We're Engaged!

The secret is out! Cam proposed to me on April 1st, on a beautiful sunny day at Daejeo Ecopark. I knew he was going to propose eventually, but the timing and the whole day was a complete surprise.

We decided to go for a picnic at Daejeo Ecopark since it's supposed to be a pretty park and we'd never been (or at least, I had never been. I didn't know that Cam had been before)! Cam had just found out that week that they were switching him to the grade 1 class and he was a bit annoyed because they could have told him weeks ago but instead they only gave him one week to prep. So, I thought that a picnic in a new location would be a nice distraction.

When we arrived, we walked around the cherry blossoms and the canola flowers. There seemed to be some kind of festival happening, but we walked around it. After taking some photos, Cam said he saw an area with trees that looked good for a picnic from the train window. So we went over to that side and set up the picnic blanket under a big bushy tree. It was surprisingly quiet - the closest people to us were an old couple over 100 meters away.

Our picnic blanket is so lightweight that it blows away in the wind, so Cam took off his shoes and put them on the corners and put our bag and water on the other corners. Then he took off my hat and sunglasses, and that's when I knew something was happening.

Cam proposed to me with three love letters. It felt like nothing else existed except our tiny little corner of the park. I cried and I said yes, obviously! Then Cam told me how he had been to the park before and scoped out the area. He had lied to me one month ago about going to the mall (I remember that day and I remember being confused about how he got so sweaty going to the mall, but I didn't think much of it).

After our picnic and some Portuguese egg tarts at a nearby cafe, Cam had a dinner reservation for us. It was at a restaurant that served han-jeonsik (Korean high table). We had a 21 course meal and a bottle of wine to celebrate. It was such a happy, special day.

We got matching rings in Seoul the next weekend and then told the kids and staff at school the week after that. My kids' reactions were my favourite. First, they asked me who (they didn't know that Cam and I were a couple). I told them to guess. They guessed every single teacher who had ever taught them, including the married ones. When I finally told them that it was Mr. Lynka (and that it was break time), they all stood up as fast as they could and ran towards his classroom. Cam was in the hallway and they surrounded him asking "Is it true? Is it true?" He told them yes and showed them his ring and then they all stood there and stared because they didn't know what to ask after that.

One of my students, who used to be in Cam's class, got us both a flower to congratulate us. Another couple of the students (two girls who are best friends) also got matching rings and said they were engaged. Cam also had a student who told Cam "I'm not sure if I can fly to Canada for the wedding."