Daejeon to Seoul

Above is a photo from my camera of the group after they cleared customs at Inchon International Airport. For Sat. 7/5 & Sun. 7/6 we have an internet connection from our hotel in Seoul. Several group members will be adding their posts and photos in the coming days. Keep checking as the trip progresses.

The group cleared customs about 19:30 KST (7:30 PM) and we were on our way to Daejeon. We greeted them just like we were greeted last year --with a banner and many hugs and of course many, many photos. The group looked tired but very happy to be on the ground in Korea.

The coach bus ride to Daejeon was comfortable but slow due to rain and heavy traffic around Seoul. Daejeon is southeast of the capital for anyone tracking us via maps or computer (Google Earth is a good place to start). We ate at a typical "oasis" on the interstate-grade toll highway. One dish did not agree with 4 of us, but I'm getting ahead of the sequence of events.

We disgorged ourselves and all our luggage from the bus at Spatel too late for a spa. The group was really tired even after dozing on the 3 hour trip. Several people enjoyed the natural hotspring spa first thing in the morning before heading out for the day's activities.

Our first stop was an elementary school. Someone with a better head for details will have to help out with its name. I do recall that it is a "rural" school on the outskirts of Daejeon with only 60 students, small school -by both U.S. and Korean standards. I must say though that the small school had the same high quality equipment, furniture, and professional staff as the larger schools.

When we first arrived we are greeted at the door by one or more teachers where we exchanged our street shoes for indoor slippers. Everyone including staff and students wear slippers while in the school buildings. Next we were escorted upstairs to the library where drinks and plates of fruit and cookies awaited us. The principal arrived and greeted us and made a formal speech introducing us to his staff and welcoming us to his school. I have yet to meet a woman principal. After introductions we presented him with a gift. After 20-30 minutes of speeches and translation from either Korean to English or English to Korean we were dispersed to various classes and grades for English conversations and games with students. Other will have their own tales of their experiences.

Jan Mattson, Carol, and I were assigned to a 1st grade class. For those who don't know, 7-8 year olds are at the right age for absorbing languages. I had a blast witnessing how quickly students could pronounce and use the English words for various things. After a whole group session where we told the kids where we came from and asked them to share things about themselves we played various games. The students and guests were so engrossed in the activities we were (I was at least) a little disappointed that we had to end for --perhaps you can guess. School lunch.

We ate the same fare as the students and teachers. It was spicy, too spicy for some of our midwestern palates. Following lunch we returned to the library where all the tables and chairs were pushed to the sides. Students sat on the floor in classes while adults sat in chairs around the perimeter very similar set up to U.S. schools. Unlike American schools I'm familiar with, students were permitted to be louder and more rambunctious. They settled down quickly and remained attentive during the program that followed.

And what a program! We were treated to the best exhibit of a trational drums concert by a 6th grade group that I have ever witnessed. After which we played a couple of whole group games for the entire class of about 60 kids. Carol was even pressed into service leading Hockey Pockey! We broke into smaller groups of 1st-3rd and 4th-6th grades and played a variety of other games from Simon Says to Duck, Duck, Goose. At the conclusion of this very noisey and wonderfully fun time we were escorted to the principal's office for a typical farewell ceremony.

Visiting this school followed a similiar pattern as school visits last year and during Carol's (and my) tour with Viterbo college students. In most of the other visits we began and ended in the principal's office. But our large group was hard to accommodate. The layout of principal's office in Korean schools seems to follow the same design with notable exceptions. I've visited so many schools these last few weeks that they are all blurring together. Others may have a clearer version of when or whether we met with the principal in his office.

A principal's office is much larger and formal than in U.S. schools. The principal has a desk at the head of 2 parallel rows of plush chairs -usually leather with coffee tables between them.

Our next stop was one of several national cemetaries dedicated to the fallen during the Korean War. We visited this shrine last year. However, this year we were guided into the obalisk where statues guard rows marble walls enscribed with the names of soldiers. We also toured an accommpanying museum dedicated to military personnel who sacrificed themselves to save others from many time periods right up to the present.

A hike to a buddhist temple nestled in a steep mountain valley was our last stop before diner. The hike was over 1 k, I estimate. It is a unique temple because it is run by women monks -not buddhist nuns who are of lower rank than monks. The walk through a small toursit shopping district and up the valley on narrow blacktop road along a clear mountain stream was quite peaceful and beautiful.

We feasted at a welcome dinner at a restaraunt near the temple where many of us were reunited with children we have welcomed to our homes and met their families. It was a fun time!

Our last activity -of a sort- was to go with our host families to their homes for the night. Carol and I had a delightful time sitting and sharing family photos with Youn, Tek-Sang's family who stayed at our house last year. We will get to spend all of our home visits with them.