Official TaLK Opening and Insadong trip

Yesterday was a world wind of activities from early in the morning to late last night.  I started the day with a jog in downtown Jochiwon with one of my good friends John.  Picture clouds and haze filling the sky, only a hint of sun and what felt like 120% humidity and 80 degrees.  We ran down the road a couple of miles and I turned back to go back to the gym which was a predetermined and appropriate action considering the heat and humidity.  The gym at the campus is actually a lot better than I was imagining.  The picture in my head was a few treadmills and a few machines, but this gym has tons of treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, machines, dumbells, barbells, and if I remember correctly a squatting cage.  I was gladly surprised.  I did an ab workout but the amount of sweat that I was excreting overwhelmed the amount allowable by law (visible puddles) that I kept my workout to a minimum.

We then had our first meeting with our group coordinators and were put into groups for a scavenger hunt in Seoul we were going to have later in the day.  The scavenger hunt's main objective was to take pictures of different landmarks of the Insadong area of Seoul before we were suppose to leave.  I also was the team leader so I kept the order of the  group.

Fast forwarding to later that day....

We got on a bus to Seoul where we were first going to the main campus of Korea University (the same university we are staying at now) to have the official orientation opening.  Here they had us sit in the auditorium and listen to the president of the NIIED (department of education) on how happy he was of us coming here for the program.  We met other members of the TaLK staff and watched an amazing Taekwondo performance, children's musical, and a contemporary art performance.  All of the performances were top notch.

Got on the bus and then headed to Insadong for the scavenger hunt.  Our group got a little side tracked at the beginning but we eventually found our way.  One notable thing happened, however.  We got dumped on with rain early in the hunt.  I mean dumped on.  My great great great grandchildren felt it.  Our team persevered.  We made our way around and we then ate at a tofu place (cheap, tasty and free with the 10,000 won they gave us each earlier).

That's about it.  I'll post pictures as soon as I can.