Well, Cumulus retired last year and was bored out of his mind.
He was also driving his wife crazy, as most retired husbands do.
In his mid-50s, he has decided to go and teach Korean, through a government sponsored program, in Uzbekistan!
Wow!! What courage and bravery!
So this past Saturday I travelled the three hours to Daegu to say my goodbyes to him before he relocates for two long years. By the time he gets back, I will be long gone, hopefully. (From my mouth to God's ears.)
We met up at the Daegu west bus terminal and drove to lunch.
I insisted on paying for the lunch and had even saved up for it.
Both of them refused and instead had me pay for mango and strawberry smoothies after our meal. Then we walked down a very famous village named after a famous Korean guitarist.
It was a very sweet time with good friends.
It was important to me to thank them for their kindness to me both before and after my family arrived last summer.
It is very difficult to find genuine people here so I was blessed to have them in my life here in Korea. They went out of their way for me, my son and my family. They picked us up from the bus terminal, drove us to the hospital, assisted in renting the cabin in the woods last summer, drove our entire family to the skydiving area and cheered and applauded all the children's jumps. Cumulus even jumped that day! They took me shopping for much needed clothing and have always shown me kindness and generosity.
I bowed deeply as we said our last good byes. All of my expat experiences will be shared with Cumulus as he begins his first time living away from his home country.
This is the way I like to end friendships, with respect and mutual admiration. That takes a certain level of maturity and commonness. It was a blessing to share friendship with them.
Thank you very much. I've appreciated it and will always pay it forward.
UPDATE
October 2020
Cumulus had to return home after six months due to the worldwide spread of the Rona panic. Korea airlifted their citizens out of there at the government's expense. He did learn a lot just from living there for a few months. He used to call me and share some of this frustrations of not knowing the language, people using him for language exchange and not being treated fairly as a foreigner. Hmmmmmmmmm, sounds awfully familiar.
I believe it was his experience living abroad that helped him to understand my needs during my operation this summer. He finally understood how isolating it can feel living in a foreign country by yourself. i hope he can return to finish his assignment after Miss Rona leaves us alone.
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