Dear Friends,
I hope this e-mail finds you in good health and spirits.
“Time is a River,” the meaning of which I am so used to; it has been already five months since we came home from Korea. It was not long ago spring touched Portland with fully-blossomed flowers but before we have time to enjoy them, the flowers have disappeared from various trees all over the Portland area leaving behind lonely leaves dangling on branches. We had a long wet winter and are now looking forward to a dry spring allowing young and old golfers to explore new and renew old friendships on the green fields.
Since we arrived here in Portland, we have enjoyed spending time with our family, especially with our grandchildren. Helen and I went to Cancun, Mexico in January and had a great time visiting various places such as Chichen Itza and XCaret. We also had a great time with our youngest daughter, Alison and her family at Seabrook, a beach resort along the Pacific Ocean. The trip we made with our oldest daughter, Iris and her family to Sunriver, a beautiful resort place located south of Bend, OR was also memorable. Now our son and his family have moved back to Utah, and we look forward to visiting them in Utah next week, before we leave for Korea.
Helen and I will leave for Seoul at the end of this month since I have been called to report to duty for serving at the KEN Research Center at SeoKyeong University for the period of May through the end of July this year.. This change of dates seems to be a little sudden but fortunately, I am very flexible in managing my time these days.
We will be coming back home late July but as I mentioned to some of you earlier, there is a chance that I may go to Beijing, China to spend some time at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The final decision for this trip won’t be known until May or June of this year. If this works out as expected, I may be out of the country yet again this year.
It is a strange feeling that since I am used to my retirement life here in Portland, the level of energy and anticipation for what should be an attractive and rewarding endeavor as teaching and research is far less exciting than before when I was active. Before my retirement, which wasn’t long ago, I didn’t quite know if I could survive even a day without work to do, but such a sentiment is not true anymore. I have now learned how to deal with life quite differently than when I was working full-time, and what is more interesting is that I actually enjoy the routine of daily life. I am so surprised to find out how easily adaptable I am to my surrounding circumstances, especially when I spend time with my family.
However, I am hopeful that I will be reenergized and try to be useful at least during my active duty in Korea. It always gives me a good feeling to see hard working students who help me feel young again. You will hear from me about the progress I will be making there.
Wishing you always a most productive, healthy and happy journey.
Sincerely, Ken
Trip to Lindon, UT (April 22- 26)
We left home at about 5:00 a.m. in the morning driving our Odyssey on Thursday, April 22. It took nearly 8 hours to get Boise, ID and stayed at Country Inn and Suites Boise West. Since we arrived there at around 2:00 p.m. and had enough time to do some sight seeings, we decided to visit Givens hot springs, which is about 40 miles away from the motel. The warm natural hot springs was quite suitable to swim and helped relax our muscles and minds. There were no one there except us and we had the whole swimming pool to ourselves. Next morning, we left Boise and arrived at Vincent’s home at around 3 p.m. near Boise.
Michael and Christopher are very active in Lacrosse and we attended Michael’s Lacrosse game in the evening. It was our first time to watch the game of Lacrosse and fun to observe how fast the players have to move.
Next morning, Vincent and I had a game of golf at Soldier Hollow Golf Course near Park City where 2002 Winter Olympics was held. The championship, 36-hole facility on the mountain hills offers a great scenery and challenging golf outing. We had a great fun.
It was a great fun to see Vincent, Hyeon-ju and our grandchildren. The house Vincent is living is huge and offers a great view of surrounding mountains. We have taken a few photos, some of which are attached below.
Visit to Sunriver and Smith Rocks
During March 20-23, 2010, Iris and John invited us to Sunriver, a beautiful resort area sough of Bend, OR. On the way to Sunriver, we visited Smith Rock where John proposed to Iris many years ago. We had a great time there.
Visit to Seabrook and Lake Quinault
Alison and Rhett kindly invited us to Seabrook, WA, a beautiful resort area along the Pacific Ocean on Feb 12-14, 2010. Although it rained, we had a great time at Lake Quinault.
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