If you had a choice to visit a country for a month or more on a Rotary International Group Study Abroad program, would you? Before you answer, what if you knew you would be visiting Korea? Some of you may answer no to that. Not I and three other brave souls. We took this opportunity of a lifetime and ventured out into this unknown world. So that you know, this was South Korea. Our destination was Jeollanam-do, Southern Coast of Southern Korea.
We left with our luggage for our month study abroad program. Our travel time took over 21 hours, not to mention; S. Korea is 13 hours a head of us in time. So as you may imagine when we got there, our sense of time and place was well shall I say, out of whack. Our first destination was Yeosu, one of the three candidates to host the 2012 World Expo. At the airport, we were greeted by a group of Rotarians holding a “Welcome to Jeorgia” banner. (And I did not misspell, it. That’s how the banner was spelled). Our warm greetings continued up until lunch, when we were introduced to the Korean traditional food kimchi, seafood soup and side dishes of a variety of different vegetables and fruits, including mouth-watering watermelons and sweet ripe tomatoes. The food kept coming and coming and though we were stuffed, we were told to “eat, eat”. This was our introduction of what is yet to come. The majority of our meals in S. Korea were done, Korean style, which is eaten on a very low table and we all sit on the floor. So during our visits to the different places, we were “introduced” to that style.
During out time in S. Korea, we visited many cities and counties and met with dignitaries, mayors, council men, city government officials, Rotarians, etc. We drank green tea for what seem like 5 times a day. The green tea, I believe, gave us the energy we needed to continue on with our massive daily activities. And activities we had; from morning until night. We went everywhere and did everything. All in all, we were truly celebrities and treated like royalties. We were guided and protected and surrounded everywhere we went. We were guests to concerts held by huge Korean Celebrities and given the grand tour to every Museum, Tea Plantation, Buddhist Temple, Market, Traditional Home, Agricultural Center, Beautiful Mountain, Park, Recreational Forest, Farm House, School, and Library; Historic site, Steel Manufacturing Plant, Rotary Club meeting and everything in between.
Due to the fact that we didn’t speak Korean and the Koreans we were around did not speak English, a translator was assigned to us wherever we would go. We had a few translators that neither English nor Korean was their mother tongue, so you see how communication was very difficult. We did have some good interpreters. Sometimes the communication between the two worlds was wonderful and sometimes the language became a barrier because neither one could understand the other. And so we communicated with our bodies to get our points across. It’s called, Charades. And sometimes, we resulted in drawing, as we did once when we wanted to eat chicken for lunch. Thanks NJ for that. Your art skills came in handy. There really should be an International illustrated non-verbal dictionary out there. For someone looking for a great book idea, this I think will sell millions.
We met many wonderful people that welcomed us into their homes and truly made us feel like part of their family. So as they say, when in Korea, do as the Koreans, and so we lived as the Koreans for a month by visiting Bath Houses. Public Bath Houses are a way for Koreans to release their daily stresses in life while relaxing. It’s said to be therapeutic. We slept on heated floors and ate live octopus (one of us, who shall remain nameless) and drank Soju, the Korean native alcoholic beverage. We talked about our beautiful city, Savannah. After the month-long traditional Korean food and lifestyle, we were ready to come back to good old, U. S. of A. As many Koreans stated that if given a chance to visit America, they would but would not permanently live in the U.S., I feel that it is so with Americans. We would love to visit another country, but when it comes down to it, we still love our own lifestyles and way of living and wouldn’t trade it for another. You don’t believe me? Visit another country and find out for yourself.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Justin Godchaux, (Santa, as the Korean children called him), our Rotary Group Leader and team members Neeraj Jain (NJ) and Chito Lapena. We were the perfect team. And a special thanks Dr. and Mrs. Choi, Dr. Yon Pae Park and Dr. SeongYong Hong. A special thanks to Rotary International for this opportunity and for Rotary Savannah East 6920 for making it all happen. As they say in S. Korea, 'An-nyung Ha-se-yo' meaning 'Good morning (afternoon, evening) and 'Gam-sa-hap-ni-da' means 'Thanks.' We want to also thank our families for their love and support and for allowing us the freedom to travel and experience this new world.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Seoul, June 2
Seoul is where we landed at Incheon International Airport and that’s where we stayed overnight before leaving in the morning to take our flight back to the United States. We met up with Dr. Hong, Professor at Savannah State University, who is from Seoul. He was kind enough to take us around the city to show us some of the places of interest in Seoul, the capital city.
Talk about New York City magnified. People were everywhere in Seoul. If you think New York City is crowded; visit Seoul. It was beautiful though. We had dinner at a place Dr. Hong suggested, where Duck was the main dish. I couldn’t stomach that dish, so I ate some of the side dishes instead. During our walk around the city, we ended up at this local burger place. There we had burgers with fries and I felt so much better.
We toured around the crowded department stores, and then ended the day at Cheonggyecheon. Cheonggye Stream is a 5.8 km creek flowing through downtown Seoul. This is where it is said lovers come to on the weekends to hang out and enjoy the serenity of the flowing water, while admiring the view. We were driven back to our hotel, where we spent our last and final evening.
Talk about New York City magnified. People were everywhere in Seoul. If you think New York City is crowded; visit Seoul. It was beautiful though. We had dinner at a place Dr. Hong suggested, where Duck was the main dish. I couldn’t stomach that dish, so I ate some of the side dishes instead. During our walk around the city, we ended up at this local burger place. There we had burgers with fries and I felt so much better.
We toured around the crowded department stores, and then ended the day at Cheonggyecheon. Cheonggye Stream is a 5.8 km creek flowing through downtown Seoul. This is where it is said lovers come to on the weekends to hang out and enjoy the serenity of the flowing water, while admiring the view. We were driven back to our hotel, where we spent our last and final evening.
