Bad News and Christmas

December 5th
Being from Florida the only snow I have ever seen was the one trip I took to Canada to go skiing and the small little flurries in Florida that melt before the hit the ground. Today was the first snow I have seen here and I will come to love it. Although I never did get to make a snowman. Tried...but the snow was too dry and it turned into a snowball fight. That was an extreme snowball fight and was quite fun.

December 12th
I received a text message from my dad today. It was in reference to an injury to Blondie. I did not want to know the extent of it so I didn't answer right away. The next text said it was very important and that he needed to speak with me as soon as possible. I had a bad feeling and would rather have hidden from it. Thankfully Megan was available that morning for me to go Skype in her apartment. I did not want to be in a coffee shop when I got the news. Although I had a bad feeling I was hoping that I was over reacting. That was not the case. Megan had to see me at my worst when I got the news that the injury to her knee could not be fixed. She would never be able to be ridden again, could not have babies, and would be in constant pain. I had to put her down.

"Blondie I am so sorry that I was not there to take care of you like I should have been and that I was not there to say goodbye. You will always be in my heart and I love you!"

December 20th
Today was a great day! We had a work lunch to start with. It was a potluck and there was so much food. It was delicious!! We also had a secret Santa with the whole staff. Matt was my secret santa and he got me a warm hat. As I had been looking for one that actually fit my head, this was perfect.

I also received a package from home. I waited until I got back into my apartment till I opened the box. I took out all of the wrapped packages and put them under the tree I cut out of felt. I waited until Christmas to open them.

December 22
Today was the 4th Annual 12 Bars of Daejeon. This was the tentative schedule they had planned:
Here is the schedule, which is subject to change.
1. 1 Glass of wine with dinner at All That BBQ
2. 2 Jager bombs at Lucky Strike
3. 3 choice whiskeys at Jinny's
4. 4 Foreign Beers at WoW Bar
5. 5 Long Islands at Sponge
6. 6 Cups of eggnog
7. 7 Bittersweets at Garten Bier
8. 8 Fancy Cocktails at Cantina
9. 9 rounds of Flip/Tippy Cup at Club GS
10. 10 Flavored sojus at Crazy Soju
11. 11 Jello Shots (outside)
12. 12 Egg McMuffins at McDonalds
All of these things was not just for one person. We met up with them when at number 6. It was homemade eggnog and it was quite tasty. Then we had to sing the song. However, I left them at number 8. It was an interesting idea however.

December 25th
Today was a Tuesday and we did not have school. We had drawn secret Santa names a couple of weeks previously and had planned on trading that day. However, Megan decided to host a dinner at her place. You should know by now that we never say no to Megan's cooking. The next day we shared our gifts and had a great time. 

 

Temple Stay

December 1st
I have heard a lot about Temple Stays and that it was one of the things to do while in Korea. Lin found one located on Ganghwa Island called the Jeondeungsa Temple. Supposedly it is the oldest temple in this historical region and is completely encircled by the Samnang Fortress. It was designed to help protect the land from foreign invaders.  Jeondeungsa currently has a Daeoongbojeon (Main Buddha Hall), Yaksajeon (Medicine Buddha Hall), and giant temple bell, among other cultural treasures. "One interesting story is that on one of the eaves of the Main Buddha Hall there is the figure of a naked woman, presumably carved by the broken-hearted carpenter whom she had scorned."

The first part of the temple stay was getting there. When they say its on an island, they don't mention how far out this temple happens to be. It took 2 trains, 2 buses, a taxi and 6.5 hours to arrive.

Regular Temple Stay Schedule

First day
13:00 Registration & room allocation
          (The room was just large enough for two floor mats and our things)

14:00 Orientation - Familiarization with basic temple rules & practices
         (You need to walk quietly with your hands folded in front of you and bow to any passing monks)

15:00 Temple tour
        (We were shown the many building mentioned above)
17:00 Temple dinner
        (Do not put more on your plate than you will eat. You can go back for seconds, but there is no wasting food)
18:00 Buddhist Ceremonial Service (To experience striking a bell)
         (We partnered up and each got to strike the bell)
18:30 Healing Yoga or seon meditation
         (I didn't quit master the art of meditation. Instead I kept falling asleep)

 21:00 Sleep
          (Early bedtime! But we did it)


 Second day
04:00 Wake up
       (I usually see this time going to bed...not waking up)
04:30 Buddhist Ceremonial Service (Ye-bool)
       (We met in the hall for some more chanting and bowing)

05:00 108 Prostrations & Seon Meditation
       (These are 108 bows or prostrations (which are like promises) I was sore for the next couple of days. lol)
06:00 Balwoo Gongyang (Formal monastic meal)
       (We got to eat breakfast with the monks. This is a silent meal. Everybody sits on the floor and the bowls get passed around while you get what you want to eat)
07:30 Community works
       (These consisted of cleaning up the grounds. Which didn't take long as the grounds are well taken care of.)

