Week XI: Time flyes when your having fun!

My mom and I had some great adventures this week! It was nice to share my experience with some one from my former life. The first day she was here we hiked Dobongsan mountain which was so beautiful with the fall colors fully underway. Some of these trees are so red I can't even believe it. Close to the top of the mountain we found this little table and chairs made of rock and we ate a lunch of kimbap, rice, egg, vegitables and tuna all wraped in seaweed like sushi. The next day we went shopping at Namdaemun market. This market is like a flee market on steroids and it was so crowded we could barely push our way through to buy anything. Then we had lunch at this delicious tofu house that makes these great soups all with tofu as the base. The next day was dedicated to shopping at insadong which is the market that has traditional Korean arts, crafts, clothing etc. It was great we found so many cool things and very inexpensive too! That night we went to Soo Bahk Do and my mom got to see what it was like to train in Korea. It was after this nights training that I decided that I need to take a break from training due to my hip and back issues. I am destroying my body and it is not good. I plan to replace training with stretching, strengthening and yoga. The next day we took a trip out of the city and visited the Korean Folk Village. It was really cool! It was a whole village set up just like in the olden days with a pottery center, farms, cloth mills, a jail, the whole deal. They also had performances. the first one was these young guys (and one girl) ridding horses and doing tricks on them as they ran around the arena. We couldn't believe some of the things these kids were doing. Then there were these girls who were jumping really high in the air on a sesaw and doing tricks and an old guy tightrope walking. The temple was the best part of the Village. It was pretty small but very peaceful and surrounded by gold, yellow and red trees. On my mom's last full day we visited a temple closer to the city which was a little too commercial and crowded. Then we took care of some things, got me some new glasses and bought another suitcase to bring home all the stuff I have gotten here. For her last night we went to a Buddist vegan restaraunt that was so good and they had a performance of traditional Korean dance and drumming right in the middle of it. Then we went out to a live jazz club which was really nice and it reminded me of some of the good things about living in a big city. It was sad to see her go, but I will be home soon. I now have the difficult task of telling the Sa Boms that I can't train and figuring out what I should do with the rest of my time in Korea.