Women's University and Korean Etiquette

Today we got to go see the Duksong Women's University. It was sooooo amazing! Words cannot even describe how much all of us fell in love with the campus. There was so much green everywhere! We got to go on a campus tour. Our guide actually got her degree from Michigan State University and spoke almost perfect English. We had 5 students that joined us as well. It was really cool getting to meet and talk with them because they had so many questions for us. All of them will be leaving next month to go to the U.S. to study abroad for one year so they wanted to know just as much about the U.S. as we did about Korea. They even took us on top of one of the buildings and we had gorgeous views of the mountain and city (I took lots of pictures because I wish I could just wrap up all these beautiful trees in boxes and ship them home with me). We got to see inside of their classrooms and student union. We also went to where all the English teachers stay and met one. He was from Ireland and had the best Irish accent I have ever heard! We spent way more time than we were supposed to because we were having to much fun and had to rush back to the district office for lunch...

After lunch, we got to relax for an hour or so and ended up playing some hang man! Then we went downstairs and were given a lesson on Korean etiquette and customs. The lady gave us the history of all of the technology and construction in Korea, as well as how the language was created. She told us that in just two weeks we could learn how to write in Korean because of how easy it is. We all laughed at that! We also got to see the traditional bowing ceremony for New Years Day. A boy and his mother demonstrated for us and then we got to be the elders and he did the ceremony again with us. We also got to try on all of the traditional clothing that used to be every-day attire and now is just used for ceremonies. It was so much fun! They brought us all types of desserts to try after. It seems like they just want to feed us all the time. We haven't stopped eating since we got here...

I am just going to relax at the apartment tonight because my legs have not gotten used to the 6 miles I have to walk every day! Tomorrow we are going to the Silver Center, which is where all of the older people live. We get to do art therapy with them and learn how to make lunch for them. It should be a lot of fun!

On a negative/weird note, I forgot to mention in my post before how CRAZY the Korean bathrooms are here!!! There is no shower curtain and you do not shower in a bath tub. All of the floors are slanted and in one corner of the room, there is a drain in the floor. You take like the retractable shower head from the wall and actually wash yourself while standing on the ground!!!!!!!! Yes, the regular tile ground like we have outside of our showers!! For the longest time none of us could figure out while the bathrooms were always wet. Then my host mom showed me how to use the shower last night and I realized why. Everything gets wet from when you shower and spray water everywhere. It's soooooooo weird!!! Also, the towels they use are about the size of a kitchen dish towel! I had to go to the Lotte Mart (which is like Wal-Mart... it has everything!!) and buy beach towels because A) those are the only long and big normal size towels they make and B) the little hand towel does not even come close to drying my body or my hair!

Also, I have had to duck under like 15 doorways and I can put my complete forearm on the ceiling in the bathroom of my first apartment! Guess it's a disadvantage to be tall in this city :)