Monday, April 30

Today was our last full day in Korea.  Our hosts in Asan have graciously given us a free day to pack, ship packages, buy last minute souvenirs, etc.  It was much needed!

Most team members slept late and attended to the many details they,'d need to complete before getting on the plane tomorrow.

Our day ended with a farewell dinner from District 3620, our Asan hosts and the District Governor.  There were about 100 people there, including several of our host families from along the way and the Assistant District Governors who did much of the planning.

It was an emotional evening, with speeches and many embraces around the room.  And, of course, pictures!

After the dinner, our Asan hosts invited us to coffee and then for a little beer.  It was a relaxed farewell from the folks who had had the greatest difficulty with our schedule and fatigue.  In the end, any hurt feelings were soothed and we parted best of friends.  It was a fitting close to an unbelievable month of learning, cultural friendship and fun.

Tomorrow we catch a plane at 12:40 pm and arrive - God willing - in Richmond about 11:30 pm same day.

Much love in my last post from Korea!

Sunday, April 29

Today, we were bused out to the local university for day 2 of the District Conference.

Wow!  What an event.  Rotarians filled a university auditorium - perhaps 1,500 people - for a day of speeches, awards, pyrotechnics, singing and fun.

The morning was mostly speeches and award presentations.  We didn't understand a word that was said, but we certainly understood the energy and enthusiasm permeating the site.

Breaks were held outside the auditorium, where dozens of vendors were selling all kinds of Rotary and other gear.  Also outside were tents to house barbecue style lunches and snacks for every club in the district.  The entire location was just a beehive of activity.

We were, of course, the highlight of the afternoon...kidding, of course!  Actually, we shortened our presentation dramatically, with Marisha Hall and Kirk Irwin doing a masterful job of editing our powerpoint and putting together a 200-slide show which was completed in 10 minutes vs. our original 30.

Beginning at 3 pm, each of the 13 "regions" within the district performed a skit, dance, song or other performance for the entire conference.  They were hysterical, entertaining, and generally wonderful.  Again, we couldn't understand a word, but we enjoyed it tremendously.  Our Shosan group asked us to participate in their performance, so we danced while holding placards with Korean words...ultimately saying "We love Rotary."  Great fun.

The evening ended with a wonderful American-style dinner hosted by our GSE Chair.  We all have great thanks for all the work everyone has done to make this such a memorable month.

Saturday, April 28

<p>Today is the first day of the District 3620 District Conference.</p>
<p>We begin the day by saying goodbye to our last set of host families, then we met at the hotel in which we'll be staying for the last three days.&nbsp; Homestays have provided many of our fondest moments throughout our journey, and it's difficult to leave them behind.&nbsp; All the same, it's a relief to have rooms to ourselves as we begin to prepare for the journey home.</p>
<p>Immediately when we arrive at the hotel, we realize we've made a judgment error.&nbsp; Our local hosts have told us we don't have any meetings to attend until 6 and that we can come to the hotel in casual dress.&nbsp; However, we should have realized that we would be arriving at the conference hotel and that Walter and I at least should be in our formal gear.&nbsp; As it is, Walter got out of his host family's car in the hotel parking lot at precisely the same moment that the district governor and several key officers arrived in a police-escorted limousine motorcade!&nbsp; So there's Walter in jeans and casual shirt, looking desperately for a hole large enough to hide him.&nbsp; Of course, the District Governor immediately hailed Walter and introduced him all around.&nbsp; Can you spell "AWKWARD"?&nbsp; Needless to say, Walter and I rushed to the bathroom with our luggage to change.</p>
<p>We had an official lunch as part of the conference (somewhat of a surprise to us, but we managed), then had free time in the afternoon before a big conference VIP dinner.</p>
<p>We survived, and I hope we haven't disrespected the District Governor and GSE Chair.&nbsp; If we did, no one mentioned it.

Two days left!

I noted at the beginning of our trip that many Koreans sleep either on a cotton floor mat or on the wooden plank they put in place of what we might expect as a box springs.  I've managed bookends for this experience in my sleeping arrangements.  I began on a plank of a bed, and I've finished with the pad on the floor.  I fold everything - pad, pad cover and comforter - in half and sleep like I'm in a sleeping bag.  Whatever...I sleep comfortably.

