Gyeongju trip with cherry blossoms and fog.

Cherry Blossoms in Duryu Park (I live very close to this park. It's one of my favorite spots in Korea!!)







the Seokgulam Grotto from below- it was really foggy and you can barely see the building/cave.


 

The building/cave where the Buddhist shrine is -it's really cool inside!!!! Ps, the fog made it really pretty!!

Watering trough at Bulguksa Temple


  Bulguksa Temple

 don't know if you can see the really cool face carved in the wood. The artwork is AMAZING!!! Also at Bulguksa Temple.

Also Bulguksa Temple.

 

More pictures in the BEAUTIFUL fog at Seokgulam Grotto!!!!

 

Cherry Blossoms!!!

 

The fallen blossoms- due to storm. These were puddles in Gyeongju.

The Cherry Blossom March... okay not really but if you look closely you can see the many different umbrellas and spring colors amid the distant cherry blossoms.

 

Taxi's strike again!!!

Why is it always taxis? WHY?!!! Tonight was going to be one of the most fun nights in Korea- instead it was a real dud! So I took this super fun cooking class from the YMCA yesterday. Yeah, it was free and totally worth my time! I will be making that dish again! Anyway, while there I met a girl who has an entire group of friends that are English teachers and they are very close to my apartment, WHAT?!!! How had I never met any of them before? Well they are with EPIK and I am with TaLK so it would be understandable that our paths might not cross. Plus Daegu is a fairly big city. Well we chatted momentarily and decided to become facebook friends and I was excited to be social. I didn't know how soon it would be before I got to be social so you can imagine my surprise and excitement when the very next day (today) she invited me to be in some tourist commercial and then hang out after. I was PUMPED!!! I ran my errands I needed to do and then left in just enough time. I decided to take a taxi because I wasn't sure exactly where it was and I figured taking a taxi would give me a little wiggle room to get there early and find the place.
I hopped in the taxi and told them the area in which I needed to go "Bangwaldong" Yes, it is hard for even me to pronounce and I live here. Plus they say it with a /P/ instead of a /B/ in the beginning and ... it's just a difficult word to say. SO I also pull up pictures and a map AND an address of where I need to go. (can you tell I've done this before?) The address was in English but it was all I could find. I should have just called the # and had them tell him where to take me. NEXT TIME! Anyway, he acts as though he knows where he is going. After what took longer than expected I start to recognize the area in which we are in. It is past that were we need to go and past the time I need to be there. I try to tell him where to take me again. He pulls over and pulls out his GPS. Why didn't he do this in the first place? Well I very quickly learned it was because he wasn't very good with it. The biggest part that I don't understand is that there is only 1 place the two subway lines cross and that is where I showed him on a map of where I wanted to be. 1 place, it wasn't hard! But apparently it was for him. He drove me to the nearest subway station and now I was late. I saw a line of taxis so I jumped out of his and into another one going through the same routine. Only this time the taxi driver repeated where I wanted to go and waved away my cell phone. Clearly he must have understood.
TAXI #2- He did not understand me. After what seemed to be MUCH longer than it should have taken to get me to that station I started saying my destination repeatedly and he would repeat it back to me and point ahead. I usually take the subway (okay always) so maybe I was wrong and we really were headed in the right direction. Until I saw Dong Daegu train station. Yeah, that was the opposite direction we needed to go. I finally got him to pull over and look at my phone. When he realized where I wanted to go he said "no" , pretty sure that meant no we weren't going in the right direction. So he turned around. I thought for sure this time we would be going in the right