Photos of the Day--I Still Love Old People

These are some photos from a day off of school (we get our school's birthday off, it's great!). One of the science teachers at my school likes to practice his English with me after lunch, and he invited me to come along with him and his wife to his hometown, a small village outside of an only slightly larger town called Sancheong. We went to his mother's house, and the four of us and his "village uncle" all went out to the mountains to pick some wild herbs. And then, naturally (because it's the Korean way), we picnicked on pork, rice, kimchi and wild herbs.

At the end of the day, upon returning to the science teacher's house completely drained from a day of trying to communicate with somebody who hardly speaks my language, I was re-energized immediately when I walked into the house and saw three old women sitting around piles of wild herbs on the floor. We all sat down with them and snacked on fresh strawberries and pajeon (Korean style pancakes, usually with green onion and octopus--delicious!).

My non-verbal exchanges with these women absolutely made my day and reminded me of why I spent six years studying gerontology!