Yeosu, May 29 – June 2
Our last week of this amazing journey ended on a positive note at Yeosu, beautiful city of sea, flowers and light. We were back at the Amiga Hotel, where we started. We were again greeted warmly like celebrities by the club presidents, service project members and committee chairmen. After checking in at the hotel, we were treated to western style lunch. Yes! After a month-long traditional Korean food, we were ready for some western food. The restaurant that we went to had a magnificent view. The ladies of the Rotary club that hosted us were very kind and hand created the centerpieces that graced our tables from real flowers, including roses. Now that’s what I call hospitality.
Our fist morning in Yeosu began with a tea ceremony nearby the hotel. There we met Liz or Lizza as the Koreans call her. Liz is an American that is now living in Yeosu and teaching English to a group of young children. She loves Yeosu and feels very comfortable among the Koreans and their tradition. Our tours took us to JongHwaDong Marine Park, also called Hamel light house. We visited the Turtle ship, located on DollSan Park. The turtle ship is said to be famous for its helping the Koreans to win sea battles against Japanese ships during the Japanese invasion in the late 1500’s. We saw the exact replica of the ship as it was back then. It was very compact and every nook and cranny was used for something.
The next few days we toured Odongdo Island, where we met with public relations officer and staff for the Expo 2012. We saw a public relations piece advertising the locations and plans for the event. We visited the city hall and met with the Associate Mayor. We visited an Elementary School, and Hyang II Am Buddhist Temple. This temple was no different; as it was located on the top of this magnificent mountain hill, where the view is breathtaking. We were told thousands of people come there the first of the year to see this amazing sunrise. We went on our first University tour. Justin was happy about that. Chonam University as it’s called, has two campuses; one being in Yeosu. We toured a little bit of it and got a chance to see some of the classrooms. It was a very nice campus. I think Justin said it was comparable to Savannah State University in size.
We visited the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), one of four major national South Korean television and radio networks. We toured the facilities and this time all four of us ended up in the “hot seat”, broadcasting our day’s events. We visited Yeosu’s Fire station. It was very impressive. We saw all the fire equipments and the facility was equipped and prepared to take action in case of fire. My most heartfelt visit came at the end when we visited the Social Welfare organization. We first visited the children, who were patients at the disability quarters. We were welcomed by the patients through a beautiful, heart-felt song. We appreciated their efforts in preparing for us the wonderful welcome song. We saw a video of the services that are offered at the organization and got a chance to tour the different facilities.
We were given a reception our last evening in Yeosu by the Rotary Group of Dong Myung Yoo. Mr. Yoo was the group leader of the group that came to Georgia. We met him this week in Yeosu and his rotary group was the last to host us. At the reception, the governor said some kind words and talked very positive about the GSE experience. We expressed our appreciation and told them how wonderful everyone has been and how we would take our experiences and share them with others in our state. We were given the opportunity for the last time to visit a Public Bath House, but we passed and decided to go visit a shopping center instead before we left for the airport. This gave us a chance to see for the last time what great customer service S. Korea has to offer its people. At the airport, we said our goodbyes and adorned our heads with our weave hats, luggage and our Rotary uniformed jerseys and khakis.
Our fist morning in Yeosu began with a tea ceremony nearby the hotel. There we met Liz or Lizza as the Koreans call her. Liz is an American that is now living in Yeosu and teaching English to a group of young children. She loves Yeosu and feels very comfortable among the Koreans and their tradition. Our tours took us to JongHwaDong Marine Park, also called Hamel light house. We visited the Turtle ship, located on DollSan Park. The turtle ship is said to be famous for its helping the Koreans to win sea battles against Japanese ships during the Japanese invasion in the late 1500’s. We saw the exact replica of the ship as it was back then. It was very compact and every nook and cranny was used for something.
The next few days we toured Odongdo Island, where we met with public relations officer and staff for the Expo 2012. We saw a public relations piece advertising the locations and plans for the event. We visited the city hall and met with the Associate Mayor. We visited an Elementary School, and Hyang II Am Buddhist Temple. This temple was no different; as it was located on the top of this magnificent mountain hill, where the view is breathtaking. We were told thousands of people come there the first of the year to see this amazing sunrise. We went on our first University tour. Justin was happy about that. Chonam University as it’s called, has two campuses; one being in Yeosu. We toured a little bit of it and got a chance to see some of the classrooms. It was a very nice campus. I think Justin said it was comparable to Savannah State University in size.
We visited the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), one of four major national South Korean television and radio networks. We toured the facilities and this time all four of us ended up in the “hot seat”, broadcasting our day’s events. We visited Yeosu’s Fire station. It was very impressive. We saw all the fire equipments and the facility was equipped and prepared to take action in case of fire. My most heartfelt visit came at the end when we visited the Social Welfare organization. We first visited the children, who were patients at the disability quarters. We were welcomed by the patients through a beautiful, heart-felt song. We appreciated their efforts in preparing for us the wonderful welcome song. We saw a video of the services that are offered at the organization and got a chance to tour the different facilities.
We were given a reception our last evening in Yeosu by the Rotary Group of Dong Myung Yoo. Mr. Yoo was the group leader of the group that came to Georgia. We met him this week in Yeosu and his rotary group was the last to host us. At the reception, the governor said some kind words and talked very positive about the GSE experience. We expressed our appreciation and told them how wonderful everyone has been and how we would take our experiences and share them with others in our state. We were given the opportunity for the last time to visit a Public Bath House, but we passed and decided to go visit a shopping center instead before we left for the airport. This gave us a chance to see for the last time what great customer service S. Korea has to offer its people. At the airport, we said our goodbyes and adorned our heads with our weave hats, luggage and our Rotary uniformed jerseys and khakis.
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