Lanterns and Falafel

Yesterday I was able to cross yet another thing off of my "want-to-do" list here in Korea! This weekend was the last few days of the 3-week-long Lantern Festival in the heart of Seoul! This annual event brings people from all over the country to see the amazing artistic showcase that is the hundreds of lanterns displayed through the Cheonggyecheon Stream. We arrived around 5 o'clock when the festival began and with a hot drink in hand we began our walk down the stream. Luckily for us we got there at the perfect time! Because it was still light out, the crowds hadn't really formed yet so we made it into the venue with very little trouble. 

As the sun set, the already gorgeous lanterns became even more impressive! The lanterns represent important parts of Korean history and cultural traditions such as music, dance, and occupations. The lanterns are made with paper, and then covered with some type of protective plastic I think? We wondered how the lanterns would not turn to piles of mushy pulp after some of the storms we've had here. They had been up for three weeks, so they must be pretty resilient to weather! We made our way down, commenting on the intricate details of facial expressions and colors used for the lanterns. Some of them had moving parts and lights as well! 

Lanterns at the beginning of the show

You might recognize the drum from other posts!

Not only could you look at the lanterns but you could also add notes and wishes of your own to several lantern frames along the way. It was amazing to see one of the huge dragon frames covered with small paper notes from visitors over the past three weeks. You could also make your own small lantern to float down the river with a small candle inside! I couldn't get a good picture of this but it was beautiful to see the hundreds of small lanterns floating in the water together.

Notes on a paper dragon

Happy Little Lantarn Man

As the display continued down the river the lanterns became more and more elaborate and modern. One of my favorite displays was one that had lantern children from a wide variety of countries. Surprisingly to most of us the UK child was donning a Scottish kilt? I suppose its better than holding a pint of beer and having bad teeth. America, naturally, was represented by a Native American child. Overall though this really represented the coming together of all nations peacefully; I really loved it!

Once the sun was completely down, the crowds came. The side of the river became so crowded with people that it was difficult to get good pictures of lanterns or ourselves in front of lanterns without being jostled around or accidentally pushed into the river to become a human Popsicle (It was very cold...). I suppose because it was the last day of the festival, a lot of people followed our thought process and wanted to see it before they took it all down! There were volunteers in bright neon vests and star wars style light-sabers to guide the crowd down the river and keep everything in order. Thanks volunteers!


 Near the end of the display the lanterns turned into more recognizable characters such as superman, batman, and of course, spiderman. As well as a giant pineapple. Naturally.

No Spongebob though :(

Thank goodness you came Spiderman!

Overall, I loved being able to go to this festival! It was gorgeous and such a fun way to spend the evening with friends! I wished I could have seen the process of making the lanterns. It looks like it takes endless hours of work! The result is an incredible show of artistry and beauty for us all to enjoy. After walking the length of the display along the river and back, it was time to get some grub. Katrina and I had found an Arabic restaurant in Itaewan (near the army base) that we both wanted to try, so this would be our next stop! The owner is from Jordan, so I was looking forward to some authentic Arabic dishes. When we arrived we were greeted by the wonderful smell of cumin and tahini as well as Arabic music.

 
According to the others, this was the most excited I've been about food since I've arrived...you can't keep me from my falafel for that long! I go through withdrawal! We ordered a sample platter of hummus, baba ganoush, and labneh to have with our pita bread. We also got falafel...duh...and some delicious chicken and lamb dishes! The food was so good and it brought back happy memories of home. When we were full of yummy food, we decided to head out in search of a place to grab a drink or two to finish off the evening. After finding a lot of places completely full we stumbled into a Spanish Tapas Restaurant that has a wine bar upstairs. We spend the rest of the evening swapping stories and planning for future trips together.

Tonight we are sharing some Manchego cheese (thinking of you Papa!) and wine together before heading into the week of work. I hope everyone is looking forward to their Thanksgiving coming up! Although we will not really be celebrating it here, I will think about how thankful I am for all of my friends and family back home supporting my crazy trip out here and sending their love across the world. Miss you all and wish you a safe and happy holiday!

xoxo

Korean word of the post: 치구 (chingoo) "friend"

Kimchi Chefs

Shame on me, I posted out of order! Prior to the incredible experience of the temple stay, my kindergarten class had yet another unique field trip at Little America! Last week, we headed out to the Kimchi-making school about 5 minutes from our building. It is actually right next to Aiins World which has replicas of famous monuments and other landmarks from around the world. I have yet to visit, but as soon as the nicer weather returns I will definitely pay a visit!

