The fall is sweet, cool, and has a holiday feel.

It's now Chuseok break again. Last year for Chuseok, I went to Gonju to see the old Baekje capital. This year I'm staying in my apartment, packing, cleaning, and just relaxing. I leave for India in eleven days.

It's raining now, and it was raining yesterday morning too. I like waking up to the quiet rain, with the windows open and a slightly melancholy, yet calm feeling in the air. You feel insulated and safe in your house, just next to the pitter patter of the rain.

So I've accomplished most of the things that I wrote about accomplishing. I went to Haeinsa, and it was fun. It was kind of an ordeal, since I made the stupid mistake of getting on the wrong train, and thus going halfway to Seoul before switching. (Only in Korea can a simple mistake get you half way across the country in under an hour.) When we finally arrived, the serenity of the mountain, and the absolute isolation of the temple was really welcoming. The temple was much more isolated than most temples I've been to, either because it was Sunday and nobody was there, or just because it really is not a popular place--despite its place on the UNESCO list. We didn't get to see the actual Triptikana, because we arrived too late to go in, but we saw the building where it was housed. (Kind of a disappointment, but two awkward Korean guys had the same reaction, and we took several stiff pictures with them and their request.)

At sunset, the monks came out of their rooms and started an impromptu playing of the temple instruments, in a small pavilion at the bottom of the complex. They played the drums, and rang the huge bell, and gorgeous, calm sounds reverberated over the whole mountain. It was surreally calm and wonderful.


In other recent news, I had my Taekwondo Test on Sunday. It was VERY Korean. We arrived about five minutes after the test began. The judges filed out of the room, nobody payed attention, and then I was rushed by my teachers around the gym, until they found my spot. I was number 46. The last of the adults to test, and also the last one to arrive. It seems as though this test is very rarely undertaken by adults. For the thousands of kids that were there, I was the last of the group of adults--only 46 of us. I was also the only foreigner I saw. Kristen was there, and saw that there was a school with a foreign student, but that he was younger. (Also, the astute observation that--like me--he did not wear the same clothes as the rest of his school. His taekwondo bok said "KAIST" and mine says "Taekwondo", as opposed to the name of my school.)

We sat in lines and waited. When our line was next, we stood up and did jumping jacks. Then we stretched. Then we walked out onto the floor. There were a million other things happening, but it didn't seem too chaotic. I was shaking, I was so scared--I was sure that because I was different all eyes were on me, and I was the last one, the only one in the line in the back. (The test is administered in groups of ten.) We started our first form, form number 8, and I completed it well. Then we had to do number 6, which was the arbitrarily chosen form. (In the test, you don't know what the second form is until you arrived. I was very lucky because 6 was a good one for me.) I did the forms well, according to my teacher. Then we bowed to the judges and walked over to the fighting stage. I was put in a head pad and a chest guard, and then I spared with someone about my age. She kicked hard, and I was too nervous to really lash out. I don't think I did very well at that part, but watching Kristen's video, I see that the two men in front of me were mostly just standing there, so I guess I did alright. Fighting has never been my strong point. I'm too afraid to inflict damage on anyone.

Anyway, then that was it. My kwangjangnim (taekwondo teacher) was suddenly there, took off my pads, and said "Good job! Good job!" and whisked me away. Then we watched his wife do her second black belt test, and that was it!

It was VERY surreal, and nothing like a black belt test at home. I'm not sure if I passed the test or not. They say I'll know soon, but I have no way of knowing either way. Nobody will give me a straight answer, so I have the feeling that it's probably a no go. But maybe they just don't want to say yes or no and then lose face by that being the wrong answer.

That's been my life the past few weeks. I'm relaxing these next few days and packing, cleaning, drawing, and just chilling. It's going to be great. Oh, and probably will go up to a local temple for a while so I can buy some gifts and enjoy the temple atmosphere.

Moseying through Korea--in the rainy season

Well I've been on vacation since Thursday, which means that I took to the bus-filled streets and went to some really weird, remote places.

On Thursday, as I said last time, I embarked on the Scanner Adventure. On Friday, I took off for Jeonju, where I met up with Stephanie, wandered the streets of the hanok village, and got lots of mosquito bites. The city of Jeonju, despite its traditional buildings, heavy slate roofs, and whitewashed walls, has the distinct feeling of Northern Minnesota--or Wisconsin, or the UP. It's chalk full of artsy shops that are fun to wander through, but remind you that you are no where near rich. Jeonju is home to the Joseon Dynasty, and Hanji, an ancient art of making paper. Tons of paper related delicacies are on sale there, and they're really cool, but doubly expensive. Last time I was there, I bought a pair of paper-made earrings--which I promptly lost in the shuffle between work and Taekwondo.

