New Film by my friend Synthian

My friend Synthian is an amazing activist, and this is his most recent project. I will be buying this video and I'm trying to spread the word while here in Korea since many teachers vacation in Southeast Asia where elephant riding is popular.

I will never ride an animal that has been broken.

Gifts and Cards

I really want to send out gifts and cards, I'm searching for the cards now but the gifts will have to wait until after February since I'm paying off some credit debt until then.

Email me your address to receive goodies!

<3
Sarah

Goals Revised

Before the New Year:
~ Continue practicing the violin at least six days a week, but shoot for seven
~ Drop the last 15 lbs
~ Have wrist completely healed (carpal tunnel)
~ Develop a fitness routine for maintaining my goal weight
~ Study Spanish more
~ Learn a bit more Korean
~ Add meditation and mindfulness into my life

Before I Go Back to the States:
~ Continue being awesome (violin, fitness, meditation, just general awesomeness)
~ No more white spots on nails
~ Have a conversational and practical hold of Spanish
~ Have credit cards and most of the private student loan repaid
~ Go to Thailand and bathe elephants!
~ Go to the Philippines and eat fresh mangoes!
~ Go to Vladivostok
~ Go to Japan
~ If there's time and money left, go to Nepal and Viet Nam
~ Stop being so angry
~ Loosen up my hip flexors
~ Strengthen my abs
~ Be able to drink beer without Candida flaring up
~ Have a job lined up for when I get back to L.A.
~ Be able to play Bach's Double Violin Concerto and Czardas at tempo and well.


Before I Turn 25 (2012):
~ Pay carbon offsets for trips to Australia, Korea, whatever other travel I do.
~ Take my sister to France
~ Bike the West Coast from Vancouver to San Diego
~ Be fluently bi-lingual in Spanish and English, and conversationally fluent in French
~ Find a place to settle for a while
~ Dance in a performance at least once.

Before I Turn 30 (2017):
~ Be fluently tri-lingual in French, Spanish and English, and conversationally fluent in Russian
~ Live in a Spanish speaking country
~ Live in a French speaking country
~ Be proficient on the violin

I figured it would be more practical to focus on Spanish than French, since there are more Spanish speaking people than French speaking in my area (well, where I was and will be after Korea) of the world. I love Spanish, French and Russian but never really got to the fluency I wanted. I know better what to look for in a teacher and a program, here's to hoping that I can get things going again!

I've got more discipline with the violin now than I did before, I just need to keep it up. I record myself playing and listen to it after practicing so I can pick out the passages that need work. I'll post my progress on my other blog (and I guess here if you're interested) after I have the first movement of Bach's Double Violin Concerto cleaned up at 40 bpm, then again at 60 and so on until I have it at tempo. Same for any other music I work on.

I'm going to take some "current body" photos to try and motivate myself to work to get past this plateau I'm so comfortable on.

As far as the anger, mindfulness and chilling out of my mind, that's more difficult. I'll have to figure that one out as well as a way to motivate myself to continue the practice--though hopefully it won't feel like work once I implement it.

~Sarah

Recent Tensions in the ROK

So, I know everyone was worried. I was worried for a bit and skipped going to a fur protest in Seoul just to be extra safe today, as it was today that the drills were starting back up.

As far as I could tell by the news and the way adults around me were acting, nobody was really worried about conflict getting more heated. I'm not completely convinced everyone was serene about the whole thing--people had their TVs on news programs and were talking about what happened--and the really odd thing was the Koreans I had contact with during the day immediately following the attack were asking me if I was scared but wouldn't really offer up their opinions. It either means they weren't nervous or they were doing the Eastern thing and concealing anything perceived as negative. It's polite not to rock the boat.

My Canadian friend, Caroline, who has been here for a while was saying that she wasn't worried but did recommend I stay out of Seoul "just in case" and then offered up a spot at her place (in the southern part of the peninsula). So, it's all a bunch of mixed messages.

When I came home from work on Tuesday, I switched the radio to one of the English stations with occasional news coverage and listened for a bit. The djs/news anchors/announcers/whatever were talking about the attack, but after 5-10 minutes they moved on to discussing an upcoming change in command at Samsung. So, I figured the attack wasn't leading to much.

Today, I tried to get a station in English, but when I turned on the radio every station was playing music or was in Korean. So, I watched the headlines on the Korean Herald's website and had kpcc up for a while. I didn't get any emails from the embassy. No frantic text messages from friends asking if I was getting out. So, I'm assuming everything's ok.

Though, I'm struck with how guilty I'd feel with my ability to just get out of a war zone. I do find myself wrestling with dark "what-if" scenarios when I'm not busy reading, cooking, playing violin or otherwise distracting myself, and I promise you all that if war does resume here, I will not stay here.

So, that's the current situation. I'll try to get my adult students to talk about it tomorrow if they don't mind the heavy topic.

~Sarah

First Temple Stay: Golgulsa Temple **Updated with photos 11/28**

A group of four other GEC teachers (Ashley, Heather, Janetta and Sandra) and myself decided to head out on a Temple Stay for the weekend of October 9th (yes, I'm that behind on blogging about things I do). Ashley, the head public school teacher at GEC, and I both did some Googling and found the Golgulsa Temple in Gyeongju to be highly recommended for Temple Stays--it has a Stone Buddha in one of the mountains, and is the only temple to offer the martial art Sunmudo to those staying. So, Ashley took up the coordinator roll and reserved us some spots for Saturday the 9th and got us all to the bus station on time and used her mad Korean skills (very basic, but better than the rest of us) to get us tickets. I was relieved she took the leadership roll on this.

We settled into our comfy (really, they were quite nice) seats on the bus and started chatting away since we had a 3-4 hour drive ahead of us. Well, at first the Koreans on the bus didn't take to kindly to our talking--you're supposed to sit quietly on public transit here, so talking is often shushed if people get annoyed with you--and we had to repeatedly remind each other to be quiet and eventually we settled into pairs of conversation so we weren't talking over bus seats. I was seated next to Heather, one of a couple who come from Tucson! Heather's pretty cool, she went to Catalina Foothills (posh) in the 90s, so we didn't know anybody but we both think we have met before but we have no idea where. We chatted about Tucson and life and speaking French (though, we didn't talk in French...curious).

The Korean countryside is gorgeous--lots of rolling green hills (now they're all more red, orange and brown)--but then you see the microchip apartment buildings shoot up and the nasty grey color gets in the way of the natural beauty. Korea didn't really get the memo about blending the architecture with the landscape being a good thing if you're in a rural area.

We got into Gyeongju planning to take a bus from the station to the temple, only to find out that the bus drivers were all on strike for the weekend. There hadn't been a strike in something like ten years or more, so it was strange that it was happening, but it's all good. We were able to find a taxi driver who was willing to (illegally) cart the five of us up the mountain for a mere 30,000 won (he left the meter running so we could see we were getting a deal, as usually when a driver takes a group of five s/he can name his/her own price since it's already illegal). The ride wasn't that comfortable, but it was manageable for the 20 minutes or so we were in the car.

At the temple, the meat eaters had to eat their animal product snacks before we signed into the program as the Temples are all vegan--I was nervous about this as well as really excited to know the food was animal product free.

We sat down in the office with a woman from Canada who was doing an extensive temple stay at Golgulsa and was in charge of helping us understand the schedule and rules of the temple. She was pretty cool, but I could have used some more in depth explanation as to what I should expect to do during prayer service and how the day would play out. We were given temple clothes (MC Hammer would have loved our pants) for the length of our stay and told how to get to our room.

