Ok, I know I promised the second part of the Seoul trip but this is something that came up and I have to write it while it's still fresh, and writing this at 4:00 am while still intoxicated is "off the farm" fresh. This is what blogging is all about folks!
Anyways, my friends Mal and Lu invited me to come spend the evening with them, get some dinner and a drink or two, nothing crazy cause Mal and I are both fighting off a cold (those virus carrying kids, I tell ya). I, of course, accepted since the other option for the evening was eating out by myself and then returning back to my apartment to pretend like I was going to clean up or work on grad school applications, ha!
So I meet up with them around 10:00 in the p.m. and then we head over to one bar. After meeting up with the other half of our group, their canadian friend Mike and his Korean Coworker, Martin, along with Martin's friend Nam Yeon, we met up with Mal and Lu's coworker and friends at another bar for some beers and some appetizers that kind of played the role of dinner for the time being.
I was quite keen to end my night there, say around 12:30-1:00ish, given the circumstances and the fact that I was expecting a low key evening. Then, Nam Yeon ran into me on my way out of the bathroom and dared me to do something great for the evening. Ok, maybe he didn't dare me to be great, but he did say that they were going to a "traditional soju" place after being at the current establishment. How can one deny something "traditional", right? So I eagerly accepted..... err caved in after a long fight, that's right, I struggled with the decision.
So we head on over to this place which is a 5 story building which has a sign for many establishments, one of which being Nora Zone (Norae, Nora, however you spell it in English, means song, and generally means that Karaoke will be involved). I hope deep down inside that this is the place Nam Yeon plans on taking us to but I don't get mt hopes up, he did say traditional before, right? Right? Step into the elevator and sure enough, he presses the button for floor 5. Look out Nora Zone, here we come!
Now to preface this is a little bit, I have been to noraebang (노래방, which means song-room) but did not end up remembering the experience so this was basically something new to me. A little about the place, we were led to our own private room which had a screen, and a booth with a table, like one you'd find at a restaurant. We were then enclosed in the room, alone to make asses out of ourselves without anyone ever knowing. Well that might not be entierly true because I heard some of our neighbors singing, but you get the point.
Now it's exciting to have a room just for karaoke, but it doesn't stop there. Oh no, Martin and Nam Yeon either call the front desk or go outside and talk to them, not sure which, but some 15 minutes late a waiter is coming by with some plum wine, and some kiwi soju cocktail, and the food. They brought us a plate of sausages, some kind of Korean shaved ice/ice cream, some Korean omelette thing, two kinds of soup and some skewered meat. Thats what I called service!
Now we've got food, the booze is flowing freely and only one thing is missing, the norae!! Martin and Nam Yeon started things off with a Korean song and rocked it out and everything rolled on from there out. I will say that some of the highlights of the evening, singing wise, was singing "Rainism" by the Korean singer Rain with Nam Yeon. He covered the Korean and I covered the English parts and we rocked out and got something like a 98%. We also did the cheesy of cheesy with barbie girl by Aqua and Nam Yeon and Martin knew it almost as well we did, which I'm not sure as to which is more pathetic. Then Mal, Lu, Mike and I did some classic songs like Wonderwall, Come Together (by the Beatles), Bittesweet Symphony (too dark of a song for karaoke, which we found out too late) and Mal and I did Stairway. Lastly, Nam Yeon and Martin decided that we should close the evening with "We Are the World", definitely the cheesiest of cheese but would you expect anything else from noraebang?????
I wanted to end my blog post there but I am unable to as there is one other thing that I need to touch on. After singing our last song, we leave the room and I stepped into the mens room to take care of business and come back to the front of the lobby expecting to chip in for the room that we had for the evening, only to find out that Nam Yeon took care of it. And i mean he took care of it in the sense that none of us paid him anything for it. Now, I can't speak with certainty for the whole world, but I can't think of too many places where people would treat everybody to an evening out like that. This is not a one time occurance either, as this has happened in the past with me and it has also happened with other foreigners when spending time with Koreans. Without a doubt, Koreans must be some of the most friendly, giving people out there.
All right folks, well that is my noraebang experience. I will see you next time but for now it's off to dream land, a place where kiwi soju rivers flow freely and "Barbie Girl" is the accompaniment to daily life.......
Friday, February 20, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Seoul Trip B.A. (Before Alick or Bad A$$, depends on your point of view!)
First of all, I apologize for sucking recently. I've been hella busy as of late, mostly with trivial stuff, but busy none the less. This here will be the first part of a 2 part series about my trip to Seoul, although I have a feeling it may be long in 2 pieces as well. Anyways, Lunar New Year was celebrated this year on January
26th, so we had off the 26th and 27th which meant it was time to get out of Ulsan. Here we go.........
The trip began with a bunch of disorientation around 6:00 a.m. of Saturday 24th, as Malcolm, Louise and I scrambled around their apartment trying to get things situated so we could get to Ulsan's 역 (yeok, or station) for our 7:00 departure. Come to think of it, it was just like taking a family vacation except without the couch pictures or having a car breakdown on the highway, but I digress.
Now I would love to say that we stepped on a train and then some 5 hours later we arrived to Seoul, but there were some things that stuck out that I just can't omit. First one being, mad props to Lu (Louise) for making bacon sandwiches on a toasted baguette, definitely hit the spot on the trip. Which reminds me, the train ride was some 5 hours long, so you think they would have a small complimentary meal, a muffin/bagel type deal, piece of fruit and juice, but they don't. The tickets were cheap so I'm not going to complain too much, just saying it would've been nice. Now they may not have a meal, but they do have a snack car on the train, and what a snack car it is. To be honest the snacks were a little underwhelming but I can tell you that it was the first train I ever saw that had private rooms with little massage chairs, private noraebangs (karaoke rooms), arcade games and computers with internet access. I didn't partake in any of the forementioned activities, but it is good to know that if I feel the need to sing some Rick Astley on a train, I can do so. Oh, Korea.
Ok, so some 5 hours later or so, we got to Seoul, got a metro ticket and were on our way to the guest house that Mal and Louise booked (once again mad props to the Brits, they were travel agent stand-ins for me as they booked my train tix and the the room at the guesthouse). I must say that Mal and Lu did a good job with the accommodations as we were in a traditional korean guest house. The house and my room in particular, all looked like something straight out of the 19th century. My room more so than Mal and Lu's because it had these circular metal rings used for a door knob as opposed to a proper door knob and it also had like these paper-sliding doors. Quite cool indeed. Another thing about the house, the owner was really nice and provided us with maps, and he also had this traditional Korean dog that was very sweet and chill, so we would just sit out for a minute or two and give the dog some attention for a minute before we would head out.
After putting our stuff down, grabbing some 갈비 (galbi, or grilled rib meat), we were ready to tackle the tourist thing. So we started our Seoul journey by traveling through Insadong, which is a little touristy area in Seoul. There were a bunch of stores selling the touristy stuff you expect to find in Asia along with some trendy shops selling artsy craftsy stuff. Lu was probably a little more interested in the artsy stuff than Mal and I, but it was cool regardless. After walking around the area, we decided to warm up with some tea at a traditional Korean Tea House. The tea house we went to was quite cool and trendy, and the tea I ordered there was good.
