June 1, 2011 울산 Ulsan

We got to visit 울산 Ulsan today!  Even though we didn't go to the city part of 울산 Ulsan, I thought it was a pretty city.  Just the nature and looking around was pretty.  We went to 울산 Ulsan because they have petroglyphs preserved in an area and a nice museum on petroglyphs. 

Originally we were supposed to go to 안동 Andong because they have these villages preserved from centuries ago but because we ran into some troubles beforehand, we decided to postpone going to 안동 Andong because it's too far away/a couple hours away that because we ran into some troubles, a short visit wouldn't do it justice so we decided to visit 울산 Ulsan. 

The main trouble that we ran into was when Dr. Peterson went to the bank.  He had trouble withdrawing money from his account and the bank in Korea and his bank back home weren't helping.  We were at the bank for 3 hours.  At first, we thought it wouldn't be bad.  Great studying time!  Unfortunately after an hour or two, it's hard to study.  We thought we were going crazy. 

Before going to 울산 Ulsan, we went to this Buddhist temple where they had painted pictures of Buddha on the walls recently comtemporarily.  It was new because of the paint and the style looked different.  They had these cool panels that taught a lesson about enlightenment.  It starts out with a boy seeing footprints.  That represents searching for discovery.  The boy comes across a brown cow.  He wrestles with the cow and it's very difficult at first.  That represents coming across an idea and you wrestle with it at first because it's new and it doesn't make sense.  The brown color of the cow represents confusion and lack of understanding because a new idea is foreign to one's understanding.  The boy finally stops wrestling with the cow and then the cow starts to turn white.  That represents when you stop wrestling with an idea and start to accept an idea for what it is, it then becomes clear to your understanding.  Then the boy rides the cow.  That represents one finally understanding the new concept and it working in harmony with his thoughts.

제주도 Jeju-do statues at the Buddhist temple.

The museum was in the shape of a whale!  Haha how cool is that?  Each city in Korea has a mascot and 울산 Ulsan's mascot is a whale.  I think it's because 울산 Ulsan specializes in shipmaking so they chose a marine mascot.  In 김해 Gimhae, they have some type of mythical creature and in 서울 Seoul they use 해치 haechi which is that fire eater mythical creature featured on 경복궁 Gyeongbok palace.  But anyways, a whale shaped museum is just rad.

On the steps there were painted whales and symbols.

We looked at the museum inside which was really neat.  Man, the museums here, I would have gotten bored a long time ago if they weren't nice and interactive.  We were told that we had to hike towards the petroglyphs.  We were hiking for a while and didn't see anything and we thought we were going the wrong way and so we went back.  We found a way to drive there and when we got to the place, we found out we were on the right track all along.  :-(  Disappointing huh?

The petroglyphs were on a wall that was a couple feet long.  Some of them looked faded/weathered away but some you could see clearly.

Petroglyphs

아름다운 울산 Beautiful Ulsan!

Near the petroglyphs

We were tired and hungry from hiking, waiting at the bank, and driving everywhere.  Dr. Peterson was the most tired of course.  Jet lag plus driving everywhere.  He took us to Orange again for dinner!  YAY!  We were so excited.  Doesn't meat sound so good after hiking?  I thought this part of 울산 Ulsan was so pretty and you know I'm not one moved/blown away by nature.  Just walking on the path and looking at the green mountains, rivers, and sky was more than words can express.  Korea is so beautiful!  You don't have to go far to find beautiful things here.

May 31, 2011 포석정, 김유신의릉, 경주, 북한, 애교

It was more historical sites today.  Our first stop was 포석정 Poh-seok-jung.  At 포석정 Poh-seok-jung, it's a courtyard part of a palace.  I'm not as eloquent speaking about Korean history as well as Dr. Peterson but I'll try my best from what I understood from the lecture.  It is believed that this area was used by the royalty for drinking and partying.  However, they believe that it wasn't completely accurate.  The country was at war at one point and it said the king was here at the time.  If he knew his country was suffering, he wouldn't be drinking and partying here so they think that the courtyard had other purposes.