direction- until I saw the airport. I was not supposed to be anywhere near the airport. WHAT THE WHAT? Where did he think he was taking me? Then he started YELLING at me in Korean, to which I would respond with "Bowla yo" meaning I don't know and "Hangul bowla" meaning I don't know Korean. Finally I just said "Okay" because I knew he would understand and I hoped it would make him stop yelling at me. It worked. And then I ended up in the middle of who knows where on the opposite side of the city. Away from civilization (which is actually really hard to accomplish because it is a rather large city) and I couldn't even find a taxi. NO SUBWAY station nearby NONE funny that I only had asked for the subway station REPEATEDLY and it was on the map AND it is THE ONLY PLACE where Line 1 and Line 2 cross. What is SO DIFFICULT to understand about this? I don't understand!!! My frustration was rising. And on top of it all I was now over a half an hour late. Great first impression that made. What a flake I am. Sorry- hope you didn't actually need me to help. And I didn't have her number and I didn't have wifi so there was no way to let her know I was lost. Anyway, I got out of his taxi and walked ... and walked... and almost cried. Today was definitely a missing English and America day. I called Colten VERY UPSET. I have such good friends. He listened to the first taxi story then interrupted to ask if I knew where I was. That was the worst part. NO CLUE! I didn't know how to get home either. Some days it just kind of mentally slaps you really hard across the face that you are in a strange land with no common language- sure there is some communication due to body language, but let's be honest, that is VERY INCOMPLETE communication. Why do you think the Deaf use ASL? Because it's more than communication, it's a complete language. You really need language to be able to communicate. Anyway, I finally found a taxi at a red light and threw myself into the car before the light turned green and shouted "Lotte Cinema" because that was near the station I wanted.
TAXI #3- Apparently there is another Lotte Mall with a Lotte Cinema in Daegu. Who knew, right?! So as we pulled up in my head I was like, "no, I don't recognize this place... at all." Out loud I said, "Mmmmm, Bangwaldong?" and showed my map and yada yada yada.... you get the point. The taxi driver insisted I was at Bangwaldong. Well it is a pretty big area and maybe I just hadn't seen this part before. NO, it wasn't Bangwaldong. So I found a security guard and showed him my map and he knew where I wanted and he said "Oh, that is very far from here." Yes, I knew that. I finally got smart and said with miming because he was not understanding otherwise, "You tell taxi Bangwaldong?" Okay okay okay, I think we got it!
TAXI #4- that's right, I said 4 (meanwhile my wallet started to empty. Good thing taxis are cheap and I got extra cash this morning.) So I sat in the taxi assuring Colten that I was pretty sure I was going in the right direction. I just couldn't handle dealing with another driver so I didn't speak the entire time. After a while he asked me some questions in Korean. Once again "Bowla yo. BANGWALDONG." Hmm, I think he sensed my frustration because he didn't really say much again until we pulled up to a subway stop and he asked "Ego?" meaning "This?" I could've either kissed him or cried. Instead I threw open the door and dumped my purse- I think I was just so excited I didn't even care it's contents were now all over the ground. I paid him, thanked him, and he drove away.
The girl who invited me to hang out seems nice and understanding, I hope they will give me another chance for a first impression. They must think I'm stupid. ...Oh well. Anyway, that was my really expensive scenic route for the month. Can I be done with expensive taxi rides? I can't wait for my Korean course to start!! I'll finally be able to communicate. It has been FAR too long, I am getting frustrated with such big barriers. LESSON: Don't get into a taxi without a Korean address or a Korean speaker present (or on the phone). Good luck if you intend on coming to Korea. :)

