We have settled into MTI once again.
We had 10 days in Seoul and then headed south. We were here a few days and Aileen's coughing got worse and worse. She visited a local doctor who is a friend of MTI. He checked her out, took an X-ray, examined the x-ray and then put her on a saline drip which was administered on a warm, jade (that's stone!!!) bed. This all took about 50 minutes. Unfortunately there are no photos of the drip or the stone bed..... sorry. No improvement so back to the doctor and finally a specialist, antibiotics and the diagnosis, pneumonia. She's fine now and we are out again visiting the local restaurants, food stalls, shops and going on bus trips.
Korean Fact
A few weeks ago the English newspaper "Korea News" reported an international survey that found that the Japanese picked Korea as the "most hated" country. 59.7% of the Japanese people surveyed hated Korea the most. The reasons: Korea claims they own the tiny, tiny island of Dokdo in the East Sea.
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| Dokdo Island |
In addition the Korean people want the Japanese government to apologize for forcing 200,000 young Korean women into prostitution/sex slavery during World War II. The Japanese find they cannot do this. In Seoul each week, for 1105 weeks, these Korean women (there are about 45 left) have rallied against the Japanese denial of 'Comfort Women'.
Us
Well, as usual the students are great. They are charming people aged from 21 to 54. We are so fortunate/blessed to have people like this around us. They are like our English class in Brisbane: dynamic, young, positive, motivated. I'd like to say it "makes" us young when actually it deludes us to "think" we are younger.
We have done some interesting things. Last Saturday we visited a small island off the coast. We walked around and met an old lady (our age - so not SO old).
She couldn't speak any English but we had 2 students with us. She invited us to have sweet potato at her house. We said we were sorry, but we had a bus to catch. However, the bus stop was near her house so she rushed home and set up a table outside with sweet potato and kimchi. Last year Robin visited the same island alone and got oysters.
Friends:
Food:
PLUS it's oyster season....
Seoul Lantern Festival:
In late Autumn this lantern festival is held at a beautiful stream that runs through the centre of Seoul
There are dozens of "lantern" figures from traditional to modern, floating in the stream.
We also visited a prison used by the Japanese during the occupation to interrogate and torture Koreans who were fighting for independence - very sobering.
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| An ad for a restaurant |
Culture :
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| The entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace |
So that's the news. As we seem a bit more organised we hope to do a few more blogs.
Kimchi is being made as are Christmas plans.
Peace and grace
Robin and Aileen
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