Geumsunsa (temple)

This weekend was my first ever Buddhist TempleStay. We decided on Geumsun-sa and it was an amazing experience. Upon arriving at Geumsun-sa on Mt. Samgak (a part of Mt. Bukhan), we were given our “uniforms” which consisted of burgundy pants and vest. Not to spoil the ending, BUT, the pants were amazingly (and surprisingly) warm. Geumsun-sa temple monks follow the Joyge Order of Korean Buddhism. As a sidenote, the monks did not speak English, so most of the weekend we relied on our Korean friend to translate, or we just followed along!

Our TempleStay group consisted of us four English speakers (including one bilingual English/Korean speaker), a group of Korean university graduates, another woman, a university-age guy, and four young kids. Needless to say, on the comment sheet at the conclusion of the weekend, we all wrote that the kids should have a separate TempleStay- they were a bit much!

Continuing on… the first order of business was a tour of the various buildings and temples on the Geumsun-sa Monastery. It was established by Buddhist Monk Ven. Muhak (1327-1405). During the middle and later era of the Joseon Dynasty, it served as the royal family’s temple to pray to the Buddha. Unfortunately, during Japanese occupation, the buildings were completely destroyed. In 1949, rebuilding began and in 1994, the restoration of all the Monastery buildings and facilities has been completed. There is a 200-year-old tree at the temple which is the only remaining part of the original temple after the war.

After the tour, we had our first ceremony (Yebul) within a Buddhist temple, learning how to bow correctly, as well as how to sit with our hands in a hap-jang position (hands pressed together). During Yebul, we followed along with various chants. It was a somewhat short ceremony and the chants were very quick, but we put effort in to follow along. Monks practice Yebul three times a day, morning afternoon and early evening.

For dinner we experienced a Balwoo-gongyang (communal meal). An excerpt from Koreaabound.com: "The spirit of Balwoo is in Equality, Cleanliness, Thrift and Togetherness. Everybody shares the same food equally, food is cooked in a clean environment, there is no waste and social unity and harmony can be enhanced through this eating style. When eating, no private talking is allowed, except for the special recitation. Sit in a lotus position." It is very particular, from what goes into the bowls, where the bowls should be, where the silverware should be after eating specific dishes, etc. The biggest part is that no food (or water) is to be wasted, so any food you choose to put in your bowls must be consumed. The water used to rinse out your bowls after the meal, must also be consumed. Then the bowls are wiped clean and put away. The monk leading our TempleStay informed us that he has not used excess water to clean his bowls since last July. [Monks- “going green” waaaay before it was a craze.]

After the somewhat painful dinner (sitting cross-legged for nearly two hours), we performed the evening Yebul, then concluded the evening with some relaxing time making lanterns.

At 5am on Sunday we awoke to the light tapping of an instrument outside; our alarm clock. By 5:30 we were in the temple for morning Yebul. After the ceremony, we performed 108 Prostrations/ bows for Cultivation of Self then learned sat facing the sunrise for Seon meditation.

Following the morning ceremony (Yebul) and meditation, we had a relaxing cafeteria-style breakfast and prepared for our hike. We were unsure if we had to eat everything on our plates since it was more casual this time, but not wanting to find out the repercussions for disobedience, I shoveled down my seaweed mushroom soup first thing, so I could enjoy the rest of the meal.

The hike was the highlight of the weekend. We hiked Mt. Bukhan (“Bukhansan,” -san means mountain). We clipped spikes on our sneakers and headed up. The ice was pretty bad in parts, but after that hike, I’m a strong advocate for spikes. They were incredible. The view at the very top of one of the peaks was breathtaking. We got some amazing pictures and I’m sure nearly risked our lives in the meantime. It felt safe though, watching the monk prance ahead of us!

The conclusion of the TempleStay was a casual lunch and tea ceremony with the head monk. We were allowed to drink tea and ask the monk any questions about Buddhism or Geumsun-sa. I’m sure it was very interesting, but unfortunately, we missed out on most of what was said due to the language barrier. On a positive side, he seemed to be a nice guy and the tea was delicious. This is a lengthy post, so I’ll conclude there. I highly encourage anyone, of any religion, to experience a TempleStay. It’s a great time to learn about another religion and reflect on your life. Korea is 2/3 mountainous, so it’s wonderful to be able to escape from the claustrophobia of apartment buildings and crowds of people. Plus, you get to really see how flexible you are when forced to sit cross-legged for lengthy periods of time!

peace from the east

Gyeongbok Palace

Monday, February 15th was a holiday because of the three-day celebration around Seolnal (Lunar New Year.) We ventured into Seoul to visit Gyeongbok Palace and The National Folk Museum of Korea in Jongno-gu (Subway line 3: Gyeongbokgung Station, Exit 5). 

The palace grounds were vast and it was fun walking around seeing the beautiful architecture. The museum within the palace walls was very modern and educational. Because of the new year, there was a beautiful exhibit dedicated to the history of the tiger as a symbol. Visitors born in a year of the Tiger could get their picture taken, which would then be displayed on the wall near the exhibit.