We walked to our room, conveniently located above the dining hall, and changed into our new brown Hammer pants and park ranger orange vests. Then it was time to head to dinner. We had been warned that you had to finish every last bit of food on your plate, you would have to stay in the hall and eat until everything was gone, or the staff wouldn't take your dish back. So, being the cautious Westerners we were, we got small helpings of everything (read: bite-sized helpings) to make sure we were going to be able to clear away the plates--most of us avoided the kimchi (I can't stand the real stuff, but don't mind spicy pickled things). The kitchen staff laughed at us, but the group of German journalists staying at the temple (turned out a huge group of them were doing pieces on the Temple Stay program and going to different temples all over Korea) followed our example.

After we picked-out which food we thought tasted good, we settled down to eat and chat with some of the Germans before we had to head to evening chant and the Sunmudo class and demonstration (the demo was a special event added in because there was a documentary being shot on the temple and Sunmudo). I felt a lot of pressure for the temple food to be good (it was ok, but not amazing) because everyone kept saying out it would be their first vegan weekend. I kept telling them that it wasn't a good representation of how most vegans eat--white rice, a simple veggie broth soup, some potato thing and a few Korean "vegetables" (read:pickled things of undetermined origin, not Western vegetables). Everyone had terrible gas during the trip--my stomach was in a lot of pain, I'm guessing from the white rice. Yay, they now blame their "vegan weekend" for indigestion.

The evening chant was supposed to be explained to us by a man from France who was studying Sunmudo at the temple, and he did briefly go over everything, but didn't explain it well enough that any of us knew what we were supposed to do during which part of the chanting--we thought we understood until the actual service started and we all ended up just looking around and bowing when the monks and long-term Temple Stayers were bowing. I started to register that my anger problems really needed to be dealt with, and I'm not sure I have them under control now, but I don't believe I should have felt like cussing out Buddhist monks and handing them an outline of how to properly explain a religious service. >.<

After the chanting service, our group pulled the Canadian woman aside and questioned her about the order of things and the rhythm of the service, we got the low down on how things were actually done and mentally stored it away to use during the morning chant.

A quick side note, the mosquitoes at the temple were HUGE. We weren't sure if we were allowed to swat them as we hadn't seen any of the people living at the temple even brush them off or try to deter them in any way. I'm still blessed with not being a mosquito attraction, but Korean mosquitoes like me a lot more than American ones did.

Ok, onto surviving the service and starting the Sunmudo training. Sunmudo is a martial art that combines Qi Gong, Yoga and Tae Kwan Do into a crazy discipline that takes years of dedication and lots of strength, flexibility and endurance.

I was really excited about learning some of it, and was thinking of my dear friend Jeremy Wyatt the whole time we were prepping to learn, learning and any time we talked about the martial art.

We were told remove our socks (no shoes in the temple, and bare feet are considered rude in most cases) to take yoga mats from the cupboard in the back of the room and spread out. The hall is pretty long, which you can't tell from the video, and not very wide, so I was a little aggro (yes, even more so after I was ready to scream at the people running this sloppy operation) when we didn't stagger our mats, thus making it really difficult for those of us at the back of the room to see the instructor and the two kids (looked about 13 or 14 by Western age standards) demonstrating the movement at the front of the room.

Our instructor (a man from Norway who had been in Korea for seven years, and studying to be a Sunmudo master for five of them) would give instruction in Korean and then *usually* give instruction in English (he was fluent in both, but I think he was used to using Korean and just forgot us Westerners in the mix). We were first told we were going to "warm up," this turned out to be stuff that was too difficult for most people (in a couple of cases I modified the movement so I could still get a workout in) and I suspect it was to show the level of fitness required for Sunmudo--just in case we had any doubt after watching a video on the discipline.

After our warm-up we did a quick Qi Gong exercise to get our minds focused. Then we moved the mats (that smelled like feet and made me question how often they were wiped down and I remembered the wrestling mat at my high school that was in the back of the dance room--the smell was the same--and how we were always warned that you could get ringworm from standing on it--I never did get ringworm, but still) and the martial arts aspect of the class started. This was fun, but still aggravating as I couldn't see the instructor and he wasn't very clear with his demonstration of the movement. I kept wanting to stand up and say, "What, go back, count it out slowly and show us one more time." And I finally did towards the end of class when I found out it wasn't such a solemn place you couldn't question the instructor. (I was worried about offending people, since there was a 1080 bows punishment for accidentally flushing toilet paper--most Korean pipes can't handle the paper, but only a few toilets have signs warning of this--and a 3000 bow punishment for missing morning chant at 4:30am).

I think I'd really enjoy Sunmudo if I could find a small studio with a more education-experienced instructor, overall, I enjoyed the exercise but was uncomfortable with the level of anger and annoyance I was experiencing during the Temple Stay I thought would clear my mind of all the frustrations of being in a foreign country with logic that defied my own reasoning at times. I made a note to analyse and deal with this problem upon my return to Incheon.

After our lesson, we were told to sit along the walls of the room so we could watch a demonstration of the Sunmudo masters and serious students. The demonstration was really impressive and I was sorry I hadn't brought my camera in with me, but I figured it wouldn't be allowed during the chant as most temples don't allow photos in the actual temple, but this one did. The strength for the tumbling and control needed for the slower movements was really impressive.

Next, we were treated to a demonstration of Buddhist dance. A woman dressed in white danced to a Korean song, the dance had pretty simple movements but was interesting because of the mudras (hand positions in yoga and Buddhism) that were incorporated into the dance--it was "The Mudra Dance" I believe. After she finished the dance, the visitors were invited to stand up and learn it--so of course I got up and stood right in the front, not expecting any English during instruction but wanting to move in a way my body was familiar with. The dance calmed me down a bit and made me feel a little better, I could still move well if I had proper visual instruction. But I was still fighting this aggravation and anger, well, I was more disturbed by it. I've always had a temper and I've never liked it. I feel ashamed that I can fly into a rage so quickly and hope I get it under control before I have kids, I remember how terrifying it was to see adults get angry when I was little.

The rest of the night was ours, but it was already 9ish and we had to be up at 4am to make it to morning prayer on time--we were promised a guy would go around with a wooden block and wake us up, but we (wisely) set our phone alarms before we went to sleep. Our bed situation was a warming floor, blankets and a few throw pillows. My back wasn't too happy with it, but I was able to sleep alright. Some of the girls I was with couldn't get to sleep or had trouble staying asleep--I couldn't imagine sleeping like that for a long period of time like the people doing months and years at a time in the temple.

At four, we woke up from the chorus of phone alarms and laid in the dark waiting for the sound of the wooden block, it didn't come until 4:15 and it was so quiet we would have definitely slept through it in our disgust for waking at that time of day. We hurried to get dressed and remembered we weren't going to be eating until after the service and walking meditation so some of us (ahem >.>) ate something (a banana <.<) before trekking up the hill to the main temple.

