Monday, May 29, 2006

Day 3









Being just in here this morning typing some info from our harried day (yesterday), here's a quick update for what we've been up to today...Today was the formal reception with Hanyang University's Vice President, Dean Park and Professor Choi. We entered the VP's office (like a dignitary's room) and were invited to sit down at a long beautiful wooden table (on large leather couches) and have tea while the VP and Dave spoke a bit about our school and theirs. It was quite an event and very telling of how much education and educators are valued here. (Any prof's thinking of moving?) Afterwards, we took a campus tour, Hanyang is a private university heavily into research. The campus we are at houses the strong engineering and design programs. Later, Prof. Choi presented some background information on the design school, Hanyang's other international programs, and some brief information about our workshop next week...a collaborative poster project dealing with images of Korea.

(Btw, I 've included a pict of the banner for our workshop, officially titled "Hanyang International Design Workshop" - fancy, n'est pas?)...followed by lunch on campus and then a crazy adventure to the bank to find an ATM that would actually work for our foreign bank cards. Today has been a little slower than previous days and we have a little time off. It is nice to have a small breather, but for my part, I love the challenging schedule we've been keeping and the adventures we've had. Dave has been an excellent host and it has been a pleasure to be on this journey with him. Also, thanks so much to Sun for being our amazing cultural and linguistic interpreter -- she is leaving us to return home on Friday and will be sorely missed.

A quick factoid about Korea: Korean boys have to do a mandatory year military service.
Another: There is no differentiation in food for breakfast, lunch & dinner - (eg - no eggs & bacon for breakfast) we eat the same type of foods for each meal.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is fascinating. Thank you for taking the time to keep us updated of your activities.

-Marilou (Megan's Mom)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update. It sounds like a wonderful adventure.
Say hi to Jim for us.
Leslie (his wife), Emily and Erin

Anonymous said...

You've done such a great job with the write up & photos. Tell Dave that Alex and Adrienne loved the pictures and reading about the trip.

Have Fun!

Elena