Today is Sunday, and the last time I wrote was Tuesday. Why? Because we have been so busy we don't have time for sleep. Wednesday we went to Mungyeongsaejae for "paper art making", natural tie dying, and to go to a provincial park. All 3 were amazing.
The paper making was creating a design on a fan (using really thin paper, you have to rip it up into shapes you want to use) then using glue to keep it stuck to the fan. It was pretty neat seeing your own design come to life, and I always love being able to take things home with me! I love doing arts and crafts so this was an awesome and exciting activity for me.
The second thing was tie dying t shirts with natural dye. We used dye that came from trees, and it was in all different colors: red, purple, yellow, and gray. The dye was much weaker than normal, but that's because the consistency was all natural with nothing added to it. My shirt was ok, not as good as when I'm a camp counselor, but a fun experience atleast.
The provincial park was so beautiful! In the middle was a traditional Korean village (old style buildings with painted designs everywhere) and around was mountains and more mountains! The day was so steamy hot, but I am so glad that we walked the 20 min to get there (some students sat in AC instead and didn't go to the park). The park is also used for many Korean dramas that take place in history. So that was Wednesday.
Thursday and Friday class, but that's not very exciting. Friday night...we went to a place called the Big Chill. They had wii, darts, pool, and a live DJ! It was really fun dancing and just reminding ourselves that it is the weekend. There were people there from Texas, New Jersey, and Ohio so it was good seeing friendly American faces :) Don't worry it wasn't just Americans, there were guys from Nepal, Ethiopia, South Africa, Germany, Poland, and much more. It was so exciting, that we're going to go back this Friday as well!
Saturday...white water rafting in Dong-gan (Kwan-wan-do Province). The best experience in Korea thus far. It was a perfect sunny day, but not too hot. We were split into groups of 10 and my group was perfect. We had some of the shy guys, so it was fun getting to know them and joking around. Our rafting trip was 4 hours in the water! Definitely got our moneys worth. Just picture yourself rafting through mountains...the water so clear...and cranes in the trees looking at you! It was just lovely, and we even played water games on the water rafts with our Korean rafting instructor. Some of you might think...boring. Definitely not, there were about 4 rapid parts of the river were there were huge rocks we would slam into (you had to keep your foot tucked into a strap) and a girl in our boat even fell out once! A little dangerous, but that's how life is...it keeps it exciting :)
Saturday night we went to a "jimjilbong" which is like a spa/arcade/jacuzzi/sauna room/ice room and more all in one. You can get a massage there, a manicure, sit in a sauna, take a jacuzzi (don't forget, Koreans take them naked and together!) so you get to know your friends on a whole different level. We went with 2 other Americans from Milwaukee and they were most definitely in culture shock. They sat in a jacuzzi with a towel over themselves...in the water! I think we should bring these jimjilbongs to America, what a great thing. I slept on a tile floor with no pillow...that was the only down side. After we woke up, hung out some more and got ready I took a train and bus by myself all the way back to our University (over an hour of travel). I always get a little nervous that I'm going to take the wrong bus or miss my stop and not even realize it...and end up in Japan.
So I met my other Korean friend Lucy and we went to Church together. Yeah, believe it or not I went to a Christian church in Korea. It was big, but surprisingly no pictures or stained glass on the walls (that's how ours are, so I kind of expected it there too). I met more Koreans there, and they all asked me to stay longer than 9 days (that's when I leave for home!). I told them to talk to Delta, and we'd see :)
Afterwards Lucy and I ate pork cutlet (pork submerged in a sweet teriyaki like sweet sauce). It was good, but I was so full from my noodles, pizza, and banana smoothie that I couldn't eat much.
Ok that's enough for now...I promise to not wait so long to write another one again.
CS
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