Movie Stars!

E and I have begun referring to ourselves as Movie Stars, due to the reception we get from children. We went to a light festival today, and even adults were obviously fascinated by us. It is bizarre to be looked at as so different. I don't know if I will get used to that. Today was our 'free day' which became a full day very quickly. We joined our host family at a funeral ceremony for Mr Kim's mother. The buddhist tradition says that there are 7 doors on the way to heaven, so the family participates in this ritual for 7 weeks, to aid the family member through the 7 doors into heaven. We were just there for the last few moments, but the combination of being in the shrine, with the monks chanting and ringing bells, and the smell of incense was incredible. After the ceremony we walked around the shrine for a bit, then joined the monks for lunch. The meal was vegetarian, but that was the only difference between that meal and most of our other meals, there was still too much food. It was our first time having Korean rice cakes (other than the soup) and there were a few kinds--including a sweet one with beans that was super delicious, and I want to find them and bring home a whole box. After the shrine, we drove to Mr Kim's concrete factory. It was one of two facilities, and he employs about 90 people between the two factories. We got to really walk around since it was Sunday and the factory was not in operation that day. After that, we drove south of the city to a riverside that was carpeted in yellow flowers for quite a stretch of land. There were Korean families out for a stroll, and couples out for a date. It was a great place to walk around a bit and get some fresh air. We had a dinner tonight hosted by a past District Governor, with fresh korean style sushi and about a million other dishes. About every 10 minutes, they would bring out a new plate. I've learned that if the rice is not on the table early in the meal, there is going to be a whole other meal coming, after the dishes already on the table. Now that I've learned that, I'm pacing myself through the meals a bit better, and not feeling like I have to roll myself out the door--an easy thing to do when you're eating on the floor. We said goodbye and thank you to our first host family today. Though we'll still have breakfast here, our in house interperter will likely be at work by the time we are up and ready, so we made sure to give them our little gifts today. The lighthouse magnet is already up on the fridge. :D Tomorrow we hike a mountain (not a big one apparently) before a meeting at the district office and moving to our next host.