I have been learning so much. The national cemetery was so beautiful and really gave me some perspective as to how many lost their lives in this war. Koreans are so grateful to Americans. I told my husband that I visited this cemetery and he told me his late father had fought in the Korean War. I did not even know that until this morning. He said his father never talked about it. The museum at the cemetery had great pictures and displays, although everything was written in Hangul so we were not able to learn as much as we could have had it been in English as well (many of the museums do have English translations).

The Independence Memorial Hall was beautiful and very touching. Here, I realized just how badly the Koreans were tortured by Japan from the 1880s through WWII. Despite having declared their independence in 1919, Japan continued to dominate Koreans until the 1940s. You wouldn't believe some of the torture tactics used by the Japanese. We asked several Koreans how they feel about the Japanese today and the standard answer is that Japanese relations are good today. "We can forgive them but we cannot forget," is the general mentality.

Japan stole a lot of things from Korea and they have yet to apologize or return these things. I don't know how the Koreans can stand it. In fact, during Japan's control of Korea, a Korean ran in the Olympics and won a marathon. The press faded out the Japanese flag in runner's photographic which was printed in the paper. There is still a dispute today as to whether that Olympic metal belongs to Korea or Japan.

General thoughts on Koreans...

They are such loyal people who really put family, country, customs and traditions first and foremost. I guess that comes from having to defend themselves from invadors for so long. Despite all this, Korea is currently the 11th richest country in the nation, and fastly growing. They are persistent and hard working people and I guess it makes sense why they push their students so hard (too hard in my opinion).

I think the way Koreans treat their elders is admirable and we in the U.S. could use to learn a few things from the Koreans in this matter.

Women's roles are still very traditional and men control things. Women don't seem to have much say in matters but on the flip side, men carry all of the stress and aren't supposed to share stress, hardships or fear with anyone including their wives. We did, however, meet one couple yesterday who was very modern and seemed like an American couple. They seemed to be they exception rather than the rule.

Well, that's enough rambling for now. I just wanted to share a few random thoughts while they were still fresh in my mind. We've learned so much in the last few days and I don't want to forget any of this.

skf