July 1

Yesterday it rained most of the day, so it was nice to see the sun again!  I spent about 2 hours again this morning walking around David's area, trying to figure out where everything is.  I make sure that I only walk the streets that are perpendicular to eachother--that way I won't get lost!  Walking down by the river is the best, because I don't notice the traffic so much.  All along the river, in places you can see these large rocks.  That is how people cross the river!  There isn't much room for error there!

For lunch, we went to Jeonju Diner, a restaurant run by David Van Minnen (from Chatham).  He was a mentor to David when he first arrived to Korea, and showed him around.  After lunch we went to Hanook Village--a traditional Korean village.  The buildings were originally built in the 1400s.  And we think that anything built 100 years ago in Canada is old!  It was very interesting.  A friend of David's, Tori, was with us.  She's from Scotland, and has been here about 12 years, and was able to tell us about the history of the village.  This village has been very commercialized and really caters to tourists.

After that, we visited a Hagwon, run by David's friends, Leon and Puran.  A Hagwon is an after school academy.  Children in Korea go to regular school all day, and after school, many of them go to these academies for English, math, science, history, music, etc.  Some of them attend academies until 10:00 or later every night, then have to do homework for school and for the academies.  When David first came to Korea, he taught in the Hagwons for a number of years.  It was really interesting to see the kids in this Hagwon.  The kids I spoke with there were about 10 years old, and were a bit shy to speak with me at first, but they soon became more comfortable.  They're doing quite well with their English.

Last night we went out to dinner with some of David's friends.  It was really nice meeting them, and getting to know the people he spends time with.  It was a very enjoyable evening.  This weekend, we are going camping with several of his friends.