Jeonju Hanok traditional village

Apologies I have been computer-less for a while- I couldn't get my laptop to charge. However, after a visit to Lotte Mart (a huge 4 level store sort of like Macro at home) I have replaced the plug. It only took my roomate, Rebecca and I, 3 hours to figure out. Oh well.

On Friday we went on a field trip to Jeonju Traditional Hanok Village. It was bucketing down but I was very grateful for the break in heat. This meaning that I only had 2 showers as apposed to the normal 3 or 4 a day. To start off we were taken to make traditional Korean boxes. I was pretty impressed by mine, but apparently I'm not a natural. I had several instructors come over and try to 'fix' my box for me. "No no" they said, speaking sentences in Korean that I couldn't understand while grabbing the box from me and trying to pull the traditional paper over the rectangular box. Oh well, I obviously wont be an arts and crafty type teacher.

The traditional Korean box

After this we gave the Korean drums a try. I was definitely a lot better at this. Clearly Im at home with banging things with a stick.  I sat there merrily for an hour with 50 other foreign teachers hitting a giant traditional janggu. "Bah bah bah" I was completely at home. Our instructor was a young woman dressed in a traditional Korean drumming clothing ( talk about a pigeon-holed outfit). Say what you like but  she could play the drums better than any rock band I have ever watched live.

Traditional Janggu drum

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For lunch we went into the traditional village restaurant, where we sat on the floor and ate bibimbap which was served with a ton of other side dishes. From what I can figure bibimbap is a type of rice stirfry that you eat with a spicy red peppery sauce. It was delicious along with the side dishes. My favourite side dish is Jap Che which are clear noodles made of potato. Pretty good. When in doubt at a Korean restaurant order Jap Che noodles.

Bibimbap

Sitting down at our table

For the rest of the afternoon we were allowed to walk around the traditional village, which was beautiful. I think it is probably very touristy as everything seemed expensive and I saw everything from Mexican tour groups to French backpackers. Along the way we visited Gyeeonggijeon, which was a commemoration for the countries founder. It was so intricately designed and quite unlike anything from home.

The shrine roof

Last but not least we were taken to tour Jeonju JungAng Elementary school. To actually see what we would be doing. I think it just reconfirmed my faith in deciding to teach.  I love the feel of small classrooms and lots of friendly, happy children running along the halls. I am now quite excited about going to actually see my school.

On another note I am still incredibly anxious to find out where I am going. Every guest lecturer who comes to talk to us, says that Gyeonbuk province is incredibly rural. So I am beginning to freak out a little. I am just praying and hoping for the best.