Asan- day 3 (April 22)

Today we visited the shrine of General Yi. If you mention his name amongst South Koreans, you will see the signs of respect, admiration and patriotism that they have for this man. They regard him with utmost respect for his bravery and mastery in defeating the Japanese when everyone else had failed using his famous turtle ships. It was amazing to see all the weaponry, documentation and maps he utilized for such memorable accomplishment.

Homesickness, specially at meal time, has started to hit us so we were pleasantly surprised when they took us to a Korean BBQ. So what was so special about this bbq? STEAK! All kinds of cuts, shapes and sizes. Yuuuuummmmmmy. Believe me when I say, we were all in heaven. Our interpreter Tony, who has lived in the States and has become our big brother during our stay in Asan, hooked us up and put a smile back in our faces and our tummies. Thanks Tony!

Don't even think that after that big lunch we were going to stay put. Oh no. Koreans are very active and looove to walk. Next to our lunch place they had a folk museum, so we headed there next to enjoy and learn about Korean culture and history. It is amazing to experience first hand how well they have preserved documents and artifacts dating back to hundreds of years. Also, every place we go we see students roaming the halls with a pamphlet doing there assignments. It is not only new generations that fill these spaces but bus loads of older generations pack the museums and cultural areas. I was able to experience a beautiful song at one of the exhibits. I was standing in front of the exhibit that shows the agricultural tools of the time and this group of elders, as they walked by each exhibit, started singing what I assume was a song sung in the fields while they did there work. What a treat!

Visiting Asia would not be complete without experiencing the art of martial arts. I was wondering when we would get an opportunity to see this beautiful skill. We had the opportunity to visit a Taekyeon class for kids. Taekyeon is one of the martial arts practiced here. It differs from others as it is more rhythmical and circular in its movements. Hundreds of kids participate in this class as part of their after school activities. Although we didn't actively participate, we could have been seriously hurt by those kids; you should see their moves, we did have time to briefly interact and make faces at them.

Rotary meeting time. It is interesting to see our hosts during these meetings. They go from happy-go-lucky to very serious mode. At all of the meetings during our trip, we have received a special welcome and done exchange of banners. For us, it is also a time to say our final good-byes to everyone as we usually leave for the next day to a new city.

Next on GSE South Korea 2010: Cheonan.