The main temple was much smaller than the one in which we practiced Sunmudo, and luckily not many people wanted to walk up the hill at the wee hours, so it wasn't too cramped. We were able to follow the order of the service much better with our questions having been answered after last night's chanting mess, but we still couldn't chant for ourselves as it was all done in Korean and nothing was marked with page numbers or references for those of us who slipped in a bit late. Chanting service isn't like a Judeo-Christian service where someone lectures leads the church in finding pages for songs and readings, there is someone who leads the timing of the chants but there are no announcements made during the service. At the end of the chanting, it was announced that there would be a sitting meditation (this had been listed on our schedule hand outs we were given upon our arrival at the temple, and was part of the reason we had eaten before climbing up the hill--though I wonder if I would have had more of a spiritual experience if I hadn't eaten and just allowed my body to experience hunger if it got hungry instead of expecting discomfort) and we were lead in a brief stretch before we were to settle into our Easy Pose, Half Lotus or Full Lotus positions. I lasted for about half the meditation before I had to switch legs. I can't stand the sensation of my legs going to sleep, it unnerves me. But, I was pretty chill and contemplative as I swapped my legs. This time, I was kicking myself for my prideful nature--other temple stayers were figiting, but not I. I was a good little Buddhist in my zen state not moving--oops, go back to counting the breath because I lost myself in thought of how awesome I am at sitting--and I am trying to balance that out now as well.

After the sitting meditation, we were told there was to be a walking meditation, so we shuffled outside and up another steep, but small, hill to the Chakra Stupa (a sculpture with symbols depicting the chakras and their locations relative to the human body. We circled the Stupa a few times and then were told to walk with 5 meters between each of us as we made our way down the hill for the traditional Buddhist meal ceremony.

We circled up outside the dining hall (it was still dark) and were told Korean speakers need to circle up around one guide and English speakers were to circle up around another when we got inside. We were given a set of four wooden bowls, a cloth napkin and a set of wooden utensils (chopsticks and a spoon). We made a circle around the English speaking host (the guy from France) and were instructed once on the complicated order of eating things in this conscious, ceremonial fashion. We were told, it was ok if you messed up, but we had to finish every last morsel of food or else the whole hall would be forced to drink the rinse water used in the last part of the ceremony. Though, this description of the Baru Gongyang says it's not that complicated, it is. There is a specific order to doing everything. And the worst part is, you have to use a piece of kimchi to clean everything and it's the last thing you eat. Actually, you drink it with the hot water used to clean everything. So, kimchi--this side dish that we'd been avoiding here--would be the last flavor in our mouths after we'd eaten. Joy.

The meal went off without too many problems, and we didn't have to drink the nasty water, so that's pretty awesome. Breakfast was my favorite meal actually, the food was white rice, tofu, pickled and spicy bean sprouts, some pickled greens (they're a bit too much like bok choy's "I'm a vegetable that's given up on life" texture, so I'm not a fan), some mushrooms, and of course kimchi (*shudder*). It's nice to have a meal that focuses on the act of eating, and not taking the nourishment, the flavor of the food that is nourishing, and actual actions involved in eating for granted. Too often, food is forgotten and eaten (I'm guilty of this) while watching TV (or a show online), reading or driving. The ceremony took only about half an hour, but it was light by the time we were finished. I was full, but I ate a bit after we got back to the room just to get ride of the kimchi flavor in my mouth.

We had a bit of free time before we were supposed to meet with one of the Sunmudo masters at the monk's dining hall for tea and a Q&A session, so three of us decided to nap while the other two went off to take photos and explore the temple. It was lovely to be able to sleep in a place without the sound of traffic and screaming and loud music coming in the windows. My body isn't used to silence anymore and I can feel it calm down as soon as my mind registers that my ears aren't under constant assault, my breathing becomes more relaxed and I can feel my body follow.

The Q&A was alright, but the questions were not answered very directly (many of us had questions about symbols and history of Buddhism, but we were given very round about answers that left us feeling less knowledgeable than the idea of this session had hinted we should be). The Sunmudo master was a good-natured guy with a sense of humor, which came out when someone asked the inevitable celibacy question. All people staying at the temple are divided by sex and no sexual contact is permitted during the time on the temple grounds.



Next up on the schedule we had our choice of 108 bows, an outing around the town to see some tourist sites and another temple, and some third option I've since forgotten. Our group decided to go on the tour, it cost 10,000 won but was the most interesting for us. We went to a pagoda site
, the beach where a king was buried in an underwater tomb (this made me home sick as I realized the last time I was on the beach was not in CA, but in Australia and I was struck with the same realization that I was touching the water that touches the CA coast) and the other popular temple of the town. The other temple was much bigger and had more Buddha statues, some old buildings that weren't painted in the traditional red, blue, green patterns, but were natural wood color, and an exhibit of Buddhist art. It was pretty nice. And the entrance to the are with all the Buddhas had these dudes guarding it:


We had to kind of rush the temple since we spent so long on the beach (we were in our Hammer pants, but insisted on playing in the waves for a bit). We made it back to the temple in time for lunch, then we had to pack up and call our cab driver to take us back down the mountain as the bus drivers were still on strike.

We packed up, left our bags in the office and set off to see the giant Buddha carved in the side of the mountain. This Buddha was carved by some Indian monks who had been traveling through Korea, and the temple was built in that location because of the golgul--stone Buddha.

The view of what we had to hike and view from the Buddha:




After making the hike to the Buddha Heather, Ashley and I lazed about a bit. Soon, the girls who had spending money (I was out of cash) went to the shop while Ashley took photos and I read. Eventually, Ashley and I ended up napping on some benches by a pond. The cab driver appeared and we began our trip home.

The bus home wasn't as comfy as the one going out--it was four seats across instead of three seats across--but it was still decent. There was awful traffic when we were coming into Seoul and we all barely made the last buses (12am-ish) out of Seoul to get home.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend and while I didn't get my mental cleanse, I did get to spend some time out of the house and see an awesome Buddha sculpture while getting to know some cool people.

I'll make another post with pictures when I get home. Sorry if this is rough, I'm not really feeling like proof-reading at the moment.

~Sarah

Breaking The Plastic Addiction: TEDx

I'm trying to weed out the plastic from my life, but it's difficult here in Korea. I'm trying to hunt down mason jars so I can store my food in something other than bags. It's really tough to get produce without plastic bags or plastic wrap here as well.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Money and Time Management Decisions

While I've been putzing around on the internet looking for good ideas for my upcoming (and definite) trip to Cambodia with Wendy Sue Rosloff: baker and drummer extraordinaire and all around awesome, fun woman, I've been trying to think more about how much money I actually have. This was also inspired by the crushing realization that Eric and I would not be able to do Thailand as I originally thought due to budgetary concerns.

This wouldn't be a problem and easy to do if I weren't concerned with getting out of credit card debt ($2,000ish) and paying off my private student loan ($5000ish), but alas, I would rather get that all cleared up so I can start living on the money I actually have and not leaking interest out every pore. So I made a rough financial plan, and I can do it--pending no extreme surprise expenses. But, I have to decide what's important to me for post contract adventuring. And that sucks.

It's just a matter of when and if I can do it all before I go back to the grind (hopefully, a more fulfilling and allowing of vacations with friends and family kind of grind). Getting an Asian Air Pass would make traveling Asia in August a do-able course of action, but I don't know if I'll get to see all the places I want to: Russia, Japan, the Philippines, Nepal, Tibet (I would settle for Nepal only), Thailand, Viet Nam (I heard a podcast on the Pho of Hanoi and the food of Saigon and I really want to go now, not to mention the natural beauty) and Bali (not really necessary) with possible Mongolia but I'm not really interested in that immediately. I have to remember that I can probably come back, as land masses and countries are usually stable (at least the ones I really want to visit).

Staying with friends and finding temp work in Tucson would make that month totally doable and make the savings requirement on my end a lot less (I could always sell my soul to a call center for the training period and then quit, again...) and while in AZ I'd have to hit up the Grand Canyon and Sedona as I've never been to either place. I'd love to do a siblings and friends camping trip while I'm in AZ--and that means planning around my brother and sister's social and school schedules. A manageable feat, I think.

