Korea: Friends' Blogs

As I may or may not have mentioned, I am making friends here in Seoul. Most of them happen to be other international students. Some of them also have blogs. So here I have compiled a list of other blogs that will give you more insight into the people I have met, their experiences, and, by extension, my experiences. What I have noticed is that we each blog in our own manner, so I enjoy reading their blogs even though I actually get to spend time with them. It also helps put my experience in a new perspective. The challenges of a study abroad student are, after all, very similar. So here we go:

First we have Parth, who I probably spend wayyy too much time with. His blog reads approximately as if he is speaking it himself, which for those who know him is kind of amusing. Anyways, his blog is heavily loaded with pictures. If  you go down to the bottom of his post on cherry blossoms/Japan, and look at day 3, you will find my name mentioned quite a bit. I will get to the rest of that story soon. Trust me, it's gets better (although he covers almost everything)
http://semesterofseoulsearching.wordpress.com/

Hannah, like Parth, is also in CIEE with me. She is more focused on pop culture, though, specifically kpop. Again you'll find me alluded to (though not specifically mentioned by name) as "one other white girl" in the JYP post.
http://hannahwaitt.tumblr.com/post/21892763259/jyp-read-in-whisper-like-how-all-the-jyp-produced

Next we have Avery, who is in Parth and my Korean language class. She doesn't post about Korea or study abroad, she posts about animals. Avery is, well Avery or aviary...legit, though, she's like a little bird. Here's her blog:
http://animalsaresolegit.tumblr.com/

So why do I mention that if it's not about Korea? Because without Avery there is no Jowrney or Stacey. Jowrney (pronounced Journey) and Stacey are Avery's Korean pen pals. The four of us went out to lunch and I heard all about their plans for a world wide bicycle adventure. Let's just say they are such a cute/amazing couple! Here is their link:
http://jowrney.com/xe/thome

Next we have Megan who is also in Korean with Parth, Avery, and myself. She is really into Korean guys, but that is not all she does. Her blog includes videos to prove that, and Parth, Avery, some of our other friends and I make appearances in these videos:
http://megan-e-stevens.blogspot.com/2012/04/home-sweet-home.html?spref=fb

Finally, there is Sammi. She is also here with CIEE, but has been here since August. I have really enjoyed getting to know her as a person. She is just one of those people who I find particularly inspiring. Her blog is under renovation, but has a lot of how-to-study-abroad-in-Korea advice:
http://sold4seoul.com/

So that's all for tonight (and this is now my second blog post within the day, so be happy). I'm really going to try to finish Japan and the rest of my adventures of April, including this past weekend which was absolutely EPIC. Teaser: robots.

Japan: The Adventure in Kyoto continues

To conclude our adventure in Kyoto we took a walk through the city. We went backwards along the route that foreigners used to walk through Kyoto.

We started our tour at　三十三間堂, Sanjusangendo, literally 33 spaces between pillars. It is a wide building (pictured), one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. Within the temple there are 1000 idols of the 1000 armed Kannon flanking a much larger statue of the 1000 armed Kannon. At the front there are also 28 statues of guardian deities. Kannon is the goddess of mercy, and is very much like the virgin Mary in Christianity. Each of the statues, other than the guardians, had around 42 arms, which when the two real arms are not considered, each represent 25 arms for a total of 1000. Atop each statue there are 11 heads. This is quite an impressive feat considering all of the statues within Sanjusangendo were hand carved from cypress in the 12th century, and then many of them remade in the 13th centruy after a fire destroyed most of them. Pictures were not allowed within the temple, but you can see images here: http://www.taleofgenji.org/sanjusangendo.html. At one point someone decided to try shooting an arrow from one end of the temple to the other, while on the porch. To achieve this feat one must shoot an arrow approximately 170 meters with very little arch as it can't get stuck in the rafters of the porch. Really good archers can actually achieve this feat. But there are plenty of marks on the floor of the porch from arrows that did not make it. Surrounding the temple are the beautiful Japanese gardens:

 

After the temple we continued on to the Ear Mound. Within this mound are the severed ears and noses of the Koreans killed during the Japanese invasion of the Korean peninsula in the 1500s. There are remains from about 3000 Koreans within the mound. Gross. Creepy. Eerie.
                                         

We then continued on our way towards Kiyomizu temple. There is a tale told that a woman once accidentally dropped her baby girl in the valley. She proceed to pray to Kannon to save the girl from the harm that was sure to come as she tumbled down. The woman then went to her baby girl only to find her completely unharmed. Also at the temple is the Otowa Waterfall, which flows through three fountains at the base of the hill the temple is perched on. The name of the temple, kiyomizu, means "pure water".

