VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE

I met some of THE MOST wonderful people while in Korea...here are a few mentionables....

Beloved Mr. Yoo - or as we all called him, "Driver Yoo." He's married and has 6 daughters! they kept trying for a boy, but ended up with all girls! He's worked for Holt for over 25 years, starting as a bus driver for Holt's School; and now is Molly's personal driver.  I'll never forget Driver Yoo driving Molly and I back to Ilsan from Seoul after an event.  It was late at night and Molly fell asleep in the front passenger seat.  Mr. Yoo broke the silence asking her a question and startled Molly out of her sleep so bad, she nearly snapped her neck off! I'm in the backseat trying REALLY hard not to laugh out loud! 

Mrs. Lim, the head house mother in Molly's home.  She HATES getting her picture taken, so for her to allow me to take this ONE picture of her was truly a gift! She's an amazing woman! I'll never forget her in the swan boat with Molly and Martin holding Soo Hee...she thought I was going to be able to go along in her boat and help her paddle...but the boat worker wouldn't let me, so she had to go it alone...he shoves the boat away from the dock and all I can hear is Mrs. Lim saying, "OOoohhh MELINDA!" 

Ms. Lee, the next house mother in charge in Molly's house. She's a wonderful cook and bakes really good bread! She has the most adorable giggle you've ever heard! I'll never forget the day she took the message from KBS for me, about people coming forward claiming to be birth family.  Her little post-it note and my non-reaction until Molly came home and made it more clear what she was trying to tell me. 

Ms. Choi works in the office at Ilsan, she's the English translator for almost everyone in the office.  She's a wonderful asset for them to have! She helped me so many times with photocopies, faxes, scans, e-mails... I'll never forget her taking me out to dinner and having one of THE HOTTEST dishes I've ever eaten! and her sitting across the table from me and saying, "it's not that spicy..." as I was sweating buckets! 

Mr. Lee - the Holt Ilsan Town photographer and pastor's son.  He always seemed to be lurking around with a rather large camera, snapping shots of you when you least expected it. I couldn't get my video burned onto a DVD that their DVD player would play...I finally went to him, since time was running out, and I wanted to present it at my going away party.  I didn't mean to make it his problem, but he stayed till 8pm in the office the night before my going away party until he finally got the problem solved (for me).  That's Mr. Lee for you...

This is Mrs. Park, but her first name is Kkod Song - "Kkod" meaning "flower," so her nickname in the office in English is Mrs. Flower.  She scheduled all of our events we went along with the residents on - to the theater, the flower show, Voices of the Soul concerts...she made sure we were included in all the special events that took place at/for Ilsan Town.  I gave her the flowers on the window sill when she returned to work after a horrible bout with morning sickness, she's expecting her second child.  She truly was surprised I would do such a thing for her. 

And those are just a handful of the many people I met during my 4 months in Korea.