Any Place I Hang My Hat: Korean Folk Village

Two weeks ago, Tim and I ventured out to the Korean Folk Village. The Korean Folk Village is this area where houses are set up in the traditional Korean style. We walked through the village and saw the houses of peasants, scholars, farmers, doctors, the wealthy, and saw how differently they lived. In Korea, class distinction is very prevalent. There is a certain stigma that goes along with what you do and how much money you make. I guess there is in America too, but it seems even more of an issue here. Also, there are levels of respect given in Korea. In the language, if you are speaking to someone older, or to someone who deserves more respect, you would use different word endings than if you were talking to someone on the same level or lower than you. This can be a good thing because it allows one to show respect where it is due. However, it can also be a bad thing because it gives the opportunity for disrespect. It's a game of words within the language that we are just beginning to learn about. All this to say, it was really interesting to see the old Korea, and see the start of all of these levels of respect that is still around today. And it was nice to see wide open land and trees, instead of buildings and roads!

Getting to this village was an adventure. It's about 30 minutes from our apartment, so we knew it couldn't be that hard to find. We researched what buses to take, but ended up getting off one bus too soon, and another bus too late. We were thankful that we could read Korean because we were able to read the bus stop maps, and get to where we needed to go. It's the first time we've been "lost" in awhile, and it wasn't nearly as stressful as before because of our mad Korean skills. :) So it took a little longer than expected to get there, but we weren't in any hurry. And it was the first nice day of the winter (45 degrees), so we were in good moods! We're thankful for these adventures that keep us on our toes!

Tim in front of a peasant's house.