Happy Birthday and Goodbye!

March 7-14:  Katarina and Hugh’s Week of Goodbyes and Birthday Celebrations

It has now been just over a month since Katarina and Hugh (and baby Bubak) left and both Robyn and  I miss them dearly.  These two individuals made the first portion of our stay here in Jeju more comfortable and memorable than either of us could have ever imagined.  Their kindness and generosity has been unparalleled, and to show them our love and appreciation, we wanted to send them off with a bang.  Saturday March 7th was a Surprise Goodbye party hosted by Robyn and I,  to simultaneously celebrate Kat and Hugh’s advancing age (JUST KIDDING) and to highlight Katarina’s skills in cradle robbing- Hugh is 5 whole days younger.

Unfortunately the Surprise was slightly botched because they were both supposed to arrive at once, but due to a miscommunication of sorts,  we “SURPRISE”d Katarina all by her lonesome, and then some 5 minutes later, subsequently “SURPRISE”d Hugh when he and Jenie arrived together.  No matter, the rest of the evening unravelled famously with Robyn’s ever popular Jello Shooters and my Oatmeal cookies- all 100ish of them baked batch, by batch, by batch, by batch, by batch, by batch…. by me and Jason in my toaster oven…. over a span of 8 hours… now that’s love.  The highlight of the evening was likely the elaborately wrapped gift box containing many a travel necessity, newlywed sweatshirts (it’s common in Korea for couples to dress in matching clothing when they’re newlyweds, and since living in Korea was Kat and Hugh’s several-year-long honeymoon, it only seemed fitting) and the priceless and ever-desired Obekwan necklace and keychain (Actually you canput a price on them… a whole 50 cents.  Obekwan are 500Won coins we had made into the respective accessories).  

Two days later we continued the birthday celebrations on Katarina’s actual birthday- March 9th, at Bagdad with a lovely dinner and a stop in at “Photo Maru”, our favourite place to get airbrushed glamour shots taken while wearing Disney ears and clown wigs. And finally, after another 5 days (once Kat and Hugh and Bubak had already moved in with me before they made their great departure back to Canada), Hugh celebrated his Birthday in style wearing a Farmer’s hat all evening, drinking tea and playing board games in my lavish apartment (let us not mention the classy photo of me when Hugh let me borrow it).  It certainly was no frills, but it was another great night to remember.  

Only three evenings thereafter and Kat, Hugh and Bubak were on a plane back to Canada…. or wait, first to Seoul… and as a result of first flying on a domestic flight, they didn’t realize that THEY FORGOT BUBAK’S MICRO CHIP DOCUMENTS until they were already on the mainland!  For a minute it looked like I was going to have one last Hoorah in Seoul with them because Bubak would not be able to enter Canada without these papers (i.e. I was going to fly to Seoul to bring them to them), but as luck would have it (I kinda would have liked to see them again), we found a delivery service capable of delivering the docs just in time for their  final departure. 

And that is how Jeju ended an era. We all miss you here so dearly… it’s just not the same… already counting down the days ’til we reunite back home.

xxxooo  

Jeju protest

I am interrupting our regularly scheduled programming with a non-chronological post in order to make mention of a march I was witness to this afternoon.  Since I can’t speak Korean and though I can read it, I can’t understand it, I was lucky that I happened to be with my director at the moment the protestors walked by the city hall area.  He was able to explain in brief terms what the issues at hand were all about, and it is actually quite appalling. 

 While I can understand the shame that a face-saving culture may feel when crimes against humanity are commited by their own people against their own people, it is appalling that in a highly developed, democratically run country, the re-writing of history can still actually be an issue.  I am well aware that what we learn about the world through the News is always percieved through someone elses eyes and  is always angled to accomodate share holders and viewership (just look at the portrayal of Barak Obama on America’s most highly viewed news netowrks as he has returned from the G-2o meetings in England, apparently what was most newsworthy was whether he adhered to proper etiquette upon introduction to the Queen), however a blatant re-writing of history is something I believed existed in only the most repressive societies with autocratic or totalitarian regimes.

Mr. Byun told me that his own father was among the people marching in protest of the current Conservative governments attempt to cover up the attrocities commited by the Conservative capitalist ideologues against the Communist minority in Jeju in the late 1940′s. Hundreds of Southern Communists were killed for their alignment with the North’s Socialist liberators and thousands more unafilliated civilians were murdered in the process.  Myoung Bak’s current government is attempting a “burning of the books” for the modern era, renegging on the previous governments commitment to understanding and admitting the aweful truths of the last half century in Jeju… if humanity is not given the opportunity to admit to and learn from its mistakes, history will continue to repeat itself and the ancestors of those lost, Mr. Byun and his father included, will never have the opportunity reconcile with what was stolen from them.

Hallim Park

February 28, 2009 (nice for the time of year, huh?)

This is more of a “visual” blog entry as the beauty of the plants and animals speaks for itself.  My good friend Jason and I took a 40 minute drive in the good old towner (a van equivalent to clown-mobile) to the east end of the island to a botanical park called Hallim Park at the end of February.  We got to see a variety of plants and animals NOT native to Jeju… basically it is just a tourist attraction that the founder proudly advertised as a development to bring business and money to Jeju.  For this accomplishment, he is revered in an almost heroic way as there is a giant statue of him at the entrance to a small museum chronicling the creation of the park… apparently he had quite the green thumb… I guess gardening goes a long way in these parts.