On Saturday, Stephanie and I took a bus from Jeonju to Tapsa--definitely the most exciting and exhilerating temples I have seen in Korea. The temple is wedged into the middle of a cleft in the rock. It is all volcanic rock, too, the kind that we refered to as "Pudding Stone" when we encountered it beside Lake Superior. Pudding Stone is made up of lava rock and older, stronger rocks that are caught up in the downpour. In this case, some kind of madness created an gash in the rock, and this is where some monks decided to build their temple. Surrounding the temple are hundreds of little stone towers--some of them constructed and some of them balanced, precariously, on any flat surface available.

Little towers of rock are made while making prayers. The devotee makes a prayer and puts a rock on the tower. I made a prayer and then proceded to wander around the temple, photographing everything I could, and enjoying the glorious scenery. In front of one of the Buddhas, someone left a bag of Butterscotch candy, and little drips from the vines above--daredevil plants that clung to the side of the cavern--plopped on the thing and ran down its sides.

On Sunday, Stephanie and I took off from Seoul and went to Incheon, where I wandered the only Chinatown in Korea, and took a dirty old ferry to a dirty old island that belonged in the Carribean. (By the name of Jakyakdo 작약도.) I really enjoyed it, despite the fact that it was a meager speck of land that had seen better days. That was why I loved it so much. Despite the fact that Incheon is the host of the enormous international airport--the only airport that most people in Korea will ever see--there was no airplane noise, no hint of city on this tiny little jungle. Industrial equiptment, construction cranes, and the hustle and bustle of daily life in Korea could be seen from the shores of this island, but they were far away, lost in the fray of the ocean, which had made sure that this little rock had been completely forgotten by everything.

The night was topped off by the Heritage Ministry Gospel Choir Concert, which once a month has the impervious ability to make me both sob and love my life (and any man with a bit of charisma and a singing voice.) The next morning, I went into Seoul very early and borded a bus for Sokcho, where I am now. It's been another intreguing adventure, which I will write up after its completed.

Magoksa Temple Stay Festival

Well my exciting Magoksa Temple Stay Festival turned out to be somewhat iffy. It seemed as though things were really poorly planned, especially since my tour group showed up with 2 buses instead of the 1 that they apparently said they were bringing. They were also an hour and a half late, so I sat around with this guy outside the traditional Buddhist Center just chatting for a while. He had decent English, which was nice.

After my group finally arrived, we registered in an enormously complicated (yet it shouldn't have been) process, and then went to eat lunch, which was delicious. Then we headed off to the temple, where the monks were doing a drumming competition. That was pretty fantastic. The monks were dressed in gorgeous clothes and just flew these sticks across this enormous drum, making beautiful, flowing--deep--sounds like the ocean. I loved it.

This guy won the competition and was asked to do an encore. He was great--got me moving, though nobody else was dancing. There were a few ladies next to me that had cute little "go go!" signs for their temple. They didn't win, but their spirit was adorable.

After the competition, there was a demonstration of how to make a relief pressing of some of the beautiful bronze work done on the bell. (You can see it in the back on the right of the photo.) There were news cameras everywhere--documenting the interested foreigners and templestay activities--and then they got just about everybody to help make this relief. He used water and a brush to slap wet paper over the carving, and when it was finished, it should stand up alone.

I helped! Anyway it was pretty neat but I got bored after a little while, and wandered over to the other festivities, like making pancakes and other things. As a group, we went on a hike up to the crest of a mountain to see a place where people were buried--apparently because if you buried your parents there, your children would become kings and queens. I had a fascinating talk with a student from Mexico, getting all into the topics of religion and that. Felt great to dust the cobwebs off of that part of my brain.

Then we had some weird things happen... after dinner we had a show, which I was expecting to be monk martial arts and all that, but as it turned out it was only one performance of monk martial arts, and a lot of other performances. There was an amazing taekwondo demonstration crew, and a group who played seriously loud and raucous traditional music. Then it turned into this weird talent show.... and it was really boring, and frustrating, because the announcer wouldn't let the interpreter speak. Fail.

Anyway the next day was full of nice stuff... we had a meditation practice and a talk with an English speaking monk, who actually lives close to me. He was from either the USA or Canada... not sure. Then there was a Lithuanian monk who was also really cool. It's nice to see foreigners integrated into the society here.

After lunch, the Seoul group took off, and I just wandered around the temple complex for a while. I was having a real... frustrated with Korea day. I didn't blog about this for a long time because I was really excited for it, and it got really... frustrating.  That was just a real bummer.

People told me that Month Seven is really difficult because you just get tired of all the crap that you brushed off for the previous six months. And I totally agree. They say it was the hardest... I don't really agree with that, because I thought Month Three was much harder, but I am definitely just TIRED of this crap.

