It’s the night before our first day at Yeomyung! Just now we tested a gravity simulation using a trash bag, a plant saucer, a golf ball, and an apple (see what we did there?) for Lexi’s Aerospace day.
Seemed accurate enough. The idea was to show that massive objects bend spacetime, causing other objects to move towards them (in more physics-y terms, the geodesic path of objects near a massive thing appears to be curved).
In the other room, Lulu tested some of the chemistry demos for Day 2, and Sarah continued to work on her Scratch game for computer science day. Our floor is littered with so much stuff from Daiso such that we could have our own Daiso.
I am trying to visualize what tomorrow will look like. I know there will be faces new and old. Just the other day, as we were dropping off our materials at the school in preparation, I got to talk to four of my former students. Bill, Daniel, Hyunhui, and Jennifer. Bill, who worked on the Arduino piano last year, will be spending the winter working to earn money. Daniel is heading off to the States to study engineering, and will be participating in this year’s workshop. Jennifer is coming back as well. Hyunhui, who was interested in agriculture, is heading off to work after graduation. There was so much I wanted to catch up on, but alas, there wasn’t enough time.
It’s surreal to be back again. The last few months preparing for this went by so quickly, and the past few days are also a blur. I know that no matter how much we prepare, there will always be that feeling that we could do more—but there is a point where we just need to go.
I know this year’s group will be different. The things that worked last year might not work this year, and vice versa. There will be so many stories and so many unexpected things. I only wish that these two weeks will be, if not meaningful, then at least enjoyable for the students involved. That would mean so much to me.
In terms of our adventures today:
In the morning, Lulu, Lexi and I woke up (Sarah was sick 😦 ) and took a run to the Hanok village, which has skyscrapers on one side and Namsan on the other side. There was a time capsule dated to be opened 1000 years from now, and I wondered what Korea might look like then.
After the run, we met up with a friend of mine from an interfaith group who invited us to see his church. It was interesting to experience a different flavor Christianity than the one I was familiar with in Korea. Though there were many parts I didn’t understand, there was an emphasis on equality, reconciliation of differences (화해), and unification (통일). It seemed particularly pertinent to our situation of teaching North Korean refugees in South Korea.
Our visit to the church ended with rice cakes from a church member whose family member recently passed away. It is a Korean custom to share rice cakes with someone’s passing—this was new to me, and I realized that there was so much I did not know about my own culture.
After the church visit we took a train to Kyungbokgung (경복궁), one of the five major palaces in Seoul. There were many tourists dressed in modernized versions of the traditional hanbok (한복), and we vowed to return and try them on later in the trip.
Walking around the palace compound, there were so many cultural and historical questions I did not know the answer to. Such as, when the palace was created—or, why certain buildings were not painted, and the meanings of the mythical creatures adorning the buildings. Every time I come to Korea thinking that I know Korea since I grew up there—and each time I am humbled. There will always be a side of Korea that will be new.
Well then, stay tuned for tomorrow!
GTL Korea 2020 