After prying our heated bums from the ondol heated floors in the tea house, we mustered up the courage to face the frigid Seoul weather and finish our Insa-Dong trek, which was celebrated with some skewered Korean meat dipped in the spiciest sauce found in Korea. Insa-Dong complete, back to the guest house for some much needed rest.
With our batteries charged and wearing 16 layers of clothes (did I mention it's cold in Seoul?), we headed out for our evening's festivities. We made it over to this one area of Seoul where it's supposed to have all of these markets that are open in the evening/early hours of the morning. Unfortunately, a lot of the places were closed due to the Lunar New Year Holiday, well that was our reasoning, but we had fun regardless. We did find these 3 buildings that from the outside look like department stores but really are indoor clothes markets. To put it best, picture a crowded Asian Market where people sell clothes but add escalators, it was crazy. Another bonus, they would always try and get Mal and my attention by greeting us with "Hey, you a handsome boy." What a nice boost for the self esteem.... errr sales tactic.... Furthermore, these markets are open till 5:00 in the morning. Not really sure why I would need to buy some trendy clothes at 4:30 in the morning, but it's good to know I could do so if necessary.
We finish with the markets, well maybe not Louise, but we were done for the evening, and so we thought, "hey, it's around midnight on a Saturday night, we're young whipper-snappers, let's get some drinks." (maybe not in those exact words) So, we decided to head on down to Insa-Dong, the night was ours to be had... or so we thought. Turns out Insa-Dong is a great little district for the day but is dead in the evening, not even one decent Hof (beer house, a borrowed German word). So what does one do in such a position? Roll on over to the closest corner store, buy some beer, pringles and other 과자 (snacks) and head back to the guest house and watch some Simpsons until 2:00 in the morning. On a sidenote, Pringles are pretty much the most dependable snack you can get from a grocery store in Korea. I say this because I've had some imitation Doritos that had as much taste as cardboard.
Day 2 in Seoul had a late start, about noon, which was more or less a common theme for the weekend. After grabbing a bite we headed over for some culture, to see Gyeongbokgung Palace. The cool thing about Gyeongbokgung is that the Korean Folk Art Museum is right next to it, so they had a replica replica village outside. We sought asylum from the cold (Seoul is cold I tell you) by stepping into the Museum for a bit. I had fun wandering around and would've liked to spend more time there, but someone isn't keen on museums. Lu, I'm looking at you on this one. The highlights of the museum were the kimchi exhibit, the hall that covered korean life durimg the Joseon period (18th century or so) from birth to death, and yes, there was a placenta chamber at the beginning. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of that. Lastly, there was special exhibit for the year of the ox and an ox shaped board on a wall where you could leave a wish for the new year.
So Lu finally got Mal and I out of there and onto the real attraction, the palace. Upon entering the palace our attention was quickly drawn to a small pond that was frozen over, where hoards of Koreans were playing. They had these little toboggans with skate blades and a rope to have someone pull you along with some dreidle like game where you whipped the dreidle and it kept spinning. Needless to say, the inner kid in us came out and we gave the Koreans something to stare at, as the 3 foreigners took turns pulling each other across the ice.
Moving along, we made our tour around the palace, which like all good cultural relics in Korea, consists of mostly renovated buildings because the Japanese burned them down. Which led me to the observation that there is one fire extinguisher per every 10 yards or so at any Korean Historic site. Why not just have a fire department on site? Furthermore, I've learned the Korean word for fire extinguisher (소화기) without it ever being in any lesson or studying note cards. The palace itself was originally constructed during the Joseon Period, which ended in the late 19th century although I'm not entirely sure when it began, maybe in the 16th century. The buildings were pretty cool, with the best ones being the dining hall that was on the edge of another pond, and then the halls where the king would meet with foreign ambassadors. Now, I wasn't a fan of the cold of Seoul but the snow did make the views seem prettier, although it was annoying to keep taking off my gloves to take pictures. To wrap up our self-guided tour, we came out the entrance of the palace to see some guards dressed in traditional garb from the Joseon Period. A nice finishing touch I must say.
Gyeongbokgung Palace complete, we grab some food and then on to the next site, N Seoul Tower. N Seoul Tower is a tower on a mountain/hill, emphasis on the hill, where you can see all of Seoul. The tower itself isn't that impressive as it was built on a hill, but the sight is rather good. We walked around the tower and took some pictures from some of the cliffs of the mountain with the brutal Seoul wind whipping our skin from reptile skin to sandpaper skin. Anyways, after mulling around the outer parts of the tower and warming up with some hot chocolate/coffee, we made our move up the tower. Some points about the tower, at the top they have a circle where you can walk around and see all of the city and in the glass they have signs of the different major cities and their distance. So you could see that from one point you were some 10,000 kilometers from Chicago, or 300 km from Pyongnang (the capital of North Korea), and Buenos Aires was the farthest at some 19,000 km from Seoul. Also, the men's bathroom was the nicest bathroom I've probably ever been in. Not only was it really clean and all modern, but you could see all of Seoul, well in one direction, while you were at the urinal. Brilliant! We also were smart to follow the guidebook's directions and get to the tower around sunset, so we could see the city go from light to dark and see all of the lights. The most random thing about the tower? There's a teddy bear museum/exhibit at the bottom, not really sure how towers and teddy bears are related but apparently they are. N Seoul Tower complete, back to the guest house and wait for Alick's arrival.
With the end of the N Seoul Tower trip we have completed the first part of the 2 part wrap-up for the Seoul Trip. Look out for part 2 sometime this decade......
26th, so we had off the 26th and 27th which meant it was time to get out of Ulsan. Here we go.........
The trip began with a bunch of disorientation around 6:00 a.m. of Saturday 24th, as Malcolm, Louise and I scrambled around their apartment trying to get things situated so we could get to Ulsan's 역 (yeok, or station) for our 7:00 departure. Come to think of it, it was just like taking a family vacation except without the couch pictures or having a car breakdown on the highway, but I digress.
Now I would love to say that we stepped on a train and then some 5 hours later we arrived to Seoul, but there were some things that stuck out that I just can't omit. First one being, mad props to Lu (Louise) for making bacon sandwiches on a toasted baguette, definitely hit the spot on the trip. Which reminds me, the train ride was some 5 hours long, so you think they would have a small complimentary meal, a muffin/bagel type deal, piece of fruit and juice, but they don't. The tickets were cheap so I'm not going to complain too much, just saying it would've been nice. Now they may not have a meal, but they do have a snack car on the train, and what a snack car it is. To be honest the snacks were a little underwhelming but I can tell you that it was the first train I ever saw that had private rooms with little massage chairs, private noraebangs (karaoke rooms), arcade games and computers with internet access. I didn't partake in any of the forementioned activities, but it is good to know that if I feel the need to sing some Rick Astley on a train, I can do so. Oh, Korea.
