My Irish Husband Tony and I recently were privileged to sail on Semester at Sea to Asia. In addition to teaching two classes of university students, I wrote a weekly blog to my fellow Americans. This is the entry about Korea.

Children Get Older...¹

We arrived in Busan, Korea, on Wednesday and stayed until Friday night when we left for Kobe, Japan. I had passed the ship's head cold on to My Irish Husband Tony, so we used Busan as a rest stop. We were docked in Da Daepo Port, a bedroom community 30 minutes from the centre of Busan, the country's second largest city with a total population of 5 million. We had enough shops, restaurants and bars near the ship, so we limited our travel. For me, the Korean tea ceremony and a Lotte Giants baseball game (they lost; apparently not unusual). For Tony, a van-and-driver trip through the countryside with our 'granddaughters,' the students on the trip who have adopted us.

But Korea is not just tea and baseball, so I interviewed a student, James, an International Relations major from Boston University who is in the ROTC programme. His mother was born in Korea in 1961, eight years after the war there ended. I asked how he felt about visiting his mom's home country.

'When I saw that this voyage was going to Korea, that sealed it for me. I wanted to figure out what I was. Half Korean, half Scottish, I don't look Scottish. Figured I'd better learn something about the Korean half. I honestly didn't know a whole lot about my mom's background. I think she was in the orphanage when she was three, wasn't adopted until she was four and didn't actually make it to the States with her adoptive parents until she was five.'

James originally wanted to travel to Seoul, about four hours north of where we docked, to see where his mother grew up, but those plans fell through. I'll let him tell you about his three days in Busan.

'I got off the ship and was on the Tongdosa Temple tour. It took two hours to get to the first stop. We were just driving around; I'm lookin' out the window. It was really bittersweet. I wasn't sure how I should be feeling. If I should be feeling enthused or feeling remorse. I seriously was torn for the first couple hours.'

''We got to the Temple and it was one of the most beautiful places I'd seen. There was a river leading up to it and local families swimming, having a good time laughing, playing. A lot of little kids too.'

'Came back towards Busan, swung by the UN cemetery, went to a park for a little while and then I left the tour at one of the markets. I know very, very little Korean, and a lot of the vendors knew very, very
little English. But I was able to talk to a couple for a few minutes. Mostly hand gestures though. That first day we went to a buffet and had bulgogi. I have to say I like mine better. I've gotten pretty good at cooking that.'

'The second day I had completely free. That morning I outlined some of my thoughts from the day before and looked at my pictures. Four of us decided to go to a local beach, walk around. If I was Korean and
had the day free I would probably be at the beach, so it was nice to see locals in their natural environment.'

'The last morning I ran to a peninsula about three miles away and it was absolutely gorgeous. There was an island, pine trees and a lone fishing boat with the sun coming up. I really wish I'd had my camera
for it. It was also weird because I was sitting right next to a pillbox, a very poorly camouflaged pillbox. It reminded me that the country is having some problems. There were people playing badminton and Korean troops doing exercises, guards with M240 Bravo rifles.'

'Then some of the girls and I went out to the market. My mom had asked me to bring her back a stone. Just a regular old stone. That first day, I went to the river, grabbed a stone. But I'm also the brat kid and I decided to spoil her a little bit and I wanted to get her another kind of stone. So we went to the international market. At a jewellery store they had an emerald pendant, yellow gold, heart-shaped, with diamonds around it. But I'm a white gold guy, so I had them make another one from
white gold. So she asked for a stone, she's getting two. It's her birthstone, so that was perfect.'

'Then I caught a cab back to the ship because I had signed up for a visit to an orphanage. I wasn't sure what to expect. I was really mixed, not sure whether I would want to be there. But what could I do? If I didn't do this I'd be kicking myself for the rest of the trip home and for a long time after.'

'They walked us around the orphanage, gave a few presentations, we met the director. Then we got about an hour to play with the kids and that was one of the most bittersweet moments of the whole trip. This particular kid was just reaching out, grabbing my face. He literally reached into my mouth and was pulling on my teeth.'

'But the toughest thing — I don't have any pictures of this because I just couldn't do it — there was this girl who looked just like my mom did 40 years ago. I had seen my mother's pictures, and it was like, whoa! That is too creepy. I tried to talk to her and the only thing I could think of to say in Korean was sa rang hae, which translates to 'I love you'. I said that a couple times. I couldn't think of anything else to say and the little girl started crying. It just... that got me. I've been through my share of crap and, I'm not going to
lie, I'm a hard bastard some times. But that got me where it counts.'

'Then we came back to the port and about 12 of us went to a restaurant your Irish Husband Tony had recommended. It was like the first real Korean meal I had. It was a good way to end the trip.'

James knows that he will come back.
'This voyage has prompted my mom to suggest that she come back here with me after I graduate from college. I think she has kind of been using my newfound interest to get herself back here.'

Thanks, James, for sharing your experiences. And tell your mom thanks too.

Watch this space.

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KDixonDonnelly

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