Saturday

This weekend, some of David's friends went camping, so we joined them for the day.  We started out picking up some food to bring along.  I can't get over the parking here.  Everything seems to be legal!  You park wherever you like, and let others just drive around your vehicle.

 You can't see it, but this first car is double parked, and the other cars are just angle parked!  And on the parking is done on the first traffic lane.

 This is an parking lot for an apartment building.  There are not enough spots for all the cars, so you park like this, but you must leave your car in neutral.  If your car is blocked, simply push the offending car away (to block another car), and you can just drive away!

 The drive to the campsite was beautiful.  As we were driving we were completely surrounded by mountains--not the rugged Rocky Mountains--these were completely covered by trees--deciduous and evergreens.    I didn't take pictures, because the pictures would just not do justice to the immensity of the mountains.  Korea is 70% covered with mountains, and as we were driving, we could certainly understand that! 

 The park was by a river.  And since it was in the mountains it was very rocky. 

You could pitch your tent wherever you could find enough clear space--somewhat tricky!  We paid an entrance fee to get into the park, but once in, there was no fee to put up a tent.  There are platforms to put your tent--that ensures a level floor, and keeps you drier if it rains--but the platforms here were $30 per night.

 You pitch your tent where ever you like--close to the river or.....

right on the river!  Lots of people were playing in the water.  The water was only about waist deep.  Koreans don't do a lot of swimming.

 Here David's friends are setting up their tent. (Leon and Puran). 

 And what do guys do when they are in the great outdoors?????

Even though the weather started out beautiful, bright and sunny, suddenly in the late afternoon, the sky turned dark, a cooler wind picked up, and it was obvious that rain would be coming soon.  So since we weren't staying the night, we decided to leave.  We went through quite a rainstorm on our way back--one that the tents probably would not stay dry in. 

We finished the day with another traditonal Korean meal.  This one is deep-fried dumplings ( very good) with a noodle salad--good too, except for the ubiquitous red sauce which makes everything very spicy.  Very few knives are used.  This meal came with scissors.  To cut up the noodles, use scissors.  Works well!

I have been in Korea 1 week now.  I have been overwhelmed with everything that I have seen.  It has been very interesting, and David has done his best to make sure that I experience as much of Korean culture as possible. 

Thusday, June 27

I was too tired to do this last night, so I'll try to remember what happened yesterday!

Thursday, David had a break.  Two of his friends (Tori--a teacher from Scotland who has been here longer than David, and
Puran--Leon's Korean wife who calls me mommy) entertained me for the day.

Tori and I started out with breakfast at Paris Baguette--a bakery place with all sorts of foods that were recognizable!  We spent some time talking about her work--she has a different job than David--she works at a university teaching students who want to become teachers.  She mentioned the pressure that Korean high school students have to do well at school so that they can get into the best universities, the high suicide rate among teens here in Korea, breakdown in family life.  It's interesting--Korea has adopted much of the Western life-style in a very short time, but has not yet learned how to cope with problems that may come with that.  She mentioned that there are a lot of orphanages here in Korea.  Koreans on the whole don't know how to deal with disabilities, and so if their child is born less than perfect, they are counselled often to put the child in an institution.  Adoption is almost unheard of here.  She thinks that this attitude is starting to change sometime.  She was teaching a Society and Change class, and asked her students what they would like in their future.  One student said he would like to have 2 children and then adopt some.  She had never heard a student say that before.

She also mentioned (and I have heard this from so many of David's friends) that David is extremely generous. He organized a Murder Mystery night last month, and all proceeds went to an orphanage.  Each Christmas he goes out with his guitar to an orphanage and plays and sings for the kids and distributes presents.  Charity is not nearly as common in Korea as it is in Canada.

After breakfast we went to the mountains to a Buddhist monastery.  Korea is about 50% Buddhist and 50% Christian.   This  monastery is probably a tourist destination, but monks also live here, and people are encouraged to come for Buddhist retreats.  It is a beautiful area--very green and lush--lots of forest--a very quiet place.

This is the gate to get into the monastery:

 These are Buddhist warriors--they are HUGE!!!

 To the right here is the largest temple in Korea.  Tori said it was quite beautiful inside--but we couldn't get in because it was being renovated--both inside and outside.

