Where the Laughter & Love Always Continues . . .

Independence of Korea

I came to Korea without much knowledge of Korea's history. I know the basics: royalty ruled for centuries, Japan invaded and ruled Korea, the Korean War, and the division of North and South. I did not know details of the periods. I've been learning a lot as I've been visiting the palaces and Korea's War Memorial Museum. I learned the most while visiting the Sodaemun Prison and Independence Park. I remember one time my dad teaching my brother and me that the Japanese were bad and cruel people. He talked about how they invaded Korea and were cruel to Koreans. Now, I understand why my dad made prejudice remarks. Japan's history in Korea was not pleasant to say the least. Koreans wanted independence from Japanese ruling and demonstrated on March 1, 1919. Koreans were imprisoned, tortured, and executed for their stance. Japan was not as cruel to other countries they ruled over. Koreans were tortured in extreme ways: fingernails being pulled out, wall-coffins were used, and women were raped.
I don't hate the Japanese people. I don't like the history of war and invasion. I'm glad to say my future sister-in-law is Japanese. My parents both approved my brother's proposal to Michelle and her family.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's important to stay on top of what's going on with the world...to listen and speak out when things are injust. I believe war is necessary...but as a last means. It's important to know why we are fighting in a war and to know if it is done in the least violent but effective manner. No matter my opinion, I'm making sure my voice counts. From abroad, I'm voting. I hope you do too.

Funny Things

I have such a great opportunity to get to know my grandma. She's old but not too old to forget all of her memories. I go through the woods to get to her place. One time I was taking her bread....all I needed was a red-hooded coat and a wolf. It cracks me up as I walk to her place.

My grandma cracks me up. She can talk for hours. She was sick for several days with a cold. I went to visit her, but thought that I was tiring her out. So as she talked, I laid down next to her as she talked about the days when my mom was a kid. I understood 1/4 of what she was saying. She said let's sleep. I woke up an hour later: she had done the laundry and hung the clothes out to dry and was cleaning outside. My grandma said that she couldn't sleep and needed to get up before she got a headache from laying down. I was more tired than my grandma.

One time I was in a store that was closing out. The salesman/owner was a character. A customer was asking how much several items cost. He said to stop asking so many questions; his mouth was beginning to hurt. Another customer was asking if the clothing came in other sizes. The guy replied to look for it. If there's no other sizes, there's none. The owner cracked me up. I immediately left.

Bukhansan National Park

My Uncle Dong Sun took me along on his regular Sunday hike up the mountainside of Bukhansan National Park. I thought my mountain hiking days were over after hiking with Flo in Yellow Mountain. Rather, I had hoped it was over. Hiking was never my thing. Most of my time is spent looking down at the ground and fearing that I may be hit by branches. Although the hike was tough, I enjoyed it overall. My uncle was Roadrunner but was kind to wait and help me at various points. His ankle was greatly injured but he continues to hike and beat all the odds...just because what else is there. I took many breaks of taking pictures and staying refreshed.

It was cool. I was prepared to go on some form of transportation to get the hiking trails. Not necessary. The street hiking was crazy. I thought my aunt's home was on a steep street, but another nicer area had 'crazy' steep-high streets. I was exhausted when we were at the start of the "trail". My uncle knows various routes that majority of people do not know. I actually had to climb over rocks in order to continue on the route. I had not planned on hiking mountain trails after my Yellow Mountain experience (I did enough to last me a long time), but I'm glad I did it. I appreciate Korea's landscape and history after seeing it from a high point. It's different than seeing it afar from Seoul Tower. I am planning to hike some more, hopefully go further than what I did before.

Oh yeah, there are Buddhist temples up on the sides of mountains because at one point in Korean history they were pushed upwards due to intolerance.