Our next stop was 김유신의릉 Kim Yushin's tomb.  However, they don't know for a fact that it's his tomb but they assume that it's his tomb.  What they have found out about thed tomb is that it was an important figure, fit enough for a king.  We had a joke going on a little bit that we saw 김유신 가짜 릉 Kim Yushin's fake tomb.  This tomb had something similar to one of the other tombs that we saw earlier; it had the 12 zodiac animals surrounding the tomb.

The next part was pretty fun.  We went to a pottery place in 경주 Kyeongju.  They had pottery from various periods of Korean history.  We saw lots of green celadon from the Koryo dynasty.  The green celadon is known for being one of the most beautiful pieces of pottery of all time.  And of course it is; it's so pretty!

Cute cups!

They had a sciences museum nearby that we stopped at.  They showed astronomical discoveries people of Korea found.  They also showed how the Buddha statue in 불국사 Bulguksa and 석굴암 Seokguram was put together over the years.  I think 경주 Kyeongju has become our home now.  We've been there so many times.  We stopped at a convenient store for dinner.  I had the best 김치찌개 kimchi jjigae ever!

So good :-)  I thought it was really funny that they gave me more 김치 kimchi as a side.  As if the 김치찌개 kimchi jjigae didn't have enough 김치 kimchi in it already.

After dinner, Dr. Peterson asked us while we were in the van if we wanted to visit North Korea.  All of us thought that meant the DMZ but then we thought it was a joke because the DMZ is at the top which would have been more convenient if we were in 서울 Seoul but we said sure anyways because we wanted to know what he meant.  There's a place in 김해 Gimhae that is exactly like North Korea in the way that it looks.  When we got there, we had the chills.  It was deserted and the people coming out of there looked embarrassed.  It was dark in many places and corners.  It was pretty creepy.  My camera made the place look a bit lighter.  Even though it wasn't dark outside, it was a bit dark outside looking at this place.

I think the study abroad has been wonderful so far because of what we learned, seen, and studied as well as the other students on the study abroad.  We've laughed so much while being here because we play on each others' humor.  Tonight we had an 애교 aegyo battle.  애교 aegyo if you're not familiar with it, is associated with Koreans.  It's when people, especially girls, will act cute and sometimes complain a little bit.  Girls usually do it towards their boyfriends or people if they want something.  Sometimes boys do it too but it's more of a girl thing.  It can be perceived as a cute, funny or it can be viewed as annoying, immature, and childish.  Since I can't upload the video right now, we all thought Victoria would win because she does it a lot but in the end Kenwood won.  His was hilarious and so true!

This is 썬니 Sunny from the group 소녀시대 Girl's Generation doing 애교 aegyo.  In my opinion, most of the time, it sounds annoying but I felt that many girls, who do 애교 aegyo, do it like her.

This is 민호 Minho from the group 샤이니 SHINee doing 애교 aegyo.  Many guys don't like to do it unless they're trying to be funny.  He's popular in Korea for being good looking and many other things.  Surprisingly, some guys are good/cute at doing it!

May 30, 2011 김수로왕릉 King Kim Suro's Tomb

I don't know if I mentioned it already but Dr. Peterson came home a couple days ago with his daughter Joy.  She's shy but very sweet.  Dr. Peterson took us out to lunch for some great meat.  I died of happiness.

So good because it's good meat and better because we grilled it.

김수로왕릉 King Kim Suro's tomb is just down the street from our house so we went and visited it.  We made Kenwood do the 3 bows (what you do at your ancestors' graves) at the tomb.  The place/memorial for the tomb is nice.  김소로왕 King Kim Suro was the king of the 가야 Gaya dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period in Korean history. 

김소로왕릉 King Kim Suro's tomb/memorial

김소로왕릉 King Kim Suro's tomb

Kenwood doing the 3 bows.

That was the main event/site we had to see and the rest of the day was free time and language practice.  Kenwood and I went to this meeting place for those who have the last name 허 Huh/Heo.  At the meeting place, they discuss many things and among one of those things is geneology.  However, when we went to go find out what the place was like and see if we could talk to someone, only a gardner came out and he sounded like he wasn't interested in talking.  He was pretty short in his speech so we didn't get a ton out of him.

