Well, I guess there are three months of events and things to recap....blerg! Where to begin? I have been in Korea for nine months, who would have thought I would last this long? I didn't on some days.. Because of the awesome economic climate and the fact that I just don't have enough cashola saved yet for my backpacking trip I am going to be in here until Nov. 2009. Right now I struggle with this decision daily, because I am ready to come home, however I truly believe that the end WILL justify the means!!! Or at least I hope so!
The good part of the deal is that I got a small raise and the school is paying for a roundtrip flight to Malaysia. Woohooo, my friend Lauren and I are going to be escaping to Malaysia and Indonesia for two weeks! I couldn't be more excited, I started this whole adventure to see the world, and world here I come. I am hoping that this taste of the backpacking life will keep me hooked to CDI until I can get away for the long haul. So far the plan is to start in Kuala Lumpur and then move onto Bali and Lombok. Lombok is considered surfer's paradise and with the right travel insurance we may indulge, maybe.... you have to be practical when you are well, me! Then we will make our way north to the island of Sumatra to drink soooooo muuuuuuch coffee and lay on the beach and try to find my long lost tan...
Okay, so what I have been up to in Korea? September was interesting. I went to a Buddhist temple for a 48 hour temple stay, and that was about 40 hours too long. Being a buddhist is not all love and peace.....well, it is, a little... It really is a lot of silence, being talked to sternly in korean and bowing.....oh so much bowing. Try going from standing up to crouched down with your forehead touching a mat 108 times. I did and I now have a pretty necklace to prove it. I know the 108 means something, but for me the meaning was lost in translation and probably earns a Wiki search at some point. Other joys of the trip were eating bland vegetarian food in silence....Buddhist don't believe in strong tasting food and it was apparent to everyone as we struggled to eat all we took. We also had some tea with offical monks and then played jump rope....That being said the second we were off the bus we headed for curry and beer, about the furthest thing we could get from our soon-to-be abandoned Buddhist lifestyle.
Drum ceremony at dusk
buddha buddha
A few weeks later we went to the 38th parallel, better known as the DMZ. The demilitarized zone is the area between North and South Korea. It is an interesting place with lots of rules and few smiles. There are tons of gestures towards peace.. the train tracks that will run at sometime.. the subway station that will soon service the north. It was interesting to see what the museum at the center had to say, because both sides had to sign off on the content and both sides of the story and opinions were displayed. Since the cease fire signing North Korea has tried three separate times to tunnel into South Korea, eeek! We walked down one of the tunnels and hit our heads a bunch while getting oddly wet. The last stop on the tour was an observation deck where you could view a propoganda city that was put in place to make people believe that N. Korea is an industrious country. I wish I would have got some good pictures, BUT the picture line we had to stand behind made it damn near impossible. On the bus trip home our group starting discussing joining a tour of North Korea tour this summer, I was very against this idea when I first got here, but I think it is more and more interesting to me now.
Train tracks to North Korea
North Korea
Our DMZ crew
The next big event was my mom's visit. We did a ton of shopping, took a trip to Busan, visited a palace, visited a really interesting museum, and much much more..I am sure that mom has given most of you the run down, so I won't go too in depth. I really enjoyed her being here and would love more visitors! For enticement, the won is complete shite, so your dollar is worth a lot right now!!!!
Mom and I exhausted on the subway
Anyone need $500 of Ginseng?
Changdeok-gung Palace
Suwon Folk Village
Performance at the folk village
Lunchtime in Busan
Can you say adorable.
pepper proprietor
Yummy!
Beomeo-sa Temple
The rest of October was spent being sick and putzing around Seoul. I am feeling a little remorseful because the weather just got super bad and the so-so weather we had before is looking ideal for sight seeing....oh, well....its winter here now. Which means it's FREEZING!
