Buddha's Birthday

Today was Buddha's Birthday. It's a national holiday here in Korea and so we got the day off school. It's quite a cultural event. I went with my friend Tanja, who I met at Korean classes and whose name is pronounced 'Tanya', down to Bonguensa Temple to see what was going on. It's a very pretty complex that is like an oasis in the middle of the big city. It's been there since AD 794. The oldest building is only 150 years old though. It also has a huge stone statue of Buddha. It was pouring all day long, but we still enjoyed it.





This past weekend was the Lotus Lantern Festival, which is the festival that anticipates Buddha's Birthday. Thousands upon thousands of lanterns are made and hung up around the temples and the city with prayer cards attached. Tanja and I went to Jogyesa Temple on Sunday, which is where they were holding the Festival. I have to say, it was more impressive than Bonguensa just because the shear number of hanging lanterns makes a ceiling around the building. It's very impressive and beautiful. Jogyesa also has three gigantic gold Buddhas in their temple. They must be 30 feet tall. It's very cool.

At the festival there were also tons of tents lining the street with a lot of free cultural activities. I took the opportunity to make a paper lotus lantern of my own. There were also quite a few people dressed in hanbok, which is traditional Korean garb. Apparently there was a lantern parade too on Sunday night with over 100,000 lanterns processing. Of course I missed it because I didn't realize it was even going on until it was too late. Oh, well, perhaps next year. At the temple today they did have one of the rooms darkened and the lanterns were lit up, so I got a taste of it. All pictures you see with umbrellas, by the way, were taken today at Bonguensa Temple. Those sunny pics were taken on Sunday at Jogyesa Temple.

After a little research I discovered the significance of the lotus flower. It's a symbol of the Buddha. It's a fragrant and beautiful flower which grows in the middle of dirty mud ponds. Buddha was a perfect person in the middle of our ugly world. It also flowers and bears fruit at the same time, which reminds Buddhists of the law of cause and effect. Everything that one does has a repercussions so you must think through all your actions.

Korean Phrase of the Day: Pi-gah wah-yo! - It's raining!

I really do work...

I guess it's about time I talk about my job, huh?

I teach preschoolers every day of the week from 10:00-2:30, then in the afternoon I have older classes. The preschoolers are 6 and 7 years old. The oldest afternoon children I teach are 13. I have to say, so far I'm preferring the preschoolers. This coming from the guy who has always professed to hate kids. They really are a good bunch. I have the largest preschool class, which is 10 students. And the are a handful, that's for sure, but for the most part they are excited to be there and enthusiastic to learn English. We teach in teams and the classes are split half the time between a foreign teacher and a Korean teacher. I work with Yeowah, who is like the super teacher of the school. It must the pheromones she exudes because the kids just fall into a lull and listen to whatever she says. It's amazing watching her work. I, on the other hand, spend a good portion of the time trying to reign them in so we can be productive. I'm getting better at it, though.

As far as language barrier, there really is none. The preschoolers speak excellent English. So well, in fact, that it makes me want to send my kids to a Spanish preschool once i have them if it'll yield the same results. We have a "No Korean" policy across the board in all of our classes and it's the preschoolers who comply better than their 13 year old counterparts. (Granted they are immersed in English for 4 1/2 hours 5 days a week.) Even when they're chatting amongst themselves during lunch about their cartoons it's in English. They just insert lots of hand gestures with each other. It's kinda cute. A normal preschooler conversation goes something like this:

"And then Young-soon go like dis! And den like dis. And den!...And den!...And den!...Boom! Pow! Bery bery big Kabooooom! Yeah!!! It was bery exciting!"

A lot of times I forget that English isn't their first language. They've even given me a nickname. They've converted my name, which they pronounce "Daybid Teacher", to "Baby Teacher". They get a real kick out of that. I admit, even I think it was pretty clever.

Elementary students are a whole nother bunch who I will discuss later. I just had really bad day with them yesterday. Tomorrow and Friday they face David Teacher's Dark Side. Muhahahaha. We'll see if I can deliver.

By the way. I added pics to the food post, just in case you've not ducked back down there to see them.