Ok, so some 5 hours later or so, we got to Seoul, got a metro ticket and were on our way to the guest house that Mal and Louise booked (once again mad props to the Brits, they were travel agent stand-ins for me as they booked my train tix and the the room at the guesthouse). I must say that Mal and Lu did a good job with the accommodations as we were in a traditional korean guest house. The house and my room in particular, all looked like something straight out of the 19th century. My room more so than Mal and Lu's because it had these circular metal rings used for a door knob as opposed to a proper door knob and it also had like these paper-sliding doors. Quite cool indeed. Another thing about the house, the owner was really nice and provided us with maps, and he also had this traditional Korean dog that was very sweet and chill, so we would just sit out for a minute or two and give the dog some attention for a minute before we would head out.
After putting our stuff down, grabbing some 갈비 (galbi, or grilled rib meat), we were ready to tackle the tourist thing. So we started our Seoul journey by traveling through Insadong, which is a little touristy area in Seoul. There were a bunch of stores selling the touristy stuff you expect to find in Asia along with some trendy shops selling artsy craftsy stuff. Lu was probably a little more interested in the artsy stuff than Mal and I, but it was cool regardless. After walking around the area, we decided to warm up with some tea at a traditional Korean Tea House. The tea house we went to was quite cool and trendy, and the tea I ordered there was good.
After prying our heated bums from the ondol heated floors in the tea house, we mustered up the courage to face the frigid Seoul weather and finish our Insa-Dong trek, which was celebrated with some skewered Korean meat dipped in the spiciest sauce found in Korea. Insa-Dong complete, back to the guest house for some much needed rest.
With our batteries charged and wearing 16 layers of clothes (did I mention it's cold in Seoul?), we headed out for our evening's festivities. We made it over to this one area of Seoul where it's supposed to have all of these markets that are open in the evening/early hours of the morning. Unfortunately, a lot of the places were closed due to the Lunar New Year Holiday, well that was our reasoning, but we had fun regardless. We did find these 3 buildings that from the outside look like department stores but really are indoor clothes markets. To put it best, picture a crowded Asian Market where people sell clothes but add escalators, it was crazy. Another bonus, they would always try and get Mal and my attention by greeting us with "Hey, you a handsome boy." What a nice boost for the self esteem.... errr sales tactic.... Furthermore, these markets are open till 5:00 in the morning. Not really sure why I would need to buy some trendy clothes at 4:30 in the morning, but it's good to know I could do so if necessary.
We finish with the markets, well maybe not Louise, but we were done for the evening, and so we thought, "hey, it's around midnight on a Saturday night, we're young whipper-snappers, let's get some drinks." (maybe not in those exact words) So, we decided to head on down to Insa-Dong, the night was ours to be had... or so we thought. Turns out Insa-Dong is a great little district for the day but is dead in the evening, not even one decent Hof (beer house, a borrowed German word). So what does one do in such a position? Roll on over to the closest corner store, buy some beer, pringles and other 과자 (snacks) and head back to the guest house and watch some Simpsons until 2:00 in the morning. On a sidenote, Pringles are pretty much the most dependable snack you can get from a grocery store in Korea. I say this because I've had some imitation Doritos that had as much taste as cardboard.
Day 2 in Seoul had a late start, about noon, which was more or less a common theme for the weekend. After grabbing a bite we headed over for some culture, to see Gyeongbokgung Palace. The cool thing about Gyeongbokgung is that the Korean Folk Art Museum is right next to it, so they had a replica replica village outside. We sought asylum from the cold (Seoul is cold I tell you) by stepping into the Museum for a bit. I had fun wandering around and would've liked to spend more time there, but someone isn't keen on museums. Lu, I'm looking at you on this one. The highlights of the museum were the kimchi exhibit, the hall that covered korean life durimg the Joseon period (18th century or so) from birth to death, and yes, there was a placenta chamber at the beginning. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of that. Lastly, there was special exhibit for the year of the ox and an ox shaped board on a wall where you could leave a wish for the new year.
So Lu finally got Mal and I out of there and onto the real attraction, the palace. Upon entering the palace our attention was quickly drawn to a small pond that was frozen over, where hoards of Koreans were playing. They had these little toboggans with skate blades and a rope to have someone pull you along with some dreidle like game where you whipped the dreidle and it kept spinning. Needless to say, the inner kid in us came out and we gave the Koreans something to stare at, as the 3 foreigners took turns pulling each other across the ice.
Moving along, we made our tour around the palace, which like all good cultural relics in Korea, consists of mostly renovated buildings because the Japanese burned them down. Which led me to the observation that there is one fire extinguisher per every 10 yards or so at any Korean Historic site. Why not just have a fire department on site? Furthermore, I've learned the Korean word for fire extinguisher (소화기) without it ever being in any lesson or studying note cards. The palace itself was originally constructed during the Joseon Period, which ended in the late 19th century although I'm not entirely sure when it began, maybe in the 16th century. The buildings were pretty cool, with the best ones being the dining hall that was on the edge of another pond, and then the halls where the king would meet with foreign ambassadors. Now, I wasn't a fan of the cold of Seoul but the snow did make the views seem prettier, although it was annoying to keep taking off my gloves to take pictures. To wrap up our self-guided tour, we came out the entrance of the palace to see some guards dressed in traditional garb from the Joseon Period. A nice finishing touch I must say.
Gyeongbokgung Palace complete, we grab some food and then on to the next site, N Seoul Tower. N Seoul Tower is a tower on a mountain/hill, emphasis on the hill, where you can see all of Seoul. The tower itself isn't that impressive as it was built on a hill, but the sight is rather good. We walked around the tower and took some pictures from some of the cliffs of the mountain with the brutal Seoul wind whipping our skin from reptile skin to sandpaper skin. Anyways, after mulling around the outer parts of the tower and warming up with some hot chocolate/coffee, we made our move up the tower. Some points about the tower, at the top they have a circle where you can walk around and see all of the city and in the glass they have signs of the different major cities and their distance. So you could see that from one point you were some 10,000 kilometers from Chicago, or 300 km from Pyongnang (the capital of North Korea), and Buenos Aires was the farthest at some 19,000 km from Seoul. Also, the men's bathroom was the nicest bathroom I've probably ever been in. Not only was it really clean and all modern, but you could see all of Seoul, well in one direction, while you were at the urinal. Brilliant! We also were smart to follow the guidebook's directions and get to the tower around sunset, so we could see the city go from light to dark and see all of the lights. The most random thing about the tower? There's a teddy bear museum/exhibit at the bottom, not really sure how towers and teddy bears are related but apparently they are. N Seoul Tower complete, back to the guest house and wait for Alick's arrival.
With the end of the N Seoul Tower trip we have completed the first part of the 2 part wrap-up for the Seoul Trip. Look out for part 2 sometime this decade......
