The building in the picture above is in Jeonju, a city near Gunsan. We go there often to see the sights and go shopping. Since last August, this historical building, The Pungnammun Gate has been under construction for restoration purposes. Last time we were in Jeonju, they had finally finished! The Pungnammun Gate is the South entryway into the city. There used to be four, but this is now the only remaining gate.
With the onslaught of deliciously warmish but with the hint of an underlying cool breeze weather...(for people in New Orleans...we get this weather for about two days every year - first: around February 17th and second around November 29th). Anyway, I try to find excuses to take classes outside, but it usually only works for the younger ones. Here, I seemed to think that drawing trees and writing English descriptions of the surroundings was sufficient enough for an English lesson. At least we were outside :) They had fun!
Their English names are Vicky, Katy and Bella. They are all in elementary school in 5th grade.
These next few pictures are of our field trip/expedition around Gunsan with a few girls in our older class. They are in 3rd grade in middle school, so they will go to high school next year. We went to eat ice cream and played in a sticker room (these are big rooms with a few high-tech photo booths - you can decorate the photos and have hundreds of backgrounds, and even take pictures that make your eyes bigger! The girls wanted to do the big eyes booth - so while the photos of them with big eyes are normal, Dan and my eyes are like scary, puffy cartoon characters. Hilarious). After the sticker room, we went to the Jinpo Maritime Theme Park - a park with old warships, tanks and planes from the Korean War. Very cool. It was a great afternoon!
Here I am with the girls, from left to right: Cathy, Emily, ME!, Janet and Sandra
Some fun in an old tank...
This next one is us with some of the greatest Korean leaders of all time. The one on the far right (all alone) is Yi Sun-Sin. He is probably the most famous, due to his numerous victories against the Japanese during the Imjin War. There are statues everywhere of him. The girls gave us a short history of the war during our visit!
To any of our friends thinking about marraige...we suggest taking a trip to the sunny Korean peninsula! Here is one of the Korean wedding halls available for your ceremony. All weddings are held in these halls and there are a few of them in Gunsan - one even looks like the Taj Mahal! These massive halls allow for several weddings to take place at one time, and offer an all inclusive wedding room, reception area and buffet. After the wedding, the couple dresses in traditional Korean clothing (Hanbok) and rides around in the trunk of a decorated car with loud music playing.
One time, Dan and I were walking in the park, and newlyweds poked their heads around the car trunk to yell at us: "Hello! We are today is a married wedding!!" An exciting moment.
These types of carnival games are lined up on one of the big streets in Gunsan. We usually draw a crowd when we play and get Korean university students to challenge us to a duel. Good fun!
Isn't this strange?! This clothing display was in a store in downtown Gunsan. If you can't see - it says Louisiana State and St. Catherine of Siena...We had to snap a picture!
