oh, the simple things

as much as i like to get out and see & do exciting stuff, i still get the most pleasure out of the most simple of things. like this bowl of oatmeal ...and the fact that i got to sleep until my body wanted to wake up before i made it ...and that it was accompanied by a very black cup of coffee. heck, i'm just ecstatic that my neck doesn't hurt anymore. i've never been so excited to do nothing with my weekend. this body of mine deserves some rest and goodness. =)

orion class learns a new song

i take rosie, the ukulele, to school all the time & my kids love to learn new & not-so-traditional songs (like "hotel california" & george michael's "faith"). i try to teach them the more appropriate ones and so far they know "somewhere over the rainbow", coldplay's "yellow" and now we're learning "stand by me". the video quality is pretty bad, but here's a short clip. the best thing about it is that we catch david picking his nose. hehe.

corn makgeoli? what more could a cultured ohio girl want?

last weekend: another bus trip to the korean countryside. mindungsan in october. picture steep mountains covered w/ waves of dancing reeds, clouded in the morning fog. magical, mystical, and miserably cold. the other side of the mountain was shrouded in pines and colorful deciduous trees. oh so fresh & invigorating. i love the feeling of having moved through nature's calm for 6+ hours before lunchtime.
which reminds me ... lunchtime was, perhaps, the most satisfying bibimbap that i've ever had. oodles of bottomless side dishes, as usual, including fresh grilled tofu & veggies galore. it was here that the makgeoli (milky rice wine) started to flow & did not cease for the remainder of the trip.
after lunch, we scattered out in the old town of jeongseon. i fell in love with this place, set in a peaceful valley, gorgeous mountains all around, shining in their gold coat of dried reeds. we spent hours wandering through the lively open-air market & sharing food, drinks and dance moves with the locals in the market square. this town is known for their performance of arirang, which is one of the most popular korean folk songs. we caught a performance just as we arrived, and it was nothing less than a celebration. i've never seen so many smile wrinkles & i probably developed some of my own just from the few hours i was there. we danced and danced, and we drew quite a crowd. people kept bringing us bottle after bottle of the local corn makgeoli and trays of food, which would have been just plain rude to refuse. so, we indulged the crowd as we indulged ourselves. what fun! ....and the bus eventually dragged us back to seoul.

needles and pins

i can't believe this, but i have been in pain for 2 and 1/2 weeks ... ever since i woke up with a stiff neck at that jimjilbang on chuseok weekend. all the meditating [and being struck in the neck with a bamboo stick 6 times by a monk] at the temple stay must have done further damage to my neck and shoulder, because the pain only got worse from there on out.
a stiff neck is usually something that just goes away on its own, but i started to get really sharp, stabbing pains that were almost unbearable. i decided to give acupuncture a shot, since that's the traditional treatment for such ailments here in korea. i tried three different places within a week. i wasn't sure what to expect, but i needed something. the little pins didn't really hurt but i didn't notice any improvement after the first two sessions. the third place i went to, however, made me believe again that it could actually work. the young doctor, dr. ha, obviously loves his job and seems to really know what he's doing. i have been to him 3 times so far and, on each visit, he takes good notes of my progress. he stretches me out and then finds the key problem areas, upon which he proceeds to stick a larger-than-normal pin, deep inside & squeezes (at least that's what it feels like he's doing ... and it doesn't feel good). after the painful part, he then sticks the small pins all over where he sees fit and leaves me to rest under the heat lamps and hot stones for about 20 minutes. he also used suction cups a couple of times and even suctioned some blood out of my shoulder this last time (why not?). at the end of the session, he always tapes my neck for extra support on the muscles, and then he shows me some good stretches to do.
i went on a hiking trip this past weekend, right after my last session, and my neck finally started feeling better. this may be, in part, because i gave in and started taking aspirin when the pain becomes too much, but i think i'm getting somewhere. my students have probably been the most concerned. two of them brought me some cold patches and one, just today, brought me a big hot/cold gel pack that goes around my neck (check it out). plus, they want to massage my shoulders and neck whenever they get a chance. they're the sweetest kids ever. i sure do love them. [heart]
anyway, my poor neck and shoulder feels beat to a complete pulp from all that i've put them through. the thought of another needle or pin going in my tender muscles makes me shudder. i'm going to take a break from dr. ha and go get some soak & sauna at the jimjilbang.