Monday, February 9, 2009
It'a little like this
Ok, so I know I said was going to have the Seoul trip post up soon but I've been lazy and busy as of late, what can you do. So my friends tipped me off about this song/video done by these waeguks (foreigners) and it was so funny that I thought you guys need to see it. Now I don't live in Geumchon, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure where it is, so certain places mentioned aren't the same for me, but I can tell you that it does show a lot of the Korea that us foreigners see, all in 4 minutes. Enjoy! Oh, and I have started the Seoul trip post, so that will be up in shortly (so realistically another week, ha!)
Ok, so blogger isn't being cool right now and wanting to post to the link to the video, so just copy this web address and put it in your browser and enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBfy_HVoSM&feature=related
Ok, so blogger isn't being cool right now and wanting to post to the link to the video, so just copy this web address and put it in your browser and enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBfy_HVoSM&feature=related
Monday, January 19, 2009
Screen Golf and all of its glory
So Alick, Mal (see previous blog post for character development) and I try to come up with a new way to spend our Friday (Friday the 16th) evening as opposed to the usual hanging out in a bar and trying to forget about the devil children we are supposed to be "teaching". What resulted was about the best hour to hour and half in the history sport. Welcome to our night of screen golf!
Apparently, it is quite expensive to play golf on a proper course in Korea, like hundres of dollars expensive. I think it has something to do with Korea being quite small and not having a lot of flat, grassy areas but I'm not entirely sure on that. With that said, golf is still quite popular in Korea, so how do you solve this problem? Also, there is no California/Arizona type climate in Korea so there is no place you can golf during the winter months.
So some quick thinking Koreans decided to tackle these problems by making a room where one could play golf. This room isn't some mega indoor complex yet a room the size of a big living room that is in a 3 story building. Awesome!
In the front of the room was the screen which you would hit the ball into. In the back of the room they had a couch for the people waiting for their turn (we call those people Alick)and there was a mini-fridge stocked with juice/health drinks. The actual playing surface was a tee for your woods and then a small turf area for the irons/wedges and putter. There was a computer next to the small playing area which was needed to scan the ball and then it would register where your shot would go. Unfortunately, when the whole screen golf was conceptualized, the koreans didn't consider southpaws as the computer sits across from where right-handed golfers would stand, so basically right where lefties would take their shot. Other than that glitch, the whole screen golf concept exceeded my expectations and then some.
So, the three of us took out our week's worth of aggression on some computerized balls by hitting them into a projection screen. Unfortunately for Alick, Mal and I got more bang for our buck as we had played under 5 games of golf between the two of us prior to the screen golf, so we averaged about 8 strokes per hole. Although Alick did find ways of enjoying himself and he did make the most of his opportunities to play, whether it be making birdies or making holes in the ceiling. Furthermore, his birdie celebrations were priceless. With that said, I did have some good cuts and probably had some of my best 5 wholes of golf.
In summary, the whole screen golf concept is the way golf is intended to be played. No walking, no rain delays and drinking beer and eating pringles while sitting on a couch and waiting for your turn. What more could you ask for?
Ok, so I'm a little behind on my blogging but with good reason as I was in Seoul for the Lunar New Year this past weekend. I have a lot to blog about in regards to the Seoul trip and will probably do a 2 part Seoul post in the near future. Also, pics of both the screen golf and Seoul trip should be up on facebook in the near future. If you do not have facebook, send me an e-mail or leave a request plus e-mail address on the blog for said pictures. Take care all!
Apparently, it is quite expensive to play golf on a proper course in Korea, like hundres of dollars expensive. I think it has something to do with Korea being quite small and not having a lot of flat, grassy areas but I'm not entirely sure on that. With that said, golf is still quite popular in Korea, so how do you solve this problem? Also, there is no California/Arizona type climate in Korea so there is no place you can golf during the winter months.
So some quick thinking Koreans decided to tackle these problems by making a room where one could play golf. This room isn't some mega indoor complex yet a room the size of a big living room that is in a 3 story building. Awesome!
In the front of the room was the screen which you would hit the ball into. In the back of the room they had a couch for the people waiting for their turn (we call those people Alick)and there was a mini-fridge stocked with juice/health drinks. The actual playing surface was a tee for your woods and then a small turf area for the irons/wedges and putter. There was a computer next to the small playing area which was needed to scan the ball and then it would register where your shot would go. Unfortunately, when the whole screen golf was conceptualized, the koreans didn't consider southpaws as the computer sits across from where right-handed golfers would stand, so basically right where lefties would take their shot. Other than that glitch, the whole screen golf concept exceeded my expectations and then some.
So, the three of us took out our week's worth of aggression on some computerized balls by hitting them into a projection screen. Unfortunately for Alick, Mal and I got more bang for our buck as we had played under 5 games of golf between the two of us prior to the screen golf, so we averaged about 8 strokes per hole. Although Alick did find ways of enjoying himself and he did make the most of his opportunities to play, whether it be making birdies or making holes in the ceiling. Furthermore, his birdie celebrations were priceless. With that said, I did have some good cuts and probably had some of my best 5 wholes of golf.
In summary, the whole screen golf concept is the way golf is intended to be played. No walking, no rain delays and drinking beer and eating pringles while sitting on a couch and waiting for your turn. What more could you ask for?
Ok, so I'm a little behind on my blogging but with good reason as I was in Seoul for the Lunar New Year this past weekend. I have a lot to blog about in regards to the Seoul trip and will probably do a 2 part Seoul post in the near future. Also, pics of both the screen golf and Seoul trip should be up on facebook in the near future. If you do not have facebook, send me an e-mail or leave a request plus e-mail address on the blog for said pictures. Take care all!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
It's about time for one of these.......
So yesterday was the 2 month mark of me being in Korea, not that I'm counting or anything, so I figured it's time that I do a blog about my thoughts on Korea. I was originally thinking of doing a "what I like/what I don't like" but I have a feeling that could be another novel like last week's post, so I will focus on the positive and hopefully that will keep the post shorter.
#1. Being able to walk everywhere/having readily available public transportation. Ok, so the first part of that has to do with my location in Ulsan, but it is great to be able to do all of my shopping, eating out, drinking/socializing within a 15 minute walk. It's also amazing being able to go to other parts of the city by bus or taxi and have it be under 6 dollars (generally speaking).
#2. Soccer, or as the locals call it, chuk-gu. It's amazing to live in a place that actually cares about soccer. I swear at any given moment there will be something soccer related, whether it be highlights, actual games, repeats of actual games, bloopers, or whatever. I swear of I've seen highlights of the 2002 world cup 20 times by now, and I continue to watch it even though I already know what happens. Fear not you non soccer loving people, they do show lots of golf, billiards, korean basketball league games (mens and womens), and volleyball.... Ok, maybe it is better to be a soccer fan. One more thing on this subject, it's great not having American ESPN, we have MBC ESPN, whatever that means. Just picture waking up and turning on sports and seeeing highlights instead of seeing T.O. breakdown in a press conference, 30 days of Brett Favre footage or baseball players "testify" in front of congress. Awesome!
#3. Gogi-Jip, or B.B.Q restaurants. By far my favorite Korean food and the whole experience is so enjoyable as well. You get a grill in front of you, grill your meat and then wrap it up with some chili sauce, small chunks of garlic, green onion, all in a mint leave. I will now move on or I will end up drooling on the keyboard.
