Pictures and More Story

This is in the garden at the traditional Korean house. There were lots of beautiful rocks in the garden. Some were shaped like animals, some were very large and others were patterned in amazing ways.
Here is one of the dogs and its little house.
The master of the house. His family has owned the house for many generations.
The inside of the roof on one of the buildings.
More of the garden. Netta took this picture - I really like it.

Some of the snacks they served. Presented in this lovely box - dried apples and figs, dried persimmons stuffed with walnuts, what we call ancestor donuts (which are used during Chuseok to honor the ancestors), and dashik (traditional tea sweets).
Drying persimmons.....
Shot of a window in the house from below.

So on with the story:

After the ancestor meal we went to a beautiful temple. I didn't actually hear any of the talk at the temple because Olive was enjoying playing in the leaves too much.

So much fun!

After this we went to another temple to eat dinner and watch some music. It was really cold and we hadn't been told to bundle up because we were going to eat outside. So John trekked back to the bus for warm things and while he was gone we were shown inside the building where the room was being warmed for us. They warmed it by making a fire under the floor. It was amazing almost too hot at times - I had to sit on my sweater to keep my bum from cooking.

Then there was a strange performance with 3 ladies "playing" traditional instruments in skimpy clothing (outside in the freezing night). John thought they were not really playing as their technique was not right. They played modern music and had a really showy presentation. There were also speeches by the mayor of the town and the woman whose organization sponsored the trip ( Korean Women's Forum).

Then dinner finally. Then we went back to the bus and some of the folks got off the bus - apparently they were staying at the temple to sleep. Netta was very upset as she wanted to sleep in a traditional Korean house. We went on to our lodgings and here again it gets weird.

So we stayed at the guesthouse of the local Andong Hospital. I thought it was a type o on the agenda that they meant hostel or something but no we pulled up to the hospital. Patients were outside smoking and sick people were wandering the halls. They checked us in and we went up to the 12th floor to our rooms. Our family actually had a traditional Korean set up with thin mattresses on the floor so that we could stay in one room together. It was strange - from our window we could see in patients' rooms. I kept thinking how in the US hospitals are the place where strong bacteria thrive and staying there seemed crazy. Oh well the room was very nice and we headed off early in the morning. Not before buying a few necessities in the many shops on the first floor of the hospital.

Off to breakfast in the morning. This was definitely Netta's favorite meal of the trip. All bready things and sweet tarts. While we were finishing up Olive and I went out and wandered the neighborhood a bit. We found a flower vendor and Olive oohed and aahed and smelled all the flowers. The man was so sweet and he gave Olive a beautiful rose. She was very pleased.

When we got back to the bakery Netta was jealous of Olive's flower so they headed over to the flower stall and she came back with her own free rose.

Next we went to the overlook cliff above Hahoe Village. John did this exact walk on his trip so it was fun to hear his info that he had found out on his trip. It was a nice little hike to a beautiful spot. Then before we went to the village they fed us again. We were all still full from the bready breakfast but we went to the same bulgogi restaurant that John had been to. It was amazing and there were hundreds of pots of duenjang in front of the restaurant which was cool.

Then we went to Hahoe Village and walked around. One interesting thing we learned was that when a traveler approached a village he or she would look for the highest gate and then go to that home knowing that was the largest home in the village and would provide lodging. Basically any traveler could stay for up to 3 months for free in exchange for information that they could provide from the outside world. Sometimes they would overstay their welcome and the food quality would go down until they "decided" to leave.

After Hahoe we saw the mask dance. This was the same dance we saw at the cultural festival in Bucheon only a better production. It was fun - hard to understand some of it though.

Next we went to another temple which was the oldest wooden structure in Korea. It was beautiful - the fall colors and the old buildings made a lovely setting. I will load some photos in the next post.

Netta made a friend on the bus, an English teacher from Trinidad. She was a lovely woman and we will see her this month when Netta and I go on a tour of the baker's market in Seoul.

Then lastly we went to the concert venue. There was a big reception there with lots of suits. This was another time when we thought "what the hell are we doing here?" But it was ok lots of places to play outside while the speeches happened.

Then food - Netta boycotted the food so John and Netta went out and found pizza while Olive and I played.

During the concert Olive and I played in the lobby. She played with a few other little ones and it was really sweet - jumping together and making each other laugh with spinning and such. She also befriended an usher who spent a lot of time entertaining her with her phone. It had music videos on it and games where you could pet a cat and make it purr and record your voice.

Then after the concert we headed back to the bus for the ride to Seoul. We all fell asleep on the bus and got home to Seoul and then took a taxi home.

It was a fun weekend - kind of strange but fun too.

I am behind on posting about our lives - it is hard to find time to post during the week as John is working all day and I am trying to be present with the kids. I will try to play catch up on the weekends as much as I can.