One week down

Our group just finished its first week in Seoul. Can't believe how fast the time is going! It has really been a lot of fun. The students seem

to be acclimating well, and many of them took a trip this weekend to Jeju Island, a volcanic island off South Korea's south coast. They are on an island with lovely beaches, and I am sitting in my room in Seoul, blogging. Says something about my priorities, I suppose . . . .

Anyway, here are some of the highlights from our trip so far, as well as a few pictures.

1. NANTA Performance. "NANTA" is a popular theater show here in Seoul. Sort of like Blue Map Group, but with knives. Very funny, and very cool.

2. Korean Folk Village. This is an outdoor cultural center near Seoul on about 240 acres of land with recreated traditional villages, as well as crafts and shrines. Really beautiful, and a good way to start the trip.

3. The Korean War Memorial. As I note on Facebook, the war memorial might be more appropriately called the "Korean Peace Memorial." It memorializes the conflict itself, but even more so it expresses a deep desire for reunification and reconciliation with the North.

4. Korean Food. Different and completely superb. A little sense of adventure yields some surprisingly delicious discoveries. Food and water in Seoul, by the way, are completely safe.

5. Korean Tea Ceremony. Our host university had a traditional tea ceremony for us, where we learned about the nuances of making and serving tea. (Upshot: I have been doing it ALL wrong for years now.) Most of us got to dress up in traditional Korean garb for the occasion.

6. Visit to Kim & Chang. This is Korea's largest law firm, and they were gracious enough to host a visit by our group. We learned a lot from some excellent attorneys there, and had the best vegetarian Korean lunch I have ever had.

This next week is chock-full of activities too. On Monday 6/22 we visit the Korean Constitutional Court. On Tuesday we have a briefing at the U.S. Embassy. And on Wednesday we all fly to Beijing, China for a 4-day visit. All that, plus classes too! Guess I will sleep when I get home . . . .

If you want, you can see more of my photos and commentary on my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/gregorybowman?ref=profile. Lots of stuff there, so send me a friend request. No Twitter feeds though--have to draw the line somewhere!