Temple Stay

Since I’ve been in Korea, I’ve wanted to do this thing called a temple stay. It’s where you go to a temple for a weekend and learn about Buddhism and see firsthand how the monks live. So last week Jay, one of the Korean teachers helped us get a reservation and book a night for the temple stay. She originally was going to go with us, but something came up, so it was just Erica, Steve, and me. We started mid morning with the usual meet at ECC plan. We took a taxi to the bus terminal and after a little confusion with town names we finally got the right tickets and got on a bus to “Buan” not to be confused with “Muan”. After about an hour bus ride we arrived in Buan, and since we running a little late, instead of trying to figure out the city bus schedule to the temple we decided to just pay the couple extra won and jump in a taxi.

We eventually made it to the temple, arriving a little late, but we only missed the “orientation” which was all in Korean anyways. Lucky for us there were two Korean girls that spoke English, also attending the temple stay. So she helped us get dressed in our “monk” outfit and helped us get our little gummy shoes. We were then taken to our little “huts” and told us dinner would be at 5. Steve was taken to another hut with 2 other guys. Dinner wasn’t too bad, typical Korean food…


After dinner we had “tea time”. It was a traditional Korean tea ceremony with the monk. We all sat on the floor gathered around this little table and as the monk was setting up and making the green tea, we were told to ask him any questions we had. He spoke no English, but our friends were nice enough to translate some interesting things he was saying. Such as how monks believe in a second life, so there is no need to rush through life and figure everything out, and a few other interesting beliefs. I’m sure it would have been a more interesting discussion if it was in a language I could understand. But it was really cool, non the less. I asked him why monks shave their heads, which was probably irrevelent to the conversation, but I wanted to know, and that was the only question I could think of at the time. He said it was something about one of the pains they have and something about rebirth each day or something…I don’t know the translation was kind of confusing. He had a good sense of humor though, he made fun of us a few times, being the only foreigners, and at one point when discussing our ages he asked me to marry him. Good times.






So after downing about 12 cups of green tea, we headed back to our huts and called it an early night, considering we had to be up the next morning at 3:30am. Well 3:30 turned into 4:00 for me in Erica, since our temple stay helper man didn’t wake us up as he promised. We quickly rolled off the floor and got in line to go to the temple. We took our spots in front of Buddha (or the 3 Buddha’s I should say-past, present, and future) and started the bows. It was a pretty surreal experience, with the monks doing their chant and banging their drums. It was still dark outside and I was still half asleep, so it almost felt like a dream. The bowing was definitely harder than I expected. It was the full bows from standing - to your knees – to your head on the floor. Then back up, and then down again…and so on. I’m not sure how many we did, but we later did 108 bows, which wasn’t too bad. I actually enjoyed it, because it was slower and it was very relaxing. (The 108 bows stands for something, but don’t ask me, because I don’t know)

Anyways, after all the bowing it was finally time for breakfast. Little did I know would be the worst breakfast in my life. So we get our bowls and silverware and everything, and we take our spots on the mats on the floor. The monk was there and he was going to show us the traditional way to eat breakfast. We did this whole rinsing of the bowls thing first, which was just swishing water around in one bowl and then pouring it into another bowl and so on. He picked some volunteers to help serve the food, obviously not us because we were clueless. Lucky for us we got to serve ourselves the rice as she came around with the pot, and also the seaweed soup and kimchi and the other mesh. This was good, because Korean culture (and especially Buddhism) you have to finish everything on your plate, no exceptions.

The rice and kimchi was no breakfast burrito, but I ate it. When everyone was finished someone came around and poured water in our bowls to clean them out. We were supposed to grab a radish to use as a sponge to rub off the leftover rice on our bowls, but I didn’t get one and the man next to Erica forced her to get one, but she ate it not knowing that we were supposed to save it. So after rubbing the bowl with my fingers and swishing the water from bowl to bowl again (we had 4 bowls) another person came around to collect the water in the pot. NO food though, we were supposed eat the remainder rice kernels. When the girl brought the pot of water up to the monk, he looked in it and saw one tiny piece of food floating in it and told her to give back the water. So that big pot of community dirty water was then distributed back into our bowls and yes, we had to drink it.

After gagging that down, the more difficult task was getting up from sitting Indian style for 2 hours. I never thought my legs could hurt so much from just sitting. Once breakfast was over we helped clean the floor and clean the dishes and then filled our water bottles to prepare for “trekking”. We all piled in a small little van and they brought us around the mountain to a part where we could hike up and then we could just hike back to our temple.

The hike was fun. It was a little too hot to be wearing our long sleeve outfits, but other than that it was really nice. Everything was so green and we stopped at some really beautiful spots with lakes in between the mountains and also a really pretty waterfall.

