Buddha the Birthday Boy

Anyeong! Another week down. I feel like I just put that last post up! Oh well. This week I will be updating you on our cooking class at Little America and Buddha's birthday celebrations in Seoul.

Let us start with the cooking class, shall we? As always, my girls don their cutesie aprons and begin creating whatever new food item the Korean teachers come up with. This week its a spongy, pink rice cake decorated with more rice cake in flowers and leaves shapes with the use of small cookie-cutters. A much simpler cooking class than those previous, this one took a short amount of time but the students were able to be very creative with their rice cake decorations. One student decided that the more the better and piled on endless amounts of rice cake flowers on the top of her sponge cake. Others went for the minimalist look, only wanting one or two flowers. Either way, the students could create this yummy treat and then eat it in about 5 minutes. A short-lived spectacle.

cutting out flowers

example product and inside of the sponge-rice cake

the more the merrier

and it's gone

I enjoy watching the students in the cooking class. I also learn some more Korean while I'm in there. One boy asked if he could eat his rice cake yet (in Korean) and I understood! I got really excited that I said, "Yea sure!" then realized that he still needed the photo shoot of him holding his rice cake (pre-bite) from the Korean teachers. Oops.

Can't say anything terribly exciting happened this week at Little America. Very much the same. My students are all doing well. They are getting nervous for tests coming up next week, but I've assured them they are all little geniuses and will be fine.

Now time for Buddha's Birthday celebrations! Korean Buddhism has been an intriguing topic for me since I arrived here. My temple stay experience earlier this year made me want to learn more and possibly do another stay at a different temple. Not only just the monk culture but the customs, beliefs, and overall spiritual feeling of Buddhist temples are inviting. I've looked into the history of Korean Buddhism and how it has changed over the years and I came across this segment taken from buddism.org (original url huh?);

 "Since being brought to Korea in the late fourth century, Buddhism has evolved under the influence of the Korean spirit. Based on Buddha's enlightenment and teachings of wisdom and compassion, 'Korean Buddhism' was created on the Korean soil by the Korean people. It has three unique characteristics compared to Indian and Chinese Buddhism. Firstly, Korean Buddhism is universal and liberal, especially in solving cultural problems...Secondly, Korean Buddhism protects the nation and the people. From the beginning, it has played a vital role in times of turmoil. While searching for its religious goals and ideologies, it has always been concerned with national glory and peace....Thirdly, Korean Buddhism symbolizes harmony. It has not only reconciled conflicting religious ideas and schools, but also harmonized religious disagreements between theory and practice."

Even just reading this makes you want to go to a temple and get that feeling of peace and tranquility, no? So technically Buddha's birthday is this coming Friday, May 17th, but Seoul had its Buddha's Birthday parade and festival this weekend. In Korean this day is called 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), which means"Buddha's birthday" or 부처님 오신 날 (Bucheonim osin nal) which means "the day when the Buddha came". In order to celebrate, Kaitie, Katrina, Seol and I headed out to Jonggak station to wander around in the absolutely gorgeous sunny weather until the parade began at 7pm. We walked through Insadong street, right near where Mum, Dad, and Edward stayed on their trip. The weather was slightly different this time though, trees covered in new green leaves and flowers sprouting up everywhere. I loved not having to bundle up against the cold. 

 

 Lanterns lining the street

There were a lot of people out that day, most likely doing the same thing we were. Just wandering around until the parade festivities began. We met up with some friends at a cafe nearby called Radio M and caught up until walking down to find seats along the main road through the city. 

I love sitting in cafes around Korea. It's where I can not only enjoy a yummy caffeinated beverage but also partake in one of my favorite pastimes, people watching. I can shop for cute clothes and shoes (though most of the time 4 inch heels and teeny tiny skirts aren't my thing), I can ponder why an 'agima' decided on those patterns to wear together, or just watch the little puppies go by with dyed pink hair or dresses and bows.  Its a great afternoon activity if you have nothing to do but wait for a parade to begin. After chatting for a while we walked to the main street where there were thousands of plastic chairs lining the shoulder of the road. We found some perfect front row seats where we got a lantern to hold during the festival with a candle inside!

For a while we sat wondering when they would shut down the busy road, as civilian cars were still commuting down the traffic-heavy road hoping to get somewhere. Eventually though, the policemen with their incessant whistling cleared the area for the parade to begin! As people around us began clapping I looked down the road and saw...

