Teachers trip

Yesterday was the last day of school before the summer break. It was saturday, yes they make children here go to school every other saturday until 12. Since it was the last day of the school all the teachers celebrated with a trip. We were told a few weeks prior that we would take a trip to Seongnisan National Park where we would spend the afternoon climbing a mountain. I am not too keen on mountain climbing, especially in 90d heat and humidity, nor I found out were any of the teachers that I shared an office with. So, we prayed for rain. Our prayers were answered because it rained, and it rained, and it rained. It rained so hard at times that there were streets that were flooded and creeks overflowing - but our trip got changed and no mountain climbing.
At 11:10 we all ventured out to street in front of our school, huddling under our umbrellas to wait for our ride. Our chariot came in the form of a big, purple bus complete with kareoke disco lights and microphones at every seat. When I saw that I knew it was going to be an interesting day. Fortunately they opted to turn on the disco lights but leave the kareoke machine alone and we headed out to our first destination - Sangsoo Herbland. Along the way they handed out goodies including bags of snacks, bottles of water and a big piece of Deok (which is korean cake made from rice - of course). This is when the fun began and the Vice-Principal cracked open the beer and walked from seat to seat pouring each person a shot of beer followed by a piece of dried squid. To refuse would be considered rude - so I dutifully drank my beer and ate my squid.
We arrived at Herbland, which turned out to be a giant herb farm famous all across Korea and even other parts of Asia. We were given a brief lecture - it was in Korean of course but I am assuming it was on the types of herbs that they grow there and what they can used for. After the lecture we were taken on a tour of the facility and luckily everything was marked with english signs so I was able to tell what we were looking at. It was a very large place and the smells of the lavender and rosemary was overwhelming , but in a nice way. The tour was followed by lunch of their specialty dish of flower bibimbap.


Bibimbap is a popular korean dish that consists of white rice topped with bean sprouts and other vegetables and then a bean paste is added. Sometimes egg or meat can be added as well. It is all mixed together and is very delicious. In this case special flowers grown at the herb farm are also added. It was very, very good and as you can see from the picture below I am getting better at using my chopsticks.
After lunch we boarded the bus again for our next destination - Chungju writing museum. Of course on the bus ride to the museum the Vice principal once again made the rounds with the beer shots and dried squid. At the museum we were given a tour guide who showed us displays of ancient writing tablets and explained how the monks made books and papers centuries ago. Again it was in Korean but there were some english signs so I was able to understand some of what it was about. I expect that if I had been able to understand the tour guide it would have been very fascinating.
We left the museum and headed to our final destination - Beupjusa temple in Songisan national park. It was a 30 minute bus ride, which of course involved more beer and dried squid and when we arrived the rain was pouring down. We tumbled out of the bus, put up our umbrellas and started the 20 minute trek into the park. Despite the rain it was a very pleasant walk through the forest. The temple sits at the base of Songisan moutain so along the walk you can see the mountian peaks showing through the trees. Since it was raining it was all very misty and quite beautiful. We finally emerged through the trees to the temple compound and it was breathtaking.
One of the first things you see is Palsagjeon which is the only 5 story pagoda left in Korea. This temple was built in the year 553 but was destroyed by the Japanese and had to be rebuilt in 1624. The temple was built with the hope of unifying the 3 kingdoms of Korea. It's sad that 14 centuries later millions are still hoping for a unified Korea.
Amongst the wooden pagodas and ancient buildings is this giant golden statue of Budda. It;s called the Golden Maitreya Statue of National Unification and was erected in 1990 on the site of the original main hall of the temple.
We wandered the temple for half an hour and then walked back to the bus to head for dinner. Our dinner consisted of Korean bbq - which is an interesting experience. First it is served at Korean tables, which means you remove your shoes and then sit crossed legged on the floor. It gets very umcomfortable after awhile but I am starting to get used to it. The tables are long and about 20 people would fit at the one table. For every 4-5 people at the table there would be cooking spot. We were then given plates of raw duck meat which you place on the BBQ and then let it cook. As well you would be given mushrooms and other vegetables which you could put on to cook with the meat. You then take your chopsticks and eat the meat rigth off the bbq. It's delicious. Most people take lettuce leaves and put the meat inside the lettuce and eat it that way. It doesn't matter how you eat it - it's very good. The dinner was followed by a dessert of potbinsu which is a type of Korean icecream made with crushed ice, bean paste and fruit mixed in. Also very delicious.
After dinner we climbed back on the bus for the trek home. At this point most people were exhausted and fell asleep . There was one male teacher whow as very drunk at this point and decided to round people up to go drinking after we got home. He went from seat to seat convincing people but when he got to my seat, looked at me for a minute debating whether to try to talk to me. In his drunken state he couldn't remember the limited english that he had so just said any words that came into this head. All I understood was family and schedule, however I knew what he wanted so I agreed to go. It turns out all the teachers had agreed just so that he would go away but once we got back to the school nobody went anywhere. We all headed to our respective cars and buses and went home. It was a fun but exhausting day.