14th day, 5th city-Asan

I do not why, but departure time always seems to catch us by surprise. It doesn't matter how many times we have gone through the drill in 14 days, we always feel nervous and anxious as we await the right of passage drill of "being handed from one Rotary group to the next". Yesterday was no different. As we patiently awaited for the group from Asan to arrive, our hosts from Boryeong had yet another gift for us. Footnote: family members, when you come and to get us at the airport please bring a van or pick-up; we are coming home with extra luggage. Sorry for the sidebar, let's continue. As I was saying, our group from Boryeong/Daecheon made it even more memorable as our Johnny Cash, Mr. Moon, presented us with an autographed AND personalized copy of his poetry book. I think I'm falling in LOVE! Well, maybe a small crush. :)

Our group from Asan arrives and our interpreter Tony walks us through the events before we arrive to Asan. We have all talked about how weird and special we feel as we get driven around from one city to another. That is something we heard was only reserved for "important people." So, I guess we are extra special. Travel days are always my favorite as I get time to reflect on our trip and to admire the scenery, which otherwise we would not be able to see if we had been flying from one location to the next.

Once in Asan, we stopped at the main Rotary Club office in the downtown area. Awards, medals and banners from Malaysia, New Zealand and other clubs are displayed throughout the office. Once introductions are made, we walk around and explore a little and while flipping through the pages of their monthly Rotarian magazine our faces light up as we recognize some of the people that appear throughout the magazine. Neat, huh?! Off to lunch we go.... All mushrooms. A soup with all different kinds of mushrooms. Nice light lunch, just what our bodies were in need of.

The Rotary motto is: Service Above Self. We have been able to experience a lot of the things that they have done as part of their service projects but for the first time during our trip we have been able to experience them in action. We were taken to a house being constructed for a multinational family (this is a family that is made up of a Korean native and a Phillipine). This is the 6th house in 6 years that the Rotary Club from Asan has built. It is going to be a beautiful home for this family in the next couple of weeks.

Our schedule for today was a light one. We stopped in downtown Asan and later were taken to a park where the monument of General Yi Sun-Shin (leader of one of the most important naval battles) is erected. The park is beautiful: trees, nice lake, a walkway that surrounds the park, flowers in full bloom. Taking it all in.....

Duck for dinner and time for our homestays. Rebecca and I are staying with the same family and they had their daughter come from Seoul so she could meet us and serve as interpreter. Most Koreans speak some English but they feel it is not that good, so they have their children interpret for us and at the same time practice their English. If they only knew that there English is better than our Korean!!! But thank goodness for the international language: a SMILE bridges all differences.