Sunday's Excursion: Magoksa Temple near Gongju

[In which we ride the oldest bus in Korea on the twistiest roads in Korea, and are forced to eat temple food by an enthusiastic monk.] 

Lately Gongju has simply been the best place to start for intriguing day trips. People in search of some interesting destinations around Daejeon would do well to start there. On Sunday, we decided to enjoy the warmer weather and take the day to do something cultural. Kristen has a new coworker at her school, so we were treating him to the 'life in Daejeon' skit, but since we hadn't done anything other than eating and partying, we figured it was time to do something 'cultural'. (Though eating and drinking is basically a cultural experience here.)

We set out around noon to Gongju, and got our bus at the Yuseong bus station. The Yuseong station is a crowd of bus madness, pulling in and out through the traffic of a regular street. I don't know how these drivers manage to do this without killing anyone--or hitting the other buses--but somehow it all works out. People wait in the corner of the small lot patiently, and then when the bus arrives (destination written only in Korean), you make sure that you make eye contact with the driver so that he knows that you are actually getting on the bus.

The bus ride to Gongju is also quite beautiful, since you are passing around Gyeryongsan National Park. While in Gongju we walked across the city (not knowing we could pick up the Magoksa bus at the big terminal!) and took some silly tourist pictures.

The local bus station in Gongju is right by the market. Now when Stephanie and I went to Gongju in September, it was a big holiday, and so the market was closed as closed could be. However, on Sunday, it was a big old markety mess, and I was instantly in love. The buses pulled into little "ports" when they were about to leave, which meant that there was a covered platform where the destinations were listed. On the market side of the platform, some old people were playing "Yoot", a game that we played at the Traditional New Year's Party last week. At first I didn't know what they were doing, because they were doing it with such enthusiasm--and at first, in my direction--that I thought they were attempting to exorcise me or something. This ancient woman in a pink felt zip up tossed those sticks like a fortune teller, speaking in the harsh Korean dialect that the older people tend to use. (Which to me sounds SO much better than the whining tone that the younger city kids seem to have.)

Sneaky as I am, I took a video.

Anyway, we meandered around the market, looking at the fish, meat, various feet products, and, of course, RED PEPPERS!

These bags come up to my waste. Looks like Kimchi dipping season is soon.... One of my students mentioned it to me, so I think it is coming up. These are the peppers that go into literally every Korean dish imaginable. In the fall they were all laying out to dry, now here they are in huge bags.

 Anyway we explored the market, saw our fare share of weird animal products, boots, buckets, and oddities, and then we hopped on the bus to Magoksa.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of this bus, but it was probably the oldest Korean bus I have ever been on. It was mostly open, with a few seats. We sat in the back, on the raised part above the engine, and we slowly jerked through Gongju, then we were released into the surrounding countryside. We were at first in a city, and then we went through a tunnel, and arrived in what seemed to be a completely different country. The countryside was empty except for farms, occasionally grave yards, and these little cement houses. The road became narrower and we jostled and flew down the road and increasingly more precarious speeds, and I was feeling delighted. The only people on the bus were these ancient ajummas, who all seemed to know each other. Just like in America, life in the country in Korea must be a completely different world.

We arrived at the temple feeling ready for an excellent time, and then we began our walk. Magoksa was established during the Baekje kingdom, but was also a principle temple during the Silla period. And then, during Joseon (when the Japanese invasion of the 1590s occurred) the temple was a place of refuge. So, in short--most of Magoksa is now entirely intact--which cannot be said about most other temples in Korea. Unlike all the things in Buyeo that Stephanie and I visited two weekends ago, the Magoksa buildings haven't been moved, rebuilt or even repainted in quite some time.

Yet there are new buildings among them, and we had a very pleasant time strolling through the complex. We heard chanting coming from a service inside one of the main halls. I paused to listen for some time. A few monks spoke to us--enthusiastically explaining things in Korean which I didn't understand.

