Emmeline, look at these deer! Bekah and I went walking around Incheon after getting settled at Derek and Ashley’s apartment. Our feet took us downtown, where a nice young woman told us that there was a large park near downtown. So we went.
It was a park, Emmeline, but not a playground. We didn’t see any swings or slides, but we did see something you would have liked. There were about ten deer in an enclosure in the park, and the kids there were feeding them grass.

There was also a very small library, in a little glass box of a room in the park.

Books, For EMM

Bekah and I are flying back to Korea, with a brief rainy stop at an airport in Hefei. Hopefully Incheon will be drier in this time. Boarding now.

For EMM

This is the first time in a couple days, since the day before we left Liupanshui, that we’ve had wifi access. I’ve been writing a little bit each time we have some downtime waiting for something, knowing that we’d eventually be somewhere that would let me upload it. If you’re interested, look back through the last few pages of this blog to see what we’ve been doing.

Tomorrow morning we’re leaving China, flying back to Incheon. This time I’ll have a sister and friend with me. It brings back memories of leaving Spain, and closing that chapter. Bekah and I have talked about how leaving a place that you’ve learned to live in means that a lot of the specialized knowledge that you’ve developed is now useless, or at best lies dormant in a forgotten corner of your mind.

All my knowledge about how to navigate Barcelona’s streets, or the metro/subway map that’s burned into my mind, and how to bank, and especially the Catalan language–all of that is in my head but unused. For Bekah it’ll be the same, of course. That knowledge will find some application, but it will still feel like a key with no lock.

For EMM

After walking up many many steps, Bekah and I stayed at a monastery near the top of the mountain. It’s a Buddhist monastery that was established sometime before the 16th century, and is now a popular walking destination for people who live in this area. Most people walk up and down in the same day, but we thought it would be interesting to stay the night.

In these pictures, Emmeline, you can see some of the steps that we walked up, and some of the mountains around the one we were walking on. There was also a man who was carrying a load of bricks up the steps. He carried a stick to help him climb, and when he took a rest he put that stick under his basket like a chair with just one leg. He was resting about every 10 or 15 steps when we passed him.

You can also see some of the shrines and temples along the path.

This is the room we stayed in. It was small, about the size your parents’ bedroom in our house. At night they put this net around the beds to keep the bugs out.

For EMM

Emmeline, an abacus is something that people sometimes use to count. I had never seen one used until this man in the restaurant used this one to count up our bill. We ate dinner there at the monastery and then sat in the courtyard with some of the other people who were staying the night.

For EMM