Gapsa Temple and Drunk Koreans

So I have to put the drunks story on hold for a moment so I can talk about yesterday, but I promise it is worth the wait.
Yesterday was the medical testing and everything went well. We met up for an instructional meeting which actually took longer than it took for me to get through the testing. We had to pee in a paper cup and then pour it in a tube which of course we were thrilled about. The was a girl in the bathroom with us making sure we didn't swap samples or anything. When  she saw my sample she said, "wow it's not very yellow, you must drink a lot of water." I decided to be flattered rather than embarrassed and weird-ed out. Then we went into a room for most of the other testing. One woman measured your height and weight. The next tested your eyesight. Amy from Australia went before me. The woman was asking her a question and pantomiming but Amy didn't understand. Without knowing any Korean I was still able to tell that the woman wanted to know if Amy wore contacts. All that pantomiming with my Mexican grandparents came in useful. Can I say I'm bilingual now? English and Mime?
A woman looked at our teeth, a guy asked if we have had any diseases or conditions, and another woman measured our blood pressure. Then it was my favorite part. The blood sample. I brought my little bear that Bobby gave we with to squeeze. It actually hurt less than the last time I had blood drawn but it was still painful. The woman kept asking if I was okay and I told her yes. I didn't cry or have to sit down afterward so I call that a success. The last part of the tests was an x-ray. I don't think the men had to, but the women had to change into a robe and remove their bra and shirt. We did get to do this in the restroom luckily. In the bus outdoors was the x-ray. Yes, we had to walk outside through the cold with just the robe on and it had snowed that morning. You had to stand in front of the x-ray as close as you could. The man kept pushing me forward against it harder and was telling me to stay there. I am well endowed so I kept bouncing back off and he didn't understand why I couldn't stay there. I'm sorry I can squish myself better.
After we were done with all the tests we were given a juice box and a chocolate granola bar. I loved the English on the juice box.
I did laundry and found that it's pretty cheap but the dryer doesn't completely dry the clothes so next time I won't bother.
Most people went to Seoul after the tests were done.
I spent the afternoon doing laundry and resting. At 6pm, Jenny, Becky, Justina and I met up to go to a bathhouse and spa. We paid 6,000 won ($6) and were given two little towels and a set of what seemed like pjs. We took off our shoes and put them in a little locker and kept the key. The key also fit a big locker farther in for our clothes. In the locker room there were lots of naked women so we didn't know if we were supposed to put the pjs on. We finally decided we would put them on and see what we were supposed to do. A woman directed us upstairs where there were computers for video games and lots of 10 boys.
There was another set of stairs going farther up, but luckily I read enough hangul to recognize it said 'men'. Instead, we went to the left and found the saunas. There were several different ones in different sizes. There was also a little convenience store, a sleeping room and a TV/laying down area. We went into the Loess Sauna. The ceiling was lined with charred wood and the walls were all adobe like. It was very hot and not a steam, but it felt very nice. We were there for about 10 minutes. We really wanted to find the baths but hadn't seen them. I decided that the baths probably weren't co-ed so they must be only connected to the girls locker room. I was right.We changed into.... well nothing. The bathing room has seven pools, showers, scrubbing areas , a wet sauna and a salt room. The baths are warm (36C), wormwood (42C), hot(38C), aroma(36C), cool and another hot. The wet sauna was 38-40C depending on when you went in and the salt room said it was 80C so we didn't venture in there (although lots of Koreans did). Anytime the four of us got in a tub, the Koreans who were already there waited a few minutes and then got out. We were there for a long time trying most of the pools and the wet sauna. When we finished we changed back into our street clothes.
Jenny bought a really cute shirt (I pointed it out as my favorite and she agreed). We took a taxi back to the university and picked up Lindsey, Kat, Amy (Kat's roommate from Australia), Teresa and Hines. Hines is in our group and Kat's friend (though they were more by the end of the night). We wanted to go to a barbecue and a noraebong (karaoke). We ended up not finding a noraebong, or having enough time, so we'll go to that next week. We had a great time at the barbecue. We had lots of food and learned that if you cook it till it is perfect and crispy, the lady will throw it away.
Most of us tried Soju or Korean beer. I had one shot of Soju. It's not bad. Jenny and Justina had two shots. I learned that Jenny is very loud when she drinks and Justina plays with her egg soup and can't sit up without me propping her up. I was sitting between the two. Hines speaks some Korean and has learned some of the culture so he helped us. He showed us a game with the Soju lid. You twist part of it so it sticks out and people take turns flicking it. Whoever flicks it off had to do the last shot. I thought it would come off for me both times I had it but Amy was the winner (or loser). Everyone was pretty sober for the walk home, for which I was thankful. I might have been able to give a piggyback, but not with my legs still sore from taekwondo.

