This is it...

It's 4 a.m. and I've just been out for the best last night I could have imagined. Good friends, good food, and lots of dancing. Korea's had it's ups and downs, and I've certainly dealt with a lot of issues with my school, landlord, etc during the departure period, but overall it's been amazing. I'm leaving this year with life long friends, career aspirations and a lifetime of travel experience. Next stop- India! I'll try to write as much as possible, so keep checking in weekly. Miss you, love you, and see you soon!!!

Last Hurrah on Geoje Island

I had an awesome final full weekend in Korea. A few friends- Alexis, Kate, Ryan and Fil- and I decided to go beach camping on Geoje Island, just a 45 minute ferry ride from Busan. Although we almost missed our boat because we were waiting at the wrong gate of the terminal, we made it with about two minutes to spare, and got to the island my mid-afternoon on Saturday. A taxi took us around the beautiful, mountainous island and dropped us off at Gujora Beach. It was definitely the nicest beach I've been to in Korea, not only because of the scenery, but also because of the lack of people.

We walked to the far end of the beach and claimed the best camping spot, a rock alcove at the end of the beach, where we were really secluded from everything and everyone else. Ryan and Alexis had smartly planned ahead and borrowed a nice tent from a friend, but Kate, Fil and I had decided to kind of wing it. Oops. On the way to the island, we'd past a store selling a lot of beach supplies, and we picked up a mosquito net tent, which looked like a real tent only it's walls were made out of holey mosquito netting and there was no floor. Oops again. We set up our tents, and figured we'd be just fine for one night.

We had packed lightly on the food, bringing just potatoes, garlic, corn, bananas and chocolate, knowing that we could find what we needed at the food stand near the beach. Around dinner time, the girls went to get food and supplies, while the boys set out to find wood to build our fire. We went to the food stand and were delighted to find a pack of 35 mini hot dogs- score! But when we tried to buy them, the lady said "Aneyo!" or "No." We didn't understand why, but she showed us that they were actually used to make corn dogs which she sold individually, so the pack was not for sale. We put on our best disappointed and confused foreigner face, and she finally caved, selling them to us for just ten dollars. Double score! We headed back to the campsite, and made a delighful dinner of roasted vegetables and hotdogs, washed down with some cold beer.

Unfortunately, as we were just throwing our chocolate-stuffed banana boats on the fire, we noticed that the tide was coming up really high. We knew that this was a popular camping spot, so we didn't think it would be a problem, but sure enough the water came crashing over our fire. We grabbed our things (and the banana boats, which were delicious!) and moved to higher ground. It was too late to find more wood for a new fire, so we climbed up onto the rocks and spent the rest of the night singing along to the guitar and watching the bioluminesence in the water. This beach (and several others in Korea and Thailand) have phytoplankton that mate at night and cause little sparks that light up in the water. Very cool to watch!

It was a great night and we were all so happy to be chilling on an island with a guitar, rather than be at some bar in the big city of Busan. We headed to bed sometime late at night, and I was hoping that I could pass out right away, without worrying about our "accomodations." Unfortunately, sleep didn't come so easy, and I spent the night flicking bugs off of my clothes and out of my hair. Yuck! Luckily, the netting kept the mosquitos out, but the lack of a floor meant the other critters made it in. Eventually, I did fall asleep, and woke up to a beautiful pink and purple sunrise- my second in one week!

We hung around on the beach for the rest of the day enjoying the cool water and the stifling hot sun and then packed up and headed back to Busan in the late afternoon. Despite the bugs and heat and water logged campfires, we had a great time on Geoje Island... I couldn't have picked a better way to spend my last full weekend in Korea.

ferry ride to Geoje

setting up our "tent"

probably the funniest hat-wearing family I've ever seen

the rocks

kate and the view from out site

waking up in a room with a view

That time I lived with Buddhist Monks...

On Wednesday, I finally made the last check off of my "Things to Do before Leaving Korea" list. I had the week off from school, but unfortunately all of my friends who are still in Busan were working, so instead of doing nothing I thought a temple stay would be the perfect solo getaway. When you hear "living with monks" what comes to mind? For me, I imagined a lot of meditating and prayer, some communal work and plenty of chanting. It turned out to be a really amazing experience, though in no way what I was expecting.

entrance gate to the temple

After a two and a half hour journey to Andong, a little village outside of Gyeongju, I arrived at Golgulsa Temple in the mid-afternoon. I checked in with the a westerner who lives at the temple, and he briefed me about the temple stay and handed me a schedule which looked something like this:

5:00- dinner
6:00- orientation
7:00- chanting time
7:30- Zen martial arts training
9:00- bedtime

4:00 am- wakeup
4:30- chanting
5:00- sitting meditation
6:00- walking meditation
6:30- breakfast
8:00- Zen martial arts training
10:00- 108 bows and meditation
11:00- tea time
11:30 lunch

The official temple stay wasn't starting until dinner so I had about two hours to wander around in at least 95 degree weather, and explore the site. What I found was that the martial arts center as well as my room in the guest quarters were at the bottom of a very steep mountain and the main temple and shrine were located about a thirty minute climb up the mountain. I tried not to think about it, but looking at the locations on the schedule, I had a feeling I was going to be getting a lot of exercise.