The most expensive Taxi EVER!! (in Korea)

Colten said I wouldn't remember this taxi ride 3 years from now- well when I read this 3 years from now I'm going to remember. At least we had a super nice and friendly driver.  Taxi’s here- AMAZING!! Don’t get in the black taxi. BEWARE of the BLACK TAXI!!!!  This is your final warning- don’t say you didn’t know, BLACK TAXI’s are considered the luxury taxi and they are more expensive. Price rises fast in those buggers. But any other taxi starts from anywhere between $2.30 -$2.80 as a starting rate and then they rise 10 cents every … what I am getting at is taxi’s here are VERY CHEAP!!!! But don't be fooled, just because the taxi isn't black doesn't mean the taxi driver won't try to outsmart you and make you spend more money- fyi.

So once upon a time Colten and I decided we were going to see the cherry blossoms in Gyeongju. We took a bus from Dong Daegu to Gyeongju- it was cheap (about $5) and took about an hour and half maybe, pretty decent. When we got to the bus station a taxi driver showed us where the information booth was. Well after that we felt obligated to take his taxi (it wasn't a black taxi **whew*)- mind you, the tour busses were directly across from the information booth and they were pretty cheap. This driver knew what he was doing!!!!  He showed us the number one spot to tour- The Seokgulam Grotto. It actually was a place we wanted to go so we asked him to take us. Well it ended up being COMPLETELY on the opposite side of the city and once you get up there you have no transportation options except for the ones you arrived in. It’s up this huge windy road and once you get to the parking lot you hike to cave temple (yes, it’s considered a cave temple but it isn’t much of a cave, don’t get too excited.) And the hike really isn’t much of a hike either- just a trail and at the end some steep Korean stairs= VERY STEEP and SKINNY stairs. We pulled up and the driver turned the car off – at the same time the meter went off. I was a bit confused. Colten and I discussed and we decided we are in Korea and sometimes they do things differently over here so maybe if we weren’t in the car the meter would get turned off until we got back. I found it odd. Later we also discovered it was not only odd but wishful thinking and we were indeed sad to find out the whole time we were touring the Seokgulam Grotto the meter had been running. However, we were grateful at the Korean rate compared to what we would have paid in the US. We figured eventually we would have come there anyway so it really was worth our money. I do HIGHLY RECOMMEND this place if you are coming to Korea. It is FASCINATING and is certified as one of the world’s best Buddhist shrines with Bulguksa Temple by UNESCO. The Seokgulam Grotto is this MASSIVE Buddha. I mean it’s BIG!! And so cool. You aren’t allowed to take pictures because it is a place of worship so sadly I only have my memories and my ticket stub, but it is a place I won’t soon forget. We also went to the temple, it is right next to the shrine. I would recommend doing both – however, not from a taxi as we were rushed at the temple due to the slow pace we had used at the Seokgulam Grotto. But the temple was also a treasure; very cool and a lot of reconstruction. They have this beautiful pond out front. The whole place was just beautiful!! Also I learned something new- you will see rocks piled one on top of another (I’ll post pictures) and I heard it is like a prayer. But upon talking to a Korean friend of mine I learned it is pretty much the equivalent to an American throwing a coin into a fountain and making a wish. VERY INTERESTING!!! Both places cost about $4 each. Cheap! The taxi on the other hand wasn’t as cheap as we had intended it to be. But what can you do? You live and you learn. 4 hours later we payed our very kind yet very devious little taxi man $80. Not bad for 4 hours but still- I’m sure every member of his family each ate a fatty steak that night!!!

                 After that we went to Gyeongju National Museum but we were starving and that museum is HUGE!!! So we only went through two buildings before heading off to lunch. Sadly it was SO STORMY that day that we were exhausted and soaked. So weren’t much fun after lunch and we headed back. The saddest part is that due to the intense rain the cherry blossoms had lost many of their blossoms and those that still had great blossoms required some walking to get to and we were pretty pooped so we didn’t take too many pictures of the cherry blossoms. Once again, I guess I’ll have to live off my memory of that. But a picture probably wouldn’t have done it justice anyway!

                Oh and before I forget I wanted to talk about the watering hole. You know how horses all drink from the same trough? Well, when visiting a temple in Korea they are usually located at the top of a “mountain” or hill so you pretty much prepare to do a little bit of hiking. Once you get to the top you usually come across the water hole. It is basically a trough of water for lack of better words, with what looks to be measuring cups strung nearby somehow- I’ve seen it different ways. You take the measuring cup and dip it in the trough and drink from it. These cups are not washed to my knowledge. A part of me wants to do it for the experience but a bigger part of me wants to consider what is lingering on those cups. I still find it very interesting even if I am grossed out a little.

And yeah, I know this happened a while back but I want to put the date down. We went on 4/6/13.
 

