Our first stop was to 양동 Yang-dong which are these BEAUTIFUL villages! I wish I could have taken a lot of pictures but because it was raining hard, it was difficult to. Plus, we were in the van due to the heavy rain. However, Dr. Peterson said that we would come back again so hopefully the weather will be better for pictures! :-) At 양동 Yang-dong, there are villages that are centuries old that people still live in. It was such a cool site to behold. I'm glad that they preserved this part of Korea. We met a man who I believe they call a 총손 Chong-Sohn who is a leader of Confucian ceremonies. Part of that responsibility is teaching those who wish to learn the Confucian classics (aka SUPER HARD and GENIUS). Hearing stories from him described how life can be at times very burdensome but important to carry out. He talked about how his father received so much stress from it that it killed him. His stories were incredible; he's such a humble man. They served us 매실 Mae-shil which is this sweet plum juice that tastes a lot like Kool-Aid that can be served hot or cold. It's definitely better cold but on a rainy, cold day it was perfect. He had to leave but his wife made us some lunch which was AMAZING! We had 천국장 Cheon-gook-jahng which is this partially fermented bean soup. Most people say it's sour but I didn't think it was sour at all; only super goodness in my stomach :-) We also ate 되장국 dweh-jahng-gook which was pretty good even though it's not my favorite.
양동 Yang-dong on a rainy day
양동 Yang-dong! Photo Credit given to Rachael Caldwell. Is that gorgeous or what??
Outside the 총손's house. It was pretty cold because of the rain.
총손 Chong-sohn
Drinking 매실 mae-shil :-)
천국장 :-)
After a wonderful lunch, we visited this elderly couple in another house in the village. Dr. Peterson knew them because this elderly couple allowed the 1999 study abroad group to stay in their home for the study abroad experience. What was really cool when we visited them is that the man was a 양반 yang-ban which means his anscestors were Korean aristocrats. When we visited the couple, the man was in the middle of writing a letter to his grand nephew's fiance's parents. 양반 Yang-bans would write letters of proposals and the family would send a letter of correspondence. This man was sending a thank you letter in response to their acceptance. That was so neat and cute! The elderly couple was so sweet. They gave us these citrus fiber drinks which were so delicious!
Elderly couple that was so sweet to us
After our fieldtrips, we headed home except for me, Rachael, and Michelle. On Wednesdays, a few of us rotate to go to members' homes to eat and practice Korean. However, it was super stressful at first. We were already late coming back from the field trips that the family decided to reschedule the appointment. Dr. Peterson wanted us 3 girls to practice finding addresses in Korea by taxing a taxi. 2 words: epic fail. The taxi was supposed to drop us off at the church which is next to a fire station but he took us to the wrong fire station and we were on the other side of town and had no idea where we were except that there was a lot of shopping going on. I kept trying to call Dr. Peterson but he didn't answer his phone. We took a taxi back to where we were because Dr. Peterson wasn't answering his phone so we went back to ask for better directions. He felt bad that we got lost so he took us to the church. We were supposed to have dinner with the branch president's family. The branch president sent his son to come find us but the son never showed up. We waited forever until a sister from the branch showed up. She took us to the home and finally after hours of being lost, we were able to eat with the branch president's family and practice Korean. The taxi fiasco was so annoying but getting to practice Korean in the end with delicious Korean food was worth it. :-)
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