When we pulled in, another school group was on a field trip as well. It was at this moment that I realized our 90's style sweatsuit uniforms are not as bad as old-man-golfing pants...

Yikes

 Kimchi (김치) is Korean's national dish. Whenever I ask my students what Korea has that no one else has, kimchi is usually one of the first answers (besides "Norebangs" and "Laura Teacher"). Not only is it eaten with almost every meal here, it is known to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Now whether that is true or not, there has been a lot of research regarding the pro-biotic content and its effects on cancerous cells as well as aiding digestion. Now enough of the scientific talk- lets get on with what happens when kindergarteners get to make this super-food!


The students were ushered into the kimch-making building where they were seated at a long table in front of a display table at the front of the room. It was at this table that the head kimchi chef would demonstrate proper technique and introduce the recipe to the group. There were even TVs further down the table so that students did not miss one step in the process! Unfortunately, the teachers did not get the opportunity to make kimchi (aside from Amanda Teacher who made her way into an absent student's seat...sneaky sneaky). We were on picture duty as we made our way through the kimchi splash zone that was our students' work station.

Yes Chef!

Even aprons, disposable sleeves, and long plastic gloves couldn't keep the mess of their uniforms.

Raddish kimchi roll

To begin, the chef introduced the different ingredients of the kimchi we would be making that day. Around the hall were pictures of all different kinds of kimchi. It is such a versatile dish that it has endless possibilities of ingredients and variations!

cabbage kimchi roll

Variations of kimchi

Even more variations including chocolate kimchi?

The students were then guided through the process. First, they mixed the kimchi "dressing" which includes a chili pepper sauce and several other ingredients. This had many students squealing and squirming because it was quite the messy task. Others had a blast and did not want to move onto step two! The next step was completely covering a head of cabbage that had been saturated and pickled in salt water. They spread the dressing into every nook and cranny (technical cabbage terminology) of the cabbage before "wrapping it up like a baby".

pre-squished plates

tentative squishing

proudly displaying her messy hands

The students really did have so much fun with this activity. They were able to not only get exceedingly messy but make a traditional Korean dish that they have been eating since day 1! Many of the students shared that they have made this with their mother, grandmother, or have seen them make it before. The tradition of several women getting together and making a gigantic batch of kimchi and then portioning it out for each family has been a part of Korean history for a long time. I hope that I will be able to make some kimchi while I'm here! The kids can't be the ones to have ALL the fun right?

I know you are all thinking- get on with it- how did it taste??
Oh
My
Goodness....
I am a huge fan of kimchi in the first place, so I really wasn't expecting anything better than it already is, but this kimchi was made with sesame seeds, honey, and some other sweeter ingredients that completely changed the taste! It was sweet and tangy and spicy all at the same time! The teachers got to sample a little of it, while the kids took a huge bag of their creation home with them...I warned my students that if they misbehaved for the rest of the day I would take their kimchi home with me instead. If you haven't tried kimchi before, you must go to a Korean restaurant, grocery store, or bug your closest Korean friend (or stranger...) to share some kimchi with you!

After the students were cleaned up through whatever means possible...

We of course had the usual photo shoot before we made our way back to Little America.

Swag

My kiddos

Another successful field trip day for all and the kids got to take home some amazing kimchi to their families! Lucky ducks...no... I'm not bitter...


Kimchi phrase of the post:  
야! 그건 내 김치입니다 
(ya! geuhgawn neh kimchimnida!)
 "Hey! That's my kimchi!"

