After traveling by car to Busan, we boarded a ferry to the island. It was something between the ferries we rode in Washington and the ones I rode in Peru.
Our captain told us a lot of stuff over the PA that I'm sure was really fascinating, but it was all in Korean.
Shortly after we docked, we had our first view of the island. This is a massive tidal plain with hundreds of traps of some sort visible in the distance. We arrived at low tide and the plain was muddy and barren-looking, as you can see. Later in the day, when we returned, the tide had come in and the scene looked completely different.
There are a handful of small villages on the island, and we had to walk through one of them. Katie and I were a little relieved to walk through an area that looked as if it hadn't been built within the last 10 years. We walked through a maze of narrow, winding streets until we finally arrived at a rendezvous point where we were picked up by vehicles from the orphanage and transported the rest of the way.
On our walk we saw this enormous pile of garlic. One thing we have learned about Koreans is that they love garlic. Or perhaps they are just really afraid of vampires...
After boarding the vehicles we were whisked up a network of narrow mountain roads past flooded rice paddies. When we arrived at the orphanage, Katie and I expected it to blend right in with everything we had just seen. To our surprise, the orphanage was beautiful and very modern-looking. Much of the grounds were occupied by what looked like giant, brightly-painted McDonald's Playplace equipment. About 80% of So Yang's funding comes from the Korean government. The remaining 20% comes from donations.
After being treated to a lunch of noodle soup and rice, we all gathered for a worship service. The worship was led by a combination of the Hanbit worship team and older students from the orphanage. There are approximately 120 orphans at So-Yang at any given time, and, in addition to a number of other skills, they must all learn to play an instrument. As the result, their "orchestra" was actually quite good.
In this shot you can see a number of the older children at the orphanage. They were extremely well-behaved, and helped set up and take down everything for the service.
From left to right: Arriane, Evan, Chi Hyung-Shik (director of So Yang), Erica, Nancy, Allen, Katie, and me. We are standing in front of a massive wooden house, unlike any other we have seen in Korea. The house is home to the director and his wife, but also contains a large recreational area for the children and guest quarters for visitors staying at the orphanage for extended periods.
The Hanbit group posed for this shot just before leaving. You can visit So Yang's website at http://www.lovesoyang.org/.
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