From: Peter Wynne-Willson <pwynne@knua.net

Date: 18^th December 1999

Subject: Just a dong at twilight

Seoul now, the end is near..., annyong merrily on high, this is my Sonsaengnim, you're the Won that I want, Korea to eternity and all the others from the same songbuk.....

I have just finished a gruelling round of goodbyes, with much incontinent thanking, presents [Cadbury's Chocolate Bears that Ali brought] and some very hurried planning for the future. They want me to

come back, and it may be that I will - the leading idea being to bring a

company here in 2001, and to do a collaborative project. I have thoroughly enjoyed the work here, but am keen that if I did come back it

would be to do something which is a development, rather than a repeat. At this particular moment it is nice to think about coming home, and perhaps doing a similar thing some time in the reasonably distant future, perhaps somewhere else, where I could start on a fresh list of puns. I've done Korea now. On the other hand, the thought of a refresher burst of bowing and boundless respect, every now and then, when a Year 12 workshop has been a little bruising, will I'm sure seem appealing.

I haven't got time or energy to sum up much but.... Korea's omnipresent

slogan is 'Land of the Morning Calm' - the translation of 'Chosun', a previous name for the peninsula. This for me ranks up there with 'Coventry - the city in Shakespeare Country' and 'Balham - Gateway to the South' for inappropriateness. I have been toying with variations, Land of the Warming Floor, Land of the Monoxide Cloud - I think 'Land of the Madding Crowd' is my favourite. It is an exhaustingly packed place, which I have been in like a lost sock in a washing machine, bundled through it's whole cycle. I think I will hold onto more vivid pictures than I would have thought possible in just ten weeks, and it is strange now that the last few have gone so fast, when early on it seemed that time had been caught in a great smog-bound gridlock, and reduced to walking pace. We are getting ready for one final push through the ignoble strife on Monday morning. I am preparing now for my

reverse culture-shock from coming home. The positive relaxation and solitude of pre-christmas New Street. Sudden total lack of interest in Jim and Eddie. No bowing, no 'yes, Peter Sonsaengnim', no Yumi to turn to to explain what it all means.

I am looking forward to seeing you all. We are relatively unchanged by the experience, and you will still recognise me by my mandarin moustache, little goatee beard, grey padded cotton pyjama suit, my cellphone and my walkman. Mrs Professor still walks at a decent distance behind me, carrying both children strapped to her back while sweeping the floor with a short-handled broom. Eddie and Jim are unchanged except for the heavy bruising of the pinch-marks on all soft areas. I have also acquired eastern wisdom, and if you show me appropriate respect, I will impart it to you.

Token news from this last week. Eddie's front tooth came out, just in time for him to learn, 'All I want for Cwithmath....' He recieved a pound and a thousand won. Ali has been out on some extremely intrepid sorties across the city with both boys. A fantastic children's museum, some palaces, theme parks, markets. The weather finally got to face-aching level. This last weekend will be just Christmas Shopping and packing, with a Traditional Dance evening thrown in tonight [Saturday].

Think of us if you will from 5.00am-4.30pm your time on Monday, back past Beijing, across the Gobi Desert, Mongolia Siberia St Petersburg. Hope that the car starts in Heathrow long-stay, and see you all very soon.

With much love from

Pete