As far as travelling California and Oregon, I could always break that up into mini-trips since I refuse to work another job that takes my weekends away like the Baker did. So, Yosemite gets priority on this one, since I've never been and it involves seeing a couple of wonderful people whom I haven't seen in over a year now. I can swing by Sacramento to see my Aunt Evelyn either before or after the trip then meet up with the Fiddaments (cousins, aunt, uncle and grandparents Karen and Dave) and go to Grover Beach to see my Aunt Sandy on either the way up or the way down then hit up Ridgecrest to see my grandparents (henceforth known as Nanny and Papa, not to be confused with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Dave in Northern California). I'd also want to see San Francisco as I was only there for a crappy 5ish hours before and I didn't get to do anything I was really interested in. The real hiccup would be Eric's schedule since he has a job to consider in all this, but there is always the possibility of some sort of splitting off, in which case we would have to figure out what we're bringing on the camping trip vs what Chis and Bey would be supplying (Chris is really into backpacking and has a ton of supplies--you should check out his blog on his adventures all over the West Coast, it will make you want to go Muir on the landscape). More logistics, do they ever end? Not for the travelling soul, not at all.

It's already looking pretty booked, and that's just the beginning. Maybe Oregon will have to wait for a mini-trip time later on, after I have money from a job, but who knows, maybe I'll come into a mystery surplus.

So it's a matter of figuring out the best way to get a car, if at all, really. If the whole point of coming to Korea was to get out of debt while strengthening my character, I can't really see the wisdom of signing a car loan (if I can get one), but I don't want to spend money on a crap car that I'll just have to pay on to keep running. I'm actually comfortable with the idea of not having a car upon my return, but it brings up more questions of logistics--how do I get the stuff my parents are storing in Tucson back to L.A.? I could always rent a truck, though that's pretty pricey. Or borrow a car from someone. Hmm.

I'll be living in Los Angeles which is totally car-crazy, but I'll be living in an area with more available public transit and I'll have a bike--another purchase I'll have to make.


Well, the time to go teach is nearing. I must retire these thoughts from my mind for the next four and a half hours, then I can resume working it all out on my way to Seoul. Costco card and dinner with my new vegan friend Caroline!

~Sarah

It's definitely Autumn here.

So, October 30th a group of foreigners (myself included) rented a bus...a karaoke bus...and went to see the fall colors at Guinsa Temple. This motley group drove the bus driver mad by belting out "Bohemian Rapsody" and had to tone it down so he would drive the bus the rest of the way. Yes, half the bus was drunk by 12 noon (not me, I'm not drinking alcohol at the moment, and I thought that the people who were drunk at the temple were disrespectful and rude). Welcome to Korea. Playground for drunk waygooks.


It took us three and a half hours to get from Seoul to the temple, but it was worth the drive--though I would have liked to have left earlier than we did so we could have had more time in the National Park. The Engrish used for the lyrics to "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd were gold, pure gold. I couldn't capture it all, but Allison (my amazing and nerdy friend out here) was in tears because of the stereotypical errors popping up on the screen.

The temple is huge! The colors blended perfectly with the landscape and the changing colors.
I hope to be able to go back and do a temple stay there, they have an awesome guide there who speaks English fluently and says things like, "Buddhism is a philosophy, and it can be used with any religion or no religion. It's an upgrade for your mind. Like you need to upgrade your computer, Buddhism will upgrade your mind. When was your last upgrade? How old are you? How many lifetimes since you updated your computer?" She's pretty cool, big smile teacher glasses and a warm demeanor.

(That's all soy sauce, soy paste and chili paste, there were several vats like this)

I think a temple stay there would be more what I was looking for in the temple stay I did down at the Golgusa Temple (though that one was cool because of the Sunmudo martial art practiced there). I'll blog about that next.

We wondered around and oo-ed and awe-ed at the colors, then walked down to a restaurant to get lunch/dinner before trying to make it to a river ferry through part of the forest. We didn't make the ferry, but it's all good. I had a wonderful day and met some cool people.

Chickety China Warning: Don't get massages in Qingdao

This is what will happen.

My back the day I got back from China, yes, that's a bruise.

Jeju-do, DMZ and other Korean Adventure Plans

I just booked the tickets for Eric and I to go to Jeju-do during his visit, we'll be on the island from the 26th-28th. The tickets were so cheap! Thanks to Lonely Planet, I found Eastar Jet, I'll probably use them for other travel as well--tickets to Thailand were half the price as on any other website.

The day after we get back, Eric and I will be staring down the guards of the North Korean Boarder (as long as nothing goes wrong and the non-refundable tour isn't canceled due to conflict).

I'm reading through the Lonely Planet Korea for things to do in Seoul, and trying to keep in mind that it will be freezing cold here.

Overall, I'm really excited and just a little nervous about how we'll bare the cold. I'm trying to make a list of all the weather-proofing I need to do (there's a breeze in my apartment, not just a draft, a breeze). I'll need to buy a space heater as heaters don't exist in Korea. And my shower doesn't push out hot water when on full blast, so I'll have to get that repaired (and I want to get that done before December for myself as with the space heater). The bathroom sink works fine, so I don't know what's up with the plumbing.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going out with a large group of teachers and friends of teachers to look at the fall colors (there are 40 of us and we chartered a bus to Chungbuk Danyang) and climb around in a cave. I made some soup for lunch tomorrow as I'm not eating rice at the moment and we'll be going to a temple for food.

Oh! And I got some Vega! Turns out Vegan Essentials does have it, I just couldn't find it because their search function isn't as good as Google. It's pretty sweet (stevia and chicory root, not sugar--I'm not eating sugar right now either), but the vanilla gets overpowered easily and I add cinnamon to the mix to get some spiciness into the mix. And I weighed in at 146.4lbs yesterday! That's without exercising and basically planning my meals around greens, and cutting out sugar and flour.

I am still in and out of mourning the loss of Worf, but I don't think it's hit me completely due to the distance. It was difficult watching an episode of Farscape that had a creature being hurt and the cries sounded like that of a kitten in distress. I don't understand what would make someone want to kill a cat, and I'm sorry Worf didn't get to live longer and share more Snuggie snuggles with me.

Updated Chickety China, but

Chickety China Part 5:Wednesday is up, but it posted as older than my rant about weight gain. So, check it out by scrolling down!



****Same thing with Part 6, since I started writing it on the 22nd it posted as the 22nd.****

Thailand Turmoil

So, it turns out I might not be able to make Thailand happen just now. Eric has his ticket to come out here, so that's exciting! The only problem with Thailand is December is peak season and tickets are around 700$ each. I think it would be wisest for Eric and I to bum around Korea. It makes me feel like a failure in a way, because other people are going places and I could have made it happen with the prices that were up a month ago, but maybe it's better this way. I can always add it to the list of places I need to see when I finish my contract.

Traveling is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be, I don't have nearly enough time off to do trips out of the country. And the time off I do have is all round the same time so there isn't any relief economically.

*sigh* If the travel agents I contacted can get me a better price, I'll jump on it.

The good news is, no matter what happens, I get to spend my Winter holidays with Eric! New Years makes four years of being in the healthiest, happiest relationship ever!

Chickety China Part 6: The Final Episode in Beijing

Janetta and I had both decided, before the party, that we wanted to take Thursday slow. It was our last day in Beijing and we just wanted to relax until we got on the train to Qingdao. So, we went out in search of the Pearl Market so she could buy jewelry. I was much kinder to the shopper than the Silk Market had been, but there was the downstairs area that had clothing and accessories and the same pushy people. Janetta was able to buy a ring and two pendants for decent prices.

