My Parents were in Korea

hey Everyone!

  So I just got back from putting my parents on a bus to the Incheon International airport, so that they can get back to Canada. You might wonder if I am sad, and I am.. but I will be ok.  I didn't desperately want to hide in their suitcases and go back to Canada with them.

  I guess I should start at the beginning of my parents GETTING here, right?

Well, on Thursday Feb 5th I started my vacation.  I slept in, cleaned my apartment, and took Kay to the vet (again).  

Friday Feb 6th was the day that my parents were to arrive.  Their flight wasn't to come in until 5 p.m., but I was heading on a bus out there by 3 o'clock.. ok, so I left my apartment at 2 p.m., but the bus didn't come till 3, and then it was an hour ride.  So I really just had to wait at the airport for about 45 min, and I was very ok with that.. because I was so excited that Dad and Mom were coming.  Now just for the record, I didn't cry to much when they arrived :P Just a few tears and they were happy tears. It was great to see them again, and to know that I would have a few days to spend with them.   We then took a very long bus ride back to Ansan.  By the time we were home, it was late, so we unpacked, and just relaxed, took a walk around the area I live in so mom and dad could see the city at night and then went to bed.

  Saturday morning came with mom and dad waking up pretty early, due to the 14 hour time difference, and as my dad says, my doggy too.. but mom and dad were up way before that.  So I took mom and dad to the park near my house, Hawrang Park.  We didn't take Kay with us because its a pretty long walk.  Then we took a nap :) after we found out that the family we thought was going to do lunch with us, wasn't.  We had made plans to have supper with my Ansan group.. and so we went to Juangang, saw some of the shops there, and then met everyone for dinner.

  A note about the weather.  It was a little colder here for mom and dad.  Not really in the temperature, but in the wind, I guess.  It is a bit damper here in Korea, due to the fact that it is mostly surrounded by water, and Ansan is not to far from the Yellow Sea.  So thats what made it colder for Mom and Dad.  Today when they left, it was actually -6, which is the coldest its been in a long time.

  Sunday arrived with church in the morning, and a side trip to starbucks :).  Pastor Nick gave us, well mostly Dad, a tour of the church after he found out that Dad was a pastor too (we didn't tell him until after church).  During the tour I learnt some things about the church that I didn't even know.  The church started 30 years ago, with only 11 people. Today they have a sanctuary that can fit 4,800 (edited... thanks dad.. see, not good with remembering numbers) people, and this church has a lot of services through out the day.  I also learnt that this church denomination is a sister church with the CRC at home.. yep.  What Dad said to explain this better, is that if Pastor Nick moved to Canada, and wanted to become a pastor in Canada, all he would have to do is take one little test (and pass) and then he could be a pastor in North America.  Cool eh?

After church I took Mom and Dad to Seoul.  Its about an hour subway ride, we were heading to the Seoul Tower.  Because Korea is pretty smoggy/cloudy, we figured it would be better to go up to the tower at dusk/night.  So first I took them to Myeondong, which is a higher end shopping market.  So they got an idea of shopping malls in Korea, 8 floors of stalls filled with stuff.  By the time we had wandered about all the markets, the sun was below the smoggy clouds, so it was a good time to go up.  So we headed up this BIG hill, and then took the cable car up to the top (we could have walked, but it was cold again.. and the walk would have taken a few hours).  At the top we got a nice view of Seoul, saw the lovers locks, and saw the old fire signal ovens.. and then headed back down on the cable car.  By then we were pretty tired so we headed home.

   Monday was a day that we headed back into Seoul, to the tourist commission, Insadong, and Yongsan.  We went to the tourist commission to get some info about Jeju Island, and just find someone who spoke English to help us make some choices.

Insadong is the tourist shopping area of Korea.  Its also a place of traditional tea shops, and antique stores.  So we looked at a lot of tourist gifts, and nick nacks.  

   A side note:  Before Dad and Mom came, Dad sent an email to a CRC Home Missions guy that he knows about churches we might go to while in Korea.  The Home Missions guy sent Dad's email on to Tong Park, a Korean that is working for Home Missions in California.  Tong Park sent us an email, and in the email he told Dad that there was a conference going on, and that if he wanted to drop in on the 10-12 (so Tuesday to Thursday) and meet other pastors he could.  Dad declined (because thats when we planned to go to Jeju).

Now I bet you are wondering where I am going with this.. When we were in Insadong, in one of the tourist shops there were some other foreigners, and its habit of mine to smile, and eavesdrop a bit to see if they are English, guess their accent, and maybe strike up a conversation.  When I was doing this, I heard the gentleman mention "seminary" and right away I was thinking, I bet these are the people from the conference.  So I started talking to his wife, with Mom, and she told us they were in Korea for a conference.. and I asked if they were with Tong Park.  And they were :)  Yep, so Dad got to talk to Tong and met a pastor, and just laugh about the fact that we would meet up in a city of 10 million people (ok, thats a guess).

