Got on the bus this morning and went to a different McDonalds for breakfast.  There was a strangely dressed guy outside who came up to us and started talking about his time in the U.S. and that he has been in Wisconsin and L.A. He was sort of dressed like a pimp.  Lol

Got on the bus and drove about 45 minutes to the Naju forest and walked around the arboretum there for about 1 hour.  It was a pretty nice place and they had a building there with all sorts of mushrooms being cultivated.  They had a shitake mushroom farming operation there also with oak logs.  It was pretty interesting. 

All of the plants in the arboretum were labeled and there were several things there that I didn’t recognize so I got quite a few pictures of different plants.

After this, we got back on the bus for a 1.5 hour trip to the coast.  During the drive, we stopped for lunch at a small rest stop.  www.nambooshop.com and had a small spread of different items like octopus, etc. There were a couple small stores there that most everyone went in after lunch to get suckers, pop, and ice cream. 

It is sort of dreary and overcast today.  You can’t see too far due to the mist in the air, but the mist also gives things a corporeal feel.  It is quite surreal.  After lunch, we headed to an arboretum on the way to the coast called Wando arboretum.  This was again a huge place, set within a beautiful mountain stream area.  They had altered the river quite a bit and Dick was sad about that, but overall it was an extremely nice place.  They also had a herbarium with many different plants from all over the world that was really spectacular.  We spent about an hour there too just walking around and enjoying the scenery. 

Then back on the bus for the final 1.5 hour push to the coast.  During that time the bus driver put on a movie (die hard 4) and everyone either watched or fell asleep.  The bus driver is with us everywhere and seems like a nice but no-nonsense kind of guy.  It is interesting to see his habits when we stop somewhere.  Get everyone off the bus, stay with the bus and clean a couple small things, then smoke several cigarettes.

The ocean was awesome.  We spent about an hour there too walking in the surf and having a great time.  It would be a very nice place to spend a couple months. There weren’t too many people there today because of the weather and the fact that it was cold outside and the water was cold, but I was told that it is extremely popular during the summer and very crowded. 

After everyone scraped the sand off their feet, we all got back on the bus for the 1.5 hour trip back to Gwangju.  During the trip, the driver put on the first pirates of the Caribbean and most people fell asleep.  There was a Korean student sitting next to me who kept falling asleep and putting his head on my shoulder so I leaned forward so he woke up (it was a little weird). 

When we arrived at the hotel, we had about 10 minutes to get changed (if we wanted to) and then we walked to the downtown area for supper at a very nice restaurant.  It was bulgogi again but this time it was pork.  The grill in the middle of the table is a great idea and I wish more places did this kind of thing in the U.S.  It is very nice. We all ate quite a bit and afterward, some people went back to the hotel and the others of us went to walk around the shops downtown that were lit up like Las Vegas.  It was unnerving to see how many people were there.  Mike and I had a coffee (which the place messed up ? we got a more expensive coffee rather than the ones we wanted) and walked around.  There was an old man with a junk store in the middle of a main intersection where we told everyone to meet before walking back to the hotel and he kept waving us away (like we were loitering in front of his “busy” store).  People just passed his stand of junk.  I never saw anyone stop there.  It was rather annoying to see.

We made it back to the hotel and there’s a wake up call for 8:30 tomorrow.  There are a few people trying to put some things in a box to send back home.  I have a box packed, so I hope that I can send it as well.  We’ll try to do that tomorrow. 

Later!

We left promptly at 7:30am and went to breakfast at McDonalds.  It wasn’t bad, but the thought by our host was that after all the Korean style breakfasts, we would like something familiar.  I know that he liked McDonalds when he was in the states too. 

We went first, to the Choenam campus where we got a campus tour and learned about the university history.  There was some information there about the 5/18 massacre in 1980 or so.  It seems that even though the country said it was democratic, there were curfews and other repressions going on so the students at this university staged a protest and many got killed because of it in a military style repression.  After that, liberty was gained by the whole country and now there are memorials about the date. 

We also went to the university museum which was the first place that I’ve seen where they had evidence that people in this area were once buried in clay jars (very large clay jars).  There were many other items to look at too, including stone arrowheads and some pictures and writing from long ago. 