Taxis...

Covered in balloons...

Hoping that this wasn't a sign of what was to come I anxiously awaited the more traditional portion of the parade to make its way in front of our seats.

 
  Next came flag bearers and musical performers wearing traditional Korean garb, which is much more what I was expecting (phew!).

 

 

 As it began to get darker the lanterns started coming down the street. Now if you remember the lantern festival on the river that I attended over winter time, multiply the size of those lanterns by about 10. These were huge! Yet they still had just as much detail and beautiful colors as their smaller counterparts. 

Ps. I apologize ahead of time for the bright green road sign that made its way into the majority of my photos.

 With each few lanterns came a group of hundreds of people carrying smaller lanterns. Each group represented a different temple, or branch of a bigger temple. Either way, Buddhist temples from around the country participated in this parade. Women wearing gorgeous hanboks, people performing traditional Korean music, children representing their schools, and hundreds of other people walked through the streets to celebrate the birth of Buddha.

The picture above gives me chills. This group of monks was praying while they walked. Some of them in a trance of solemnity others smiling and waving to the crowd. There were even some small children wearing the monk's attire! I asked about this later and they were most likely orphans who grow up in the temple.

Small little monk

Next came a float with a young child in a wheelchair. At first I wasn't sure what this was and then I saw a group of students with special needs being led down the street. I suddenly got goosebumps and stood up to clap for these children. Honestly, I have only seen one group of students with disabilities since I arrived here in Korea. They do not have an inclusion policy, therefore these students are put in different schools and for the most part kept away from the public view. Not only was in incredible to see these children in this parade but it made me miss my students from Meadowood! I will miss them terribly this summer!

 Each performance would have something to "ooh" and "aah" about. This group carried Korean characters that spelled out a verse from the Bible. The group was HUGE and it went on forever! Such a neat idea, though I can't imagine trying to read it.

 And then things turned weird, as they always do. Some unearthly, Jurassic-park-style noises were coming from down the street and the lanterns became decorated with LED lights and moving parts. Turns out the strange noises were not in fact prehistoric creatures, but elephants... a common error.

Cue Kaitie and I singing "Moulin Rouge"

And a chicken

 Some lanterns even breathed fire! It was pretty incredible.

 Ladies danced on the tops of some floats, either leading a group of dancers behind them or just doing their own thing like this purple woman below.

 I think they forgot a piece of this one...must have left it at the beginning.

The parade was such a fun way to spend the evening! I even got a paper lotus flower from a middle school student walking by! Perks of being a foreigner. We left as the parade began dying down and headed to a place nearby to get some dinner. Sadly the restaurant we chose was out of pig's feet, which is what Katrina, Seol and the other couple we joined wanted to have. I would have tried it! If I can do chicken feet, I think I can do pig's feet. We ordered some boiled pork instead and enjoyed the meal with some beverages to celebrate. After dinner we found a tent on the side of the street and spent the rest of the evening playing games and chatting until taking a van home to Bucheon. Today I'm hoping to study a bit, clean a bit, and just rest getting ready for next week! Monday we have TOSEL tests with the elementary students, Thursday is a sports field trip with Kindergarten, that night I have a Korean lesson then a teachers' dinner to celebrate Teacher's day! Then Friday morning, bright and early, a big group of us head out to the beach for the long weekend! So looking forward to warmth and sun. Can't wait!

xoxox

Korean phrase of the post: 
오늘 날씨 뭐에요?  (ohneul nalshe mwoayo?) 
"What's the weather like today?

Safari Animals and Ball Pits

Hello from sunny (I know! sunny!) Korea. Spring has finally sprung and I no longer have to spend the first hour of my day trying to get feeling back into my fingers and toes! Thank goodness, because frankly that was just time consuming. Now my walk to work is less of a hunched over half-sprint and more of a cheerful prance.

