TEMPLE ART

Ceiling of a gazebo on the path to a Buddhist temple outside of Donghae.

This beautiful style of painting in bright colors is a traditional Korean art form.

문반구 (Stationary Store)

Went to the stationary store today and spent the last of my stipend for this week. Success.

VOCAB QUIZ

Patbingsu (sounds like poppingsu) has been popping up in my posts lately and I've been meaning to do a food blog soon, but you'll just have to settle for a post all about patbingsu because it's delicious and I am obsessed.
Patbingsu is a magical Korean desert served only in the summer time at cafes and ice cream shops. Patbingsu has four main features to recommend it:
1. Patbingsu is made up of many sweet things put together in one bowl.
2. When your patbingsu arrives at the table you mix all the ingredients together by stabbing them with your spoon.
3. Patbingsu is mostly shaved ice so it's practically healthy.
4. Patbingsu is made to be shared.

Above is a photo of my patbingsu in Donghae. Patbingsu also comes in a huge range of flavors. This patbingsu was mint chocolate chip which meant it was made of shaved ice, mint ice cream, whipped cream, tiramisu, and a mixture of oreos and sweet cereal. The basic make up of any patbingsu is shaved ice, ice cream scoop, plus one to two other sweet toppings. A more traditional patbingsu includes red beans, fruit and sometimes mochi (rice cakes). I have yet to eat a patbingsu with mochi in it, much to my sadness. Besides mint chocolate, I've tried green tea and mango with green tea as the clear winner. Now I just need to sample them all before fall rolls around.

DONGHAE BEACH

Note the people/inner tubes crashing onto the beach.

I spent literally all of Saturday at the beach. I even ate lunch on the sand. Who could leave?

DONGHAE EXCURSION

Donghae Beach (5 min from our hotel.)

Last weekend we traveled to Donghae on the eastern coast of Korea for a weekend of beaches, beer and Buddhist temples. Mrs. Shim who runs Fulbright in South Korea told us expressly not to work at all while in Donghae. Instead we spent three sunny days hiking, visiting temples, swimming in the ocean, setting off fireworks on the beach, and eating pat bingsu. It was lazy. It was wonderful. And it left me sunburned and reeling at the pace of this last week. Still 100% worth it. I had forgotten that there are oceans outside of San Francisco and they are sunny and they are warm. The beach at Donghae has a strong surf so swimming is only allowed in a small area. On the other hand this meant the beach was awesome for body surfing and tube floating.

MOUNTAINTOP PHOTOS

At the top

Our team

AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH

A week ago at 8am I stood on top of a mountain and shouted in my head "We lived on the medieval coast/ south of warrior kingdoms / in the ancient day of the winds / as they blew all things before them." The mountains spreading before me fulfilled every image of Asia I have dreamed or hoped to dream whether reading poetry or watching the films of studio Ghibli.


During orientation we've talked a lot about our goals for the upcoming year. What do we want to take away from our time in Korea? Where do we want to spend our energy? And one of the phrases that keeps coming up is personal growth. Yes, we're here to teach, but we're more than teachers. We're also people and we're here to live and to see how far life can take us.

Last Thursday when we saw the mountain we were planning to climb I never thought we would make it to the top. But then we made the halfway mark and I thought, I can do this, and suddenly we were there. There are so many ways to grow, but maybe nothing is more tangible than stretching your muscles and finding your way closer to the clouds. No wonder temples are so often built at the top of mountains, literally above the rollick and tumble of everyday life.

Personal growth has been on my mind a lot in the last few days as we filled out our placement request forms. These forms don't guarantee we'll be placed where we want — placement is complicated — but our preferences do carry some weight. So I had to consider, how do I want to grow? and where will I be able to grow the most? I found three main desires. First, for my students, I want to have time to get to know them outside the classroom as well as in the classroom. I want to have the freedom to teach club classes and camps. Second, for Korea, I want to become in some small way a part of this culture, by exploring the land, by continuing to study the language and hopefully, by taking up the study of Korean folk dance. Third, for myself, I want to develop discipline by writing, and stretch my comfort zone by traveling and meeting new people.

With those goals in mind I filled out my placement form. Environment preference: mountainous.