But I had a really excellent lunch with some people I know are going to be good friends, so I am looking forward to continuing those relationships. And I'm still drawing my story... one little piece at a time.

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.

You know, I write a journal more than a blog...

I guess that's okay, most of the time. But I am enjoying reading some of the other things that I run across--more bloggy things, and I wonder--how can I do that?

My mom sent me this article on the Matador, called: "The Expat Conundrum: The Longer You Stay, The More You Complain". It is kind of an interesting article. They are taking about Mexico, but I do feel like the people who have been here the longest complain a lot. I actually ran into a guy down by the river who had lived here for several years. He definitely had the "they" attitude that the author talks about. Harsh. Serious. Acted like he got stuck here. After I said I was new, his first idea was to give me the name and number of someone to call if I "got into any trouble."

Now the other article that I was reading on this website was this: "6 Ways To Not Be A Holier-Than-Thou Traveler." I am guilty of some of these things--especially here in Korea. I'm trying my hardest not to let Ghana spill over into my experience here, especially now that I am trying to make new friends... but I can't help it. I mean, everything there seemed so much more hard core. More difficult. So when this gentleman told me that if I "got into any trouble", I should call this guy... I thought: "What kind of trouble can I possibly get into that is worse than the trouble I could get into in Ghana?" So I am majorly guilty of the Holier than Thou attitude. Because your wallet can get stolen in any country. Your passport can get stolen in any country. You can be in a terrible car accident in any country--but I drop "Africa" like it is this magical place that makes me more hard core than the others here. And I know that if my African friends heard me say those things, they would be annoyed. But sometimes, that "this is easy because I've done something much harder" attitude gets me through the difficult days here. Because, really, it is hard here, too, and I need something to remind me that I can do it.

Anyway I am really enjoying these articles on Matador, and browsing through them. It feels good to be a traveler again, no matter where I am--and that brings me to my excellent weekend, which I promised I would report on.

Let me sum it up for you.
Saturday:

Sunday:

On Saturday, as I mentioned before, Stephanie and I visited Gyeongbokgung. This enormous palace was constructed for the Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to August 1910. The picture above is from the retreat quarters of King Gojong. Inside there are quarters for the King and Queen, as well as a study--though it was most certainly blocked off from tourists. The area was restored in 2007, after having been dismantled in 1909, during Japanese occupation. An art museum was put on the location in 1939.

The palace had two main areas--the public and the private. The public areas were enormous, impressive, places where the king could strut, as it were. The roofs were two tiered, everything was tall and extravagant, and the painting was out of this world. Humans just looked insignificant next to and inside these enormous buildings.

 After going to this palace, Stephanie and I set out for a market, that turned out to be a shopping mall and not a market. But the journey to the market was one full of tiny street vendors. In Korea street vendors sell things out of these little retractable trailors. When they are finished selling, they close down the doors and drag the metal box away--like a dragable garage. Then they bring it home or just leave it in some alley somewhere. I saw one man packing up and I thought this was just brilliant, and quite hilarious to boot. Of course, there was another man along the road who was selling notebooks and paper supplies out of the back of a pick up. Stephanie stopped to grab a notebook, and I just stared in true-love fascination.

I picked up a bunch of little trinkets, which I adore, even though they may be kitchy and touristy. I like touristy stuff--no prob for me. Now I have some little glass kimchi peppers on my phone, haha.

After we discovered that the market was actually less interesting than the street-to-the-market, we departed for Itaewon, which is the foreigner section of Seoul. It used to be sleezy, because it was mostly military men, and there are a lot of American GIs still there, I guess, but now it is full of just about anyone. There is a big mosque on a hill, and there are Muslims everywhere. I was simply overjoyed about that one. There were lots of Africans, too, and Stephanie and I went to a restaurant owned by Ghanaians!! Not only Ghanaians, but people from the Ashanti region, which means that they spoke Twi! We made some nice new friends... and actually this one guy insists on calling me two or three times every day, which is something that I hated when I was in Africa, but now it's kind of nice. I get to talk to someone before work, and it isn't about work, and it isn't complicated and confusing. Just talk. It also helps that I don't live in Seoul, though, lol, because he doesn't constantly ask me to visit him. 

Anyway, our new African friends were definitely NOT Muslim because they decided that it would be an excellent idea to get us to try their 'healing' wood liquor that had been home made in Korea. (Of course, it's home made in Ghana, too, but seeing it in Korea is weird and confusing. Also because it definitely looked like it was in a juice jug.) That was an enlightening experience, lol... especially because they totally refused to let US refuse. I had a good laugh, but had Stephanie not been there I probably would have been awkward and upset about it. I do believe, though, that it was the same material that I had been drinking in the stilt village on my 21st birthday.


