MT - Neorigul village, Anseong City, Gyeonggi province, Korea

Hi sorry, it's been awhile but I'm a very lazy girl.  This past weekend, the Peace (Professional Ewhaians at Cultural Exchange) arranged a retreat which they call MT (Membership Training) at Neorigul village, Anseong City, Gyeonggi province, Korea - which is not in Seoul.

I was very excited because I'll not only have a chance to see Korea outside of Seoul but to meet other exchange students as well.  Unlike DePauw, there are a lot of international students here...more than 300.  There are so many this semester that they didn't have enough room for all of us to live in the international house or even graduate dorms (where I live).  Some people had to find their own homes...which really sucks.  But I digress.

So on Saturday, I woke up early to take a shower and pack my bag for the weekend.  My roommate and I walked over to the Student Union at 1 to meet up with the group.  We were all assigned seats on buses as well as cabins which I like because you really get to meet other people. 

the bus has gypsy curtains!  It was so nice!

During the bus ride, we stopped at a rest stop and omg the rest stops in America are no match for the rest stops here!  The rest stops here are so much nicer, cleaner and have more things to do! 

This is the rest stop bathroom - so nice!!!

They have actual rest chairs for you...massaging chairs for free!

We stopped by Anseong where there was a festival going on, called the Baudeogi Festival.  I don't really know why there was a festival but there wasn't much to see.  It was raining all day so there weren't any performances...just a bunch of games for little kids and food to eat.

little boats for children to play on...like bumper cars but on water!

The river at the festival...well it's called the Anseong Stream

This guy was performing...he was a hoot!

 We got back on the bus after 2 hours and continued to Neorigul where we stayed.  I found my cabin and we quickly dropped off our bags so we can have Korean BBQ!  It was so yummy!

I Love Korean BBQ!!!!

Then we went back to our room to chill for awhile because out PEACE buddies have to get ready for the talent show that they put for us!  After awhile we all went back to the recreational hall where we were put into groups of 8 based on our cabin numbers.  We played some trivial and Korean games and later we saw a mini-talent show.  It was all a lot of fun!

I think this was a "couple newspaper" game.  They each have to stand on the newspaper together...and they fold the newspaper in half each time...so the couples will get closer.  so cute!

The buddies performed for us!  This was part of a traditional Korean mask dance...idk why there was a horse haha

Then, we had free time where most of went back to our cabin to get to know our other cabinmates.  Our neighbor cabin came over to my cabin so there were around 15 of us girls all sitting and getting to know each other.  Our PEACE buddies came over with a big box of snacks and chips...it was a big slumber party!  I had a lot of fun getting to know the other girls...it was a very nice night.

Then we went to bed...we got to sleep on the floor again!  I really enjoy sleeping on the floor!  The mattress blanket is comfy and I had 4 pillows to sleep with!! 

Huge slumber party!

I actually missed breakfast in the morning because I was too sleepy but that's ok.  At 10am on Sunday we all packed out bags and went on the bus.  We departed to Chiljangsa where there were temples for us to look at.  It was really interesting...I find temples so soothing and calm.

People were praying...it's so soothing here.

lanterns

By the time we got back on the bus, most of us were tired and sleepy.  We stopped by the rest stop again and I got some food to eat.  We got back to campus at around 4pm I think and I quickly went to bed. 

It was a good weekend. I really got to know a lot of people and saw more of Seoul!