I started the day waking up in a strange hotel in Daegu, South Korea. I had toured burial mound chambers of 5000 year old kings the day before. (I have tons of pictures I am going to post on facebook. My favs are what I post on the blog). I slept on the floor and Sungjoo slept on the bed. Cartoon women were painted on the walls in bright colors holding Martini glasses. There was red track lighting running throughout the entire hotel. There were strange cantilevered beams sticking out of the walls and opaque glass doors with etchings of bamboo on them. The bathroom was huge with a drain and shower head in the center of the room. No shower curtain needed just let everything fly around. There was a door to the bathroom though. There was also a little kitchen area. In Korea there are these sanitation devices that use ultraviolet light. They look like toaster ovens. A lot of restaurants have them. They emit a blue light that apparently kills all the little creepy crawlers on them. In these UV sanitizers are all you cups and silverware. (Side note: The cups are always metal and hold just enough water to wet your tongue. They are annoying. I am constantly getting up and reloading. I tried carrying three or four at a time for a while. In the end you just look like an ass trying to balance them and not spill them on yourself.) There was a big screen TV and the oldest computer I have seen in a while. The Internet is amazing over here. I got the Dinosaur PC to download 15 songs in 1 min. No joke!

Once we left the hotel we proceeded to drive to see the sites. We went to one of the oldest temples in all of Korea. It was a great experience. It was on a mountain side you climbed. We had to be careful where we stepped, very uneven walkway. There were statues of Buddha, monster guard statues, and stacks of prayer rocks. I was even allowed to ring a giant bell for 1,000 won ($1) with a big battering ram. The views were amazing and the artwork was great. I have seen a lot of statues in art history books through the years. Finally getting to see them in person was something I can check off the bucket list. I wish I had more pictures of the golden statues. However, those monks are some strict cats with cameras. “No Photo of Buddha Statue!” The one pic I do have I had to sneak. I also got to drink pure unfiltered mountain water from a religious fountain. It was really cold and tasted very refreshing. For all of those that cringed at unfiltered do not think that the television series that shows all the bugs living in people did not cross my mind. It did, however you absolutely can not disrespect the monks when they offer you something, I had to do it. I figure if that many people have done it before I will be fine.

After touring and walking all day Sunnjoo, Kate and I drove to meet Dr. Kim. She is a famous woman professor over here who was very instrumental in Sungjoo's job placement. She was wonderful and bought us all dinner. We then toured her college campus and said goodbye. We are staying at her house tomorrow evening. As for right now I am in a very old authentic Korean village. I am in a room with one light, no western style bed, a big bug net over the door, and a clothes rack. I had to take a cold shower (it was nice since it is so hot) and I am sleeping on the floor again. Honestly, it is really really cool. This is how people still live today and have lived for hundreds of years. When we arrived at the village a nice lady who spoke no English proceed to teach Kate and me how to make gifts. We each made a traditional Korean gift we have to give to someone. I can not say more as I do not want to ruin the surprise. The bathrooms are in a little building and they are clean. It was a relief to find they actually had electricity. I am really glad I could write this post. There is so much going on I wanted to write it down while it was still fresh in my mind.

I will have more in the next day or two!

Deano