After the tour, we went and listened to Dick give a presentation about Iowa and the differences between Iowa, the US and Korea.  We also saw Kye Han Lee’s office area and some of his lab space. 

I think all the Korean students liked the seminar.  Some of them talked about the project that was proposed and even started by their government to create a canal through the whole of South Korea.  They asked what Dick would say about that to the President?.

After the show, we went to lunch in the cafeteria for bi bim bab (a rice and vegetable dish) and then to the university arboretum for a tour of Kye Han’s research and new building (where his future office will be located).

Then off to  a river corridor area where we walked and looked at some low-head dam structures and a nicely painted rainbow bridge.  After coming back to the bus, we crossed the street to the bamboo park (before this many of the students got ice cream at a stand) and then went to the park. 

The park was really interesting and had lots of bamboo.  I learned a lot about how it grows and what it can be used for.  During the walk, we came across a photographer for the local paper and he took pictures of our whole group and then video of one of the students.  It was pretty interesting.  He took one of my video cards and took some pictures of our group so now I have some photos of our group by a Korean photographer. 

We then went to a native temple where all of the buildings were built with the form of the land in mind.  We sat there for a while and walked around the area.  There were some nice streams and buildings there, all very naturally integrated into the landscape.

The walk was nice (the bamboo forest was pretty dark) and after we were done, we boarded the bus and drove to another shrine that was built in honor of one of the generals who fought the Japanese in the 1500’s.  it was a very peaceful place. 

Then finally back to Guanjeu for supper at a tourist hotel where there were some other members of the forestry faculty there to greet us.  There was lots of beer and soju at the party (and a mix of the two ? soju and mecju called somec) and many of the students were a little tipsy by the end.  We then went to the “second party” at a bar (for the people who wanted to go) and the rest  of the group went to the hotel. 

The bar was pretty nice and we ended up staying there for quite a while talking about the day’s events.

Well, we got a ride home in a cab (the driver didn’t know where the hotel was at the end, so luckily I paid attention enough to get us home.  J

Good night!

The farm was very interesting ? it was run by a gentleman who did his masters at the University of Florida and came back to raise sturgeon in Korea.  He really had a passion for raising these fish (and they are really cool fish).  He was really innovative, having designed new tanks and even a way to clean the tank water.  It was a really cool visit. 

After the sturgeon farm, everyone was feeling better and we stopped at a forest park (after  a long drive) to walk around a bit.  It was a nice liesurly walk and we didn’t do much during that time. 

We got to Gwangju at about 7:00pm and had supper with Kye-han Lee who studied under Dick for his PhD.  I worked with him also during that time and he is a great person.  He set up a nice itinerary for us which starts at 7:30 tomorrow morning, so I’m going to bed now. 

Have a great night!

Several of us got together to go to the spa. As we drove up to “Spa World” which I expected to be some smaller building, we rounded a corner to see a large complex. It was a bit strange to see this large a complex out in the woods, but nothing is very far from a city in South Korea. So Dr. Moon and Dr. Lee bought tickets for the rest of us and we went in.

I didn’t understand the etiquette of the place so I followed Dr. Lee’s lead and followed him through the front door where we all removed our shoes (which is a common practice in restaurants and other public buildings in South Korea) and left them in a locker. We all followed Dr. Lee to the men’s locker room (the men that is, the women followed Dr. Moon) and I walked in to see a room full of sinks, lockers, chairs, valets, etc. The room was pretty nice, but there were many old naked men walking around, after all this was a bathhouse and no clothes was the thing to do.

All of us left our modesty and our clothes in the locker room and went out to the hot bath area where there were many hot spring baths that were heated directly from geysers. It was pretty nice. There were several pools at different temperatures, and although I think there was an order that people normally got into them, we all did them in whatever order we felt like it.

First was the 44 degree C pool which was quite hot, then to the 42 degree C pool which had jaccuzzi bubbles and was quite nice. Then into the sauna. After baking for a while, I had to leave and went to jump into the 16 degree C pool which was a cold shock to the system. I followed this up with a jump back into the 44 degree pool. All this time, most of us stayed in a group going from one pool to the next, but a few broke off and did their own thing. One of the students (who didn’t wear his glasses in) didn’t see a sign and accidentally got into a pool that was only for washing hair. It had a sign saying not to get into the pool, but because he wasn’t wearing glasses, he didn’t see it until we yelled at him, making the whole room look over in his direction. It was pretty funny and we have given him a hard time about it.

