{"id":3410,"date":"2010-08-14T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2010-08-14T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/?p=3410"},"modified":"2013-02-14T21:14:10","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T05:14:10","slug":"not-on-our-bucket-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/14\/not-on-our-bucket-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Not On Our Bucket List"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bibimbap<\/a>
\n\u201cSo, Mom, on the plane eat the Bibimbap.\u00a0 You\u2019ll like it.\u00a0 It\u2019ll get you ready for your Korean experience.\u00a0 Tell Dad to try it too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTry the whaaa\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bibimbap. It\u2019s ok. You\u2019ll like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, maybe. See you tomorrow \u2013 will it be tomorrow or the next day?\u00a0 Never mind. We\u2019ll call you when we land.\u00a0 Verizon assured me my phone is set up to work there. Can\u2019t wait to see you!\u00a0 Love you. Bye.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Mike and I headed to SEATAC airport for our long flight to Seoul, I told him that Ben said we should try something called Bibbibop when we ate on the plane.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t at all sure about doing that.<\/p>\n

Seoul, South Korea was never on our \u2018Bucket List\u2019.\u00a0 A safari in Africa, a trip to Australia, back to the beaches on Maui, off to Italy with friends \u2013 those were all on the list. Korea wasn\u2019t there.\u00a0 Not anywhere.\u00a0 Until Ben and Jan went to Korea to work and live.\u00a0 He\u2019s a journalist.\u00a0 She\u2019s a teacher.\u00a0 We love them and we\u2019re proud of them.\u00a0 And spending time with them wherever and whenever we can is an ongoing item on the list.\u00a0 So, they were there and we were going.<\/p>\n

Ben and Jan are both fluent in Korean.\u00a0 Ben got his start learning the language right here in Federal Way, Washington. So, six weeks prior to our trip, I thought I\u2019d surprise \u2018the kids\u2019 and learn a little Korean right here in Federal Way, too. How hard could it really be, I wondered. I used to be fluent in German.<\/p>\n

Guess what?\u00a0 It is way, way harder than you might think. I had no aspirations for fluency. I just wanted to know a few basic phrases. I started with a CD that I bought at Barnes & Noble. Way too fast, too hard, and too much. Next,\u00a0 I connected with a lovely Korean American high school senior who was willing to work with me.\u00a0 She was very helpful, and incredibly patient.\u00a0 I took a tape recorder so she could say the phrase in English, followed by slowly saying the appropriate Korean phrase.\u00a0 Then I could listen to it in the car.\u00a0 And I did \u2013 over and over and over again.<\/p>\n

By the time we were ready to go, I could say Hello, Nice to meet you, Thank you, How much is that? <\/em>and Good-bye<\/em> (if you\u2019re leaving you say one thing, if someone else is leaving, you say another).\u00a0 And I could almost say Where is the restroom?<\/em>My retention was terrible and my pronunciation worse.\u00a0 I was just hoping that \u2018the kids\u2019 would be impressed that I\u2019d tried.<\/p>\n

I ate the Bibimbap on the plane, carefully following the directions sheet that came with the meal.\u00a0 Fortunately I did not add the full tube of hot pepper paste. I did add half of the tube (for \u2018mild\u2019), but it turns out that \u2018mild\u2019 in Korea has an entirely different meaning than it does to me.\u00a0 Half of the tube was plenty \u2018hot\u2019.\u00a0 Mike opted for the chicken parmesan, saying it might be the last time in 9 days that he\u2019d know what he was eating.<\/p>\n

After three movies, reading most of a not very compelling book, taking repeated walks around the plane with the other older people who did not wish to get blood clots in their legs, we mercifully arrived at Inchon Airport. My cell phone did not work as promised. After momentary panic, we found Jan and Ben in the Arrivals Hall.\u00a0 We were exhausted, but thrilled to be there. Jan had made a \u2018Welcome to Korea\u2019 goody-bag for us, with hand-sanitizer, cold bottles of water, crackers, small cans of Coke to settle our stomachs, and chocolate because everyone needs chocolate at the end of a long journey. I greeted them with Hello<\/em> in Korean. They were definitely impressed.<\/p>\n

We took a train and the subway and then walked a long way to our hotel.\u00a0 \u2018The kids\u2019 lugged our suitcases.\u00a0 We just lugged our rubbery-legged selves.\u00a0 Ben checked us in. While we settled in, they went out and brought dinner back for us.<\/p>\n

\u2018The kids\u2019 were tour guides extraordinaire.\u00a0 They had carefully planned each day. We went to tourist destinations and off the beaten path. As luck would have it, we were there for the Lotus Lantern Festival and Parade in celebration of Buddha\u2019s Birthday. One of Seoul\u2019s main boulevards was closed to traffic, filled with festival booths and teeming with thousands of people.\u00a0 Our favorite booth advertised \u201cFree Dental Clinic and Face Painting\u201d. We opted out.\u00a0 Ten thousand people participated in <\/em>the parade itself.\u00a0 The costumes, the lanterns, the lit-from-within paper floats, and the fire breathing dragon floats were breathtaking.<\/p>\n

A highlight of the trip for me was going to school with Jan.\u00a0 I was treated like visiting royalty by her principal (I\u2019m a retired elementary school principal).\u00a0 Jan and I co-taught two lessons to sixth graders, and I had a wonderful morning at her school of 1400+ kids. I said Hello, Nice to meet you,<\/em> and Good-bye<\/em> to everyone I met at school.\u00a0 It was not impressive, but I think I got an \u2018A\u2019 for effort!<\/p>\n

Our second night in Seoul was my 59th<\/sup> birthday. Ben and Jan took us to a lovely little restaurant down a beautifully lit narrow winding street in the heart of Seoul. We sat on the floor and ate a very traditional Korean meal, with 20 different dishes on the table.\u00a0 Even though Mike and I had no idea what we were actually eating (Really?\u00a0 It’s acorn jelly?), it was truly a special birthday meal.<\/p>\n

Seoul is much lovelier and greener than we expected. It\u2019s a dense, bustling, technology-filled city where the cell phones even work in the subway. The traffic is astounding, and crossing the street is a daring and scary thing to do. Cab rides are not for sissies.<\/p>\n

It was an extraordinary, memory-filled trip. I still think that a \u2018Bucket List\u2019 is a good thing to have, but we also discovered that grabbing an opportunity when it shows up can be a marvelous thing to do.<\/p>\n

Lynn Hancock is a retired elementary school teacher in Washington State. Her son Ben is the writer behind a neglected blog that I loved, The Daily Transit. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Why I like this story: Partly, because I like Ben, who’s mentioned in it. But also, because it’s carpe diem, baby. Carpe diem. Words to live by.
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Korean Airline inflight meal<\/a> on Flickr by Marvin L via Creative Commons.
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo, Mom, on the plane eat the Bibimbap.\u00a0 You\u2019ll like it.\u00a0 It\u2019ll get you ready for your Korean experience.\u00a0 Tell Dad to try it too.\u201d \u201cTry the whaaa\u2026?\u201d \u201cThe Bibimbap. It\u2019s ok. You\u2019ll like it.\u201d \u201cWell, maybe. See you tomorrow \u2013 will it be tomorrow or the next day?\u00a0 Never mind. We\u2019ll call you when … <\/p>\n


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