Year of the Rat

We did Yut Divination (the numbers rolled indicate your forecast for the upcoming year). Needless to say, the information was in Korean and an elderly Korean gentleman tried to explain my horoscope to me using hand gestures and "sun," "sky," "OK!" It was very thoughtful of him to try and my friends said it seemed I was understanding him, so hopefully he feels like he did his good deed of the day helping the confused foreigner! ^_^

Korean Folk Village

unmarried daughter's living space

To celebrate the Lunar New Year (Seolnal) this past weekend, I went to the Korean Folk Village in Yong-in City, Gyeonggi-do. On New Year's Day, February 14th (this year). I traveled about 1 1/2 hrs on the subway to get to Suwon where I met my friend and together, we took the free shuttle from the station to the Folk Village. The ride there was another 30 min or so. Including the traveling and the size of the village, it is definitely a full day trip- but well worth it. Admission was 12,000w which includes three small performances and all the exploring of traditional housing a person could want. We timed it just right and after our lunch in the "food court," we were able to see all the performances. The Farmers' Music and Dance, Equestrian Feats, and Acrobatics on a Tightrope.

"In a natural environment of 243 acres, more than 260 traditional houses from the different regions and the living culture of the late Joseon Dynasty are revived lively. Just feel the ancestral intelligence and wisdom with the various traditional experiences." -Korean Folk Village pamphlet/map

The three-day weekend to celebrate the new year (the Year of the White Tiger) was wonderful. There are many customs in Korean culture, the favorite amongst my students is sebaeton (bowing to your elder relatives and receiving a verbal and financial blessing- money money money!) From what they've told me this week, the festivities included delicious traditional foods, like tteokguk, and traditional games, like yutnori. My traditional Korean meal to celebrate New Year's was sundubu. Unfortunately it was not sundubu jjigae which is a spicy version of tofu soup. Mine was tofu and hot water so I dumped a bunch of spices into it myself to liven things up a bit. It was a very cold day on Sunday, so the hot soup was just the ticket!

90 Days, Same As Cash

Ah, the three-month mark as come and gone. Feels like I blinked and it's almost mid-February.

Time is flying by and I'm trying to pack in everything I could possibly want to do. I know the next nine months are going to fly by, so trying to take every opportunity and enjoy each day. I've done some hiking, sat in the cold in the middle of the night waiting for a meteor shower, went snowboarding (for the first time), have slept in public saunas/bath houses, and have eaten some questionable foods. And I've savored every minute of it.

I was looking through the Memo section in my cell phone ('hand pone' in Konglish) and found a slew of notes from my trip to Busan. Here are some of the highlights:

hike today- 8 hours, took all the longways
many temples
some hiking buddies
weather was perfect- blue skies, high 40s, cold on top was refreshing
ate at a mountain restaurant- tofu and red bean rice bread
healthy day
body feels great


Vesta Sauna & Spa-
view of city, water
families all around
kids running
parents sipping on beer
fun relaxing night
tea and Korean fashion magazines
sunrise on the beach!

As I look back on the past three months, I'm a bit ashamed that my Korean is still pretty much nil. That is high on my To Do List now. I was able to memorize the basic numbers (1-10, 100, 1,000) for money/purchasing reasons. Next category to tackle is conversational Korean. Day by day. I'm using a combo of resources; Rosetta Stone and my Korean co-teachers. Rosetta Stone packs come with audio discs. I put some of them on my iPod, so as I'm walking to work rocking out out to Mary Chapin Carpenter or T-Pain, I get a nice mini-lesson in Korean as an interlude.

I've fallen in love with the food and can honestly say there isn't much food I'm desperately missing from home. Yes, there are things that sound absolutely delicious, but there are decent enough substitutes here that I'll survive for the year. My favorite foods so far are kimchi, tteokbokki, red bean paste, gogi mandu, tteokgochi, tteok galbi (ok, anything with tteok!), honey pancakes, and the newest addition- black bean soy milk (who knew!)

I'm starting to act the role of a teacher every day. I've never been particularly fond of random kids, but my young ones seem like mini-adults, so they're good in my book. There's always some "issue" at every hagwan, but all-in-all the staff and students at mine are a stand-up group. I count my blessings on that one!

If January is any indication, 2010 is going to be great... cheers from the future ^^

P.S. It's doppelganger week on Facebook, here's mine:

Warhol Exhibit- Seoul Museum

A few weeks ago we went to the Andy Warhol Exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art. For 12,000w it was a pretty neat exhibition and there were tons of people. It runs until April and was a wonderful way to spend a rainy, cold Saturday! (Warhol)

Bau House this past weekend- "dog cafe" in

Hongdae... (will finish writing soon, was just yelled at by my neighbor for being too loud when my friend left so I'm trying not to type too aggressively... another time!) As I was saying... The Bau House was packed when we showed up Sunday afternoon. We put our names on a list and waited (played with the dogs). After we got our table, we ordered coffee drinks, beers and juice. Unfortunately our table was near a spot on the floor that had apparently been deemed the toilet, so after two dogs came over at separate occasions 'to drop some friends off at the pool' we decided it was time to head out. We were there for a good hour and if I had a dog, it's a great little place. Some of the dogs had ridiculous outfits on, but who am I to judge. Half the time, I'm not sure who lets me walk around in my get-ups!

^^

Studying

Best quote I heard last night from my Korean co-teacher. She was explaining the teacher's certification exam and she said the top score always goes to the person who has "the biggest ass." Basically saying, the person who studies the hardest doesn't have time to exercise or go out for a walk- they are always on their ass reading, etc.