After my dental appointment on Friday, I headed into Seoul to look at the Christmas lights. Unfortunately, they're starting to take them down, so most of the places I went weren't lit up. It was cold, but I walked for about 2 hours and then stopped at a restaurant before heading home. It was a pleasant evening. See below for some snapshots.
My weekend has been nice. On Saturday I went to the National Museum of Korea with my friend Ute. Today I had coffee with another teacher from my school, went grocery shopping, and did some serious housecleaning. I think I have the cleanest floors and bathroom in Kyonggi Province! I also washed my bedding by hand since I don't have a washing machine. I now have the fan blowing on it in hopes that it'll be dry enough to use tonight. Then this evening I met up with Ute for tea.
I've taken January off from my responsibilities at the church because I was hoping to take some weekend trips this month. Instead, I've been sticking close to home because of my tooth. Especially at the end of the day, I just want to be in my own apartment and close to my large supply of Tylenol and Advil. I have another dental appointment on Monday, but I might also go see a doctor this week since it's still extremely painful with no improvement. Friday was my 13th appointment. So far I've paid a total of $53.50 for my dental care in Korea. I can't even imagine how much I would have paid for 13 appointments without dental insurance in the U.S.
Enough rambling. Here are some snapshots of Seoul from Friday evening.
First, Seoul City Hall. The sign says "Saehae bok manhee badeushipshio" which means "Happy New Year!" I was very proud of myself for being able to read and understand it!
The Christmas tree in front of Seoul City Hall. All the public Christmas trees here have neon red crosses on them. So do all the church steeples. It's a little surreal at night to see all the neon red crosses glowing across the city. (In Korea, red crosses are churches, green crosses are hospitals. Just so you know.)
They've erected an ice rink in front of the city hall. I thought about renting skates since I love to go ice skating, but it was really crowded and didn't look like it had been "Zambonied" in a while . . . maybe ever . . . so I just watched. You can see what's left of the Christmas decorations in the background. They've started to take them down, but around Christmas time, that whole structure was lit up and quite a sight!
I really like this giant seashell sculpture in downtown Seoul.
This is a department store all decked out in Christmas lights!
Is this an extremely cute group of kids or what? This is my youngest class, all about 4 years old. I can't look at them without smiling. A couple of them haven't figured out that I don't speak Korean and tell me whole stories sometimes. They're picking up English unbelievably quickly. They're such a joy. I love this class.
Once we were across the village, it was time to climb up another hill. At one point, we lost the trail, so we had to do a little bit of bushwhacking. We ended up in the middle of a rice field. It was already harvested, so it was like a really big mud puddle with some straw in it. From the rice field, we found a trail that continued up the mountain. On our way to the ridge, we passed several graves, but one in particular was interesting because of the statues and view.
Finally we made it to the peak. Here's triumphant Toby and tired EMH:
And Toby and Jackie at the stone marking the top of Seonggeosan at 529 meters:
From the peak, we followed trail signs for "Manilsa," which means "10,000 days temple." (I figured out the meaning of the name by myself. It was a very proud moment. I consider it a milestone in my endeavor to understand something about this language!) We figured a temple would at least be near a town, and from there, we could take a bus or taxi back to the city we started in. A couple kilometers later, we arrived at the temple. This was the water tank outside the temple. I'm not sure if the pictures are supposed to be Buddha or just an ordinary monk, but I thought it was very cute, as far as water tanks go.
The temple grounds were very small, certainly nothing spectacular, but they were pretty nonetheless. It was late afternoon, and the sunlight gave everything this warm, soft glow on a very brisk fall day.
The temple is believed to be from the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392 CE). One of the really interesting things at the temple is the pagoda, which is just left of center in the photo above. They aren't sure how old it is, but according to the Korea National Tourism Organization, it "demonstrates well the bold and unsophisticated style of both the Silla and Baekje Kingdoms." The Silla Kingdom existed from 57 BCE to 935 CE, and the Baekje Kingdom existed from 18 BCE to 660 CE, so if it's from one of them, that makes it REALLY OLD. One of the most interesting things about the temple was a Buddha carving in a crevice with a huge slab of rock as a slanting roof.
It cost about $2 to get the prescription filled. The writing on the red stuff says "Gargle. Do not eat." I think it's a mouthwash, so I've been swishing it in my mouth and not gargling it. I tried to ask the pharmacist, but she didn't know the difference between "swish" and "gargle." The pill packets just have the name and phone number of the pharmacy on them. No drug names, no directions. It's a little disconcerting. I like to know what I'm taking and why! So I get to take one of these little mystery packets three times a day until Thursday and then go back to the dentist if it's not better for "maybe root canal." I'm going home in December. I think I might try to tough it out until I can see a dentist without the language barrier.
In honor of my dad, my life-long teacher of Fort Appreciation 101, I present Hwaseong Fortress.
I took the day off from my usual responsibilities at the church on Sunday and spent the day at a youth festival in Seoul. I helped at a tent that had displays and activities to educate middle school kids about North Korean refugees living in South Korea. I got to meet some university students who came to South Korea from North Korea a few years ago. They didn't speak much English, and we were pretty busy, so I didn't really have a chance to talk with them, which was a little disappointing.
