Steve

A long time ago, I spent a year in South Korea, teaching conversational English.  I spent a bit of time in Seoul, a couple of months in Pusan, and about nine months as nearly the only Caucasian in Daejeon. My students frequently invited me out on “promises.”  They wanted to practice their English and would usually take me to a temple where we would talk about whatever they liked.  While I appreciate the beauty of Buddhist temples, I have seen my share of them.  I finally figured out that I would enjoy the day trips and the students would benefit more, if we would visit places such as where they or their family worked.  I wish I had done this earlier.  I enjoyed seeing a part of the country that most never get to see.  Learning about brick factories or sewing machine construction was new and different.  I think the students learned words that were much more useful as well.

It has been many years since then.  I am now happily married, and we have been fortunate in that we now have time that we can spend doing a variety of things.  One of the things we would like to do is find people who will let us spend a day with them. Both my wife and I like to write.  We also like to take photographs and learn about people and their lives.  We are both more listeners than talkers.

If you or someone you know would be willing to let us spend a day with them, taking photos and asking questions, please let us know.  We will post some of those days here, so you can see what we mean.  We will let the person/family/business we spend time with review whatever we do before we publish. We are not trying to catch or find anything but just enjoy learning, and we think many of our differences make us stronger if we understand where the other person is coming from.  It seems that our nation is dividing with isolated groups.  While differences of opinion are all good and fine, I think we are all better off, if we understand each other.  Taking a few photos and sharing a bit about ourselves might help others understand where we are coming from and, besides, it might be a bit of fun.

We’ve been living in Nebraska until recently.  Now, we plan to be on Orcas Island much of the time.

Jennifer

Well, hmmmm….what should I put here.  How do you define yourself?  Titles and labels? Talents and interests? Birth order, personality type, childhood years?  Experiences?  Much of this will come out in my writing, eventually. I guess I’ll say here what might not be said in the blog entries later.

I am the youngest of five children, raised by parents who grew up in the 1920s and 30s.  My father was the only boy among six children, raised on a Kansas farm where they still worked the field with a horse-drawn plow.  He was in the Army Air Corps during WWII and, later, became a high school teacher and golf coach.  My mother was raised an only child in a small Kansas hamlet and, later, became a nurse’s aid.

Steve said we’re more listeners than talkers.  We are introverts.  If you get into the Myers-Briggs stuff, he is an INTJ.  I am an INTP/INTJ/ISTP.  Heh.  It depends on the day I take the test and what I’ve been doing.  In the work world, I’ve enjoyed many settings and people.  There are parts I’ve liked about every job I’ve had, and I greatly enjoy learning — about anything and anyone!  As a teen, I was a golf greenskeeper assistant and picked up other odd jobs wherever needed.  College age, I had another job I loved –Assistant City Clerk and Economic Developer Assistant.  Later, I worked for three different temporary services, keeping as busy as I could so I could learn about jobs in all kinds of businesses, before becoming Customer Service Rep for one of the temp services.  When I married Steve, I assisted with the businesses we owned.

Now, we’ve sold or dissolved most previous businesses and now have a couple that don’t require our full-time attention.  So, we have time to pursue our talents and interests!  My three main endeavors into the arts are writing, visual art/crafting, and music.  I share the writing most.  I’m quite a bit quieter about the other two.  Why?  [shrug]  I have a multitude of interests which probably make a boringly long list, if I thought of them all right now; but here are a few (not in order of importance):  aviation, reading, Steve, amateur radio, dance, rocks and fossils, yoga, tai chi, pursuit of God, all visual arts, crafting, drums, childhood education, architecture, cooking, gardening, golf, history and certain historical figures, writing, tall ships, as well as the study and research of anything and everything (most especially nature and medicine). There are more. Steve thinks it’s an INTP problem. (grin)

That’s it for now.  I’m going back into the hermitage.