Well here I sit in the airport about to board my first out of my series of flights that will eventually get me back to Minnesota. Not sure how to feel as my heart has gotten caught between Minnesota and Korea. I don't know if going home is the best decision, but I will make the most out of it.

I will not be posting anymore but I do want to thank you all for reading, caring, and being a support in the time I have spent abroad.

Maybe I will return again and start another blog of travels but for now I wish you all the best in your own adventures!

Love,
Shana

Colorful Daegu

Daegu’s logo is “Colorful Daegu” and with the various festivities offered here, I would certainly agree! Kyle and I decided to check out the International Body Painting Festival, which I have to admit- I had no clue what that meant! We arrived just in time for the “Fantasy painting” section of the show. Here are some photos which speak much louder than words for what we saw! 

We then walked around to discover the whole grassy area filled with tents of artists painting the almost completely naked bodies of both men and women. More pictures to explain! 

The following weekend was the first weekend of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. We had previously gone by the booth to try and get tickets to see Usain Bolt but it had been sold out. We were hanging out downtown with our boss, Cindy, when we decided to pop by the booth and to our surprise they now had seats for that evening in which Bolt would be running in the qualifier and final of the men’s 100 meter. We ran to the stadium and found seats excited to enjoy the night and see the fastest man smoke the rest! 

We saw Bolt beat the rest for the qualifiers, and then... get disqualified for the final race. 

The evening was still fun though, Korean crowds are the most fun to be apart of as most of the crowd usually has some sort of fan, sun visor, and appreciates the wave over and over and over again! 

Live Music Now and Then

Traditional building in the village

Well now that I go through our pictures I realize how many things have happened over the past few weeks since our last update! We went to an International Jazz Festival, to a traditional village, to an International Body Painting Festival, to the 13th annual IAAF World Championships in Athletics, went to a Monk Festival on a nearby mountain and to a Samsung Lion’s baseball game! A lot has happened, not to mention teaching Monday-Friday with some amazing co-teachers and great students! 

Duryu Park

Concert Hall in Duryu Park- Daegu 

Say "Kimchi!"

Enjoying the concert with Mr. Kim

Kyle went to a Jazz festival where he met a Korean poet/journalist/tour guide. He was writing an article about the event and asked Kyle to write a little bit on it and his relationship with jazz, so Kyle agreed and then we met up with him together the next night at the festival. He took great cheesy pictures of Kyle, we listened to awesome music, and went back stage to meet one of the lead acts of the night. 

Kyle posing for the camera

The Jazz band: Prelude 

Ashton Moore- Jazz vocalist 

JHG- funk band

The stage and Daegu Tower

Meeting Ashton Moore

Mr. Kim, the journalist, then invited us to a village the following weekend where we would listen to Pansori, a genre of traditional Korean music. So plans for the next weekend were set- we met Mr. Kim and spent the day with him walking around the traditional Korean village, Inheung Village, the home to the Moon family. We had lunch (cold bean soup with noodles and kimchi soup) and visited with some residents of the village. This village was founded in the mid 19th century and still has 9 traditional homes, 2 shrines and one library. 

Rice fields for miles

More rice fields

The village 

Notice the man working in the field 

Fresh peppers

We also visited the Inheung Seowon Confucian Academy where we met an old man who showed us around happily. At first sight this man was very old with a net atop his head fashioned as a hat and I figured he did not know English, but probably knew Japanese and at least how to read and write in Chinese. We were shocked when he welcomed us, in English, with outstretched arms declaring that his son went to Harvard and many other details of his family’s accomplishments in perfect English! Without hesitation he invited for us to look at the wooden printing blocks of Myeonsimbogam which were used to create a book of wise sayings and famous phrases. Myeonsimbogam means “treasured mirror for enlightening the mind”, and this book has been and is used for moral education of children. The printing blocks were locked away in a storage room but the older man happily brought them out of their glass cases; the only remaining wooden blocks that were used to print the book. As he told us of the blocks he fell asleep sitting up, and that was our signal that it was time to go! We said goodbye and returned to the village nearby. 

At entrance of the academy

That evening we watched Pansori. The man sang and told a story while another man played a traditional Korean drum. There was about 30 people gathered in this traditional home that they turned into an open gazebo/stage. The traditional Korean homes have walls that are sectioned into what looks like large window panels, except instead of glass there is a special type of paper. These panels can be lifted like wings all around the structure creating a completely open home. In the middle of the performance there was a short break where everyone ate communally and then the performance ended with a joyful folk song (which was a large contrast to the sorrowful pansori tale). 

We have been lucky to meet some wonderful Korean people who have invited us to experience a more intimate and traditional part of Korea. More to come! 

-Shana