Orphanage Visit

Playing a game at the orphanage--they were teaching it to me, and I didn't quite get it!  They kept trying, though, and only got slightly exasperated.
 

They think they're so cool! Yuri is standing in the center back.


I'm not quite sure what the point of this posed picture was--it looks like we're being punished! Wait--she has  hands growing out of her hair--she's an alien!


The two girls that I've been mostly with the two times I've gone to the orphanage.  On the left is 하늘 (sky) and on the right is 슬비.  They seem to be close friends.  At first I thought they were sisters because when I asked them if they're friends 하늘 said "No, she's my onni" (older sister) but then I remembered that they often call anyone older than them that, and that they can't be considered friends if they're not exactly the same age.  I think 슬비 is one year older than 하늘, but they have different family names so they must not be sisters.

 
I visited the orphanage in Busan on Saturday.  I rode the 1127 bus with Danica and Sarah.  It wasn't too crowded, but we had to stand for the entire hour.  We arrived at Nampo-dong at 1 PM, so grabbed something to eat before meeting the others at Starbuck's.  It was a little overcast, but fine for playing outside.  I ran around with the kids some, playing on the swings and slide, then went inside to play.  All of the windows were open, but it was still pretty hot.  Bridgette had brought a lot of games from her academy, so she and I shared.  (My director needs to let us play games occasionally!)  We played Uno, Jenga, then the kids turned the Jenga blocks into dominoes, then we finished with a little table tennis with a makeshift table (4 of the cafeteria tables pushed together).  A young girl, probably 3 in Western age, was trying to play with us.  The kids were being incredibly patient with her, but finally got tired of her disrupting the games and told her she couldn't play with us anymore.  She started fussing so I picked her up and rocked her a little.  She quieted down, and I thought she was falling asleep, but after that she went over and bothered Bridgette's group of kids for a while.

It was sad saying goodbye this time.  We won't go in August and September because many of them will be visiting relatives, then I'll be gone in October.  Lots of pictures were taken.  The girls wanted someone to take a picture of us together, so I got my camera.  Before I knew it, they were taking all kind of crazy pictures and finished the whole roll!  Less than half are decent pictures.  The lady who runs the orphanage gave us pictures she took of us last time, and also gave us a traditional Korean fan and cell phone accessory.  It was very thoughtful.  How she puts up with all those kids all the time, I'm sure I don't know!

I went with Kendall and Shelly to the Nampo-dong market, especially Rodeo Street (the electronics area).  Then we rode the subway back almost to Nopo-dong to visit a clothes-shopping area near some university, then rode the subway back the other way about an hour to Haeundae Beach.  We met up with Alex and Bridgette and their friends--Dane and KJ (from Sandra's kickboxing class), a few people I've seen around but don't really know, and Matt and Tanya.  We ate at an Indian restaurant.  The food was good, but they had run out of several things, and it seemed overpriced.

By that point it was after 10 PM, so we started thinking about getting home.  The train station is near the building with all of the foreign restaurants, so we went to check on trains back to Ulsan.  We were in luck--we arrived at 10:20, and the next (last?) train left at 10:30.  We got our tickets, got verbally attacked by a man asking if we were Americans (I let Matt answer "No, I'm Canadian"), and enjoyed the smooth train ride back.  I talked with Shelly most of the way, and was surprised at how quickly we arrived.  A taxi ride home, and the end of a long and tiring, yet fun and fulfilling day.