 Now for the good part. We all met for the bus to the temple this morning at 9. The temple is only a half hour away. It is in  the mountains and everything around it is gorgeous. All of the buildings have wonderful artwork or carvings. Here is the gate at the beginning and the giant statues that were in one of the first buildings before the trek up. The hike was only 10 minutes or so to get to the main temple buildings.

 Here you can almost tell how tall the statues

(Sachunwangmun) are; about twice our height.

Below are some of the buildings in the main part. The one on the left is the bell pavilion.

This is the turtle drinking fountain. One of the TaLK scholars said that the turtle symbolizes longevity. I guess that means this is the fountain of youth. Jenny and I both decided our thighs hurt less after drinking the water.

Above is a building called Jinhedang which Justina is standing in front. The characters are mostly Chinese and she was able to understand some. We did stuff in this building later. Above and to the right is the main Buddha hall. Hines and Matt are on the top and Becky at the bottom. To the left is the roof carvings from one of the buildings and to the right is one of the monks.

Here is one of the rooms, the -ecture Hall (what the brochure called it) where you can pray. There is a large Buddha on the alter and lots of little ones along the walls. The ceiling was covered in paper lotus blossoms with people's names hanging from them. The table and cushion are where the monk prays with his gourd bell.

 Here are Meju which are boiled, crushed soybeans that are used in different Korean condiments that were hanging from some of the roofs and more roof carvings.

 Here is a beautiful door that leads... somewhere.   And Jenny going to prayer.

 

We saw this little shrine of balanced stones and coins.

Samseongguk for worshiping the three spirits: seven stars, mountain spirit and solitary holy spirit.

 The artwork from the inside and outside walls of the building.

 Learning how a Buddhist prays. 108 prostrations.
We did 10 and I already hurt.
I liked the Bi-Bim-Bap.
I don't know why my face looks weird.

This is the Sukjoyaksayeoreipsang standing statue (No I did not just type random letters).

 

 The last five statues are all national treasures as are these two pictures. A copy of this gong is at the Korean museum.

 We got to string our own prayer bead bracelets. You are not supposed to tie the knot of your own but tie someone else's.

 Here is one of the monks who took us on a tour pointing out another national treasure. Most people who come to this temple come to see this stone lantern, Gapsa Budo, which is very old. Also a sticker warning not to touch a heater.

  This is another treasure. In it's time, iron was more valuable than gold. This pole was 28 units tall. Now it is 24. This hike we did at the end to see the stone lantern and the iron pole brought us back to the parking lot. The half of the group that didn't do the hike were still up the mountain so we had to wait for them. In the parking lot we could hear music. When we went to see what it was we found a Korean folk band having fun. Other Koreans that happened by joined in the dancing. The musicians forced instruments into our hands and grabbed others to dance. I was able to evade them and take photos, but I couldn't help swaying to the beat and enjoying myself.

      

 

The main reason they were so friendly is because they had already drunk this much Soju when we got there. After we joined in, they brought out more drinks. We each had to drink a sip and when they told us to drink more most of us pretended. The two African Americans got the most attention. Brittany, in the pink coat, was deemed a boy and she and Vanetta were lovers and a beautiful couple. Vanetta's hair was sniffed because it is different from Asian hair. Because she was dragged everywhere, most of her beer ended up on her not in her. When one man tried to tell a woman that Brittany was in fact a girl, the woman patted her down and decided she was still a boy. Brittany had cut her hair for this trip to Korea because last time they sniffed her hair. She decided that was better than being groped.

Eunice just got back from visiting with her dad. I don't have anything to add. 

Tomorrow is back to lectures.

Goodnight,

Lisa

Taekwondo hurts me!

