Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I take the bus to Seoul for Korean language classes. UBE is located in the countryside about 15 minutes from Cheonan city.
This is what the scenery looks like while I am waiting for the bus...
And this is a side street in Seoul in Gangnam-Gu, the area where the Seoul Korean Language Academy is located...

Both have different kinds of energy. Seoul is very active and fast and, here at UBE, it's very quiet and easy to connect with nature. Experiencing both is good training for me. Every time I travel to Seoul, I am reminded that we cannot always choose our surroundings or the people around us, but we can choose how we want to react. By changing ourselves, I believe, we can have an impact on the world.

In my last blog, I talked about how the Canadians on the Korean Meditation Tour will join in the opening celebration of a new park here at Kookhakwon/UBE. I made an error in naming the park--it will be a Korean cultural and historical park.

Preparations are underway for the park. There is lots of construction, landscaping, and other work going on. I watched a group of men make these totem poles over a couple of days. The totems started out looking like this...
And now they look like this...

The totems say, "Honk Ik In Gahn, E-Wha Saegae" in traditional Korean letters, which translates to "Widely Benefiting Humanity, Everything-Harmonious World".
These statues represent figures significant to Korean history. Their faces look real to me. They are patiently standing (or sitting) in a parking lot waiting to be painted gold.

This is my favourite one...


And there will be statues representing different saints throughout the history of the world...


I think all of these figures have something to share. I wonder what they would tell us if they could? If we listened, each of us would probably hear a different kind of message. The message I received was to keep going and to share what I am learning with others.