Dr. Peterson then had us look at a few houses behind our houses.  We thought they were just houses but found out they were places where it showed people what it looked like inside shrines where people have their spirit tablets placed.  It was really neat to look inside since many of the shrines we haven't been able to look inside of them.

May 29, 2011 부산 Mission President Fireside

Haha isn't this baby cute??  This is the branch president's baby daughter.  I've decided that Korean and Indian babies/children are the cutest hands down.  Sure all babies are cute but some are cuter than others haha jk lol.

The mission president from the Korea Busan mission was released and had his farewell fireside today.  It was an option to see it or stay home and relax.  Only me, Dr. Peterson, Joy (his daughter), and Stephen attended as well as the missionaries that we met at the branch, and 수경 Soo Kyung who is an investigator and a student at 인제대학교 Inje University. 

We first took a taxi (they drive super fast here) and then we took the subway.  While we were on the subway, this man wearing a banner came up to the missionaries.  At first, we thought he was joking with them but then he started yelling and getting really upset.  This caused a commotion on the subway because the subways here are quiet and people keep to themselves on the subway.  So everyone and their dog could hear him.  I didn't understand everything he was saying but I heard him say, 'How dare you wear Jesus Christ's name on your tags?  Do you think you're greater/higher than him?"  The missionaries didn't say anything to him and good thing they didn't.  The man was from another Christian church but I didn't recognize the name.  I was scared to death and so was 수경 Soo Kyung.  Everyone on the subway just looked at the man weird or didn't say anything.  A couple of them had looks saying, "He must be crazy."

It's pretty embarrassing but I think Christianity has gotten a bad rap here.  Many of the Christian groups have caused trouble here.  Like on the news while I was at 숙희 Aunt Sookhee's house, there was a news report that a radical Christian group cut down lanterns for Buddha's birthday, upsetting many people.  Who wouldn't be upset at that?  Also, this has definitely happened here.  Many people here claim that they're Christian, but they don't act like it.  It's really sad.  수경 Soo Kyung told me that that man really scared her and how could he claim that he's Christian if he acts like that to people?  She told me that she saw this card that had a heart in the middle and religious symbols circling the heart.  She said that religions form around love.  That's what religion is about.  I thought that was pretty cool what she said. 

Well, what an interesting way to go to a fireside.  Get yelled at about being a Mormon right before a fireside.  Haha you think life can't be any more coincidental than that.  It was weird hearing English in a church setting again because we've been so used to hearing Korean for the past few weeks.  The mission president's wife doesn't speak Korean so she had a translator but the mission president (obviously) spoke in Korean.  At first the secretary spoke and it was funny because he purposely spoke in Korean with an American accent and it was hilarious.  Everyone busted out laughing. 

So if BYU and Utah are small worlds, Korea is smaller.  Especially if you're Mormon.  At the fireside, I noticed this one kid who looked familiar.  We were talking in Korean and I asked him if he by chance attended BYU and if he took mission prep with Brother Bott.  He said he did and then we just bursted into English haha.  His name is 임종민 Lim Jong Min.  It turned out that we had the same class, saw each other once maybe when everyone was leaving.  Haha small world.  At the fireside, I met some other missionaires and talked with a few people.  There was this old man trying to have a conversation with me but he's really hard to understand because of his dialect and that he's old.  But it's a good thing because most people say that he's a bit hard to understand here (they're Korean too).  Haha I felt so dumb talking to him thinking, "I really can't understand everything he's trying to say.  What's wrong with me?"  I guess that's a relief if others have a hard time too.

Haha he looks so tall and I look so short in this picture.

Isn't the south so pretty?

May 28, 2011 해운대 Haeundae Beach

What a great way to spend the weekend!  At the beach!  All of us wanted to go to 부산 Busan since none of us except the returned missionaries have gone there.  We thought that the weather would warm up but it didn't so at the beach, the weather was pretty cool.  Too cold to go swimming or play in the water.  We took a bus there which was fun.