Not too many updates from this past week. I was introduced to a younger Korean lady through a coworker who wants to do a language exchange, which is right up my ally. So Thursday she and I met at a cafe after work and we discussed what our goals were for our exchange. Her English is excellent. She is looking to just continue her speaking and listening skills with native speakers. I therefore gave an open invitation to join my coworkers and I on any excursions we go on so she can practice with us. My goal is to be able to hold a conversation in Korean. I want to be able to automatically understand what people ask me instead of getting flustered and taking a long time to answer even though I know how to. I have a textbook that Shanna provided me that I brought to the meeting on Thursday. It goes through a lot of vocabulary and situations that are useful, and some that aren't so useful. My new friend gave me homework to memorize 10 words a day until we meet again next week...so 70 new words, here I come! I think with this, along with Rosetta Stone and other websites I have found, I hope to really improve my Korean these next few months!

Friday we had a field trip with our kindergarteners. We took them to Woongjin Playroom which is right down the street from my apartment. We had previously come here for the tubing field trip in winter time. When we entered the play area we were greeted with a safari themed kid heaven. Stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes were placed around the entire play center. The center itself was broken up into different areas. Firstly was a track where students could ride motorcycles (tri-motorcycles?). These bikes went maybe 0.5 miles per hour but the students loved it going around in circles waving each time they passed us at the beginning again.

After the thrilling motorcycle ride, my girls ran to the next area which was a squishy and colorful jungle-gym. Similar to the ones that some McDonalds have? This playground however does not come with super-nutritious-mystery-meat unfortunately. Our group from Little America took over the play area for the most part. There was one other school group there with us, but overall our students had the place to themselves. After jumping on a trampoline about two and a half times, we had another mad dash towards the next entertaining activity. This came in the form of a pool of water about ankle deep with little boats that the students could float around in while an employee wearing rainboot-overalls monitored situation.

Commence giggle-running towards next activity. This room was my favorite. Baskets filled with foam food items lined the wall so the students could pretend to go grocery shopping and then take the items "home" to a kitchen play area to serve the food. One of my students, Jenna, and I have a very similar problem. Well, maybe problem isn't the right word, but anyways we both found it incredibly irritating that the baskets of food items were all mixed up. She and I therefore took it upon ourselves to organize the baskets of food. We decided on what baskets would hold carrots, apples, bananas, eggplant, etc. even making a miscellaneous basket for those foam foods that had been handled to the point of destruction and we couldn't figure out what they were exactly. Am I ashamed of this OCD behavior? No. I'm not. Granted 10 minutes after we leave the play area I'm sure there will be a fruit and veggie massacre and all of our hard work will go out the window, but if felt great knowing that, if only for a moment, all was in order in the grocery shopping room. Good work, Jenna.

Other rooms in this place included a princess dress-up room (you know where my girls wanted to go), a music room, blocks room, a sand pit area, trampolines, and a chance to fish for brightly colored, magnetic sea animals.

Oh no!

Our kindergarteners

 After the usual crazy photo shoot period it was time to get back to Little America to have our kindergarten market day where they are given some fake money to buy school supplies, toys, and candies. Many of them do not get the concept of money just yet. Several complained that they only got one dollar ($5 bill) while their friends got two (a $2 and a $3). Explaining the mathematics behind this was not happening, so once everyone was satisfied with their combination of $5 they began their shopping excursion. They had to practice the phrase "How much is it?" and then pay the appropriate price. Most students did a great job at asking how much each item was (everything in my room was $2 so I did a lot of repetition with them...). One student stood at the table and quietly pointed to things looking down at the floor. He just couldn't remember the question he needed to ask me and each time I reminded him he would ask and then forget again a few minutes later. He'll get it one day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Market day ended with a flurry of face painting, rushing to draw bunnies, dolphins, and soccer balls before the students needed to get on the bus and head home. Overall a very busy, but enjoyable day as field trip days usually are! Though when elementary classes started I kind of felt like this...

A fun weekend spent celebrating Cinco De Mayo at Cheap Shots in Bupyeong, spending time with new friends in Hongdae, meeting up with old friends who have moved to Daegu recently, and now very very sleepy. That's all for this quick update!

xoxoxo

Korean phrase of the post:
하이쿠를 쓰고 있습니다 (ha-i-ku-reul seuh-ko i-seum-ni-da) "I'm writing a haiku"

Dognapping a Jindo Puppy

This is going to be a long post so I hope you are curled up in your favorite chair with a drink of choice. Either that or at work pretending that you are doing some thing productive, either way is fine. We shall begin this weekend's festivities with the monthly birthday and song celebrations in Kindergarten. As with every party we start by performing our monthly songs in front of the other classes. The other teachers always find such cute songs for their kids, while my girls are singing a song in a french accent not knowing all of the words. Oh well, they looked adorable as always. Kaitie's classes performed "Baby Bumblebee" and "Old McDonald", Katrina's kids did an excellent rendition of "Rocketship Run", and Amanda's class stomped around in their "Boots".

