Global Educator

Saturday involved ice skating!  I forgot how tough it was on your feet and legs.  We went to this place called Lotte World, which is an indoor amuesment park connected to the subway system.  Jay our RA treated us ladies to ice cream as we took a break! After ice skating I head out alone for some much needed and deserved R&R.  I checked into the Koreana Hotel in downtown close to shopping! I was really excited because it had a sauna with baths.  When I arrived in my bathing suit to enter, the woman gave me a really weird look and said, "no, no, no!  It is for men only!"  What kind of sexiest place is this!  Well I got over the blatant sexism of the situation and enjoyed a really nice soak in the bathtub in the room.

Day 20 Sports Day Today was a day of Sports!  Fun activities outside and then inside because of the rain.  We were divided into two teams and out team won (cookies).  As always I was a great cheerleader!  My event was canceled :( but I was not really that sad. The rest of the day I worked on my Term Paper, on Education!  Talk about fun!  I thought I had finished school.  Day 19 Korean Dance We had a professional, traditional and modern Korean dancer teach us or attempt to teach us some dance moves.  This was a great 3 hour workout first thing in the morning!  Nobody fell asleep during this class.

This morning we had a very interesting lecture if you can call it that.  We watched a taekwondo performace and then participated in learning kicks, punches and fighting movements.  It was an amazing workout :) At the end I was called up to break a board.  It took 3 times before it broke but I did hit it all 3 times (maybe I was not shouting loud enough). After the fact I was told not to hit using my toes, which I did the first 2 times.  My middle toe on the right foot is still hurting but I don't think it's broken.    Here I am preparing to kick.

Our first stop was to the National Museum which was a truely beautiful site.  The most important thing I learned was that gold is the most common material used for jewelry in Korea. I think I should buy myself some while here.  What do you guys think?    There were many other very interesting aspects about the museum, however it is midnight for me as I am writing so my goal is to just spell correctly and write a complete sentence.  Sorry to all of you history buffs for not going into more detail about the tools of the different dyansties, the pottery, buddhist paintings and writings.  After eating dinner we went on a Han River Cruise.  The Han River flows directly in the middle of Seoul and is connected with 25 different bridges.  To make some of the bridges more attractive the government added some special features, which you will see in the pictures and video.  Enjoy!      

Today was a great first day back; we started with music and ended with costumes.  Here are some pictures of me wearing the Traditional Korean outfit called the Hanbok.  I also learned how to formally bow and bow when among friends and was asked to present the speaker with a gift. Finally there is a picture of the entire group.

Sunday 7/11 What a relaxing day:) I got to sleep in until 9:30 am.  I then joined Claire's mom for breakfast, coffee, talking and watching Korean TV.    Just after noon we went out to the COEX Mall (on right) to watch "Knight and Day", personally it was not very good but the underground shopping center was impressive. After the movie, walking around the mall and having a coffee we went to visit a nearby temple.  The picture below is of the buildings in front of the COEX.  Bongeunsu Temple was in the middle of all these massive buildings, the temple itself is on quite a large property.  They offer short temple stays in English from 2-4pm on Tuesdays so I am hoping that next week I will be able to return. I am just going to post some pictures for this one but the white lanterns represent the deceased, I am cleaning up after drinking water and the tall Budda statue is 23 meters high and was only built in 1996. The last 2 pictures are of Claire's parents and us whil

Saturday 7/10 Claire, my homestay partner, and I left campus for the weekend where we would stay at her apartment with her parents.  Our first stop on the way was Deoksu Palace.  We arrived in just enough time to see the changing of the guards.  We then went into Dunkin Donuts which is located directly next door to the palace. I had a much need cup of coffee (the donuts offered...different...watermelon, mango, green tea) and the one I tried a blueberry cream cheese donut. Well lets get back to the palace.  As all the palaces here in Korea and especially in Seoul none are original as they were all destroyed by the many wars and Japanese occupation.  They are all beautiful with intricate detail and beautiful color but they lack that feeling of history since they are all replicas.  We then walked along the outside wall of the palace, when we saw an elder women making what appeared to be candy on street and in a cardboard box.  The candy was being made with sugar and baking soda, I di

 Friday 7/9/2010 This morning I got great news from Alex!  He made over a 100 on his TOEFL (English Exam).  Congratulations Amor!!! Besos  Well back to Korea! Today was another day of lecturing and movie watching.  After all that fun we headed out for another day of shopping.  This is a really big part of Korean culture.  Our group split up and Joy and I headed out on our own.  I am realizing how much I don't enjoy shopping with others and not being able to look longer because the group wants to move on.  This focus on community (the group) is huge here in Korea and is very different from our individualistic culture in the states.  This is something I am personally trying to work through!  My little piece of culture shock.  Tomorrow morning I am out for the weekend and I will be participating in a homestay with one of the Korean girls in the dorm room.  Her name is Claire and she is very sweet.  I am not sure what we will be doing yet but I know it will be nice to get out of

Back to classes!  First Korean economics then we watched a very popular movie called Joint Security Area.  After dinner we went and sang Karaoke in a private room eating ice cream for 2 hours.  Before getting on the bus to head home we opted for some shopping in the area.  I think we visited about 10 beauty stores (they are all over the place here and the ones we visited were all on the same block) and for just over $1 I bought 10 facial masks for the group.  We then went shoe shopping :) YES, I bought a pair.  They are very cute and I will a post a picture after class. We then returned to our dorm before 11pm where our RA and the program photographer joined us in wearing the facial masks, while the girls went crazy taking pictures of us all.  What a night!!!!!

We checked out of the Hyundai Hotel early this morning and headed the the largest ship building port in the world.  I was not allowed to take any pictures so I apologize.  The tour we had was very quick but impressive.  All employees get complimentary meals while working and there is also housing, schools, scholarships, hospitals, etc... for the community.  Here I am with my bus buddy!

A walk through the mountain haze of morning; watching and waiting for the sun to break free! This is at Seock-gul-am Temple, where an impressive Buddha resides inside a man made cave carved into the mountain side. Stop 2 on our journey was to Bul-kuk-sa Temple, which was built during the Silla Dynasty and is over a 1000 years old. Here is the entrance and the sun did come out! This was the first time I saw sunshine since arriving in Korea :) Also to your right are stacks of rocks individuals create these using each rock to symbolize a wish. I made one as well but mine was only 2 rocks high. Our next stop was to the beach where venders' sold dried salty fish and seaweed. Mmmmm good! The water was freezing cold and the beach was full of stones. Ouch!!!! The journey continues to our final stop The Garden of Great Tombs.  These mounds might look familar as we have some in North Georgia.  However, in this particualr there are over 300 mounds.  I saw th