Angel House

So a few weekends ago me and Katie went with our friend Jerry to a place called Angel House. We thought we were going to an orphanage, because thats what Jerry called it, but when we met up with her she told us it was not an orphanage like we think of it at home. Basically it has a home for the mentally disabled. Since we were standing in the street to catch the bus, I couldn't really back out. I must admit, this kind of thing is hard for me, I just feel I never know what to do or say. So this day was a bit of a challenge for me. Anyways, it took a couple buses and a long subway ride to get there, about 3 hours because it was in northern Seoul. So we met up with some other volunteers at the station and we spread out to peoples cars and drove the rest of the way. When we got there we were greeted by some of the residents who were very excited to see us. They were hugging us, shaking our hands and one little boy even grabbed my boobs!! Hello!!! The residents range in age, from a baby who was a few months old to people who must have been in there 60's or 70's. Another thing that was hard for me was that most of the residents had some kind of rash all over them and were scratching themselves ALL OVER and then wanted to touch you and hold your hand. If you know me at all you know this would have been hard for me. So once we got there we had a meeting and they split everyone up into jobs, cooking, washing laundry, putting together some plastic things. Since we were the only 3 foreigners there we definatly got stuck with THE WORST JOB there was.....scrubbing dirty laundry in buckets with soap and a wooden wash board!!! Oh man. Luckly(luckly?) the laundry was mostly towels and sheets and socks, etc. Nothing too bad. The first photos are of me and Katie getting down and dirty in the laundry room. After we did that, they took us down to another room where a bunch of people were putting together some plastic hooks that they made money assembling. So we got down to work. Well......me and Jerry did as Katie was distracted by the cute little kids that lived there. I think the Korean man running it thought I was great since he plunked a big box beside me to put mine in! After that, we served the residents dinner and had some ourselves. Usually they organize some activity to do with them after dinner, but since they had a few foreigners there, we were the entertainment. We asked them what we were doing next and they told us that I could take my camera up to the common room and take pictures of them and just hang out with them. So, that's what we did, and the residents loved it! They were hilarious! They loved having their picture taken and looking at the photos. So here they are, our day with the residents of Angel House.

Washing laundry.....keep in mind it was 100% humidity that day and soo hot!



Hanging it all up to dry.


Putting together the plastic hooks. I was very good at this! Haha.



















The man in red was my favorite. He was hilarious. I would be taking a picture of someone else and he would tap me on the shoulder. I would turn around and he would be standing with a group of people or one other person and be all ready and posing for the camera. Then he would have to look REALLY close at the picture with one eye!