(This picture is actually from wikipedia because I
didn't have a good image of the full temple itself)

After stopping for lunch we wound our way through the grounds of the temple down to the bus so we could head off to Osaka (my new favorite city in the world! Although I'm told Tokyo is even better still). Along the way we saw a shrine dedicated to three monkeys, the monkeys that "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". During the Edo period there was a belief that on the 57th day of the 60 day lunar cycle 3 worms that were believed to inhabit the body would report to the Emperor in Heaven on whatever the human had done wrong in that cycle. Reported misdeeds turned into time taken off the person's life. But the worms could only report to the Emperor while the human slept, so people would stay awake on the 57th day. Furthermore, staying awake 7 consecutive Kooshin days (as the 57th day is called) in one calendar year was believed to kill the worms. While the idea was to pray to Shoomen Kongoo (blue faced Vajra bearer, who is often depicted with the 3 monkeys representing the 3 worms), it very often turned into an all night party instead. Reminds me of the song "Only the Good Die Young" hmmm...

Anyways, we also saw a few Geisha on our way which we were very excited about. We stopped for pictures (mine is not on my camera/ipod). While true Geisha sightings are typically a nighttime occurrence, we were still mostly satisfied with this daytime sighting.

Continuing along we came to the part of the temple we had seen glimpses of the day/night before. This time we were able to appreciate in full glory of the cherry blossoms in the temple. Cherry blossoms are really as beautiful as I had imagined and apparently we were lucky with timing because they were in full bloom the weekend we were there. Considering they only last a week or so, maybe two if the weather is really good.

 

After all this it was time to head off to Osaka & Nara, which I'll tell all about in the next few posts :)

"The Enormity of Human History"

Here is a quote from the book "Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter" by Josh Gates that my roommate, Crystal found. Something about it we just both found entrancingly beautiful:

"The experience of leaving one's homeland can be psychologically profound. Travel illuminates a strange dichotomy of scale. When we stand in the shadows of empire, before solemn, ancient temples, we feel the enormity of human history ash over us and are humbled by its magnitude. But, paradoxically, the world is also revealed to us as strangely small and universal. It is impossible to watch that old familiar moon rise up over Hong Kong Harbor and not be struck dumb by the idea that the same soft light is shining down on Burbank, California. To think that when we look west over the misty cliffs of Moher in Ireland, someone on a beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is looking back. In an instant, we can observe the world expand and contract in one seemingly contradictory motion

To that dangerously expanding group of xenophobic Americans who seems content cleaving only to the familiar embrace of the United States, I contend that you will, on some level, forever feel unfulfilled. Seeing the world is a prerequisite to understanding one's place in it."

It's amazing the people you meet when you travel abroad. There is part of studying abroad that is about experiencing the new local culture. But there is an even larger part that is about discovering yourself and your culture. Through my now almost 10 months abroad, I have been able to view America from a new angle. It is a beautiful world that we live in and the only way to know this is to travel and see it. I stand by Osaka as my favorite city so far (blog post to come, I promise!) but I would never have chosen to go to Osaka. My first choice would have been Tokyo (although, since I have yet to go to Tokyo, I may still find I like it more there).

So words of advice: TRAVEL! and never stop travelling. Remember that even the place you live in is foreign to someone, so make sure you get the chance to explore your own hometown.

<3

P.S. Mr Gates, if you read this, Crystal is a huge fan of yours. She raves about your book ALL the time, watches every episode of your show, and is very disappointed you were at Waverly Hills just 5 months before she started volunteering there. She would appreciate it greatly if you would follow her on twitter. Best regards, Kate

Japan: How a Country Stole My Heart

Now, to be fair, I've wanted to go to Japan for over twelve years now, since I was eight and  first learned how to make a paper crane. As glorious as Japan was in my head, however, the real thing definitely exceeded my expectations!

