Today's schedule was short and sweet:
At 10 a.m. we toured Hyundai High School (yes, Hyundai), and afterward we attended a Rotary meeting. There was a very forgiving buffet lunch, and after lunch we played our presentation with Sara's audio for the Rotarians. It seemed to be well received.
We were turned loose for the day after the meeting. Most of us went shopping! Travis apparently bought out most of the marketplace ...
Tomorrow will be a full day ... and then we're homeward bound!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Day 3 Ulsan 0429
Schedule:
Visit to Kyong-Ju
-Bulguksa (Buddhist temple)
-Lunch
-Sukgulam
-Museum
Dinner
Homestay
Visit to Kyong-Ju
-Bulguksa (Buddhist temple)
-Lunch
-Sukgulam
-Museum
Dinner
Homestay
Day 2 and 3 Ulsan 0427 and 0428
Schedule:
APRIL 27
Ulsan University
Lunch (pork, at "new" restaurant)
BanGoodae (petroglyphs, national treasure)
SuckNamSa (all-women Buddhist temple)
Dinner (beef kalbi, traditional Korean, at arrival restaurant)
Homestay
APRIL 28
SK Energy [tour]
Lunch (rice, traditional Korean, at arrival restaurant)
Hyundai car factory [tour]
Hyundai shipbuilding [tour]
Random time-filling
Dinner (beef kalbi again, traditional Korean again, at arrival restaurant again)
Homestay
APRIL 27
Ulsan University
Lunch (pork, at "new" restaurant)
BanGoodae (petroglyphs, national treasure)
SuckNamSa (all-women Buddhist temple)
Dinner (beef kalbi, traditional Korean, at arrival restaurant)
Homestay
APRIL 28
SK Energy [tour]
Lunch (rice, traditional Korean, at arrival restaurant)
Hyundai car factory [tour]
Hyundai shipbuilding [tour]
Random time-filling
Dinner (beef kalbi again, traditional Korean again, at arrival restaurant again)
Homestay
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Day 1 Ulsan 0426 - REVOLUTION
We begged off today, finally pleading for one real personal day (24 hours) to take a break from our insane and unforgiving schedule. Miryang helped make arrangements after Jaime went down sick with Sylvia and Travis both not far behind her.
We did not get exactly what we were hoping for, but we were met half-way. Well ... maybe 1/3 of the way. Upon arrival in Ulsan we had a large group lunch, met ranked members of the Ulsan clubs, and met our host families.
After a couple hours of food, speeches, and pictures, we were finally released to our host families.
While we certainly are still in performance mode, I think we are all thankful that we did not spend the entire day being dragged around museums and offices and parks (oh my!). Oh, and let's not fail to mention getting out of the huge honkin' uber special dinners that our hosts are so thrilled to serve to us. (Although I still ended up eating more than I was physically comfortable eating. Blech.)
Tomorrow morning it's back to the full-on balls-out schedule we've been on since we arrived. We're hoping that some clubs will at least empathize with our plight and will keep things light and fun during our last week here.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!
We did not get exactly what we were hoping for, but we were met half-way. Well ... maybe 1/3 of the way. Upon arrival in Ulsan we had a large group lunch, met ranked members of the Ulsan clubs, and met our host families.
After a couple hours of food, speeches, and pictures, we were finally released to our host families.
While we certainly are still in performance mode, I think we are all thankful that we did not spend the entire day being dragged around museums and offices and parks (oh my!). Oh, and let's not fail to mention getting out of the huge honkin' uber special dinners that our hosts are so thrilled to serve to us. (Although I still ended up eating more than I was physically comfortable eating. Blech.)
Tomorrow morning it's back to the full-on balls-out schedule we've been on since we arrived. We're hoping that some clubs will at least empathize with our plight and will keep things light and fun during our last week here.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Miryang 0424 thru 0426
After Jinhae we were off to Miryang, location of the renowned award-winning Korean film "Secret Sunshine." Miryang is famous for its produce, notably delightfully sweet strawberries and robustly flavored watermelons.
Our first outing with the Miryang club was for a lunch of traditional Korean dishes complete with Ed's favorites, soju and maekju.
In Miryang we were happy to participate in some hands-on activities: we each made a piece of pottery and helped make a type of rice snack.
One of our Rotarian hosts kept us laughing with his random outbursts from the "clay scene" from the movie "Ghost," Righteous Brothers' background music included (we provided backup vocals while he took the lead):
Some of the folks in Miryang were great, a couple were not so great, but we made it through the tough stuff together.
On to the final leg of the trip: Ulsan!!!