We just barely missed the bus so we had to wait for the next one.  Luckily, it came faster than expected.

We decided to eat lunch at this 볶음 밥 fried rice (boh-geum-bap) restaurant called 유가네 Yoo-Gah-Neh.  The food was really good and they made it right there in front of you.  However, the floors were really dirty when we walked in.  We could feel our shoes sticking to the floor.  Gross!

야채 + 떡볶이 + 돼지 + 밥 = 행복 ^.^  Vegetables + rice cake + pork + rice = happiness.  ^.^

Final product!!

We're off to the beach!  I tried to get more pictures of 부산 Busan but we were in a hurry to get to the beach.  i could only get this building haha.  Which in the end, I don't know why we hurried because there wasn't a lot of people there.  Probably because the weather was cool. 

So we didn't pick the optimal day to go since it was windy but it was fun to relax and play in the sand.  Plus, we just finished our test on what we've learned so far a couple days ago which took a long time to prepare since we've seen and been to so many places.  That test took close to 3 hours!  We played on the beach and took naps.  However, everyone else woke up before I did and went exploring....and left me on the beach!  I was like, "Where are you guys????"  I had no idea where they went because the beach is huge.  I told them when they got back to always wake me up. 

해운대 Haeundae Bach

You think that in this picture I would be a tall person haha lol.

It was not this sunny there.  Boo!  :-(

May 27, 2011 좌절, Where Did the Time Go?

I've been in Korea for a little over a month and I have a month left here!  SAD NEWS!!  :-(  I love it here so much.  Where did time go??

Today was super frustrating.  Dr. Peterson wanted us to go see these dolmens....yay.....not really.  The idea of dolmens at first were cool but now that we've already seen them, seeing them again isn't all that exciting.  On top of that, we got split into groups and had to do language practice:  asking for directions on how to get to the dolmens.  It was me, Benjamin, Stephen.  Michelle, Derek, and Kenwood.  Victoria, Rachael, and Juni.  We each had to take a different bus number that was going to the dolmens but the seniors/return missionaries made us ask for it in Korean.  However, we weren't quite comfortable asking directions yet.  What didn't help was that Stephen thought helping Benjamin and I know Korean was not saying anything at all and figuring it our on our own.  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  Benjamin and I got frustrated and told Stephen that he needs to help us, not abandon us completely.  The difficult thing about the location of the dolmens is that not only is it far away and a couple hours by bus but you have to transfer.  For a while, we had no idea of where we were going. 

Finally, we got there....and it started raining.  Good thing I had my umbrella.  I actually don't mind the rain.  I love it because I hate hot weather.  They had a little museum and then a few dolmens at the location.  We just looked around because we've seen and studied dolmens before.  There wasn't anything special because we already knew of it.

In case you don't know what a dolmen is, they are early editions of tombs people would bury the dead in.  Dolmens have been considered a treasure here in Korea because not only are they centuries old explaining about civilization, but there are many preserved here in Korea.

I wanted to practice photography with my camera.  Isn't that cool?  It's a spider web!

We walked around for a restaurant because we were starving.  We found this Chinese restaurant nearby.  Yeah, we're in Korea eating Chinese food.  Lame!  Actually, it wasn't lame.  Chinese food prepared by Korean people is amazing.  :-)  This restaurant was especially good and they were so kind to us.  I don't think they get a lot of business and so when we came in, they were extra nice to us.  They gave us free 군만두 dumplings which I adore and they gave us a discount on our meals. 

Since no one knew this area well, it was hard to find transportation back.  I think we searched for a good 30 minutes to find a bus.  Transportation I think has been the majority of today.  Although it's pretty to look at, sitting in a vehicle for long periods of time and doing it for many days is exhausting. 

"5 Bums on a Bench".  This is our band name.  While we were waiting for the bus, we were really tired and so a couple of us sat on the bench.  Someone mentioned that we look like an alternative band and to pose for our debut cover.  Doesn't this look legit?  :-)  These are our positions based on Korean pop bands haha:  Michelle - Leader (she's the oldest).  Kenwood - Prince (he's a descendant from 김수로왕 King Kim Suro).  Stephen - Sturdy.  Julianne - Flaming Charisma Glare.  Victoria - 막내 Youngest (mang-nae).

