Greetings from Yeosu (from Debbie Adams)

Hello to all of you from not-so-sunny Yeosu!  Actually, the weather here is rather fickle, so after two very beautiful days (and one gorgeous sunset Monday night) we are back to mist, drizzle and gloom.  Which at least encourages me to stay in and make a contribution to Wimbreth's blogpost as her "guest writer".  So far I have managed to find enough around the apartment to keep me busy and to consider being hired on as part-time 'help'.  Between cooking, cleaning, laundry, dog-walking and just general spoiling of Wimbreth, Blake, Sadie and Mo, I have also ventured out on my own a bit since Bob left and have walked into town to see if I could locate some neat stores we found while he was here.  I spent a fun afternoon wandering around Yeosu on my own and even managed to make a few small purchases with Korean money.  Their bills have more zeros than ours, so it seems like you're spending enormous amounts, but the actual amounts are a bit less than our $1 and $10 bills, so it makes you feel like you're getting a good deal, even if you may not be.

So far, this has been an amazing visit, getting to spend lots of quality time with Wimbreth and Blake and see how they live their lives in everyday Korean style.  It's very strange to have almost everything around you printed in a completely different language and not be able to recognize the words.  Occasionally, you'll see signs with printed English titles, but often the explanations are printed in Korean, so they aren't necessarily very helpful.  I've learned a couple of phrases, such as 'hello' and 'thank you' and if you smile a lot and nod that seems to be an adequate form of communication.  Hand signals also work fairly well.  Many Koreans seem to speak a little English, some speak a good bit and speak it well, and some none at all.  They like to stare at us because we are light-haired and light-skinned and apparently staring isn't considered rude in Korea, but it drives Wimbreth crazy.  I only have to put up with it for a little while so it hasn't bothered me too much but I guess it would get old after a while.

As you can see from the picture in Wimbreth's last note, we were able to make the changing of the guard at one of the palaces in Seoul.  This was such a huge city, and we must have criss-crossed it by subway a half-dozen times or more.  There were several neat palaces, gates and temples, but the most special part of the trip was that Bob and I got to spend our 35th wedding anniversary atop Mount Namsan at N Seoul Tower.  Evidently, the big thing in Asia is to build a huge tower in the middle of the city to attract visitors.  This particular tower is surrounded by railings to which thousands of couples (married or otherwise) have attached locks with their names and other info, pledging 'true love' or whatever.  Kind of like our version of carving our initials into a tree or spraying a rock with graffiti, "so-and-so loves so-and-so forever".  Anyway, Wimbreth managed to find a set of two locks in one of the stores at the top and since they weren't very expensive we each wrote on one and hooked them onto the railings along with the myriad of others and now Wimbreth says she and Blake will go back on their 35th anniversary and bring their child/children to find the locks.  If the world is still around then, I hope they are able to.  We also visited the Seoul zoo, which would have been great except that it was poorly marked and the map sent us on the scenic route away from the return ski lift that went over the zoo itself, so we spent a hot hour trying to figure out how to get out.  They like to label things here as a such-and-such 'experience', and we definitely had one that afternoon.  Needless to say, we were not very happy with the Koreans that day!

But we have had some very good experiences also, so I shouldn't complain too much.  The trip to E-Mart was fun (like our Wal-Mart only several stories high) and we loved seeing the shopping cart ride up the escalator by itself.  We also took an afternoon trip while Bob was here to one of the nearby islands and went up in a lighthouse.  The drive and the views were beautiful and I've found some neat shells on several of the beaches, but the beaches here are not anything like the ones we're used to on the Gulf Coast.  The sand isn't pretty and sugary white, the water isn't as clear and there are no waves.  Sadie and I like to go walking on the beach just below Wimbreth and Blake's apartment, but on a scale of 1 to 10 I would have to rate it about a 3.  And there is a lot more trash than on the beaches at home, so it's disgusting at times, but the view of the water and the islands from their apartment makes up for the disappointment of the actual beach.  I would love to take the view home with me!!!  We also all went to an authentic Korean folk village and saw a lot of neat buildings and made friends with an adorable Korean puppy.  Last Saturday Wimbreth and Erin (another Albemarle wife here) and I had a 'painting experience'.  Nichole, you would have loved it--it was one of those DIY places where you paint your piece and the owner fires it for you.  Of course, she ended up 'fixing' mine because I was doing a pretty pitful job, but it looked really good when she finished so I will show it to you when we get home.  On Sunday, Wimbreth, Blake and I went to Suncheon Bay to see the eco park.  We rode a little train out into the reeds and we were going to take the boat ride down the bay but we got there too late. We also couldn't locate the tea plantation (so much for GPS navigation in Korea) and when we stopped at one of the Bhuddist temples it was beginning to rain so we didn't stay.  At least the drive was pretty and we finished with dinner from Quizzno's, which was yummy and helped with my homesickness.

This week I am winding things down as we get ready to go to Jeju Island for my last weekend here.  We were supposed to have gone while Bob was here but when Blake checked the weather before leaving that Thursday night we discovered that there was a typhoon (hurricane) headed for the island so he quickly cancelled all reservations for the plane, the car and the hotel and, unlike the U.S., the whole process only cost them about $4.  Can you imagine that happening in the states?  You'd be lucky to get anything back, cancelling at the last minute llike that.  Anyway, we're rescheduled for this Friday thru Sunday a.m. so please pray that the weather holds this time.

The rain is letting up and the sky is beginning to lighten some so I'm going to attempt to add some pictures then take Sadie for a promised walk.  I hope everyone back home is having a great summer and I'm looking forward to hearing from some of you on my email, to let me know you read the blog.  I miss you all and hope to see you soon.

Love,
Debbie





Guest Blogger

  

Mom and a guard from the changing of the guard
ceremony at Deoksugung Palace in downtown Seoul

Since my mom so graciously came literally all the way across the world to visit me, I thought it would be nice if she made some blog posts of her own.  Let you see Korea through someone else's perspective.

So don't be surprised if you see some posts soon by her.  Then again, she doesn't sit still long and she's been exploring the area a lot, so don't be surprised if you don't either...