Songnisan!;

Hi again! Sorry about the lack of regular updates, the last week has been a bit of a blur. This weekend we took a three day trip to Songnisan National Park, which is located in the middle of the country. It was a chance for us to relax and take in the nature et cetera et cetera. Dispute the typhoon warnings, I had a fabulous time.

I cannot textually convey just how amazingly pretty rural Korea can be, so instead: pictures!


Taken from the bus. Farmland! Maybe I'm just staying in an especially farm-y area, but it seems like every stretch of open land is being used to grow corn/rice/potatoes/apples/etc. I find it quite lovely; where I live in America has practically no farms.


On the bus. Like the purple fringe/doilies? Koreans like to decorate everything, it seems.


Lunch! This meal was amazing. We had over a dozen different side dishes, a communal soup (in Korea, almost everything is eaten communally), rice, fish...... it was all so much. I ate too much, but it was all so delicious. (Except for the mushrooms, ick. I really did try, but I still can't eat mushrooms!)


Kirstin and me, mid-meal. My legs were probably asleep at this point--sitting on the floor is hard (no pun intended).


A shot of our hotel room. 4 people to a room. "But were are the beds?" I hear you ask. Good question! We were staying in a traditional Korean-style room, which means that the guests just set up mattress pads on the floor to make their beds. The mattress pads and blankets are kept in a side closet during the day. It's not that bad, but I have to admit that I did miss my dorm bed a bit.


Inside the Songnisan forest, walking to the Buddhist temple. Korean forests are really something.


Drinking mountain spring water is supposed to be good for your health. It didn't taste all that special to me, but I was told that was because we were at the base of the mountain. The water tastes better the closer you are to the peak.


My, this isn't Chinese at all.


A closer shot of the same gate. It was was really beautiful, but it did remind me a lot of traditional Chinese architecture. I thought Korean architecture didn't use the same colour scheme? (i.e. lots of red.)


Korean! Nature! Oh I love it so! I went truly snap-happy while I was at Songnisan.


...... And that is one BIG Buddha. Seriously, I have been to many a Buddhist temple, but never have I seem a Buddha this impressive.


One of the pagodas(?)/temples in the Buddhist temple area.


Another shot of the pagoda. I thought the bells were an interesting touch.


Raisa and me in front of the temple/pagoda! And yes, skinny jeans in 90% humidity was totally comfortable.


Grace trying to teach me how to sel-ka (take a picture of oneself). I kind of failed. This is an important skill that I must acquire in Korea, or risk being a social outcast! XD


I was happy that I got this quick shot of the monks walking around the courtyard.


A beautiful little shrine. Inside is a golden Buddha statue.


While we were visiting the temple, the monks happened to be doing a special drum/bell-ringing service. I don't know, it was just really cool. The monks were pretty impressive drummers, too.


Much, much later that evening, a group of us found ourselves engaging in Songnisan's only social event: karaoke. (Known as noraebang here.) Karaoke in Asia means that each group gets a private room in which to embarrass themselves, complete with a disco ball!


A full shot of the whole noraebang private room.

The next day, we were given the whole day to ourselves to do whatever we wanted: hike, sleep, eat, etc. Most of us wanted to go hiking....... until we were informed of the typhoon warnings and were not allowed to go out on the trails. = ( I was very sad about that. But, made the most of it and wanted around the town, instead.


Pretty (man-made?) waterfall in the center of town. Almost every place around Songnisan was a photo-op.


This tree is famous! Apparently! That's why it's begin help up by all those wooden planks now. Apparently, legend goes, one of the past kings ordered that tree to be chopped down, but they were unable to do. (Don't ask me why. The tree was too resilient?) The king was so impressed by the tree's resilience that he made it a minister. This is almost as good as Caligula and his horse. You can't tell btw, but this picture was taken in the pouring rain. It was pretty miserable.


Caught in the pouring rain in South Korea. But at least it's still beautiful landscape!


Mist/steam? rising off the mountains after the rain finally stopped. It was pretty humid.


Even though it's in the middle of nowhere, Songnisan manages to have a fair amount of neon. The place really lights up at night--even though it's so quiet and almost no one else is around.


On the final morning, the sun came out--of course. I took a quick hike by myself, because that was all I had time for. I look forward to trying some real trails in the future, though. Korea's extremely mountainous and hiking is practically the national sport.

So what did I learn this weekend? 1) That rural Korea is really quite beautiful (I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, but if you've seen rural nothern China like I have.....); 2) a lot about Buddhism that I hadn't previously known, or even thought of; 3) that I can still karaoke to songs I haven't heard in years, such as......... the Bee Gees and 4) that I really, really, really had to buy an umbrella.

Pretty good weekend, all in all.

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In more recent news, it's summer camp time here! For the next two weeks, we're hosting an English summer camp for over 100 kids from all over South Korea. Most of the classes are taught by past English teachers, but we're teaching classes on our own, too. My first class is Thursday. Wish me......... luck. ^^;; According to someone who already taught them, my class is mostly apathetic, unresponsive boys. So it sounds like I have my work cut out for me. Yay! This weekend as well, we're hosting a bunch of games and competitions. Speaking of which, my group is meeting a few minutes to discuss that.....

PS: I accidentally ate intestine this weekend! As is often the case with Korean food, I had no idea what I was eating, but it wasn't too bad. = ) (Sometimes I can't even tell if I'm eating meat or vegetable. It makes for interesting meal times.)