Winds of Change...

Something that is both difficult and wonderful about being teacher in a foreign country is all the interesting people you meet. Not only do you meet people from your host country, you make friends with others who share the same language. I have have made English speaking friends from not only America, but Australia, Canada, England, South Africa, and New Zealand. While making new friends is wonderful, it is difficult when one comes to the end of that teaching contract and is faced with the decision to stay or go.

This past weekend I spent with one of the first English-speaking friends I made here in Korea. I had been in Korea for about two weeks when I ventured to Pohang in search of some good shopping. I happened upon two westerners sitting outside a Starbucks. They invited me to join them and I did. This photo was taken that evening before I hopped on the bus back to Uljin. This was the beginning of a great friendship. We have laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed. We have made fun of each others accents and have various misunderstandings over rules of games (pool, Uno), meanings of words (now, just now, now now), proper pronunciation (bill vs bull, milk vs mulk, etc...), and names of things (bandage vs plaster, stroller vs "pram", etc.) Through this all, however, I know I have made a friend who I will always think of fondly and have great memories of. From our late night talks to early morning (well, crack of noon) breakfasts, to launching "boats" into a rice paddy, to silly sleepovers where we talked for hours on end solving all the problems of the world, we made this friendship work on the basis of trust and honesty.

Until I met her, I had never had a friend from South Africa. I had never been to China or tasted Peking Duck. I never knew there could be so many different names for silly things like q-tips and band-aids. I never knew such a deep friendship could develop in such a short time and it would be this difficult to say farewell.

To my friend, Bronwen, I will say "Farewell", but not "Goodbye". Even if we never see each other face to face again, I know she will always be a part of my great Korean Adventure and I am blessed to have known her.