 08:00 Walking Mediation (Jeongjok Mt.)
       (This really wasn't much of a walk. It was more of a hike. The very beginning was straight up and at one point we went down into a valley and back up. A rope was need to help maintain our balance as it was steep and there was snow on the ground)

 09:00 Rest
      (During the morning Lin and I met someone from Germany (Kurt) and two Korean's (Pilwon and Siwan) that have lived in Canada since they were 14. We used this time to hang out with them.)
09:30 Tea time with a monk (tea ceremony)
      (This was a formal tea ceremony were we sat around in a circle drinking tea and eating a small snack. Pilwon ans Siwan were our translators)
11:00 Room Cleaning
      (That took a long time lol)
11:30 Temple Lunch
      (Much like dinner the night before where we chose what we ate. It was bibimpap)
12:00 Check out
      (After check out Lin, Pilwon, Siwan, Kurt and I ended up in a private tea time with a monk. That was nice)

Oh yea! One last look at our super cool outfits!!

Thanksgiving

November 11th is Pepero Day here in South Korea. It comes from the candy Pepero and is on this date  because it is "11/11". As the candies are like sticks, this is what the day is all about! Happy Birthday Trisha!!

November 16th
Today was Amber's last day here at work so we all went out to celebrate. It's always fun when the whole group is out. It's also entertaining when Amber does everything people tell her to do; like dance on the wall, take a shot that was lit on fire, or jump on one of the blow up advertisements.

November 20th
Today Buddy went missing. He just turned 15 years old on November 6th. He is deaf and blind and has everybody  worried sick. A friend of my sister made up these really nice posters:

November 22nd
Direct quote from me from Thanksgiving day:

"I am thankful for so many things that I could not even begin to list them all.

I am thankful for the excellent support system I still have at home with my family and friends, being able to travel to another country and experience a whole different way of life, the friends I have met, the places I've been, the things I have seen, and the way things have worked out to make this the most rewarding Thanksgiving I have experienced regardless of my current location.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Don't take anything for granted!"

Thanks to the posters, Buddy was found and the people got a hold of my sister. Buddy is home!

Saturday November 24th
Today for Thanksgiving  we were invited to the Sunset Cavern Thanksgiving Bash. Mike and Steve were hosting this event in their apartment and they are so lucky to have this place. It is a large 3 bedroom apartment (large even for American standards, but especially for Korea). They have a projector and screen that they use as their television and they had the Wii set up on it. The boys put on a great Thanksgiving and the apartment was full of people. It felt like being home with lots of friends and food. Mike and Steve fried a turkey and everybody brought something to contribute to the potluck.

After dinner Mike took us on a tour of the roof, complete with a helipad. The view was spectacular being that high up above Daejeon. Later on there was a paper airplane contest off of the roof of the building. The helicopter won.

Penises and Caves

November 10th (Saturday)

Last night we finally managed to go on a work outing with everybody from Chungdahm. We just went downtown for dinner and some drinks but it was so much fun getting to hang out with them outside of work.

Got home and went to bed a little after 2. After three hours it was time to get up and head out to Samcheok for Deanna's birthday. This was one of the longest days yet. After a 5 hours bus ride we arrived, looked at a map, determined our destination was not that far away, and proceeded to hop into a cab.

30,000w ($30) later we alighted at our stop, Haesindang Park (해신당 공원) or better known as Penis Park. 

The amusing factor was definitely high. As the story goes  a young maiden that was on a small island and was washed away by the sea. She drowned before her fiance could save her. As a result the fish dwindled until there was none left. One day a young fisherman relieved himself in the sea and the next day the fish were plenty. They said that the young virgin was happy that she was showed a penis and brought back all of the fish. 

 The park was erected to keep her satisfied. There are many phallus statues of various sizes, colors, shapes, and expressions. 

 Although the park was hilarious the best part of it was the location and the weather. It was a beautiful day along the coast with all of the trees changing colors for fall. Being from Florida and having flat beaches and no colors on the trees I was in complete fascination. 

When we had our fill of the sights we called a cab to come take us to a cave. As this really wasn't a day trip and we didn't know the bus systems we thought taking a taxi would be smarter and quicker. Definitely quicker! Daegeumgu was the cave and the last entry time was 4:30. As the cave was much farther away than anticipated the cab driver drove 180km (112mph) almost the whole way!! He was also blaring English music. He was  awesome! The fare was only $32 and I was surprised...until he hit the 60% gratuity button. Haha. But then he said he would wait for us at the bottom until we finished exploring the cave.

 There was a short, but steep, hike up to the cave. Daegeumgu cave is known for the amount of water that flows through it. It has many waterfalls and underground lakes. It also had a bridge of confessions where you are supposed to throw away your sins. It had a closed off cavern for bats, but we didn't see any. When we thought to check to see when the last bus left for home we only had a little more than an hour to get the station so we rushed through the rest of the cave.

We got to the bottom and our ninja hero cabdriver was waiting for us. Took us the bus station and asked us where we were going? Language barrier made it unable for him to tell us that there was not a bus going home to Daejeon, but after calling a translator, the wonderful Tina, we found out. Through lots of phone switching we discovered that we could go to the express bus terminal and get a bus to Seoul, then from Seoul, home. The cab driver waited the entire time, drove us around the corner to the other terminal, didn't charge us for the trip, and then waited around until we got on the bus to Seoul. Amazing, amazing man! Some bus changes and five hours later we were finally back home. Went out for a couple of hours with some great friends and finally called it a night. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEANNA!