I first met my wife's mother in a neighboring cafe after a few days in Seoul. It was a prearranged meeting and I wore a business suit. My prospective bride was a little nervous since apparently a lot depended on the face to face meeting. It went surprisingly well. I thought her mother to be a very delightful, good looking lady who was quite trim by our standards and had a pleasant and friendly manner. We seemed to have hit it off well, and after the brief lunch encounter, everyone relaxed somewhat. The report to Dad must have been reasonably favorable because soon thereafter, an early evening meeting at our hotel restaurant was arranged. All parties, including my Korean acquaintance from the States, were to be present. The day came and upon the agreed on hour we met. There was plenty of food, mostly appetizers, side dishes, plus drinks for everyone and after the introductions there was a lot of small talk. Then, being a bit more relaxed the parents got more serious. They were concerned for their daughter, and naturally wanted to know some basic questions about what my plans were and how I was going to support and maintain their daughter. My aim was to be forthright with them and to provide them reasonably accurate responses, since I could well understand their concerns and questions. I think they sensed that, even though my answers had to be translated, but we maintained eye contact and body language that sometimes made an actual reply almost unnecessary. I liked her Dad who had wavy hair and a nice disposition. I felt his normal temperament was not to be an ogre, but a concerned father instead, and I could easily see that he was very fond of his daughter. In a way I felt sorry for taking his daughter away because I knew he would miss her and probably worry about her welfare and well being. The meeting lasted for over two hours and when it was over I truly believe we had their blessing, albeit with some hesitation and a bit of reservation.
 
 

We were married a few days later, a feat that consumed several days just processing paperwork and going from one office to another for various forms, legalities and payments. Part of this approval process was due to the fact that I was an American civilian as opposed to being in the military, which would have been a simple and quick procedure. Still we had been alert enough to employ a special Korean agency that dealt in these and emigration matters, so that with their assistance, knowledge and connections the process though lengthy, was much simplified nevertheless. Finally the Korean part of the paperwork was signed and sealed and we were technically and legally married. Then it was up to me to certify and record that fact with our Embassy, a process which again took a lot of paperwork and waiting, but was reasonably expeditious. We finally received the authorized signatures and sealed papers which meant we were legally and officially married in both countries. We were happy and proceeded to arrange for our honeymoon.
 
 
 
 

All countries have their favorite honeymoon spots, some of ours being Niagara Falls, or Las Vegas or Hawaii, while in Korea, the place to go is Cheju Island. That is exactly what we did, except the wife at flight departure time was slightly delayed by an overzealous security guard who thought there was a minor error on her personal identification card. That is one thing that is quite different from us. Everyone there has to have an ID card and it better be up-to-date and accurate, or else the person can face many problems. Part of that stems from the fact that, as previously mentioned, both Koreas are technically still at war with each other, having signed an armistice but not a peace treaty, and from time to time North Korean agents infiltrate the country and caused disruption and death. That is also why there are scheduled periodic invasion dry runs, where sirens wail and everyone takes shelter, all traffic stops and you cannot leave the building you are in until the all clear sounds, usually some thirty or so minutes later. We had several such experiences. One was the time that we visited the Science Museum in Seoul. It was an interesting visit with many active displays as one would expect to find in any top notch science museum. Just as we were about ready to leave, the sirens wailed and we spent the next forty-five minutes waiting for the all clear. Another time was when we were in the Southern part of the country, and had climbed down to the beaches off some rocky winding, narrow paths from the above cliffs. Suddenly the sirens wailed and everyone quickly had to clear the beaches. As we hurriedly retraced our steps up, Korean soldiers were racing down past us. I guess they take their drills seriously.
 
 

We landed in Cheju, near the Capital of the Island which incidentally has the same name. It was a quaint city with both modern hotels and typical tourist attractions, including many restaurants, discos, movies, and shop lined streets. We were told by the local hotel staff, that the best thing to do to see the Island and enjoy our stay, was to rent a taxi for the week, which in fact we did. The cabby called for us in the lobby every morning at a preset time and began to drive us first to one site and then in succession to most of the other historic, scenic, and noted places on the Island. There were many shrines, temples, views of women pearl divers, and because it is an Island of volcanic origin, tours below the surface where we followed the cooled walls of the actual lava flows some thousands of years earlier. There was also a visit to a "native village" since the Island had a long history of being apart from the main Peninsula and had in its early days developed a society and culture all of its own, much of it centering around volcanic gods, somewhat akin to Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. It was a very pleasant and relaxing visit, although for about two days it flurried a little. We must have chosen the worst time of the year, because normally it is a warm area, being Southernmost and we were told they even grow bananas and pineapple. Still that did not bother us any, after all it was our honeymoon. We spent an extra week there since we enjoyed it so much and then somewhat reluctantly flew back to Seoul.
 