   After wandering around Insadong, we went to Yongsan.  I have a love/hate relationship with that place. Its super cool, but it drives me nuts.  Yongsan is where they sell electronics, and they sell them cheap.  But you have to deal with being yapped at by the sales clerks and told that they have good sale.  We were there to find David a camera.  You'll have to ask him about it, once he figures it out.  But we got a pretty super deal.  After Yongsan, we were tired, for 2 reasons... crazy store and a super long and confusing subway ride (i hate that subway line.. its the one i got super lost on).  When we got home, I took Mom and Dad for Chinese food.. yes, I don't really like Korean food... BUT i did order in Korean.

  Tuesday we were planning on going to Jeju Island.  And I am SO glad we did.  We sorta did it by the seat of our pants.  We left at 9 am, took the subway for 2 hours, and got to the Gimpo airport with no ticket reservations.  When we got to the Jeju air counter they were able to put us on a flight that was leaving in like a half hour :)  Thank goodness for it being the off season :)  The flight only took an hour and 5 min, and when we arrived in Jeju we were greeted by sun, palm trees, oranges, and a nice sea breeze.  Our next hurdle was getting a hotel.  We went to the tourist desk, and the lady booked us into a 5 star hotel. (thanks Mom and Dad for that treat).  

We took a cab to our sea side hotel, and then before  laying down (we knew if we laid down, we would not get up).. we went for a walk.  The ocean was a little choppy that day, and it was windy, so a little cooler, but warmer then Seoul/Ansan.  We walked to where all the fish restaurants were, and saw many tanks of fish, and some very funny looking fish.  We also went and looked at some fishing boats. After seeing all that fish.. we decided to eat at McDonalds.  Yeah, we did.  We are all not really into fish, and yeah, they way they cook it here, I don't like it. After some McD's we headed to the store near by, to waste some time, and also to pick up some breakfast because we didn't want to pay 13 dollars a person for some baked goods for breakfast.  Then it was time for a bath (i LOVE bath tubs, to bad it wasn't bigger).  We had hoped that because we were at such at nice hotel, they would have some english channels... WRONG.. only Korean tv.  So we watched Kids shows and then soccer.. and all fell asleep early..

  Wednesday the 11th arrived in Jeju a bit cloudy, but we had some bagels and then headed back to the airport to rent a car.  We had decided to do that over going on a bus tour of the island, and thank goodness we did.  Jeju isn't a huge island, so it is very possible to drive around the whole thing.  We started out and decided to drive along the sea coast road.  The water was a little rough, so I got some cool pictures of waves.  Davids camera is pretty awesome for taking pictures, because I was taking photos while Dad was driving, and they were still and clear. ( we used David's camera so that Mom and Dad wouldn't have to claim it coming into Canada :P).

As we drove, the sun started burning through the mist, and we got a BEAUTIFUL day.  After skipping on a lame Chocolate museum, we drove to the Jeju World Cup Stadium, walked around it, then went to the E-mart, and had some sandwiches and juice in the car.  Then we drove to a famous rock... and had to stop on the side of the road for me to pick up an orange that Dad wanted.  It had fallen off a truck.  At the rock in the sea, Dad tried the orange, and it sure wasn't ready yet :P  They pick them early here, so they can ripen when shipping.  We saw the rock and then got back into the car. 

Then we headed to a waterfall, and payed 2 dollars to walk to it, and just enjoy the sun and the trees and the warm breeze.  Then we went to another waterfall, one that goes into the ocean.  And then drove up the mountain in Jeju.. saw some snow.. and headed back to the hotel.

   It was such a beautiful day and it was great to do things at our own pace.  We had a much more enjoyable time doing our own thing, then having to be on a bus, listening to Koreans and a Korean tour guide, and being dragged to tourist traps.  We figured out that Jeju has a lot of those.  It was great to just be able to spend time with the 3 of us in the car, and just see things at our own pace and stop where we wanted.

We headed back to Jeju city, but it was to early for dinner, so we went to the lava caves.. SO COOL.. we went underground, and were able to walk in a tunnel that was made by lava.. and it was chilly underground, and really wet.  Doing that took up a good amount of time, and so when went back to the hotel.  There we had to figure out what we wanted for dinner... and we walked around, looked at other restaurants.. and well, we ended up at Mc Donald's again.  Yep.  Jeju is also known for something called the 'shit pig'.  Its a pig that is fed feces, and thats what makes the meat special.. and so knowing that i WOULD NOT eat any pork on Jeju.  And fish was just not on the menu.. so we settled for McDonalds.  Then headed back to the hotel, after some Duncan Doughnuts for coffee... watched some more Korean tv and went to bed.