Until next time- headed out this weekend to the Seoul Lantern Festival! Hopefully will be able to get some amazing pictures to share with you all! xoxoxo

Monks and Hammer Pants

안녕하세요! Hello! Just got back from Jeondeungsa Temple on Ganghwa Island, about a two and a half hour trip from home. At least in perfect conditions it would have been that long. In my usual Korean adventure fashion, the trip there was a bit more complicated than we originally planned out. Katrina and I headed out to the brand new subway station located conveniently around the corner from our apartments to begin our trip. Neither of us had used this new station yet so we were both excited! It's very sparkly and clean...for now...
Here is the breakdown of our trip:
Sangdong Subway Station (Our station)--transfer-->
Bupyeong Subway Station-->
Gyeyang Subway Station--transfer to airport transport line to Gamam Station---
walk to bus stop across a few streets to see the following sign...

Our bus number is there...but which direction should we go?

 Not sure exactly if we were in the right place, I used my incredible Korean skills to ask a lady also at the stop whether the bus would take us to Ganghwa-do (do=island). She said no and pointed to a large staircase leading to the highway bridge above us. She seemed pretty trustworthy and so we took her advice to go up to the highway and look for the 700-1 bus or the 90 bus, both of which would take us to Ganghwa. When we arrived on the side of the highway, centimeters away from speeding Korean drivers, we saw the sign showing the estimated time of arrival for the buses. the 700-1 bus, which we had originally planned on taking would not arrive for another 90 minutes...90 minutes!! When we were just contemplating how to let the temple know we would be later than expected the 90 bus pulled up. With a quick glance to each other we jumped on with no clue where exactly the bus would end up. After a call to Seol, he told us that this bus, while it did take us to Ganghwa, would take us to the other side of the island from the temple, thus requiring another hour bus ride to get to Jeondeungsa! He gave us an alternate route. We jumped off this bus after figuring out what stop we needed (Yeongok) from the completely Korean map in the bus and walked...and walked...probably a little over a mile or a mile and a half to another bus stop (Sinyang). Here we sat and waited for the 3100 bus that would take us to the correct area on Ganghwa-do. As we waited, we came up with back up plans in case we got there too late to do the temple stay. Both of us are too stubborn to give up that easily though.

Once the 3100 bus arrived we squeezed onto the already packed bus. I stood basically right next to the bus driver hoping he wouldn't do any seat-belt checks resulting in a Laura-shaped hole in the windshield (sorry for the graphic images). After about 30 minutes we finally made it to the bus station right near the temple (Onsuri). As we got off the bus we looked left and right...now what?

Again, I asked a group of Korean women "Jeondeungsa audi?" meaning something along the lines of "where Jeondeungsa?" in my caveman speak. They got the point across to us that they were going there too! So we now had some guides to lead us right to the temple.

Our guides to the temple- 감사합니다!

The temple itself is up on a mountain which allowed us to see the gorgeous leaves changing on the trees around the area! We checked in with our translator, Judy, and then received our temple stay uniforms and bed linen. When we signed up for the temple stay we hoped to do the "regular stay" which meant hiking in silence in the morning and completing daily tasks just as the monks do around the temple. Judy informed us however that the regular stay was too crowded and had a large group of middle school girls signed up that we might not enjoy, so she took it upon herself to change our reservation to the "relaxing stay". We found out that this just means we have a lot more free time to explore the area and meditate on our own. I was most concerned with not being able to do the 108 prostrations (bows) which was something I was most looking forward to but she assured us that she added it to our stay schedule! This change in our reservation also meant that we could have arrived at the temple later...meaning the rush from subway to subway to bus to walking to bus was unnecessary, but too late to worry about that now! Off to our room.

Our room is broken into three parts, two sleeping areas and a bathroom. We learned that we would be sharing this room with 4 other foreign visitors, two from England, one from Canada, and one from the US as well. They were all very nice! We had actually gone on the wine tasting trip with the British girls. Small world! We all put on our uniforms, feeling a bit silly, but had strength in numbers as we walked around looking silly together.

Aw for us? Thanks!