Our first outing with the Miryang club was for a lunch of traditional Korean dishes complete with Ed's favorites, soju and maekju.
In Miryang we were happy to participate in some hands-on activities: we each made a piece of pottery and helped make a type of rice snack.
One of our Rotarian hosts kept us laughing with his random outbursts from the "clay scene" from the movie "Ghost," Righteous Brothers' background music included (we provided backup vocals while he took the lead):
Some of the folks in Miryang were great, a couple were not so great, but we made it through the tough stuff together.
On to the final leg of the trip: Ulsan!!!
Jinhae 0422 thru 0424
The team spent Wednesday and Thursday in the port city of Jinhae, also a station for the Korean Navy as well as the U.S. Navy. We toured a few of the city's museums and a water treatment facility that is also doing research on fish. They had several small aquariums in their facility, some of which held rare Korean species of sea creatures.
After nearly three weeks of living according to a break-neck schedule with no downtime and adjusting to sitting and sleeping on the floor frequently and recovering from a$$-kicking food poisoning, the girls were ready for some spa massage therapy. Ok, so we didn't have the kind of spa day we were expecting - with the gracious assistance of the Jinhae Rotarians we were able to coordinate a Chinese massage therapy session ... elbows jammed into all the sore spots and people walking all over you and all that jazz. YIKES!
While the girls were "relaxing," Ed was trying new things, root juice off the back of some guy's truck (sounds pretty redneck, don't it?):
On our last night in Jinhae we were treated to a specially arranged Miguk dinner on the U.S. Navy base. Most everyone had steak and ate their meals with gusto.
We were very sad that we only had a short time in Jinhae. Our homestays were great and our hosts were wonderful.
Though we would have appreciated a longer visit with our new friends, on Friday it was time to move on to our next club in Miryang ...
Schedule:
APRIL 22
Transfer, meet & greet
Jinhae Dream Park tour
Lunch (at restaurant called Meat Valley, spaghetti)
Marine park and maritime museum tour
Dinner (welcome)
APRIL 23
Response cold water inland tour
Lunch
Tapsan, museums, jangboksan tour (tea time)
Dinner (farewell, at U.S. Navy base)
APRIL 24
Transfer to Miryang
After nearly three weeks of living according to a break-neck schedule with no downtime and adjusting to sitting and sleeping on the floor frequently and recovering from a$$-kicking food poisoning, the girls were ready for some spa massage therapy. Ok, so we didn't have the kind of spa day we were expecting - with the gracious assistance of the Jinhae Rotarians we were able to coordinate a Chinese massage therapy session ... elbows jammed into all the sore spots and people walking all over you and all that jazz. YIKES!
While the girls were "relaxing," Ed was trying new things, root juice off the back of some guy's truck (sounds pretty redneck, don't it?):
On our last night in Jinhae we were treated to a specially arranged Miguk dinner on the U.S. Navy base. Most everyone had steak and ate their meals with gusto.
We were very sad that we only had a short time in Jinhae. Our homestays were great and our hosts were wonderful.
Though we would have appreciated a longer visit with our new friends, on Friday it was time to move on to our next club in Miryang ...
Schedule:
APRIL 22
Transfer, meet & greet
Jinhae Dream Park tour
Lunch (at restaurant called Meat Valley, spaghetti)
Marine park and maritime museum tour
Dinner (welcome)
APRIL 23
Response cold water inland tour
Lunch
Tapsan, museums, jangboksan tour (tea time)
Dinner (farewell, at U.S. Navy base)
APRIL 24
Transfer to Miryang
Saturday, April 25, 2009
District Conference in Ulsan 0418 thru 0419
We attended the 3720 District Conference last weekend in Ulsan. We met many interesting people and saw many wonderful things!
We were very happy to again see the members of clubs that had already hosted us - we truly have made some friends.
We met delegates of 3720's sister district from California as well as delegates from Japanese and Philippine clubs.
We met 3720's district governer, too, who presented us with gifts of lovely decorated musical jewelry boxes.
Though we had very short notice, we were able to put together a photomontage to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World."
(Video of the opening drum ceremony):
More videos are available for viewing at Michelle's Facebook page.
We were very happy to again see the members of clubs that had already hosted us - we truly have made some friends.
We met delegates of 3720's sister district from California as well as delegates from Japanese and Philippine clubs.
We met 3720's district governer, too, who presented us with gifts of lovely decorated musical jewelry boxes.
Though we had very short notice, we were able to put together a photomontage to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World."
(Video of the opening drum ceremony):
More videos are available for viewing at Michelle's Facebook page.
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