easy like sunday mornin'

just hangin' out at home this morning. beware, i bust out the uke. i think i like to make a fool of myself. ;P

Happy Chuseok!

last saturday was chuseok, which is like the korean version of thanksgiving, only without the pilgrims. it is on the full moon and is to celebrate the harvest season. my school gave us friday off, and there was also no yoga class on sunday, so that's plenty of reason to party. ....and party i did.
it was a fun-packed, long weekend that began on thursday night at my place. about 7 friends came over for some dinner and drinks. after dinner we headed out on the town in hongdae where we bar-hopped, dancing the whole way, until dawn. we crashed at a jimjilbang (a rather lame one, but w/ a decent sleeping room) until 2pm (yikes!).
we were supposed to go hiking friday morning, but it was already late, and we were feeling a bit rough...so we opted for a pancake* brunch instead, which was a delicious idea (*for those of you in korea, butterfinger pancakes rock...try the cream cheese and mozzarella ones. YUM!).^^ we were all pretty wrecked and in need of real sleep, but it was such a nice & sunny day out, we decided to go chill by the han river and catch the sunset. the riverside park was a nice idea ... barefeet in the grass, cartwheels .... we played a little kickball and then after the sunset we frolicked w/ some sparklers and then laid on the ground to admire the big moon. later, back at my place, a new couchsurfer arrived (another german dude) for the night. so we all went out in the neighborhood to introduce him to korea: a dinner of kimchi, korean pancakes, military stew (yuck), jumakbap (seasoned rice balls), a korean egg roll & the crappy korean beer (cass). after dinner, we found a noraebang (singing room) around the corner, which we happily occupied for a couple of hours. it was a slumber party that night in my box-like apt. 4 on the floor and 2 in the bed.

saturday morning, we were off to do a temple stay just north of seoul in a town called suyu. i've been wanting to do this for a while, and chuseok seemed like the perfect opportunity to spend 24 hours as the monks do. so, you'd think that this would be a very calming and, perhaps, enlightening experience...but man, i will just say that it is probably one of the more difficult things i've done. the temple, as most temples go, was beautiful and serene, located at the base of a mountain on the edge of bukhansan national park...we could hear the sound of the monks chanting, accompanied by the clack of the wooden bell, as we arrived. the temple was quite busy on chuseok morning, as practicing buddhists come to pray and honor their ancestors. there was also a handful of other foreigners registering for the temple stay program. our schedule during that 24 hour period consisted of: waking at 3am, meditation (6 times for a total of 5 hours), chanting (once per day), bowing (108 times, at 4am), hiking, working (cleaning), eating and sleeping. i've been practicing with meditation quite a bit lately since starting my yoga training course, so i thought i'd have some sort of breakthrough at the temple. nope. first of all, we never meditated for less than 45 minutes at a time, which is longer than i've ever made myself sit still in the lotus position (hard enough as it is). secondly, it's not the easiest thing to focus on one thing and/or try to think about nothing for that long. i actually did fine for the first 4 times...no amazing experiences or anything, but i was comfortable and calm enough and, surprisingly, not sleepy throughout and it was quite positive. the last two times were just brutal, though. i had a strained neck muscle all weekend and that started to really bother me, and my hips had simply had enough of that position. it was pretty much like torture. but i survived. we all did. :) big respect to all the monks in the world. i don't know how they do it day in and day out. the head monk at this temple was one of the happiest and most energetic people i've ever met...and he claims that he only sleeps for about 2 hours each night and that is all he needs. i guess the trick is to learn how to meditate, and to the point that it is like the best thing in the world (cuz that's really the majority of what they do). i'm really glad to have had that experience, but i was completely spent afterwards...i crashed for a good 12 hours the next night. check that one off the list of things to do in korea. :) i'll continue to meditate on my own...and once a day will do me just fine. :)