Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Tuesday, April 6

Today was quite a busy day. We first visited Chonbuk National Universtiy or CBNU. We heard a rpesentation by their admission office then recieved a tour of the CBNU from two students.




Here is our group after the tour. CBNU has over 30,000 students and it looked and felt like being on any larger school's campus anywhere in the US, except with Korean students.

Below is a cold noodle soup which we had for lunch, they seriously feed us every two hours. Food is good, but let's face it when I'm full all the time that's lots of food.


PArt of learnign about Korea is learning culture and the food. Here is GSE Team member Ruth, with her "Bunny chopsticks". They help people learn how to use chopsticks. In the photo below that one of the Jeonju Rotarians, Mr. Choi, gives Ruth a lesson on chopstick use. In Korea all the chopsticks are made of metal and are tougher to use then the ones we are used to in Asian restaraunts in the US.

After lunch we visited a farm. The weather in Korea is much cooler then Memphis. TO utilize the land better there are greenhouses everywhere. This one grew among other things tulips, Lillies, and strawberries. The people in the picture below the tulips were kind enough to share their freshly picked strawberries with us. The people in Korea are so freindly and kind!!


After touring the farm, more food. I wasn't kidding about feeding us all the time. Below is Korean BBQ and then some seafood grilled at the table. They put hot wood coal in the bins at the table and you cook the food their. You wrapt the meat and onions into lettuce wraps. Think of it like a Korean "fajita".

Monday, April 5, 2010

Morning tour of Chonbuk National University

I had a wondeful home stay with Mr. Kim and Nam last night. Very
gracious hosts.

This morning we had a presentation from the people at Chonbuk National
University (CBNU). After the presentation we toured the CBNU with two
if their student ambassodors.

After that we visited Mr. Choi's (One of Rotary leaders of Jeonju)
home church. They have a simple church that still donates over
$500,000 a month to overseas missions.

The photo is our lunch spread, Korean BBQ.

A "lively" lunch

DANGER!!!! If you have the stomach for it here is a link to a video of the cooking process. I'm warning you it is not for the faint of heart.

It's been a fabulous day. We saw the Catholic cathedral in Jeonju
which dates over 200 yrs old.

We then toured the old town which has classic Korean architecture.
Very beautiful.

In the afternoon we toured a wonderful senior activity and wellness
facility. The place shamed most places in the US. And it was free to
any resident of the city over 60.

Oh, the photo below? Our lunch was a traditional Korea stew. One of
the more interesting ingrediants was a live octopus that was cut up in
front of us and placed in the dish which was cooked at the table.

The picture does not do the visual justice. The cut off tentacles
squirmmed until the were cooked. It was chewy but delicious!

Later.

DANGER!!!! If you have the stomach for it here is a link to a video of the cooking process. I'm warning you it is not for the faint of heart.

LINK

http://www.box.net/shared/9c0vc2hstx (you will have to download to watch, trust me it's worth it!!!)

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Slideshow of photos from the first day

I've been in Korea fro 24 hours now. It's been wonderful. The rotary people of this district have been very gracious hosts. We went to a splendid meal last night at Korean Vegitarian buffett. Great food, but let's be honest I love all food!!

We begin out offical touring now.

Here are some photos

A couple of videos from this morning at the airport in Seoul as we waited for our ride to Jeonju.




Check out our ride!!

Batmobile step aside, here comes the Rotarymobile.

This is the very nice bus our group will be traveling in for the next four weeks. We were met by the district governor of the Jeonju Rotary club and a number of their top officials.

It has been a very long 36 hours. The Rotary club hear took us out for dinner and then put us up in a hotel for tonight. After this we will be staying in the homes of Rotary members from this district in South Korea.

So much to see and do. Tired, excited, and pretty much in a daze so far.

Saturday, April 3, 2010