It is Saturday and The Kim Family invited to take us on a tour which turned out to be a full day driving and sight seeing. Our Destination was The Peace Park and the DMZ. Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. The trip was very informative as we learned about the history of the conflict and how the rest of the Western World including Canada were involved. It is somewhat ironic that we viewed the Peace Park and The DMZ all in one day. The Peace Dam is located in the Peace Park. This dam was built some 30 years ago I understood in response to a North Korean threat to blow up one of their dams so that much of South Korea would be destroyed. The dam is a huge 265 meter high block of concrete closing off the valley between two mountain ranges. At the Peace Park you will find many exhibits of other people involved. Folks who hold Nobel Peace Prizes are featured at the park. The Peace Bell is some 8 feet high and 1 foot thick. It is made entirely with melted down bullets from around the world. Our own Gordon Janzen who works with MC Canada had a shell from Israel in his possession and he donated it along with a letter explaining where it came from. The Bullet and Letter are on display.

 The Han River that runs from NK through much of Northern SK and ends in the Ocean near Seoul.

 Miles of tunnels help so that we did not need to travel up and down and around every mountain. The longest tunnel we passed through is 5 KM.

 

 A city along the way to the Peace Park

 Rice being dried along the road way. Some Cars were driving over the grain because there was no other place to drive.

 We stopped to see Kyong Jung's Mother and his sister and her husband

 These are tank blocks. Each block is loaded with a bag of dynamite that can be set off dropping the big concrete blocks onto the road to spot all traffic including tanks that might be a threat

 An observation deck along the river

 This is the Peace Dam

 265 Meters high and very little water being held back.

 Only these small drainage channels allow the water to freely in small amounts.

 The Peace Bell made from bullets.

 For a small donation you can ring the bell.

 Kyong Jung shaking hands with Gorbachev's hand sticking out of the picture. Tutu's picture in the for front.

 

 This is the bullet that Gordon Janzen donated to the Peace Park

 This is the registration Office where we had to get permission to enter the DMZ area. At the next checkpoint we had to show passports and were inspected by the military. Pictures of soldiers not permitted.

 Weapons on Display at the Registration Office

 Rice field ready for harvest.

 The Punch Bowl is the area looking up to the DMZ. It is a very fertile bowl like piece of land siting within 5 Km of NK.

 The road was very crooked. one time it said 99 curves in the next fourteen KMs

 The steepest grade we saw was 18%. The brakes on the van started to smell hot.

 This is the observation Deck at the DMZ. SK is on the left side of the picture and NK is in the right.

 We stopped at a Burger Joint along the ride home.

 Back to Chuncheon. where we did a little shopping before we headed back to Gotan-ri.



On Friday Jerry slipped and twisted his  ankle and Branden is still having headaches so we both had a treatment from Kyong Jung's Brother a chiropractor who drove out from Seoul. It helped my leg and we hope the same for Branden.

 

It is Friday of our second week here in SK but only the first week of work. Today we poured the walls and build more components for the walls of the first and second floor. We had a great team of volunteers today so things went well.

 

 First a lesson on what to do during the pour in English and then a lesson in Korean. Not sure if the lessons were the same.

 Kyong Jung runs the hose.

 

Vibrating with a 1x4.

 

 Pounding walls to remove the honeycomb.

 The bus ride back for lunch.

Lunch is always a great spread with new tastes. Today we had Squid Soup and Quail Eggs.

 Another time to text. Good thing we don't have internet service on the job site.

 Another text to the lady over seas.

 Yoonsang makes a sign with peace.

The wall components are being readied for   framing after the slab gets poured..

The first couple pictures are the view to the east and west of our north facing apartment. What a gorgeous view we are blessed with.

 The work keeps us busy all day and the evenings are for rest.

 Branden has been having headaches for several months so Kyong Jung's  brother a Chiropractor  gave him a treatment out on the work site so we did not lose any time travelling to the doctor. Branden almost cried but he is ready for another treatment on Saturday.

 The temporary wash house will be a welcomed addition to the building site.

 

After many hours of bracing and bracing we think we are about ready to pour the walls. The pour is set for 10:00 am on Friday.

It was a tough day in the trenches. The pour turned out well and we set up the rented wall forms today and started bracing them. It will take another day to get the bracing done. Oh where are those Styrofoam Forms we were so used to. Each day someone from the office or one of the families of the church comes out and prepares food for all of us. The work is hard for us old folks but we are making progress. We thank the Lord for another day of safe work.

 It's a long way down to the footings for this old man.

 Branden with his thoughts some miles away.

 Just a little more and we will have it straight.

 

Tomorrow is a Country Holiday, one that would be equivalent to our July 1st. So we will work but most of the Korean volunteers will have family time. We hope to be ready to pour on Friday.

We started our day a bit earlier since the pour was to happen at 7:30 AM. The pumper truck arrived on time and the first load of concrete arrived shortly after and by 8:30 9 Cubic Meters of concrete was placed and the scretting could begin. After the pour was completed several other volunteers showed up so we began cutting and nailing wall components.

 

 Great equipment serving us.

 The remote control worked so well in placing the concrete.

 Branden found his niche----NOT. After working with the concrete he has determined to go back to school. Good Idea.

 Suhyun is a volunteer that works with us and stays in our apartment with us as well. He too is learning new skills that may push him to find a career that he might like better.

 Doreen packing only one form at a time.

 Ellen and her church sister working a hammer for the first time. We are keeping the big Air Nailer away for now.

 Branden working with the chop saw cutting wall components for others to nail together.

 Everyone helps and the job gets done.

 Grace, (Kyong Jung and Ellen's daughter) becoming a builder. Most of the volunteers have never build anything and know only a few words of English. We know only a couple words of Korean. So we teach construction by showing and let everyone use their own words to describe what is happening. Challenging but fun.

With the first pour behind us we are learning  how things works here in SK. It was a lovely dry day with temperatures in the mid 20's or higher. Tomorrow we start setting the wall forms. They use a different style than we have ever used so we get to learn something new again.