Kyoungjoo... Temples... Shuttle Launch... Bus Rides..

Our wonderful weekend started at 9 am on Friday. We all met at the bottom of the steps at the main gate to board our bus. Everyone got situated in his or her normal seats. I, as always, had “Big Bertha (big black back pack duffle bag) with me so she got her own seat. JiHyun couldn’t go with us so I had the seat to myself, which was nice because I could lie down, and nap. KangHoon made a K-Pop CD for everyone to listen to on the ride. I’m beginning to really like K=Pop, thanks to Rachel I know the story behind every song it seems.

Kyoungjoo is a very historical city in Korea. At one time it was a thriving area. We started the tour at a museum that held many treasures and some replicas. Us Lander girls were not thrilled with this museum visit because many of the things we were seeing were just like in the National Museum of Korea in Seoul or replicas of the things that were in Seoul. Thankfully the tour was only around 30 minutes. We then went to visit a tower that was use for start gazing to predict astrological things. In the same area we visited a tomb of a famous king. The tomb was like the grass hills that Native Americans are buried in in some places in Georgia. We got to go in one and see the basic structure of what the grave looked like when it was uncovered for the first time.

We were all getting very tired and irritable at this point (like a bunch of babies) we needed food and to take a rest.  We went to a local restaurant and had the normal traditional meal and rice wine. After lunch we stopped by a lotus flower field before heading on our long journey to the temple we were visiting.

The temple was a good 45 minutes away, just long enough for everyone to get a good nap in. it was way in the mountains so it was very pleasant and cool.  The most popular thing about this temple is the granite Buddha, that we couldn’t take pictures of. It was incredible just thinking of all of the hard work that went into making it so long ago. There was a great view from the temple too.  One thing I remember from the tour is the guide talking about Buddha wanting people to sweat the small stuff. We all found this hilarious.

We were finished for the day. As we checked into the hotel everyone was once again tired and hungry. Dinner was at the hotel, bulgolgi that we got to cook ourselves. This meal was delicious. After dinner we met with our groups to finish up the mission for the school project. My group is struggling to say the least. I made hair for Snow White. The other colored a background. It will be a complete miracle if we can pull it off.

At 10 pm we were kicked out of the meeting room we were using so we transferred to KangHoon and Daniel’s room. This time around instead of working on our projects we all decided it was time to treat ourselves to some beer. We had a good 25 people in one tiny hotel room playing games and singing songs we all knew.

It was then time for the Atlantis shuttle launch. It was so cool watching the last shuttle launch with kinds from the UK and Korea while in Korea. There are so many different types of cultures in the KSS group but we were all glued to the TV watching history although it was very late, around 1 in the morning we all wanted to stay up. Everyone went his or her separate ways after the launch.

Breakfast was served before we left for the day. We were informed we had to wear our shirts they gave us.  Girls were given yellow, and boys were given blue. However, I brought a pair of yellow sorts with me so I talked Daniel into trading shirts with me because he wanted yellow. Unfortunately, the yellow shorts were not in my bag for the weekend. When Ms. Kim told us we had to wear our shirts Daniel and I just looked at each other, because the night before Robbie decided he was hot and wanted to change clothes so he put on the yellow shirt that was originally mine that I was supposed to wear. But now it was sweaty and probably smelling really bad. Daniel told me he would wear it and for me to keep the blue one. Fortunately, Ms. Kim laughed when we told he the story. So hopefully I can keep blue and Daniel keep the yellow.  Saturday was spent at another temple. This one was really big it had so many different types of temples at this one sight. It was like a maze figuring out place to place. The weather decided to be very rainy, like monsoon rain. Everyone got drenched. My yellow rain shoes are not monsoon proof. Water ran down my legs into my shoes, and they are still wet. Lets hope it doesn’t rain soon.

On the way back to Busan everyone fell asleep from pure exhaustion. When we got back we all walked to a burger place, I was like a nice McDonald’s. KangHoon order 30+ combos so we would all have enough food. After we finished eating some of us caught a bus to the dorms to repack because it was pouring down rain so we all needed to downsize our bags and get dry clothes on.

We made it back to the burger joint to meet everyone. A big group of us walked to a bus stop, all of the guys were worried about me because I had to take part of my trip by myself. Allie’s buddy rode the bus with me to the big bus terminal. She got our tickets and lead me to my bus, she and Allie got on theirs. I rode the bus for 45 minutes by myself to Chonwon. I’ve never been so excited to see my buddy. When I got of we took a 20 bus ride to her neighborhood. Then walked to get to her apartment building. She lives in a really nice apartment complex with gardens and playgrounds. But of course it was raining so we could not walk around much.

When her dad got hoe we talked a little with her translating, and same when her mom arrived. Her dad took us to the store to get a snack and soju. Dinner was ready when we got back. Bulgogi was on the menu at their apartment. It was very good, nice to have a home cooked meal. After dinner I talked with her family a little bit more and then showered and went to bed. I had had a very long day of traveling.

They woke me up Sunday around 9. We had breakfast, rice and tofu. And then got ready to go visit a temple. This was another famous temple to the area. I actually got to take pictures of it (it was raining to much the day before to have my camera out). After waking around and seeing the Monks and a lot of worshipers we went into a little town for a light lunch.

They then drove me to meet Allie and Rachel in Napogong to do a little shopping. I will tell you all more about that area when we go on a field trip next week. We shopped until 6. We all got some cute things. And we found a Smoothie King, which made Rachel and I very happy. After we had dinner we left Allie’s buddy and hopped on the subway and just hoped we knew where to get off. Luckily we did. We then got the bus back to the dorms.

Later Sunday night a few others wanted to go into town for ice cream, so we joined along, between doing laundry. It is now Monday morning here, we are getting ready for class and a tour of Samsung. But for lunch we get to dine with the President. I know this will be a very good meal.