Welcome to the Farm (Feb 18)

•  We had a field trip to a very small farming community today. I'm not sure if it was an actual village or not, but their community leader was really excited that we were there and wanted us to make sure we shared our experience there with everyone we know.

We were supposed to rotate through 4 activities, getting an hour at each one, but for some reason we got really rushed through all of them and even ended up leaving early. A little disappointing, because the people seemed like they spent a lot of time preparing for our visit :/ But nonetheless, it was a great day and the activities were pretty cool:

• Yunnori (traditional Korean game) - We learned to play this game at our first station. The man explaining it said it was like Monopoly, but I think it was actually more like Sorry. It was fun and we easily played it in large groups (about 15 people), which was good. There was also another game (kind of like hacky sack) but we could only choose one to learn.

• Straw craft - A few of the older men from the community made us a straw craft (I think we were originally supposed to learn to make them, but they just made it for us). I'm not sure if it's something they would actually use, but the way that they were twisting and tying the straw was how they make baskets, bowls and even shoes.

• Rice cakes - Again, we were told we'd be making rice cakes, but we only got to slice and eat them. It was a very interesting taste. The powder on the outside was very dry (think baby powder) and overwhelmingly rice-tasting, such that it almost made me gag! But the gooey "cake" underneath was pretty good. Desserts in Korea (at least the traditional ones) aren't like those in the US - I think they are mostly bean- or rice-based and they are sweet, but not in a sugary way. Considering these things, this rice cake was yummy...not brownie-yummy, but not bad.

• Making tofu - We got to do a little more with this station. We used the grindstone to turn the mixture of soybeans and water into a paste (it looked very strange). After that, I believe the paste is put into a mold (they might add a few more things to it, but not much) and then cooked. We didn't get to do those steps but we were able to try some freshly cooked tofu. The taste wasn't bad, after being dipped in a soy/sesame sauce but I really don't like the texture  of tofu (and that was confirmed today).

• Lunch - Some of the women of the community made us a fantastic lunch. Such a great break from the caf food, even though they had to make a TON of it.