After this, we went to the tub where there was some juniper smelling water. It was relaxing, but after a while, it was time to go so we did a quick jump back into the 16 degree water, then into the 44 degree water then out to get dressed and leave.

It was a very relaxing way to spend the morning, and although we had to overcome our modesty issues, I think it would be a nice thing to have in the U.S.

We all went back to find a couple students having breakfast at the top cabin. We all joined in, and after eating, packed up our things and left the area.

First stop of the day was an aquarium where all the native fish species of south Korea were on display. It was pretty neat as there were many different fish (I didn’t realize South Korea had this much diversity). They had some breeding pools out in the back where they were raising many of the fish (presumably to stock lakes or rivers with). It was a good hour or so of walking around looking at different fish and animal species. There was a cool set of predacious diving beetles that were swimming in a tank. Those would have been fun to watch for a while longer.

Alas, we had to leave and so went on to the ocean (the East Sea) and spent an hour wading in the ocean and skipping rocks. It was awesome. I waded for a while. Everyone really enjoyed that stop I think.

We then went on to a farm where a student from one of the first Exchange programs with ISU (Han bo rem) had a Korean Native Pig farm and was raising pigs for sale and for use in his restaurant. We didn’t spend much time there as he couldn’t let us into the buildings to view anything (due to possible disease) so he got a couple pigs from inside t show us the difference between Korean Native Pigs and the US pigs.

Then we went into town to his restaurant where he serves his Korean Native Pigs as food. This is one of the only outlets for this pork because the pigs grow too slowly and don’t get big enough to be economically worth raising many of.

After this, it was getting pretty late, so we headed straight for Daegu.

We got to Daegu just in time to go to stop at the University (where Mike and Denise got off to get some gifts for the homestay students) and we went on to a nice restaurant where there was a farewell party waiting for us. The party was actually for the international symposium and for us as a farewell party so there were many other people as well from China, Japan, and Korea. It was quite a night and many people got pretty drunk. Everyone was toasting everyone else, the students all got up to make a short speech about how they enjoyed their stay in South Korea so far, and that went over very well.

After this, the party was winding down, but the previous dean (from a year ago) said there would be another party in the hotel in the lounge on the 2^nd floor and that we should all attend. Dick and Mike were taken to a Karoke bar by Dr. Lee and I didn’t see them again until about midnight. There were many people at the other party both students from ISU and students from Korea, along with some of the Chinese delegation and others. It was a great time.

We got everyone packed on the bus and started off, heading for our first stop of an old village halfway to our destination. We walked around the area for a while looking at the different houses and rice paddies in the area while a guide showed us around. There was a 600 year-old tree there where everyone came to make a wish, write it on a piece of paper and then tie it to a fence surrounding the tree. The belief was that by doing this, one would get their wish, and hopefully I’ll get mine.

It was relaxing to walk around after being in the bus. We ended up stopping at a small gift shop where several of us purchased some trinkets to take home with us. Some were rather bulky and it will be interesting to see how we can deal with this through the rest of our trip.

After the village, we went to an old school in the mountains by a river (which was very secluded) because this was Dr. Moon’s favorite place. It was very nice and several of us ended up wading in the river after we all took a 20 minute break to sit in one of the buildings overlooking the river and surrounding mountains. It was very peaceful and beautiful there. The kind of place you wish you could stay at for days to let it soak in. After discussing this for a while, Dick suggested that next trip, the group should do a short river trip on this area of the river and do some camping along with it.

Next, we all got back on the bus and went to a forest park, which allowed us to get out and walk around for a while. Once again, the area was very beautiful and although there weren’t many really old trees, it was a very green forest. There was also a river running through this park and many of the students got in to look for insects which are a sign of river health. They found some caddis flies which are typical of a stream in good health. Some of the students also took an opportunity to look at this gift shop as well and came away with some wooden items that were made out of nice pine.

Finally, we had to board the bus and make it to our final destination for the night, which was a set of cabins near Uljin. The cabins were in a very hilly area and I thought the bus wouldn’t make the climb once or twice, but it did make it. There were 4 cabins rented: one for the boys, one for the girls, one for the adults, and one for the driver and some others.