#4 Ondol heating. Most places in Korea have what's called ondol heating which is heating that comes through the laminate floor. At first I was a little reluctant but it's perfect for someone like me that always has cold feet. Plus, you throw your blankets on the floor before you go to bed and they get all toasty. I even know some people use it to dry their clothes.
#5. K-Pop, also known as Korean Pop. This is a guilty pleasure but K-pop is so cheesy but it's so damn catchy and sugary. It's impossible to walk down the streets, especially the cell phone shops that generally play the music, and not hum the music for the rest of the day. I don't even know the lyrics for most of them but that doesn't prevent me from humming them all day.
#6. Korean Baked goods. Who would've thought, right? I've already written about papa roti, which i haven't had in a while but it is delicious none-the-less. I also put in a picture of the delicious fried pancakes on the blog, which are possibly the tastiest things on earth. Hoo-ray street food! Another big thing with my co-teachers are roll cakes, and mocha roll cakes are the best. Lastly, a new favorite are these little croqutte rolls which have savory foods inside. Some of them include spicy chicken, curry chicken, and vegetable. I know it sounds weird and I was reluctant to try but they are tasty. Think of them as the Korean meat pie/empanada.
#7. The English Translations. At my English School, there is a sign that says "Don't open the windows or you will hurt". An English School! Most recently I saw a sign in a restaurant that is on the second floor of a building, that said "When descending, take care the foot". These are the ones that stick out but some people wear stuff on their t-shirts where I'm sure they have no clue what's being said.
#8. The people. I know this is cliché but the people are really friendly and welcoming. According to Lonely Planet, Korean people are innately xenophobic or suspicious of foreigners but most people have been super nice to us. The first instance that suck out was when I was having dinner with some waeguks and a korean guy and the owner brought a bunch of cokes to our dinner table, which is a bigger deal than it would be in the states because fountain drinks don't exist outside MacDonalds or other fast food joints. There's also the owner of the Thai restaurant across the street who will offer me a coke or coffee free of charge and since I'm usually there once a week, he'll give me a small discount as well. Also, my first soccer game with the wonshot wonderers, some team brought us a plate of b.b.q meat, which was a nice gesture if nothing else because I was not going to eat some meat before our game.
Apart from the discounts, most people are excited to see foreigners and love to try and talk to you. If you even try and speak Korean, they love you even more. In some ways it's kind of like being celebrity to a lesser extent. I usually don't mind it but sometimes when I'm eating I feel like people are watching me. It probably doesn't help that I suck with chopsticks so that probably brings some more attention to myself.
Outside of the Koreans, I obviously spend a lot of time with waeguks, and I have met a lot of cool people. I've also met some obnoxious, token Americans, but I've met some cool ones too. I find myself hanging out with mostly British people, it may be from playing soccer, but that's usually how it goes. I've probably spent more time with Alick, a bloke from London, who you all met in my most recent posting if not before, which I attribute to him and I arriving at the same time and kind of being in a similar position. I've also befriended this couple from outside Kent, England, named Mal(colm) and Lu (Louise), and they're a blast to hang out with as well. They actually have been traveling all around Asia, been to China and Russia recently, so they're always good for an entertaining story. And then there is Craig, my co-teacher and fellow country-man who has been like a godsent, as he knows where to go to eat, which buses to take, etc. I'm pretty sure I'd be in a ditch right now if it weren't for Craig.
I'm sure there are some other little things out there that slipped through the cracks of this post, but I think I hit on some key points here. I'm sure I'll post some more little things as they come about. Hope you're all well.
#1. Being able to walk everywhere/having readily available public transportation. Ok, so the first part of that has to do with my location in Ulsan, but it is great to be able to do all of my shopping, eating out, drinking/socializing within a 15 minute walk. It's also amazing being able to go to other parts of the city by bus or taxi and have it be under 6 dollars (generally speaking).
#2. Soccer, or as the locals call it, chuk-gu. It's amazing to live in a place that actually cares about soccer. I swear at any given moment there will be something soccer related, whether it be highlights, actual games, repeats of actual games, bloopers, or whatever. I swear of I've seen highlights of the 2002 world cup 20 times by now, and I continue to watch it even though I already know what happens. Fear not you non soccer loving people, they do show lots of golf, billiards, korean basketball league games (mens and womens), and volleyball.... Ok, maybe it is better to be a soccer fan. One more thing on this subject, it's great not having American ESPN, we have MBC ESPN, whatever that means. Just picture waking up and turning on sports and seeeing highlights instead of seeing T.O. breakdown in a press conference, 30 days of Brett Favre footage or baseball players "testify" in front of congress. Awesome!
#3. Gogi-Jip, or B.B.Q restaurants. By far my favorite Korean food and the whole experience is so enjoyable as well. You get a grill in front of you, grill your meat and then wrap it up with some chili sauce, small chunks of garlic, green onion, all in a mint leave. I will now move on or I will end up drooling on the keyboard.
#4 Ondol heating. Most places in Korea have what's called ondol heating which is heating that comes through the laminate floor. At first I was a little reluctant but it's perfect for someone like me that always has cold feet. Plus, you throw your blankets on the floor before you go to bed and they get all toasty. I even know some people use it to dry their clothes.
#5. K-Pop, also known as Korean Pop. This is a guilty pleasure but K-pop is so cheesy but it's so damn catchy and sugary. It's impossible to walk down the streets, especially the cell phone shops that generally play the music, and not hum the music for the rest of the day. I don't even know the lyrics for most of them but that doesn't prevent me from humming them all day.
#6. Korean Baked goods. Who would've thought, right? I've already written about papa roti, which i haven't had in a while but it is delicious none-the-less. I also put in a picture of the delicious fried pancakes on the blog, which are possibly the tastiest things on earth. Hoo-ray street food! Another big thing with my co-teachers are roll cakes, and mocha roll cakes are the best. Lastly, a new favorite are these little croqutte rolls which have savory foods inside. Some of them include spicy chicken, curry chicken, and vegetable. I know it sounds weird and I was reluctant to try but they are tasty. Think of them as the Korean meat pie/empanada.
#7. The English Translations. At my English School, there is a sign that says "Don't open the windows or you will hurt". An English School! Most recently I saw a sign in a restaurant that is on the second floor of a building, that said "When descending, take care the foot". These are the ones that stick out but some people wear stuff on their t-shirts where I'm sure they have no clue what's being said.
#8. The people. I know this is cliché but the people are really friendly and welcoming. According to Lonely Planet, Korean people are innately xenophobic or suspicious of foreigners but most people have been super nice to us. The first instance that suck out was when I was having dinner with some waeguks and a korean guy and the owner brought a bunch of cokes to our dinner table, which is a bigger deal than it would be in the states because fountain drinks don't exist outside MacDonalds or other fast food joints. There's also the owner of the Thai restaurant across the street who will offer me a coke or coffee free of charge and since I'm usually there once a week, he'll give me a small discount as well. Also, my first soccer game with the wonshot wonderers, some team brought us a plate of b.b.q meat, which was a nice gesture if nothing else because I was not going to eat some meat before our game.
