Lotus Lantern Festival

Lanterns lit up at night

Amazing ceiling...

Some of the monks taking part in the parade

Natalia and I with the lanterns that they were giving out for the parade - I think that technically we were supposed to walk in the parade with them.

This woman is wearing a traditional Korean Hanbok

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This little guy was so adorable - it was a great festival to take kids to - lots of crafts and interesting things to look at

Me with some girls getting ready for the parade

So many Lotus Lanterns everywhere!

The Lotus Lanterns and the candles inside signify enlightenment and the blossoming of wisdom.

The temple during the day - still beautiful. It was a really amazing sight to see. You walk into the temple courtyard, and suddenly all the lanterns are everywhere.

Broadening my Perspective...

Today I went into Seoul to attend the Buddhist Lantern Festival. It is a festival kicking off the celebration of Buddha's birthday, which is on May 2nd this year in Korea, and it was really amazing. In Bundang, where I live, there is not an obvious Buddhist presence, but throughout Korea it is quite obviously a huge part of the culture. One aspect of living in Asia that I have really enjoyed is witnessing authentic Buddhist practices in everyday life.
The first time I really observed Buddhist worshippers was over Chuseok - which is the fall Full Moon Harvest Festival, a day which Koreans spend with family and celebrate much in the same way that we celebrate Thanksgiving in America. This year it fell on September 14th. My friends Mariko and Brandon and I went hiking up in the mountains near Seoul and we stopped into one of the buddhist monasteries that are scattered through the mountains throughout Korea, and watched people worship. I truly don't know much of Buddhism, and I am completely ignorant to what the rituals signify, but they are beautiful to watch. Buddhists have a calming sense to them, and as they perform the rituals of their religion, you feel that they do have a very special belief. In China I visited a Tibetan temple, Lama Temple, and it was one of my favorite sites in Beijing. It had a special aura to it which was enhanced by the fact that it was a practicing Temple.
Today's visit to the Lantern Festival a similar feel to it, despite the crowds of foreigners. There were fifty or so booths set up where you could do everything from making your own lantern, to receiving acupuncture treatments. My friend Natalia and I both made fans, and I got a hand acupuncture treatment in which I had burning little discs placed on my palm and fingers. They really did feel like a needle, though it was only the heat from burning soot. Interestingly I could not handle the ones in the middle of my palm. The doctor told me that it was my stomach...hmmm. After finishing our fans, Natalia and I headed to the actual temple - Jogyesa Temple. It was soooo amazing - really beautiful. The entire courtyard was covered by rows and rows of lanterns. We walked around before they were lit, and then again after dark when they were all lit up - they were amazing both ways.
Natalia and I went to a cute little Indian restaurant in Insadong, and then we returned to see the lanterns lit up. We were so lucky to get back right in time for the night parade. It was so beautiful, and so much fun. So far, this has really been one of my favorite events that I have been to in Korea. Pictures to come soon! :)

Why do I like to travel?

Why?  Because this video makes my heart beat faster, and brings tears to my eyes.  Someday, this is what I hope to be able to do...it would be great if someone would pay for it.  Ideas, anyone?!?  ;)

Staying healthy in Korea

As a teacher, I have always been exposed to more than the average number of bugs - and have fallen prey to more of them than I like.  Over the last few years, I have really worked to lower my chances of getting every cold that my students bring into class with them, and I have been fairly successful.  In my classroom in Colorado I use clorox wipes all year long, my students wipe their desks down after almost every class - and most of my students enjoy letting me know that they think I am crazy - though they are just as happy to try to prevent any sickness they might get from someone else sitting in their desk.   
Then comes Korea. Now, in all honesty, I have been relatively healthy here too, despite the fact that my students are ALWAYS sick!!  At home, students do come to school sick, but it is nothing like here.  At least once a week I wish I could send a kid home they are just that sick.  That is highly unacceptable here though, and so we all put up with hacking and sneezing and germiness.   I don't have clorox wipes to disinfect everything, and eventually all of those germs catch up with me.  Currently I am trying really hard to not get a full-blown cold that has been nagging at me in the form of a scratchy, sore throat all week.  I have been trying to get extra rest, taking my vitamins, eating well...but the problem with teaching is that you are talking all day, and by the end of the day (for me - 9:00) I feel terrible again.  
What I have noticed about Korea, is that when I get sick, I get sick for a LONG time.  Plus, it seems like someone around me is always sick, so it is a cycle in which I am constantly trying to stay ahead.  Wether it is because we are just not used to the viruses here, or because our immune systems are constantly barraged with new viruses, all I know is that it is exhausting trying to stay healthy.  I need a sick day...oh yeah, I don't really get any this year.  Oh, well - maybe I will kick this without the full-blown cold developing.  Positive thoughts!  :)

Good time to be in Korea...

