Week 4 -- Gyejoksan and code

Week four ended today. It went pretty well.

1. (What I learned about Korea)

On Sunday I went to the Currency Museum, which is right by KAIST. It had exhibits with the various types of currency Korea had used since before recorded history up to the present. It was very interesting.  There was also a section on medals and other special awards, so I got to see some military medals up close.

I also visited the Biosphere, which is near Expo Park. So I learned a little bit about the local trees, which was interesting.

On Wednesday a student group at KAIST performed some traditional Korean music. It was very good. I found out what sorts of instruments are used for Korean classical music, and I got to listen to some of it in a relaxing setting. The music was very good.

Rather than exploring Lake Daecheonghosu as I'd planned last week, I went to Gyejoksan mountain instead. I hiked high enough to see some beautiful vistas. I managed to get to where they had one of the old fortress walls, where a bunch of people were having fun and talking. It was a rewarding walk. I stumbled on an exercise/play area that I think was Jangdong forest as well. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to several of the more notable sights (such as Dongchundang), so a return trip just may be in order. 

2. (Project status)

My next goal is to document the HUBO code. This week I went through the HUBO project function-by-function to analyze them all and determine what they did, and now I'm mapping out the relations between functions.

3. (Picture of the week)

View from the top of Gyejoksan:

4. (What I learned about myself)

I learned that I enjoy traditional Korean music. Also, when I had some cab trouble getting back from the mountain, I learned that I can recover from unexpected difficulties like that.

5. (New people I met)

While at a restaurant before going to Gyejoksan, I found myself sitting next to a Mr. Kim. We talked a little, and I mentioned that I was a student from America who was studying at KAIST for the moment. He seemed interested and we talked about that for a little bit. He helped me fill in a couple gaps in the guidebooks KAIST gave us (the exact dates of a couple festivals that were just mentioned as being 'sometime in April.') A very nice guy.