About 2 months ago, my God mother asked me to and my husband to join her for a sign language class in June.  We said yes, filled out a form,and forgot about it.  Then on Friday,  we re-remembered that we had to go there on Saturday,  we called to see what time and she said 9am-4pm. WHAT are you SERIOUS?  We wanted more than ANYthing not to go, and to just stay home and relax, but we couldn’t cancel.  So, Saturday morning, we woke up early, complaining, not wanting to go, and drove out to the country side for this “program”
When we arrived, we were greeted by nuns.  They said hello to us and were really excited to meet us.  We all went down stairs to a big room with built in couches along the walls.  There are 12 facilities for the deaf in Korea, but this is the only one for elderly deaf.  We sat down to get ready for the day.  It would all be in Korean, which I wasn’t really in the mood for. I didn’t want to listen all day to a long to a boring Korean lecture.  Wow, we were so wrong.
The first part of the morning, we spent learning basic Korean signs.  We learned that Korean, USA, British, and most other countries have different signs!  So, even though someone might speak sign language, they probably can’t fully communicate with other people around the world.  It was so fun learning the signs!  An older deaf lady taught us, and she was so funny!  I found that it was really fun and exciting to learn these signs.  Thought it was all in Korean, the words were basic everyday things that I already knew in korean, so it was really fun!  
Next, the priest came to talk to us.  He is the first deaf priest in Korea, and he was so funny and animated.  One person asked if he trained as a mime, because he was so good at expressing. (seriously).  He told us that when he was little, his parents sent him to regular school, and didn’t give him any resource to learn sign language so he had to make up ways to communicate. That’s how he became to good at expression.  Also, there were no subtitles for him on the TV but his parents would say “just watch it!” so he learned to read other’s motions and movements very well.  Later, when he was in high school, he finally went to a school for deaf students.  He studied so hard, but was jealous of the other kids who had learned KSL (korean sign language) their entire lives, he had a lot of catching up to do.  He told us some really funny jokes, and one he told with no interpreter, just his expressions.  It’s amazing how much you can understand just by watching, and opening your mind.
After that we all had lunch together~ yummy! Kimbap, rice, chicken, salad, and vegetables.
After lunch, we watched a movie with no sound.  We were supposed to watch and see if we could understand what was happening.  The movie was really interesting, a computer animated short movie about a young girl in Australia and her 44 year old male penpal in NY who has Asperger’s Syndrome.  We talked about the film after, and it was really nice to watch and discuss together.
Then, it was time to do our activities.  These were SO fun.  We were split up into 5 groups.  Our group was me, my husband, a mom and her two daughters (11 and 9).   The lady told us we would play games and do activities, and we could earn stickers, for the competition.  I know it’s not nice, but as we walked up the stairs to the first competition I said to my husband “I’m not going to let them win just because they are kids” hahah oh dear.  I need to control my competitiveness.   
The first activity we went to, had a big table with lots of things spread over it.  Little toys, plastic animals and foods, lots of different objects.  Behind the table was one deaf grandfather.  He would act out the object, and we would run to find the object he was acting and bring it back quickly to our chairs.  It was so fun!  I got 10! I did let this kids have a chance tho, and my husband so he wouldn’t feel so :p  The grandfather was so fun and I was so happy he played with us.
Next, we went to make candles!  There was a grandmother there, maybe about 80+ years old. I already liked her because she pulled my arm at lunch and helped me remember how to say “hello” in korean sign, and she smiled at me.  The candles were really cool.  The wax was shaved, and we could choose any colors we wanted.  I made yellow and white stripes, and charles made a multi colored one.  That grandmother was so kind and warm and helped us with everything.
Next stop was “snack”.  We went out side, and got some coffee and snacks, and sat down with two deaf grandmothers and one interpreter.  We all talked to each other about our lives, family, age, and learned lots of neat sign language for the things we were talking about. It was so fun and interesting just to have a conversation together.  
Next?  Doctor’s office!  Each of us wore a lab coat and had a label for the type of doctor we were. I was the surgeon.  The deaf grand mothers and one young girl (about 20 or so) pretended to be the patients, explaining to us what was wrong and we had to make a diagnosis.  When it was my turn, the girl was explaining that people made fun of how she looks and she wanted plastic surgery!  Someone I pulled some sign language out of my head and managed to tell her, it’s ok!  And it’s going to be very expensive.  They had a good laugh, and I was really happy :)
The final one, was REALLY fun. It was charades.  One nun showed us pictures and we had to act it out for the deaf grandfather who was sitting on the bench.  I got 19! YAHO!!  We had a 2 minute time language. I got caught on “farming” and there was one Korean word “I like you” that I got confused on and wasted time with. Shoot.  Anyway I think that grampy and I should enter some kind of charades contest. We would definitely win.
After these modules, we came back and did an evaluation.  Everyone was shocked at how well i did that day!  There were about 25 people or so in the course, and I got the most stickers and won a prize! YAYAYAY!  It was a plate made and painted by one of the grandfather’s there (the one from the acting table) and full of candies.  It was so exciting and fun~  then we all received certificates for completing the program.
I was so happy to be there that day.  I am absolutely sure the reason I was able to connect with them, and use body language to win competitions is because that’s how I’ve been communicating with the majority of people I meet for the last 3 years.  I’m used to just watching people to understand, instead of listening to the words, and it helped me.  I was so happy to be able to “talk” to the grandparents there using my hands.  I was happy that we were all on the same level together, the other koreans around me were trying, just like me, to talk to the people around us.  The grandparents there were so happy, and so gentle and helpful with us.  They encouraged us with smiles and guidance, and it was, without a doubt, one of my best memories of Korea so far.  
Why do we always complain about things we don’t want to do! Honestly, I felt ashamed on the way home, that we had dragged our feet so much and resisted going, in the end, we said “oh well.. maybe we’ll learn something”… and we really did.