Entrance into the temple

Comfy hammer pants

Gorgeous fall leaves

That evening we met with Judy to go over the temple rules and the proper bowing form, which we would need to use for the traditional Buddhist ceremony that night. A couple of rules for the temple include keeping as quiet as possible (she told us this rule as a child ran by the room screaming his head off), and bowing hello to the monks as you walk past them. Also, upon entering the main hall we must half-bow once at the entrance, grab a prayer mat, half-bow to Buddha to say the we will do our three fully bows, complete the three full bows (placing forearms and forehead onto the mat) and then do another half-bow to tell Buddha we are finished. The three full bows represent three things; Buddha, Dhamma (the teachings of Buddha), and Sangha (the followers of Buddha). I was looking forward to trying this! Judy then took us around the temple for a brief tour explaining different artifacts and buildings. Jeondeungsa has a large bell, made by the Chinese centuries and centuries ago that is now considered one of the Korean treasures. Monks will ring this bell to signify the beginning of prayer. We were able to ring the bell that night after dinner! It was an incredible feeling when the bell vibrated through you.

 There were several small temples nearby our rooms each with a significant purpose. One temple was the main Buddha's temple, a temple where one prays for relief from illness and disease, and then another temple to pray for relatives safety from Hell and that they may enter paradise. The main Buddha's temple had small women carved out of wood holding up the roof (shown below). The story behind this architecture is that the man who built these temples fell in love with a woman long ago. He gave her everything he had and she left him with his money to be with another man. In Buddhism, they believe in forgiveness, therefore instead of allowing her to live with her sin, he built these figurines of her holding up the temple roof so that she may listen to the prayers everyday. They believe that if you hear prayers every day you will be released from sins and enter paradise. I thought this story was so touching and truly representative of the forgiving nature of those who follow the Buddhist faith.

Buddha

Woman holding up the temple roof

When we finished the short tour it was time for our temple dinner. We were all hoping to be able to eat with the monks, but unfortunately that was not the case. We did get better food then expected though! The meal included rice, soup, kimchi, and a curry that was actually delicious! After dinner we gathered around the bell and giant drum to hear two monks perform.
The drumming was mesmerizing!
Watching the monks put complete concentration into their actions was breathtaking. I wondered how long it took them to learn the intricate performances, or whether they improvised the rhythms? I did not get a chance to ask that question though as it was time for the traditional Buddhist ceremony in the main hall.

This part of Jeondeungsa temple has just been built, and has been in the news for the variation of the Buddha statue in the middle of the hall. Usually, statues in the Buddhist temples are gold-plated, however at this temple they have a pure-white statue. The white statues were really striking. Around the main Buddha in the center are 4 apostles, which are followers of Buddha's teachings. Each apostle represents a different life goal they were chosen to follow. One saves humans from difficulties, another provides humans with wisdom, the third shows devotion to practice and prayer, and the last saves humans from Hell. This apostle is also seen in the temple I mentioned earlier. When we entered the hall for the ceremony we completed the bowing sequence and waited for the monk at the front of the room to begin. He chanted and drummed to signify when to bow, stand, and sit. The chanting and singing put me in such a calm state. I tried to concentrate on the sounds and my body completing the bows, and it was truly relaxing. After the ceremony we were free to do as we pleased until bed at 9:30. We decided to stay and try to meditate in the hall for a while longer as another monk began his chanting and singing. I realized that I am really not good at clearing my mind. I can't seem to stop thinking about something, whether it is useless like what I needed to do when I got home, or even just thinking about the words of the song and how to spell them in hangul. This will be something I plan on getting better at, because maybe it will help me fall asleep at night!

After meditation we retreated to our room and set up for the night to prepare for our 4am wake up call which came all to soon. We rose and walked back to the prayer hall to get ready for the prayer ceremony and our 108 prostration session. The 108 bows represent the supposed one hundred and eight defilements or compartments in the mind. Each bow takes away one defilement, cleans one compartment in your mind. Judy set up a video for us to listen to each bow's purpose in English. Some of the ones that have stuck with me include;

"I prostrate in repentance for being unmindful of all those who have contributed to my learning and education"

"I prostrate in repentance for having disregarded our only home, Earth"

"I prostrate in repentance for my lack of compassion for those who are stubborn or hard to work with." and

"I prostrate as a vow to be positive in everything I do."

These are only 4 of the 108 bows that we completed this morning. I noticed throughout the bows that several of the statements made me feel guilty for things, others made me feel sad, and more made me feel happy. It was an emotional roller coaster of kneeling and standing. After completing all 108 we felt good! You truly feel like you accomplished a spiritual goal. While my legs were wobbling, I was so thankful that we got the chance to do them! Wobbling could have also been that we completed them at 4am and before breakfast, but you never know!

