Bye Sangju!

"On that first Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene first thought she saw a gardener. Well, she did- the Gardener who cultivated Eden and who endured Gethsemane. The Gardener who gave us the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the cedars of Lebanon, the tree of life."
~ Jeffrey R. Holland~


We will be basking in the sunshine of Hawaii this Sunday. Our 35th Aniversary is this June, so we decided to celebrate and do a pit stop on the big Island for week.
Happy Easter!

This is Amorice (her Catholic given name and much easier for me to pronounce than her real one). She is pretending to cry as I take her picture before I leave. That smile kind of makes me think she might not be THAT sad. She gave me a hug as I walked out the door and whispered "I love you." Koreans don't verbally express that sentiment very often even to their own spouses, so I took it as a great compliment. She is one of those people that opens her heart to everyone that walks in to her shop, and also goes to the hospital, donating time, money and talents to teach handicapped people how to sew. I love her too.

The girl in the front on the left is very quiet and shy. She did not want her picture taken. Meyoung is directly behind her. She has studied in London and speaks great English. She has been a good friend and I wore her out with translating :)

I'm going to miss these ladies. They have kind of been my sanity while living here. I have made more bags/purses/quilt blocks while here, than I will probably make again in the next decade. Most all speak pretty good English and hand sew everything!
I am the cheater "megoo" (Korean terminology for an American) and use a sewing machine when at all possible.

Not sure why I find didn't find a good Vietnamese restaurant until the week before we head out of here, but I will miss the one good meal I had here. It fed two of us for the equivilent of 6 bucks. And there is the joy of no tipping in Korea. Yum (with the exception of those two bowls of kimchee in the background.)
When we return, it will not be to Sangju. The company is moving us to Daejon, a much larger city by several million. Every town in Korea picks a theme for its city. Sometimes the English is a little misunderstood, and so the translation probably isn't what they think it is. For this town, well its "JUST SANGJU."
On second thought...maybe they got it exactly right!