Today was day two of lectures and as my title alludes, I am very sore right now. The fourth lecture, right after lunch, was taekwondo. We did a warm up which was very hard for someone who never does it or doesn't stretch much. I was pretty proud of how well I did. Then we learned three kicks: forward kick, turn kick and axe kick. We had to yell very hard with each one, "YaHHHH!" Becky volunteered to be the one to break a board. She actually chose to do it with her palm. She can yell really scary, which is the most important part of taekwondo. Her students will be very frightened if they hear her.
The first lecture, this morning was different icebreakers and activities to do with kids, which was really nice and fun. The second was about using Power-Point the correct way to be interesting and not overwhelming or boring. The presenter was hilarious and I learned a lot.
The third lecture was on classroom managment by two guys from the British Council. It was very repetitive of things we had already learned. And while they had adorable accents and were funny at times, it was kinda boring.
Jenny got a birthday cake at lunch but no one got any photos :(
After lunch was taekwondo. Then it was a lecture on  teaching English through drama. For everyone but me it was very interesting. I, however, had a play class last semester at college that had all the same games. There were some very fun parts because the games change depending on the people playing. Matt was a child having a traumatic experience at the dentist, we raced to spell words in a relay (my team didn't win) and there was a mother who seamed very happy to be eaten by a tiger. The tiger was very apologetic.
Just now I went to the evening activity for singing Korean folk songs. It turned out to be an acapella group to sing "In the Jungle". I left because I don't really like to sing choir type songs.

Eunice and I celebrated our last food before fasting for the medical tests tomorrow by having little slices of cake in our dorm. We have no utensils, so we used fingers which can be veeery interesting :) I used a little glop of whipped cream to show her my trick of fligging whipped cream off my arm and catching it in my mouth. Luckily I had perfect aim this time!!
Tomorrow the EMU students are going for karaoke. Some of us may go to a spa beforehand. I'm excited for both of them.
I'm going to get some sleep now.
Tell you all about the medical tests,
Lisa

Day one of Lectures

When I heard that we would be having 31 lectures while at orientation, I hoped that wouldn't mean boring classes that would attempt to show you how to be a TaLK teacher but would have very little use and not prepare us at all. And of course put us to sleep. Thankfully today held none of that. Our first lecture was presented by Winnie Wong, a TaLK scholar from Jeju island who has been in the program for 1 1/2 years. She was very entertaining and gave us several good ideas for games to play, how to introduce yourself on the first day and how to minimize culture shock. We played paper, scissors, rock only you use your whole body not your hands. We played a Titanic game where if you got the question right you could save a passenger. The last game was more brutal. Each team had a person: Jerry Springer, Sponge Bob, Mickey Mouse and Obama. Each of those mascots held two balloons with numbers. If our team got a question right they rolled the die. If the number was one of the balloons held my the person to the right, then the balloon was popped. My team was Sponge Bob. If we got a number held my Mickey Mouse then his balloon was popped. If both balloons were popped then he would fall into the pool of piranha and sharks. Unfortunately, Obama was the one to die.
The next lecture was about differences between Korea and other countries so we would be prepared.

If you are interested in seeing the presentation, the slide show is available at walterforeman.com.

He used several very funny comics that seemed to illustrate the oddities of Korean culture very well (roketship.com). The third lecture was about the history of Korea such as the conflicts between Korea and Japan and South Korea and North Korea. It was also about why Koreans ask some of the questions they ask.

Then we had lunch. I've included a photo for my brother of the chopsticks. This is from breakfast, hence the sausages. Between my first and second lecture I walked back to my dorm and slipped on the ice and changed my pants. Then after lunch I found that I had a strange red stain on my pants and my sweater. So in my second coat and third pair of pants I went to my fourth lecture. It was traditional Korean painting. They gave us very little instructions before we were told to start. We each got to make two paintings and received one that was made by the instructor.


 The girl next to me was Lindsay from the states. Her paintings were really interesting and different from the example. This is also my attempt at writing my name in Korean.

The fifth lecture was by Angela Hur who is the manager of TalLK. Her presentation was about different places in Korea to visit and the different festivals to go to. She mentioned some things that occur in the Autumn and Winter because some people will be here for 12 months, but that just bummed me out because I won't be here for those things. I definatly have to go to the Muan White Lotus Festival, the Muju Firefly Festival and the Boryeong Mud Festival. Yay, MUD! It is required that you get dirty.

 

The sixth lecture was traditional Korean paper crafts. We were given a milk bottle that had a face and hair paper -machéd on it. The instructor demonstrated the steps to making the doll and gave instructions in Korean and Annie, one of the KGC, translated. I'm sure she wasn't translating everything though because it was their sixth lecture and they were getting tired so she only said the important bits. Also every time Annie said something funny and we laughed the instructor was confused as to what she had said that was so funny.

Our key cards are so interesting so I took a photo of the place where we swipe them to get from the lobby to the elevators in the girls' dorm. Also the key pad next to my room. Yes we have intercoms but I've never used them.

That's all for today. Tomorrow is another full day of lectures.
Good night,
~Lisa