After breakfast the 6 of us got the chance to have tea with one of the monks practicing at the temple. We arrived about 20 minutes before Judy, meaning it was pretty silent as none of us had strong Korean and he did not know much English. When Judy arrived we enjoyed our tea and got to learn a little bit about this man and his practice. I asked the question of how long he has been studying and Judy turned to me and said "there are two questions that are considered taboo that you cannot ask a monk...that was one". Of course I would ask that one! He apparently took no offense to this and answered that he has been practicing since he was 13 years old! He was probably in his late 30's? He was at a temple in Buson and completed the solitary practice that so many monks do for years at a time. He said that during this time he would bow 3,000 times a day, every day. We calculated it and found that he would have bowed over a million times in a year! Imagine we only did a little over 108 that morning. This man was incredibly happy. He smiled and laughed throughout our meeting with him. One question was if he ever felt stressed with the intense rules and regulations of being a monk. He said if he did not have ways of relaxing and controlling stress, he would not be there. This was absolutely my favorite part of the weekend. At the end of the tea time he expressed his wish for us all to come back and visit on a weekday to truly experience his home without tourists everywhere. He also said he would learn English so that we could converse better- we quickly assured him that we would learn Korean too! As a gift, he gave us 108 prayer beads representing the bow session we completed that morning. The beads are made out of wood from the trees around the temple. He said that if we have trouble meditating or clearing our mind we should count the beads as we sit. The gift will be a reminder of my stay here and everything I learned and experienced from the monks and the temple.

All of the monks we interacted with around the temple were friendly and open to visitors. We learned that there are about 14 monks total in the temple but 8 of them are completing their solitary practice and do not socialize with the other monks or visitors in the temple. This dedication and complete devotion to their faith is incredible. I really hope that I can visit a temple again, if not this one then another. This was a great first-time experience, but next time I want to do more of the daily activities and possibly try to be completely silent the entire time. I think it would be difficult but a life-changing experience.

The rest of the day we had free to explore and relax more in the temple. A few of us visited the tea room and tried some 대주차 (Daejucha) which is a traditional tea made from Korean jujube dates. The tea was absolutely delicious. It had a thick and pulpy texture and was so sweet! A great way to end our weekend trip in a cozy tea room with some warm tea, surrounded by gorgeous fall colored leaves.

The trip back proved to be much easier, only one bus and a few subway transfers. We made it back exhausted but completely content. It was such an incredible experience and I cannot wait until my next temple stay!

Until next time! xoxo

Korean phrase of the post:

 평화 (peongwha)- peace!

Cheese and Puffy Rice

What else would anyone want to do on a lovely Saturday in Korea than go to a cheese-making school with a group of kindergarteners? This is exactly what we did yesterday. Bright and early, we met the kids and their parents at the school to drive out to the Imsil Cheese Village about an hour and a half away. I brought along my kindle to try and read some "Pride and Prejudice", but that did not work as planned. The students asked what I was reading so I let them take a look. They read a few words then said, "No thanks". It's OK kids, that's how I feel when I get offered some Jane Austin at first too!

The trip celebrates the graduation of these kindergarteners to first grade...in March...and it is now November...I don't ask questions. Anyways, when we arrive at the village, we are herded together with other families to the first of several stations. Lucky for us we get to stay outside in the freezing cold for our first activity- sledding down a hill on a railroad-track-like contraption.
As our kids sat shivering and bouncing up and down on the cold stone benches, our guide explained the safety rules and proper form. I was afraid they would complain about the cold and not want to sled, but when they were finally released to grab their toboggans and go, they were very enthusiastic! Running up the hill with their giant sled between them, partners sped down the hill together over..and over..and over...while the teachers stayed at the bottom taking pictures for the school website.

Phillies hat!

Sledding fun

After sledding and only a few minor accidents, including one student trying to be the sled instead of sitting on it, we headed inside to make some pizza! Once the students were seated 4-to-a-pizza station, we began the process. The school provides dough, sauce and toppings. After that you pretty much have free reign to create the pizza of your dreams- if you like cheese, mushrooms, olives, peperoni, "meat", and onions that is. Katrina, not the biggest mushroom fan on the planet decided to conduct a little experiment to see if we would get our same pizza back for lunch. We kept a fourth of the pizza mushroom-less for her and waited to see the results.