She's so itty bitty!

 Here are my girls singing "Thank Heaven for Little Girls"!

The rest of the day went smoothly. After work, Kaitie and I grabbed a quick bite before taking the subway to Sadang station, about an hour from here, to meet our tour bus. This weekend we would be participating in a WINK (When IN Korea) trip to Jindo Island, which is off the southern coast of Korea. I have gone on several WINK trips before, and they have been a lot of fun! It makes traveling around the country so simple because they plan all of the logistics with regards to transportation, entrance fees, and sleeping arrangements. All we have to do is get to the bus on time (which actually proves to be difficult for some people). One time every year the ocean between Jindo Island and the small island of Modo-ri splits to form a walkable pathway between the two land masses. The legend states that the citizens of Jindo were attacked by tigers and therefore fled to Modo-ri to avoid becoming tiger food. One woman, Grandma Ppong, was left stranded on Jindo with the hungry tigers. She prayed to the Dragon King of the Sea to allow her to cross to safety. The king created this pathway for her to be reunited with her family. Now, we get to cross it in remembrance of Grandma Ppong! Pretty neat huh? Anyways, this parting ceremony would be one stop between a couple hiking trips and other excursions. Here we go!

Friday night at 9pm (ish) we hit the road to Wolchulsan for our sunrise hike. These buses aren't exactly 5-star hotel bed quality, so sleep is a bit difficult but you find semi-comfortable positions every hour or so. The bus stopped in the National Park parking lot to let us sleep until 4:50 when we made our way up to the cloud bridge! When we began our hike it was dark and you just tried not to trip over the rocks and sticks that littlered the ground in front of you. I think we probably looked like a group of zombies following each other one-by-one up this mountain. The hike was not easy by any means. The surface was very uneven and some parts were incredibly steep. While it was only about an hour hike, it was quite a workout especially as some of us were pushing ourselves to make it up for the sunrise. Once I reached the top the view was breathtaking. At about 120 meters up you can see smaller mountain peaks overlapping each other creating a surreal view. The clouds rested on top of these peaks which gave an eerie feel to the skyline as well. As the sun came up the mountains turned shades of red and pink. The pictures don't do the real thing justice. I could have stood there all day taking it in. Some people decided to stay in the bus and skip out on the hike. I felt bad that they missed this incredible site that I will most likely not experience ever again in my life. 

just the beginning

After taking in the sunrise, we crossed the "cloud bridge" which crosses over a very very very deep valley. As not the biggest fan of heights, I tried not to notice the slight swaying of the bridge as we crossed to an observation deck. The view was incredible, and you have such a feeling of accomplishment when you think about reaching that point so early in the morning. 

Notice the "Falling Danger" sign...

Yep- Laura, the heights scaredy-cat, did that!

As we made our way down, the early morning light created a story-book-like hike down through the woods and next to a waterfall. We commented on the lack of small woodland creatures, but maybe they are scared of huge groups of foreigners too. I definitely would be.

You can't really see it, but there is a teeeeeeny tiny red bridge up there where we were standing not long before this photo

When we made it down to the buses it was only about 7:30 and we had already accomplished so much! Our next stop off point was a jimjebang which is a group sauna where women and men (separately of course) can soak themselves in herbal baths and get scrubbed down until you feel all tingly and squeaky clean. While we did not have time to get the scrub down, it did feel good to shower after the hard hike that morning. It was my first jimjebang experience. I don't have a problem with nudity and here it's all women, so it's nice to not worry about being self-conscious about your body. Just go in, get clean, relax and talk about girl stuff! I would definitely do it again and maybe even get the full scrub? Someday. After we were all feeling refreshed we drove to a Jindo dog show! Our trip planner had gotten us into the Jindo Dog Park to see a trick show. Jindo dogs are bred only on that island in Korea. Considered a national treasure, these dogs are highly regarded around the country. They are known for their excellent memories and their lack of smell (always a plus). The dog performing for us was named Kongto. A gorgeous puppy, only 5 years old, that had been training for merely 4 months! His trainer had him climb ladders, get things out of a fridge, raise a flag, turn on lights, and jump through impossibly small hoops. This dog was incredible! We got to take photos with him after the show. (Saad family, doesn't he resemble Buzz a little bit? Maybe she was part Jindo)

