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 currently live in Nebraska, but have purchased a place on Orcas Island that we hope to move to full time some time next year.