When we were about to leave, I heard the bell being rung, so I skirted close so I could see it. This tiny little man with a sort of bucket hat on was ringing the bell (I assume for dinner), and then when he saw me standing there, he began to talk to me. I mostly had no idea what he was talking about, but when I inquired about their temple stay program, he lit up and dragged us back to their office. (We were a little bit worried about the last bus at this point, but we couldn't be rude.)

Then after a long discussion, and many, many brochures, he said "I am very hungry!" Oh, well we need to leave, so I figured now was a good time to escape... because I had definitely convinced him that I understood MUCH more Korean than I actually do. Now was the proper escape time. But no, no, "I am very hungry and you are very hungry!" He wouldn't take no for an answer. We kept saying "bus, bus!" but he kept saying "time many time!" So we really had no choice. Lee, the new guy, seemed a little concerned, but I was happy to finally feel like I was traveling, and I just put my hands up in the air and said, "It'll work out."

So we went downstairs to the monk's quarters--a new building--and feasted on some delicious vegetarian bibimbap style food. It was delicious! And the monk came up to Lee and made a huge round sign with his hands, and then put it to his stomach. Then he grinned with this absolutely uncontrollable joy and bounced off to speak to more people. Then the temple secretary gave us this weird piggy bank thing and we set off.

It was a really odd experience, but one that I absolutely loved!

New Year's Weekend Entry 3: Buyeo, Once-Capital of the Baekje Kingdom

Daejeon is conveniently located in what used to be the Baekje Kingdom. During the Three Kingdom's period of Korea--before Korea was a unified country--from roughly 55BC to 668AD. Baekje, Goguryeo and Silla fought and shifted borders, and at one time throughout the 700 year period, each one controlled a large portion of Korea. At that time, Daejeon was basically nothing but it was located in the Baekje territory. [Actually the Chinese characters for Daejeon mean 'big rice field', which is a testament to how rapidly this place has become urbanized.]

Baekje was said to have been founded by the sons of one of the Goguryeo kings, who fought in a succession dispute, and then established Baekje instead. (Supposedly near present day Seoul, much farther north than what became the stronghold capitals later.) After Goguryeo pushed the Baekje kingdom south, they established the capital at Gongju, where Stephanie and I visited on Chuseok.

However, the capital was pushed farther south in 538AD to Buyeo (then called Sabi), where Stephanie and I visited on Monday. The capital of Baekje was here from 538AD to 660AD, when Baekje was destroyed by Silla.

Buyeo has a lot of interesting things to see, but most of it was reconstructed after a series of Japanese invasions, and of course, the Korean war. Stephanie and I visited the Busosanseong Fortress and the Jeonglimsa Temple site. Most of the buildings in the fortress were either relocated or rebuilt in the 1960s or 70s. The reasons for the relocation are unclear, but what became apparent to Stephanie and I right away was that the ancient part of the fortress was not the buildings, but rather the mountain on which the fortress sat. Like the fortress at Gongju, it did not have surrounding walls, or a moat, or anything that would shout "Castle!" to you. In fact, it was just a mountain with a gate--and it provided some wonderful, invigorating walking. So you can imagine that if we were struggling to walk up the paths, the fortress did its duty in making it difficult to reach the main order of business. The mountain provided its own walls.

The walk around the forested area was pleasant, but what was really spectacular was this great view from one of the pagodas. Buyeo was a much more interesting city than some of the brand new urb-splosions that Korea has. This city has certainly got some character, and it was fun to look at it from the top of the hill. It was also horrifically muddy, and I landed myself flat in the yellow Korean slop.

At the very top of the fortress/steep hill, there is this pagoda. It was built in the 1920s to commemorate the some 3,000 women who flung themselves from the mountain when Baekje fell. They were escaping slavery (most likely sexual) by killing themselves, and so this rock is called "The Rock of the Falling Flowers", or Nakhwaam. Despite the fact that they were likely freeing themselves from horrible lives, the descriptive sign said that they were instead "saving their dutiful chastity."

Outside the fortress, Stephanie and I went to see the site of an ancient temple which had a few intreguing things of note--namely a five story stone pagoda, supposedly dating back from the Baekje period, and this ancient Buddha statue. The pagoda turned out to be kind of lame, but the statue was probably one of the more interesting things we saw over the weekend.

