Temple Stay

Buddhism is hard work. Let me sum up my weekend stay at Bapheungsa Temple with the reality of Sunday night: I went to bed at 9:00 and slept for 13 hours.

Not that the experience wasn’t great, or insightful. The group was looking forward to getting out of Seoul, and to catching a glimpse of Korea that cannot be found in a bar or manufactured in a foreigner’s district; the mountains that greeted us upon arrival at our destination did not disappoint. After adorning our comfortable, if unflattering, temple attire (think Aladdin meets Silence of the Lambs) we took a meditation walk, emptying our minds, focusing only on our footsteps. When we reached the clearing we were rewarded with a spectacular sight; our host monk asked us to close our eyes in reflection and I was reluctant to miss a moment of the view. Humbled by the towering mountains, we shouted at them to hear our voices and honour the dedication we would express over the next several hours. That evening we also participated in a traditional tea ceremony, and discussion/question period. We talked about dreams, and focus, and the power of positive thought. We debated the ‘delusion’ of people who tend to focus on too many things, thereby fragmenting their spiritual energy. Before bed we hiked up to the highest point on the temple grounds to perform the customary 108 prostrations while focusing on our own particular dream. Each bow begins standing and ends with knees, elbows and head firmly on the ground, and for your conception I can only compare the feeling with an equal number of squats at the gym.

The food over the weekend was simple but delicious, vegetarian and typically Korean: steamed rice and seaweed soup, with various kimchi and fruit salad side dishes. Part of Buddhist belief involves being grateful for where the food comes from before devouring it. This practice was emphasized this weekend by silent meals and a traditional wooden-bowl breakfast, after which we cleaned our bowls using a piece of kimchi and then drank the cleaning water and ate the kimchi. There can be waste, and no extravagance.

On Sunday morning, after a 3am wakeup call, mountain climb and more bowing, we napped, ate breakfast, and learned how to make lotus laterns. We also repeated our previously practiced 108 bows, this time in order to make Buddhist beads: one was placed on the string for each completed bow (I may have placed two or three at various times). Then after lunch we had a nice relaxing walk along the river before heading back to traffic-infused Seoul and reality. Bummer. For me, the weekend provided a new respect and slight awe for the Buddhist culture, although I think I actually understand it slightly less than I thought I did before. Isn’t that the ultimate effect of getting just a taste of something unfamiliar?

The truth is that the weekend was far from the relaxing retreat I had imagined, however, I worked hard for my enlightenment – my brief look into a simple, dedicated way of life –and I am all the more grateful for it.

Visitors and Holidays

The timing of this year’s Chinese New Year – or Lunar New Year (Seol-nal) to those of us not living in China – granted us three full days off work; a practically unheard of length of vacation around here. Sweet. Most Koreans celebrate by visiting family (at the cost of looong drives home) and eating rice-cake soup among other dishes. Young people perform a traditional bow to pay respect to their elders and for their trouble receive “Sae-Bae Don”: money. For my part I did eat the soup but beyond that my holiday was just about spending time with anyone who didn’t go away (of course the most popular way for foreigners to spend the holiday) and showing around some very special visitors!

Clearly the highlight of my month was the visit from two of my favourite Laurier grads: Mairin and Laura arrived in Seoul bright and early Wednesday morning and we spent the holiday in style! Between touring Seoul/Suwon, dancing the nights away and spending every other spare minute on a couch/heated floor in pjs, we managed to catch up on the last 6 months and then some. Some things never change, and how nice it was to be reminded that time and distance make no difference to true friends :)

This past weekend saw some more exotic visitors: Saturday night I spent a few hours with the one and only Bjork and her incredible voice. In pink frills from head to toe, Bjork rocked the crowd for nearly 2 hours, pausing only to squeak out a ‘think you’ to everyone’s delight. She shot streamers from her palms, wowed us with her black light esthetics, and ended with a billion little pieces of paper raining down like snow. It was brilliant and I remain in awe. After that, a couple of us switched gears juust a bit and headed to Hongdae for some wicked DJ’ing and hip hop a la Slum Village. In a city that truly lacks music, I’ve been doing pretty well lately.

