First Day

Today is Sunday, July 29, and after a very long plane ride and a circuitous journey in an airport shuttle ride down Sunset Blvd and the corner of Hollywood and Vine, I reached my hotel, which sits in the heart of Koreatown.

The Garden Suite is a Korean owned hotel, and we teachers seem to be the only non-Koreans staying here. I heard more Korean than English spoken in the lobby this afternoon. I may be in the U.S., but I am definitely in a different cultre. Almost every sign for a restaurant or a store has both English letters and Korean characters. However, just across the street is an old theatre that clearly tells me I am in LA.

This Tuesday night I could go see Jack Black and that other guy do their blend of rock/comedy.

But I digress, the main point of this evening was for everyone to gather and share a meal together. The thirty or so teachers at this conference met at the house of Helie Lee, our host and one of the founders of KAFE. We had a home cooked meal of Bi Bim Bap at Lee's swanky home in West LA, near UCLA someone said. Check out her back yard.

The front of her house is quite posh as well.

The highlight of the night, though, was the "Korean punch" made by Daniel, a board member of KAFE. He blended rice wine with watermelon juice. Smooth, but it "snuck up on you" after about half a glass.

Some much for fun and games. Tomorrow we are up early and off to the conference at 7:45. Korean drumming is on the schedule.