 

Finally, it was time to go to the parting festival! At this point the weather was warm and sunny which was a nice change from the cloudy rainy business we've been having in Bucheon. Soaking in some vitamin-D, Kaitie and I wandered around the festival for a bit. Booths from countries around the world lined the streets selling anything from Turkish ice cream to Native American pan flutes. There was also an area to pet some Jindo puppies! As I held one in my arms I realized that my backpack was conveniently jindo-puppy-sized. What would they have done if I took the puppy and ran? If it is a national treasure, the consequences may have been a bit harsher than I would want to deal with at the moment. I'll have to wait until next time to snag one. He was just so cuddly! 

Kaitie and I wrote our names on the giant poster lining the railings at the festival and then hopped onto the boat to take us over to Modo-ri. Again, our trip planner got us into the festival on this side of the sea-parting extravaganza. Only 500 people are allowed on this side to cross back to Jindo, while the rest of the crowd starts on Jindo and comes to the island. 
 

Lo-ra and kay-tee

Here we were entertained by a large group of older men and women playing traditional korean drums, as well as fan dancing. There was also a man dressed as Moses (of course) competing in dance-offs with some of our trip members. It was at this time that the weather turned a bit over-cast and chilly. Not prepared for this change of temperature, a lot of us were shivering by the time we could cross the ocean! 

Laughing agimas and the statue on Modo-r

The excitement of actually crossing took our minds of the cold though. It was amazing to see the water slowly move apart every few minutes until we could cross to Jindo! Kaitie and I were prepared with our tall rain boots, as some parts of the crossing were almost knee-deep with water! Other friends we had met were not so lucky, wearing shorts and flip-flops. They said it wasn't too bad after the first 30 minutes or so, not because their feet and legs went numb of course.... Sounds pleasant no? I saw several crossers wearing strange footwear such as rain booties (which would just fill up with water), socks (also smart), and nice dress shoes (good luck with that). One husband was kindly carrying his wife across. Our trip leader was carrying his puppy in a bag on his back as the poor thing wouldn't keep above water at some places. As we walked some parts were rocky and dryer, then others were covered with a slippery, slimy seaweed also littered with sea life such as octopus, starfish, and sea slugs! The starfish were a gorgeous gray color with bright orange spots. I've never seen anything like them before! We began crossing at around 5:30, and it took about an hour to finally make it to the other side! At that time the tide was beginning to come back in and Grandma Ppong's freedom path would soon be ocean once more. I couldn't tell you how many people were crossing that day, hundreds and hundreds though! As we made our way back to the buses, more people were still trying to cross the historic ocean path. Boats are stationed in water along the path to help those who become stranded in the middle if they don't get across fast enough. At least they are prepared! This excursion was incredible. When would I ever get to say I walked on the ocean floor?

People came with buckets and were collecting sea animals and seaweed

One father came over to us with an octopus!

Amazing coloring on the starfish

Crowd coming towards us from Jindo Island. We were definitely going against the current.

People still crossing after we had made it to the other side!

Getting back on the bus to head to the pension (hostel), it hit me that we had done so much today and the night wasn't over! After freshening up back at the hotel we would leave for dinner in town at a Dwaeji galbi (돼지갈비) which is a sweeter pork korean bbq. Taking over the whole back area of this restaurant, we made new acquaintances and enjoyed the good food before going back for a campfire/smores evening. By the time we got back to the pension the few hours of sleep and early morning started to take its toll. I did a serious hit-and-run with a marshmallow (aka toasted one, popped it in my mouth and ran up to the room) and got to bed preparing for day 2 of hiking. Some of these trips are known for being a drinking-oriented experience. Therefore the majority of the group stayed up til the wee hours of the morning drinking and talking (well...screaming really). I didn't mind too much, I knew that I wanted to be able to enjoy my hike the next day so bed was my choice. The next morning you could tell who stayed up late and who got to bed relatively early. The pension we stayed in was located on a coast which was beautiful to see both at night and that morning! When I got up the tide had completely gone out and several agimas were out collecting things in the mud. A few houses down I saw a jindo dog tied up to a tree- he obviously was in dire need of an ear scratch. Don't you worry pup.