Then we went on a mission to find her a new dress for a dinner she was attending for a friend's birthday. The shops we had passed on the way to the Pearl Market proved to be too expensive, so we got on the bus to go to the Silk Market once again.

We got to the Silk Market with our mission in mind. I thought I'd get a winter coat, since I'd seen some decent ones and knew I could talk the salesgirls down to 200 yuan, but I had to keep cash on me for the massages Janetta and I had planned for our day in Qingdao. I couldn't get the ATM to work, and neither could Janetta, so I told the girl I wouldn't take the jacket. Her response? "You're rubbish! Go home!" Beautiful people working that place.

Janetta didn't see anything she liked and I was getting tired. Finally, I saw a really cute fake lace dress, pointed it out to her and the problem was solved! Woo! Now to get out of that place.

Janetta checked her watch and noticed we still had time to hit up the park behind the Forbidden City before we had to meet up with the Belgians to go to the Night Food Market (where she wanted to eat a scorpion or something like that). I really wanted to see the park, since I was told it has a 360* view of Beijing.

Janetta paid for a cab to the park and we paid the tiny 2 yuan entry fee. My advise to those going to Beijing--go to the parks. They are beautiful and inexpensive. This put the Summer Palace to shame and we only walked to the pagoda with the view and back out. It was beautiful! It was quiet! It was very green. It turns out, this park was where the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty hanged himself after murdering his family while the people were breaking into the Forbidden City. There's a plaque where he (according to legend) realized what he did and forced his servant who had fled with him to kill himself and then he killed himself. And now, it's a beautiful park were children, locals and tourists can run around or relax under a tree.

We saw a woman singing Chinese opera (or maybe folk songs, but it sounded grand whatever it was) under a small pagoda. She was just singing it through a small speaker with her phone/MP3 player playing the accompaniment. There was no hat or basket for money, she was just performing. It was different from anything I'd ever heard before, but it was beautiful. There was a man doing something like Qi Gong in the same little pagoda and occasionally it sounded like he was chanting a harmony rhythm.



I would have loved to have gotten to spend a day in that garden, but alas, we had to go. This is were the day got a little tense. We had decided to take a cab back to the hostel, rather than walk again, so we were looking for an area to flag one down.

When we crossed the street to the side where all the cabs seemed to be, we were (of course) swarmed by the rickshaw drivers (both those with motorized and pedal-powered rickshaws). We were curious about the price of going on a motorized one (usually I'd be all for the pedal-power, like those in San Diego, but the men powering the pedals looked about 70 years old and I couldn't bring myself to use them as beasts of burden), it turned out to be about the same as a taxi, so we went for the experience of riding in a rickshaw--having shown the map from the hostel with the address in Mandarin.



We climbed in and (I) prepared to die in this tiny, gas soaked moped with a case around it.
We were weaving in and out of traffic, narrowly missing the cyclists and buses all around us, when we realized that he wasn't turning the right way. The driver took us through the "historical" housing--aka alleys--and then (thank god he didn't take my kidney) dropped us off outside of a restaurant in an area we didn't recognize. Janetta started to freak, but I told her to wait a second. I took out the big map of Beijing and pointed to where our hostel was, then showed him the 15 yuan we had decided on; then I pointed outside and shrugged my shoulders with a confused look on my face and put the money in my pocket. He looked confused. I said "Tienanmen?" with a searching look and gestures, then pointing to the map. He replied, "Yes."

This whole dance went on for a bit, then I told Janetta to get out and we'd ask directions and not pay the guy since he hadn't done what we (assumed to have) had agreed upon. She told me to give the guy 5 yuan, I sighed and did so as it was China and he probably needed it more than we did.

We walked along for a while, then got directions from the owner of a restaurant and double checked with some tourists coming from the direction we were headed. Turns out, he had dropped us near the Night Food Market (which is where we were going after returning to the hostel to meet up with the Belgians), and it was no closer to our hotel than the park.

We walked as fast as Janetta could, which wasn't very fast in my standards and she was the one all flustered about being late to meet the Belgians. We got there, it wasn't a big deal that we were five minutes late, and we set out again, in exactly the same direction from which we had come.

The Night Food Market was not on my to-do list, since I was under the impression it was going to be a bunch of animal products and people eating them, but it was our last night in Beijing and I didn't want to lose Janetta. I was the navigator in Beijing (and failed as one in Qingdao later as my 'East' and 'West' are flipped due to the whole flying 'West' to go to the 'East') and got us to the market.

The market was disappointing for everyone, it was basically street food and a crowd of tourists. There were two stands with fried starfish, snake, and other atypical animal products, but no scorpions. Janetta was disappointed since we had heard from
some other folks at our hostel that they had eaten scorpion--but they also mentioned going to a disappointing food market before finding the one they wanted. Janetta paid for some fruit on a stick, but the price was too steep for me. Then, I saw a stall with bigger fruit for half price and thought I had hit the jackpot--turns out the fruit was disgustingly crunchy and so sour I couldn't eat it and I would have been better off getting fruit when Janetta did.

As we strolled back toward the hostel, I had this feeling that I really should have checked the time of departure again (I usually read tickets two or three times on the day before and of departure so planning can go off without a hitch, but hadn't this time), so I pulled out the tickets. It turns out the train was leaving an hour earlier than we had thought it was. So, again, we were rushing back (read: I was trying to rush us and the others were lallygagging and Janetta was flirting with one of the Belgians and being all bouncy and cutesy and then getting distracted by flashing lights on kids' toys) to the hostel to collect our things, get a cab and get on the train.

After we (finally!) got back to the hostel, and got our things, we waited (yet again) so Janetta could say goodbye to Sven (I get it, I would have wanted to do the same thing had it been me, but that doesn't mean I wasn't annoyed). We had the front desk person write the address of the train station in Mandarin and English so we could flag down a cab and get going. We got on to the street and tried two different cabs but both the drivers said they couldn't/wouldn't (I don't know it was in Mandarin and gestures) take us there. So, we rushed to the subway (for real this time, though we were weighed down with our bags) and got on with a shitload of other people with bags headed toward the train station.

We made it in time, sat down to wait, had a few minutes of not rushing and had to stand up to board the train. We were looking forward to the bunks of a night train and got to...our seats. Seats? What? Yes, 9 hours of sitting up, the seats didn't recline at all, and the tiny table between our row of seats and those across from us didn't go all the way across so we didn't have any to lean forward. And, the aisle was filling up with people who were---bringing in folding stools and breaking out poker cards. This wasn't going to be comfortable.


So, the ride wasn't comfortable, but if I had been prepared mentally for the situation, I would have been able to deal fine, but as it was it was miserable and I couldn't wait to get off of the train. The 9 hours felt like they went on forever. And it was during those 9 hours that I saw the poop stick, a stick in the bathroom that was browned on one end. I'm assuming to get stubborn solid waste down the hole of the toilet. It was a terrifying bathroom.

We got into Qingdao super early in the morning and we had to change our plans of leaving our things with the coffee shop folks again since the bridge to that side of the station wasn't open and we didn't want to walk around again. Stay tuned for Part 7: Denouement.

Ugh

I'm back up to 151.8lbs. I have to get back on the fitness train if I want to be 130lbs by Christmas. I was feeling kind of sick today, so I gave myself a pass at the needed exercise.