On Sunday I met up with the old Busan crew and we had a delicious chicken galbi lunch followed by some shopping and a visit to Namdaemun Gate, the site of a recent arson. It was a sad day last Monday as Korea watched it’s ‘National Treasure #1’ burn to the ground, c/o a 70 year old man upset over a land settlement case. I feel for his suffering and lack of sympathetic listening, however to me (and I am sure about 44 million Koreans) this seems a rather dramatic retaliation. The gate had seen 600 years of Korean history, survived the Korean War and all post-development, among other things, and it’s a sin it had to meet its end this way. For more information see A Memorial to Sungnyemun at:

http://www.rjkoehler.com/2008/02/11/memorial-to-sungnyemun-gate/

Peace out til next time.

Letters to Britney

I read a newspaper article with some of my classes about Britney Spears' custody issues, and had them write letters of either sympathy or abuse. I thought you'd get a kick out of some examples, in their original form of course:

Dear Britney,

"I think you are so much sad. I know your sad but you need to take your kids, you must be well, when you be like this, you will be able to take your kids again. You can do it!"

"I'm thirteen years old. I don't know many things but I want to services. I know you have many problems. Please don't drink alcohol and drug. I'm young so I don't say you good words I want to give you hope you have very cute babies. Don't be sad. Be happy you must think good idea. I want to listen good news about you. Bye"

"Hi! I think you had a mistake. You lose custody of children is a very big mistake. It is very important, etc. Do you know Kelly teacher? I know her. Go for it, do your best!" (Kelly is my coworker)

"Don't be sad. You will have to win. You should dispeared papparazzi because you are a Holly Wood star."

"I think you have very many stress. You must to keep your children. I hope you'll be get better. I like your song Lucky and Gimme More. I am not good at English. But I want tell you this!!! You must save your children. Please come back to your original life. Please, no give up!"

"Britney, are you sad? I think you are very sad. Bye"

"Hello Britney Spears. Nice to meet you! I'm ___. I'm 13 years old and I live in Seoul, South Korea. When I read this newspaper, I know you have a lot of problems. I'm sorry to hear that. I think you must not drink a lot of alcohl ... nd have a affirmative thinking!! If you have a affirmative thinking, you will be good than. Always happy and fighting!"

I hope you are all thinking affirmatively lately as well :) XOXO

January Adventures

For a good summary of what I have been up to check out the pic link I posted. It's been a great month, full of good food, Laurier reunions and new adventures. I saw the Van Gogh exhibit in the early days, definitely an experience in a city of 22 million people however, if we just blocked out the crowds, the paintings were breathtaking up close. I had fish eat my feet, which I am sure would have left them very soft and luscious had I been able to stand the strange sensation for more than 5 seconds at a time! Leah's birthday came and went - we hit up a wicked would-be jazz bar in Hyewah, an artsy and thoroughly unexplored area on my part, and they played all the requests of us rowdy new arrivals including Amanda Marshall, Beasty Boys and Bob Dylan. Around 4 in the morning we were privy to a 'jam session' of some professional musicians, ska vocals and all. It was the first time we have heard live music in months and it made Leah's night. It was also Adam's birthday this month, and he packed about 50 people in his palace of an apartment just outside of Seoul. I don't know if there are no noise violation laws here, or if people just don't call, but I couldn't believe we got away with it!

There have been several new arrivals from Laurier lately, and Jess and I went south to Jinju one weekend to visit Steve, who lived on our floor, Jake, and Aaron (my brother's don). Evan came too, it was don city really. The area had a very different feel than Seoul, much smaller and calmer and fewer high rises. We played some Korean style (sitting on the floor) beer pong and met several new foreigners at the local bar.

This past weekend a bunch of us ventured out to the coast of Taean to help clean up the disastrous oil spill that happened December 9th, 2007. It was the worst spill in Korea's history and Korea's Ocean Research and Development Institute said it may take months or a year to remove oil from the land surface, and up to five to remove all the chemicals and pollutants. From the internet: "About 10,500 tons of crude oil leaked into the Yellow Sea when a drifting barge carrying a construction crane smashed into an oil tanker Friday. The barge's cable to a tugboat had snapped during rough weather before it holed the 147,000-ton Hong Kong-registered Hebei Spirit in three places." So it was a cold day, and sad because the damage is still so obvious after so much time, but we had a blast and Kelly and Lindsay's rewritten cheers and Samsung (the shipmaker) bashing definitely cheered us up!

I miss you all verrrrry much, I hope everyone is settling nicely into 2008. XOXO