All in all it was a really great weekend and it was probably the best thing I’ve done since I’ve been here. It wasn’t touristy and it was so authentic and traditional, it was just an awesome experience.

Fright Hike

This past weekend I somehow agreed to go on a hiking trip to Jirisan (지리산) : the mainland’s highest mountain, which pretty much means the highest mountain in South Korea: 1915 meters/6,283 feet. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but figured it would be fun, and I only thought about how hard it was to go up, not down… We left Saturday morning and 2 taxi fares and 2 bus rides later we were at the mountain. I was ready to go with my mini backpack filled with only Gatorade and food. We started off pretty well, there were 11 of us, so everyone split up and went at their own paces. I figured I would be with the slowest group the whole time, considering I don’t do a whole lot of hiking. My excuse was “There are no mountains in Florida!” Anyways, I surprised myself and broke off from the group to go a little bit faster. I met up with a few others from the group a few times, but I was by myself most of the time going up, which was actually kind of nice. Everyone met at the shelter that we were staying in, which was a little more than halfway to the very top. I was exhausted and very excited to rent my used blanket and sleep on the hard floor.

The next morning a few of us woke up early to watch the sunrise and to continue to hike to the peak. It was all going pretty well, until I got about halfway up and I started to realize that we would have to come down this same way. This trail to the peak was about 2 hours long and was straight up, if that gives any perspective on what is was like. It wasn’t just a dirt trail either, it was giant rocks that had to be climbed. So I finally made it to the peak after falling behind from pure panic of having to go down. The top was absolutely beautiful, but I honestly didn’t enjoy any of it, because all I could think about was going down. If I’m not in a harness or secure in an airplane or something I am really afraid of heights. So let’s just say going down the mountain was one of the scariest things I’ve done. I thought I was going to fall and then just keep tumbling down. I went down on my butt on the really steep parts. Oh and the mini frozen waterfalls along the rocks didn’t really help either.

Mickey, one of the Korean teachers at our school stayed with me, because she was taking it pretty slow too. We ended up walking the whole way down together, and she taught me a new Korean word that sums up the whole trip: Chuketta!! (It’s killing me!)

Mom's visit

So my mom came to visit me a few weeks ago. I was super excited. I still had to work, so she got to come in and see the kids and watch me teach, which was nice, because it’s really hard to explain my schedule and exactly what it’s like to teach these kids. There’s not too much to do in my town, but I found a few things for us to do. I took her to a traditional outdoor market where the vendors sell everything from sting-rays to the insides of pigs, and all sorts of other things. I also took her to a few of my favorite restaurants and had fun watching her struggle with sitting on the floor and eating with metal chopsticks. I luckily managed to get Friday off, so we could go up to Seoul together for the weekend before she left that Sunday.

My mom booked a really nice hotel for us to stay in, which was a nice change from tiny little bunk-bed hostels I usually stay in when traveling. Seoul was great, lots of street shopping and fake purses. We went to three of the best markets in Seoul. Insadong – many shops with souvenirs and celadon pottery. Namdaemun – a large outdoor market where you can buy just about anything. Designer purses, wallets, fur coats, jewelry, etc. And lastly, Itawon - famous in Seoul for shopping and eating American food. It’s located right outside the military base, so it’s full of Americans and English speaking vendors. It’s personally my least favorite shopping area, because of this. All of the tourists go there too, so the vendors don’t bargain and their prices are much higher.

On Sunday we did some sightseeing. We went to the Deoksugung Palace and were able to dress up in Hanboks, and see the changing of the guard. From there we walked to the city hall area and down to the biggest palace – Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was a little chilly, but it was a nice sunny day, and not too crowded. That night we went to the Korea House and watched a traditional show, with dancing and awesome drum performances. At the end they ran out and got people from the audience and they dragged my mom up there to end the show with drumming and dancing. I was laughing so hard, I could barely hold my hand still to take a picture.

The whole time my mom was here I realized that I’ve kind of adapted to living here; the food, the people, the customs. My mom would point out things and say “Oh, that’s odd!” and I would have to take a second look and think “That happens every day, hmm but yea I guess it is odd”. I’m used to seeing old ladies carry things on their heads, and eating seaweed almost every day, and taking my shoes off everywhere, and people bowing to me, etc.

It was a great visit, and I am so happy that she got to come over here and see what I’ve been doing and experience Korea!

Korean aerobics class :)

A few weeks ago Erica and I decided to join the gym. That way we could get in shape and do something after school other than sit on our couches and watch NCIS. We found a gym within walking distance and signed ourselves up. After a few days of running on the treadmill and trying to figure out the machines with weights in kilograms, we opted to try one of the aerobics classes that they offered. Aerobics classes are always a little difficult going in for the first time and not knowing the routine and what to expect. But it’s even harder going into an aerobics class when the trainer is speaking Korean.