Apart from the discounts, most people are excited to see foreigners and love to try and talk to you. If you even try and speak Korean, they love you even more. In some ways it's kind of like being celebrity to a lesser extent. I usually don't mind it but sometimes when I'm eating I feel like people are watching me. It probably doesn't help that I suck with chopsticks so that probably brings some more attention to myself.
Outside of the Koreans, I obviously spend a lot of time with waeguks, and I have met a lot of cool people. I've also met some obnoxious, token Americans, but I've met some cool ones too. I find myself hanging out with mostly British people, it may be from playing soccer, but that's usually how it goes. I've probably spent more time with Alick, a bloke from London, who you all met in my most recent posting if not before, which I attribute to him and I arriving at the same time and kind of being in a similar position. I've also befriended this couple from outside Kent, England, named Mal(colm) and Lu (Louise), and they're a blast to hang out with as well. They actually have been traveling all around Asia, been to China and Russia recently, so they're always good for an entertaining story. And then there is Craig, my co-teacher and fellow country-man who has been like a godsent, as he knows where to go to eat, which buses to take, etc. I'm pretty sure I'd be in a ditch right now if it weren't for Craig.
I'm sure there are some other little things out there that slipped through the cracks of this post, but I think I hit on some key points here. I'm sure I'll post some more little things as they come about. Hope you're all well.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Chris and Alick's trip to Vermont....... errr Gyeongju
I am writing this as a warning as I wrap up this post. This post is quite long so make sure you have some time to read this. I am not to be held responsible for people arriving late to work, missing classes, not spending time with loved ones, etc.
Last week being New Year, our school was given off from the 31st until the Monday the 5th. My English friend Alick, who had a similar vacay schedule to mine, and I decided to get out of Ulsan and see some of Korea. Wagons north, towards Gyeongju.
So we met at 4:00 on New Years Day, which is just an indication of how hard we partied on NYE, and got a cab to the train station in Ulsan. Within 20 minutes we've boarded a train and get to Gyeongju in another 50 minutes or so.
After searching, for what seeemed like hours, for a suitable place to spend the night, we came across a hostel recommended by Lonely Planet. The first night in Gyeongju was pretty mild as we had both been out late the night before.
Before I get into the meat of our journey, please let me give a little info about Gyeongju. Gyeongju is a city of about 270,000 people or so, well according to Lonely Planet it is, but it is a pretty significant city. Back during the Silla Dynasty, which was from around 57 B.C. to 945 A.D., Gyeongju was the capital of Korea. Gyeongju itself probably has more monuments, temples and so forth than any other part of Korea. Once the Silla dynasty fell apart, Gyeonju became lesse relevant.
So day one, Friday the 2nd, we stroll around downtown Gyeongju to what I call "Tumuli Park" which is this park with all these Tumulis, or mounds. The Tumuli mounds are where they buried the kings during this period, much like the Egyptians and the Pharoahs. We were able to go into one which has since been turned into a museum with relics of the period.
We strolled around some more in the park, saw some observatory made of stone, got lots of stares from children and adult koreans alike, all in all a typical day. Next stop was the Anapji pond, which used to have some cool bridges and buildings but they were burned down so all that's left are some relics and some models of the bridges/buildings. I think it was the Japanese that burned it down somewhere in the 16th century, so I'm blaming you, Summer Masuda, for robbing me of this experience.
We then caught a bus from downtown Gyeongju to the outskirts to see the Bulguksa Temple. Bulguksa, much like the other temples, is kind of like a square with a couple of different halls that will have a golden buddha statue inside and lots of candles, incense or both. Also, part of the buddhist experience is buying a corndog on the way up the mountain to the temple.
While in the area we decided to stop on over to Seokguram Grotto which is some buddha shrine in this mountain. It's supposedly a UNESCO site, as is Bulguksa, but is underwhelming, well at least at 4,000 won (3 dollars or so) to enter. I guess carrying a heavy stone buddha statue up a mountain in the 7th century was some kind of feat or something.
After visiting Seokguram, we decided to head back into Central Gyeongju for the evening. The second evening, we stayed in what is called a yeoinsuk, which are these little dingy whole-in-the-wall places right off of the main street in Gyeongu (well yeoinsuks are all over Korea I guess). We tried asking the lady for 2 beds, one room, I actually learned bed and was able to ask that and also ask how much, so my Korean is improving, but we soon realized that it was not possible. To describe it, the room was a closet with a single bed, a stand with a t.v., 3 foot narrow path to get from door to t.v., and then a bathroom about 5 foot wide-5 food long-8 foot tall, with a toilet, sink, shower spray hose and bucket (your guess is as good as mine). If you do ever come to Korea and want to do it on the cheap, yeoinsuks are the way to go. Also, the bed had an electric heating pad on top of the mattress, brilliant.
The following day, the 3rd of January, we head out to the area close to Bulguksa, only a little bit further away from everything, and go to Golgulsa Temple. Alick and I had both heard about a thing called a Temple stay, where one stays in a Buddhist temple for the night and Golgulsa provides such programs so we decided to give it a shot.
We arrived just after lunch time on Saturday but just in time for archery, 2:00. At precisely 2:16 I realized I still suck at archery. After walking around the temple, which has an impressive stone carving of Buddha in the mountain, we had dinner then got ready for the evening chants. We did the chants, which was more or less standing, bowing, crouching down and doing it all over again. We were never explained what was going on so we had no clue the whole half hour. I imagine it would be like dropping a Korean person into a Roman Catholic Mass given in English or so.
After the evening chant we did Sunmudo, which is a martial art done by the Korean Buddhist Monks. Golgulsa is apparently the capital of Sunmudo and never hesitates to mention it. Our training was more or less split up into 40 minutes of breathing/stretching exercises, 30 minutes of martial arts moves that we could not do, and then about 20 minutes of meditation/demonstration. End of sunmudo, return to rooms and go to bed, lights out at 10.
The following morning, it's rise and shine at 4:00 and be at the morning chant at 4:30 in the morning or else it's 3000 bows. After the chants we did some more meditation and walking meditation.
Next we had a ceremonial breakfast which was by far the most complicated eating experience but very rewarding as well. The whole meal was consumed in silence and we were given 4 bowls, all sitting together, and had to take them out one by one with out making a noise. Then the monks would walk by and dole out your portions and you would rotate the bowl to let them knwo you have enough food. You also did not want a lot of food as buddhists don't waste so you have to eat everything. In the smallest bowl, you put your vegetables and kimchi. 2nd smallest was clean water, then the soup bowl and the biggest was rice. You had to take one piece of kimchi and put it in the soup to take off the red pepper and then put it in the rice bowl to save for later as you would use this piece of cabbage to clean your bowl. Then, eat everything in your bowls, bit by bit. Then they would give you some water, take the water and kimchi (holding it with chopsticks) and clean your rice bowl, move the water to soup bowl, then vegetable bowl, then drink it. Then take the clean water and do the same process, thus cleaning your bowls 2 times. The bowls should be pretty clean the 1st time so that by the second time you rinse your bowls they are clean. The idea is buddhism is all about mindful practices, so you should be mindful when eating, cleaning etc. Then when finished, the monks would pick up your clean water and it had to be clean because they give you clean water and then you give them back clean water. Whatever amount of water wasn't clean you had to drink. Confusing right? Just remember to be thankful you have brillo pads and not shreds of cabbage for cleaning!
