Friday was Megan's birthday (a co-worker of mine), so we all went to Ashley's for dinner (the delicious buffet with unlimited wine). There was a big group of us which was fun and we ate and drank the night away. I knew what I was setting myself up for going to Ashley's and having unlimited wine the night before I left for the trip. And knew that the night would not end there. Ben Teacher was great though and kept telling me that it was going to be alright so I went with it. From Ashley's we went to noraebang and sung the night away. It was a great time especially since we sang some Christmas songs! Since Hayley, Chuck and I all live on the same street, we grabbed a taxi together. Getting a taxi here isn't always very easy. The taxi's all originate from a certain city and usually will not go outside of their own city. So it was a bit troublesome to find a taxi. The license plates have numbers on them so you know where the taxi is from - 65 is Suji, my area and none were to be found. Eventually we got a taxi to take us though and I was home by 2am. Knowing that I had to be up in five hours, and still needed to shower and pack was a little rough but it was worth it.
Saturday morning I got up and headed out the door. I was the second person to arrive at the subway station where the pick up spot was and started chatting with the other girl there, Sierra who is from Ontario. Her friend Ashley, also from Ontario came shortly after and we chatted until the bus came. It's awesome when you go on these trips and how easy it is to make instant friends. When we got on the bus I noticed a girl sitting by herself so I made a comment about how we were the only singles on the trip and of course an instant bond was formed. Then an even stronger one formed when I learned she is from Trail, BC, and that I have been to Trail and we both know some of the same people. Such a small world, even this far away. Her name is Michelle. So the four of us Canadians were best friends for the weekend.
We arrived at the temple a bit early, so we were able to go our own way in the village and grab lunch. The four of us opted for some bibimbap and the lovely lady at the restaurant gave us tofu soup as service. I love service. If I haven't mentioned before, it's when a place gives you things for free. Afterwards everyone met at the temple gates. I think there was about fifteen of us maybe? Apparently a huge group cancelled the night before but I enjoyed the size of our group. It was mostly teachers but there was one couple from Poland, the husband works at Samsung. There are so many people here in Korea who work for Samsung that get sent here through work from other countries. I feel like you are either a teacher or you work for Samsung (okay that's not true, I've met doctors and other people too but still).
We were welcomed at the temple and given temple clothes to change into. These are the clothes that monks in training where which was kind of cool.
We then had some free time so us girls explored the temple and took pictures.
Ashley, Me, Michelle (back) and Sierra
Gorgeous weather as you can tell.
We met up with our Adventure Korea guide, Dragon (literal translation from his Korean name) and we learned we would be starting with the bows! Before doing the temple stay, I had heard from my co-worker Sarah who did one before that you do 108 bows. It was time. Honestly it sounds awful but it was probably my favourite part of the trip. It was so relaxing regardless of how it sounds. Every time we bowed down we strung a bead on a string and made our own prayer necklaces that we got to keep too. The monk that did it with us (and hosted us for the weekend) was really cool and sweet too. We were told that we are not bowing to Buddha but bowing to ourselves. We were supposed to thank ourselves and reflect on our lives. I thanked myself 108 times that day. You were just supposed to focus on yourself. Afterwards (with another Korean group that was there for a temple stay too) we went around in a circle and introduced ourselves and had to say a rule for life. I said that people should let their soul be their guide. Here is a video of what the bow looks like standing to kneeling all the way down and back up.
After this we had dinner. Monks do not eat meat so it was rice with kimchi and other Korean style vegetables.We ate the same thing the next day for breakfast and lunch with little variation. When I got home Sunday night, I was excited to have some meat!
After dinner, we got to hear the monks drumming on this huge drum outside in the courtyard of the temple. Wow are they ever talented! Then we got to join them in one of the temple rooms and bowed some more while they chanted. It was very cool and was my second favourite part of the trip. We only stayed about ten minutes doing this with them then we were taken back to another building with our host Monk and we made paper lanterns in the shape of lotus flowers, Korea's national flower. The Korean lady sitting next to me was awesome in helping me do a good job of mine. She kept fixing my leaves and twisting them tighter and showed me what to do. When the lady taking pictures came by she didn't want to have her picture taken but in Korean I said No! and made her take a picture.
My lantern :)
My lantern lit up.
We got to choose the colour of our lanterns and afterwards when everyone was finished our Monk told us the significance of the colour we picked as this was supposed to be a reflection of our souls. As you can see, mine is very colourful which is supposed to mean that I think like a child which I can agree with to some extent. I am playful and silly, so I can see it. Yellow meant that you desire money, pink meant that you are passionate about something and purple meant you are creative. We all had a snack together then headed to our shared rooms, lights out was at 10pm and we were getting up at 3am the next day.
The four of us girls shared a room together and it felt like we were 13 again having a sleepover. So much talking and laughter and silliness, it was great - but got way too hot and stuffy in the room! Waking up at 3am was fine but it was so cold outside. We listened to the Monks drum again then bowed and listened to the chant in the temple room once more. From there we headed to another room and did meditation. We did a half hour of sitting meditation and a half hour of laying meditation, again we were supposed to focus on ourselves and our lives and where we want our lives to go. Keep in mind we were doing this at 4:30am so several people fell asleep unfortunately, but I don't blame them.
After breakfast we had free time until 7:30am, so I took a nap. Then we helped clean the temple grounds with these great brooms.
This was followed by tea time with our Monk. We were also able to ask her questions. This temple is one of the most famous temples in Korea. She started thinking about becoming a monk when she was 13 (I think). Monks get to choose which temple they would like to study and live at. We bowed 108 times because apparently we have 84,000 thoughts. This can be categorized into 108 thoughts which can be further categorized into 3 thoughts (impermanence, suffering and not-self ... I believe). So in the broken and lost translation that is why they bow 108 times. Also they get up at 3am because apparently all living things begin to wake up at 3am so they wake up with the rest of the living things. Or something like that. Again, things got lost in translation. Our monk was supposed to be able to speak English, but she couldn't, so our poor guide, Dragon had to translate everything the best he could. He did a great job, but a lot of stuff definitely got lost in translation.
After this we had more free time until lunch, some people went for a hike, others hung around. I went and watched the Monks prepare cabbage to make kimchi (right now is kimchi making season) then I went back to sleep as I wasn't feeling well. Being in a hot stuffy room, to frozen outside, and staying in a temple without soap did not help the small cold I already had.
I really enjoyed the weekend and am glad that I did the temple stay. I would like to do another one in the Spring as it really refreshed my mind. I would not recommend doing one in this cold season though! Here is a group shot of us holding our lanterns.
In other news ...
This weekend that is just ending was really really great. I had such a great weekend and am just going to leave it at that. I also had my second jimjilbang experience, but my first overnight jimjilbang experience.
We are also getting a new teacher at school tomorrow as Hayley is leaving. The new teacher, Laura arrived tonight. I over-napped and missed out on meeting her over dinner with three other co-workers but met up when they finished and walked her back to her hotel with them. It was a bit weird being on the other side of the table, as I still remember being in her shoes five months ago quite well.
I am also still trying to get over this cold that I have. Korea is a bit funny because everyone goes to the doctor so often. When I first had a cough weeks ago, my supervisor told me I should go see the doctor. Something I didn't and still don't think is necessary at all. I have a common cold, it is nothing I need a doctor for, just need to fight through it, eat and sleep well.
15 days until I leave for the Philippines!
<3
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