On Tuesday we had a pretty busy schedule.
At least we had the rental bus to get to all the places, so we were able to recuperate and hang out while making all the trips to the locations. We started by going to Naeri Church in the morning, where sadly, we were not able to go in, instead, we just saw the outside.
We then went to the Korea Immigration history museum for a tour.
The group learned about the rich history of Korea immigration to the plantations in Hawaii which furthered the connections we could make between the two histories.
After the museum,
we went to Wolmi theme park to ride the famous disco pang pang. It was a very fun ride, but sadly we couldn’t understand the ride conductor, but according to the korean-speaking members, he was very funny.
After everyone was exhausted and motion sick, the bus took us to INHA university to get a tour of the beautiful campus and learn about its history. INHA is literally an acronym for IN(cheon)HA(waii) and in the street name, Kula Kolea Drive, Kolea is Korea. INHA would’ve never been created if it weren’t for the sale of Korea Christian Academy in Hawaii, founded and run by Syngman Rhee during his time in the islands.
The university has now become a renowned college, one of the best in Korea, and an amazing international school.
Sponsored by Incheon City Hall, we ate bibimbap served in a traditional bowl called a yugi at Inha University.
Then we headed to Incheon Metropolitan City to meet with the president of the Incheon city council to talk, about the special connection between Hawaii and Incheon and Role of Congress. PhD. Cho was kind enough to help translate as many of the KHHC members don’t speak Korean. We stayed there for about an hour and a half until it was time to leave for the Incheon Landing Operation Memorial Hall. It was at that museum that we learned about the US’s role in the Korean War, and how although the Incheon landing was a big risk, it ultimately won the war.
Lastly, we got to see Triplestreet. It was bustling and busy but we did not have much time to explore due to some of our other events taking longer than planned, so we had dinner at Songdo Geogung, and then headed back home for the night.