Unlike the other Buddha statues in temples, this statue was made of stone, and it was clearly ancient. Its body had been warped and melted by a thousand years of rain on soft rock, and it barely had any definition at all. It looked as if it could have melted back into a mountain if it wished. It was spectacular--quite eerie. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I do have one.

The head of the Buddha was reconstructed about a hundred or so years ago. Oddly enough this eerie, serene, yet barely human Buddha does not register as very important on the Korean tourism sites. Their main focus is the pagoda, which appears to be representative of the switch from wooden pagodas to stone ones. (Perhaps riveting for an architectural studies person, but to me it's kind of a blip on the radar.) This, on the other hand, seemed to have so much life in it--such a commanding, silencing presence. It invoked emotion.

So our lovely weekend ended with this surprising Buddha statue. We headed back to the Buyeo bus station, got bus tickets back to our respective cities, and then parted ways.

You may find the UNESCO World Heritage Registration information interesting. It describes Gongju and Buyeo, the Baekje Capitals, with meticulous historical accuracy.

New Year's Weekend Entry 2: Songnisan National Park

On Sunday, Stephanie and I headed out to Songnisan National Park.

Songnisan is a little ways north of Daejeon, and it is quite famous in the summer months. However, in the winter months, it is snowy and quaint. The little town outside the park entrance was sleepy, but full of orange tents that looked as though they would be trinket shops. Inside everyone was doing New Year's rituals. In fact, we wandered into a convenience store for chocolate, and the whole family was seated in front of a table in the back--set up exactly as our party table had been the night before. But the store owner graciously interrupted her discussion and came out into the store to sell us our Ghana bars. And I very poorly said "Happy New Year" in Korean. Haha.

Inside the park there is a famous temple called Beopjusa, 법주사, which, in the winter months, is the real reason why you would visit the park. Hiking is not exactly a possibility, since things are snowy and not exactly ideal. (Unless you're a serious hiker, which Stephanie and I are not.)

Beopjusa is famous for it's 33m bronze Buddha, which stands to the side of the complex, in front of a rising hill. It is quite impressive, and he has a serene--though quite massive--head. In theory, the temple was first established one thousand five hundred years ago, in 553, but since then the temple has changed a lot. However, the paint had aged on many of the buildings, and though it was less of a "pop", it also felt a little bit more realistic than some of the other temples that I've visited.

Around the Buddha there were a number of people praying. Stephanie and I walked in a circle around it, and then we entered the hall at the back of the complex. More people were praying inside, and a nun was preparing the New Year's offering. Since being in Korea, I don't feel as though I've had many authentic tourist experiences... (You know, where you feel like you're 'touring' something that isn't quite so constructed.) But being inside the hall at Beopjusa was definitely an authentic experience. I could feel the silence, and I could feel the solemnness and 'realness' of the people inside. The artwork was amazing, and I stood forever just staring at it. I don't have any photos of the inside, since I thought it would be kind of rude. There were three equally enormous seated Buddhas, all with different hand symbols. They represented the 'Threefold Body of the Buddha'. The center was the Dharma Buddha, that represented the Buddha's truth and teachings, then the one to his left was the 'Reward Buddha', or the representation of attaining enlightenment, and then the third one represented the historical Buddha, the one who actually lived so many years ago.  The English explanation said that the three Buddha's represent mind, virtue, and body. I am a great fan of triads, so... it intrigued me.

Anyway after that the nun offered us some New Year's sugar cookies, which we happily ate. She then broke the silence by dropping a very large candle, and we decided that maybe our gawking wasn't helping her concentrate, so we headed out of the hall. Wandering back through the snowy forest, I watched the black river and the beautifully decorated roofs on the other side. It was a very Asian seen--the kind you see in movies.

Then we ran into this family with an adorable child, an Austrailian brother, and a father who wanted us to come drinking excessive amounts of Makkoli with them, or Korean rice wine. Sadly our bus was leaving soon, so we couldn't do that, but the gesture was one of great hospitality. That seems to happen so much more frequently in the country, or outside the hustle and bustle of working life. When we step out of the position 'English teacher' and become an interesting person on the same road. It feels good to step out of that.

