Christmas Letter 2009

December 20, 2009

Dear Friends,

This year has been a special year for the Hans. Helen has just celebrated her 70th birthday; it consists of 21 years without me and 49 years with me. We met in 1960 when I was a senior at Seoul National University and she was a sophomore at Ehwa Women’s University. We dated for more than 6 years before getting married in Berkeley in 1967. Iris and Vincent were born in Berkeley, and Iris celebrated her 40th birthday this year. Alison was born in Melbourne when I was an inexperienced but hard working lecturer at Monash University.

In March this year, we had the pleasure to visit Melbourne and renewed our old friendship there. Berkeley provided us with a humble but happy beginning ground of our family and it was Melbourne where our family started building the foundation. Rapid City is the place where our family grew and solidified our family bonds. Visiting Melbourne brought back many fond memories. We were very surprised with so many changes Melbourne has gone through over the few decades, since we left. The Korean old saying, “a decade brings changes to even mountains and rivers” reminded us how truthful the statement is.

The summer of 2009 was an exceptionally special year to us since Alison, our youngest daughter finally decided to spend her remaining journey in this world with Mr. Rhett Bickford. A humble but joyful wedding ceremony took place on August 8, 2009 at Seabrook in the state of Washington. It was a simple but most happy family event on a quiet beach of the Pacific Ocean. Alison keeps working at her company with a high responsibility and great satisfaction in helping her clients.

We have been enjoying baby-sitting for our grand-children, Lia and Alex. Lia goes to kindergarten and learns things much faster than when I was a child at her age. I feel that children of the modern age are much smarter than the old generation. It must also be the good example set by her parents, Iris and John. Alex thinks that his best friend is “papa”, so I claim. Iris is a good doctor helping all kinds of children with pride and humility.

Vincent, our son is doing exceptionally well with his job, has taken a new assignment, and will move back to Utah with a more responsible position at a reputable company. My girls quietly mention that Vincent will be the richest person in the Hans very soon. Michael, his oldest son is now as tall as his dad and Chris is a math wiz taking after his dad. James’ swimming skills has improved to another level this year and his talent in music continuously grows. Kara also shows her musical and artistic talents, which runs in the Han family. Their mother, Hyeonju has become an excellent student in her college.

My assignment at SeoKyeong University has been to help the KEN Research Center to become a leading research institute in the area of environmental research with the help of nano-technology. I had the pleasure of helping a dozen students with reading and writing scientific literature. It was a pleasant experience reinforcing the concept that hard work always pays off in the end with rewards being self-satisfaction.

Thanks to the generosity of the Korean Government, we stayed in a hotel in the Kang-nam area, the heart of Seoul. Helen particularly liked this arrangement since she was free from housekeeping for three months. She spent many days visiting with her 95 year old mother and her several close friends. It was nice for her to renew the friendship with old friends and she appreciated much with the time she spent with her mother and sister. She is happy to be back home in Portland and enjoys her family and grandchildren.

Many of you know me as being lucky maintaining a healthy body but no one can prevail against getting old. I have been running in the morning nearly 365 days a year for the past 30 plus years but had to stop doing this while in Korea. I had pain in my right hip which was later diagnosed as “spondylolisthesis”, a condition in which a bone in the lower part of the spine slips forward and onto a bone below it. After receiving five “manual therapy” sessions, I feel much better but my pain has not disappeared. I have been carrying out six different stretching exercise routines every day and have to continue this for months. Until then, there will be no more golfing, which is the saddest part of all.

The year has been very enjoyable and we thank you for your continuous support and kind friendship you have extended to us. We wish you and your family the best holiday season.

Sincerely,

Helen and Kenneth