Gurye trip with the Cha family

I just had one of the best days ever! I went out with Cha Hyun Seok, the banker and his wife and two children: Ha Eun (Korean age = 12 years, Canadian age = 10?) and Ha Min (8 or 6?). Ha Eun is actually one of Helen's students - small world. Hyun Seok doesn't look it, but he is 41 years old. He has been to Canada a few times, and the US to run marathons. He came in 11th in the Honolulu Marathon! Anyway, both Hyun Seok and his wife have family members who live in the US or Canada, so their English is quite good. Ha Eun was very shy, but Ha Min (the little one) was anything but! She spent all day giggling at me - holding my hand, playing with my hair, jiggling my upper arms (she loved that!) and trying out English phrases, while I tried out my Korean.

We went to Gurye, a small city just north of Suncheon. First stop was a dragonfly museum, with a visit to a greenhouse, small farming museum, garden, and petting zoo. It was really neat. Then, we went for lunch. Imagine a table, about 6 x 3 so covered in dishes full of food that you can't even find a place to put your chopsticks! I am really going to miss the huge variety of tasty Korean vegetables. Their greens are like nothing else. Really delicious.

After that, we went towards Jiri-san, the mountain that I'd climbed before, and stopped at a historical house. It had been a nobleman's house and had been rebuilt. You can actually stay there, like a hotel. We looked at everything and went for a short hike through some fields. I really thought that the natural well was the most amazing thing ever.

Then, we went back to Suncheon. Ha Eun had to go to her bible study class, so we went to the Cha's church where we sat outside and drank some juice while enjoying the gorgeous weather. There was this older man who walked by wearing traditional Korean clothes and I just couldn't take my eyes off him. He let me take a picture with him. What you can't see in the picture is how long and white his beard was... how unlined his face was.... that the buttons on his jacket were baubles... that even his shoes were old style.

I took a million pictures, which I have posted on my Flickr account. Follow the link on the right. In only a few days, I have uploaded almost my entire quota for the month. I'll have to calm down a bit with the pictures. They are worth a look - and read the descriptions too, since I give a lot more information there.

.... and last night, the waguks went out (of course) and had ourselves a good giggle over the fact that today is Erection Day (remember, "r" and "l" are the same sign in Hangeul), which is why we got a day off. Actually, if you follow the link to Brent's blog, he's got a bit of a write up about the whole election phenomena here. It's very different from Canada.