May 11, 2011 양동, Branch President's Home

Today was really rainy.  One day it's sunny, the next day it's pouring.  At least the weather channel has been accurate at predicting the weather and it's been consistent throughout the day unlike Utah haha. 

Our first stop was to 양동 Yang-dong which are these BEAUTIFUL villages!  I wish I could have taken a lot of pictures but because it was raining hard, it was difficult to.  Plus, we were in the van due to the heavy rain.  However, Dr. Peterson said that we would come back again so hopefully the weather will be better for pictures!  :-)  At 양동 Yang-dong, there are villages that are centuries old that people still live in.  It was such a cool site to behold.  I'm glad that they preserved this part of Korea.  We met a man who I believe they call a 총손 Chong-Sohn who is a leader of Confucian ceremonies.  Part of that responsibility is teaching those who wish to learn the Confucian classics (aka SUPER HARD and GENIUS).  Hearing stories from him described how life can be at times very burdensome but important to carry out.  He talked about how his father received so much stress from it that it killed him.  His stories were incredible; he's such a humble man.  They served us 매실 Mae-shil which is this sweet plum juice that tastes a lot like Kool-Aid that can be served hot or cold.  It's definitely better cold but on a rainy, cold day it was perfect.  He had to leave but his wife made us some lunch which was AMAZING!  We had 천국장 Cheon-gook-jahng which is this partially fermented bean soup.  Most people say it's sour but I didn't think it was sour at all; only super goodness in my stomach :-)  We also ate 되장국 dweh-jahng-gook which was pretty good even though it's not my favorite. 

양동 Yang-dong on a rainy day

양동 Yang-dong!  Photo Credit given to Rachael Caldwell.  Is that gorgeous or what??

Outside the 총손's house.  It was pretty cold because of the rain.

총손 Chong-sohn

Drinking 매실 mae-shil :-)

천국장  :-)

After a wonderful lunch, we visited this elderly couple in another house in the village.  Dr. Peterson knew them because this elderly couple allowed the 1999 study abroad group to stay in their home for the study abroad experience.  What was really cool when we visited them is that the man was a 양반 yang-ban which means his anscestors were Korean aristocrats.  When we visited the couple, the man was in the middle of writing a letter to his grand nephew's fiance's parents.  양반 Yang-bans would write letters of proposals and the family would send a letter of correspondence.  This man was sending a thank you letter in response to their acceptance.  That was so neat and cute!  The elderly couple was so sweet.  They gave us these citrus fiber drinks which were so delicious! 

Elderly couple that was so sweet to us

After our fieldtrips, we headed home except for me, Rachael, and Michelle.  On Wednesdays, a few of us rotate to go to members' homes to eat and practice Korean.  However, it was super stressful at first.  We were already late coming back from the field trips that the family decided to reschedule the appointment.  Dr. Peterson wanted us 3 girls to practice finding addresses in Korea by taxing a taxi.  2 words:  epic fail.  The taxi was supposed to drop us off at the church which is next to a fire station but he took us to the wrong fire station and we were on the other side of town and had no idea where we were except that there was a lot of shopping going on.  I kept trying to call Dr. Peterson but he didn't answer his phone.  We took a taxi back to where we were because Dr. Peterson wasn't answering his phone so we went back to ask for better directions.  He felt bad that we got lost so he took us to the church.  We were supposed to have dinner with the branch president's family.  The branch president sent his son to come find us but the son never showed up.  We waited forever until a sister from the branch showed up.  She took us to the home and finally after hours of being lost, we were able to eat with the branch president's family and practice Korean.  The taxi fiasco was so annoying but getting to practice Korean in the end with delicious Korean food was worth it.  :-)

May 10, 2011 해인사, 불교, Flying Horse tomb

Forgive me for not updating!  With running around and everything, it's hard to find time to sit down.

