I'm going Home!

I received an EMail today that the company is running out of money for the project that I've been working on, and they asked me to come home ASAP. I'm not really surprised, we've been burning through cash at an alarming rate for a couple of years now so I've had a notion that sometime it would come to an end. What's most frustrating is the short notice of my return.

I've booked my flight home, to arrive in SFO on Saturday September 6th at 12:30pm and I'm already mentally on the plane home. My time here in Korea has been an enriching experience, one that I will never forget and certainly look forward to my next opportunity to work overseas. Now that I know some of what what to expect when living far away from home for an extended period, my next assignment will go considerably smoother.

I have been looking around for what I'm really going to miss when I'm back home and there is one thing that I will try to duplicate back in the states, and that's Korean barbecue. I'm still unsure what cut of pork rib they cook up at the table, but it's simply delicious. The meat is a long strip of pork with a single rib attached, marinated in something tasty and cooked at the table on a charcoal grill. About halfway through the cooking, the waitress brings a large pair of kitchen shears and cuts it up into bit size pieces. The dining table is covered with little bowls, each with something different to wrap up with the pork, usually garlic slices, sliced onions in soy sauce, spicy red bean paste ("Korean Ketchup" as it was described), kimchee (natch!), white rice, garlic shoots, bean sprouts -- the array of flavors is limited only by the imagination. To eat, you start with a folded lettuce leaf in your palm, add whatever suits your pallette and a piece of pork, wrap, and eat. We had this for our farewell lunch today and it is still my favorite Korean meal. And again, I forgot to bring my camera!

I will miss the friends I've made in Korea who helped me maintain some semblence of sanity, namly J.R., Roger, Jason, Jim, Will, Ken, Jerry, and all the others I've met who I don't remember by name. It is this loosly associated group of people who welcomed me as a friend, invited me on weekend getaways, and helped feed me spiritually. My only hope is that I was able to contribute as much as I received. God bless you all.

My next blog entry may be when I'm a hometown tourist, journaling my journeys through San Jose and the bay area, but who knows -- life's a journey, I'll bring my camera.

Jerry.

Shopping in Seoul

So my coworker Erik and I finally drove to Seoul last weekend. With the US dollar getting stronger against the Korean Won I wanted to shop for a camera lens, and all the internet opinions I found were positive for the Yesdica camera store in the Namdaemun market in Seoul. Finding an address on the internet for Yesdica proved difficult, at least an address in English, but the Namdaemun gate in Seoul is Korea's cultural treasure #1, is shown on all the tourist maps, and the market is in the same neighborhood. If you remember back to the news last January it's the old city gate that caught fire, it was the oldest wooden structure in the country. When we drove past it the entire gate was hidden from view, covered with scaffolding and boarded up while they're doing repairs.

I had been avoiding driving to Seoul because of the horror stories I've heard about the traffic and the crowds, but neither were any worse than I'd expect in Los Angeles or San Francisco on a Saturday afternoon. We left Anseong about 11:00am and drove North on highway 1 toward Seoul, stopping only once at a rest area to fill the rental car with LPG and get a quick snack. I again passed on the fresh grilled squid and got 'ham toast' instead -- basically it's a grilled sandwich on spongy white bread with a slice of ham, a patty made with egg, cheese and rice, squirted with ketchup and sprinkled with sugar. It was tasty in a strange way... too many flavors that I didn't think would work together.

Just past the highway toll booth on the outskirts of Seoul there was road construction and a chain-reaction accident involving many cars and a couple of buses that added probably an hour to our drive -- other than that it was full speed (100 km/h) most of the way. In Seoul the traffic was heavy but nothing oppressive. We did take an unintentional scenic route over a mountain outside of Seoul instead of taking the tunnel through the mountain -- I keep telling people I have a GPS because I need one, not because I want one. I had entered coordinates of the Namdaemun market, picked off of Google earth prior to leaving for Seoul, so my GPS had a good idea of where the market is. The coordinates were close enough that Erik spotted the store as I was following the arrow on the GPS. Parking wasn't a problem either, I parked on a side street half a block across the street from the store and it was a short walk to Yesdica.

Instead of crosswalks there are stairs down to an underground mall to get across the street. The stores in the mall, both underground and at street level, are almost all very specialized in their merchandise, like the necktie store, or the artsy-paper store. Also unusual were how the stores were clustered together: all the stores with clocks and watches were next to each other, as were the stores selling only cameras, or scarves, purses, swimsuits, ginseng, hats, jewelery, etc. It's a very different method of merchandising than in the US, and it's quite convenient to shop at stores next to each other for the best price, or the perfect tie.


Also unusual were the vendors selling things on the stairways leading to the underground mall. The green strips on the stairs are glow in the dark markers, perhaps the vendors have flashlights on hand to help evacuate in case of power failure?

There was even a lady selling fried silkworms, but I was too timid to try one.

What I did bring home are more pictures, some Korean souvenirs, and another camera lens.

The weather over the weekend was sunny and warm, not hot or humid, and perfect for a road trip. This week we had a couple of days of rain but the forecast for next weekend is sunny and warm, so perhaps I can find more stone pagodas!

Jerry

What I did on my Summer Vacation

I went home for a week of vacation this summer. There's something strange about taking time off and buying a plane ticket so I can sleep in my own bed, cook in my own kitchen, and get reacquainted with my friends. My concept of vacationing changed this year: instead of visiting someplace far away to enjoy and appreciate the foreign culture, I simply wanted to go home. Having been in Korea for four months I needed the familiarity and relaxation I have come to enjoy at home.

At home I did many of the things that aren't available to me here in Korea: smoking brisket, salmon, and ribs for a potluck with my friends; motorcycling through the Santa Cruz mountains and stopping for a real American hamburger with my friend Rich (pictured) at Alice's in Woodside; going to the range with Vic and punching .44 caliber holes in paper; talking (in English!) to people on the air via amateur radio. It's also an under appreciated luxury to be able to buy shirts that fit without the shopkeepers snickering at my large American size, and passing up shoes on the clearance rack because they're actually too big. More guilty pleasures: eavesdropping on conversations in the supermarket, joking with the sales clerks, and generally being included in society instead of being shunned everywhere.

I also went home to bring back the things that I didn't pack the first time, things I didn't think I'd need or thought I could buy here. Simple things, like my favorite toothpaste, socks, and underwear. Books that I've been wanting to read but had left at home, shirts, another pair of shorts, and new shoes that fit. Being home for a week really drove home the point of how comfortably I really have it.

I knew what to expect upon my return to Korea, so the culture shock wasn't as severe as when I first arrived in April, but I also realize that I've got to make a few subtle changes in my daily routine to keep my sanity intact. Specifically, I now know more than ever how important it is for me to have human contact -- friendly conversation and interaction, like discussing the news, trading ideas on the latest political developments, sharing a joke and actually having it understood and appreciated.

Here in Korea I work with a team of ten or so people, two of us are English-only Americans and thankfully Erik and I have similar senses of humor and political views. After work, however, it's like solitary confinement, the important difference being the locks are on the inside of the door. I cook dinner for myself since I can't handle the spicy Korean cuisine anymore, which is a shame because I enjoyed it when I first arrived; Ordering food in a restaurant is playing dinner roulette: I never know what I'm getting without an interpreter. Besides, cooking my own food gives me opportunity to interact with the Korean people in the supermarket, and it alleviates some of the evening boredom.

But I am back in Korea, well, rested, and ready for more adventures.

Jerry.

July 12 - Visiting Bulguksa Temple

Ohmygosh, it's been a month since I've updated my blog - where does the time go? So here's the posting that I've been waiting to finish for a few weeks. I discovered that the pictures I take look better if I don't see them for a couple of weeks, something about a fresh look reveals details overseen when they're fresh in the camera.

--==##==--

"Life's a journey, not a destination."

I was invited to a conference out of town on the weekend of July 12, and naturally accepted. The conference was ho-hum, but the journey was fascinating. Having lived in California all my life, I'm used to the rest areas along the highway being, um, the bare necessities -- they're places to stop only when you really really have to go while you're getting to where you're going. Here, the rest areas are built to considerably higher standards, with cafes, food courts, real fresh brewed coffee, and swap-meet like vendors selling all sorts of dime store treasures.

