New Connections

        I am now a resident of a foreign land.  Living amongst and interacting with the locals as well as the foreigners that reside in the “small” town of Muju.  After five months I feel like a have made a bond with the community I live in.  The people that work in the grocery store I go to, the people that sell produce at the local market, the bar owners, the local pool hall owner and many others.  I walk down the street with a sense of comfort and acceptance.  Muju is majestic in so many ways from the mountains that tower over this small city to the several thousand people living here.

         It is 9:34am on September 19^th, 2010 and I have just missed the bus by four minutes.  There is a thick mist in the air from the rain that just passed.  I wait and read a book till I can catch the next bus at 11am to Deoguysan National Park.  My mind is wondering.  Attempting to keep myself occupied by my book, but the butterflies in my stomach are too powerful, so I just look out the window and take in the beautiful scenery.  I would compare my nerves to a first date.  You have had conversation with the person, but have never met them or had one on one conversation in person.  A phone conversation ends with hanging the phone up, but the ending of a meeting 45 minutes away with a stranger has an unknown ending. 

         The bus pulls up to a large parking lot with a small building the size of my bedroom.   I am greeted by this young looking 40 year old named Kim TaeWoo.  We go to the KNPS office, sat down and had a broken conversation for about ten minutes fallowed by lunch in another building.  After lunch I waited for Mun Kyu Park, the superintendent of Deogyusan National Park reading pamphlets about the park and then back to my book.  He arrives back red cheeked (from the drinks he had at lunch with his colleagues) and with a large welcoming smile on his face.  We say our hellos and he escorts Kim TaeWoo and me into his beautiful office.  We sit down and I tell him about myself and my intentions of getting involved with the Korean National Park Service.  He then pours me a glass a tea and tells me in descent English about Deogyusan.  After the meeting Kim TaeWoo and I went around the park on mountain bikes talking more about the park.  When I return from Vietnam and Cambodia I look forward to furthering my relationship with the KNPS.