Dear Bridget,

     Hi Bridget! Today I went to Namson Hanok Village. Namson Hanok Village tells us about the tile-roof houses and the thatch-roof houses. There are four kinds of houses in Joseon Dynasty, the palace, tile-roof houses, thatch-roof houses, and the temples. As you may know, the king and the queen lived in the palace. The noblemen lived in tile-roof houses, and usually most people lived in thatch-roof houses. Also, the buddhist monks lived in the temples. Now I will explain about our traditional house, hanok. It is made of materials from nature. Hanok has two special functions that you can't find in apartments. There is a heating system called Ondol, and here is how it works. When the mother cooks, the heat goes through the floor. before the heat goes up the chimney, it makes the room warm. You would like to live in hanok during the winter. In summer, we have a cooling system called Daechung maru. You can sleep, eat and talk there. Did you know that women and men were seperated? athe men lived in Sarangchae, and the women lived in Anchate. The Sarangchae is like the private library, where men study and read. Behind Anchae, there is Jangdokdae. Sadly, women couldn't study during Joseon Dynasty, so they either cooked or worked there. You might wonder about Jangdok, or Jangdokdae. It is much more better than Lock&Lock, because the Jangdok has very good ventilation. But it is too heavy, sometimes I wonder how they moved the Jangdok. we ahd family shrine, where they put your ancestors' pictures and pray or bow to them. Do you know what chamber pot is? During Joseon Dynasty, the bathroom was too far away, so you might not want to go out when it rains, or in the dark. So they had chamber pot to urine. I hope you can come to Korea and see our culture.

                                                                       June 26th, 2010

                                                                         Sincerely, Amy