Hello to one and all!

South Korea has been probably the most calm and the least busy place we've been to so far. Maybe it's because we are all a bit tired from five months of travel, or maybe it's because we haven't had much of a chance to explore, but I feel that I've been lacking in adventures this past week. Our first few days in Seoul were full of touring. We visited a museum showcasing a little of Korea's history and it's presidents, a Korean palace (my toes almost froze off) and then went to the Korean War Museum, which is probably now one of the best museums I've ever visited. Its exhibits were very effective and VERY technologically savvy. They had exhibits that lit up and moved and made you FEEL as if you were in a war, which was scary but showed the realities of what it was like. During our free time there a couple of us tried out a 4D show, in which we had 3-D glasses and it felt like we were in the middle of war. It was very scary.
Last Sunday I attended church with some Korean students and some girls from Global! It was a Lutheran International Church so the people there spoke English and they were very excited to meet us. One man even had a connection to St. Olaf--his college choir sang with the St. Olaf choir once and he said he'd never forget it. Small world again! After church we went to lunch--the Korean students are SO cute and always look fashionable and put-together; I had to explain to them what sweatpants were and why they were so great, and even then I'm not sure they understood why people wear them in public.

On Monday our classes started, and let me tell you, they are taking up a LOT of our time. Some days we literally have class from 9 to 5 (okay, there's a little break for lunch but that's IT). We are taking a Korean class and I am OBSESSED with the Korean alphabet. It's like a code, and the second day of class I got so excited that I spent the entire class writing down the names of my classmates in Korean. I even tried taking notes that way, but it was too difficult. I'm weird like that. It's funny though because we've learned the alphabet but have yet to learn much to SAY in Korean. In our other classes we learn about the relationship between South and North Korea and our first professor was actually the only South Korean man to have been at BOTH Summit meetings between the north and south. He's also had lunch with Kim Jong-Il. It was pretty cool to hear his stories.

The rest of the week was filled with classes, and on Thursday we got on a bus to Jeonju! This tour has been largely about Korea's culture, as we've seen a traditional Hanok village, gone to a paper-making museum, learned how to perform the Korean "mask dance" (I volunteered and there should be some funny pictures of me in a ridiculous mask on facebook soon), and learned what a traditional Korean wedding is like by role playing one. My good friends Doug and Susie were "married" in Korean wedding clothes and other people played the part of bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and bridegrooms. It was hilarious. I've also noted that Korean food freaks me out even MORE than Chinese! We've tried bibimbap, which is unidentifiable veggies with rice and meat, and a lot of tofu with pork sauce dishes as well as whole minnows (those were surprisingly good), whole fish, raw crab (whole), and many others. Many meals I've been forced to eat just rice for fear of what else is on the table. I like kimchee though!

Today we visited another temple and had a Korean singing lesson, where we all sang together repeating after the teacher. It sounded horrible but it was a blast. We're now in Incheon and tomorrow we will be skiing in the beautiful Korean mountains! I'm super excited!