There's an umbilical cord burried where???

EPIK took us on a field trip! We all felt lik we'd been let free from the confines of the university campus and surrounding areas. ha. We went to the Jeonju Hanok Village (that's a direct link to the exact place we visited and it will do a MUCH better job describing the site than I ever would) where we had a bibimbap event and then went to Keumsan Temple.

The Hanok Village was really beautiful!

We were taken to the first Catholic Church in Korea... I didn't catch the name, but here are the pictures. It was a Sunday and they actually let us go into the back of the church during a service. One of the priests came and prayed for the Catholic people... and only the Catholic people. ha.

Here's an interesting story for you... under this structure is the umbilical cord of the 8th King! It was thought that burying the cord would help him become immortal... didn't get the details on how that was supposed to work. I didn't get the picture of the turtle next to this, but mothers in the village would scratch off pieces of the turtle to grind up and serve after having a child, because it was believed that it would help the child have a long, healthy life.

Just think... under here is an ancient umbilical cord!!! ha.

The "busan group" tour guide didn't speak English, so one of our fellow EPIK teachers translated for us. The day of our field trip happened to coincide with the funeral of ex-President Kim. The Korean people consider him the father of democracy here, so the mood of the Korean people was somber. The ex-President was from the province where orientation is being held and everyone respected him greatly. Originally, there were supposed to be some performances during our bibimbap event, but they were cancelled to show respect. But the remainder of the event went well! You can read about bibimbap through the link I posted! It is a mixed rice dish with spicy pepper sauce! It's really delicious... and spicy!

Traditionally, bibimbap is very ellaboratly decorated with vegetables strategically placed to create a pattern or design. And we were all lucky, because Jeonju is famous for it's bibimbap!

After the Village, we went to the Keumsan Temple. Korean buddhist temples are placed far up mountains, so we had to park at the bottom of the mountain and hike what felt like several miles (ha) to get there.

We had all ready spent several hours walking in the heat and by the time we arrived at the temple we were all exhausted. It was all worth it. The temple was beautiful. There were several buildings each with a different meaning and purpose. Before you were able to enter the buildings, you had to leave your shoes outside. Once inside each building you were not able to speak and were instructed to sit and reflect. It was very peaceful. Some people took pictures inside the buildings, but I thought it was disruptive and chose not to take any pictures.

When we made it back to the university, we went straight to dinner. Directly after dinner a group of us walked about 2 miles to the Lotte Mart (basically a Korean Walmart) for some essentials. I bought a hair dryer and a straightener... my first "major" purchases in Korea. ha.

Needless to say, by the time we were leaving Lotte Mart, I wasn't sure I would make it back the 2 miles to the dorm. Dinah and I opted for our first Korean taxi experience, instead of the walk back.

By the time I got back in my dorm, I crashed. Hard. I slept well and woke up this morning ready for a day of lectures. Today, we finished lectures, went to dinner, walked down the street for some beer, ate waffles and ice cream and now I'm about to crash and do it all over again! ha. Love you all...