thank you for your help

Ken received the following email the other day.


-----Original Message-----
From: US Embassy - Seoul [mailto:seoul_acs@state.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 10:47 AM
To: Adcock, Ken
Subject: Anti-Government Demonstrations in South Korea


The U.S. Embassy in Seoul is transmitting the following information
through the Embassy's warden system as a public service to all U.S.
citizens in the Republic of Korea. Please disseminate this message to
U.S. citizens in your organizations or to other Americans you know.

The U.S. Embassy urges American citizens throughout the Republic of
Korea to exercise caution during demonstrations and vigils protesting
the resumption of American beef imports and the policies of the Korean
Government. The protests, which began eight weeks ago, have become more
violent in recent days. Korean authorities stated on June 29 that they
would crack down further on violent protesters. They have begun using
water cannon and fire extinguishers to stop the advance of demonstrators
and have stated that they reserve the right to use tear gas.

Up to this point the demonstrations have not been overtly anti-American
in nature, but American citizens are nevertheless strongly urged to
avoid the areas of the protests and to exercise extreme caution if
within the vicinity of demonstrators. The center of protests in Seoul
has thus far been Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall, with demonstrators
frequently attempting to move north along Sejongno toward the Blue
House, the Presidential residence.

American citizens should stay current with media coverage of local
events and be aware of their surroundings at all times. The U.S.
Embassy in Seoul will continue to keep the American citizen community
informed of any changes in the overall security situation via this email
system and the Embassy websites at http://seoul.usembassy.gov and
www.asktheconsul.org.

The Embassy encourages all U.S. citizens to register their presence in
Korea with the American Citizens Services office at the U.S. Embassy or
via the Internet at
http://travel.state.gov/travel/abroad_registration.html or
http://www.asktheconsul.org/.


I know that this has been going on for the past couple of months, but so far, in Okpo at least, I haven't experienced anything I would say was anti-American. In fact, let me tell you about my experience last Sunday.

Ken had gone to play golf on Sunday. The weather had been rainy but around 12:30 it cleared up and I decided to take advantage of having the car to get out of the house. Since we don't have Target, or Marshalls, or Dillard's, or Pottery Barn, or TJ Maxx, or Anthropologie, or - I think you get the idea - I decided to head out to take some pictures. I took a route along the coastline where we had been a few weeks previously. I wanted to get some pictures of the rice fields I had seen
and possibly go to some beaches. I came to a beach that had a gravel clearing beside it for parking. I parked, walked down, took a couple of pictures
and decided to head out. But when I tried to back up, my car wouldn't move. I got out to look under the car and couldn't really see anything of significance that should hinder my car from moving. At that time, an older man was driving by in a small truck. He stopped, looked under the car and proceeded to get a big rope out and attach it to the back of my car. We gave it a try, but my car wouldn't budge. He motioned to me to wait and he would be back. He returned with a little tractor of sorts.




Once again, he attached the rope to his tractor and we gave it another try. Once again, it hardly budged.
He then set out in the direction of the beach and returned with some men. They opened the hood and assessed the situation. They then tried to lift and/or push the car. But no luck. With the hood open, I could see a rock sticking up into the engine area. By then, a couple of women had arrived on the scene. One of them might have been his wife. I forgot to mention that Ken had accidentally left his cell phone at home, so I hadn't tried to call him. However, I have an "emergency card" in my wallet with phone numbers of people to call on his project and such. I called the number for Hertz (where we have our car rented) and got someone who spoke Korean. I handed the phone to the man and he talked for awhile. Then the lady talked to them for awhile. By then, a wrecker that apparently the man had told to come arrived. I think the man told them my car was a rental and they left. We all settled down to wait for relief.


Not knowing what to say or do, I took a couple of pictures of the area.





Our numbers had increased - there was now a little boy
(the older woman explained with her hands that he was eleven and big for his age) and girl and another man on the scene. I tried to motion that they didn't need to stay but maybe they wanted to be on hand to see what the American woman with the curly hair (it was quite humid) would do next.



By then, Ken had arrived home and called me. I told him I would call when I was on my way home. Somewhere along the line the eldest lady started patting me on the shoulder and for some reason it made me a little teary. Not crying or anything, just eyes welling up a little. It can be frustrating in another country when you cannot speak the language. I was just so thankful for their help. Not that I couldn't have called someone to help, but it was sweet of them to come to my aid without even asking.
The wrecker arrived. It raised the front of my car up and there was a piece of concrete with rebar (is that how you spell it?) tangled up around it. I guess the rebar had caught the underneath of my car because the concrete wasn't very large. I actually think the episodes of trying to pull my car back caused the piece of concrete to rise up and get further up under the engine. He assured me my car was okay and I was free to head home, as was everyone else. I hope I didn't offend the man that came to my rescue. I tried to give him some money but he wouldn't take it. So all I could do was to bow to everyone and say thank you. I didn't stop to take any pictures on the way home.