Before the actual village tour, we participated in 3 traditional Korean activities at the Traditional Culture Center. The first activity we participated in was a drum lesson. All of the drums filled up pretty quick so I ended up "playing" the gong. I was probably better at that than the drums anyways lol. The pan that I had to hold up was rather heavy, so I had to take a few breaks.
The next stop was to a traditional ink painting class. We learned how to use the tools & ink to create bamboo trees. We were also able to practice writing our names in Korean symbols. Mine's fairly easy since I have three a's.
The last activity was the most entertaining. I ended up sitting in the front row and was the first to get called up to put on a mask. They then brought up my friend Dave to put on an old man's mask. After calling up another girl to put on the last mask, they asked us who we thought the old man was married to. We chose the girl in the older looking mask, and they said we were correct. They then asked who they thought I was supposed to be since I was wearing a younger looking mask. Some people guessed daughter, but then the guy in charge pulled Dave over to me and said no, this is his second wife, haha! After talking about that they taught us a dance. We decided that it must be some sort of polygamy dance lol. And since we were still in the front row, we were the first to put on these arm clothing pieces and perform the dance in front of everyone. It turned out they made each line of people perform also, so we weren't as embarrassed anymore. The last part of the dance was a dance where two people got inside of a dragon/horse looking costume. That was highly entertaining as well, and afterwards we were able to take a picture inside of the costume.
After eating "bibimbap" for lunch (not a fan by the way due to the lack of meat & majority of random veggies), we were taken to tour the village. We first stopped in a part of the village to make a traditional craft. The boys weren't very excited to make a heart-shaped picture frame, lol. The good part was that when we were finished we went outside for a snack, which was a grilled chunk of sweet potato. It was delicious and they told us that you can find sweet potato stands all over the place.
On the tour we saw a few interesting things, but for the most part we just wandered around aimlessly. I felt sorry for the people who lived in the homes of the village, because tourists wander through there all day long, even other Koreans who are visiting the city. The next pic is of me with a 400 year old tree.
The best part of the tour was when they let us wander around the town's market. They had everything you could imagine up and down the streets. Ajumas, older Korean ladies, are in charge of most of the selling in the market. From fish, to blankets, to vegetables, they had it all.
I'm pretty sure most stuff is cheaper to buy in the open markets, than in an actual mart or "grocery store." The smell of raw seafood wasn't very pleasant though...bleh! Nor was the site of pig heads! However, I did manage to come across a penguin neck pillow! :) Also, around parts of the town you also see lots of ajushi, older Korean men, playing board games.
Towards the end of the day everyone seemed a bit tired from walking .Since we had to wait awhile for our bus, we found a nice spot to sit down, talk, & relax. On the short bus ride home I was almost able to fall asleep from being so tired lol. Of course we all still ended up going out later that night! :) Which will be my next post...the nightlife adventures in Jeonju during orientation!
XOXO,
Amanda
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