The Beach!

After my four days of  hard work at the temple, I took the bus out to Bonggli Beach. Erik and I planned to meet up and spend the Sunday before I had to go back to school hanging out and swimming. You can see me about to go back into the water. The tide was crazy that day because there was a big typhoon on it's way. I gave up trying to swim! I never really liked swimming in the ocean anyway.

I don't think this guy likes it either. Actually in the late afternoon the lifeguards were pulling everyone out of the water because the waves were getting too strong, and I don't think they felt like saving anyone.

Erik and I in front of the underwater tomb of King Munmu the Great, the 30th ruler of the Shilla Dynasty. King Munmu is famous for unifying the Three Kingdoms and wanted to be buried in the ocean so he could protect the Shilla from the Japanese. His cremated body is said to have been buried under the rocks or scattered over them. Anyways, we thought it made a nice background for a picture! Check out my awesome Sunmundo T-shirt as well. Too bad I shrunk it when I washed it in hot water =(

Erik and I found a nice motel right on the water. We had to walk like a mile before we found it though. It was nice to listen to the waves in the morning.

The coast is know for raw fish, so we decided to try. Not the biggest fan, but it was ok. I like Japanese sushi better. The restaurants all had tables outside, so we had a nice view of the ocean while we ate.

I didn't get to do the beach thing as often as I would have liked, but we did go again with Jenny. She invited us to Pohang to hang out with her and her family for a day. We stayed at her aunt's house and ate grilled clams. MMMMM they are so good. Much better than raw fish. Here we are looking for a taxi to go to another beach.

I don't remember the name of this beach. We had to take a half hour bus out there though. It was kinda funny because the whole bus was filled with rowdy high school boys....and guess where they went to school... Gumi! Of course there was a kid from Seonsan (Erik's school). So much for a vacation lol. The beach was pretty crowded that day. The Koreans really love those yellow tubes. You can rent them for like 5000 won. You can also rent an umbrella so that you stay nice and white.

Me having a swim.The  water was really nice, and the tide wasn't so strong so you could actually swim. Jenny is texting someone while she debates whether or not she wants to swim.

We decided that it was time for lunch, and Jenny decided she wanted raw fish. This guy is cutting the head off of our fish...while it was still alive =0. It was pretty fresh....

We thought that it would be fun to rent a tube. Erik didn't bring another pair of cloths so he just sat in the tube. He managed not to get himself too wet, and I was nice enough not to tip him over ;)

Jenny's turn!

And finally my turn. Jenny can't swim so she pushed me around while I sat in the tube.

English Plus Camp

After I got back from my vacation, I did another Summer camp. This one was called English plus camp, and was for the lower level students in 5th and 6th Grade.  It was a two week camp, but Jenny and I only had four or five boys most of the time. It was actually really fun to teach them and see them actually participating in the class. Usually they are quiet because they are to far behind. But this camp gave them the change to learn at there own level, and be with boys who were at an equal level. We worked a lot on at the alphabet and reading. 

I also did a lot of games. Here they had to find the differences between who, what, when, where, and why. 

Then we ran out of things to do so I made animal balloons with them. They didn't like the squeaky sound, and were afraid to tie the balloons themselves because they didn't want them to pop. 

My Summer Vacation: Gyeongju

After leaving Busan, I had a few hours to kill in Gyeongju before I had to check in at the Temple. I decided to do some touristy things and go to the museum. Again, it was really hot so I didn't feel like walking around outside too much, so I just ran from site to site looking for some AC. 

This is the Gyeongju Cheomseongdae, which is (Korea claims) the oldest astronomical observatory in East Asia. You can read more about it below.  

This thing is all over the advertisements in Gyeongju. It looks a lot bigger when you are far away, but when you get up close it looks pretty squat. Those big heavy bricks are pretty amazing though. 

Some big tombs that I thought I would take a picture of, but didn't care enough to go and find out who was buried there. 

The park had some beautiful lotus ponds, and the lotus were in full bloom. 

They were fun to take pictures of! 

This is the Gyeongju Imhaejeon site, also called Anapji hall. This is an artificial pond that was located on the grounds of the Shilla Dynasty Donggung Palace. The excavations show that it was once a a royal house during the Shilla Dynasty. 

Me at the Gyeongju National Museum. 

This is a Stone Age fishing net. 

I really liked these little clay figures. They are called Tou Figurines and they are representations of daily life during the Shilla Period. They date back to the Shilla Period (5th-6th cent.) 

This is a pitcher shaped as a "sacred beast" I guess. It is like a dragon turtle.  It was found in a 6th cent Royal tomb. 

Here are some more Tou figures. These animals are stuck around the neck of this vase, and are symbolic of abundance, longevity, and rebirth. 

A golden Shilla crown. The little jade pendants would be attached to the crown by golden chains. 

Some Koreans looking at a display. 

Lots of earthenware. 

This is a clay coffin. The body would be placed inside the jar and then buried in the small tomb. It is thought that these small tombs and coffins were used for child burials, or for second burials when only the skeleton remained. 

This house shaped urn is is similar to the style and appearance of a tiled rood during the Shilla Period. Perhaps it was created with the idea of giving the soul a place to lived in the afterlife. 

Her is Erik's zodiac symbol, the pig, No dragon though =(

Outside there are replicas of the famous stone pagodas around Korea. Here is a replica of  a pagoda at Bulguksa. I saw the real one though! 