Today dragged a bit, but I'm trying to stay upbeat and improve my teaching while improving upon myself as well. All without stressing out, of course! I'm hoping to sleep this thing off and be able to work out tomorrow along with organize my apartment. It's still got the "I just moved in, if you need something check all the bags and boxes" look.

I'm searching for ways to make my French fantastic and get my violin playing in gear over the next year--podcasts are my current mode of exploration, blogs and e-books will be added in next.

I should be off to bed, but had to vent my frustration that my laziness is kicking my fitness plans out.

Tomorrow is another day! I can shed these pounds if I really want to. I can be fit, French-fluent and a musical wonder. I can be a fun teacher within this system that is beating me into the rote machine that I dread.

Chickety China Part 5: Wednesday

OK, back on track with telling you my adventures (now a month old) in China.

Wednesday (the day after the 10k hike and bee attack) Janetta and I woke up before nine so we could trek to the Summer Palace, then the Lama Temple before heading back to the hostel for the Fall Festival party. The Summer Palace is an hour bus ride away, but only 40 min by subway. Janetta feels more comfortable on the bus, and I feel more comfortable on the subway but I didn't mind the idea of the bus since it meant we would be getting a free driving tour of Beijing out of it. So, we got onto the bus and sat down, taking in the changes between neighborhoods as we passed through the different rings of the city. We passed through some more Western looking areas, with streets that reminded us both of our hometowns (well, it reminded me of L.A. more than Tucson). It was a beautiful clear, blue-skied, sunny day and we were loving that we could see the sky so easily--unlike in Korea where the buildings block it out.

The Summer Palace tickets (much like those for the Temple of Heaven and different tourist places in China) were divided into five different sections--One for the main entrance and four smaller perforated tickets for the areas of the grounds with their own gates. I recommend buying just the main entry ticket and the ticket to see the Buddha Tower, it will save you 30 yuan and you won't be disappointed with missing the "Garden of Harmony and Virtue" that isn't a garden at all, but a museum to the (I'm not kidding) heating and cooling systems of the palace. We skipped the street at the north end of the palace that had a separate entry ticket and the gallery, but I don't feel like I missed anything--the lake (in the main area) and the Tower are the main things people seemed interested in.

Anyway, onto the beautiful Summer Palace!

This palace was built so the king would have a place to go that had greenery, since the Forbidden City had hardly any plant-life. As soon as I saw the human-cultivated lake in the middle of the grounds, with the iconic willow tree branches sweeping down to brush the water, I knew this was my favorite site thus far into our trip. I felt this huge weight leaving my chest. I had been starved for the beauty of greenspaces and water since moving into Bupyeong. Not only that, but even though you could hear the traffic of the city if you got close to the outside wall of the Palace, it was very muffled and the further into the grounds you got, the less you could tell you were in one of the most populated areas in the world. I had also missed silence--even with the windows closed, I hear the traffic seven stories below me as if I were on the first floor. With the window open, I might as well be sleeping on the street.

The more we walked in this beautiful place, the more I felt revived--sleepy as I was. As we got to the Tower of Buddha (or the Fragrance of Buddha... I can't remember), I was just amazed that so many older folks, with their hunched backs and tight hamstrings, were able to make the walk up the massive hill. The tower and temple next to the tower were beautiful, we weren't allowed to take photos of the interior but it's what you would expect--golden Buddha statues and statues of others following the teachings of Buddha, fruit offerings and incense.

The more we walked around the lake, the more dreamy I felt-I was ready to take a nap and the calm feeling I was getting from my surroundings compounded with my need for sleep and made walking difficult, but as we climbed up the steps for one of the bridges with a pagoda at the top I was able to wake up and get back into the groove of things--I was hungry. At this point, Janetta and I were just wanting to find our way back to the exit so we could find some thing to eat and our way to the Lama Temple before we went to the hostel.

We decided to take the subway back, since it would be faster and about only 1 yuan more than the bus. It was an experience, I thought I had seen crowded public transit before, but no. China has smaller subways than Korea and the States, and it seems there are more people trying to ride on it. You are standing up close and personal with so many different people (keeping in mind the pickpocket warnings are real here) and trying to make sure you can get out the door (or even to the door) for your stop. We made it to the Lama Temple without any hiccups, but we did have to ask for directions a couple of times, just to make sure we had turned the right way when coming out of the metro.

Walking down the street toward the Lama Temple, we passed shop after shop selling incense and prayer beads along with other religious items.
We bought our entry tickets (which came with a mini CD I have yet to play...if I can find it I'll let you know what was on it) and walked through the gates. Marveling at the giant bell, endless incense and praying people and the multiple Buddha statues. Janetta kept asking questions I thought I should know the answers to, but it's been so long since I studied the practices of Buddhism that I had to tell her not to trust what I was saying and that there was much I needed to look up.

The Lama Temple was built by a king so he could hold impressive religious ceremonies. In the final temple, there is a huge statue of Buddha made out of a single piece of wood that's over 1,000 years old. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, it was impressive, but it didn't feel holy to me. Most of these places were starting to feel gaudy. I loved the courtyard and the sound of the bell, but you could pay to ring it and it cheapened the experience of a supposedly religious place. I enjoyed the temple, but both Janetta and I were ready to head back fairly soon after going through it all. I really want to read up on some of the different sects of Buddhism, there was an exhibition of different statues of Buddha and bodhisatvas that included things like demons and sex--things I didn't ever associate with Buddhism.

I'm glad I went to the Lama Temple, but disappointed it didn't have that certain feeling of awe I was looking for.

We pushed back onto the subway and headed hostel-ward. We got there and collapsed into the cushy red, velvet chairs around one of the big tables in the common area and watched as the employees set up the dinning tables for the "festival." I noticed dishes were coming out and that I couldn't tell if some of them were veggie friendly or not, so I asked them and it turned out that half the food was vegan and the other couple of plates were obviously meat (whole fish and chunks of meat), and that the whole meal was free for those who got a spot at the tables before it was all gone! I claimed the perfect spot between two veggie dishes and in front of some moon cakes (delicious!). We chowed down after the chef and our MC for the crazy games after the food made a speech about how wonderful it was to share this meal with people from all over the world, on a night when most Chinese were dining with family. Then we got down to drinking. We got free Tsingtao as long as we batted our eyelashes and giggled, and until the hostel filled up with more people.

Then the games began. There was a small talent portion of the night, the owner of the hostel (Leo himself) was dancing to Lady Gaga (my goodness, the amount of times I heard "Poker Face" and "Paparazzi" made me a little nutty), one of the front desk women did a traditional Chinese harvest festival dance and there was a conga line of drunkness out the door of the hostel and onto the street. They had cheesy prizes for those who won the games (how many peanuts can you get into this bowl using chopsticks--Janetta won some stickers; a balloon pop--Janetta won something else; drinking competition--I joined so I could lose and slowly enjoy the huge bottle of Tsingtao at my own pace afterward; and other fun silliness). After the party (and the Gaga) got less amusing, a group of us headed over to the other hostel (365) to drink some more and talk without Gaga interrupting our attempts at changing the music (pretty much everyone in the hostel other than the folks who ran it were trying to change the music at some point and it would always get put back on "Poker Face."

We closed that bar down, and walked back to the hostel, chatted until Leo came out and told us he had to close the common area for quiet hours, then we walked across the street for dumplings. The shop only closes for about an hour between 2-3ish in the morning, then they open up in time for the people coming back from the bars to sober up a bit on the food. We sat with am American guy who has been living in China for a few years now and speaks a fair bit of Mandarin. He was a bit awkward, but all was explained in that he carries his Bible everywhere and wants to be a missionary--he must have been uncomfortable with some of our conversational topics, but we all got along pretty well. At this point (4am) I was crashing and ready to go to bed.

