Hwaseong Fortress.
So, today I went on a ReadingTown field trip to 수원 (Suwon), where we saw the Hwaseong Fortress Wall. I got up earlier than usual, because I had to be there at 9:40 instead of, you know, 1 PM. I had stayed up really late the night before to finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I tried to stop, I really did, but I'd had weird Harry Potter dreams the night before and just wanted to finish.
So I went to Starbucks and used a coupon for an extra shot of espresso in my cappuccino, and also bought water and some Vita C (which has 1050 mg of vitamin C, or 1400% of the US RDA for women) because I finally have a vague attempt at a cold. I say finally because every single adult I know here has had a cold in the past couple weeks.
And then we were on our way!
It took about an hour to get there, but is was so beautiful!
Esther had warned me that I should wear sneakers, so I was quite happy to walk as much as they asked us to. We only walked the western wall.
Originally we were supposed to do archery, which I was really excited about. But the Suwon Cultural Festival was going on and they had tents and chairs all set up where the archery practice would have happened. Alas. Oh, but they sent up about a hundred balloons into the air, which I've always wanted to see but never wanted to do myself because I worry about the seagulls.
Later, we got to make our own herbal soap. I wish we could have had more time there, because the herb garden was really pretty.
That part was all in Korean, so one of the tour guides had to translate for me (I was the only non-Korean today). So we mixed lavender oil, olive oil, soap grains (I don't know what they were made of, my translating started too late) and water. Then we all got to shape our soap into different things. The people who made the best shapes got prizes. I came in second, which was cool, but, I thought, unfair, since I was competing against elementary school kids. I gave my prize (lemon perfume) to Joon, who was the only one from my class to come on the trip.
I was so so tired on the way home and almost fell asleep, but Brian (the tour guide) was keeping the kids entertained by making them name movies or words that started with C.
And then I came home and really did fall asleep. I feel a lot better than before, but I am totally going back to bed.
So I went to Starbucks and used a coupon for an extra shot of espresso in my cappuccino, and also bought water and some Vita C (which has 1050 mg of vitamin C, or 1400% of the US RDA for women) because I finally have a vague attempt at a cold. I say finally because every single adult I know here has had a cold in the past couple weeks.
And then we were on our way!
It took about an hour to get there, but is was so beautiful!
Esther had warned me that I should wear sneakers, so I was quite happy to walk as much as they asked us to. We only walked the western wall.
Originally we were supposed to do archery, which I was really excited about. But the Suwon Cultural Festival was going on and they had tents and chairs all set up where the archery practice would have happened. Alas. Oh, but they sent up about a hundred balloons into the air, which I've always wanted to see but never wanted to do myself because I worry about the seagulls.
Later, we got to make our own herbal soap. I wish we could have had more time there, because the herb garden was really pretty.
That part was all in Korean, so one of the tour guides had to translate for me (I was the only non-Korean today). So we mixed lavender oil, olive oil, soap grains (I don't know what they were made of, my translating started too late) and water. Then we all got to shape our soap into different things. The people who made the best shapes got prizes. I came in second, which was cool, but, I thought, unfair, since I was competing against elementary school kids. I gave my prize (lemon perfume) to Joon, who was the only one from my class to come on the trip.
I was so so tired on the way home and almost fell asleep, but Brian (the tour guide) was keeping the kids entertained by making them name movies or words that started with C.
And then I came home and really did fall asleep. I feel a lot better than before, but I am totally going back to bed.