The dance instructors were really funny and entertaining and got the whole class involved (which is difficult to do since each class has about 50 people). First, they showed us the basic moves, then we "performed" in smaller groups, and finally eight people (including me) did a "lion" dance with a big lion costume.
These are two boys from my class.
Annnd those flip flop feet are mine. There was another girl behind me as the body.
After the dancing, we went to the craft room. They had small bowls of glue with paintbrushes in them and pencil cases with colored strips of hanji paper already cut out for us to cover the pencil cases with. The glue was different from any glue I've ever used before. It was very forgiving, so if you made a mistake it was very easy to pull the paper off and fix it. Also, the women in the room who were giving instructions were VERY helpful. As in, sometimes they'd come over and basically do it for you.
Craft Set Up
My Finished Product
Our final cultural experience was sameulnori, traditional Korean drums. We saw these performed during the welcome ceremony for orientation, so it was cool to learn about how they're actually played. The instructor was really enthusiastic and fun. (I will note that none of these instructors spoke English. Our class leaders had to translate. So when I say they were fun, entertaining etc., it's kind of saying a lot since we got this impression of them even when we couldn't understand them.) He led us through the different patterns for the drums and we did a lot of practicing. Some people had other instruments, which was kind of cool because we put them all together. He also showed us some examples of songs.
Some of my classmates with their drums.
Example from the instructor.
After sameulnori, we took some group pictures before going into the restaurant for bibimbap, which was really good. Then, we walked to Hanok Village together, where we had some time to just walk around and go to shops. The shops had a lot of handmade trinkets and things like fan, wallets, keychains, etc. I bought a small wallet and helped another girl buy a fan by asking the woman in the store how much it cost.
Posing in the head cut-outs with Camesha!
Bibimbap
Sign for Hanok Village
When we were finished in Hanok Village, we got back on the buses to go to Keumsan Temple. When we got there, some people went to use the bathroom and found, to their dismay, that most of the toilets were Japanese style toilets, or "squatter" toilets. Basically, the toilet is kind of just in the floor and you squat over it instead of sitting on it. It's actually supposed to be better for you, since that's technically how humans are made to use the bathroom. Anyway, once the bathroom break was over, we walked up part of a mountain to get to the temple. It was a big square area with one big temple at the back and two smaller ones on the sides. In the temples, there were big, gold statues. There were also a lot of stone formations and statues around the area.
The outside of the big temple.
Inside the big temple.
The three leaders of Class 3! The two girls next to me are Ellie and Song, our main leaders, of course.
On the way down from the temple I learned a lot of new vocabulary from some English people, which was pretty interesting. They have like 100 different ways to say "drunk", as well a bunch of other things that I had never heard before in my life.
When we got back to Jeonju University, I had to go to a class leaders meeting, which was mostly just messages to pass on to our classes. However, it was also established that I'll be doing a short speech at the closing ceremony with one other class leader. I'm actually pretty excited about that.
By the way, it's very hot and humid in Korea right now...
Artist: f(x)
Song: Hot Summer
Album: Hot Summer
Released: June 2011
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