1 Inch of Snow

*** New Photos are up in "South Korea II" and "Korea III" ***

Tantalizing times abound in the Far East and the absent-minded author broke a pledge to have photos up for you— whoops. Every day, 17 hours ahead of his friends and family he wakes up, and sets forth to find and explore something new, not unlike a modern Marco Polo—you know, like if Marco Polo taught English to little kids and spent a lot of time avoiding his beloved blog. But like summer, he has come back to shed more light upon you (summer will come back right?). So having no noodles to share as Mr. Polo did, the rambling writer has instead tales so incredible, unbelievable and downright unimaginable he shall not even attempt nor endeavor to communicate them through this clumsy and awkward medium known as the written word. Instead he shall tell you stories of a lesser quality, so ready yourself for a few stories instead so credible, believable and downright imaginable; prepare yourself to be bored out of your mind but at least this former part-time model has updated within a week’s time!

A few weeks ago I was invited to go to a temple with my friends David and Abby (who spent Christmas in Paris—lucky them). I invited my buddy Alex, a name which all too many of my friends have had, and we set off to meet them at Jogyesa Temple in the Insadong/Jongno area which is the main Buddhist temple located within the confines of Seoul. I hear that it’s quite the scene on Buddha’s birthday. Well we found our way there but David and Abby who had arrived before us were eating and we decided to explore a bit on our own. We found a whole lot of people all gathered in the main courtyard with bags of kimchi that they then started loading onto the trucks. I found out later from David and Abby that the people had been making the kimchi right there in the cold—and kicked myself for not getting there earlier to witness the making of one of my favorite foods that this wonderland has to offer me—at every meal.

 I was eventually approached by a tour guide (in training), who had spectacular English, located Alex and we began a tour of the temple grounds. We were soon joined by David and Abby and saw and learned a bundle about Buddhism that we would not have known otherwise, except Abby who apparently took a class on it and is totally an expert. Our guide explained the paintings on the outside of the temple with great detail and while I knew that there were many similarities between Buddhism and Christianity, I was stunned to realize how many there were. Both the Buddha and Christ were tempted by demons, preformed miracles, their fathers were gods, they both were teachers, and both had large followings of disciples. All things I suppose I knew already but it was still so vivid to see it all within the context of the murals at a temple with a guide explaining it to us who I think had little knowledge of Christianity himself. Another interesting tidbit was an explanation of the drums and giant bells which are used to start and end every day—which went back to see and were not disappointed. One is for all the land animals, one for the sea creatures, one for the birds and flying creatures and one for all the human souls stuck in hell. I wasn’t aware that Buddhism had a hell, good to know. Anyway, there should be video of the drumming and I would advise you to check it out.

Christmas was good; my mother sent me medicine (thank you!) and anyone else who wishes to send gifts may do so… ha. I spent Christmas Eve working (bah humbug!) and then went to my friend Dan’s house (of Seoul Eats fame) and had turkey and all the fixins’ all prepared by the army base here in Seoul. There are some advantages to having a large American presence here—even if it does come with lots of tanks, jets, and guns. The weirdest part is where the MPs come into the bars at about 1pm and round up any soldiers who are breaking curfew. I swear all the MPs are the biggest soldiers we have; I wouldn’t wanna cross ‘em.

Next day went and attempted to go ice skating down town, which feels like a massive valley made of buildings straight out of Blade Runner. Turns out my Korean coworker friends didn’t realize that you needed reservations to go ice skating downtown.  So we gave up and wandered around looking for food, ate at the Outback Steakhouse (the Korean teachers’ request) and then rode off into the sunset…

This weekend I’m off to Pyeongchang for ice fishing, snow, sledding, ATVs, and fresh air! So expect slightly more interesting stories worth the five minutes it takes you to read all of this.

PS It’s really flippin’ cold here right now.