One of the outdoor food vendors was cooking up fresh squid on the grill. Fortunately, another patron ordered one up just in time to snap a picture. Nothing defines a road trip like fresh rest area squid!

The squid looked much more appetizing than the fried silk worms for sale along the walking path to the temple. I would have taken a picture of the silkworms bubbling away in the frying pan but was afraid I would be obliged to actually eat one... there are limits to what I'm willing to do for a picture.



Destination: Bulguksa Temple

The names and explanations of items on the temple grounds were copied from the guide book I purchased for 4000 won at the temple.

Along the path to the temple grounds is Banyayeonji, or the Pond of Wisdom, teeming with koi. The reason it is called "Banya" is that it symbolizes wisdom, which is like a pure lotus flower not contaminated in muddy water.


On the bridge at the left side of the picture is Roger and looking out from the trees is Jason, two of my friends from Osan.


The Bulguksa temple, as explained on the sign at the entrance




To enter the temple grounds you must first pass through the Gate of the Guardian Kings, where the watchful eyes of the four sentries stand allowing only the virtuous to pass. Shown here, from left to right, are Virupaska guarding the west, Vaisravana guarding the north, Dhrtarstra guarding the east, and Virudhaka guarding the south.


Sitting on the floor between the legs of the guardians are some creatures, not sure exactly what they are but they look like they may feed on the remains of the impure who try to pass through the gates.








Finally arriving at the main temple, it's quite a sight.




The stairways up to the main temple are properly called bridges, the lower flight of stairs is the Blue Cloud Bridge and the upper stairs the White Cloud Bridge. The guidebook states, "if one enters the temple by the bridge, one is freed from the ignorance and suffering of the world." Unfortunately, the bridges were fenced off so I guess I'll 'm cursed to forever suffer in ignorance.






What what tourist attraction would be complete without a gift shop? Inside there are all sorts of trinkets, but a couple of things caught my eye, like the wall of miniature Buddha statues, and one golden Buddha in particular on a table full of Buddha statues.


There is so much more to this temple, it is simply huge. Here's a garden gate, to who knows where.



"The Dabotap, which is considered the most beautiful pagoda in the world." (Description as printed in the tourist guide from the temple.)

"Dabotap (multi-jeweled pagoda)
National Treasure Number 20

This pagoda of Many Treasure, sometimes called Chilbotap, Seven Treasure Pagoda, is one of the most famous monuments in Korea, symbolizing several different things. The teachings of the Buddha are symbolically portrayed. The square-shared base stone symbolize the Four Noble Truths (a teaching about the unsatisfactory of life and how to overcome it), one of basic principles Buddhism. Ten stone stairs rise from each of the four sides symbolizing the forty practices of Buddhism.

"A record states that originally there were four stone lions up until 1902. Three of them disappeared when the pagoda was repaired by the Japanese colonial government in 1925. During the dismantling of the pagoda in preparation for repairing it, two gold Buddha statues and many relice were found. The pagoda stands 10m 40cm high and is National Treasure No.20."

"Seokgatap (Sakyamuni Pagoda)
National Treasure No.21

"The official name of this pagoda is Three-story Stone Pagoda of Bulguksa. It stands 10m 40cm high, when Gim Dae-seong constructed the temple in 751, he built these two pagodas. The perfectly proportioned Seokgatap is representative of the trend in the Unified Shilla Period when pagodas were simplifies to consist of three stories standing on a two-story base.

"Eight lotus flowers, the Golden Seat of Eight Direction or the Lotus Pedestal Seat of Eight Directions, have been called around the pagoda, the simplicity of this pagoda is enhanced by the complexity of its twin, the Pagoda of Many Treasure.

"When the pagoda was dismantled for repairs in 1966, the Great Mantra Sutra and 70 cultural relics (28 different kinds) were found in the pagoda. These were designated National Treasure No.126. Seokgtap has another name as well, thus Sakyamuni Pagoda is sometimes called the Pagoda without Reflection."

That's about all I've got from the Bulguksa temple visit, and for that matter I want to find other national treasures to blog about. Pagodas are cool and all, but when you get right down to it, they're piles of rocks.