Our first stop was 해인사 Haeinsa which is in the same province as 김해 Gimhae which is 경상남도 South Gyeongsang province.  It's the head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.  It holds the Tripitaka Koreana (all of the Buddhist scriptures carved on wood blocks).  We learned a lot about Buddhism here which was interesting since I don't know much about Buddhism.  The Buddhist temples that we have seen along with the scenery is gorgeous!  So breathtaking!  We learned about the Buddha and his life which was really fascinating to me.  Below are pictures of his life that I narrated.  For lunch, we had vegetarian 비빔밥 Bibimbap (mixed rice with vegetables and meat but because it was a Buddhist lunch, it was just vegetables) because it is practiced in Buddhism to not eat meat.  The ladies that was serving us lunch were so funny.  They were quiet serving everyone in line until they got to me.  Then all of sudden, as I was getting food from each lady, they kept saying "와우! 예뻐!"/Wow, you are so pretty! (wow- yeppo!).  No joke; it was EVERY SINGLE lady haha lol.  I wish I could have taken a picture of them but they left before I could. 

해인사 Haeinsa Temple

We went through this maze that has great significance in Buddhism.  Pretty much where we started witht the maze, we ended up in the same place.

Inside this box is a pearl.  How I understood this part is that it is believed that when Buddha/Gautama Buddha/Siddhartha Gautama died, jewels flowed out from him. 

Pearl

Buddha/Siddhartha Gautama/Gautama Buddha

Eating vegetarian 비빔밥 Bibimbap

비빔밥 with bean sprout soup and 떡 ddeok (duhk) Korean rice cake.  Holy goodness galore!  That 떡 was huge!  I had two bites because I was full and it was just too big to eat.

Not a single grain of rice left behind.  The empty bowl is significant because in Buddhism, you MUST EAT EVERYTHING.  There can't be a single grain of rice or seed in your bowl or on your plate and utensils.  Usually if there's a couple grains a rice, people consider themselves to be finished with the meal but in Buddhism, if that happens, you take water to loosen the leftover food and drink it so there's nothing left behind.  What happens if you don't finish everything, in Buddhism, they wash the dishes and the used water they throw outside and they believe that spirits who have not moved onto Nirvana are troubled spirits and they will try to eat what you have thrown out.  They are hungry but can't eat.  So, to prevent troubled spirits from entering and eating, you must eat everything you have been given.

Below is the story of Buddha/Siddhartha Gautama; it's really interesting!  Some of Buddha's teachings are the Four Noble Truths which says that suffering is a part of life.  It is caused by attachment; however, attachment can be overcome.  The way to overcome attachment is to follow the Noble Eightfold path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

Buddha's mother, Queen Maya, had a dream that a white elephant with 6 white tusks entered her right side.  After this dream, she found herself to be pregnant.

Siddhartha Gautama was born.  He was born through different means.  Queen Maya hung onto a tree branch and Siddhartha Gautama was born through her arm.  He then declared himself to be something great.

Siddhartha Gautama grew up to be a wealthy prince.  As he was in town one day, he saw 3 things that made him very sad: aging, sickness, and death.

Because he was overcome with sadness, he decides to find out how to rid those 3 things.  He escapes by horse in the night by jumping over the wall.

He practices fasting but it didn't work out for him very well.

Here is when Buddha tries to overcome seduction of women.

I liked this one the best.  They say that if Christ is about love, Buddha is about mercy.  The man in the green was a murderer; on this neck are fingers of those he has killed.  He begs to Buddha for mercy and Buddha grants him mercy. 



After looking at the panels of Buddha's life, we went and saw the Tripitaka Koreana.  It's amazing how far printing has come along.  What was a painfully tedious process has been simplified. 

Tripitaka Koreana

After 해인사 Haeinsa, we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the Flying Horse tomb in 경주 Kyeongju.  Inside the tomb was a dolmen and many artifacts from the 신라 Silla dynasty.  At the tomb, we ran into the Minnesota Concordia choir.  They sang "Arirang" (Korea's national anthem) which was so neat inside the tomb. 

Minnesota Concorida choir

While we were talking to the choir, after they left we felt weird.  It was weird talking to Americans again even though we're all American on the study abroad.  We felt like we couldn't communicate like we used to.  We got some dinner at a convenience store.  Some of the convenience stores are large enough that they have a couple restaurants inside.  I got 우동  (oo-dong) which is a Japanese noodle dish.  Honestly, I don't like it.  I forced myself to finish it but I didn't enjoy it particularly.

