Their generosity knew no bounds and they were happy to take DW and me on day trips, to visit parts of their beautiful country.
The Cho family primarily met with us to introduce their two sons to Westerners, so that they could become familiar with us and our language. We didn't teach them English: only the mother in the family could converse directly with us.
But in time, they became good friends and we enjoyed our time together, sharing our varied cultures.
One day, in the summer of 1997, the six of us ventured to a small fortress town, about an hour south of Chonju. The name was Gochang. Mr. Cho was an avid photographer, and captured this image of DW and me, was we walked along the top of the wall that surrounded this fortress.
We saw the Cho family only once, after we returned to Canada. They took a Canadian tour with a busload of fellow Koreans, and their journey had them stop for only 12 hours in Ottawa. We met them when they stopped for dinner, and we took them back to our house for a brief visit, to see our first infant daughter.
That was in 2001.
We exchanged a few e-mail messages after then, but then we lost touch.
I miss my Korean friends. I wonder how they are doing today.
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