 

We found a nice local hotel in a different part of the city, close to a former palace that now is a museum. A short walk down the street were a number of local shops and a few more blocks down was the main shopping street. It was fun to window shop and also to stop in and buy something. I found that the shop owners did not mind bargaining a bit, and most seemed to enjoy the give and take. I had learned the Korean word for, "how much is it," and usually ended up with a twenty percent discount. My wife was amazed that I could succeed even in brand name stores, where she said, local people never expect a discount. She was even more surprised when I brought her some presents in the form of ladies lingerie since she said, in Korea men never go into a woman´s store of this type. No wonder the saleswomen thought it was a lot of fun working with me especially when I tried to describe the size of some intimate apparel without speaking the language. One part of town has a famous tourist shopping area. There the stores specialize in catering to foreigners and often carry larger sizes and styles that appeal to Americans and Westerners in particular. They also carry numerous brand names, many of which are imitations, so that it is up to the buyer to beware. Many American fast food eateries are also on the Avenue, including 31 Flavors where later on, we treated the parents and ourselves to some big, fully loaded sundaes that everyone enjoyed. There are also large multistoried department stores in many parts of the city. They make it enjoyable enough for shoppers to want to spend much time in them. Most have loads of boutiques and specialty sections where on can buy anything from groceries to delicacies. Bakeries, a series of eateries, ice cream shops, a movie and usually on the upper floors a variety of full sized restaurants combine with seven or eight floors of normal department store fare to keep one in good spirits, well occupied and naturally, spending a lot. The sales help is extremely well trained, and the rule that, "the customer is always right," is strictly enforced.
 
 

It was at just such a department store, in downtown Seoul that my soon to be spouse took me to about the third day we met, and before we were married. After looking around for a few hours and having a snack, I was in the mood to buy her something, but she was not interested. I coaxed her and said lets just take a look at it, heading in what I thought was the right direction, when upon turning around, she had simply vanished. I looked in this aisle and in that aisle, for about thirty minutes when it dawned on me that she had just up and left me. It was my introduction to the famous Korean temperament from which the Irish could take lessons. Unfortunately not speaking the language, I had a bit of trouble locating a taxi since the stores are usually jammed, and many people "cab" it. Finally I found one and then had even more trouble explaining which hotel I needed to return to. After a few hours, my sweetheart called me and spoke as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, she just went home.
 
 

Months later, when we returned to Seoul we visited another department store, near the site of the future Olympic games. After shopping for awhile and having lunch, we noticed that there was a gallery on the upper floor and an exhibit of children´s book art in progress. We viewed the various original artist´s paintings and the wife particularly liked one painting. We inquired with the staff if any were for sale and they told us, no and that we were the first persons to ask. After explaining our interest, the staffer said he would call the artist, which he did and about an hour later we had agreed to buy the piece and negotiated the price. We had to wait another week, however until the exhibit was over to pick it up. It was a Sunday evening and when we went to the Gallery, the artists who had exhibited their works were having a celebration to close a very successful exhibit with close to a million viewers having seen it. We were introduced to the artist, who was a middle aged, mature gentleman and was very pleasant and friendly. I too liked another of his works and asked if he would relinquish that for a like amount. He inquired if we were taking them back to America with us and when we nodded he agreed. But I was not through yet. There was another painting by a different artist that I also liked. I prevailed on the artist who had just sold us his two original works to ask his colleague about letting us have his work. He said all right and went over to speak to his fellow artist. Apparently he said something nice because the artist came over and met us and agreed. Later, the wife explained that the second artist really did very few paintings of his own since he was mainly a writer, which apparently made his works all the scarcer.
 
 

After our honeymoon on Cheju Island and subsequent return to Seoul, I called on the Embassy to find out more about filing for a Visa for my wife so that she could accompany me to the States. Upon filling out the required forms, I was told that the petition had to be filed in my district, back home, namely Denver. There seemed to be no choice and I had to plan to return briefly to Colorado to file the papers. I made arrangements and left some three weeks after our marriage to go back home. I arrived, sorted through some pressing mail, made numerous calls, tried to catch up on my finances, checked with various people on services done or promised, and prepared to go to Denver to file the necessary papers that I had prepared in the meantime. It was a hectic time at home for me. In Denver the Immigration Official informed me that a Visa permit for my wife could take from six to ten months, since apparently adjudication would be coming from Lincoln, Nebraska through Denver to the American Embassy in Seoul, who would then issue a passport depending on their schedule and procedure. A few weeks later I was off again, back to Korea and to my spouse. This time when I landed at Kimpo Airport, the whole family was there to greet me, which made me feel very welcome indeed.
 
 

STORY TWO, dear reader has surely gotten you back on track and left you ever so gently in deep slumber in no time flat. So, when you complete this one, please do turn to STORY THREE for your next relaxing bout. Thank you.