The first one we went to was a strength toning class. There were a few old grandmas going in the class, so we felt a little more confident going in. We’ve actually become friends with one of them. We made our way to the back of the room to avoid major embarrassment, but as more people came in we were forced to go closer to the front. We immediately knew who the instructor was when she walked in the door with her tight tube top and the tiniest shorts I’ve ever seen. As we began the routine it was all pretty basic with stretching, lunges, and arm exercises with little dumbbells. That was until the hip movement began. I don’t think I’d ever moved my hips that much in my life. Throughout the whole class we were swinging our hips and doing pelvic thrusts. I thought I was pretty coordinated, but when it comes to hip shaking and lifting the weights at the same time I struggled. It might have been because I could not stop laughing.

The other class we went to was the step class, which was also quite entertaining (for both us and the people watching us). Trying to follow along with the fast step moves and the music getting faster and faster was a defiantly a challenge. We eventually got the hang of it after bobbling up and down on the step box. The best part of the class was in the middle of the routine when we stepped away from our boxes and did a ‘dance’ routine to a techno version of “It’s Raining Men”. Which, yes included more hip shaking and Beyonce booty moves. I almost fell on the floor laughing.

So it’s been a fun experience at the gym. We love the classes and we go almost every day. My mom came to visit last week!! I’ll have to do another update this weekend maybe.

Kinder Graduation

So, I never thought a Kindergarten graduation could be so intense and be rehearsed and perfected so much. That was until I partook in a Korean Kindergarten graduation. They practiced for about 2 months, memorizing lines and learning cute dance moves.It was a little disconcerting to see these 6 and 7 year olds being pushed around and drilled so hard to memorize their lines and do a bunch of dances and songs. But in a way it was kind of interesting to see how much kids are actually capable of doing (but at what price?) It was quite the production. It was a fantastic show, and I had a lot of fun. It started off with the presentation of diplomas with a few speeches and songs. Then each class got dressed up in cute little outfits and did a skit and a dance. After that, all the Kinders did a group song and dance to the song "Summer Nights" from Grease. In between everything the boys did a Taekwondo act and the girls did a sign language song. They also did a Korean drum show and a variety show. In the variety show they had several groups of kids play as Korean pop stars and sing and dance to popular songs. It was really funny, especially since some of the foreign teachers had to be in the dance too.



I was in one of the skits and had to say my lines in Korean. Yea. All the kids said their lines in English and I had to say mine in Korean. It was a Peter Pan skit and my lines went a little something like this: “Na Peter Pan anneya, Na Peter FAN ee-lagu. Na jome na jau!! ECC ga-sau su-eup he ya, dwen da maleya!” Which translates to – I’m not Peter Pan, I’m Peter FAN. Let me go! I have to go teach at ECC!




At the end of the show all of the foreign teachers got on stage with matching Superman hoodies and had to sing and dance to a Korean Superman song. I’m sure it was a great laugh to all the parents to hear us “sing” in Korean and do a funny dance. Overall, it went smoothly and all the kids did an excellent job. It was a bitter sweet goodbye. I was happy to be finished with all the graduation practices and all the end of the year stress, but it was a little sad to see those kids go.

Here is the song that we had to sing and dance to (with English subtitles). The dance is a little different though:

Korean Superman

Skiing in Korea

When I first came over here, I was definitely dreading the winter. Coming from Florida, and not even owning a winter coat, I knew it was going to be a cold winter. The one thing I was looking forward to was skiing. I love to ski, and I was really excited about going. The first time I went was back in November, and I went with Whitney, Erica, Jason, and 3 of the Korean teachers (which was good because they helped us with the bus, ski rental, and everything). We got up at 5am and met everyone in front of Dunkin Donuts to catch the bus. About 2 hours later we made it to Muju. There was not a lot of snow on the ground, but the slopes were fine thanks to the artificial stuff. We all got our skis and snowboards and were ready to hit the slopes. Unfortunately, everyone in Korea thought it was a good day to go skiing too. There were so many people, or I should say there were so many snowboarders. I would say the ratio of snowboarders to skiers was probably 80-20. That made it a little uncomfortable going down the slopes and hearing the snowboarders buzzing by on both sides, I almost got ran into many times. The ski lifts all had really long lines. We waited about 40 minutes in the longest line. The best thing about the ski lifts was the guy standing at the end of the lift, when it was time to get off. He would bow at everyone getting off. I mean, I know it’s a normal thing here, but man that must get pretty annoying to bow every 7 seconds.


After about only 3 runs (because we waited so long in the lines) it was time for lunch. They don’t have lodges here with cozy fireplaces, instead they just have a cafeteria that serves lots of kimchi and rice. Luckily there also have a Popeyes there too! So, greasy fried chicken and french fries it was for me. After a few more times down the slopes it was time to head back to the bus and back to Gwangju.



