Week III: Green tea and So Ju

I have now settled in to more of a routine here in Korea, and the time has begun to speed up. A day in the life of me consists of waking up a little before 6:00am to catch the subway and be at the Do Jang and ready to train at 7:00am with Hong Sa Bom Nim. We train till about 9 or 10 and then I return to my hostel to do some homework/sleep/run erands or I go sight seeing to one of the many sights in Seoul until 1:00pm when I have language class for two hours. Then I get some lunch and study until I have to go teach the kids at 6:00pm and train in the adult class at 7:30. After Soo Bahk I usually get some dinner with the Soo Bahkers or some other friends. On the weekends I have been going out a lot and then sleeping during the day or hiking and visiting temples. Yesterday, I went off exploring in the mountains by myself and stumbled upon some really amazing experiences. After coming out of the subway it took me a good thirty minutes of wondering the streets of a relatively poor neighborhood just to find the trail. When I finally did find one there signs in Korean directing me to some temples. I hiked up the steep road and after about 40 minutes came upon a pretty small temple that was not a tourist attraction but an actual temple. The monk was a little surprised to see this young foreigner wondering onto the temple grounds. We greeted eachother and after I looked around for a while he invited me in of some delicious green tea flavored with other herbs and flowers. I wished so much that I could speak Korean, he tried to ask me some questions and all I could do was look confused. It was still pretty amazing. Then we exchanged goodbyes and I left in search of another temple. I followed the signs and the path began to narrow and steepen, eventually I found myself climbing an extremely rocky "path" with a little stream running next to me. When I reached the top there were some shabby old buildings and a monk sitting in a lawn chair. He greeted me and motioned for me to look into this little cave where I could hear chanting and drumming. There was some sort of ceremony going on in there. Once again I wish I could communicate and ask all the questions I had. I decended the mountain and made my way home. It is amazing what you can find and stumble into if you just go exploring by yourself. If you are guided by someone all the time you are limited to their experiences and you will never have a unique experience, this is what I have discovered at least. Last night I went out with my Bolgarian friend and some of her friends, drank So Ju and sang kareoke all night, such is life in Korea. The Korean holiday of Ju Sok is tommarrow so I have three days off of school and Soo Bahk it feels good to rest a little. Wishing you were all here!

Week II: The Melting Pot

As usual so much has happened in, what probably seems like to everyone back home, such a sort period of time. Sunday I hiked Kwanaksan Mountian, with the Soo Bahkers which is on the southern borders of Seoul. As is the case everywhere in Korea, there were so many people, it was rediculous. I have never seen so many people on a hiking trail in all my life. It was very fun and I got to know some of the Soo Bahkers better. On Monday, in Soo Bahk, Lee Dong Gyu Sa Bom Nim came and taught, which is a rare occurance, and a British Ee Dan showed up. He will be training at the central do jang for a year and it is nice to have someone to relate to. He introduced me to some people at his school and I have never met such a diverse group of friends. Koreans raised in Austria, France, and the US, a German, a Swiss, and Argentinian who moved to the States when he was 10 and a Korean. They were a crazy bunch. Also I have befriended another American who trains who is a red belt. He is married to a Korean girl and they are a fun couple to hang out with. This weekend I went out with them and a bunch of thier friends on Friday and on Saturday they had a party at their house. Partying in Korea is very intense, the night isn't over until aroung 6:00am. I have also befriended a hungarian girl at my language school who is married to a German professor. The amount of cultural diversity I am experiencing is incredable, and despite our differences we can still relate as humans. During the week I saw some of the sights Seoul has to offer including Jogyesa temple and Gyeounbokgung palace. The temple was a beautiful temple just wedged in on a random block, I just went in, bowed 8 times and meditated for a while soaking in the energy of the place. Time has begun to speed up a little but it still feels like a week is a month. I have found Koreans to be strange creatures in their views of the world and other people. They love and hate foreigners at the same time and although they have an obssesion with learning English no one seems to speak it. I am still struggling a bit with learing the language and accepting how different Soo Bahk is over here. Untill next time, Anyeong (peace)

Week I: Lost in Translation

My first week in Seoul has been eventful and interesting. I am training regularly in the morning and evening and going to language class in the afternoon. The language is very hard to learn and use because there are different words and endings depending on the levels of respect you need to show the person. However, I think I will be semi proficient in communicating essential things by the end of my travels. I hiked to the top of Namsan Mountain on Friday and could see the whole city. It is so huge, highrises and buildings as far as the eye can see, more then 10 million people all surrounded by majestic tree covered rocky mountains. It takes about 2 and a half hours to get from one side of the city to the other by subway. Luckily everything I need to go to is realatively close, less than 40 min. It has been frustrating to not be able to communicate or understand people. Even those who speak english do not understand me unless I talk slowly and half the time I don't know what they are talking about. The Sa Bom who teaches the evening class is the hardest to understand and speaks very little english, it is always a guessing game trying to figure out what he wants me to do or change. I have learned how to say "don't do that" "stop it" and "be quiet!" in Korean which has made the kids class a little better. It has been fun training with the other foreigners (that is what they call us over here like we are aliens) and helping them with their material. On Friday night I went out to the bars/clubs with some American friends in this district with a lot of Universities, it was crazy, so many people and over 150 bars. There was a live band playing raegge/funk in the park. "No woman no cry" in Korean it was awesome. Always thinking of everyone who has touched my life back home and I miss you all.

First Days at the Central Do Jang

Saturday, it was raining, I went to the central do jang, followed the signs upstairs, and come to find two korean men in a damp office with fake wood wallpaper on the walls and domed ceilling. This is the center where we all come from. The central do jang is so Korean, the wood floor for the training hall is bowed from years of moister and use, the dressing rooms smell like sweat and raw sewage (as do a lot of places in Korea) and the organized classes are not all that organized. But you've gotta love Korea. I spent the day with these men who I later have come to know better and they took me in as family. On Monday I trained with Hong Sa Bom Nim, the head of the central Do Jang, in a semi private class. He is going to do this special class three days a week for me and other Dan members. In the evening I came early to watch the kids class but I ended up teaching it and now I am the teacher of this group from now untill I don't know when. I thought it was hard to teach children when I could communicate, now I can't even tell them to be quiet or stop hitting eachother, Igo igo (Korean for Oui/Hy corumba). I taught again on Tuesday and it was a little better. The adult class consists of mostly foreigners, some Australians, Americans, Bolgarians etc. They are all lower ranking (white, yellow, green) but it is fun to have people to talk to and relate being in a strange land with. The training is hard and there are many things about my technique that need a lot of work, I feel like a white belt again and a little astranged. Korea is much different from the US as is Korean Soo Bahk Do. Communication is a constant struggle but I think it will become easier the longer I am here. Chal Je Buseyo (good night)