I'm currently paying for internet in our hotel's internet cafe, so not only will I try to type as quickly as I can, but I will also need to make this a brief post. I apologize for that since I have two days to catch up on...
I will start with what I can remember of yesterday. It seems like the days here are crazy long and we do so much all the time. Yesterday morning was our beach morning, unfortunately it started off very cloudy and overcast, so not everyone chose to go to the beach and even fewer chose to get IN the icy water! Regardless of going to the beach or otherwise, it was really nice to have the opportunity to have a late start. We had lunch at a rest area amd then we went to a Korean War memorial area. There were statues commemorating the soldiers as well as tanks, planes, a museum, a ship, and a submarine. There was also a museum at the top of a hill (I now know why Koreans are so skinny - they have to climb up an insane number of stairs all the time.) The museum was very nice and had a lot of interactive sorts of exhibits. The only downfall was that it was completely and totally in Korean. After that we drove for a while, and then went to meet our host families!! I can not speak on behalf of everyone (although I do think that it was a mutual consensus...) I had a blast with my host family. Natalie and I stayed with the Ahn family. We sang, listened to the son, Guy, play amazing piano music, played a traditional Korean game, talked, and had a delicious homemade Korean meal. It was a much more pleasant experience than we thought it would be. Providing I have time and internet capabilities, I would really like to expound upon this more, as it is something completely different from any American experience!
This morning we had to meet and load at 6:45am so we did not have much time with our host families once we woke up. We got on the bus and had about a two and a half hour drive up to the DMZ! The area that we were in has restricted civilian access and we were only allowed there on governmental permission! We sang for Korean soliders at a church on the military base. Not only were they glad to get out of work (many of them were in basic training -Korean men are required to serve in the military for a few years. Many do this when they are university age) but they also seemed to really appreciate our performance (especially the two pretty soloists that came to the front!!) Singing for the soldiers was really inspiring, and touched not only those hearing the music, but also the choir members singing at the service. From there, we drove the the infiltration tunnels. We were able to go down into one that has been reconstructed, and went as close as 300 meters away fom the border of North Korea. We were all required to wear hardhats because of the low rocky ceilings, some of us (Eric, Austin, Alan...) had more difficulty than others with not hitting their heads!! At the bottom of the tunnel there were several displays, and a copious amount of signs instructing us to go no further. Many of us realized how real the turmoil in North and South Korea was and still is when we went down. I equated it with going to see Williamsburg, Gettysburg, and the countless war battlefields that my family has vacationed to over the years. Going to the places, and being IN the history makes it real -being in the infiltration tunnel made the danger a little more real. When we came out, there were soldiers standing around, and while we were all glad to have the experience of being in the tunnels, I think we were all also ready to go to the next thing. After the tunnel, we had a long bus ride to Luther University where we had dinner and a full concert. The concert went really well, and it was obvious that our music was a blessing to those who were able to hear it. There were a few mishaps in the performances throught the day - stools buckling, korean pianos, pitch pipes breaking, incorrect passage readings... the works. All in all, it has been a marvelous day.
Tomorrow, we have a clinic with a very famous director whose name I will include tomorrow when I have something telling me how to spell it. After the clinic we go to a Korean Folk Village, and to a church service at a church with over 1,000 members. Starting tomorrow night, we will be in the same hotel for the duration of our time in Korea. There are not words to describe how much we are looking forward to not having to pick up everything and move every night or two!
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