Day 6

Alright. Today was LONG. We started out with breakfast at 7:45am. Followed by worship, led by Aaron, one of our directors. He then launched into an all morning teacher training session. We got our textbooks, well some of them, and went through them all, getting familiar with the layout and learning how to use them effectively. Thankfully he gave us frequent breaks. Each time he would say, "ok you have four breaks of one minute now." very funny guy.

After intensive training we ate some lunch. Tasha bought us all pizza, YUM. We pretty much stuffed ourselves and then went back to our houses to to wait for the time to head out on our grand excursion.

Korean's walk a lot. For them it is nothing to walk many miles in one day. For me on the other hand, after months of sitting in an office, hardly moving, it is a pretty big deal to suddenly be walking everywhere. I am glad for an excuse to exercise but my body is upset with the sudden change in lifestyle. Thankfully I am getting used to it and I am not as sore, yes I was sore, as I was before. We walked to the subway station, which is about half a mile from where we are staying. We then rode the subway for eight stops. We arrived at our destination, Jongju, and then proceeded to walk about two and a half miles to the theatre where we would be watching a Korean musical.

The walk was very nice. Very hot but lovely. All along a nice little river that was full of people. People fully clothed sitting in the river, kids in their underwear being swept downstream, people taking naps under the bridges on thin bamboo mats and a whole host of other people walking, laughing and playing in the water. There was lots to see, and if you go on facebook you will see many pictures from our excursion.

We eventually arrived at the theatre, hot and sweaty and an hour early. Luckily they had an activity to entertain us while we waited for our show. They had a whole bunch of costumes that you could try on and see what they were like. Very complex costumes made out of heavy material. Two girls who worked there helped us into the outfits. We spent most of our hour taking pictures of ourselves in various costumes. Then we were ushered into the theatre along with a ton of school aged children wearing yellow shirts and "I love China" pins.

The musical was amazing. It was a love story, of course, all musicals seem to be love stories. the colours were fantastic and the dancing was amazing. There was a woman singing Korean opera, girls in frilly dresses spinning around, guys in robes chasing the girls, a mean man, the good guy and of course a lovely leading lady. they played drums, sang songs, danced, played games... Etc. I got tired half way through and would have fallen asleep had it not been for the uncomfortable head rest on the chair I was sitting in. But I am glad I stayed awake the whole time. We weren't allowed to take any pictures in the show so I am glad I have the memory of it in my head.

After the show we headed back to the subway, and to Subway. We all got subs, they were amazingly fast at making them. As a sandwich maker, in my other life, I was impressed with their speed! We all took our food upstairs to eat. Everything in Korea seems to be tall. Many layers high. Burger King had four floors, Subway had two. I am sure other place have many floors as well.

Fed and happy we continued our trek. Back into the depths under the city where another whole city lives. You would never know about the underground system if you didn't go into it but there is a whole other life down there. Lots of shops, anything you want. Clothes, books, food, trinkets, and shoes. Lots of shoes. We were heading for the bookstore, a bookstore Leo was really excited about showing us. It was a bookstore but more than that it was an everything paper-related store. Pens, paper, stationary, books in Korean and other foreign languages, including English, and loads of planners. I was after a planner. There were too many options. It took me the enter time just to chose one. I finally found one that was leather bound, has a snap to keep it closed and enough room for me to plan out my life. Yay. I also bought a pen that had a duck wearing a bonnet with some Korean writing down the front. Very cool.

Finally we were headed home. Purchases in hand. We emerged from the subway to find that it was raining. A welcome relief from the sweltering day. We happily walked the half mile home, singing and dancing in the rain. Probably annoying the locals to death.

This was our day 6 excursion. We all lived, and are safe at home, showered and happy. More to come =)

Michelle