The temple then had some trips to some local sites, which included the ruins of a great hall from the Silla Dynasty, King Munmu's underwater tomb and Girimsa Temple site. About King Munmu, he was so big on protecting the nation that he told his people that when he died he wanted to be buried in the East Sea (Sea between Korea and Japan) in the hopes that he would turn into a Dragon and protect Korea. So that's what his son did, or so they say. It's never been proven either way but there are a bunch of rocks some 200 meters off the shore which are cool to look at.
Next is Girimsa site, which to paraphrase LP (Lonely Planet from now on will be LP), is about the size of Bulguksa Temple, as far as number of buildings, but is less visited because of it's location. I actually enjoyed Girimsa a lot but I had already taken a bunch of photos so I was kind of sick being a tourist at that point.
Alick and I then got back to the temple and decided we were sick of being buddhists and decided to skip lunch at the temple and head back to Ulsan.
Some things that Alick and I learned that weekend. Number 1, being a buddhist is incredibly painful. We spent a lot of time sitting on the floor "indian style", which stopped being comfortable somewhere around age 10 or so. Also, the whole bowing, kneeling and sitting on the tops of your feet was incredibly painful after 5 minutes, but doing it for a half hour, geesh.
Number 2, it's hard to clear the mind at times. We both said that when meditating how hard it was for us to keep our mind off of our "to do list", women, football, etc. Buddhism is much easier when you live in a temple in a mountain that is pretty far from most of civilization. It's also a lot easier when you do it frequently, I guess the same can be said of the bowing, kneeling etc.
Number 3, the temple stay was kind of disappointing. I thought it was going to be really traditionally but instead I saw the head monk look at his cell phone as we were going to do the Sunmudo. Also, it was hard for me to get anything out of the chants as I had no clue what was going on. For me, the best part was the ceremonial breakfast, I think mostly because that's what I expected the experience to be. Not talking, cleaning everything with cleaned kimchi, etc.
Lastly, Gyeongju is really a pretty cool place. It doesn't have much of a night life, maybe in the university are but not much going down in Central Gyeongju, trust me, Alick and I tried and failed miserably, but there is a lot to see. I think we saw a lot but barely scratched the surface of the city. Apparently there are some hiking trails, waterfalls, some big pagodas, etc. all on the outskirts of the city. The parks are also supposed to be nice when the cherry blossoms come in during the spring. I definitely could see myself doing a one day/one night trip there sometime.
Wrapping it up, if you're still reading this post, #1 hats off to you. #2 some small housekeeping items. Happy New Year to everyone. I'm not big into New Years but I hope you all had a great one and hope this is a good one for you all. And finally, after much failure, I've decided to stop putting up pictures on the blog. I've come to this conclusion for mostly 2 reasons. First of all, I put them all on facebook which is easier to use, and it takes a lot of time to put pics up on both facebook and the blog. Secondly, whenever I try putting the pics up on the blog, it always seems to end up messing up the format and leaving me dissatisfied. I even do a check before I publish and it will look good, and then it sucks after publishing.
If you don't have a facebook account, get one (L\looking at you Marianne Herricht). This is the 21st century, you know. But if you must be stubborn, then send me an e-mail or leave a request on the blog and I will e-mail them to you but I make no guarantee of when you will get them as I am notorious for being slow to respond. If you have a facebook account and you're not one of my friends, what are you waiting for, add me today for the low, low price of 19.99. No seriously, just look up my name and add me, there is no fee.
That is all. I hope you enjoyed this segment of Chris in Korea: The T.V. Miniseries.
Last week being New Year, our school was given off from the 31st until the Monday the 5th. My English friend Alick, who had a similar vacay schedule to mine, and I decided to get out of Ulsan and see some of Korea. Wagons north, towards Gyeongju.
So we met at 4:00 on New Years Day, which is just an indication of how hard we partied on NYE, and got a cab to the train station in Ulsan. Within 20 minutes we've boarded a train and get to Gyeongju in another 50 minutes or so.
After searching, for what seeemed like hours, for a suitable place to spend the night, we came across a hostel recommended by Lonely Planet. The first night in Gyeongju was pretty mild as we had both been out late the night before.
Before I get into the meat of our journey, please let me give a little info about Gyeongju. Gyeongju is a city of about 270,000 people or so, well according to Lonely Planet it is, but it is a pretty significant city. Back during the Silla Dynasty, which was from around 57 B.C. to 945 A.D., Gyeongju was the capital of Korea. Gyeongju itself probably has more monuments, temples and so forth than any other part of Korea. Once the Silla dynasty fell apart, Gyeonju became lesse relevant.
So day one, Friday the 2nd, we stroll around downtown Gyeongju to what I call "Tumuli Park" which is this park with all these Tumulis, or mounds. The Tumuli mounds are where they buried the kings during this period, much like the Egyptians and the Pharoahs. We were able to go into one which has since been turned into a museum with relics of the period.
We strolled around some more in the park, saw some observatory made of stone, got lots of stares from children and adult koreans alike, all in all a typical day. Next stop was the Anapji pond, which used to have some cool bridges and buildings but they were burned down so all that's left are some relics and some models of the bridges/buildings. I think it was the Japanese that burned it down somewhere in the 16th century, so I'm blaming you, Summer Masuda, for robbing me of this experience.
We then caught a bus from downtown Gyeongju to the outskirts to see the Bulguksa Temple. Bulguksa, much like the other temples, is kind of like a square with a couple of different halls that will have a golden buddha statue inside and lots of candles, incense or both. Also, part of the buddhist experience is buying a corndog on the way up the mountain to the temple.
While in the area we decided to stop on over to Seokguram Grotto which is some buddha shrine in this mountain. It's supposedly a UNESCO site, as is Bulguksa, but is underwhelming, well at least at 4,000 won (3 dollars or so) to enter. I guess carrying a heavy stone buddha statue up a mountain in the 7th century was some kind of feat or something.
After visiting Seokguram, we decided to head back into Central Gyeongju for the evening. The second evening, we stayed in what is called a yeoinsuk, which are these little dingy whole-in-the-wall places right off of the main street in Gyeongu (well yeoinsuks are all over Korea I guess). We tried asking the lady for 2 beds, one room, I actually learned bed and was able to ask that and also ask how much, so my Korean is improving, but we soon realized that it was not possible. To describe it, the room was a closet with a single bed, a stand with a t.v., 3 foot narrow path to get from door to t.v., and then a bathroom about 5 foot wide-5 food long-8 foot tall, with a toilet, sink, shower spray hose and bucket (your guess is as good as mine). If you do ever come to Korea and want to do it on the cheap, yeoinsuks are the way to go. Also, the bed had an electric heating pad on top of the mattress, brilliant.