4th of July rafting and spelunking

Have you ever gone into the bathroom on a humid day just after someone got out of a long, hot shower? Or imagine the sticky wet feeling of going into a sauna fully clothed. . . The feel of putting on clothes fresh from the dryer, when they're warm but not yet dry. That's what it's like outside right now here in Anseong Korea, at 9:26 pm. I never thought it could be dark and hot and windy and foggy all at the same time. I've been told it's a dry 'wet season' here this year but it's plenty humid.

So the rainy season is supposed to be upon us and my raincoat is hanging at the ready in my closet... in San Jose. Fortunately shopping for clothes in this town is easy, the local Lotte Mart has a nice selection of jackets and there are quite a few familiar brand-name outlets in town. Unfortunately my stature doesn't resemble the Korean norm, as was displayed most unfavorably by the look of horror on the face of the nice lady at the Lotte Mart as I tried on a size XL raincoat. The sleeves ended just below my elbows and zipping it up wasn't going to happen - even spandex won't stretch that far. So I peeled off the jacket being careful not to tear anything and wriggled into a size XXL. Much better, I could actually zip this one up... if I held my breath. I didn't really check the sleeve length, I was afraid the shoulder seam might tear if I reached forward. The look of exasperation on the clerk was enough to convince me to look elsewhere. Down the street are a few outlet stores that sell outdoor gear, so I choose to try on a size XXXL jacket at the Black Yak store but it was still too tight across the shoulders and the prices were scary expensive. So where does an American buy clothes around here? Outside the Osan American Air Force base! There I found a USA sized XL jacket, quite reasonably priced and hand-made by the seamstress in the store. I'm warming up to the 'think globally, buy locally' concept!

Shoes. Now that's another story. I was invited to go river rafting over the 4th of July weekend so a pair of water shoes were also on my shopping list. Fortunately, the sneekers I wore from home have my european size printed inside, but unfortunately finding size 295 water shoes is difficult. One shopkeeper looked at my feet, shook her head and told me 'no big sizes.' After wandering around the shopping district for a couple of hours I settled on a pair of Adidas size 305 - they're a bit narrow but they stretched to fit okay. Ironically, I returned to first store I looked to buy them.

Saturday July 5th, 5:30AM. The insistent bee-bee-bee-beep bee-bee-bee-beep of the alarm clock drifts through my head, dredging out sleep like a vacuum cleaner sucking up a trunkfull of goose down. I think I have finally figured out that alarm clocks don't awaken their sleeping owners, they're merely empty vessels that fill themselves up with sleep when they sound off in the morning. Snooze buttons are merely valves that open to return a tiny bit of sleep back to you, to be sucked away again a precious few minutes later.

Roger is picking me up around 7:00AM and I still have to stuff my clothes into my day pack. The Plan, as I understand it, is to drive East, camp on Saturday night, go rafting on Sunday and return home. I've been told not to worry about food, and Roger has a spare tent and sleeping bag. Just in case I pack a few apples, hard boiled eggs and instant coffee. It's a privilege to be a passenger in Rogers SUV for the weekend, riding East along highway 38 let me enjoy the scenery and it reminds me of the Sierra foothills back home - low hills covered with thick brush and lightly forested. The highways we traveled are only a decade old and in great shape, with more tunnels than I'm used to on U.S. highways.

We arrived around 11 am and met up with the rest of the group at the camp site, unpacked and set up the tents on the sandy banks of the Dong Gang river. The shade of the bridge over the river was welcome relief from the mid-day sun, and surprisingly the mosquitoes didn't find my blood to their liking. The afternoon was lazy, we did go in to town to get lunch and supplies but mostly just splashed around in the river and enjoyed the day. For dinner there was fresh corn on the cob and chicken bought from a local farmer. The corn was different from American corn, tougher and not as sweet but good all the same. The chicken was boiled in a huge pot set in the top of a 55 gallon drum with a fire below, then rice added for a combined dish best described as chicken porridge. I also enjoyed the freshly picked, boiled white potatoes.