Ahhh.  That pretty much sums up the last couple of weeks.  The weather has truly turned spring-like, and with it has come the cherry blossoms, magnolia trees, and lighter spirits.  This weekend I really just enjoyed the warm weather.  It is so nice to be able to spend time outside again, and the transformation here is amazing.  All winter long coffee shops were packed and the malls were bustling with people attempting to avoid the cold, but today they were quiet.  Everyone was outside.  The parks here are great for people watching - mostly because they are packed.  There are so many little kids, young couples, families, grandparents.  People bring a mat and sit on the grass, they play games, they stroll.  It is nice.  Yesterday a group of friends and I went and did all of those things.  We even brought some wine and beer, and ordered chicken - which - yes - was delivered TO the park.  Today I kind of just wandered about, went shopping a bit, hung out with friends again, ate some Indian food.  Perfect weekend.  I didn't get anything done, my apartment is messy...but it is ok.  Life is good.  Next weekend my friends from Montana will be here - Erica and Brian, and I am sooooo excited to see them!
Time is flying by, and before I know it, I will be at the airport writing my last blog from Korea.  I am excited to come home, but I wish I had time to actually see more of Korea.  I am trying to fit in as many places in as I can these last couple of months, but traveling on the weekend and returning to work on Monday just isn't that much fun - I prefer the traveling without a job to return to, and no real plan on where I am going.  That requires money though, which, for me, means I have to have a job...endless cycle.

Cherry blossoms up close - so pretty - and so fleeting - they fall off after just a few days - like snow - it is really pretty.

Just one of MANY pretty pictures I have of the trees in bloom

Relaxing at the park - TJ, Matt, Christa, Sugi, Jin

palaces, cherry blossoms, ancient burial ground

Girls from work - Jin, Christa, Natalia, me, Sugi

I LOVE this red flower - so beautiful!

Cherry Blossoms and pretty days...

On Sunday my friend Mariko and I took a walk and just enjoyed seeing spring emerge.  I have never lived someplace where spring is so evident - all of the blossoms just make me happy!  

Living across the border from Kim Jong Il

With North Korea's imminent launch upon us, I figured I should say something. But, honestly, I'm not really sure what to say. It is intimidating that North Korea has been as volatile as they have been over the last several months. I have grown up with a healthy fear of North Korea, but quickly learned when I began researching my move here, that North Korea is a world away from the country I live in. Yet, it is still less than 50 miles away. North and South Korea are technically still in a state of war, as they have been since the demilitarized zone was established after the Korean War in 1953. There are about 28,000 US troops in South Korea. You can tour the DMZ (which I have not yet done), and you can even do a tour inside of North Korea (closely monitored, of course). I have 2 friends who went on a trip to North Korea last year - they said it was terrifying and incredibly sad, and they were only able to go to a camp right across the border. Imagine actually entering the heart of North Korea, or witnessing the death camps that are purported to be larger than those of Auschwitz.

Living so close to North Korea, I feel somewhat fascinated by, and at the same time callous to, what we see and hear on the news. Most South Koreans don't ever seem bothered in the least by the "antics" of Kim Jong Il's regime. I get most of my information about North Korea from foreign new sources, not from within Korea - though my language barrier would obviously require that. I do know the US evacuation plan in the case of an emergency, but it just doesn't seem to be a major concern here - or I should say that the general population does not seem concerned. South Korea is a country that, despite the recent economic downturn, has grown in leaps and bounds. While it is, of course, completely different in many ways from America, daily life here is not all that different. Everyone has cell phones with the latest technological advances, many of them superior to what is available in the States. Public transportation is easy and convenient, pretty much anything you might need is available here. Life in South Korea is pretty much status quo - things are good for the most part, and people are prosperous (if you don't count the fact that they also have one of the highest rates of personal debt in the world).

My students love to discuss whether or not North and South Korea should unite again - a prospect that is becoming more and more remote as I write this. It must be hard growing up in a country that is split like Korea. There are people in South Korea who have not seen their relatives in North Korea for over 50 years. The fact that North Korea has a despicable and loathsome leader, does not change the fact that there are millions of people in North Korea who are just that...people. Who are being starved and shut off from the rest of the world. Estimates say that between 2 and 3 million people have died of starvation in North Korea since 1995. It is impossible for my students, or me for that matter, to fathom the lives that the North Korean people lead. The only difference between the North Korean people who are living lives of poverty, and the South Koreans who are living lives of prosperity, is where they were during and, more importantly, after, the Korean War.

And sometime this weekend North Korea is expected to launch a "satellite" into space. Really? Where is the justice in this world? How much money does North Korea spend on its nuclear warfare program? How much exactly will this "satellite" cost? Why wasn't that money being spent to feed the people of North Korea? Because Kim Jong Il is a dictator, and he doesn't care at all about human rights.

So, sometime today, or in the next couple of days, we will see what the fallout of this launch will be. Will Japan shoot down debris as it has said it will? Will South Korea or the US have to take any sort of military action? Will China and Russia condemn North Korea for its actions? Will there be consequences for this launch? And, ultimately, will it be a satellite? or a missile? If it is a missile, as most people believe, what are the far-reaching repercussions?

I am going to go for a walk today and enjoy the cherry blossoms and the appearance of spring. Life goes on, despite the terrible things that happen in places all over the world.