We're not dead!

Hey everyone. We're really sorry that we haven't blogged in two months. We don't any excuse really, except that we have just entered kind of a monotonous rut and didn't have anything too exciting to report. But, during our time off during winter holidays we did have some excitement.

Kristi and I went skiing at one of Korea's most popular ski resorts, Phoenix Park. This was my second time skiing (the first time being merely a month before, at the same resort with teachers from my school) and we had a blast. Regardless of skill, every skier on the slopes was decked out in new and fancy equipment (Koreans go all out when they do physical activities. Their enthusiasm is both entertaining and endearing). We stuck to novice hills obviously, and by the end of our two day stay, both Kristi and I had improved our skiing skills a fair bit (I managed to pull off parallels, which surprised me). We also managed to finish the trip without any serious injury, apart from a minor crossed-skis incident I had that not only threw me a fair distance, but thew my skis in all directions, a sight I can only imagine must have been quite entertaining. We went on the ski trip with the same English tour service that we visited the DMZ with, which made the whole process much easier. Expect pictures of that soon.

Apart from the skiing we decided to do a few tours of Buddhist sights in Seoul. Our first stop was a very sacred mountain called Ilwansan (I may have that wrong, I'll have to check). The mountain is on the outskirts of Seoul and is quickly being surrounded by the city's always expanding development projects. Actually, when one ruler was building the walls around Seoul in Korea's past, he purposefully chose to place the mountain outside of the city's walls. Confusism and Buddhism were often in conflict in Korea's history, and this particular ruler was Confuciust, and said that if the mountain were to remain within the walls of the city, Confuciusism could not survive within the country. Apparently this decision had the dramatic effect he wanted, as access to the mountain was difficult and Confuciusism continued to spread. The mountain is famous for many natural rock formations that look like monks in various forms of prayer.




While hiking the mountain a very nice monk showed us the best path to take in order to see most of the mountain. Also, the entire time we were there, a monk was chanting mantras while making her offerings, which added to mystic and sacred feel of the mountain. Like any mountain you hike in Korea, upon reaching the peak you get an amazing view of the city. The rock formations are amazing to take in, and the mountain is so secluded that it really was a treat to take in.

Our second temple outing was to Bongwhasan, a temple right in the center of busy Seoul. Here we took an introductory tour to introduce us to the general structure of the temple, a tea ceremony, and a quick lesson on meditation. The tour was led by some very nice old women who volunteer to give the tours, and were very informative. The temple itself was very impressive. The grounds contained about 12 buildings, some of which contain ancient wooden tablets upon which are scribed Buddhist teachings, monk residences, meditation facilities, as well as a building for the temple bell and the temples main worship room. This particular temple received a new Buddha statue in 2003. The new statue is quite large at around 40 feet tall. We also learnt that the square slab on top of the statues head is for protection from birds and weather, and not decoration (mind you it does look cool).

Having never seen a tea ceremony, my first opinion was that it would be, well, dull. When the ceremony actually started, our guide pointed out how each step in the process is important in order to make the tea properly. The two woman performing the ceremony moved in sync and each portion was coreographed to look graceful and perfect. The entire process was very soothing and made drinking the tea even better. I was horrible at meditation, primarily because my posture is of questionable quality, and by the end of the meagre 20 minutes my lower back was quite sore. Despite my amateur abilities, I was able to relax and clear my mind enough to get a small understanding of how meditation would be beneficial.

Apart from that, our holiday was pretty quiet. Both Kristi and I did winter camps at our school to do English activities with students who sign up. I had my kids produce ideas for a film. They drew storyboards and a script outline, made a movie poster and even turned their storyboard into photographs. The students seemed to have a lot of fun.

The new term has started, so we will finally be getting back into the swing of things. The weather is already warming up here (it was 9 degrees today!) so expect more pictures as well. We miss you all and hope you are doing well.