Sunday morning my hard boiled eggs and instant coffee were breakfast, the kimchee raman cooked up by the group didn't appeal to me for breakfast. We packed up and drove up the river to where the river rafting outfitters set up shop, packed ourselves into their vans for the drive up the river where we would mount the rafts. The road to the drop off point is mostly under construction so it wasn't the smoothest road through the mountains. Our group filled up two vans of mostly Koreans with four Americans mixed in for ballast. I found size does have it's privileges in the raft, the guide assigned me to the front right of the raft and Ben on the left. It must have been a good choice since the guide kept shouting instructions in Korean with mounting enthusiasm throughout the trip -- he would shout, and Ben and I would paddle like crazy. I don't know why the others on the boat kept looking at us like we were deaf -- neither of us hid the fact that we don't understand Korean... After the guide switched to shouting, "one two three four" for the paddling cadence he seemed to calm down a lot.

Roger had his little waterproof digital helmet camera along for the trip and here's one of the video clips he took of us navigating one of the few whitewater portions:



It was fun floating the river, with the water levels low this year the whitewater was really calm though.


After rafting, we visited the Gossi cave, it goes about 700m into the mountain and is pretty amazing. At the cave entrance visitors were asked to take a hardhat for safety, a good idea since mine got used a number of times once inside. Along the entire path inside the cave, catwalks and handrails have been installed to keep people, and the cave, safe from each other. I can't believe they let visitors actually touch some of the formations inside the cave, they look incredibly fragile and have taken millions of years to form.













It took me a couple of weeks to get around to posting this time, I'll try to be more speedy and less wordy in my next post.

Since I began this post three weekends ago, I visited the Bulguksa temple on July 12th, and also went to lunch in Fukuoka, Japan on July 19th. It has also started raining today July 20th so I may have a lot more time to update my blog.

Thanks for reading,

Jerry.

Temples. . . all over the place

Sometimes I just get lucky.

My tourist M.O. follows the accidental tourist mentality: I drive around until I see a sign pointing to a landmark, follow the arrows, and hopefully when I arrive there's something to see. Usually the objects of the arrows are big and obvious enough that even this English-only American can find them, like the monument to King Jeonjo the Great, and the Anseong brassware museum. Sometimes after following the arrows in circles I just give up, baffled, frustrated and wondering why there's an English sign on the highway but only signs in Hangul at the destination. Ironically, the Korean Literary Museum is one such landmark I haven't yet found. Fortunately, temples are big, colorful, generally hard to hide and easy to spot.

Driving East along highway 38 one weekend I simultaneously spotted a familiar-looking brown sign with an arrow, presumably pointing toward a landmark. I checked the rearview mirror while braking hard and swerving onto the access road, and mentally added 1.2km to the odometer as indicated on the sign. After a few weekends of seeking landmarks my skills are improving, but sometimes I wonder why people don't want to ride along on my weekend excursions.

The road follows a gentle stream with families picnicking on the wider banks, and at the end lies the parking lot of the Seongnamsa temple.


The first building I saw from the parking lot was over the steps to the temple grounds.




The building is a large open room facing the temple grounds, empty except for a stack of woven rugs stacked in one corner. Perhaps this is the dance hall? The pictures really speak volumes more than I can write, the paintwork is absolutely amazing.



The painted dragon banner picture on my blog page is from one of the beams




I do wonder about the wooden fish though...


Continuing up the steps I see the main temple at the top, with its doors open.



Midway up the stairs is a clearing with still more things see



Yet another stone pagoda...



And finally, I reach the temple. I poked my lens inside the open doors and this is what I saw:






And finally, on the walk back to the parking lot, I discovered the how the Buddhists do real Korean BBQ



Until next time...

Jerry.

Three-storied stone pagoda in Dogi-Dong

Finally, I have The Map! One of my coworkers picked up an english-language tourist map for me from the highway rest area. I've been looking for one of these, even asking at the museums and attractions for a map or tourist guide in English without success. And now, in my possession I have a guide to everything historical, photogenic, and cultural around Anseong mapped out on paper. I now know how it feels to have discovered the Rosetta Stone.

Beginning with the most local artifact to my apartment, I set out to find the Three-Storied stone pagoda of Dogi-Dong. According to the map it stands across the street from the Anseong fire department headquarters, which is down the road from the police station. Finding the police station is easy, it's near the park where I joined the nice family for a picnic lunch.

