The First activity we did today was a taekwondo lesson. When we arrived we changed into the uniforms, it was a bit hard since the changing room was quite small. At the start of the lesson we were taught the meaning of taekwondo; tae means foot, kwon means fist, and do means mind. These form the core tenets of the martial art, agile movement, quick strikes, and a clear mind. We then learned some stretching techniques and proper punching stances. Then we moved on to balance practice by placing bean bags on our feet and balancing them while lifting the leg. Next we practiced punches by hitting a padded target, as we proceeded through the practice the pad was raised higher making it harder to hit, after punching we moved on to kicking the targets. Then at the end we had a practice sparring where we had to tag our partners shoulder without them tagging us back, it was quite hectic but very fun.

For lunch we went to an all you can eat pork Korean BBQ restaurant. We were given plates of pork to cook on the tabletop stove, as well as side dishes and miso soup. Grilling the pork was very fun and added to the meal experience. My table ended up eating four whole plates of pork which left us completely stuffed.

After lunch we went to Seoul City Hall for a guided tour, they first showed us hetchi which is Seoul’s city mascot and had us take a picture with them. Then we went to the top of the city hall to see the city and learn about the construction of the new city hall. They built it from 2008-2012 to resolve the problem of the previous hall being too small. We were then shown around the offices including the mayor’s, and we ended the tour in the city library.

Today was another fun adventure and I look forward to going to Yonsei university tomorrow.