I just had to take a picture of this dad yelling at his daughter. She just looks so sorry for whatever it was that she did wrong. 

This is the bell of King Seongdeok. 

The bell is famous for the images of the flying deities holding an intense burner. 

My Summer Vacation: Golgulsa Templestay

More of my summer vacation. Haven't had much time lately to sit and play on the computer, but today is the day before Chuseok (the Korean Thanksgiving) so I am just sitting at school (not wanting to do any work.) All of the teachers left early, but I didn't want to use up on of my vacation days so I am just going to sit here until 4:30. Anyway her are some pictures of my temple stay in Gyeongju. Golgulsa offers Sunmundo training  (a martial art) to people who would like to experience it. I didn't get as many pictures as i would have liked, but I will try to share my experience with you as best as I can. This is me in my temple stay outfit. I really love these pants, and ended up buying some at the temple (partly because they are so comfy, and partly because the one that they borrowed to me smelled so bad after two days of sweating non stop =P) 

After my day trip to Busan I got on the train and headed for Gyeongju. I did some sight seeing and then headed to the temple for check-in. When I got there they went over the rules and the schedule. I stayed four days an three nights. The rooms were really nice. Just a mat on the floor, a pillow, and a comfy blanket. I had a roommate from South Africa who was really cool. She was just finishing up her year in Korea, and decided to do the temple stay before she went home. There were also two other girls from South Africa, two from the States, two guys from Germany ans France, and some Koreans as well. There was also a summer camp going on so there were lots of whiny boys. We asked them why they wanted to do the temple stay and they replied "because my parents made me..." 

We had to get up at 4:00 am and walk up the mountain to the main temple by 4:30. A monk would come around and wake us up by hitting a gourd. When we got there, the monks were already sitting quietly waiting to start the morning chants. After chanting we went out to the deck to do morning meditation. It was about 5 o'clock and still dark. 

We meditated until the sun came up.

After seated mediation, we would do a walking meditation. We would all form a single file line and quietly walk down the mountain. I thought that it would be hard to get up and I would be really tired, but it was so nice to have a schedule and wake up slowly. It really made the day last longer. 

Here is the view of the main temple and the deck that we would all sit one for morning mediation. 

After walking mediation we had breakfast. All the food was vegan, (but sooo... good). You had to eat all the food that was on your plate, so I only started with small amounts and went back if I was still hungry. After breakfast we had about an hour to do whatever until our first set of Sunmundo training. I usually ended up taking a nap haha, but that made me tired when I woke up. But not for long because the training was so hard that I woke up right away!  

This is the inside of the Sunmundo school. In the morning we did more of a yoga type exercise. 

Most of the time out trainer was this guy from Norway that you can see at the front of the class. He spoke Korean really well, and used it more than he did English so all us foreigners were kinda lost. 

I hardly got any pictures of the workout because I was too busy! It was really exhausting, but it was fun to push yourself and find what your limits were. 

It was really hot while I was there, so I was sweating a lot. I wish I would have brought more shirts because I was going through three a day from all the exercise. I also ran out of deodorant =P. 

HAHA....This guy. We were eating lunch and all of a sudden these guys came in with cameras and started filming the cafeteria. Then this guy sat down next to my friends and I and stared to interview us. The other two girls left after they finished eating,  but the girl from Florida and I stayed to talk to him some more. We started asking him who he was and why he was here. He told us that he is kinda famous in Korea for driving his tractor around to big cities and sending and trying to encourage farmers and promote agriculture and stuff. I am not really sure what he was talking about lol. But anyway we talked to him for a bout a half hour and then we went outside and he did a formal interview with us. A couple weeks later my co-teacher Jenny came in and said her mom saw me on the morning news doing Sunmundo and was my friend's interview. 

Golgulsa means "Stone Buddha" Temple. This  Maya Tathagata Buddha was carved in the 6th century during the Shilla Dynasty. It was a fun climb up to see this Buddha. There weren't many steps, mostly worn in rocks and rope to help you climb better. 

This is one of the cave temples on the mountain. I can't remember the name of it though. =P 

Her is one of the female monks cleaning some Brass ware (maybe brass???) 

I just liked this little bamboo crane. I walked past it like seven times a day and never notices it was there. Then one day I saw it and thought it was cute. 

Here we are learning archary.  Around three we either did archery ot more mediation. I was really bad at it haha. Our teacher told us to aim lower because if one of the arrows goes to high it will go in the mountain and then we have to spend all day looking for it. 

Those are some of the monks and the 'real' Sunmundo students sitting outside of the school. 

Here is everyone gathering for evening chants. After the third day I was getting pretty go at knowing how to bow.  I thought that it would be hard to do all that bowing, but it is actually really relaxing. But after chants it was time for the hard core workout! This guy did a nice travel video and you can see some of the exercises we did, as well as a nice overview of the temple.
Travel Channel UK

This is a picture of the song we had to sing. You can look up the name on youtube if you want to hear the song. 

Homage to the Three Jewels   click here to hear!
Heart Sutra  We sang this one too.

I like this frieze of the different Sunmundo moves.

On my last night I had had two Korean High school girls as roommates. They were so cute . One spoke English really well so she was asking me all kinds of questions. They were complaining because they took there phones away haha. I wish I could have stayed one more night because I was finally not so sore and getting used to all the exercise. I plan to go back sometime this fall and try it again.