This weekend, I went with Kyunghye and her parents to Danyang to tour and to see Mom Byeon play in a Ping-pong tournament. I left after my Korean writing class to catch the subway to Seoul. I met them in Seoul on Friday and we left for Danyang the next day. Oh, that night I watched this awesome Bollywood movie with Hyesun called "3 Idiots" it was fabulous and I recommend it to those who like good Bollywood.
On Saturday, we went to see Omma (Korean for Mother) Byeon play Ping pong doubles with her partner. The ping pong tournament was held in a gym with about thrity ping pong tables spread across the room. There were at least twenty different matches being played at any given time. There was never a dull moment at the tournament because there were so many matches to keep track of. Omma Byeon and her partner finished the tournament in second place. Oh, I also met an Olympic gold medalist, one of my life goals! One of the hosts of the tournament won a gold medal for Korea in Ping pong. Omma Byeon introduced me and Kyunghye to her. She was very sweet and took a picture with us.
After the game, we went to our hotel and ate Samgyepseol with Omma Byeon's partner and his father. It was nice after a day jam packed with Ping pong to sit and eat together. After dinner, I played Blokus with Kyunghye, Omma Byeon's partner, and his father. We also played Go Stop, which is a game played with Korean cards. It is a ton of fun once you know the rules. We also watched part of the Asian games while playing Poker, an interesting combination!
Today, I went with Oppa (Korean for Father) Byeon and Kyung Hye for a day full of touring around Danyang. We first went to a cave, which is one of the things that Danyang is famous for. The cave was absolutely stunning! It was a lot different from caves in Missouri, the ceilings were much taller, which I think produced more gorgeous formations in the cave. It was much warmer in the cave than outside, where we witnessed the first snowfall of the year!
After we explored the cave, we went on a boat tour of the man made river in Danyang. Danyang has a lot of tall rocky mountains, which was beautiful to see from the river. In Asan where I go to school, it is flat with the exception of a few large hills. It was a nice change of sites to see the imposing mountains of Danyang.
The last part of our Danyang touring was a huge temple complex just outside of the city. There were about twelve different Buddhist temples in the complex. To get to the temples, you had to climb over half of the mountain, which was not an easy task! The temple was not the same as the majority of the temples in Korea. For starters, they were all built within the last ten years, which means they don't have the same feel as the old temples out in the countryside. In one of these temples we went to, there was an elevator and a computer room, a far cry from the centuries old temples in other parts of Korea.
I was so happy to join the Byeons to see Omma Byeon play the sport she loves and to see a new part of Korea. It was great to spend time with Kyunghye now that her exam is over. I have three weeks left in the semester, time has gone by so fast!
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