Korea was a fascinating place. The people are very hospitable and very kind. The children we met were particularly fun to watch as they watched us. We exchanged many smiles and lots of laughter with them.
Our hosts went out of their way to help us understand their culture and their customs. We toured a Korean Folk Village, a Girl's High School, the Palace grounds of the Emperor's from the 14th century, the world's largest UM Church and the world's largest church. It was a full and exciting experience with much to reflect upon.
The first lesson: you take off your shoes when you enter your hotel room or apartment home. Every hotel room, every apartment opens to a tiny entry area where shoes are deposited and slippers placed on your feet. This allows outside dirt to stay outside and inside dirt to stay inside! Once in your sock feet or slippers...a surprise awaits...the floor is heated! It made for a warm welcome coming in from the cold.'
This tiny entry area would fill up with shoes very quickly with many people in the household. I watched amazed as my host at one home nimbly walked around all the shoes on the edges of the area to slip into her own while balancing carefully on one foot. It was a sight to behold. One could easily lose your shoes in the mix. Brian even came back one evening to our room with the wrong shoes!
Another lesson: We arrived at our hotel at midnight on Monday, February 1st. With dogged determination ,we lugged our four suitcases and two travel bags onto the elevator and then down the hall to our room. What a surprise awaited us upon opening the room! No lights. We searched in vain for a light switch. Fumbling in the dark with our suitcases, bumping into walls we finally asked other travelers, now awakened by our bumping around, how to turn on the lights. Apparently, the key fob had to be inserted into the wall switch and viola! the lights came on. My first impression...we are never going to fit in here with our luggage...but we did. Our first cultural hiccup was over. The next question...how do you turn the lights off when you want to go to sleep? After a little trial and error we figured it out. Sleep came at last.
More to come.

Comments

[Marlene Thurman]

Heated floors...now I could get used to that! I'm enjoying reading your perceptions and experiences of your trip.