After settling in and looking around a bit (there were cuckoos in the forest around the area so it sounded like a number of cuckoo clocks going off the whole time ? which was neat) everyone got together at the cabin at the top of the hill (ours) and had a great filling dinner of beef bulgogi, hot dogs, watermelon, beer, noodles, etc. It was a great time. Finally, everyone had their fill and retired for the evening. In the morning, it was decided that whomever wanted to could go to the spa (public bathouse) close by for a shower and some sauna time and if they wanted to, meet at 7:00am to go.

I spent some of the time thinking about what I would choose to work on for an advanced degree because some of the talks were pretty interesting and I see some major pollution issues in this part of the world (I’m sure they’re the same at home) that could be worked on.

At the lunch break Dick, Denise, and Mike went to lunch with the Symposium presenters and the students went to the cafeteria on campus.

After lunch, we went to the University Museum where we walked through and looked at different prints, pots, bronze items, and maps from earlier on in the history of South Korea. It was pretty interesting to see some of the different items that have survived throughout history here.

One of the large maps had a story behind it: it was a very intricate map.  The person who made the map apparently started traveling throughout Korea at the age of 16 and took notes all over the country. Then put all his notes together when he finished.  The map was apparently so good that after a while, they quit selling the print, because it was good enough to allow Japan and China to plan their attacks well on South Korea.

One of the students that was working at the museum asked us some questions like what was the main difference between the US and SK. I suggested that they are very similar in many ways, but the food, some of the culture (for example students continue to live with their parents throughout college) and a couple other things.

Then it was off to take a rest at the library in the café on the 20^th floor.  It was a great library and the view from the 20^th floor let us see most of Daegu.  It was great.  I had a great cup of coffee and many of the students had something to eat. 

We then took the group of students to the folk village at the university.  The village was in an area that was flooded for a dam, so the entire village was moved.  It is a nice area and apparently Dr. Moon said that the international house was close and that many of the visiting professors liked to walk through the folk village in the morning because of how peaceful it was.  There were some people running through there also.  This isn’t the first group of people that I have seen running, but there aren’t too many.  However, I get the impression that there is much more exercise done here for fun than there is in China.  I really didn’t see anyone run in China, but I doubt there would be many who would want to anyway because of the air quality.  I’ll be interested to see how many people show up for the Olympics.

Finally, we ended up at the teacher’s lounge waiting for the final party of the evening which will celebrate the symposium.

The celebration included a pretty cool tae kwon do show where the performers broke boards and concrete blocks.  There was also music by one Korean harp and drum as well as a dancer.  The dinner was quite diverse and there was food from all the countries from which all the participants came.

The students seemed to have a good time there and they all sat with their host family students. 

After this, we went back to the Hotel and got ready for an early morning of travel.  I went for a walk with Mike near the hotel, came back and went to bed.

When we all got up (right at 6:00am) we had some breakfast ? some apple yogurt, some aloe yogurt, some sort of Danish type of thing, and some coffee.  There are several things here that have aloe in them that you eat or drink.  The aloe drink is pretty sweet, but many of the people in the group really like it.

We started the day off with a trip to the top of the mountains around the city where there was a stone Buddha that was carved near 640 AD.  There were many people starting to arrive to see the Buddha.  It was a short walk to get to the actual statue, and that was really all that was there but the view was spectacular.  There were many roofing tiles that were there that people from all over the world had signed and left standing up to show to all the other travelers.  There was a small gift shop there (as there is at every temple ? sort of odd considering the religious nature of the place).  I felt a little odd about the gift shop because it seemed like going to a gift shop at the Vatican.  Just sort of sacrilegious. 

After that, the 5 of us went to a temple where there were monks that were chanting.  There were many buildings there, and MANY people.  Once again, there were people there that were dressed like they were going to scale Mt. Everest but were just walking a couple blocks. 

After that, we went to a lake that was built 1200 years ago and filled by aqueduct.  There was also a menagerie of animals put together on the island. There was a small museum of items that were found at the area when people started to make the area into a tourist spot.  Many bones from animals, many items like spear tips, etc.

Then, we went to Daegu and had lunch at Pizza Hut with Dr. Moon, Her friend, and her daughter.  There was a bit of difference between the SK pizza hut and the US version.  The pizzas were much lighter and less greasy than the US versions. We got salad bar too.