"Thank you pizza gods!"- he seems to say

Roll roll roll

What technique!

Our 1/4 mushroomless pizza experiment

The pizzas were put into the oven and we were herded outside to see the cows responsible for the cheese here! The whole presentation was in Korean, naturally, so Katrina and I tried to guess what questions he was asking the crowd. "How many cows does it take to change a light bulb?"..."What is a cow's favorite place to go on the weekend? The Moooooovies"... While these may or may not have been the actual conversations going on, we enjoyed the guessing game. We learned that the cows here are from the Netherlands, and that they have four stomachs. Our students were mainly interested by the very exciting bowel movement activities that the cows displayed regularly throughout the presentation. As the guide wrapped up the cow information session he handed out bottles of milk to the crowd and we got to feed the little ones! The kids were so excited as they held the bottle up for the calf.

hungry hungry calf

After the cows got their lunch it was time to get ours and to see the outcome of the pizza mystery...

"Show me happy pizza faces!"

Well as you might have guessed, we do not get the same pizza we create. So someone in the lunchroom today got gypped out of some mushrooms and Katrina got to picking out hers. As you can see there was some spaghetti as well. A very Italian lunch for our students today! What I wouldn't give for some of mum's bolognese though...mmmmm

After lunch we finally got the chance to make some cheese! First, we sat through a power point presentation about the making of and usefulness of cheese and dairy (graciously translated for me by some of my students) we could get our hands dirty. We were given a block of mozzarella cheese which we broke into tiny pieces and placed in a giant bowl. Then hot water was added to the cheese bits. We then squished and stretched the mozzarella cheese until it took a more traditional form. The kids had fun squeezing the goopy cheese mixture, and unfortunately so did I so no pictures were taken of our mozzarella making process! Next time, I promise.

By now it was about 1:00 and we still have a few more activities to complete for our graduation field trip. First, we get to make puffed rice. Rice is placed into a steel oven-like contraption and then the students get to turn the oven so the rice cooks evenly. After about 20 minutes, a bag is placed over the end of the oven and the rice is released with a huge bang of compressed air and powder. After getting a sample of rice we are then moved along to our final activity of the day- the clay station. Driving about 10 minutes away, we pull up to a tented area where two ladies help the students create clay bowls, which they will be able to take home in about a month.

This was a fun way to end our day. The students could be creative and messy which are two things they do best. Naturally I helped with the bowl-making and got covered in clay too. After snack, it was time to head home, but not before the usual hundreds of class pictures!

the gents

the ladies

I really did enjoy getting to spend the day with my kindergarteners. I've lucked out with a great class full of personality and fun! They all get along well together and enjoy spending time doing fun activities like sledding and stretching mozzarella cheese. I do hope that I get to move up with them to their first grade class so I can watch them grow and develop even more with their English skills. Overall the true sign that the kids had fun today is shown in the following photos...

Out cold

KO

The bus ride home was noticeably quieter than the way there...hmmmmm

Now it is time for me to rest up and get over this cold asap so I can be 100% healthy for the temple stay with Katrina next weekend! I am so looking forward to the trip and definitely do not want to spend it with a box of tissues and cold medicine.

Quick update about this past week- it felt super long but it ended with a celebration in my last class on Friday. I told them I would get them food to congratulate them on finishing their tough school tests so as I brought in a bag full of burgers and fries for them (by their request). When I walked into class I saw two huge boxes of pizza on the table already. Apparently one student told his mom we were having a party and she sent in the pizza to add to the festivities. Our little celebration turned into a full out feast. The students did not disappoint though, and they finished almost all of the food! I didn't mind having a fun class to finish my week, and they are all in need of a little silly and relaxing class time where they can socialize with their friends. Sometimes I think that's when they get the best use of their English skills too- telling stories and explaining experiences they have had. Next week it's back to the grind now that tests are finished!

Until next time :)

Korean phrase of the post: 친구 "chin-goo"- Friend

xoxo