The following day, the 3rd of January, we head out to the area close to Bulguksa, only a little bit further away from everything, and go to Golgulsa Temple. Alick and I had both heard about a thing called a Temple stay, where one stays in a Buddhist temple for the night and Golgulsa provides such programs so we decided to give it a shot.
We arrived just after lunch time on Saturday but just in time for archery, 2:00. At precisely 2:16 I realized I still suck at archery. After walking around the temple, which has an impressive stone carving of Buddha in the mountain, we had dinner then got ready for the evening chants. We did the chants, which was more or less standing, bowing, crouching down and doing it all over again. We were never explained what was going on so we had no clue the whole half hour. I imagine it would be like dropping a Korean person into a Roman Catholic Mass given in English or so.
After the evening chant we did Sunmudo, which is a martial art done by the Korean Buddhist Monks. Golgulsa is apparently the capital of Sunmudo and never hesitates to mention it. Our training was more or less split up into 40 minutes of breathing/stretching exercises, 30 minutes of martial arts moves that we could not do, and then about 20 minutes of meditation/demonstration. End of sunmudo, return to rooms and go to bed, lights out at 10.
The following morning, it's rise and shine at 4:00 and be at the morning chant at 4:30 in the morning or else it's 3000 bows. After the chants we did some more meditation and walking meditation.
Next we had a ceremonial breakfast which was by far the most complicated eating experience but very rewarding as well. The whole meal was consumed in silence and we were given 4 bowls, all sitting together, and had to take them out one by one with out making a noise. Then the monks would walk by and dole out your portions and you would rotate the bowl to let them knwo you have enough food. You also did not want a lot of food as buddhists don't waste so you have to eat everything. In the smallest bowl, you put your vegetables and kimchi. 2nd smallest was clean water, then the soup bowl and the biggest was rice. You had to take one piece of kimchi and put it in the soup to take off the red pepper and then put it in the rice bowl to save for later as you would use this piece of cabbage to clean your bowl. Then, eat everything in your bowls, bit by bit. Then they would give you some water, take the water and kimchi (holding it with chopsticks) and clean your rice bowl, move the water to soup bowl, then vegetable bowl, then drink it. Then take the clean water and do the same process, thus cleaning your bowls 2 times. The bowls should be pretty clean the 1st time so that by the second time you rinse your bowls they are clean. The idea is buddhism is all about mindful practices, so you should be mindful when eating, cleaning etc. Then when finished, the monks would pick up your clean water and it had to be clean because they give you clean water and then you give them back clean water. Whatever amount of water wasn't clean you had to drink. Confusing right? Just remember to be thankful you have brillo pads and not shreds of cabbage for cleaning!
The temple then had some trips to some local sites, which included the ruins of a great hall from the Silla Dynasty, King Munmu's underwater tomb and Girimsa Temple site. About King Munmu, he was so big on protecting the nation that he told his people that when he died he wanted to be buried in the East Sea (Sea between Korea and Japan) in the hopes that he would turn into a Dragon and protect Korea. So that's what his son did, or so they say. It's never been proven either way but there are a bunch of rocks some 200 meters off the shore which are cool to look at.
Next is Girimsa site, which to paraphrase LP (Lonely Planet from now on will be LP), is about the size of Bulguksa Temple, as far as number of buildings, but is less visited because of it's location. I actually enjoyed Girimsa a lot but I had already taken a bunch of photos so I was kind of sick being a tourist at that point.
Alick and I then got back to the temple and decided we were sick of being buddhists and decided to skip lunch at the temple and head back to Ulsan.
Some things that Alick and I learned that weekend. Number 1, being a buddhist is incredibly painful. We spent a lot of time sitting on the floor "indian style", which stopped being comfortable somewhere around age 10 or so. Also, the whole bowing, kneeling and sitting on the tops of your feet was incredibly painful after 5 minutes, but doing it for a half hour, geesh.
Number 2, it's hard to clear the mind at times. We both said that when meditating how hard it was for us to keep our mind off of our "to do list", women, football, etc. Buddhism is much easier when you live in a temple in a mountain that is pretty far from most of civilization. It's also a lot easier when you do it frequently, I guess the same can be said of the bowing, kneeling etc.
Number 3, the temple stay was kind of disappointing. I thought it was going to be really traditionally but instead I saw the head monk look at his cell phone as we were going to do the Sunmudo. Also, it was hard for me to get anything out of the chants as I had no clue what was going on. For me, the best part was the ceremonial breakfast, I think mostly because that's what I expected the experience to be. Not talking, cleaning everything with cleaned kimchi, etc.
Lastly, Gyeongju is really a pretty cool place. It doesn't have much of a night life, maybe in the university are but not much going down in Central Gyeongju, trust me, Alick and I tried and failed miserably, but there is a lot to see. I think we saw a lot but barely scratched the surface of the city. Apparently there are some hiking trails, waterfalls, some big pagodas, etc. all on the outskirts of the city. The parks are also supposed to be nice when the cherry blossoms come in during the spring. I definitely could see myself doing a one day/one night trip there sometime.
Wrapping it up, if you're still reading this post, #1 hats off to you. #2 some small housekeeping items. Happy New Year to everyone. I'm not big into New Years but I hope you all had a great one and hope this is a good one for you all. And finally, after much failure, I've decided to stop putting up pictures on the blog. I've come to this conclusion for mostly 2 reasons. First of all, I put them all on facebook which is easier to use, and it takes a lot of time to put pics up on both facebook and the blog. Secondly, whenever I try putting the pics up on the blog, it always seems to end up messing up the format and leaving me dissatisfied. I even do a check before I publish and it will look good, and then it sucks after publishing.
If you don't have a facebook account, get one (L\looking at you Marianne Herricht). This is the 21st century, you know. But if you must be stubborn, then send me an e-mail or leave a request on the blog and I will e-mail them to you but I make no guarantee of when you will get them as I am notorious for being slow to respond. If you have a facebook account and you're not one of my friends, what are you waiting for, add me today for the low, low price of 19.99. No seriously, just look up my name and add me, there is no fee.
That is all. I hope you enjoyed this segment of Chris in Korea: The T.V. Miniseries.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Christmas at Bench
On the 20th of December, Benchwarmers, one of the waeguk pubs in my neighborhood, had a formal Christmas dinner. The dinner started off with appetizers like pasta salad, veggie trays, deviled eggs and moving onto the main course there was chicken, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, roast potatoes, cranberry sauce and most importantly the desserts included mini cheesecakes, mini pecan pies, ginger cookies and more. After dinner, we went to the downtown area and sang Christmas carols in various establishments and the Koreans loved it. Here are some pics and vids from the event. Sorry for the shoddy camera work, I was several drinks deep into the night and also trying to walk and film at the same time. Also, I apologize for the singing for the aforementioned reasons.