Korea's national past time

So I didn't do anything too exciting this past week. I did go hiking again. It's a good way to stay in shape. Koreans don't seem to believe in switchbacks. Their trails go straight up the mountain. They make for short, but very, very intense hikes. If they didn't have tae kwon do, hiking would be the national sport of Korea. Actually, I guess it's better labeled as a past time. Everyone loves to do it, especially the older generations. They get all decked out with their professional walking sticks, huge sun visors, hiking boots, and nylon pants and jackets. 70% of Korea is mountainous, so there is no shortage of places to hike. There's even a national park that lies within Seoul city limits. It's to the north of town, but I'd like to out there one of these days. My trail is literally 5 minutes from my house.

I do have one critique. For all their hiking expertise I don't understand Korean hiking etiquette. People here don't seem to want to to stand aside when I want to pass them. I tend to hike pretty fast and so catch up to people. In the U.S. most people stand to the side for a brief second so that they can be passed and not cause the person behind them inconvenience. Not here. You have to wait for an opportunity to pass if you want to get around which sometimes takes awhile. I don't know. Maybe it's rude to pass someone in the first place.

Moment of the week: Seeing the ocean from my neighborhood mountain. It was difficult to see, mind you, because of the haze, but it was still pretty cool.

The Palace of Shining Happiness

This past weekend my roommate Art and I went to see one of the royal palaces Seoul, called Gyeongbokgung, or the Palace of Shining Happiness. Most of the palace is reconstructed, having been destroyed by the Japanese and the Korean War. However, the complex is still pretty impressive, and they've only reconstructed about 40% of the buildings. The construction is pretty simple compared to European palaces, but the main buildings are extremely colorful with elaborate hand painted designs covering the structures both inside and out.

Unlocking the mysteries of Korean food

One of the most common questions I get is what’s the food like? So here you go:

I’m glad I inherited my Dad’s taste buds, which require that everything be doused in hot sauce, because Koreans love their food spicy! The only spice they possess is hot red pepper, but they use it on everything. Their most famous dish is called kim chi. That’s fermented strips of cabbage covered in hot pepper sauce and it’s served at every meal. It’s really quite gross, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually. Did I mention that it’s served cold?

Koreans love their fresh seafood too. Outside nearly every grocery store and quite a few restaurants, just sitting on the sidewalk, are fresh fish tanks with all kinds of interesting sea life. Besides fish I’ve seen eels, crabs, sea sponges, every type of shellfish. Even a tank swarming with baby octopus. Actually, in E-Mart there was an octopus as big as big as volley ball. (That’s just his head, mind you, with arms he was a lot bigger. E-Mart, by the way, is just like a Wal-Mart, in fact they bought out all the Korean Wal-Marts. When I say grocery store, I’m referring to smaller Mom & Pop places.)

Despite the seafood I reserve most of my “what the hecks” for the school lunches. I serve and eat lunch with the children everyday. Sticky, sweet translucent noodles. Brown, tasteless gelatin cubes (mook). Black beans that are only cooked just enough so that your teeth don’t shatter trying to chew them. Small heaps of green vegetation, (seaweed perhaps?). I did, however, recognize the tiny tentacles as coming from either a baby squid or a baby octopus. Yup, everyday my students and I dive into a new culinary adventure. (Keeps my gastro-intestinal system on its toes.)

Okay, enough. Korean food isn’t that bad. A lot of it is actually very good. One of the coolest restaurants is an all you can eat buffet of raw meet. You cook it on hot skillets in the middle of your table- delicious! Koreans love their floors, and fittingly, there are many restaurants that seat you on the floor in front of low tables. Two of the other teachers took me to one such place dubbed the Dubu House- dubu is tofu. There I tried panjeon- kind of like a pancake with meat and veggies in it. It was probably the best thing I’ve tasted yet. Rice wine is great. Kim bop- like sushi- it’s egg, and veggies wrapped in sticky rice wrapped in seaweek. Hot pots are really delicious too—bubbling pots of everything that they place on the table in front of you. They ensure a hot meal for the entire seating too.

And of course, Korea has quite a few of the American fast food joints. McDonald’s & Burger King yes. But Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts are even more popular, believe it or not. For the most part, Korean food is very tasty. We’re just going to have to have the chef work on those school lunches. Even the students hardly ever finish their food.

What the heck of the week: ppeondagi--boiled silkworm larvae. Sold on the street and believe it or not, probably smells worse than it tastes. I'll let you know when I'm brave enough.