What a day!!

Phew, today was hectic!! We went to Ewha University and had a lesson on how to speak Korean!! Since we wear a name tag, I've been a bit cheeky and written some phrases down phoentically, such as 'hello', 'goodbye', 'my name is', 'I am from Australia', 'I am a teacher' and 'Thank you for inviting me' and if I forget the words, I'll take a sneak peak.

After the first session we had a lunch where the main guests were the lecturers from Ewha who will be giving the conference sessions today, tomorrow and Thursday. Lunch was another big affair. I'm getting quite a taste for '5 taste tea' which is a berry based drink and when you roll it around in your mouth you experience 5 senses - sweet, sour, spicy, salty, bitter. It is really strange but yet it's refreshing.

We then went on a tour around the univeristy and learned the history, which was absolutely inspiring. The university caters for women and in the days when it first opened, it did not espouse the belief that only men should be educated. Our tour leaders were extremely patient about the role of women both in the past and into the future.

We were all boiling hot during the walk and our hosts gave us a fan each. We must have been quite a sight walking around batting our fans!!

Cold drinks awaited us when we went for our second session of the day where we learned about a folk tale which continues to be much revered within the culture as the main character in it is thought to portray Korean people and encourages them to remain true to their one true love - their homeland.

The last event of the day was the Korean performance Bibab. It revolves around two chefs having a 'cook off' with the ultimate dishing being 'bimbab'. It was a blend of beat boxing, singing, dancing, a great deal of humour and audience participation was highly encouraged. One of the other women on the tour with me was dragged up on stage - to her horror and the rest of the Australian and New Zealand teachers amusement.

Time for me to go and practice my Korean so I'll (hopefully!!) be a little more confident when I have to thank each of the three lecturers who will present to us tomorrow.