A Workshop in July

So this last Monday and Tuesday was a workshop. This meant we got to travel to some cool places and see some neat things. We first took a bus from SEEC (my work place to a cave). On the way I brought some books to read. One book which took priority was a driver's manuel for Korea. I hope to be taking the test for a license next week. Perhaps I'll get a bike, perhaps not. I'm still not sure. On the way I also busted out my copy of Plato's republic in korean. I love philosophy, so I thought that reading philosophy in korean would be a good way for me to start learning it. I got through about a page with the help of a coordinator and I learned quite a bit about the language and how it functions. I felt really proud of all the korean that I was learning and being exposed to. We stopped and walked though a cave. It was quite small in places and beautiful in others. I was told that it was one of the oldest caves in korea. I got to take a cool breakdancing freeze in the cave so I was happy. I started talking with some of the boys in the cave. They looked like boy-scouts to me and they asked me some funny questions. Hi, what's your name? How old are you? Where are you from? Do you have a girl-friend? Most kids I meet ask these questions and they are funny to me. In western culture these questions would seem odd, but here its quite normal. We also traveled to a scholar's house. His house and face is on the korean 1,000 won bill (roughly 1 dollar American). Then we went to a museum which had its tour in korean. This was hard for me because I didn't know what the guide was saying and one of my co-workers who is korean said she had a hard time understanding because she was speaking so fast. Lastly we went to a folk village. According to my korean travel guide it was one of the non-fabricated folk villages in korea. It may not have been fabricated, but I was glad that it had warm water and a modern bathroom. It also had the old style bathroom, which I didn't go into and cold water if you wanted. I slept with two other guys in a room which just fit us. It was a good experience. I wondered if this wasn't closer to the type of living my mother had experienced while she was here in korea.