Today was Wednesday, which means again Korean Culture Workshop days. These days are turning out to be my favorite ones, not only because of the activities, but no class :)
This morning we had a 2 hour interactive Tae Kwon Do class. It was interesting to say the least. We had one teacher that was pretty old and you just know he could kill someone with his bare hands, and then 4 students of his that were all black belts.
We watched them do a demonstration, then did it ourselves. It was really fun, and quite the work out! We were all sweating by the time it was done...and a little sore as well. They even held up boards for us to break (just like in the movies) and we broke them!
Afterwards we took our usual bus and subway to Seoul and visited Gyeongbokgung (spelling wrong) Palace. The palace was where the Chosun Dynasty lived (before there ever was a North and South Korea). It was amazing to see all of the fine details and structures that they built. And let's just say that they weren't modest with their acreage, the place was huge; and behind the palace was none other than a great view of the mountains.
After the palace a group of Korean friends and I ventured out for dinner. We had a very traditional plate (I forgot the name sorry) but it had a ginseng soup and a full chicken inside of it. That's right, bones, wings and everything. If you ever have the chance to pick out the bones of a chicken, stop yourself and ask for a fork haha. JK, try it. It's always fun to do things once!
After dinner we walked around and saw a big carnival ride in the middle of the city. I don't know how to explain this ride, but it was wayy better than any ride I've ever been on in the states (this includes ValleyFair and Six Flags!). It was one of those wheel shaped rides that you sit on...with no seatbelt though. This guy was the controller of the ride, and spun it or even turned the entire wheel by 45 degrees whenever he felt like it. Let's just say that people would literally turn over and hold on because we were on that sharp of an angle. My friend and I were in skirts...yeah pretty sure the guys across from us got more than they bargained for. It was definitely a scream fest!
Then we went and got popping sue. It is a really light ice cream with fruit and red beans scattered on the plate. Not too bad, but not my favorite either. We then ran into a digital photo place where Koreans (all asians I'm pretty sure) LOVE. You spend $1, take 4 pictures and then you can decorate them digitally like photoshop, but with odd sayings and pictures all over. It was really fun to see them in their glory.
We were so tired from the day (8 am until 11:30 pm) that we hopped back on our bus and headed to Ajou University. Now I sit here and it's 1:00 am, with lots of Korean homework to do so I'm going to get started on that.
Have a good night (good morning for all of my americans).
CS
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