Friday, August 26, 2011

June 7, 2011 Continuation of 범어사, 울산/What Up Yoon Ho's Hometown!!, 진주

Today added to the list of more "Beautiful places in Korea."  First, we woke up a little bit before 3 a.m.  Or at least I did.  The other girls woke up earlier.  And you know why?  TO DO MAKEUP!  We're at a temple and it's 3 in the morning and they think they need to wear makeup??  You can hardly see what's outside at 3 a.m.  I just thought, man some girls haha. 

They took us to do more meditation and participate in the chanting.  We didn't actually say the chants because none of us knew them and usually only one or a couple monks will say the chants.  But we did lots of bowing.  Maybe you're thinking, why are you bowing to a graven image?  Some of us at first were thinking, "Can we do this?"  We talked to the monk and Dr. Peterson have done many temple stays before.  They told us that you're not really worshipping the image or Buddha but it's your heart and where you put your intentions that matters. 

After, we watched the sunrise.  It was so beautiful!  On the mountains it gave off a beautiful color.  It made the whole area shine. I really can't describe it properly.  We had breakfast.  The same not appetizing food we had for dinner.  Having the same food as last night is fine if it's ok.  All of us grabbed even smaller portions of food this time.













After breakfast, we left to go to 울산 Ulsan because one of the members in the branch works at a shipyard.  South Korea is number one in shipbuilding. The steel industry is really thriving here.  I was so excited.  I've never been to a shipyard before.  For those of you who know 갈윤호 Yoon Ho, this is his hometown!  We didn't really go to the city part of it. 

The shipyard we went to was 성동 Sungdong.  The shipyard was HUGE!  It had like 20 Titanic ships in it!!  I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the shipyard because they had a photographer who was snapping away with their camera and said they would email the pictures to us.  So I'm waiting on them.  The member who works at the shipyard invited us to have lunch at his work.  We were treated like kings at the dinner.  We had lunch in a nice conference room with some of his associates.  The food was delicious.  We laughed to ourselves because it was only a few hours ago that we were eating 김치 kimchi and now we're eating lunch in a nice conference room.  It was one of those nice rooms and food where you feel the room is more sophisticated than you.  Even the waiters looked sharp.  They fed us chicken and egg soup, sweet and spicy chicken, 불고기 bulgogi (Korean meat), and tiramisu. 










Today we got to experience a really humble life and then go straight to living luxury all in the same day.  We couldn't help but laugh to ourselves.  The next place we went to was the city 진주 Jinju which is gorgeous too.  The first thing we saw was a statue of 이순신 Yi Sun Sin (ee-soon-sheen).  He was a naval commander that defeated the Japanese during the Japanese invasion in the 1500s.  He's a big deal in Korea.  One of the battles he fought was here in 진주 Jinju.  There was a map of how the ships were coordinated on the waters right where we were.  We were at the spot where a battle was!  I loved looking out from here.  It had an incredible view and you couldn't help but gawk in its beauty.






Dr. Peterson then took us to 진주성 Jinju castle/Jinjuseong fortress.  The castle was frequently destroyed by the Japanese during the invasion.  It was later used as a fortress as a safeguard to block the Japanese's attacks.  Near the fortress is 의암사적비 Uiamsa shrine also called 논개 Nongae.  This shrine honors a 기생 gisaeng/Korean version of a geisha named 주논개 Ju Non Gae who  is considered an example of patriotism.  During the invasion, she lured away a Japanese general while he was drunk.  She said let's go see the moon/play hookey.  As they were staring at the moon, she embraced him and she along with him plunged into the water and died.  They look at it as an insult to the Japanese that even a lowly Korean can bring down the mightiest Japanese.  She's the only real Korean women to receive a shrine.  There's another one but she's from a folk tale.  We went to the cliff where she and the general plunged into the water.











Since we're leaving soon, 박 교수님 Professor Park and his workers took us out to dinner.  All of us tried our best to talk to them in Korean.  Haha a funny language story I have for you.  So one of his workers asked me the most asked question that I have gotten here in Korea, if I had a boyfriend, I told him no.  He didn't pause long after that, or at least it didn't seem long to us, and then he asked what I thought about 박 교수님 Professor Park.  All of us as well as I thought he was still on the same topic as the last question.  My eyes got huge and everyone was just staring at me.  I was thinking, WHY ON EARTH WOULD HE ASK THAT??  IS HE REALLYASKING ME THAT?  I told him hesitantly, um, I'm too young.  Then he and another worker bursted out laughing.  He said he wasn't meaning in that way, just as a professor.  Then all of us bursted out laughing and then sighed.  Phew!  Weren't we all relieved!

Today we went from a humble life to a luxurious life to back to normal study abroad life.  I definitely saw some of the most beautiful things in my opinion in the south.  범어사 Beomeosa was beautiful because it had this calming peace in the outdoors.  진주 Jinju was landscaped very nice.  I can't believe the study abroad is winding down in a little while and that our time in Korea is coming to a close.  We've become so comfortable here.  Did we really have a life back in America?

