석가탄신일 buddha's birthday

Today I decided to just ride around and visit temples. It's Buddha's birthday, so temples offer food to everyone that visits for free, and sometimes there's also entertainment as well.

 I was tipped off to two nearby temples by a random, friendly Korean that I met on the street. She kindly sent me a map showing how to get there and I was on my way. They both are slightly outside of Chungju, up in the mountains. The first one was 창룡사 Chang-ryong temple and it was a 1 km hike from the main road (unless you drove up, or took a shuttle that was available for Buddha's birthday). I opted to hike it, it seemed like the most appropriate way to visit a temple.

 There were some people singing and everyone was sitting around eating fruit and rice cakes handed out from the temple.

 The view was absolutely beautiful.

 Colourful lanterns everywhere.

Next I visited 석종사 Seokjong temple. Right before the temple there were three Buddhas carved into stone surrounded by place markers. I'm not really sure what they are...

 It was also a bit of a hike up the mountain, but not as long as the last one. It was a whole lot more beautiful though... The best temple I've visited in Chungju for sure.

 It came complete with its own cemetery.

And vegetable gardens. It seemed more like a Buddhist complex than anything.

Pots for fermenting all kinds of things. I'll have to visit again, especially since it's so close.

And what I learned today from the intermittent thunder and lightning storms, is that Abby has developed a fear of thunder. Maybe because it's pretty rare for Korea? When the first thunder crackled, she jumped from the couch onto the bed with me. Second blast of thunder and she was off the bed, pawing the closet door open and crawling inside.

문경 moongyeong-ish area

Earlier, some of us went out on a road trip to find a rock face. And in that search we found some go carting and cool hang out spots. This being a long weekend, it seemed like a decent time to check out those sights again. Chungbuk (my province) is comprised of lots of farmland, so there is lots of natural beauty, but it doesn't always seem like there's much to do. But as we've discovered, there are some out in the middle of nowhere things to do. This being the type of day to reinforce that.

Two Buddhas carved into the rock, that we passed on the way to our destination.

This was a popular stopping point, as lots of cars had pulled to the side and people were hanging out at the river across the road from the Buddhas.

Along the way, we saw plenty of people using the pedal... carts on old railway tracks. It didn't look like the funnest activity, but a tonne of people were doing it.

 We stopped for some dongdongju (rice wine) and toast (which is really a sandwich) to take a break. And that's when a game of punch buggy started, except instead of beetles, we went with popped collars. Which is way too popular here.

 We checked out the pedal boat area. 10,000 won for 30 minutes. Not bad, but there was a long line up and only a small roped off area that you got to paddle around in. For me, it would've lost its appeal very quickly, just like pedaling along on old rail road tracks.

Horse rides. They had real horse rides as well. But the fake ones come with video screens, so it's a cheap substitution.

 And then onto go carting! 12,000 won for 10 minutes. Kinda pricey, but it's been a long time since I last went, so maybe that's a normal price? It wasn't as good as it could've been though, because there were lots of couple go carts (two people, one cart) which generally had a parent and their very young child. Doesn't really make you feel comfortable letting loose on the track.

 Then there was 오미자 makgeolli/rice wine with dinner. I'm not even sure what the berry is exactly, maybe currants? It seemed to be a local specialty. It was nice and sweet, but nothing special that I would go out of my way to get.

And dinner, my favourite standby, bibimbap, there was also pajeon (onion pancake) and kimchi jjigae. Along with a plethora of sides.

And then at a souvenir shop we came across this gem, penis wine. Basically, the ceramic part (penis) on top is a shot glass which you drink the wine out of. I'm not exactly sure what it's made of, but I had to try it.

And naturally the best place to try it is by the river. It smelled horrible, but it didn't taste as bad as I expected. But since it's apparently an alcohol to improve male performance, I think the whole experience was lost on me as a female. Oh well, at least I get to keep the nifty happy penis shot glasses.

work stress and lotus root 연근

So school has been less than stellar lately. We're coming to the close of the first semester and things seem to be reaching an unfortunate place. My university was a whole lot less than honest about the schedule from the get go and said we could talk about changing it before second semester (but no changes could be made at that time) to placate us. Well, it's right before 2nd semester and our first meeting about next semester happened as though nothing would be changed. Opinions had to be expressed again, but I'm seriously doubting changes will be made. Dishonesty in the work place is quite a downer.