I had been chatting with an American who was traveling around before moving to the UK to be with his girlfriend. He's my age, had majored in Computer Science, made enough money from a job he didn't care for to travel for a few months and relocate to the UK before he took up that same job again. Talk about awesome! He was telling me about how wonderful the Kindle was and I was set on buying one (when I came home, I found out Darcey Spears--my former YRUU adviser and permanent life mentor--was going to send me her old Kindle, perfect!) Yes, I'm now Facebook friends with Lawerence, he's doing a "Communist Leader Tomb Tour" totally unintentionally--he hit up Lenin's tomb and was trying to see Mao, but had the same problems Janetta and I had due to the holiday.

I went to bed after a really awesome day.

Chickety China Part 4: The Great Wall

On Tuesday morning, we woke up early to get breakfast at the hostel and meet up with the group that was going to do the 10k hike on the "Secret Wall"--a portion of the wall that wasn't touristy and was supposed to have a great view. I quickly ordered my coffee and toast with beans (mmm, simple, but tasty) and Janetta ordered an American Breakfast and a latte (I had flashbacks to working at The Baker, but their American breakfast is slightly different as is to be expected in a different restaurant). The food took a while to come out and we had to take it to go or miss the bus to the Wall. I was able to finish my coffee in a nice relaxed fashion though. ^_^

We had to walk a few blocks with our guide to pick up some folks from another hostel, and then we got on a small bus rented out by Leo's. The bus ride took a couple hours and the AC was on full blast even though it was chilly, because the bus apparently didn't have the ability to defrost the front windows without freezing us all. It was bearable though and Janetta and I got to chat with some cool dudes from Belgium (yes! I have a contact for when I relocate to Europe and want to drink good beer!), though we had to talk over the ever increasing volume of the South Park episodes being played on the buses TV.

We got to the Wall, and that's when the stairs started. I swear, China is made of stairs and not enough of them go down, it's like going through an MC Escher. After the eternity of the climb up to the Wall to start the proper part of the hike--and it was a hike as this part of the Wall wasn't maintained in the way the more popular parts are and there were trees, shrubs and flowers growing out of this historical piece of defensive architecture--we paused to hear a brief history of this part particular part of the wall and the legend behind a huge break in it. The part of the Wall we were on was between old Mongolia and China and was built by farmers who lived on practically no food, many died and were buried in the Wall. There was some story about one of the emperors during the Ming Dynasty having previously been a farmer who worked on the construction of this part of the Wall who went crazy eating nothing but dumplings when he became emperor because he couldn't have them during the construction. The legend about the hole in the Wall was an angry or grieving (I didn't catch which) wife ran into it as a response to something her husband did or after he died (I'm great at this, I know).

The hike started off with more stairs. Going up, I was ready to turn around after 2 minutes of stair climbing, but I started a mantra of, "Nice ass" and I pushed through. When we got to the actual hiking part of it--with the mud and the trees and the dangerous holes for stairwells--I was quite happy to go the 5k up and 5k down the Wall. It was a misty, surreal, Lord of the Rings kind of day but the view when there was a break in the clouds was impressive. The Wall slithered its way across green hills and there was a town on the old Mongolian side of the Wall.

We passed through six watch towers on the Wall, some run down to nothing but the foundation of the tower and others still mostly in tact. It was sweaty and slippery, sometimes dangerous and totally worth it. I met some really cool people on the way up--chatted with an Israeli architect on holiday, the Belgian beer lovers (they spoke Flemmish, and it's close enough to Afrikaans that Janetta could speak with them, but I got no French practice *sigh*), some South Africans teaching in South Korea (we're Facebook friends now), and random other people from the UK, Argentina and Norway (we didn't talk as much, but they were cool).

While climbing down the slope to the stairs that would lead to the road we would walk down to get to the bus (why it wasn't in the parking lot where it dropped us off I don't understand), I was stung by a bee. This is the second bee sting since coming to Asia. I don't know why they are running into me, getting trapped in either my sunglasses or hair (this one made itself a trap in my dreads and when I undid my hair to try and free it, it stung me) and killing itself while make my life a little more painful. I was the third or fourth person to walk through this group of bees, and I was nervous because it sounded like a swarm and coming from a place with Africanized bees I have learned to avoid buzzing bushes. When I realized there were probably 40 bees on each side of me, I told the folks in front that I really needed them to go faster, but they couldn't because the way was steep and muddy. I didn't think to turn around. I kept on and I'm really lucky I wasn't actually in a swarm because I probably wouldn't have made it down the Wall if they had all gotten aggro and stung me. I now freak out at flying, buzzing things but don't feel as much pain with bee stings as I used to.

The fee for the hike also included lunch at a restaurant on the way home, it was decent and only a few of the dishes had meat in them. It was served in the traditional Chinese way of rice in the middle and lots of veggies and protein to choose from on the outside edge of a lazy Susan in the middle of the table. After lunch, most of the bus slept on the way back to the hostel.

When we got back, Janetta and I were too worn out to do much anything other than shower (this was when we started to go upstairs to use the communal showers with hot water rather than clench our teeth through the icy shower available in our room). Then we got some beer and chilled in the common room and chatted with more folks (I made more Facebook friends!) and went across the street to the more happening bar to hang out with our fellow hikers.

It was a good day, even if I looked like a lunatic asking people--who didn't seem to care/believe that I was stung by anything--to check if there was a stinger visible so we could pull it out of my head. Ok, maybe I'm still working on not being mad that people doubted I had been stung, but the rest of the day was pretty good.

'On the Road' 50 pages in

I've started reading 'On the Road' by Kerouac. I've feared this book for a long time, simply because I already wanted to travel and felt like I was trapped and unable to do so. Thanks to Mr. Vinyl (my Senior year AP Lit teacher) shoving the Beats in my face I'd read 'Dharma Bums' and 'Howl' and talked about the wondering lifestyle presented in the stories of train hopping, but I didn't dare purchase, borrow or peak inside 'On the Road,' I was angsty enough and my feet were already itching when my eyes met the interstate.

Finding myself living in another country, I felt I was ready to tackle the book, though I always thought I would read it while traveling the US, sleeping on the beaches and hiking in Yosemite ala 'Dharma Bums.' And, being all caught up with the show 'Mad Men,' despite feeling that it lacks depth and plot but has amazing fashion and intriguing references to important historical events, I think it's interesting I chose to read this piece of literature. Maybe I'm more influenced by the show than I thought? Oh, America in the 50s and 60s, what a crazy time.

I'm 50 pages in, and I have to say that I love it. It's not what I expected. Kerouac doesn't make travel seem easy and beautiful, and he clearly points out the different hardships of it and the absurdities of himself and his peers. It is addictive and I had to talk myself into putting the book down, I want to keep reading it and wish I could stay up all night and day reading from "the scroll." It flows well, it isn't just a stream of experiences, but there are a few points that seem unclear until reading further on.

I am glad I waited to read it until I'd seen a bit of the world on my own, I probably wouldn't have noticed the hardships so much as the adventure if I had read it earlier and I'm curious to see if re-reading 'Dharma Bums' would yield a more grounded interpretation. It doesn't seem as mystical as I previously thought the work of the Beats to be, it just seems like an honest observation of life--which is how I believe it's meant to be seen. Nobody's a prophet, just an observer.

