Andong & Wonju

Hi all,

Sorry for the late update! Just wanted to write a few things about my two latest trips. The first one was to Andong for the International Mask Festival with two teachers from my school and their daughters. The festival was pretty big- apparently it's the twelfth year it's happened. They have large mask dance performances every two hours or so from different countries around the world. We saw a Thai dance and a Korean traditional dance. The Thai dance was okay- it wasn't necessarily a professional troupe. However, the Korean traditional dance was really cool! There are pictures up of the dances. There were lots of tents set up where people could buy food, gifts, and do arts and crafts. It was cool to see- a little boring, but I am glad I was able to I got to go.

This weekend I left to visit my friends in Wonju. I was told it would take 4 hours to get there on the bus, however it only took 2.5 hours! I was very surprised and unsure if where I ended up was the correct place! I had to take a taxi, subway, taxi and a bus to get to Wonju. Thankfully I had enough sense to get off the bus when I did, otherwise I would have ended up in a different town! I got to see my friend Lauren and we spent the day eating, going to a coffee shop and catching up on what's been happening in our lives. It was a really nice time. Sunday I went to church with her and then went to her choir concert that evening. It was really good! I also met up with some friends to see the concert- and that was cool too. I came back to Daegu on Monday (my students had midterms) and did some shopping, went to Korean language class, and the gym.

Hope all is well back in the states, please keep me posted! I'm still a little tired and am wondering if I'm going through another bout of culture shock- I had KFC tonight! Also, if you could please pray for my friend Laura's recovery after brain surgery. She's recovering well, but really needs prayer to heal quickly (her speech and movement of the left side of her body) so she can get back to her normal routine!

Miss you all!

-Me