 I had wanted to go into this temple.  The doors were open, and I had taken my shoes off (custom), but there was a monk there chanting and kneeling.  It was interesting watching him--it was almost like some sort of choreography-while he was chanting he would ring a bell or play some sort of wood percussion instrument, and kneel, bow or stand up.  We left, and 10 minutes later when we came back, he was still at it.

This is another temple. The ceiling is covered with lanterns and there are requests for prayers hanging down from them.  Lots of icons around.  The ones in the middle are gold Buddhas.

There were a couple of  flower arrangements left there--gifts for the Buddha.

Another Buddhist altar.













After going to the monastery, we met up with Puran.  She took us to a Korean restaurant for lunch.  This was a lovely place.  The table was low to the floor, so we sat on mats on the floor--after removing our shoes at the door.  Tori and Puran were given towels to cover their legs--one was wearing shorts, and the other a dress.  I was wearing pants, so I was OK!  They were quite concerned that I get a lunch that would not be too spicy for me--since I am not accustomed to Korean food.  So after discussions with the waiter, they made a choice for me:

 This is Bibimbab--a bowl of lots of colourful veggies and sprouts on a bed of rice, with some hot sauce in the middle.  The girls made sure that there wasn't too much hot sauce for me!  There were also lots of sides (in a Korean restaurant the sides come free)--cucumber soup, egg, spinach, lotus root, sweet potato, pickled raddish, pumpkin soup, and others.  The meal was really quite good!

There was a lovely courtyard with beautiful flowers and plants there.

Afterward we went to an area not too far from the restaurant.  It is like a conservation area--large forest area around a lake or a reservoir.  There are walking trails throughout the area.  Even though in places you can see the tall buildings of the city, you can get the feeling that you are miles out in the country.  The air is much cleaner and fresher here as well.  Luran was saying that when Leon had his cancer, they often came here to spend a half day--much more restful and relaxing than in the busy city.

These are pear (or peach) trees.   Each fruit is covered with little  yellow paper bags so that the birds don't get at them.

Other crops being grown here in the middle of the city.

 A familiar sight--a board walk through the marsh.  Classes come here on trips to study plant and water life here.

  When we were done with the conservation area, we went to a huge market--it covered several city blocks.  Part of it was indoor, and part open air.  They sold all kinds of things there--kitchen tools, furniture, small appliances, fruits and veggies.  And lots and lots of dried fish and other dried seafood.  Some of it looked pretty disgusting!  And the  people sitting by the stands were kept busy trying to keep the flies off the food.

You probably can't see this very well, but the box at the front on the left is dried seaweed--very popular here--and very healthy.  Women eat seaweed soup after giving birth--it is supposed to restore your figure more quickly.  And you have to eat seaweed on your birthday--it gives good luck for the coming year.

This is a very old gingko biloba tree--so old that it is protected.  I have a gingko biloba tree in my backyard too, but it's not so famous yet!

This is the Martyrs' Cathedral.  In the late 1800s, Korea was overrun by the Japanese who killed many of the Catholics that were a part of the Mission here.  This cathedral was built as a memorial to that event.










So that was my Thursday.  When I got home, I spent time reading Jane Eyre on my Kobo--I started it on the plane down here.  It was one of the books on my Kobo.  I hadn't read it since high school.  Quite an interesting story.  So David downloaded the movie for me, so I watched the movie rather than blog.  It's good to have some down time.  I feel quite overwhelmed sometimes with everything that I am seeing and hearing here.  I still have to pinch myself at times to see if I am really here--and that it is not just a dream!

Wednesday--June 26

This morning I went walking again--along pretty much the same route.  I have decided that I will walk only along the major streets.  Once I get on to the side streets, it would become a maze of apartment buildings that all look alike!  The above is a school bus.  Much newer looking than the ones we have at home!
David and I went walking together--this way I can expand my morning walks somewhat.  There is quite a nice walking path along the river, and these are the stairs to go down.

 And this is how one gets across the river!  I made it!  and I only needed David's help once!

 On this river path, there are more work-out stations.  David is demonstrating how to use this one!

