Field Trip

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Hey everyone, Eddie here again, its been a few days since the first blog entry so I'll quickly recap what's been going on since then. After we arrived at our orientation and were situated in our dorms we began attending some lectures about life in Korea and its education system. For the most part they have been interesting and informative, but I won't go into the details. We were pretty busy with lectures on Friday and Saturday (our time), but today (Sunday) we got to go on a field trip!

Our field trip began with a trip to the small village in the Jeonju area called Hanok. Hanok is known for its rich Korean history and world renown food, such as Bibimbop. When we arrived in Hanok we learned about Koreas paper. Koreans have been making paper, called hanji, for thousands of years. Hanji is so well known for its quality that the Chinese palace in the Forbidden City uses it to line the walls and windows. We used Hanji to decorate paper fans (which were more than appreciated in the 30-32 degree Celsius weather, around 85-90 Fahrenheit).

After our fan making was done, we explored Hanok village visiting places such as its Herbal Medicine Museum, and Gyeonggijeon Shrine. Gyeonggijeon Shrine houses the portrait of King Tae-jo Lee who founded the Joseon Dynasty as well as the portraits of successive kings such as Sun-jong, Cheol-jong, Yeong-jo.

We then took a bus to Jangdeoksa Temple, located high in the hills above Hanok. There we explored the Buddhist Temple and shrines with fellow travelers and pilgrims.

I hope you enjoy the pictures we took, they don't even come close to how amazing the sites were live.
We are well and happy and learning that Korea will be a great place to live in.

Until next time,
Annyounghi keseyo!

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Photos

Bibimbop
We had Bibimbop in Hanok, which is known for its Bibimbop, it's basically steamed vegetables, beef, nori, and sweet chili paste all mixed up with rice with lots of side dishes.

Statue
Very elaborate, up above are prayer wishes on paper hanging from the ceiling.

Electric Box
Even a simple maintainance box gets a little shrine in Jeonju :P The other two people besides me (Eddie) are some friends of ours who happen to be from Oregon, Jeff and Shannon.

Dorm
Our Dorm from downtown

Garden
The gardens in Hanok village were quite beautiful.

Pond
There were several little ponds like this along the walkway in Hanok.

Gardens
More foliage, the sticks holding up the tree seem to be on every single tree in Korea, we don't know why exactly.

Fans
Here are the fans we decorated in Hanok

Herb Museum
Some little figurines greeting us at the Medicinal Herb Museum

Herbs
Herbs

Seahorses
Seahorses

Dried Lizards
Have a back ache? Upset stomach? Have a dried lizard!

Acupuncture
Acupuncture pressure point chart.

Water wheel
Powered by Stacey's, not water.

Little... Dog thing
Erm... We arn't sure what it is, but its fun anyway

Mascots?
Apparenly Jeonju has mascots... from the seventies.

Hanok
The buildings in Hanok village are of the old style in Korea, they are called Hanoks, hence the name of the village.

Garden Walkway
Hanok village was pretty much an entire garden

Shrine
At the entrance to the Shrine at Hanok

Shrine buildings
Very elaborate

Korean Art
There was an art exhibit in Hanok, this was one of the many artworks, all of a similar style.

Comments

[Don]

Thanks guys, looks like a wonderful experience! Keep up the communication it really is great to see what you are doing. Love, Dad.

[Sharon]

Pictures
Thank you for sharing your photos I am so excited for you two,looks like you are off to a great start...Love all the village images just think of the history!