Ignorance is bliss... or maybe it's just being ignorant

Wow I've learned so much!!! I used to think ignorance is bliss now I just recognize how ignorant I am and I'm so ashamed. I can't believe how much I have learned about South Korea's history since I have gotten here and I feel like I really have no idea what the history of this place holds. What did I take away from my history class if I learned absolutely nothing about Korea's history? And have you ever heard of Korean Comfort Women? Essentially they were kidnapped and forced into North Korea to be women of comfort which is exactly what it sounds like. SO SAD!!! But North Korea to this day denies any of it and is trying to convince the world it never happened. Seeing as how some of these women are alive still today I think they are going to have a hard time convincing that. But I really can't write a ton about the matter because I'm ignorant and I haven't done research to help me understand all the details and be able to accurately portray the details so I should just stop there but encourage my readers to research it themselves. 
Moving on to something fun. The last time I wrote was seriously dry and I promise to be much more entertaining from here on out. So much has happened but where to begin?!!! Well first let me start with my first fun taxi experience. We got into the cab and in my newly acquired vocab I told the driver "Juseao Diaso"- roughly translated that means "give me Diaso". The driver mumbled something to which I responded to with "Diaso". What is Diaso you ask, it is basically a dollar store- some things are a little more than a dollar but not much. Well the driver asked something else that I just couldn't understand and it was followed by "Jochiwon". Jochiwon just so happens to be the town we are in and so I repeated "Jochiwon" with a grunt (because cavemen used to grunt to get a point across and it worked for them so clearly it would work for me). Well he started going and I figured I had gotten my point across. About 5 minutes later we pulled up to a sidewalk and the driver turned a light on and waited for us. I looked around... no Diaso. Clearly I am not meant to speak Korean just yet when I only have a vocab of like 3 uncertain phrases. No, we were not at Diaso. So I'm like "uh... Diaso?" The driver just looked at me for a moment with an expression like "I have no idea what you want lady". I didn't know what to do so I repeated myself and then the driver -probably trying to get rid of us more than truly wanting to get us where we had asked said "Tie so" (Because D and T are kind of interchangeable...I mean it depends on the situation and who you talk to. But yeah D and T work together.) So I'm like *grunt* "Tiaso" with a head nod. The people I shared the taxi with were like- never again do we let Lyndee speak for us. I have learned that taxis here feel privileged to the entire road. So as we sped down VERY NARROW alleys I watched from the back middle seat as people ran for their lives to get out of this driver's way. I am seriously not exaggerating when I say that every time there was a pedestrian in the road the taxi would speed up. I thought I was about to become an accessory to murder. I am pretty sure that was the most intense ride I have been on yet because I didn't know what to expect. Now I just kind of expect it to be a scary trip and I just close my eyes. Mom, pretend like you didn't just read that and skip the next sentence. Hahaha- I seriously worry for safety at times in the taxis but they make for great stories afterwards. :) But no, I am safe I promise!!! Well we finally arrived safely to Diaso without harming any innocent bystanders and all in all I think it was a successful trip.
I have tons more great experiences but I probably won't share them all. We sit in lectures ALL DAY and then we have projects that we work on at night. So my time for blogging is short. Even now it is like 1 AM and I'm yawning wondering why I started writing so late when I have no energy. But I enjoy sharing my experiences so I don't care honestly. But I better get to bed. I hope all my loved ones are safe and healthy. Take care. :)
ps- I have tons of pics and videos I intend on sharing but give me time to get that done. TTYL Bye!

Good bye USA

Yep, that says there is 17 hours and 57 minutes of plane time remaining

Headed UP towards Alaska.

Toothbrush, toothpaste, socks with carry case- all free, and amazing menu!

17 hours later: We went so far!!! And we curved. Weird!

Look at how far we traveled in one flight!! (but that isn't even the full
amount of traveling for the day)

We were in Korea!!! 

We landed in Incheon- then we drove almost 2 hours to Jochiwon.