After this, we went back to the hotel where Dick and Mike worked on their talks for tomorrows symposium and we looked up information on China’s earthquake.  We wanted to see if there were any updates on aftershocks to the region that we would be going to.  It seems like we might have to change our itinerary due to possible concern about the dams on the Yangzee.  Other than that, I think we’re still a complete go for travel through China.

We went to supper with Dr. Heon-Ho Lee and his family at a very nice Italian restaurant.  Dr. Lee will be in the US next year for a year. We had a several-course meal with some nice steaks, and chocolate Mousse at the end.

After that, it was back to the Hotel to repack things, determine what to send home (if I get the chance) and to pack things up for laundry service tomorrow. Then talked to Mom and Erin for quite a while on Skype.

Once we were done with breakfast, Dr. Moon picked us up, and we went to the outside of Daegu to a subway station to wait for the students to arrive with their homestay students.  As they all started arriving, it seemed like most people had a great evening.  Jack had a good time at a spa, and most of the others did something like go out on the town in the evening. 

After everyone was there, we all loaded up and drove a short distance to a dairy farm.  They had about 90 head of cattle and were milked every other day.  It was a pretty small operation, but similar to what we would have in the states, albeit it was a bit more dirty.  I don’t think they have as many regulations about how milk handling must occur before processing.

We then went to a greenhouse pepper operation (these were big green banana style peppers that weren’t hot at all).  The couple that owned the greenhouse did all the work themselves and there was a ton of work to do. 

I’m noticing all the small rice paddies here and seeing many more mechanical tools than what I saw in China.  There are actually planters and harvesters here for rice, where there are only people used in China.  Everyone is relatively well off here, as you would expect in any “more developed” country.  Everyone seems to want to take a little better care of their surroundings than I notice in China.  Because they are already developed, they can take the time to be concerned about their impact on the environment.  However, because of the large population in such a small area, there are still many of the same problems as I saw in China.  Smog is bad (although not nearly as bad as in China) and many of the rivers are green with algal blooms. 

After the peppers, we went to have bulgogi at a resturaunt that the Pepper farmer wanted us to go to.  This was like any restuaurant that we might go to in the states.  It had nice sit down areas (the difference here is that everyone sits on the floor like you would consider a normal Japanese restaurant to do) and there are bbq pits on every table for hot coals to grill beef over.  Then there are many plates where there are “fixings” of some sort that you wrap small pieces of beef in and then eat them.  It was delicious.

After this, we ended up letting the students go with their homestay students and we took off for the City of Guang jo after a brief stop to a grocery store.  I ended up sleeping for a little bit in the back of the car on the way there (for some reason these days take a lot out of me) and I ended up waking up as we arrived.  We were going to stay at a furnished condo for the evening.  It was a nice resort area and many people came there to party with friends and get together.  There were many kids around too. 

The condo we were in was very nice.  It had a sofa, table, TV, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and balcony.  We slept on the floors (that’s where we were supposed to sleep ? on feather beds with blankets on top of us) and the floors were nicely heated.  We put our stuff in the condo, had some watermelon, talked for a while and then went out for supper.  We ended up getting some fermented rice wine (which tasted ok, but I wouldn’t choose to drink it if I were to order) and we had some other interesting foods.  Some ground-acorn gelatin, fish jerky, potato pancake, and some sort of half-soup hot pot that was pretty good. 

Then we went to a small stone ampitheatre right outside the restaurant to watch a great performance of traditional song and dance in Korea.  It was pretty cool how they used fans to show pictures and make different dances up.  There were some cool string instruments there too.  I don’t remember what they were called, but it was basically a big piece of wood with strings on it.  It sort of looked like a cross between a string bass and a 2 x 12 piece of wood with strings on it.

There were some great drum-dancers there who had tassels attached to their caps and could twirl them amazingly and still keep up a syncopated rhythm correctly. 

Then it was back to the condo for a beer and some sleep.  We watched TV for a while, (animal planet all in English).  There are many English programs here with Korean subtitles.  Most people also have GPS in their cars, and many of the people that we’ve seen who are going to walk up to the top of these small hills to see some of the temples are dressed like they are going to scale Mt. Everest.  It’s pretty interesting, the difference between South Korea and China. 