temple dog

Before dinner, I had a chance to meet the other westerners who would be doing the temple stay, one girl named Leslie from Switzerland was a student in Korea and a couple from the Netherlands who were backpacking around the country for three weeks. It was nice to meet them and chant a little, but all in all there wasn't much time for talking on this trip. We went to dinner together and ate in silence among the monks and the three resident foreigners. Dinner was a delicious and simple meal of vegetarian noodle soup, rice, kimchi and radish, and we were instructed that we must eat every speck of food, as monks do not waste.

afternoon prayers in a cave shrine

After dinner, we had orientation and then participated in the first chanting session. In front of an alter in the martial arts center we bowed three times and then tried to follow along as several monks did their nightly chants. After, it was time for zen martial arts and I think all of us foreigners were surprised to see that this too was a "follow along" kind of situation. It occurred to me that this temple stay would be about experiencing life with monks, not being taught by them. After struggling through an hour of intense martial arts kicks, punches and series of fighting movements, we settled down for moving meditation. This was my favorite part of the evening. As calming Buddhist music played, we stood in a circle and followed the monk as he lead us through a series of flowing motions. It felt very spiritual and though no one explained to us what it meant, I could feel that it was all about releasing positive energy. It's hard to explain, but it was a very powerful exercise and I did feel both energized and released afterward. When it was finished, we made our way back to the room and tried to get some sleep before the early morning to come.

Sunmundo- Korean zen martial arts

this guy was intense!

I didn't have much luck with sleep, but I must have managed a few hours, as I was awoken at 4am to the sound of a wooden block drum. This was our wake up call, and we hurried out of bed and got ready, so that we could make it up the mountain to the main shrine in time. I did not want to miss the morning, not only because I was excited to participate, but also because I thought I would probably die before I could complete the punishment of being late- 3,000 bows.
We arrived in the main shrine and witnessed all of the monks present. They stood in front of the alter, and the rest of us stood in rows behind. We all did our 3 bows- one for ourselves, one for everyone else, and one for Buddha- and then the thirty minutes of chanting began. After, we moved outside to a deck protruding off of the front of the temple, with a stunning view of the mountains and valleys below. It was dark when we sat down, but as we meditated for an hour to the sound of monks chanting and hitting the wooden block drum, the sun began to rise, coloring the sky pink and purple. It was definitely the highlight of my stay, and although I can't say I learned how to meditate any better, I was still happy just knowing I'd tried.

It wasn't until after the sitting and walking meditation that I realized how tired I was. The rest of the morning was a grueling test of endurance. After breakfast, we took part in another hour and a half zen martial arts class. It was really tough, but the instructor pushed us to continue kick after kick, and you can't exactly say no to an expert martial arts buddhist monk. When we were finally done, I was hoping for a break to relax, but as I looked at the scheduled I saw that I was far from finished.

It was time for the 108 bows. Now, when I say bow, I don't mean bend at your waste and lower half way. A Buddhist bow looks like this: Hands together in prayer, bow your head once, then lower down to your knees, bend forward until your forehead is touching the ground, pick up your hands to your ear level, then place them down again, then stand back up using only your knees, ankles and feet. I calculated that it takes about 25 seconds to do one bow, so how much time would it take to do 108? About 40 minutes.

The purpose of these bows are for self-purification and every bow has a purpose behind it. We were given the english translation, and here are a few:

1. I bow to wonder where I came from and where I'm going.
17. I bow to feel that love originates inside of me.
51. I bow to know that happiness does not come from others, it comes from myself.
92. I bow to hope for peace in everything around me.
108. I bow for myself, realizing that my own precious life is like the universe.

It was a painful, grueling forty minutes, but it was well worth it. Once again, I felt proud for my effort and ability to endure the daily routine of a monk. Just when I thought that all of the hard work was over, we were told we would once again be climbing up the mountain to hear a speech from the grand-master himself. It was the first day of the lunar month, so he gave a speech, and although it was in Korean, it was still cool to be in the presence of this holy man.

grand-master

Finally the morning came to an end. I had one last meal with my fellow temple stayers and the monks and then we all parted ways. As I headed home, I tried to reflect on the experience. It really wasn't what I had been expecting, thankfully it was more real than I had pictured it to be. The monks were not there to give us lessons on being a monk, they were just living their lives and we were graciously welcomed to be a part of it for one day. It was a lot more physical than I had expected too. The combination of climbing that hill, martial arts, 108 bows, and waking up at 4 am was more work than I would've thought. And although, I didn't walk away spiritually enlightened or anything, I do have a much greater appreciation for Buddhism in general, and also how important presence is in our everyday lives. Taking time to meditate, reflect, and work on your mind and body not only benefits yourself, but also those around you. I think that's what I really took away from it.




One more thing- I apologize if my photography is a little disappointing, but all I can say is this isn't the sort of thing where you take a lot of pictures. There have been too many experiences where I felt like I was doing something just for the sake of capturing it on camera, and I didn't want this to be one of them. I'll always remember this amazing experience, even if I don't have all of the pictures to prove it.

