Songnisan (속리산)

Songnisan means "leaving the mundane chores", which was the purpose of this past weekend (July 17-19). No studying, just relaxing. From Chuncheon, Songisan is a 4hr bus drive. We arrived around 1pm, had lunch with Ms. Shim and the KAEC Office staff, then began our weekend in Songnisan. We all stayed in Lake Hill, a tourist hotel; some of us had Western accomodations (beds and shower curtains), while other (i.e. me) had Korean accomodations (mats on the floor and no shower curtain).

Ms Shim: One test this weekend was using correct Korean etiquette. Ms. Shim is the KAEC (Korean American Education Commission) Fulbright director, our ultimate authority. Correct etiqutte includes insa (the bowing greeting) at every meeting, lots of thank yous, 잘 먹겠습니다 (chal mawk-kuess-seb-ni-da='I will eat well') before all meals, and 잘 먹었습니다 (chal maw-kawss-seb-ni-da='I ate well') after all meals. The OCs (orientation counselors) continually stressed that we show our respect to Ms Shim and the office staff. As one out of 70 ETAs, Ms Shim knows me as 'the first one in the [Fulbright] facebook ("Easy to remember!")' and "double A number 1" (there's three AAs); she also instructed me on correct chopstick hand positioning.

Friday-Bebjusa Temple: After lunch, we were given a loooonng and disjointed talk about some aspects of Buddhism by an American monk who has spent the last twenty years practicing in Korea. What I enjoyed more was the brief tour he gave us of Bebjusa, an ancient but still operating Buddhist temple. The temple was built in the 7th century AD, rebuilt in the 17th century, and once housed 3,000 monks (compared to 60-80 monks currently. The temple is home to Korea's largest rice pot cooker, which was used to cook lotsa-lotsa rice to feed those 3,000 monks. The temple is also known for the large 33m high, 160 ton Buddha statue and its wooden pagoda. At 6:30pm, we got to watch the evening prayers, during which 4 instruments are played, to 'calm and soothe' sentient beings: a large drum for landwellers, a hollow wooden fish for ocean dwellers, a cloud shaped ironboard for the heavens and winged animals, and a large bell for all those suffering and/or in hell.

Saturday-hiking in Songnisan National Park: Saturday was our free day to relax, which for me meant a 16km hike. With two other ETAs, I hiked to Manjangdae Rock (1054m), then across the ridge to Cheonhwangbong Peak (1057.7m), then back down. Koreans take their hiking seriously! While, we wer outfitted with the basic shorts, shirt, tennis shoes, and water bottle, the other hikers we came across had boots, walking poles, hats, proper hiking apparel, lots of water, food, etc. To give them credit though, the hike was pretty strenuous; some parts of the trail were almost straight up. We were hidden in the trees until we reached the first peak at Manjangdae Rock, where we had a great view of the mountains, which are covered with vegetation. Both peaks were incredibly windy, enough to make you nervous about the height. In total, we covered 16km in 5hours--quite relaxing! ;)

Sunday-back to Chuncheon: And we're back to the dormitories and cafeteria food! These coming two weeks are going to be much more busy than the first two. Camp Fulbright, an English camp for us to practice teaching, has started. In addition to Korean language class, TKD, and cultural workshops, we're lesson planning, observing, teaching, and playing with the kids. We're being kept to busy to get homesick....

If you click on the pictures, a new tab/window should come up with the larger/actual size picture.

topics to come: food, living in Chuncheon and Kangwang Univeristy, laundry, Korean language/etiquette culture...