Driving past the police station I quickly found the fire department headquarters and soon thereafter the road past as shown on the map - I'd driven too far. Driving back I discovered a Buddhist temple and thought maybe the pagoda is an artifact on their temple grounds, but alas looking around I saw nothing made of stone or three stories tall. I assessed the gas station as not being pagoda-shaped and not nearly tall enough, but given the fuel prices these days I briefly considered the wisdom of erecting a shrine to gasoline.

I drove around the area, over roads between the rice paddies carefully threading the rental car over the narrow winding paths. All the roads between the rice paddies are about two feet above water and just barely wide enough for a farm truck, strangely crooked and completely flat. I did find a three story church not far from where the map showed the pagoda, but at last check Christians don't build pagodas.


There's lots of egrets around here. I keep taking pictures of them but I haven't gotten any really good close ups yet, they spook easily, and it probably doesn't help to wear an orange tee-shirt while sneaking up on them, either. I can walk or drive within about fifty feet from them before they flee but I keep trying. When I do get a good picture it'll be here, but for now here's one I saw while searching for the pagoda.


How hard could it possibly be to find a three-story stone pagoda? I mentally reviewed what I'm looking for: a pagoda - it should look like big stack of boxes. It's made from stone: I can take it for granite. It's three stories tall - anything that tall should stand out like a huge stone lightning rod around here! I'm in the middle of a huge flooded marsh recently planted with rice shoots, how could I not find it? With frustrations mounting I stop at the intersection of a paddy road and the highway and restore my blood sugar with peanut butter & jelly and an apple. Okay, I admit I did buy the California Farms brand of peanut butter, but it's Ottogi brand strawberry jam and Seoul Food brand bread! I'm really trying to fit into the culture!

As I finished my last bite of apple and swallow of iced tea I saw it: the stairway. Across the rice paddy I spotted a stone stairway and with trembling hands I took a shaky picture zoomed way in to document my discovery. Could this actually be the stone stairway leading up to the Three-storied stone pagoda of Dogi-dong? As I got closer I wondered what type of treasure I might find at the top - the stairway looked ancient, the stair treads possibly worn thin from the of millions of pilgrims that must have made the long journey to Dogi-dong. I could only imagine the relief in the hearts and minds of those who came before as they spied the stairs and gathered all their remaining strength to make the final ascent. I was quivering with excitement, finally have found the steps to the pagoda...




I mounted the stairs, basking in the glow of my good fortune to have come so far from home to visit a sacred relic in the Land of the Morning Calm. At the top of the stairway, just outside the fence guarding the stone pagoda, there's a sign proclaiming that this is an official "Monumental monument" of Gyeonggi-do. The entire plaque reads,

"Three storied stone pagoda of Dogi-dong, Anseong.
Cultural Property of Gyeonggi-do No. 76

This is a pagoda with the height of 5.4m erected on a hill from where one can look over the downtown of old Anseong. The overall configuration indicates that it is one of the pagodas of Goryeo, which followed the style of those of Baekje."

I'll let you do your own Wikipedia lookup for Goryeo - it's amazing how old this is. And here it is, in all it's glory.



So there it is, the Three-storied stone pagoda of Dogi-dong. On my way home I spotted this sign at the highway:



Later in the day I visited two Buddhist temples and they deserve a blog entry of their own. Stay tuned, it's just getting interesting.

Jerry

Namsadang performance center

Saturday May 31, 2008

Three of my coworkers and I visited the Namsadang Performance Center and wandered around for a couple of hours. At the art center there were sculptures and a glassware shop, but most of the time I spent there was watching the show.

At the entrance of the art center there's a building that stands as a reminder that I'm on the other side of the earth. Either that or it confirms that my perspective of the archatechure is upside down. Inside is a gallery of handmade stained-glass artwork from local artists.












There's not a lot to write about the show since the dialogue was all in Korean - the story was truly lost on me. We watched what I understand was a drama, the costumes were colorful and the performance spirited but I couldn't understand a word that was spoken.

Then it got really exciting! A troupe of inmates from the asylum next door managed to get their straight jackets untied and started running around the performance area! Soon their meds started working agian and they walked back inside...

Time to move on to other attractions in the area, maybe something that transcends the language barrier.

More later,

Jerry.