I went skiing another time in January, and then again this past weekend. We had a 4 day vacation for the Lunar New Year. So we decided to spend 2 of those days in Muju; Me, Whitney, Jake, Devon, and the new teachers Matt and Melissa. It was a lot of fun and we were pleasantly surprised to see the slopes practically empty! Totally opposite from the past 2 times I went. The Lunar New Year is such a big family holiday for Koreans, that everyone was at home and not on the slopes. It was fantastic. No lines, no crazy snowboarders, and no fog. It was a really clear and we could see all the mountains. We stayed at a hostel in the ski resort, which was literally just a room with blankets, a fridge, and a TV: no beds. On the down side the floor was hard and it was a small room for all of us, but on the up side the floors were heated, so it was nice and warm. It was a good weekend, and hopefully I can go skiing again before the winter is over.

Korean wedding and mystery meat

Last month I got the opportunity to go to a Korean wedding. One of the Korean teachers at my school was getting married. I was expecting to see a traditional Korean style wedding, but it was actually more western style. The ceremony was held in a place called “Marriot Wedding”, which is apparently where many weddings take place. When we arrived there, we didn’t really know where to go, luckily some of the other teachers got there at the same time. We followed them into this little room, and the bride was in there – just sitting there – with everyone taking pictures around her. It was very different; because it seemed like that should have just been a room for family and a few close friends to come in. It’s a great idea though, because she didn’t have to move, and anyone who wanted to see her and take a picture with her had the opportunity to do so. And oddly enough they even brought the groom in there to take pictures before the ceremony.

After everyone got their pictures, it was time for the ceremony to start. We took our seats in the nicely decorated wedding hall and got our cameras ready. The mothers were both wearing Hanboks (traditional Korean dress) but other than that, the bride was wearing a dress and the groom was wearing a tux. From there on everything was pretty much the same, the bride walked down the aisle with her father. Then the priest started talking for a long time. There were a lot of camera men, and they didn’t hesitate to get a good picture, they just got right up there and snapped away in their faces. When the priest finished talking they went to both parents and bowed, then another one of the bride’s friends, also a Korean teacher at my school sang a song. The weirdest thing was that as the ceremony was going on there were a whole bunch of people in the back, in the foyer near the entrance, just talking away, almost to the point where I couldn’t hear the priest (not like I could understand what he was saying anyway). Come to find out that all those people were waiting for the next wedding to start, because as soon as her wedding was finished another bride was already lining up with her father ready to walk down the aisle. Koreans don’t waste time.

Once the ceremony was over, there was buffet. Sort of like a reception, but without the dancing, cake cutting, etc. The food was really good! There was a lot of it too. The bride came to the buffet dressed in her Hanbok.

Ok, so changing the subject to food. Which to say the least is always interesting. I never considered myself a picky eater, but back home I never really ate spicy food or fish or anything that didn’t look appetizing. But living here has changed my “view” on different foods. I usually try everything now and eat things I probably never would have tried back home. You really cannot be a picky eater here, you could but you would starve. So to sound cliché, I’ve definitely broadened my horizons, food wise. There’s been many time where I’ve eaten things, and had no clue of what it was, which brings me to last weekend.

It was a pretty lazy and relaxing weekend. Did a little shopping downtown, and hung around the apartment. On Sunday Whitney, Erica, and I decided to go out for lunch, since we weren’t doing much and well it’s cheap to go out to eat. We wanted to try something new, so we went to this one restaurant which we’ve seen before, that looked pretty good. We walked in, sat down and did the usual language barrier sign language. The menu was all in Korean of course, but we usually can read something and figure out what it is, but this time none of the characters looked familiar. So we basically just pointed to something that looked good and hoped for the best. It was a barbeque place, so there was a grill on our table for us to cook it. Our waitress brought out our “mystery meat” and we all kind of looked at with confusion, and I guess the waitress caught on and decided that she needed to cook it for us, since we looked hopeless. As she put it on the grill, our big American eyes got even bigger when we saw the “mystery meat” curl up on the sides, looking like sausage. It smelt good, and was apparently not sausage because our waitress said “no sausage”. We kept asking her what it was, but she didn’t really speak any English, so she just smiled and nodded.

When it was finished cooking, we were a little hesitant at first, but went ahead and tried it. It didn’t taste too bad. The texture was a little strange, but with it seasoned and barbequed, I thought it tasted pretty good. The texture was very fatty. Erica kept saying it was just pure fat we were eating, but the waitress caught on to that word and said “no fat”. So we sat there eating this “meat” and had no idea what it was. Before we left the restaurant we took a picture of the meat and the menu to take to school and ask one of the Korean teachers what it was. Come to find out the next day that what we had eaten was…… pig intestines.

Awesome.