Happy Birthday Buddha!

석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), meaning "the day of Buddha's birthday" or 부처님 오신 날 (Bucheonim osin nal) meaning "the day when Buddha arrived". Lotus lanterns cover the entire temple throughout the month in anticipation...








We decided to check out the temple that is located about a mile from our apartment. We originally had plans to go down south and visit one of the oldest and biggest temples in the country, but we decided not to at the last minute. We were thinking we should save the money for next week when my parents arrive from the US.

The temple was decorated beautifully. The whole park that encircles it was covered in lanterns as well and in the distance you can hear the concert and fair at City Hall. As you walk in the lanterns illuminate the korean folk musicians in their traditional garb. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were finishing their concert so I do not have video. Monks are sprinkled about the crowd with shoes off and seated on the ground. Hundreds of people observe the singing and tour the temple. The main temple where many go to pray is open to the public to enter, but only if you take off your shoes. I went in to take pictures and was able to observe several families and some monks bowing and praying. It was interesting to say the least.


I hope you enjoy the pictures we took. You can find more in our online gallery, but here is a sampling. :)

Loving the local harvest

I am loving the local harvest this week. Those who know my tastes would know I do not like watermelon. This afternoon, after much convincing from Jack, I tried some of the watermelon that Gwangju was famous for. It is the sweetest watermelon I have ever had. It was amazing! SO here is a shout out to the watermelon from Mudeungsan Mountain. If you are ever in the area, check it out. :)

STARBOX

As promised, here are the pictures...







So far so good. The gym has been great!

STAR BOX 스타 박스

After a rather embarrassing mix up due to pronunciation, Jack and I finally stopped scouring the Starbucks building and headed across the street to the star box (스타 박스) building. We have been looking for a health club to join. We looked all over. We discovered one directly across the street from our apartment building. It is Fitness FM located on the second and basement floor of the building Tom and Tom's is in. Tom and Tom's is the coffee shop of choice for all the young hip Koreans. As such the prices of the health club establishment are higher priced to attract them. Granted it is a beautiful gym and you get a member ship at both the gym and sauna, but you pay for it. It is 130,000 a month. We ventured down the street a bit to the less cool gym (where we honestly fit in better) and paid 130,000 for three months. Not a bad change. It was a lot cheaper.

Also we can pay a little extra and get a sauna membership as well, but I didn't think we would go enough to need it. You can pay 5,000 (approx. $4.41) to have a day pass to all the baths, steam rooms, and massages you could possibly need. It is a nice deal as long as you don't mind being publicly naked with members of the same sex. They split up the guys and girls, so there are no worries that way, but if you are super modest, this is not the place for you. The Jjimjilbang (찜질방) is no place for the shy. They offer massages, body scrubs, hot rooms, cold rooms, air rooms, hot rock rooms, etc. You need it, they got it. Just keep in mind all the women around you will be naked. It is a nice idea, but I would say go with a group (preferably with someone who knows Korean) so you don't accidentally wind up in the coed room butt naked.

The gym is nice. It is four floors up from the sauna on the seventh floor. The changing rooms are equipped with towels as well as clothes to work out in. When you are done you simply go in for a shower toss your clothes in the laundry and change back into your work clothes. The only thing you are expected to provide are your shoes. Also, the membership entails free aerobics and yoga classes. I figured while in Asia, do what the Asians do. Yoga it is. They have a million machines for cardio and a full weight machine and free weights section too. I am very excited to begin the training. Jack and I have set up a rewards program if we both reach our goal weights. His prize of choice was a PSP. Mine is a new ipod touch. Wish us luck. We have a long way to go.

A side note: Jack has already lost twenty pounds. Stupid boys: they skip a meal and lose a pants size. I diet for weeks and lose one pound. Somehow I have a feeling he will have his PSP long before I get my ipod...

Eungang Presbyterian Church (short unfinished promo)

This is the church we hold our English services at. Here are a few clips and pictures to give you a look inside! :)

I am not sure how to fix the fact that it is cutting off part of the video. To see it wide screen visit this link. Sorry for the formatting. As soon as I figure out how to fix it, I plan to. :(

Boseong: Daehan Dawon Green Tea fields...

