything correctly is a little bit harder. She sensed that we needed some help and filled out the address for us. She said the rest could be in English (basically just my name, ID card number, and phone number), showed me where to write each item, and then went on her way. We thanked her, too, before she left.

Once the form was filled out, I gave it and my Korean ID card to the man in the booth and then we sat in the waiting area. By that time it was 2:30, half an hour after I was supposed to be back at work. Jonathan mentioned that we should go see if the form was done because he had to be at work at 3. We got up to go check on the progress of the form just as a lady came out to give me a completed background check form and my ID card. We quickly asked the man at the reception desk where the nearest subway station was  and he said, "Turn left." When I asked the station's name, he said Wangsimni. I was surprised, since that was the station we tranfered to the other train at. When we walked outside the station gate, we turned left and right smack dab in front of us, a few meters down the street, was the subway entrance. We felt stupid, then, that we'd gone a stop further to a station that was really just a police box, but we were also glad we were closer to home than we'd thought. We rushed into the station and to our subway line and then waited for the train to arrive. We finally got to our home station just before 3. Jonathan raced off to our apartment to change into dress clothes and get to his class, and I rushed up to my office. Even though I was an hour late for work, no one said a word to me about coming late. Actually, the four other people who were in my office barely even looked up when I entered. The rest of the people were downstairs doing a workshop. I ended up staying half an hour later at the end of the day and I'll do so again tomorrow. But Jonathan and I are both SO happy that we FINALLY figured out how to get a Korean background check. Phew!

Boy, that was a month-long goose chase all over Seoul. But, looking on the bright side, I got to take a ride in a police car! And, much more importantly, I once again have realized how incredibly helpful many Koreans are to confused and helpless foreigners. I'm really going to miss this incredible, peaceful country and its amazing citizens when I leave...

Seoul Dream Forest

Jonathan and I have been rather lazy about getting out and exploring Seoul. During each two-month term we get two weekends off, so that means that most weekends we are on duty and have weekend activities to do or lead out. On Saturday afternoon when we're done our duties, we're usually pretty tired from the week and busy weekend so far, so we usually just relax and rest for the rest of the day. Sunday sometimes goes the same way, but with some computer work added in that we haven't done during the week. So when the second half of May came around, we suddenly realized that our time in South Korea is starting to wind down and there's still so much more we want to see and do in Seoul and the rest of this beautiful country.

We made a point to actually leave our neighbourhood and get out to see something new on Sunday, May 20. We took a subway in the opposite direction than we normally do and headed further away from downtown (we live about a 30-minute subway ride from downtown). After changing subways for one stop, we waited out in the hot sun at a bus stop, and then caught the bus going to Seoul Dream Forest. About 10 minutes later we hopped off the bus, crossed a busy street and then forgot about the city as we wandered around the park's walkways for a good chunk of the hot afternoon. Despite it's name, Seoul Dream Forest is not really a forest, although it does have a nice collection of trees. It's more like a manicured park with lawns and flower gardens, ponds and fountains, and lots of other interesting features. There were many families out also enjoying the sunny day and lots of young couples with small children. I had a lot of fun watching the kids run around enjoying the nature within the city.

Model of Seoul in the Visitor's Center

Listening to birds and other forest sounds through the built-in headphones

There were different sizes of built-in seats

Seokgyo (Stone Bridge) - a zigzag walkway over one side of a pond

Wolgwang (Moonlight) Falls

Wolyeongji (Moon Reflecting Pond)

Water lilies

The full water bucket tipped over and splashed the kids in the wading pool

Kids playing in the Jumping Fountain

Part of the park from a little ways up a hill

The observatory - we saw it from the main area of the park below and had to hike up the hill to check it out!

Slope elevator to get up the first part of the observatory

View of one part of Seoul from the top of the observatory - a large part of the park can be seen in the bottom half of the picture

One of the many net golf driving ranges in Seoul

A overhanging cafe in the park - they seemed to really like dramatic architecture here

A park caretaker vehicle

Seoul kids keeping cool in a stream

Some of the park from a ridge-top walking trail (the observatory can be seen on the opposite hill)

In one part of the park there was a Deer Garden, an enclosure with quite a number of resident spotted deer

It even included these little wooden huts for the deer to use as shade

Botanical Garden

There were just so many beautiful flowers all over the park to take pictures of...

