Southern Korea

Yesterday I got back from a three day excursion to the southern part of Korea. We explored many traditional Korean folk villages and did a number of cultural activities. The first day we went to Jeonju, famous for its good food, and ate huge delicious bowls of bibimbap (비빔밥). After lunch we went to a paper factory and made our own paper, learned how to do traditional Korean masked dance, toured the village, grilled our own samgyeopsal (삼겹살), and went shopping. For those who know me I don't really shop in the States, but I figured if I can find clothes that fit me (Korean girls are so tiny!!!) with engrish on them then why not. I have already bought two Korean shirts and only a week has passed ... but everything is so cheap here! I digress. We stayed at a traditional Korean inn and slept on hardwood floors with very minimal padding. Needless to say, I was not ready for the three hour hike I went on the next day.

My roommates and I woke up to Girls' Generation (소녀시대) Genie thanks to our tour guide's cell phone alarm. Side note - I love it when I am just browsing stores and I here k-pop songs that I know play on the radio, such as SHINee's Juliette or Super Junior's Carnival. It makes the fangirl in me so happy. I also love that I can discuss this love with my fellow CIEE students. Anyway ... we went to a Confucian school and then drove to Namwon, the City of Love (apparently) because it is the setting of the famous Legend of Chunhyang. I recommend you google it (since I know the CLAMP manga better then the actual story!). Lunch was wonderful soondubu (순두부). I never thought I would like tofu so much! The mountain hike was next. It seemed pretty steep to me (this comes from someone who is perpetually out of shape) but the view was totally worth it. After that we ate dinner at a Buddhist temple with monks and observed a worship service. Dinner rules were strict - we had to only get what we could finish, talk in low tones or not talk at all, and wash our own dishes. The service started with a musical performance (?) by the monks.

We stayed at a hotel that did not have beds but instead comforters for the floor. The room was bigger so it was an improvement. My friend was gracious enough to come with me to find the one Catholic Church in the area. This was at night, so it was a little bit sketchy but everyone we asked for directions was extremely helpful and even went out of their way to help us. We were mistaken for being Chinese by one man, but he was kind enough to leave his meal and show us the church behind his motel. Unfortunately the church only had mass on Saturdays at 7:30 PM so I totally missed it. It was an adventure, though, one that made me realize how nice Koreans can be if you make the effort to reach out to them.

The last day of the excursion we went and made green tea! We learned how to do the ceremony Korean style and were able to actually experience drying out the tea leaves. Parental units, I got a box of green tea for you so I hope you will enjoy it! After that we explored our final folk village (there were ostrich) and had a delicious lunch where the local policemen come to eat. We got back too late for me to attend mass (travel dispensation? I really tried!) but my friends and I went out to dinner and basically analyzed everyone's behavior thus far.

I just got back from a culture shock workshop, which I found to be very informative since my knowledge of Korean culture is based on k-pop blogs and the few dramas I have watched. Hopefully I will learn more and have fun doing so!