The city (as I have mentioned before) doesn't do a lot of maintenance in the parks and such, so here are some seniors cleaning up the brickwork.  Some of them are wearing masks.  I saw a number of people (mostly elderly) wearing full-face masks.  With their masks and hats, they look a bit like creatures from the Star Wars movies.  I had wanted to take a picture of one, but I didn't think it would be appropriate!

 Lots of wild-flowers along the river.  These are black-eyed susans, I think.  I am disappointed that there are so many flowers that look just like the ones we have at home.  I though that there would be more unfamiliar ones.

Tuesday" Adventures

This morning, David sent me out on my own to explore.  The only way to learn about the neighbourhood is to explore it on your own, he said.  And that makes sense, though it was quite intimidating.  All the apartment buildings look exactly alike, and every street looks just like all the others.  If I didn't get back in one hour, he would look for me at the big, tall, blue building (the post office).  Well, I didn't get lost.  But I sure had to  find landmarks and memorize them.  (One of his friends told me that he had just moved into a building near David one evening in the dark, and the next day he went out to make a purchase.  He could not find his way back home, and had been wandering around for quite a while, when David just happened to meet him with his car.  The 2 of them drove around for quite some time again before he finally recognized his own building!).

The apartment buildings are all quite close together, and all look alike.  They do have names, but it is all in Korean writing, and I'm not very fluent in that !  There are a few spaces that are still vacant, and often there will be gardens planted in them:

I didn't recognize all the plants growing there.  I did see corn, beans and radishes, but I don't know what the other plants were growing there.  They were very well taken care of.  I don't know if they were maintained by the tenants in the apartment buildings, or who looked after them.

 And there were many vacant lots that looked just like this:

There is a lot of construction going on in Jeonju, and David says that most of the vacant lots (and garden plots too) will be used to build more apartment buildings.

There is a small parkette close to his place, and there is some playground equipment as well as work-out equipment.  But here too, the grass is not maintained well, and there is garbage everywhere.  For some reason, there are very few garbage bins in public spaces.

Since everyone lives in these apartment buildings, they do need playgrounds for the children.  There are groups of buildings like this everywhere, no matter where you look.  There are mountains (large hills) all around Jeonju, and so to make more space, they have actually removed some of these "mountains"!  It reminded me so much of where Jesus says, "If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains."  Well, these people in Jeonju move mountains, but I don't think that is exactly what Jesus meant!

 This afternoon, David took me for a drive out of the big city.  Wherever they can find some space, they grow crops--mostly rice. 

 They have had to terrace the land so they can use it more efficiently.

 Outside of Jeonju, we drove into some real mountains!  The pictures don't do it justice, because it ws quite hazy outside, especially higher up.

 

 More terracing in the mountains.

 

 A lookout gazebo--to see an absolutely majestic view.  The gazebo was quite the building too.  All the steps and the floors were made of marble!

 Right by the observation tower, there were these carvings of birds.  I don't know what the significance of them was, but it quite neat to see them.  Each pole and bird was carved from one piece of wood.

 As we were descending the mountain, we could see small villages in the valleys.

It's my third day of travelling around here, and already the city doesn't look quite so foreign to me as it did on Sunday.  However, I don't know how anyone can find their way around here.  Most of the streets are not square!  And they all look the same!

The cars here are really interesting.  Pretty much all vehicles are white, grey or black.  There are very few other colours here.

I had lunch today with David's friends again.  We went to Jeonju Diner--owned by David Van Minnen.  It was nice to meet him.  I'd heard so much about him--he helped David settle in when he first arrived 8 years ago.  And it was nice to eat a meal that I could recognize--chicken burritos and cole slaw--and eat with a fork and knife!

Last night we had the most interesting dinner.  Sam gyup sal.  There were about 10 of us around 2 tables.  In the centre of each table was a gas grill.  The waiter brought the meat (thinly sliced pork) with LOTS of side dishes, and we cooked the meat at the table.  They don't use knifes here to cut the meat--each table got a pair of scissors with long blades, and cut the meat into pieces with that.  It worked very well.

David has a great group of friends.  They have all been very welcoming, and I have enjoyed them very much.

Well, we're off to an Italian place for dinner tonight!