May 26, 2011 Korean Presentations, Mr. Pizza, 박상언

After we had class, 박 교수님 Professor Park invited us to attend his class where his students prepared presentations about Korean culture.  There were 5 presentations:  Korean bell folk tale, musical instruments, 한복 Korean traditional dress (hahn-bohk), 김치 kimchi, and 비빔밥 bibimbap/mixed rice with vegetables, meat, and a spicy sauce.  One of my favorite Korean dishes.  ^.^  The presentations were given in Korean but we could understand what they were trying to convey to us.  After all of the presentations, we had to grade each group on who was the most prepared.  Seriously, all of them were so good so it was hard. 

After, 박 교수님 Professor Park kindly took us out to lunch at, guess this, Mr. Pizza!  Haha lol.  We tried a seafood pizza and a sweet potato pizza.  Both super delicious!  :-)  I met one of his students who I think is absolutely adorable!  Her name is 박상언 Park Sang Eon (park sahng uhn).  She was so cute; I taught her some English words and they had M!Net Countdown showing on the TV so we talked about k-pop and dramas of course.  :-)  She's from 부산 Busan and works at a children's cafe which from what I've seen on TV, those things are sooo cute!!  I would go if I was a kid.  I wish I got to take a picture with her because already I've fallen in love with her.  I wish I could take her back to America with me!

I love the people here!  Wow, Koreans are much nicer than I thought.  I already knew they were nice and polite but I've been treated so well here by many of them.  It's been great to see how people truly are in their native country and not as a foreigner.  They're more relaxed and friendly than I thought.  :-)

May 25, 2011 인제 축제 Inje University Festival

Today was the university's festival.  They had a lot of activities and things going on.  We had class and studied in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to the university to attend the activities.  We met up with some of the students and explored what they had over there.  Many of them ran the booths there.

There was a booth that you could have your fortune told.  It only costed about a dollar and so we thought why not.  Michelle got the best fortune told.  We all decided to do love life because those are really interesting and sometimes really funny.  Kenwood helped translate for everyone.  I believe it was just me, Kenwood, and Michelle that got our fortunes told.  The tarot card reader first asked me if I was interested in American or Korean men.  I told him American men because we thought just for fun that we would take it more "seriously" since we don't believe in fortune telling or tarot cards or anything.  He then told me that he would have to get out another deck for American men.  Hahaha, that right there made me laugh really hard.  So I said Korean men.  Well, what other choice do I have to choose from??  Haha oh this just cracked me up.  He had me draw 6 cards and then he told me my fortune.  He said that I have a lot of self confidence and a high self-esteem.  He told me that I was looking for someone tall who had a lot of talents.  He said that I wouldn't be able to find that in Korea at least for 3 months.  He said that if I do find someone, it won't work out until down the road because he's not ready.  Hahaha we just laughed at the fortunes because we knew they were bogus.

We walked around the university and we spent most of the time hanging out with 심태용 Tae Yong! 

They had food booths, balloon artists, makeup and nail beauticians, someone giving free hugs, and a singing contest. 



So I was really bummed.  We had to rotate again to go to members' houses and so Rachael, Steve, and I went to a lady in the branch's house.  The reason that I was bummed was that K.Will was performing at the festival!  I really wanted to see because I heard he's popular.  So, yay............  But the lady was so nice and it was great Korean practice.  She served delicious food and was so kind to us.  Steve ended up talking the whole time and so Rachael and I mostly ate and made light conversation.  I felt really bad because we didn't have a house/thank you gift for her.  In Korean culture, whenever you are invited to someone's house or are visiting, it's considered proper ettiquete to bring a gift.  However, we didn't have any time to get her family one so we will get one tomorrow and then visit her on Sunday. 

안 자매님의 가족 Sister Ahn and her family

Derek bought us a router and so now we have internet!  Woo-hoo!  When we all got home, it was a laptop party.  Now that we have internet, life is good.  We feel like we can talk to people now.