Eat Your Rice

Nothing super exciting going on over here in the far East. The prison tour last week was pretty interesting. It was where the Japanese people kept Korean activists during the Japanese occupation in the early 1900s. Apparently the Japanese were total jerks. I kept my Japanese heritage to myself during the tour...I just felt it wasn't something my company needed to know. Not that I'm ashamed or anything, I just didn't feel it needed to be brought up then. There is still some animosity against the Japanese here, mainly with the older generations but I think most of it is gone now...or people my age are just kind of indifferent. Anyway, they have a museum and people can go into the basement and see how people were tortured. Our guide said they used to have reenactments and sound effects, but it was making children cry, so they stopped. And I'm glad, it was pretty creepy down there and I don't think I would have enjoyed screaming sounds in addition. They also had this box type thing that was supposed to be designed so that you couldn't stand up all the way...they would lock you in there for a few days. However, I could stand up in it just fine. I guess I am short, even by Asian standards.

After the tour, we went on a hike that was described as "easy" by our guide but my out of shape self did not find it particularly easy. It was a lot of steps and some pretty steep climbing for a pretty long amount of time. I did make it to the top, though, and go a lovely view of some construction. There were other spots where you could get a good view of Seoul, so it was nice. It was an intense walk down, almost harder than walking up. Our guide fell and possibly broke his ankle, so that was no good. There are guards are all over the place on the trail, and they are apparently not trained in emergency rescue tactics. I was told they are mainly up there so people don't take pictures of the "Blue House," which is the Korean version of the White House. However, everyone around me was taking pictures of whatever and no one was saying anything, so I'm not really sure what they are for.

Anyway, nothing too exciting this week. Had our random day off yesterday. I got some rest, took a nice stroll around a park, had Indian food for a friend's birthday and had some wine down by the river. The weather is finally nice and it's been really nice to chill down by the river in the evening. I also went "running" down by the river today and it was lovely. There are a ton of gnats, all in these huge swarms, but you can kind of dodge them if you're paying attention.

Oh yeah, so this month's theme is "health and nutrition." It already makes me laugh that we're teaching them about "healthy" eating, but the school food doesn't really include a lot of fruit and veggies...also, the Korean teachers encourage them to eat all their rice..not all their veggies. Anyway, not that I'm one to harp on healthy eating, but I also love that this Friday we're celebrating "Children's Day" by giving them a chicken burger and a soda for a picnic. Eat healthy kids...but only at home. Love it.

Looking forward to the weekend! A very important anniversary is coming up! Exciting!!!

Dream big people!