Anyway, on Sunday Stephanie and I visited a huge Buddhist temple called Bong Eungsa, or 보은사. This is a full time used temple, with monks and nuns and worshipers coming in and out. I loved the feeling of it. A quiet, sacred sense settles over you, and you feel like a tourist, but not like a worthless tourist. You feel like you've come to see something important. There is also an awkwardness about it, because there are people praying and worshiping around you. That is hard, but the tension makes you realize things. Tension always leads to realization, I think, anyway, and I enjoy it.


The painting on this temple was out of this world. I've seen good painting, especially at the palace that we visited on Saturday, but this temple had murals on the walls. Scenes from the Buddha's life, scenes from the lives of Bodhisattvas and probably kings as well. There was no one to explain it, so as the monk chanted in the main building, I simply stared at it, and attempted to take a few measly pictures. They don't do it justice.


The monk was chanting when we arrived, and the prayer hall in the front of the building was full to the brim of women. It was all women, not a single man. I don't know why. The chanting was as beautiful as the buildings. As the monk left, I came eye to eye with him, bowed my head in some kind of greeting, but I don't know if it was rude or just 'typical' for a foreigner to do something awkward like that. But I wanted to let him know that I appreciated his voice, and his temple, and his religion, and his purpose... so I looked him in the eye and greeted him. I hope he saw it that way, but I doubt it. Ah well.


The temple had several main halls in the front of the complex, but it was in front of a rising mountain, so smaller Bodhisattva complexes rose up into the forest above. The higher we climbed, the more of metropolitan Seoul spilled out from behind the temple roofs. The ancient, painstakingly maintained buildings with delicate painted halls stood in front of glass sky scrapers--the Seoul World Trade Center--the Co-Ex twin-tower shopping mall--roads of busy, honking traffic. It was ironic and rather superb that this temple, a relic of "old" Korea, but a reminder to "new" Korea, stood in the middle of this development and urban bustle.  

After the temple we went to a market, which is where the first picture is from. It was mostly closed, but I enjoyed it anyway, and since there was a lack of people, I didn't feel too pushed and shoved with my big backpack on my shoulders. (Then quite full of trinkets, clothing, and rinkydinks that I bought.)



It's time for me to get on my bike and tool down to work, so I'll leave you with this image, and a link to the others on Facebook. 

Holy Canoli, Batman! Seoul!

So this weekend I made my first trip up to Seoul from Daejeon to visit Stephanie! We had an excellent time. We ate at an Indian-Nepalese restaurant, an African (Ghanaian!!) restaurant, AND a Mexican Restaurant! We went to a beautiful palace AND a beautiful temple, and we even heard some amazing chanting. I bought shoes, shirts, and kitchy trinkets that I l-l-love! We even went to a book store!

I arrived around two on Saturday, and Stephanie and I went to Gyeongbokgung, or 경복궁, which was founded in 1395 by the Joseon dynasty. Since then it has been destroyed twice by the Japanese, once in the 1592 invasion, and again in the more well known invasion precluding WWI. One of the important figures in Korean occupation was Empress Myeongseong, who fought the Japanese until she was assassinated in 1895. I'm excited to find out more about her, but so far I don't really know much. All of these buildings were beautifully restored in the mid 1990s and early 2000s, and they're still working on other parts of the enormous complex. It is intriguing and breathtaking that this place is so old but so young, and also such an important symbol. There were many tourists there, but they were from everywhere--and more than 50% were Korean tourists. I heard some Japanese, and actually spoke it a little bit with an older woman. And by speaking I mean, I repeated what she said because I understood it, and she was dumbfounded and asked me if I spoke Japanese, and then I said "a little" and went on my way. But you know. Whatever you can get. Actually that day I spoke four different languages... because I spoke to the Japanese Lady, spoke Korean to folks, and English with Stephanie, and tiny Twi with the owners of the Ghanaian restaurant. Granted... I only used a few words in all but English, but, yeah I'd say that's pretty cool. I'll give myself permission to be proud of myself for that. :P

Anyway, the grandeur and impressiveness of this palace are just beyond beautiful. Everything is enormous, complicated, intricate, and well thought out. There are two impressive mountains standing behind the palace grounds, and they are distinctly Asian mountains. The rock formations are just not anything you would see in the US, and the way they stand is different from American mountains and African mountains. It might be easy to assume that rock is rock everywhere place to place, but no.

There are pictures from the weekend posted on facebook. I won't regale you with the entire story now because that post would just be too long, but check out my gallivanting, and hopefully you'll have a long enough attention span when I attempt to write about it!