In the Beginning

Hello family and friends!! I am pretty proud of myself that I have taken the time to sit down and figure out how to have a blog like I said I would. Well, where to start? Korea is amazing! Period! There are now other words to describe this experience. Just amazing!! I am having a great time out here. Before you begin reading I will warn you- I am wordy and my grammar sucks. If you don't like it, don't read it. But you will be missing out BIG TIME!!
Alright, this is a post for everyone who said they were going to live vicariously through me. Imagine you are me and leaving USA for the first time ever....   (pretty much I even documented with pictures the route the plane took because it was interesting. We flew over Alaska and Russia)
The journey began at about 5:30 am on Saturday Feb. 2nd. After about two hours of sleep I woke up, got ready as quickly as possible, loaded the car and we were off. When I arrived at the airport one bag was 3lbs overweight so we pulled a pair of pants out and somehow my amazing mother fit those pants into my already exploding Mary Poppins carry on and I was on my way. Through security- oh ps, I was so layered that they had to pat 1 arm down. That is right, I said one arm. I had on everything that wouldn't fit in my suitcase pretty much! After security I met up with my friend Colten and then the journey began. We got lucky enough to sit next to each other the entire 18 hours. I'm not sure when it happened but at one point we lost an entire day so basically as you read this back home I technically haven't even written this yet. Let me explain- I am an entire day ahead of you so basically this will be written tomorrow.
Our first ride was with Delta and they switched our seats to accommodate us and allow us to be near each other. We got lucky enough to have the emergency exit seats and the leg room was indescribably wonderful!! Our next flight was not as lucky with the leg room but let me tell you, it was quite the experience!!
Riding internationally. First off we were in San Francisco and we walked to the International part of the airport. -now I don't know if you have seen this but you know the scene in "Men In Black" the first movie when Will Smith just gets hired and he sees a room of aliens for the first time? Well I'm not saying I felt like the people around me were like aliens- but I am saying I felt like I was in a very different world than what I was used to. Strange thing was- I was in California.
We rode Singapore Airlines. I don't know how many of you have traveled internationally before but if you are ever planning on traveling internationally- GO SINGAPORE AIRLINES!!! They have been rated number one airlines for a reason!!! Oh man, it was the best flight EVER!!! To begin with my carry on weighed twice as much as the allowed weight and they actually- shhh don't tell because I don't want to get the man in trouble- they actually waved the fee for me and checked my bag for free. Then the flight attendants had on the most incredible and beautiful uniforms I have ever seen. I loved it. On top of looking very fancy- the customer service was off the charts fantastic!!! They loaded our HUGE plane in less than 10 minutes. They helped everyone get situated and they put people's luggage up for us to help us load faster and it was just a good experience. As the flight began they gave us a warm towel. I was in economy, not first class. I didn't know I was allowed to have such special treatment. THEN they gave us a pair of socks and a toothbrush with toothpaste in a convenient carry case. FREE!! THEN, they handed us this menu that was unbelievable with options and everything. The food was good- it was Korean food. I was pooped. I slept for about 15 minutes then I watched movies that were free and I think some of them are actually still in theaters in America. Also with the movies we had the option of playing video games or learning languages. I studied some Korean but basically walked away being able to say dog. That was it, just dog. But hey, I learned something! This is being honest, not stereotyping- Koreans drink... a lot!!! I don't drink- never have, don't have a desire to, never will. That's just me. I had begun to develop a migraine from lack of sleep and just everything that was going on around me. Smells really got to me and I thought for sure I would be sick. I tried to sleep but shortly after falling asleep the lady sitting next to Colten pushed her call light and one of the very friendly staff almost got their eardrums blown by my startled reaction to their face so close to mine as I woke up with them leaning in to hear her. Luckily I was able to control myself and held it in. But boy was I scared and my head hurt- but that was a tangent. What I was going to say was that I asked the flight attendant for juice and suddenly he was offering me alcohol. Free. He just was so sure it was what I would want. He was eager to offer it to me and I can only imagine that he was probably trying to calm my nerves after the reaction he got from me waking up the way I did. In America alcohol would never be suggested on a flight, only requested. And it would never be free. It was interesting to start to see little changes.
Moving on... There was the cutest baby on our flight that looked like a mini sumo wrestler that had a head of fluffy Tweety bird hair and her parents decided that it was cute to put Shrek ears on her. Poor kid!!! But she was cute and fun to watch...entertaining might be the better word. Anyway, she made the flight more enjoyable even if my head hurt. Oh and there was a little boy who was trying to get past the flight attendant to go to the bathroom and I told him to just tap the attendant and he would move. MAN, I wish I could have taken a picture of the face that kid gave me. He looked like I had just spoke gibberish. Well I soon put two and two together and realized that to him I did speak gibberish- he doesn't speak English. Oops- I bet I'll get a lot of that. I just want to say once more I highly HIGHLY recommend traveling with Singapore Airlines if you ever get the opportunity!!
Finally got to the airport in Incheon South Korea, met up with people from the TaLK program, and headed to our busses. We stopped and got our currency exchanged then went for a bottled water. I got so excited about the coin I was given in change that I flat out left my water at the counter after paying. The only reason I had it later was because they cashier just yelled  "OOOHH!!" at me until I realized what had happened. Hey, I was tired and I was entertained by my shiny new coin.
Finally after almost another two hours we arrived at the Korean University in Jochiwon South Korea where I will be for the next three weeks. I haven't slept in a while... don't know how long at this point but a while. At 10 pm on Sunday evening here in Korea I finally headed to bed. I woke up Saturday at 5:30 am after to 2 hours of sleep and it is 10pm Sunday and I have maybe had an hour of sleep between then and now. I lost a day. I'm exhausted. Need sleep!! Goodnight all.
PS, After this post my others I promise will be more exciting. This one just was a little less exciting because I didn't move for like 18 hours and I was awake like the whole time too- I feel I adequately portrayed the long day I experienced. Thank heavens for Colten, I might have died without his company. Longest day ever but it was worth it to be here!!