The View From Here

OK, so our apartment is still way too ugly to show you... but the good news is, it looks like the university will be footing the bill to have it re-wallpapered. So, fingers crossed, it won't be too long until we can show you images of the interior. Until then, here's a little quickie panorama of the view outside our back balcony.



(Click the picture to enlarge it.)

This view is looking west-northwest. You can see our village (Shingchang). The university is further off to the left, out of the frame. Straight ahead in the distance is a farm, a reservoir, and some mountains. If you could see through the mountains, you'd see Asan Bay, which connects us to the West Sea. On the other side of the West Sea is China.

The main "hub" town of this area is Onyang, which is a 15-minute drive north of here. Onyang+Shinchang+surrounding villages = Asan. Sorta like how HRM=Halifax+Dartmouth+Hubbards+Eastern Shore. Only not.

About 20 minutes east of that is the high-speed rail station, which can take us north to Seoul. From Seoul, we can get on a plane and go east-northeast. And that's how we'll get home in June/July!

Jim's First Love Note from a Student

gym teacher Hi?

my name is *** and English name Amy. When seeing the fromer teacher initially; too much mes it was. The teacher the features ppun with the teacher to us study to teach quite together enviable oh the truth teacher us anti - it comes and it congratulates and it thanks the features which finishes the next best to the drill the bedspread. Also the teacher the family plentifully report sip cyo. It goes toward un jen between Canada and the families are delighted and rang play and laugh the teacher to be healthy, every day with the features which dawns us they meet. Our moveing uss who will make a noise compared to the case apple it will admit to the bedspread. It is like that, good-bye.

I LOVE YOU Teacher


(Oh Google translator! You have a long way to go before you're no longer a Beta version for Korean translation! - Becka)

He wouldn't have wanted his picture here, anyway.

I was looking for the digital files of our wedding pictures to find a picture of Ian. Or rather, Alec William, as he was known back then. But Jim's and my lives are still in boxes right now, and Ian never liked having his picture taken, anyway. So I doubt he'd want us to show it to the world now. Or would he? He had such a flair for the dramatic. Ian's feelings on this aside, I sort of wish I could show this picture to you now just because it's a lovely portrait our mutual friend Jasmine caught sometime during the party after our wedding ceremony. He's outside Pier 21, looking up to the sky, and he looks particularly content. Alec always looked calm, exuding a thick layer of grace under pressure. There were tightly guarded reasons why he conducted himself this way, and I suppose talking about that aspect of his life is a little beside the point right now.

The first time I met Ian, I had just begun working at CFAT and he was applying for a scholarship. He just seemed so calmly self-possessed, it was striking. He was quick to laugh and was so good at making everyone around him feel at ease. The last time our paths crossed, it was in Moncton just over a year ago. In between these two meetings, he became a most impressive co-worker, a trusted friend, and a fellow artist. He was a lovely, gentle soul with so much potential for good and for joy. He had invisible strength, the depth of which will probably never really be known. He was particularly gifted at bringing comfort to many around him, and I wish he could have done the same for himself.

According to the obituary I read online in the Halifax Chronicle Herald (which has already disappeared from its website, so I can't even link it), his wish was for people to donate money to charities and organizations that help youth in crisis.

There is never enough love.