Strangee Korea

I feel like I'm running low on material these days, as the end is nearing and I'm spending my days planning for my journey once I leave Korea. The only news is that according to the Busan Ministry of Education, swine flu is "finished" or as they say "finishee." Sure it is. Anyway, with this new revelation, I had yet another adjustment in my summer schedule. First English camp, then skype, then office work, and now English camp is back on! It's only 5 days and I'm happy to be teaching, but I can't help but think they are a little ridiculous for not knowing when to just let it go. When we got word that camp was back on, my co-teachers were calling me from their vacation spots in Ireland and the Philippines to plan 5 days of class. Oh, Korea! Other than that, I'm just chilling at the beach and trying to keep myself entertained for 2 more weeks!

Speaking of entertainment, I thought I would dedicate this blog this to the weird and wonderous things I've found through out the year in Korea. From smelly bug snacks, to fish that suck your feet, to dogs with perms and hair dye, there's a lot of things in Korea that are different, to say the least. Perhaps my favorite thing is noticing all of the kooky English signs and t-shirts, with their typos and ridiculous names. I'll stop talking and just let you see for yourself.

pretty kitty..??

doggie dye

doggie eyebrows

somehow i doubt Kenny Rogers is aware of his singing rooms all over korea

a bakery called "Bland" !

standard baseball fan attire- plastic bag on your head

Next week, I'm on vacation (one week off and then one more week at school!) so I'm doing a temple stay in the mountains. That's right, I'll be living with monks and doing everything they do- even waking up to meditate at 4 a.m.- but only for a day and a night. It should be really interesting and different, so look forward to a blog on that at the end of next week. Hope you're all enjoying your summer!

Live and Learn

After writing last week's entry, I immediately got a reality check, testing whether or not I could really live up to my words and my "rules" for happiness. In order explain what happened, I have to back up a bit.

It all started two weeks ago on the last day of school, right before I was getting a few days off, and then would be back to teach summer English camp. We received a call from the Busan Education Office saying that several schools in our area had swine flu cases and that summer camps were all cancelled. For a second, I wondered if I would be off the hook, but quickly realized that my co-teacher had somthing else up her sleeve.

While other schools did cancel everything, leaving all of the English teachers free for the month of August, my school wouldn't give up on the English program. They came up with the idea that I would run a class over Skype, with all of the English camp students (24 of them)! I immediately voiced my opinion that that was way too many students and that 4 hours of skyping a day was way too long. They told me to just try and we could always change it, and in the end they chose only 12 students for 3 hours of skyping a day. Still ridiculous in my opinion, but I agreed so as to show that I wanted to work hard and do my part.

I went along with it, and sure enough, on days 1-3 there were a ton of problems. Most of the students didn't have the technology to have a coherent conversation and many of them really couldn't understand me without the visual aid of facial expressions and body language. Two Korean English teachers were joining the class, and they would constantly have to interrupt to explain something in Korean. It was very frustrating. I was in a pretty bad mood all week. I kept thinking about my blog and trying to look on the bright side, but it was so tedious and frustrating and just plain not working. Not to mention, it was rainy all week, which didn't help! To make matters worse, the Korean English teachers were going to be on vacation on the 3rd and 4th week of the class and I'd be on my own.

I knew I had to make a change. I had tried to teach the class, but if I didn't do something soon, it would be too late to change anything and I would be stuck and alone. I voiced my opinion again, but they ignored me. On day 4, I spoke to my co-teacher about how frustrated I was and we need a better plan for while they were on vacation. She suggested that we have a meeting with the Vice Principal the next day, and I happily agreed.

I went to school and after calmly and kindly stating my feelings and opinions about the situation, they understood. They realized that I would have happily done English camp (it wasn't my fault it was cancelled!) but that Skype just wasn't working. In the end, they decided it would be better if the Korean English teachers took over the Skype class and I did their job of planning the curriculum for next semester. Although I felt a little guilty, I had to realize that I had stood up for myself and made my situation better without making anyone else's worse. So, here I am at work for 4 hours a day, planning, creating and having a hell of a lot less stress during my last month in Korea. Plus, my Vice Principal gave me extra vacation time, too. Not a bad trade.

So, this whole situation taught me a few things. First: Be sure you can practice what you preach, but also realize you can learn from your mistakes. Second (and I already knew this, but maybe had to be reminded): Being happy is a constant struggle of mind over matter, of which you are in control. But remember that it's far easier to be motivated when things are going well, then when they aren't, so go easy on yourself and others when that's the case. Third: The change rule is soooo important, but you must be willing to stand up for yourself and know what you want instead. So, in regards to my blog last week, I do think I can "practice what I preach" but obviously I'm young and am far from having everything "figured out" so I just need to keep working at it.

And that's about all I had to say about that. I made up for my less than stellar week with a wonderful weekend at the beach. Must have spent 24 hours there, just taking 8 hours off to go home and get some sleep. This week, I'm keeping it positive, back in the office in the mornings and running around like crazy trying to prepare for the big trip ...only 4 weeks to go until India!! Can't wait!!