Dr. Moon said that many of the students that come over from China (on exchange programs) just want to learn English in S. Korea and then try to get a graduate assistantship in America.  I’ve noticed that the school system is MUCH harder here than in the United States.  The kids have No time to be kids and have to spend all their free time working to get into a decent college.  All of the universities here don’t really have specialties, but rather are ranked just because of some historical preference.  All of the best Universities are in Seoul.  It would be the best to go to the University of Seoul.  Other than that, things went down pretty fast.  There are about 3 top universities here, then the rankings start to drop off. 

I don’t have pictures from the end of today, as I lent my camera to Jack while he’s waiting on a battery recharger (he ordered on the internet with the help of his host family).  I’ll get some more images from Dick to put up at some point. 

First thing on the list to do was go to the Nong Shim noodle factory in another town.  It was pretty cool. They make tons of ramen for the world and have a plant in L. A.  We all got a huge box of snacks from the p lace.

The factory was entirely mechanized and produced 3 million bowls of ramen in a 24 hour period.  They have a huge customer base, and looked like they were planning to try to get into many other country markets. 

After that, came lunch (they stopped at Burger King for us although I wasn’t wanting to eat there).  It took forever.  Most of the people who had burgers said it tasted just like in the U.S.   There were many Koreans who came in while we were waiting for our huge order to get food themselves.  I am a little saddened by how many of the chains have made it here. 

We then went back to the University to pick up Dick and Dr. Moon (Dick had to spend the morning on a presentation that he has to give in a couple days) and drove to Dr. Lee’s research area  in the mountains and to a park where there was a giant stone Buddha at the top of the mountain that people went to worship.  Turned out to be an awesome hike and a tough one too. 

My nose started running and my eyes are itching.  I must be allergic to something here.  I am not allergic to anything that I know of, but this must be what it feels like.  It sucks?

We climbed the mountain and saw the giant stone Buddha that had been there since 600 ad and had a great view of the surrounding countryside.  It was surreal. We could hear chanting through speakers while we were hiking up the mountain.  Everything was just awesome. 

Then took the students down the mountain and back to the university to do their homestays with students from the university.  Some of them were a bit nervous, but I don’t think they were when they all finally met their student liaisons.  All of them were very nice.

Dr. Lee took the 4 leaders to his apartment and showed us around and served us tea. He lives on the 19^th floor of a nice apartment building.  A very spacious apartment with nice wood floors with subfloor heating. 

We went to a bulgogi restaurant after that and had one of the best meals (beef bulgogi is awesome) that I have had on the whole trip.  The meal lasted a long time, and we sat on the floor again, so by this time my hips were starting to get sore as was all of the American people.  At the end, we ended up at the hotel.  When we were getting to the elevator, there was a little man in the elevator who was drunk and very belligerent.  We went up to floor 5 and dropped Mike and Denise off, and he got off on that floor too.  When Dick and I came to our room, 5 minutes later, Mike called and said that the drunk guy was pounding on the doors in the hall, was now half naked and had puked a couple times, so Dick went down to the front desk to tell them about it.  I’ll have to see how that turned out in the morning.  What in interesting story?

Well, I’ll try to do better at this blog thing here, but there is little time to do it.  Goodnight!

We all cooked several traditional dishes (gim chee (pickeled cabbage), onion pancakes and bibimbab).  It was all delicious and we ended up eating it after we cooked it. They served us coffee after that and then we went for a calligraphy lesson.  It was nice to try to do some of the calligraphy.  It is very hard to do though and I felt like I was all thumbs as I tried to use the traditional brush and ink to write my Chinese name “shu tong”.  One of the other students did this for me and it looked very nice.

After this, we went to supper at a restaurant where we all sat on the floor.  I do like that style.  The food is WAY different here than in china.  There are no bones to pick out of your teeth, and some things are fermented, but in general the food is much better than in China I think. 

After supper (we had some hot peppers that really knocked us flat) we went back to the hotel and I went out walking with some of the students to find a 7-11 or something where I could get a pop and they could get some beer.  It was easy to find one.  There are plenty of stores around, and everything is franchised and marketed here.

Then just went up to the room, checked email and went to bed.  I’m exhausted.