May fifth around the country is a beautiful thing. At least it was to me. It was a school holiday so I got off of work. :) It is celebrated annually as Children's Day. On this day parents are supposed to do something special with their kids. Most opt for the zoo or aquarium. Also, it is customary to give gifts.

Since Jack and I don't have any kids and the one that we would consider ours, Eli (our black lab), is in the states. As a result, we just took a vacation day for ourselves. We traveled about an hour and a half by bus to the beautiful city of Boseong. As you travel to the city you make several stops to pick up other passengers along the way. You take the curvy endless roads and pass by beautiful rivers, terraced riced fields , and wild flowers running across the fields nearby. With the occasionally peak at a traditional house or even a temple tucked into a quiet mountainside, you begin to wonder if you are ever going to arrive.


Finally we arrived at the Boseong terminal. It was a bit run down and a bank of taxis waited patiently nearby. In my best, yet still terribly broken, Korean I managed to get out green tea festival. We were off. The W9,000 ride was well worth not boarding another bus. We arrived and drove right past the festival. We were unsure as to why, but our taxi driver signaled that we should walk up this secluded path. We stopped to get out a water bottle and he started honking at us until we made our way down the trail. Lucky for us we did. About 200 yards away it opened up to a gate and ticket booth where we purchased two tickets. As we entered we were underwhelmed. It was cozy and there were quaint restaurants, but I failed to see what the big deal was. As we walked a bit further, we came upon the most beautiful site. The trees opened up to a huge field planted alongside of what I consider a mountain (as I am from Florida) though others would consider it a very large hill. It was gorgeous. Jack and I spent the whole afternoon exploring up and down the mountainside taking pictures. We even took an unauthorized excursion up the side of a different mountain to see another one of the fields blocked off to the public. Shhhhh... Don't tell. :)
Overall it was well worth the trip. The pictures say it all. If you would like to see them all you can check out the direct link to our websites gallery. To end the day, we went into the gift shop and looked around and tried our luck at the restaurant where everything is made with green tea. (ie. green tea pasta, ice cream, meat, you name it) Sadly, we did not get to go to the rumored bath house (Jjimjilbang) where you can experience what it means to be in a teabag. There is a natural spring where you can bathe in green tea along with natural hot spring water. Maybe next time as we will definitely be going back. :)

Baloons=uprising?

Recently a batch of balloons were released by South Koreans and many North Korean defectors who wished to provide information to the North Korean people. The balloons were attached to bags full of pamphlets of hope, DVD's, world news, and even some money(about $3,000.00 worth to be exact). This was a bold move by the south. North Korea has already responded to the balloon release strongly urging the South Korean government to punish those involved in the release.

This is not the first attempt of its kind. There have been many outreaches to the North Korean people from the South. While the world looks at the North as crazy and cruel, they must understand the opinions are quite different here. Sure, the leadership is nuts, but the people themselves are only victims and, in all truth, prisoners of their unfortunate situation. The South Koreans view the people simply as disconnected friends and family. Many have been separated for fifty years or more without any news passed between them. Parents and children were separated, brothers and sisters, and family friends all were victims of an untimely split. While the world views a terrorist nuclear threat, South Koreans for the most part just see them as relatives.


It seemed crazy to me that the North would actually think that the South would agree to punish those involved. Many of those involved were former North Korean citizens who were smuggled out of the country or who escaped through China and made their way back to their homeland. Inside the balloons all they wanted to convey was a message of hope and freedom and it was seen as a criminal act by Kim Jong Il and his associates. Liberation is such a dangerous idea for the people, that it will be silenced at all costs by the government. There are already reports coming in that the North Korean government has tried to intercept the balloons.

Luckily there is no way they could intercept all of them. At least a few messages of hope will be received by those who are suffering in North Korea. Hope is a valuable asset. Sometimes we forget just how valuable. We should count ourselves lucky to have the opportunity to even hear about freedom, much less live it out daily.

Food for thought. To see a video of the release provided by BBC click here