Sandel Baram

Sandel Baram, Organic Wind, is a fantastic all vegan, organic buffet near me. It's Korean food, made with vegan, organic ingredients. It's delicious! Sadly, the hours aren't that great for my schedule, they're open Monday-Saturday for lunch and only offer dinner on Friday nights. It's 15,000 won a person, and that includes drinks. Not bad for all you can eat organic food that's delicious!

Where the tasty magic happens


Plate 3, not the best presentation

To get there you can walk or take the number 24 bus from Baegun Station to the stop for the high school after the Hyundai apartments. Headed towards Baegun Station, you have to look for the galbi restaurant across from the high school, if you get to the Hyundai apartments, you've passed it.

Walk toward the galbi restaurant, pass it and head down the hill to your right. You will see Sandel Baram at the bottom of the hill, it's a gray building with a seashell-like exterior.

Just so you know--

The 'Chickety China' bloggin's will probably about 5 entries.

That is all.

~Sarah

Chickety China, Part 3: First night at Leo's and a Frantic First Day

Our room, a private with two twin beds--it costs $10 more than the bunks so we sprang for it (I wouldn't next time, but it was my first hostel stay and I had heard about folks being loud and other not being able to sleep), didn't have hot water. I let the shower run for five minutes and then finally jumped in and out real quick after rinsing the grime off. Janetta did the same. We were not happy.

We went to the front desk and they insisted that we just had to run the taps (the sink and the shower) at the same time for 5 minutes and it would heat up. It didn't work. We tried again the next day, it still didn't work. From that day on, Janetta and I walked upstairs to shower. I love hot water.

So, Monday was our first full day in Beijing and Janetta and I had planned our day with hitting some of the major sites near the hostel. Leo's Hostel is located 10 minutes walking distance from Tienanmen Square--and therefore Mao's Tomb and 15 minutes to the Forbidden City's South Entrance (the one with the huge portrait of Mao)--so we decided to strike out in that direction and take photos of the square, the portrait and the outside of the tomb (no cameras allowed inside and it's closed on Mondays). The north end of the square was blocked off, we later found out some dignitary was touring Beijing that day and had the central part (the main attraction) of The Forbidden City blocked off as well as the portion of Tienanmen Square. So, our touring was slowed because of whoever it was, but we made our way across the square and up to the entrance of the Forbidden City.

Before entering the Palace Museum, we watched some Chinese military drills. It was pretty amusing since they were practicing on a rec area--there were volleyball nets and a basketball hoop--and a couple of the guys weren't in uniform but were still marching around the square in formation. Several Chinese tourists asked Janetta and me to take photos with them, why they wanted photos with White tourists I won't understand. So, we spent some time hopping around taking photos with random people and eventually made it into the Palace Museum.

The Palace grounds are really impressive, just the size of the place. It really is a small city. But, after a while, all the buildings start looking the same. Janetta and I made our way through the Forbidden City pretty quickly, with only a few minor foot traffic jams because of the dignitary having areas blocked off while s/he walked through. The garden was nice, but not really that expansive and we decided to push on with our day--but first I had to exchange some more money.

We walked from the north end of the Forbidden City around the western edge to the place on the map that was marked as a Bank of China, but there was no bank. This meant we had to ask a couple different people for directions. Turns out one of the side streets wasn't marked on the map so we had just turned half a block early. I got the money exchanged and we were on our way to find food then press on to the Temple of Heaven (a Taoist temple used to pray to Heaven for a good harvest). The lunch was much better than the one in Qingdao and our waiter was really attentive to my vegan needs, even double checking that it was ok that Janetta ordered meat. When we gave him a tip he didn't know what to do, but his boss just told him to take the money and say thank you (or at least, I heard her say "shey shey" and gesture in a way that would mean that to me). We had figured out tipping isn't the norm, but we really wanted to let him know we appreciated his work.

On to the Temple of Heaven. Another expansive grounds with buildings that all seemed pretty much the same, but they were different from the Palace so that was nice. There was more greenery and it was really refreshing to be surrounded by trees and grass as opposed to the tall, grey buildings of Incheon. Beijing is built out, much like L.A., but Korea builds up like NYC, so Beijing had a much more open feel to it that Janetta and I both enjoyed. But back to the Temple...

The Temple has four gates; North, South, East and West, we entered from the South and took a route that lead us to the West Gate then up to the North Gate, down through the center a bit to see the Temple and animal sacrificial areas, out to the East and down back to the South Gate where we could catch our bus back to the hostel.

We took a wrong turn and missed the East Gate, but were too tired to care and walked back to the South Gate to get the bus back and sit down for a bit. On our walk out towards the East Gate, we were passed by several older men (looked 70 so they must have been 80) running, shirtless through the park around the TofH. They were all ripped. Then one middle aged guy comes jogging up with a pained expression on his face, about 20m behind the bigger group. Figure that one out.

The Temple of Heaven was worth seeing, but I wasn't floored by anything other than the amount of power the kings and emperors were. Look at the pyramids in Egypt and Central America, that took so many lives and people to put together. Same with the Great Wall, thousands of people died building it and are probably buried in it. Versailles was built and drained the treasury then the people in nation in which it was built starved. So, when Janetta and I were walking through the FC and the TofH, we just kept commenting on how it was so typical of people in power to build 1)a fancy house and 2) a fancy place to worship. The irony kicks in when you read that the temple on the west side of the grounds for the ToH was for abstaining from luxury.

We hoped on the bus back to the hostel and waited for it to drop us across the street from where it picked us up. This did not happen. We went up a different street than we had come down and up the opposite side of the square. No big deal, maybe it turns around at the north end of Tienanman and that's the loop? Nope. Hmm. It's got to turn around somewhere. So, we sat and waited for that "somewhere" to become apparent. We were both tired and a little hungry, and Janetta kept us awake by asking questions and making observations. Well, mostly kept us awake, I did doze off a couple of times.

Finally, we passed several posh looking buildings (the 5th Ave or Rodeo Drive of Beijing) and decided we should just get off the bus since it seemed it wouldn't be turning around anytime soon. The traffic was terrible, we weren't moving. We had been in the same spot for fifteen minutes. We had passed metro stations, so we decided to try our luck on the subway. We pulled out our little printed map and noticed the silk market that Janetta had wanted to see was right around where we were. We had passed a building labeled "The Silk Street Market" but thought it couldn't be the market we were looking for since the rest of the place was so upper class. But, it was the market on the map, and with traffic as bad as it was we figured there wouldn't be any harm in checking it out while traffic cleared.

We swung into a Starbucks so I could get a soy chai latte pick me up, since it was only 6 or 7 and I was crashing hard. That and I love any excuse to get a chai latte.

We trekked back to where the silk market was and went inside. There was no silk. Just booth after booth of knock off (some good, some bad) brand clothing and cheap looking souvenirs, five stories of it. All the sales people were about our age and spoke enough English, Spanish and Russian to try and talk you into their "shops" and trash talk you or threaten you if you didn't buy something. I got called crazy several times and when I tried to give a top back to the saleswoman, she threw it on my shoulder every time I set it down. Eventually, I tried setting it on a different shop area so she would have to pick it up, but she just screamed, "That's not my shop, I'm calling the police!" So I picked it up and threw it into her shop and walked away. Then, she chased me down and took an additional 100 yuan off of her last price. I bought the shirt for a tenth of the starting price (600 yuan down to 60 yuan). That place is not for the thin skinned.

I don't remember anything else happening that night. We just chilled at the hostel and went to a bar in a hostel across the street with a few people.