Finding Our Way: A Newlywed Couple's Peace Corps Odyssey in 1960s Korea

In the summer of 1967 a young couple departs home and family in Southern California to embark on a grand adventure. Finding Our Way chronicles two years of their life together as Peace Corps Volunteers in South Korea. Living with a host Korean family, they discover the patterns and rhythms of everyday life in a country whose culture and customs are unfamiliar. Stationed in Taegu, Korea’s third largest city, they introduce spoken English to Korean middle school students. As guests in a foreign land they face cultural dilemmas, embrace adventures of discovery, experience trying times and build lifelong friendships.

Korea in the late 1960s was emerging from decades of Japanese occupation, and a devastating war with cultural neighbors and political enemies in the North. It was a time of economic hardship for much of the population as the country worked to establish itself in a competitive world. As the author is introduced to local traditions, the couple develops insights into their own lives. When troubling events occur back home, they grapple with their own emotions and struggle to answer difficult questions. And when they encounter puzzling events they learn to accept and understand contrasting values.

Adventure is a constant in their odyssey of discovery. Camping in the mountainous countryside, a summer time trek along the peninsula’s east coast, visits to friends in rural villages, and teaching seventh-graders create a mosaic of life as members of the Peace Corps. So much is new: the diet, local markets, family relationships, public transportation, and communal baths. All are part of the experience.

The story that unfolds in this memoir is unique, as is that of every Peace Corps Volunteer, no matter where they serve. Historic events of the late 1960s, in both Korea and the United States, are woven into a story that illustrates the impact of Peace Corps service. The experiences described by the author—some humorous, some joyful, some troubling, and others mysterious—are the stuff of lifetime memories.