Teacher, teacher!

Me: "Yes?"
Libby: "Do you know Ka-duh?"
Me: "What? Cod? Like the fish?"
Yale: "No--Libby, geez. God. God."
Me: "Yeah, I know God."
Libby: (acts out Jesus dying on the cross.)
Me: "Oh that's not God. You mean Jesus."
Libby: "YEAH. Jesus and Buddha kai-bai-bo (rock, paper scissors.)"
Me: "What??"
Libby: "Yeah. And Jesus is win. So Jesus hit Buddha in head with finger. Like this--and Buddha get black spot on his head."
Me: (Oh my god is this child making an intelligent religious joke?)
Libby: "They play one more time. Buddha is win. So Jesus is... DIE." (Arms out on the cross, eyes closed.)
Me: (laughing so hard I can't breath.)

New Year's Weekend Entry 1: Traditional New Year's Party!

Since I didn't make any resolutions for Solar New Year (epic fail), I figured I might as well make some for Lunar New Year, or Seolnal, which was this weekend. One of those resolutions is to be better about blogging, so here we go. We had Monday off, and Stephanie came down to visit Daejeon. Since there isn't really much to do in Daejeon itself, we took some interesting day trips, and hung out with friends here. Some friends of mine put on a Traditional Lunar New Years Party on Saturday night, and then on Sunday we went to Songnisan National Park, and on Monday we visited Buyeo. I figured that I would split it up into three entries since there's just soo much

Seolnal is a big deal in many Korean families, and there are special, traditional things that must be done. My friends at J and J Recruiting put together a big party to introduce us foreigners to some of the customs on the holiday. Certain foods must be made, special Korean pancakes, special fish, and some sweets, and then they are set up in a certain order on a table. Ours looked like this:

There is a formal ritual where food is offered to the ancestors, which we all preformed. Food for the meal is prepared, then we have to bow, pray, and offer our ancestors their 'favorite'. (I picked the apples, because I figured that my ancestors wouldn't really know what to do with all that Korean food.) The ritual is called Sae-be. First, you are given some wine, which you offer to the ancestors. (You use the same glass as the person previous to you, and dump the contents into a communal bowl. I don't know if that was just for convenience or if it is part of the ritual, haha.) Then you hit your chopsticks three times on the table, spin them around the incense three times, and then choose your ancestor's favorite food. Then you bow twice--full, head-to-the-floor bow. Women and men bow just a little bit differently--men with right hands on top and women with left hands on top. I'm assuming that's for the sake of symmetry, since couples bow together. But we all did it by ourselves.

Then everyone bows together, which--to me--looked like sallat prayer at Mosque. I missed that part, since I was chatting with some of the Korean ladies in the back when they were doing it. Even though I didn't participate, though, it looked pretty cool. It feels good to be included in cultural activities, since I feel like that doesn't happen so often here.

After eating, we played some traditional games like the "Four Stick Game", which basically requires that you throw four enormous sticks into the air, and hope that they land face up so that you can move your little pieces on a board. They have five different animals--a dog, a pig, a sheep, and a horse, and a cow. The word for dog in Korean is 개, pronounced "gay". (Or Kay, the sounds run together), so basically we spent about 40 minutes yelling "GAY!" every time somebody rolled a 2. Anyway I super lost and my friends super won, but it was a good time. Then we played Korean hackie sack with funny feathery things, and I was terrible at it. :D

Overall we had a great time and I'm glad my friends did this party. The food was great and we had a lot of fun, even though there weren't a ton of us. I really enjoy their company, so it was a great time.

Well I've been rather caught up in personal business this week.

I'm trying to step back and see things with the right glasses. Thinking a lot about the episodes of Greys Anatomy and Private Practice (and, embarrassingly, even Desperate Housewives) that I watched today. They're substituting for good quality girl talk these days.

It's February now, but I don't really feel like much has happened around here. Next week is Lunar New Year and Stephanie is coming down--so I am uber excited. I haven't seen her in like a month! And we're in the same country! That's absolutely bogus.