It was such a warm day that we drank all the water we had brought along very quickly. After exploring most of the park,
we spotted a little snack shop and picked up a couple containers of Dippin' Dots to keep us cool!

This cat we spotted near the entrance of the park looked so much like my (Ali) old cat, Lumby, that I just had to get a picture

Chilpokji (Seven Waterfall Pond)

Potted poppies

Late afternoon sun on the pond by the entrance

On our walk back to the subway, we saw this vehicle parked with one whole wheel off the ground. Picture-worthy, no?

Bewildering sentence...

Today's bewildering sentence is:

"Out of an accumulation of discontented moments, John burst into flame."

Yes, that's the sentence I encountered this morning as I was making mobile phone lessons for the Wise Master Intermediate books. Want visual proof? Here you go:

Look at #3 b

I was quite flabbergasted when I read that sentence. First, because I had absolutely no idea what it was supposed to mean. Even if this sentence was talking about spontaneous combustion, I'm not sure why the accumulation of discontented moments in John's life would have anything to do with it. And second, because these books have already been printed and are being used to teach Koreans English in another institute (not SDA) somewhere in Seoul for who knows how many years now. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the sentence's original writer meant that John burst into tears, but I have no idea how the word flame got in there. It is quite the mystery. So there's just a tidbit from my work today. Things are always interesting up in the textbook office! :)

*From the Wise Master Intermediate Book 11, Unit 3, p.86

BaeBong Festival

Now that we've gotten all caught up with the posts from our term break, we can tell you more about some things we've done so far this term. On Saturday May 12 the institute church held their annual BaeBong Festival. We really don't know much about the origins of this festival, but what we gathered is that it's a festival that churches put on around May every year for outreach (not sure if it's just within the Adventist system or if this is typical in most South Korean churches). After church there were many booths set up in the parking lot outside the church and institute and apparently lots was going on, like free dental and health checks and other fun and free things. Unfortunately we didn't get to explore the booths much since we were in the church practicing songs with the church choir and our fellow missionaries pretty much all afternoon. At 4 p.m. the church concert for the elderly started and it went until around 6 or so. Here are some of the noteworthy things about the concert.

Near the beginning of the concert, the church choir, which a few of us foreign missionaries have joined, sang two songs. Both were in Korean (as all our choir songs are), and earlier that afternoon during our practice our conductor decided that one of them should be memorized. Thank goodness it was one that wasn't too long, had quite a few repeated sections, and we all knew pretty well!

Later in the program, all the foreign missionaries sang two traditional Korean songs with this term's All-Day Club members. Richard and Rachel were chosen by our institute director, Pastor Kim, to play the parts of Kabdol and Kabsoon in the first song. They "danced" along as the rest of us sang. Because they were the featured performers, they wore borrowed hanbok (Korean traditional outfits).

Richard & Rachel in hanbok along with Sandra who supported them and also wore hanbok for the event. They got quite warm in those outfits...

The song was about two young lovers. The first verse is about their secret love for each other. The second verse is about how the woman, Kabsoon, married a different man. And the third verse is about how  the man, Kabdol, married a different woman. So that should give you some background about the story in this song. It's actually kind of a depressing song, but it sure does get stuck in your head after several practices. If you want to see the words, click here.

Sadly, the lady Sandra asked to take a video of our songs only videoed the first one. The other one was pretty epic (read, extremely challenging) so it's a shame you won't be able to watch it. But this one is the most visually interesting of the two, so I hope you enjoyed it ! :) (And yes, for those of you wondering, Pastor Kim was sitting right in the first pew giving visual cues to Richard and Rachel so they knew what actions to do next. They had only been chosen to do the part at our practice the night before so they wanted to make sure they were doing everything correctly.)

There were lots of other songs and even a 10-minute "laughter coach" who told the audience jokes to make them laugh and had everyone stretch at about the halfway point of the concert. It was...interesting. Once the concert was over there was a free supper (the Pastor called it a banquet) downstairs in the fellowship hall for all those who wanted to join in. The elderly people went first and as they left after eating, they each got a large case of soy milk and a large box of seaweed (or maybe just one or the other). All in all, it was a really busy Sabbath, but a fun time working together for outreach.