Plus everyone seems to be feeling the stress, as students are getting restless in class (bringing out a whole lot of texting instead of working) which will at least make grading easier. And by grading, I mean dealing with students' complaints about their grades. Nothing shuts down complaining students more than telling them they brought on their own bad grades by texting instead of working, sleeping (yeah, that's semi cool in Korea, students study for ridiculously long amounts of time), speaking Korean the entire time, etc. But even my co-workers have been pretty snappy, so I'm thinking the whole choosing our classes and plans for next semester is going to be another lesson in all kinds of unpleasantness. Well, at least this semester will be over soon enough. Things have changed a whole lot from the beginning...

And at least this is the long weekend because Monday is Buddha's birthday! I've got a bunch of Buddhist students, but none of them are vegetarian. Those two things don't go together here. If I had to choose any religion to follow, I would go with Buddhism, but I don't consider myself a religious person. But this is definitely my favourite holiday in Korea.

And lotus roots 연근, another food I didn't try until Korea, and roots in general being my favourite food to eat here.

 This is what they look like all on their own.

So if you bought them in their whole form, you just need to cut off the ends, peel and slice. If you don't want them to discolour, just stick the slices in some water with vinegar. I did that in the beginning, but don't really care about that anymore. It wasn't really necessary because I used them immediately.

But naturally, Korea being the convenient place that it is, you can buy them peeled and sliced!

Normally I just make lotus chips, toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper, bake them and then serve. But whenever I've eaten them at restaurants or school cafeterias, they've been battered and fried or are in a soy sauced form. They have a crunchy texture, which is why I like them in chip form.

random picture set

Captured moments that never made it into any posts:

 Abby hanging out on a pile of Korean socks. Korean socks are the best socks.

 Beer and snacks at the local hof. Cookie-esque chips and tofu chips. I was working on a drawing inspired by my ghost student. One day he asked me "Do you know 라면?" 라면 = ramen/instant noodles. So totally ridiculous question, of course I know it. This was after telling me he likes to drink heavily about 5 days a week and ramen is his favourite drinking food or 안주. Good times. I like how much my students are willing to open up. Most of the time, definitely not all of the time. sigh. I have some pretty racist and body dysmorphic students.

Dinner of champions: eggplants, tofu, rice and vodka.

Mr. Pizza, an expensive pizza place in Korea. They still have love for women. Fantastic slogan.

Spread from a lunch at my university. We were told it was a lunch where the foreign professors would get to know each other. Really it was just a workshop where they tried to sell us on using some online whateverness to keep our classes and students better connected. They talked and showed ppt slides the entire time we were eating. And then lunch was over. Awesome. At least I got a 32gb usb out of it. Which I have yet to use...

Mountain side dog colony. You can only see two in the picture, but there were four on leashes out here, with little doggy shacks.

The first sight that made me believe spring was really here in full force. There's a woman in the bottom left corner collecting something. I always see people out picking random things from trees or the grass... and I wish I knew what they were picking and could pick it myself and cook with it. Jealous :/ Especially when my students tell me about their mountain root picking adventures. Picking roots in the mountains sounds like a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Convenience store dog in Jeju. I don't really see a lot of animals in Korea. So most of my animal sightings are either dogs or cats. In both awesome and incredibly sad situations. Thankfully, this is one of the awesome moments.

sunday night dread

I'm not looking forward to final exams, happening in a few weeks. Grading, failing students, excuses, emails and desperate pleas. But hey, at least my first semester as a uni teacher will be over. And hopefully it will be easier come next semester.

Soon it will be uncomfortably warm. Nothing makes me unhappier than heat and humidity. I'm Canadian. I don't enjoy sweating while not doing anything. Or not being able to enjoy the outdoors because it's just too hot. Or those sunburns that I manage to accumulate immediately. Or the extra cat hair that inevitably gathers and flies throughout my apartment. At least I lucked out and have ac in my apartment, but I think it's time to get a fan. I've managed without one for the last two years (I've always had ac) but I'm going for all around comfort this year.

