Our First Singing Room Experience

So much has happened in just the few days since we have been without email access. We visited an incredible town -- Gyeongju, the museum without walls. My journal is filling up with too many wonderful stories to add here, so I'll just enter some of the highlights.

During one of our visits to a Buddhist temple, Janis and I met one of the resident monks. The monks here wear light grey robes symbolizing oneness (grey is all colours combined). He asked, "please where are you from?" and then signalled for us to follow him. He took us to his quarters and gave us some red ginsing candy from his fridge. We learned later that it is very good luck to receive candy from a monk. He took us up a beautiful private path through the bamboo that opened to a park with a new natural log gazebo overlooking a lotus pond. The lotus flower grows in swamps which symbolizes purity even among the muck. We felt so honoured to be invited to this special place. It is an experience I will never forget.

We have visited many temples over the last couple of days, each one bringing something new and beautiful. There is such a peaceful flow to the grounds and being in the presence of the monks praying feels so calm. There was one monk who was in the middle of training. Jackie, our translator, told us that he would do 3,000 prostrations, "It is very hard. His body will be all wet." He looked and sounded exhausted. I have knelt before gold Buddhas 30 feet high, hiked to see carvings in the side of the mountains, drank from the mountain springs which are said to be blessed by Buddha and make you younger. Our friends claim that many things here make you younger.

We went last night to our first Korean bath house. The guys went with Jackie and Mr. Kim to the men side and Mrs. Myoun, our female host, kind of ditched Mina and I as soon as she loaded us up with shampoo, a towel and a short set. We could tell we were supposed to be naked... but were not quite sure what to do after that. It is one thing to not know what you are doing, and quite another to be naked and not know what you are doing. Our modesty was quickly erased when we walked up the stairs (naked) to the shower room. There must have been 100 women there of all ages, showering, sitting, standing, bathing, scrubbing each other, lying on hot rocks. We were awestruck. Little girls were running around laughing. It was so wonderful. We fumbled our way through by watching everyone else. We started by having a shower, scrubbing with a loupha cloth, then brushed our teeth -- everyone brushes their teeth there. Then we dried off and put on the funny jumpers they gave us to go and meet up with the men for a sauna.

In the sauna you sit on the marble heated floor; the walls are encrusted with huge amythysts and other rocks and crystals in beautiful patterns. Absolutely spectacular. Mina and I were sprawled out on the floor. Jackie told us that the Koreans were afraid to come in to our room... usually it is only the older people that lie down. Mrs. Myoun showed us how to make Princess Leah hats with our towels, so there we all sat together, sweating with our funny white hats on. We drank a special iced tea, that cleans your blood and makes you younger (of course) and sat in a massage chair that was very enthusiastic. At one point I heard a loud OW coming from Brett in the chair beside me -- he said his chair was trying to pinch his skull. I can't imagine what the Koreans must have thought of the funny, fat, pink skinned foreigners giggling uncontrolably. We were having way too much fun!

We spent a little time in the fitness centre -- they had one of those vibrating bands that you put around your butt to jiggle the blubber away. It actually felt suprisingly good. Then it was back for another shower before we entered the baths... there was every type of bath you can imagine; hot, warm, cold, jets, you name it. We loved it so much we went again tonight.

We met our new hosts today and had to say good-bye to Jackie, Mr. Kim and Mr. Kim. There are lots of Mr. Kim's here. Jackie said this morning that he did not want to get out of bed today because he was sad to have to leave us. We are making many new friends. Everyone is so sweet to us. We are given gifts at every turn. I hope to be a much more gracious host when I return to Canada. This morning while we were waiting in front of our hotel, I said hello to an older man as he was passing by. He was kind of disheavled looking in his rubber boots and dusty toque. He pulled some crumpled money out of his pocket and was gesturing to me. I did not have my purse with me and was trying to tell him I didn't have any money, when he put 5000 wan in my hand. I tried to say no, but he insisted that I take it. Wow. I asked Jackie why he might have done that and he said, "I have never experienced that before. You must be very lucky to first get candy from a monk and then money from the man." I left the money at a temple we visited today.

For lack of time (it is midnight now) I will not go in to all the details of our day -- the 'alcohol and rice cake festival', the temple, the traditional tea ceremony, the herbal medicine wholesaler, the open market, the bathhouse, lunch and dinner in really cool restaurants, the kids, the scenery. Our highlight for today and perhaps for our whole trip has been meeting the girls at the highschool. We are staying tonight and tomorrow night at a private girls highschool in their dormatory. All of us (Janis, Brett, Mina and I) are all in their computer lab typing in our respective blogs after so many days without email. We gave a presentation this afternoon to maybe a dozen or so of the students -- the others have gone home for the weekend. Ohmygod, they are so sweet. They all introduced themselves after lots of shy giggles. One girl wants to be a diplomat. She likes music and movies, but she thinks she needs to give them up for her studies. These girls seem very young although they are all 16 or 17. They are in school from 8:00am to 11:00pm Monday to Saturday. Sundays they study. To relieve stress from studying they go to the singing room! We had such a good time singing with 4 of the girls. Before we left home, I put my foot down quite firmly that I do NOT do Karaoke. Mina backed me up on that one. We would do anything but sing.

Guess who did most of the singing... yup, me and Mina! Dancing Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Brown Eyed Girl, Oops I Did It Again. The girls made it so much fun. They are so happy we are here. And so are we! I think the mountain water is making me younger.