June 9, 2011 Back to 서울

We packed up and cleaned the 한옥 hanok.  So many good memories here.  All of us have decided that staying in the 한옥 hanok has been one of the best experiences here on the study abroad.

Bad English or nonesense shirts.  Ben's was the best because there were so many spelling errors and random words put together.

On our way to 서울 Seoul, we stopped by 안동 Andong.  안동 Andong is special becuase they preserved many villages here.  For a while, they contemplated allowing it to be a tourist site.  The villages and greenery were really cool but they had a really dumb exhibit.  They had the Queen of England came and visit.  They built a whole exhibit talking and showcasing what the Queen touched and used when she came here.  All of us were like, "You have got to be kidding me."  Literally, "This is the chair where the Queen of England sat.  This what the Queen of England touched.  This is the tree that the Queen of England planted.  This is the rice cake that the Queen of England put to her lips."  The other students would say I'm not exaggerating.  Other than that it was beautiful to take a stroll down.  I took some pictures but I'll leave some unseen to save you the lameness.  Haha is that even a word?

Rest stop.  How pretty!

안동 Andong

It's Asia; everyone must have at least one crane picture!

Queen of England's exhibit...Lame.....

This tree had requests on paper tied around it in the village.

I wasn't aware that we were running for our lives?

After 안동 Andong, we went to a few 서원 seowons.  The first 서원 seowon was 병산서원 Byeongsan seowon.  It was to commemorate the scholarly achievement and virtue of the notable Confucian scholar and politician 유성룡  Yoo Sung Ryong. 



The next 서원 seowon we saw was 도산서원 Dosan seowon.  This 서원 seowon was to commemorate 이황 Yi Hwang.  He's also known as 퇴계/퇴도 Toegye (Twegye)/ Toedo (Twedo) and 문순공 Munsungong.  He's on the 1,000 원 won bill.  So if you see Korean currency and see 1,000 원 won bill (it's blue), that's him.  He's one of the most prominent Confucian scholars and Neo-Confuciansim. 



Dr. Peterson took us to a Confucian museum that was really neat because it stores all of the signs that are used for 서원 seowons and other important buildings.  Usually they don't let people see them but they made an exception for us today because we had a bigger group.

Juni got a bruise that looks like Fidel Castro.  Tee hee!

After seeing many sites relating to Confucianism, it was time to go back to 서월 Seoul.  It was around 8 and we were so hungry.  We stopped at a rest stop to grab some dinner but tonight turned out to be the worst dinner ever.  What store or restaurant closes at 8???  We weren't able to get anything except snacks at the gas station.  Have you ever been so hungry for good food only to be let down with crackers or cookies?  That was us tonight.  On the bus we watched the rest of the drama that we watched from going down to 김해 Gimhae.  It was night by the time we got to 서월 Seoul.  Hauling our luggage up the hill to the temple is not fun.  When we got to the temple, we crashed.

June 8, 2011 Last Day in 김해!

It's our last day in 김해 Gimhae!  :-(  I thought that I would never love a place as much as 서울 Seoul but the south has been so wonderful.  We had class but since it was our last day here, Dr. Peterson left us have free time.  We wanted to spend time with the students so all of us except Kentoria spent time with 박현준 Hyun Joon in the morning and then 심태용 Tae Yong in the afternoon and then 김민주 Min Ju and 이충호 Choong Ho in the evening (Kentoria came to this one).  We got some lunch at Issac's Toast which is AMAZING!  Yeah, it's pretty much a sandwich but it's still good.  If you see any Issac's Toasts near you, get some!!  We got smoothies at a nearby cafe.  김유경 Kim Yu Gyeong/Kim Yoo Kyung came as well.  If you don't remember, she's an investigator that the missionaries at the 김해 Gimhae branch are teaching.  Michelle and 박현준 Hyun Joon wanted to go to a 노래방 karaoke room but we were short on time because 심태용 Tae Yong was coming in an hour.  However, they found these ones that only charge 70 cents per song they we went and sang for a little bit. 

After a few songs, we met up with 심태용 Tae Yong.  He wanted to take us to his hometown in 창원 Changwon.  Although it's close, we had to take a shuttle bus there.  Once we got to 창원 Changwon, we met 심태용 엄마 Tae Yong's mother.  His mother was so kind to us that she bought us all ice cream.  We had some time left and went to a 노래방 karaoke room!  We had so much fun with each other as always at a 노래방 karaoke room.  심태용 Tae Yong left for a little bit while we were singing and brought back sodas and pictures he took.  Unfortunately, we couldn't spend a lot of time with him because we needed to be back in the evening because Dr. Peterson had a special guest for us. 

Korean and English ice cream flavors don't always match up or translate correctly.  While the English flavor is Puss in Boots, the Korean flavor is 엄마는 외계인 which means "My Mom is an Alien."  Does that make any sense to you??

Look how cute this ice cream cake is!  It says, "I'm happy" in Korean. 행복해요 (haeng-bok-hae-yo).

We said our goodbyes to 심태용 Tae Yong which was sad.  He became one of our greatest friends here.  We met Dr. Peterson at Orange where he had his special guest: 정대판 Jung Dae Pahn.  정대판 Jung Dae Pahn is a very important figure because he was the main guy along with a team who translated the standard works and hymns for the church into Korean!!  LIKE WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Just looking at him, he carried this air that made you want to respect and be on your best behavior.  We had dinner there and then went back to the 한옥 hanok.  김민주 Minju and 이충호 Choong Ho met us at the restaurant because we wanted to spend time with them but we forgot about the special guest.  So, we invited them to come here 정대판 Jung Dae Pahn at the 한옥 hanok. 

정대판 Jung Dae Pahn told us his conversion story and the process of the translation of the standard works and hymns.  He knows every single hymn, every verse by memory.  He had an incredible conversion story.  He was one of the first members of the church in Korea.  He attended one of the best colleges in Korea but then felt like it wasn't doing him much good so he went to a theological school.  He was going to a seminary when some missionaries came and gave him a Book of Mormon.  He read it in English and Japanese.  So that he really knew what he was reading.  He couldn't put it down and felt the truth in its words.  He went back to the seminary and told them that everyone should read this book.  The teachers got really upset and said that he must never read or bring that book or must leave the seminary.  He left the seminary because he couldn't deny what he felt.  He converted to the gospel very quickly. 

As he was taking part in the translation, he had to be selective in what words to use for the hymns to make them correct but flow.  As we have sung them, we can tell they have been inspired because there's certain words that describe the gospel better than the English text.  He was such a sweet man and carried this dignity with him.  He was so humble that you couldn't help but smile when he talks to you. 

정대판 Jung Dae Pahn

정대판 Jung Dae Pahn and us

We didn't have a lot of time to spend with 김민주 Minju and 이충호 Choong Ho because they had to be back in their dorms in a few hours but we thought we would go to Canmore for some 빙수 bing-soo.  After 빙수 bing-soo, we took some pictures and said our goodbyes. 

김민주 Minju and 이충호 Choong Ho

아이스크림 빙수 Ice cream bing-soo

So 이충호 told us to open our mouths as wide as we could.  We still don't know why.......?

They were so thoughtful and gave us some goodbye treats for the bus ride back to 서울 Seoul.  We have grown to love them and all of the students at 인제대학교 Inje University.  It was so sad saying goodbyes.  We'll never forget you 박현준 Hyun Joon, 심태용 Tae Yong, 김민주 Minju, 이충호 Choong Ho, and 김유경 Yoo Kyung!!  We're going back to 서울 Seoul tomorrow but we will never forget the south and our experiences down here.