This weekend it was pretty warm but not too bad and I decided to enjoy it while I can and just relax before the humidity and exam time kicks in. That involved lots of biking around the city, sleeping in, lazing around with Abby, watching movies, drawing and cooking.

 Some ionic oriental water that I picked up after a bike ride to rehydrate.

A nice hof on the edge of the city that I keep meaning to check out but have yet to.

 And some food I've cooked on the weekend, butter bean curry and rice.

 Spaghetti and tofu balls.

I made them from a block of firm tofu, a shredded carrot, chopped onion, garlic, ground oatmeal, ground pecans, basil, salt, pepper, ketchup and liquid smoke. Weird combination, but they work perfectly when I get a craving for spaghetti and meatballs.

 

My overgrown tomato plants that keep growing like weeds, I need to get lots more support sticks soon before they become a permanently tangled mess.

And a short video of Abby sneezing into the couch and then running off, during one of her daily spazz out sessions.

school carnival, muffins and menstruation

Today I was gifted with two more stamped menstruation forms, as excuses for missing university credit classes. That brings my total to six. One student has given me two now, so I've totally got her menstruation cycle down now, it's pretty fantastic in a horrifying way. There's only one month of classes left, I'm wondering if she's going to go for a trifecta. I'm guessing yes. And in even better news, apparently I can't use menstruation/cramps/what have you as a reason for a sick day, yeah I asked, I had to at this point out of sheer curiosity. But it's totally fine for (female) students excusing their absences from class. My contract doesn't actually cover that in detail, but I guess they expect me to not even consider doing that out of basic decency. This situation just seems to be abused as a free for all with my students. I understand if it's serious, but if all you have to do is go to the office and say you were menstruating and then you get a stamped excuse immediately...

And my gift of the day. Six muffins from a student. This student also just so happens to be failing my class. He had a stamped excuse form to miss classes (for a job, as many as he needed to miss, which apparently is totally fine) and couldn't make them before. Now that he knows he's failing, all the sudden he can attend the rest of the classes and brought a box of muffins to boot. Totally not a blatant bribe or anything. Serious upgrade from the chocolates another failing student dropped on me.

 And this week is my school's festival, carnival or whatever. Apparently it involves lots of drinking and hanging out in tented areas.

 And then subsequent dips in the school pond. I saw this guy as he was crawling out of the pond. At least he had the sense to take his shoes off. It's also raining so it's probably the best day of this 3ish day event to drop on into the pond.

This is the school's pond, it's roped off, but no one really cares if you head on in during the festival. It's actually a tradition.

I also learned about another tradition, it involves tying someone up on their birthday, throwing eggs at them and then dumping flour on them. It must be pretty fantastic having the kind of friends that will go to such great lengths for you on your birthday.

things i learned on the weekend

1. Chungju has a drive in theatre!

It's behind this wedding hall:

And nearby this rusty, land locked boat:

This is all in or on the way to Chungju's industrial area. There's a market out there as well, but it just looked like a bunch of fruit and vegetable depots. More of a place to drive to as it ends with farmland.

2. Danyang is a much prettier city than Chungju, with a lot more things to do, aside from the caves.

They even have an aquarium, if you're into that kind of stuff.

And they've even got a weird story to go along with the city. There are pictures of this man and woman all over the city. And they exist in rock form (along with the husband's mistress) in the river. Apparently she couldn't give birth to children so either they both (or maybe just the husband) decided to find a mistress to give birth to an heir. Having a mistress in the equation made things a bit weird, and the heavens greatly disapproved, so they were turned into stone. The big stone being the husband, the smaller ones the wife and mistress. I'm not sure if the woman pictured with the man all over the place is the wife or the mistress though...

3. I'm not crazy about kong guksu. I keep expecting it to grow on me and it never does. I love guksu in general, so I'm pretty disappointed that it hasn't.

 It's essentially noodles in soy milk with some vegetables and sesame seeds. You're supposed to add in salt as well, but I never do. It's nice and cold, so good on a hot day, but it always tastes like it's lacking something. Maybe that salt that I never put in.

4. Abby enjoys taking her daytime nap sessions on the couch and then her nighttime sessions on the bed. This isn't new info at all, just general cat stuff.