Thursday, the 12th, we had to get the car back by 9.30.. so we thought ok, we will and see if we can get on an early flight.  To bad we couldn't.  So we were stuck at the airport from 9:30 till 12:30.  It was a pretty long wait in a rather small airport.  We wandered around, bought and english paper and did some people watching.  Then we boarded our plane, and got home in 50 min.  Then took the subway again for 2 hours and were back in Ansan by 4.  We then had to wait for my keys to come back, and then we got Kay, said hello.  

Thursday night we got together with more of the Ansan crew.  We went for some Korean food.  So yes, Mom and Dad had Korean... BUT we made the mistake of getting some very SPICY food.  Both mom and dad tried Kimchi (i haven't actually, because i HATE cabbage). And Dad finally got his rice.  Mom did pretty good with the chop sticks actually, Dad had a harder time.  Mom was able to eat more of the spicy food.. Dad and I couldn't.  So we had some rice.. Then we headed out to Baskin Robins to cool our pallets.  Then we headed home, watched some tv and just headed to bed early, because we were pretty tired.

   Friday, the 13th, arrived really really rainy.  That was the day we were supposed to have lunch with my school principal, so we headed to the school during a dry bit.  We met with the principal, and she was so cute.  Ms. Lee had helped her write something in English, and she read it to my mom and dad.  Ms. Lee also gave me GREAT news.  She got the Transfer !!!!!!! Yep, that means that she is gone.  I am happy that she got what she wanted.  Its not just that I am happy that she is leaving.. its more that i am happy for her.  Life will be easier for her, less of a commute, and she might be a happier, less stressed out person. 

 Sadly, the principal was unable to join us for lunch :( But ms lee, ms jung and mr lee were able to take us to TGIF's for lunch.  Ms Jung is to be my new head co-teacher.  She'll be the one giving me direction.  And Mr. Lee is a great co-teacher.  He cares a lot for me, and asks how I am doing, and does a lot of praying for me.  So I was happy that mom and dad got to meet those two, and experience Ms. lee.  Her driving reflects her personality.. and she is a CRAZY DANGEROUS driver.  

When we got home, it was pouring, so we decided that Friday would just be a day for recovering and for relaxing at home.  We watched some tv, had sandwiches for supper and watched a movie and then headed to bed.

  Saturday, the 14th, was the last full day that mom and dad would be here.  it was also Valentines day.  So what did we do?  We got on the subway and went to Seoul!  I took them to the Neundaymun market.  Which is sorta known as the Korean Black Market.  And holy crap! It was crazy, and busy, and one of those places that I DON'T LIKE!  I have this issue with crowds, small spaces, and people walking in my bubble.  And this market violated ALL of those!  Dad found it fascinating.. I found that it drove me nuts!  I had never been there before..  so I was pretty overwhelmed by everything, and just generally confused.  

After that chaos, we went to Itaewon.  This is known as the western area of Korea.  Its not as piled up with shops, and there are a lot of western shops (i needed something calm after that crazy market).  We walked up and down the streets, and went into some of the shops.  Then we saw the American Army base, and headed to Kraze burger.  NOT McDonalds.  And Kraze burger is a more upscale burger.  Real meat, and real nice bread etc.  Then we headed back to Ansan.  Watched Little Rascals, and got some packing started, and then went to bed.

Sunday, today, the 15th, we woke up, i woke up a little frustrated with my dear doggy.  At least mom and dad found it funny.  We had breakfast, and then headed to church.  After church we had some lunch.. and then had to figure out how we were going to get to the Ansan bus station.  We had trouble getting a cab, and so we ended up taking a bus (mom and dad, its a good thing we got on the 62, because the 511 doesn't go to the stop we were waiting at... we would have waited for a looong time).  So we got to the Ansan Station.. and when we got there, the lady who sells bus tickets wasn't there, shit, BUT we headed to where the bus does go, and there were people there waiting.. thankfully.  You can give your money to the bus driver.  So we waited together for a few minutes, and then the Long bus came (i hope it didn't take to long this time).  I was able to hold it together until I got back to my apartment.  Then I cried a bit.. because 7 and a half months is going to be a long time.  Instead of sitting around and crying, i decided to clean my apartment.. and that helped me clear my mind and think about other things.

  Now I just spent a good hour writing this.  And yeah, I am doing ok.  These 7 and a half months will fly by actually.  Ms lee is gone, I have a new co-teacher that I like and get a long with.  I will have new students, and they will have a clear slate about english.. and maybe will even be excited.  I have a great group of friends here, and our gym time together is really great.. and just wait till we do the diet.. that will bring us even closer.  

This time will fly.  And I will be ok. 

  Sure I miss you guys, but I am dealing... I really am.  God's good... no, He's great actually.  He's got this all in His hands, and will continue to bless me.. and cause me to grow in these next months.  I know it.

  Love you all, and take care of my family!! Ok?!