Weado/Geoje-do

The week before last, I went with my smaller school on a field trip to Geoge-do. We went to see Weado, a island that had been totally landscaped, and visited the POW camp memorial.

From Wikipedia:
Koje-do Island - a prison camp where over 170,000 communist and non-communist prisoners were held from December 1950 until June 1952. Throughout 1951 and early 1952, upper-level communist agents infiltrated and conquered much of Koje section-by-section by uniting fellow communists, bending dissenters to their will through staged trials and public executions, and exporting allegations of abuse to the international community to benefit the communist negotiation team. In May 1952, Chinese and North Korean prisoners at Koje Island rioted and took Brigadier General Francis T. Dodd captive.

So it was a bit of a strange day, to say the least.

The boat ride TO the island was lovely, and it was a beautiful day. Some pictures of plants and kids:

This is a shot of the entire school. Yes, ALL students (and the English teachers. Don't ask, I don't know why either.)


Grade three. All girls, brilliant and SUPER cool.




The principal and me


Some of the gardens


A couple of teachers would "pose" in what I thought was a bit incongruous with the background. I was called over and... well, forced is too strong, but "encouraged" to do a "cutie" pose. So here I am, "cutie" in front of the memorial for the POW camp. I maybe have been in Korea for too long. But not so long that I don't find it more than a little inappropriate.


Anyone know where Grandpa was stationed? I was wondering that the whole time I went through the exhibit. I was given the opportunity to try to explain "propaganda" to my co-teacher, and I really did learn a lot. There is so much I don't know about the history of this country.