Korean Folk Village

I woke up Sunday morning, still tired but ready to go explore Korea. It was still foggy outside and sprinkling but it wasn't very cold out. I got ready and went down and ate my first meal in Korea. We had quail egg and pork jang-jo-rim (that was the first time I have had quail eggs and they were quite good). We also had kimchi sundubu (kimchi soup with soft tofu), and, of course, it wouldn't be a Korean meal without kimchi and rice. I keep forgetting to take my camera to meals so that I can get pictures of the food.
After breakfast I went to the lobby to see if I was one of the lucky 40 who would get to go on the field trip. Since I was on the wait list I didn't think I would get to go. They went through all the people then started naming people on the wait list and telling them they were in. I was 4th on the wait list and Amy (my fellow Idahoan) was 5th on the list. And guess what, they ended up taking the first 5 people from the wait list! I was psyched when I found out I got to go. The bus ride to the Korean Folk Village was much calmer than the bus ride the night before. It was light out so we could see more of what Korea looks like however it was still foggy and wet so our windows were all fogged up again. I was surprised how brown everything is. I didn't think it would be more brown than Idaho. Although, it is very hilly and all the hills are covered in trees. I am really looking forward to the spring because I think it will be very pretty then. I was also surprised that it was more rural than I thought it would be. Shoving 50 million people in a country smaller than Utah I didn't think there would be much space anywhere. But there was actually numerous fields and open space, as well as countless small hilly forests. It was funny because there would randomly be an extremely high apartment building or a couple tall buildings here and there, but they seemed so out of place surrounded by fields and much smaller buildings. It took almost 2 hours to get to the village. TaLK provided our tickets to get in and they also bought us lunch at a restaurant while we were there.
The village was pretty cool. It had a lot of Korean traditional stuff and it showed a lot of buildings from the Joseon dynasty. Here is a link that shows a map of the village:
 http://www.koreanfolk.co.kr/folk/english/guide/guide_map.html

Most of the buildings are from the Joseon dynasty which was from 1392 - 1897. The houses with tile roofs are upper class and the buildings with straw roofs were where lower class, poorer people lived or worked.
It was super muddy because it had been raining, and it was foggy the whole time we were there but it didn't rain while we were there and the air was kind of refreshing even with the fog.

Korean Totem Poles

Some Cool Shrines

They had some intricate wood carvings

 Some cool structures and scenery 

 Very artistic Buddhist shrine. (these statues were pretty big) 

Buddhist Temple (this was the prettiest building inside and out)

Inside

Huge Buddha (Very cool!)

This was just in front of the temple.

A really old Bell

There were various performances while we were there. 

Here is a video of this one. 

You write your wish on a paper then tie it to the rope. In the fall they burn the rope and you wish will come true (or something like that)

Horses and Horsemen did a cool show but I didn't get a video

Some great bridges for pictures. 

More scenery of the village. 

There was a separate part of the village that had a amusement park with rides and everything. There was also a section with various museums and art. 

Don't I look amazing?

Fun in the jail

Watch your head when you exit (love the Engrish)

The ride back, everyone pretty much slept on the bus because we were all understandably tired. I was unfortunate and sat right in front of the only people who didn't sleep. Instead they just talked the whole way home so I couldn't sleep. 

Sunday night we had a pre-orientation that was pretty much orientation for the orientation. 

Had a great time at the village! So glad I went even though I was jet lagged! It was a cool experience and a great day.