Global Educator

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 mad...

 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 wh...

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....

Food for the day! The shows at the Korean Folk Village The Korean Folk Village!

We had breakfast on the go this morning which consisted of a ham, cheese and egg sandwich. Not bad sounding right! Well the egg was filled with sweet corn and there was a sweet mayo dressing as well; ended up not being very appetizing. This morning I was not actually feeling very well. I had a very bad headache and was in pain. However I pushed through the day as best as I could and slept on the bus as much as possible. The Korean Folk Village was only about 1.5 hours away and was our first stop. We toured the village, watched a traditional instrumental performance, tightrope walking and then ended with a horse acrobatic show. It was amazing. I have some excellent video that I will post as soon as I can download the appropriate software. I started to eat lunch on the floor with the others but felt to sick to continue and waited on the bus instead were I watched a movie and slept until we arrived at the dinner spot. I have the name in Korean, but it was a very expensive, traditio...