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

June 6, 2011 Living Life as a Buddhist Monk in Training at 범어사!

Today's activity/event has been added to my favorites today!  Today we got to do a temple stay at 범어사 Beomeosa in 부산 Busan.  We got to experience life as a Buddhist monk in training.  It may seem like I'm complaining but I'm not!  In fact, I loved it.  Even though some things weren't comfortable, getting to experience life as a monk in training was priceless.  So what may seem as complaints, it's not.  I really loved it.  We took the bus and rode in the van.  Even though 부산 Busan is close to 김해 Gimhae, the drive took forever.  While we were on the bus, we saw this cute baby that strangely reminded us of the Pokemon Pikachu.  Haha and yes, I'm obsessed with babies.  Not like Tina Fey from Baby Mamma though haha.




After seeing the baby on the bus, we couldn't help but talk about Pokemon.  Haha!  :-)

Finally we got to 범어사 Beomeosa and it is gorgeous!  Talk about finding peace and beauty in nature.  We have a great view from the place we're staying in tonight.  The green mountains are my favorite here.  It's so different from what's in Utah.  Just walking around brought me peace and it was so easy to marvel what was around us.  In Buddhism, they don't believe in two genders really.  All of us had to wear these monk training robes that made us look like fat prison innmates.  The main monk and one of his assistants talked to us about what was going to happen and a little bit about Buddhism and gave us green tea.  Problem: we don't drink green tea.  Solution we took:  right when they left we hurriedly dumped the tea in a water bottle.  It got everywhere which was a big problem.  We tried to clean it up quickly but I think the assistant saw us.  They taught us that every moment is meditating.  Even when you walk, you're meditating.  They told us to walk with our hands in front of us and to be quiet/meditate. 

In Buddhism, they don't believe in eating animal products and so we got to have a vegetarian dinner.  Eating vegetarian is totally fine.  Except the food wasn't really that good.  You know bad cafeteria food?  Yeah that was dinner tonight haha.  I'm not a picky eater at all but the food wasn't appetizing tonight.  The 밥 rice (bahb/pahp) was really sticky.  The 김치 kimchi was super sour.  The 시금치 spinach (sigeumchi/shigeumchi) was okay.  Haha all of us looked at each other and one of us whispered, "Orange restaurant after this temple stay/"  Haha lol.  You have to be quiet even when you eat.  Even when you eat, you must meditate. 

After dinner, we went to the gongs where the monks banged on the drums (which was awesome)!  After, we were taken back to the temple where we would pracitce meditation.  Monks meditate hours a day.  I couldn't do it for more than 10 minutes.  Sitting Indian crossed and meditating is harder than you think.  My back hurt and I couldn't sit properly that long.  I thought something that was really cool was what Dr. Peterson told us.  He mentioned that many religions here are very different than Christianity.  He mentioned a quote from I believe Joseph F. Smith about missionary work.  "We're not supposed to tell people they're wrong.  In fact, we're supposed to tell them that they're right. But that we have more."  It's amazing how my outlook has been on religions and beliefs when I have found similarities between them.  Even though Buddhism is so different from Christianity, we could still find some similarities.  Dr. Peterson told us that when we meditate to think of the similarities between our church and Buddhism.  I couldn't do it because I couldn't concentrate but many of the other students were able to do it and had a great experience.

We had to go to bed at 9 because tomorrow we're waking up at 3 a.m.!  We're watching the sunrise and doing more meditation and we'll get to participate in the chanting and readings tomorrow!  Exciting but 3 in the morning?  The sunrise will be beautiful no doubt.  I mean those mountains are gorgeous!  Haha but do 5 girls go to bed on time when their beds are set up like slumber parties?  Absolutely not!  Hahaha and guess what we talked about?  This isn't rocket science.  You got it.  Boys.  We talked about boys until midnight.  See you 3 in the morning!


Temple house


Our. Amazing. View.


We could look out every moment to this and we woke up to this.


Laundry


5 Buddhist monks in training.


Meditation


Banging on the drums.  They had a couple guys doing it and it lasted for over 15 minutes.  You have to be so strong to bang on those.  Also, it's all improvization!  They had the coolest rhythms!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

June 4, 2011 Jinx, 과일 & 바나나 초코 빙수, 드라마, If George W. Bush Spoke Korean, Dancing Worms

Today was a free day.  I'm still sick.  My throat is killing me.  I took some 유자차 yujacha/citron tea (yoo-ja-cha).  That stuff is so good and it feels good but it didn't help my throat and cough out that much.  Haha in fact, as Dr. Peterson was going out to drop off the laundry, I tried to call to him to wait but he didn't hear me.  I screamed with all that I had that it frightened a little boy.  Probably, one - doesn't English super well, two - some girl is screaming and her voice sounds super weird.  He ran and got Dr. Peterson.  I'm grateful for the little boy and Dr. Peterson just laughed when he heard my voice.

Kenwood and Victoria (who we have given the name Kentoria to refer to both of them.  Everyone even at the university calls them that who knows us.  It's funny) went off and did stuff together.  Juni, Benjamin, and Rachael went to the observatory.  I had no idea what Stephen was doing.  Michelle and I went to the university to look around what was near by. 