Thursday, April 26

We find ourselves in a bit of a bind.  Today and tomorrow are scheduled to be vocational experiences, meaning one GSE Team Member (sometimes more than one) meeting with a business owner, educator, etc., one-on-one to learn about how his/her profession is practiced in another culture.  Our Asan hosts, however, have scheduled a series of tours which address our vocational interests but involve all 10 Team members in two-hour tours rather than individual, in depth explorations individually.

We felt we had negotiated this last night, but our hosts seem to be back on their original schedule.  We negotiate some more, working to get each team member a one-on-one visit, with other team members taking some free time when their vocational experience isn't happening.  This has taken us from the expected two vocational days down to one 2-3 hour time each.  Team members seem to be ok, with only one or two worrying that they won't meet the expectations set by their employers when they gave them the time to come on GSE.

Sadly, our Asan hosts secured reservations for 10 people for each of these tours, so we're having to fight to get real vocational times - not tours - every couple of hours.

By the end of the day, our hosts see us as terribly demanding and not helpful...we see them as not working to meet GSE program expectations.  Worse, I think our translator is making things worse all the way around.  He claims to be explaining our positions, but by mid-day he's rolling his eyes every time we come to another negotiation time, which seems to be about every two hours.

Pile on top of all this the fact that we've been asked to cut our presentations in half for the District Conference, which starts Saturday.  Since we've seen no schedule for the conference, we have to prepare as if we'll be up first Saturday morning.

We've decided that our best presentation will involve as little introduction of team members, which we've done in laughable Korean, as possible, followed by a slide show of pictures from our experience.  The audience will then get to see themselves or their friends and remember the things they've done.  Of course, we have to do all this in our free time, which has dwindled quickly.

Walter and I work in the morning to compile and winnow down the 8-10,000 pictures taken by team members and get team members to whittle their personal intros down to 30 seconds from the 2-6 minutes they've each taken.  We then will turn the task of fashioning a 180-slide show from the 6-700 we've reduced.

Best news for the day:  dinner is in a restaurant with chairs!  My hips cheer loudly!

Wednesday, April 25

Today was our second vocational day.  The Cheonan group of clubs seemed to have a good plan for this.  As often happens, there were a couple of delays and last minute changes, but everyone was off to their vocational activity shortly.

I joined Eboni in the morning to meet with a musician and producer.  This young man sings, plays several instruments and has a professional recording studio. He played several songs he produced for famous Korean artists.  His genre leans towards hiphop, but he prefers songs that have more melody to them.  He was also in the process of mixing a song for a TV performance he has coming up in May.  He had laid down all the tracks but the lead vocal, so he played the produced song and sang the lead live for us.

He told us a bit about how to mix the sound for a song, then gave us a chance to act as sound engineers for a song he had recorded.  It was great fun.

After lunch, Eboni and I visited one of two branches of the Cheonan YMCA.  The Cheonan Y seems to have several main focus points:  youth clubs, adult clubs, energy saving and environmental improvement.  The Y facility has meeting space and provides offices for several aligned organizations.  The Y has several hundred people active in its programs and about 1,000 members, who are actually donors and those who support the Y, not people who pay a fee to use facilities as with many US YMCAs.

Dinner was held in a restaurant next door to the home of the District Governor for District 3620.  After dinner, we had a nice reception at the Governor's home, and we met our new host families from Asan.  This is the first time we've made a transition in the evening like this...it's a little jarring, but off we go.

Tuesday, April 24

Our trip for the day was to Seoul for shopping.  We went to the traditional market in Seoul.  Streets lined with open air shops with most everything imaginable for sale...clothes, food, souvenirs of all kinds, electronics, etc.  I didn't see any big appliancea, but I wouldn't doubt they could be found.  Prices were good, and you could bargain with most merchants.  Team members bought a variety of gift for people back home, and a few for themselves, no doubt.

As you might expect, traffic in Seoul was horrendous. With the fairly chaotic habits of Korean driving and streets packed everywhere with every type of vehicle imaginable, it took 20 minutes to go three or four blocks.  We did a little better leaving Seoul.

Returning to Cheonan, we visited the dental office of Dr. Moon, who is the coordinator for Rotary in all of Korea.  His office was very interesting.  It occupied four floors of a large office building.  He employs 28 dentists and has an overall staff of nearly 130.  They are a soup-to-nuts dental practice, offering everything from children's dentistry and orthodontics to oral surgery and implants...wow!

We finished the day dinner and homestays.