New friend. Probably wouldn't fit in the backpack though

view of the pension

It was at this point that the members of this trip broke into two groups. Out of the three buses that brought everyone down, 2 would go to Daedunsan (Daedun mountain) for a hike, and 1 was off for a tulip festival. While the tulip festival sounded fun, I signed Kaitie and I up for the second hike (sorry Kaitiiieeeeee). Jindo is about 5 hours from Seoul, and Daedun is in the middle-ish of the two. It was nice to drive half way home, hike, and then only have a few hours to get back to Seoul plus the usual dead-stopped traffic that plagues the city limits on a regular basis.

Anywho, Daedun provides two options. You can either hike the entirety of the mountain, or take the cable car up to the heaven-staircase-ladder-thing. Perhaps I was a bit ambitious but I decided to make the hike up. When would I ever be here again to try it? I joined a couple guys Kaitie and I met on the trek up to the top. It was not easy. I had to repeat Dory in my head throughout several tough climbs (just keep...hiking). We had to take a few short breaks to catch our breath. Of course, as with most mountains, there were hundreds of neon-clad Korean hikers out with their poles and long-sleeve clothing making the hike look easy! Granted I believe we may have taken the wrong way up (apparently there was an up route and a down route), but either way they did not look tired at all! When we finally made it up to the heaven-staircase my legs were feeling a bit jello-like. I wouldn't have traded the hike for the world though. The views were absolutely incredible the whole way up. Again, the pictures just cannot capture it, but I tried!

Just the start

 

View from the staircase

Now, to this ladder I've been mentioning. We had been warned that it was pretty dangerous. I believe the words from the guide were "I just wouldn't let go". Those were comforting. From the view at the bottom I got some butterflies in my stomach who realllllyyyy didn't want me to go up that thing.

Of course, I did it though! With only a few moments of Laura-what-the-heck-are-you-thinking, I climbed to the top to yet another breathtaking view of mountains and valleys around the area. Checking our timing, we had about an hour left before we needed to make our way back down to the buses to go back home. After the ladder there was this sign.

Notice the words "The Top". After a moment of looking at each other to see what we wanted to do...the decision was made. Of course we were going to "The Top"! Another hard push up 350 meters and we made it to one of the highest peaks of the mountain. I can't even begin to describe that feeling of being up there. You could see everything, even the little speck that is the cable-car we would be taking 30 minutes later.

The old cable car- not what were were going to take down...thank goodness

We did work!

On our way down we definitely decided that going up was less treacherous. I would occasionally hear the sound of people's shoes slipping on the stones behind me and a short gasp or "ah". I really did not want to have to carry any injured friend down the mountain. The potential for injury on this mountain was a bit daunting. Fortunately we made it to the cable car without any mishaps and clambered up the bus steps to rest on the journey back home. Leaving Daedunsan at 5:30 (ish) we met the expected Seoul traffic and finally stumbled out of the Sangdong subway station in Bucheon around 10:15. Not a bad journey overall. Was just so looking forward to falling into bed and getting some rest before the work day the next morning.

The next day I crawled out of bed because my legs did not want to work. Even though I stretched a little after that second climb, I definitely pushed my body hard yesterday and it was thanking me today! Good thing Elementary would be easier, because today we would be performing our songs! I was really looking forward to my classes showing our hard work over the past month or so. Only one student was absent, which is a plus. Unfortunately, the video did not work for my older girls singing "When will my life begin" from the movie Tangled, but I will download it from the school website and get that up soon! Until then, here is my 2nd grade class with our version of "Anything You Can Do"!

Well that's all for this weekend. Hope you didn't mind adding this to your book-reads list! This weekend is a bit less hectic, a field trip on friday, a few cinco-de-mayo and birthday celebrations, but besides that nothing too crazy. Looking forward to that! Overall, I really love these trips though. You meet so many new people from all over. Can't wait for our next trip to somewhere fun!

xoxoxo

Korean Phrase of the post: 예 그런 것 같아요 (yeh keu-reon geot kata-yo) "Yes, I think so"