Monday was great because we sent my siblings off to school and then picked up my little sister at her break time to go to my step-mom's hula class. It was really fun and I was able to meet Takiko's friends, who are all very nice and fun, and then a few of us went out to eat lunch. We ate at this restaurant that had three levels and then a sort of hanging room that was Asian style sitting, so basically sitting on the ground. We went up there but we ate at tables and chairs. It was really great. We went through the Chinese Medicine Museum which was really cool. If you're ever in Daegu then I highly suggest you check it out. It is a really cool way to learn about Korean culture because that's the kind of medicine they still practice here and it's all about how all the parts of the body are connected. They use natural herbs and plants to make their medicine. We even got to try it. It was pretty bitter but actually better tasting than some of the American medicine I've had! Then we went to the market and had snacks at this street vendor. There was a whole alley way dedicated to easy to eat food, fresh caught fish, and other little things like that. Now, in America I would never eat food out of some random alley way, but here in Korea it's normal. We ate vegetable pancakes and the kids had fish kabob things. It was really good. After that we went to the Department store. When Takiko said we needed to stop at the Department store to pick up food for dinner I was pretty confused, but as soon as we got there everything made sense. Upstairs, there's clothes and perfume and shoes and all the things you'd expect from an American Department store. Downstairs, there's a huge grocery store with fresh fruit and meat and lots of sampling. I can really get behind this idea of clothes and food sold in the same place.
On Tuesday afternoon we went to the Lantern Festival that was held by the river. It was really cool to learn more about Korean culture. I thought the lanterns would be small, but they were huge! Most of them were bigger than I am! They also had music events going on like drums, dancing, singing and even a woman who played a traditional flute. It was all in Korean but the good thing about music is that it's pretty much universal. Even if you don't understand all of the words, you can still feel the music. The festival was packed with people and it was pretty obvious that this kind of community event is important.
One of my favorite lanterns from the festival
The next day, on Wednesday, I went to school with my little sister and I was able to observe her class. It was a lot of fun! Her teacher is really nice and all of the students in her class were really cute. They asked me a lot of questions like any other little kids would. One little boy even asked me if I was single and then gave me his Goldfish during snack time. It was quite cute.
Today, Thursday, was quite an adventure! My Step-Mom and I met one of her friends and went on a nature hike. It was amazing! We went to Apsan (Front Mountain). If you ever get a chance, this is one aspect of Daegu that you have to experience. The mountain has at least four working Buddhist temples, a cable car to take you halfway up the mountain (if you don't want to hike it) to a noodle restaurant, a bunch of exercise stations, an observatory where you can see the whole city scape and even a helicopter pad at the top. The hike up took us about 2 and 1/2 hours but we did stop a few times to take pictures and look at things. We stopped at one of the Temples and it was amazing. It was covered in lanterns because of the festival season. It was easy to see that this is a sacred place and I could definitely understand how someone could feel spiritual there. The Temple was nestled against the mountain and so beautiful. I wanted to stay there forever but we weren't even half way up the mountain! We made it to the observatory and I was really glad we had gone up there because the view was amazing! I knew Daegu was big but seeing it from that high up was incredible! It's kind of crazy - me coming from such a small town - but I love the hugeness of this city. Knowing that all of those apartments and buildings are full of people and stories fills me with so much wonder and amazement. Seeing it from that high up was amazing. Apparently people take the cable car up there and have picnics, which I could totally get used to by the way.
View from the Observatory
People put locks here as a sign that they were here
Part of the Buddhist Temple
I love the details throughout the whole Temple
Information sign about Apsan.
There used to be a wall here for security purposes.
Because Daegu is surrounded by mountains, people needed to be just as tall to see what was coming.
We made it up to the restaurant right after that and since it was only like 10am we just had ice cream. Now, I don't mean to offend anyone but, Korean ice cream is infinitely better than American ice cream. I'm not even lying. In America, I don't really eat that much ice cream. I only eat it when other people want to and then I like to put so many toppings on it that it's not so much ice cream anymore. Here, the ice cream is really good and it doesn't need as many toppings for me to love it. Which might be a problem if I stay here for too long. Anyway, after we'd had our ice cream and bought more water, we hiked the rest of the way up the mountain to the helicopter pad. It was a pretty intense hike and by the time we made it to the top my legs were like lead! But it was definitely worth everything because that mountain is beautiful. We ended up taking the cable car back down from the 3/4 mark by the restaurant. It cut about an hour off of our hike time in about two minutes. By the end of the hike I actually wanted to go up again - later, of course! All I wanted at that moment was a shower and a nap (which I got) but I knew I wanted to go back. Maybe next week we will go back and take a different trail!
I've been having so much fun here in Korea! This weekend should be another full set of days, so I'll probably update the blog on Monday (Korean time) after we've gone to another Buddhist temple and Busan (another city). Basically what I've learned so far is that there is always something else to learn when you are immersing yourself in another culture. Everyone I meet teaches me something new. I think that is my favorite part of traveling: meeting new people and experiencing new things which then teach me more about myself and the world I live in. I love learning about other cultures and the stories that those cultures are built on. I can't wait to experience more of Korea!
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