Today was the first of several highly anticipated field trips that the school plans for the international students. A large part of the study abroad program at Soonchunhyang (or SCH) is to provide international students with the ability to see as much of Korea as possible. They provide several trips for all of the international students to see parts of Korea as a group.
Today we went to the southern part of our province (Chungcheongnam-Do) to see the Baekje festival. The Baekje dynasty was a kingdom in Chungcheongnam-Do from 18 BC to AD 660. It is an ancient kingdom that many people in Chungcheongnam-Do take pride in. For the entire month of October, there are many festivals and celebrations to commemorate this dynasty. We went to the town of Buyeo, which is about an hour by bus from school. In Buyeo, we went to a replica of the palace that was in Buyeo. Many of the palaces and temples in Korea were destroyed when Japan occupied Korea. Japan claimed that they were modernizing Korea, but they destroyed the majority of the historical and cultural buildings, which to me looks like an attempt to remove two thousand years of Korean history. They built the replica with the tools that they would have used when the original was built. It was nice to see that Korea is restoring the historical sites that are still standing and building replicas of the buildings that were destroyed. I have been amazed by the Korean peoples ability to bounce back. It is hard to imagine that only about sixty years ago, Korea was in poverty because of the Korean war. Today it is a powerful force in the world because of the determination of the Korean people to move past their struggles.
For lunch, we went to eat Samgyetamng, which is a whole young chicken stuffed with an assortment of vegetables and rice. It was really good. One of the vegetables that is in the soup is the healthy but bitter tasting ginseng. It is a root that is used in energy drinks and it is said in Korea if you eat ginseng, you will live a long life. I hadn't tried ginseng whole here in Korea, so it was my chance to try it. When I picked up the root, everyone at my table stared in shock because they told me that it is the most disgusting thing I will ever eat in my life. Having already tried squid head, I thought that a root wouldn't be too bad. I took a bite...it wasn't too bad. It tasted like an unsweetened carrot. I finished my ginseng to everyone's amazement. two of the guys I was sitting with, Malik (from California) and Shauqi(from Indonesia) decided they would try is as well. They could only take one bite, it tasted too horrible. Malik told me that he has never tasted something so disgusting in his life. It had a strong bitter taste, but I didn't think it was too bad.
After lunch, we went to a festival that celebrates the Baekje dynasty. It is a month long festival with traditional music, food, and crafts. I got to see several performances: traditional Korean music, break dancing, and part of a Korean opera. It was great to see so much history and culture in one place.
Tomorrow, I am planning to go to Daejon with a few of my Chinese friends. We are going to try to navigate the buses, so it should be quite an adventure! We are planning to go hiking at a nearby national park and possibly visit a temple.
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