Sunday - Dalseong Park

So Sue Hyun and I headed back to campus so we could meet up with my Aunts and Ji-Eun, around 10 am and we had decided to pop into the local bookstore as I was told they were going to be there around Noon. I figured I was safe with like 2 hour window to get back and then I get a phone call asking me where I am, because they are at my room waiting for me. Oh @#$#%!!!

So I go running to catch the next subway and leave Sue Hyun to continue looking for English study books for her students. I told them it would take me about 30 minutes to get there and then they wanted to talk with Sue Hyun because they were thinking about meeting me downtown but no, I didn't have my translator with me, so I told them to wait there. They thought that I would be at the other subway station near the campus (which I was not) and so they waited for me at the main gate when I was in fact, at KELI house. hahahaha So I ended up giving them a call asking them where THEY were and they came to get me at KELI house. See why speaking the language is so important?

So my aunt loads me up with ALL this food. With a lot of granola and Hershey Miniature Chocolates sent via my mother. I'll be using the Chocolates for the little program that I signed up to volunteer for called CCAP (Cross-Cultural Awareness Program). This program is where I go local schools and tell them about America through a Korean Student Interpreter.

Wow isn't that strange, I just got a phone call from them and they asked me if I could give a talk on Tuesday to a bunch of students at a mentally handicapped school. Cool! So I guess I know what I'm doing on Tuesday. :o)

Anyway, here is the stash of goodies I got from my Aunt, my mother and from Sue Hyun's mom.

Yeah, I think I'm good for a while...what do you think?

So after getting that all sorted out, we made our way to Dalseong Park, the park of our ancestor's the Seo clan. Honestly, the park was really very sad. It was a free zoo, and all the animals looked really pitiful.  :o(

On the plus side, we did see the shrine dedicated to the Seo family with the Seo women. :o)

Here's one with me and my other Aunt, known to me as "Chanhunnie Uma" (Chan Hun's mother).

I thought it was interesting that the shrine would be a turtle with something coming out of it's back. They have something similar in Cherokee Indian Reservation but it's a Native American man who is standing on the back of a turtle.

It was rather hot, so my Aunts decided to sit in the shade, while Ji-Eun and I walked around the park. Took quite a lot of pictures but you could tell the animals were really too hot and honestly looked bad. Ji-Eun and I decided to get an ice cream and there was a bear looking at us all pitiful that Ji-Eun broke off a piece of her ice cream and threw it in his direction and he caught it perfectly. So she did that a couple of times while I was trying to get a picture of him catching it. This was the best one picture that I took.

Well besides the pitiful looking animals, they had a statue to a Reverend Choi Je-u, who was martyred by the Korean Government for being a Christian a while back. Apparently, in Daegu they actually have a Martyr's Tower in memory of all the Christian Martyrs in Korea. Sue Hyun's mother told me that every section of town has at least one Catholic Church and there are many, many Presbyterian Churches as well.

After the fun little adventure in Dalseong Park, we managed to get ourselves to Mister Pizza. Which I have heard from everyone in Korea, has the best Pizzas. They have like 3 pizzas that you can choose from, a veggie one, a shrimp one and a sweet potato one. We got the sweet potato pizza, which comes with a slice of regular potato, bacon, tons of cheese, sour cream and in the crust is mashed sweet potato. OHMIGOD is it yummy!!

So after eating that really yummy meal, we headed back to campus, where I was told to clean my room every day and do wash my laundry (which I was going to do after they left anyway, but all the washing machines in my dorm are OUT OF ORDER - le sigh). Then we joked around a bit, via body language and also interpretation from Ji-Eun, they headed off back to Busan.

They are so loving and caring.

You know, I have really been blessed this weekend with the kindness of so many people and got to experience so much. I am so very thankful for everyone and everything that I got to experience. This trip has been amazing and it just keeps getting better. :o)

MORE PICTURES HERE.