I bought a new sketchbook yesterday, and I spent almost all day working on a new drawing. It's not my favorite black-spiral bound 9x12 Canson, but... well I have to learn how to see past the little things to make the right big picture. I spent this weekend pretty low key. Friday I went out and had a good time, at--of course--Sponge. I like getting to know people, but I'm so depressed about not speaking Korean sometimes. I know there are some really interesting people at Sponge... and I'm also kind of fascinated with the bartenders. Funny story about that, actually, I totally made a Korean fail-speak, and got the awesome female bartender's attention by calling her "nuna" which is the word for older sister--when a boy speaks it. Haha, I realized a few days later why she gave me a weird look. Epic fail. 

Anyway not being able to figure out these folks' stories is making me sad.

For instance, this one girl--a friend of a friend--I think she has this epicly cool personality. She's a lot of fun, has a lot of energy, and seems like a strong, independent woman. But she speaks almost no English, and so whenever I communicate with her, it's through another friend. We had an epic dance party one Saturday, and that's about the extent of our ability to communicate. I'd love to get to know her better, but it's impossible. But cheers to her, for being cool.

Anyway, since I've been so wrapped up, another friend told me that I should really try to just see everybody as everybody and try to love them just for what they are. I've been having some troubles with my coworker, and I know that I *should* just look at it like he's my dumb big brother with no sense--but sometimes I just can't get past the douchebaggery. I don't know what the more mature thing to do is. Should I walk away and simply be civil at work, or should I make an effort to 'see the good' and return to 'dumb big brother' status? Which is healthier in the long run?

I've been thinking a lot about boundaries lately, and I'm realizing that I am often "all in" or "all out"--and often not in healthy ways. One thing can push me over the edge, and then I'm "all out", because before I put forth an effort, and let people take pieces of me, so that I can be "all in." This is certainly true about relationships, but when I'm abroad, or in a new place, this is true about almost all new friendships, too. How much do I let new friends "take from me", so that I can be "all in", when it comes to a certain place or a certain experience?

For example--when I first got here, I went out with Becca and her friends a lot on the weekend. Once I came over and they decided that my outfit wasn't good enough, so they completely redressed me. And I looked hawt. Did they take a piece of me? Sort of--they conformed me to their fashion style. Did it hurt? No. Did I feel good about it? Yeah of course. I felt awesome and I really appreciated looking good and going to the bar. But the piece was there. Just like it's there when people insist that I finish drinks at dinner. Or get another drink. Or when people at work pressure me into taking opinions that I don't really want to take.

What I'm really thinking about are the pieces that I feel get taken when I'm in a "new" place. I meet new people and I find new ways to express myself, and I fit into a new social scene. And the pieces get taken, little pieces that I don't notice. Like when I finish a drink that I know will make me drunk even though I don't want to be drunk. Or when I put up with someone asking me personal questions that I find offensive, but I push away that feeling because I don't want to be angry or cause trouble--and I just want to get along. I just want to be comfortable. I put up with it because in a foreign country you have less choices, and you just don't want to be lonely.

So I put up with things that take pieces. I let people take pieces. That's the most disturbing part of it. But I'm recognizing it now. I did this in Ghana too. I let people take parts of me that I didn't want to give, but I didn't feel like I had a choice, because... well when you're in a foreign country, you need people around you who understand. You get the "I don't want to give this" mixed up with the "I'm traveling and I have to be flexible". The boundaries are so unclear between "healthy human" and "healthy traveler." This time I understand what's happening, though, and I'm debating: do I go "all out" and refuse to let any more pieces be taken (like cutting people off), or do I learn how to do certain things without loosing those pieces (like setting better boundaries, and speaking up for myself, and knowing more clearly what I think is appropriate and what isn't)?

Obviously both are necessary, but how do you know when one is the more rational decision? How do you know when you're doing one when you should be doing the other?

Anyway, just thinking. Now I'm going to go for a bike ride and turn in. Nice relaxing day. I finished my painting work and walked to the Noeun temple with Kristen and had a great talk. (Which prompted all this blahblahblah.)