This was inside the elevator at the university library.  Does this make sense to you?

As Michelle and I were walking down the street, I get a phone call.  It's 박현준 Hyun Joon!  He asked what we were doing and where we were.  We asked about him too.  He said to turn around.  Turned out he was behind us the whole time calling our names but we didn't hear him so he called us.  Since we're leaving in 2 days we decided to hang out for a little bit. 


So guess what?  I jinxed myself.  I always do!  Do you remember 오효섭 Oh Hyo Seob?  The guy that sent me a text that he would like to do some "filming/hang out"?  As I was talking to Michelle, I said, "Wouldn't it be a weird and awkward if we ran into that guy again?"  Then 5 minutes later, someone came walking down from the university.  Yup, you're right.  Haha can this story get any more funnier?  He asked "me" if we could do some filming.  I told him that we're leaving soon and have some other plans but if we have time to contact him.  I was being honest at least that we were busy.  We walked around the campus with 박현준 Hyun Joon and we ran into this guy from Brisbane, Australia that actually Dr. Peterson has been trying to find for a while.  He served his mission in Japan and is taking Korean classes here at the university.  We talked to him for a little bit.  As we were talking, we saw some boys coming up the hill.  We thought they were 박현준 Hyun Joon's friends because he was leaving tonight to go meet some friends.  No, it was the filming guy and his crew!  I went up to 박현준 Hyun Joon and asked him how did he know we were here.  박현준 Hyun Joon said he told him.  Michelle and I were freaking out.  What should we do???  We all did the filming which was wasn't long either, like 5 minutes.  They talked to us for a little and then left.  But, geez really awkward.

Back row: Film crew, Film crew, Michelle, and Australian guy,.  Middle:  박현준 Hyun Joon.  Front row: 오효섭 Oh Hyo Seob, me.

박현준 Hyun Joon and the Australian guy had to leave and by then it was dinner time.  We caught up with Kentoria and Stephen.  We looked around for places to eat nearby.  Nothing sounded appealing or was a bit expensive.  As we were walking, we smelled this incredible smell.  As we got closer, we noticed it was an Italian restaurant.  Our eyes got huge.  "Let's go there!!"  The place was called Sicilia and the food was so good.  All of us missed Italian food.  The dish both Stephen and I wanted was a bit big so we split the cost and got one.  I/we ordered seafood spaghetti and it was incredible.  I think it was better than Kentoria and Michelle's because they said ours looked and tasted better than theirs. 



Stephen and I were sitting across from Kentoria and Michelle and noticed something funny about the drinks.  Can you guess?  Stephen said, "Your drinsk represent who you are!"  We couldn't help but laugh.  So Victoria is representing the Latins (Cola), Kenwood is representing the Asians (some type of soda), and Michelle is representing the Caucasians (Sprite).


Since Stephen and I got water, we've decided to represent the United Nations.


Seafood spaghetti.  :-)

Kentoria told us of a good 밭빙수 shaved ice (baht-bing-su/paht-bing-soo) place that was also really fun to just sit in.  They also gave free bread with each purchase.  Canmore is pretty popular.  Just inside looks so darling; it looks like dating haven.  The chairs are swinging benches and there's flowers everywhere.  They have fake lights and cute decorations.  We got chocolate banana shaved ice and fruit shaved ice.


Canmore


How darling!  And yeah, you can swing in those.  We had lots of fun swinging.




빙수와 무료 빵 Shaved ice with complimentary bread.


과일 빙수 Fruit shaved ice (gwa-il-baht-bing-su/gwa-il-paht-bing-soo)


초코 바나나 빙수 Chocolate Banana shaved ice


As we were chatting at Canmore, we thought it would be fun to film our own Korean drama.  Let me tell you, people are creative in the evening. We did a typical plot line.  Girl gets dumped by loser boyfriend.  Girl becomes friends with the unlikely.  Gets drunk because of sadness.  We couldn't film more than that because it was getting late.  Victoria was the director and we filmed it on her iPhone.  Kenwood was the lame boyfriend.  I was the main girl.  Michelle was the bad girl.  Stephen was the waiter and unlikely friend.  The most memorable part of filming was the drunk part.  We did lots of takes because we couldn't stop laughing.  But one problem:  how do you act drunk when you've never drank alcohol?  It was tricky but did it!  Just watching the raw footage was hilarious.  We showed the others back home and we couldn't stop laughing.  Tonight was another night where we couldn't stop laughing at everything.  We started talking about how Americans sound super funny learning Korean and then we got on the topic what if George W. Bush learned Korean?  What would he sound like?  It turned into this:


Forgive me of my voice.  I'm sick so I sound extremely weird.  This video gets me everytime just like many of the videos I've posted.


A couple of us found these worms that if you poke them they freak out/dance!

We're leaving 김해 Gimahe soon!  In two days!  :-(  We have grown to love this place and the south.  We love the people we have met and learned from.