I went to the city of Andong this past weekend with six other foreign teachers.  It was a good trip.  Let me tell you about it...  The bus ride there might have been the best part for me.  It's not too far away, but it took us a while to get there because the road winds through the mountains.  One thing that was so great about the drive was that the trees have just started to change colour.  But also, all along the road there were farms and lots and lots of orchards - mostly apple - with people harvesting in them.  It was really cool to get an idea of what rural Korea is like - I think it must be a lot different than urban Korea.  The farmers we past seemed to live hard working peaceful lives.  It was a very pastoral scene.
In Andong, we first went to the Folk Museum.  This museum was about Korean traditions and living.  I really like museums because there's a ton of information and stuff to be learned, but, unless you're by yourself, I find it hard to spend the time and read everything in a museum enough to remember it afterwards.  That was the case here as well.  But the best part about being there was an old man who did Chinese calligraphy.  He had a lot of different phrases/sayings to choose from and then he'd paint/calligraph it onto a piece of paper, or for 15,000 won, onto a nice scroll type thing.  I bought the scroll.  My scroll says, "To teach others is to teach yourself".  I thought that was pretty great.
After the Folk Museum we took a bus to Hahoe Village, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site (I don't know anything about UNESCO but it sounds cool right?).  It was cool.  It's this old village that is built in the style of Korean architecture during the Joseon Dynasty.  I think many of the buildings have been preserved from this time period, but I don't know for sure.  I know that Confucian ideals were a major part of this time period and outside Hahoe village is Confucian school that we didn't get to see.  But the village was pretty neat.  It was like a living museum because all the houses are this old style and you can walk through the narrow walled streets as if you lived there, which isn't hard to imagine because there are actually people living in the village.  Beside these old looking houses are Honda Accords and modern cars - which was an interesting juxtaposition.  And all through the viallge there was this great smell of supper being made.  My favourite part of the village was a 600 year old treee.  It's traditionally believed to be the residence of the goddess of pregnancy, but I just thought the tree was cool.
And then we went home.
And I also had the chance to go skating this weekend!  That was pretty great.  There's an ice arena not too far from my apartment and they rent skates - dull skates, but they're skates. I'll be doing it again I'm sure.
Here are some pictures from the trip.  The rest will be on facebook.

Autumn



I post this picture becuase I'm wearing this sweet Korean sweater that I bought, and my new glasses.



The 600 year old tree.

One of the houses in Hahoe Village.

Part of the farmland surrounding Hahoe Village, with some sweet mountains in the background.

An example of me being artsy fartsy.

My scroll

Thanks for reading,

Michael