우동 Japanese noodle dish

I feel so dumb on the study abroad when it comes to history.  It seems like everyone knows the answers and I'm a deer in the headlights.  The south is beautiful.  So much history is preserved here.  It's really neat.  So far, all of the girls, we get along so well.  It's easy to talk to each other about anything.  All of us have had inside jokes and play off each other's humor.  It's awesome.  At first, I didn't know anyone except Victoria but I met her a few short times before the study abroad.  At first, I wished we had a larger group but now I think it's perfect because we have gotten close.  Although I don't know everything about Korea, I'm learning so many things each day we have been out here.  It's great.  Korea, you're incredible! :-)

Girlies in BYU apparel

May 9, 2011 경주

We covered many important sites today.  We headed up to 경주 Kyeong-Ju which is about an hour and a half away.  We took a van there (woo-hoo!) which we shoved 12 people into!  It was a big van!  경주 Kyeong-Ju is nothing but full of historical sites.  경주 Kyeong-Ju isn't really a place to live or visit unless you have some knowledge of Korean history.  It's still beautiful there but it might not be interesting to those who have little knowledge of Korean history.  It was cool to us because we read about what we saw and its significance.  Well, I didn't until later but when I read the material, it was cool to see the pictures I took again.

Our first stop was 괘릉 Gwaereung tomb.  We're not sure who's buried here but they have an idea.  They believe it to be a king because it's a huge tomb.  Also, there's Sogdian guard statues outside the tomb.  This tomb was cool because it's from the 신라 Silla dynasty and has the zodiac surrounding the tomb.  The guards are important because they're not Asain; because they're not Asian it indicates that travel went on in Korea with other countries.

Study Abroad - 괘릉 Gwaereung Tomb - Sogdian Guards

괘릉 Gwaereung Tomb

My zodiac sign: 양 Lamb!

After 괘릉 Gwaereung Tomb, we got some 순두부 Soft tofu soup (soon-doo-boo) for lunch.  It was so good but unfortunately, while I was dropping an egg into my soup, it splased and got onto my purse!  :-(  No good because hot pepper is hard to get out.  Especially out of white.  :-(  However, I got the stain out and it's white again but for a long time it was pink.  I loved 순두부 except that fact that it got on my bag.  So it's a delicious meal that I'm bitter at haha lol.

순두부 - Although you were delicious, I'm bitter because you stained my purse for a while.



After lunch, we went to two important sites regarding Buddhism:  석굴암 Seokguram and 불국사 Bulguksa.  석굴암 Seokguram is a UNESCO world treasure and overlooks the Sea of Japan.  It has one of the best Buddha sculptures.  We waited in line FOREVER!  It was also on a hill which made it inconvenient.  We came at the wrong time because when we came out, most of the people were gone.  I couldn't take actual pictures of the Buddha but there's plenty of pictures if you want to see what it looks like.  The sculpture was huge!  It was beautiful looking out from 석굴암 Seokguram!

석굴암 Seokguram Grotto

Going up to 석굴암 Seokguram Grotto

Beautiful view from 석굴암 Seokguram Grotto

After 석굴암 Seokguram Grotto, we went to 불국사 Bulguka Temple which was below the grotto.  It was really cool!  The temple was neat and they had lots of shrines.  It has a couple Buddha statues and contains the Dharani Sutra inside.  I thought the temple's architecture was cool because at the bottom of the temple, there's unorganized, rough stones and as you go to the top, the rocks become smooth and organized.  The symbolism behind it is that one starts out rough and when one has accepted Buddhism, he becomes smooth and refined.  I thought that was really neat!

불국사 Bulguksa Temple

2 of the 4 Kings of Heaven

Other 2 of the 4 Kings of Heaven



Today was a historical day.  경주 Kyeong-Ju was beautiful but because I didn't know a ton about Korean history, it was a little hard to pay attention.  The south is beautiful and I feel it has preserved centuries old Korea which is breathtaking.  I wouldn't live there because not much is going on but it's beautiful to visit.  I definitely need some more excitement in my life but it was good to take a step back and view nature.  I'm not moved by nature at most times but this was beautiful!  Haha, beautiful beautiful beautiful haha lol.  Even the country side of Korea is wonderful!  Korea is so great; at this point I don't miss America and loving every part of Korea!  Please come to Korea!  It's the bomb dot com!  :-)