I spent the weekend in the Kansai region of Japan, which at this time of year is delightfully saturated with blooming cherry blossoms. It was an excursion with my CIEE program, so there were about 25 of us traipsing through the area, along with many, many other tour groups. Here starts my wondrous tale of my weekend in Japan <3
(you'll notice I'm holding a little flat doll looking thing. That is Flat Billy. He is a friend of Flat Stanley. Elementary schools often send Flats to friends and family members so the students can learn more about different places. I was asked to show Flat Billy around Korea by a young boy I babysit, and since I had him around as I was going to Japan, I took him there as well)

Even the clouds over Japan seemed extra special
   because they were Japanese clouds. Look at them!
Don't they just look special?!

Bright and early Friday morning we boarded the bus for the airport. It was still completely dark out as the bus pulled out of the parking lot before 6am. That is not an hour anyone really ever needs to be awake, unless they are heading for a foreign country. I must say, as displeased as most of the group was, I was excited that we would be able to spend pretty much the entire day in Japan since our flight was to land at 10 am. After a little mix up at the airport and killing some time before passing through customs, we (or at very least I) eagerly boarded the plane for a rather quick flight. Time in the air was maybe an hour and a half, and while I had hardly slept the night before, I did not even attempt to sleep on the plane. I was far to excited.

So I was finally in Japan. I made sure the first thing I did was hit up four square. Major points for checking into Japan! We boarded the bus as a group and were introduced to our tour guide for the weekend as we ate our bento box lunches (natrually, what else would you have as your first meal in Japan?). I tried really hard to stay awake while the bus drove off to Kyoto, but alas, my lack of sleep finally caught up with me. But not before I managed to get a few pictures of beautiful Japan!

Our first stop in Kyoto was the Golden Pavilion. It is part of a Buddhist Zen temple, and the site has been in use for hundreds of years. As proof of this, there is a 600 year old tree! We wandered around here for a little while, among the other tourists and Japanese people. I loved seeing the couples dressed in Kimonos! It hinted at raining while we were there, hence the gray skies in my pictures,  but it was still beautiful (have I mentioned I love Japan?). We also got to try some Japanese snacks...including green tea ice cream, yummm!!!

Next we were off to Nijo Castle. While today it is not completely original because of a few incidents with fire, as will happen to fully wooden structures, it is still mostly original. Even the floor still maintains its original defense system. See, back when the castle was built there were no electronic home defense systems. But the Shogun and other occupants still needed a way to be alerted if an assassin were to try to sneak into the castle. There were two forms of defense set up. First, the floors are what is called a nightingale floor. When you walk on them it sounds like chirping nightingales. It's actually a rather pretty sound, though I suppose it could get rather annoying living with it. The second form of defense were hidden chambers for the Shogun's bodyguards. No pictures were allowed inside the castle, but I did manage to get some of the garden (I even got my roommate, Crystal, to get in a picture!)

It was then time to head to the hotel. On the way my new friend Parth (you'll hear more about him later) delighted me with fantastic (albeit not so believable) stories of his friends back home. True or not, he had quite the stories to tell. But anyways, when we got to the hotel we pretty much had time to set our things down and then head to dinner. We had a traditional Japanese style dinner. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures as my camera/iPod was completely dead at this point (I had spent all day taking pictures/listening to music, afterall. It had been a long day; I started in Seoul, and was ending it in Kyoto). I can tell you it was delicious!! We had sashimi, miso soup, other soup, sushi, tempura, and much much more. The food just kept coming out in waves of wonderfulness :)

After dinner a group of us went out with our program director and assistant director (Boram, the AD, is pictured with the flag above). We were in search of sake and Geishas. Instead of finding either we ended up at a swanky little bar over looking the river. It was a nice chill way to end the evening. My roommate for the evening (Britney) and I headed back early, even though she is the one from the group who speaks the most fluent Japanese (lesson learned: my Japanese is semi-functional, but at this point I was thinking it was quite pitiful, more on that later though), although Boram can apparently speak Japanese pretty well too (she claims that what she used there was ALL she knows, which means she can speak enough to order at a bar? Oh Boram...) So I have just a couple of pictures from that evening:

So here's the teaser: the story only gets better, but I'm not going to tell any more right now. Which means you'll just have to check back in soon to hear the rest!!

#WithLoveFromJapan