So, the title of this post has both literal and figurative value.
Literally, I went to the Ulsan International Music Festival (UIMF) the weekend of October 8th and 9th. Though I don't have too much to write about, I will say that it was a totally free event in downtown Ulsan, and the music was great. Too many times I've been to a free concert during which the first two excruciating seconds gave me complete insight as to why the concert was FREE. However, the UIMF was a far cry from excruciating, and in fact was extremely entertaining.
Figuratively, I'm feeling the rhythm of Korea in the sense that SOME of the day to day activities that a mere two months ago felt extremely novel, no longer have the same appeal. For example, no longer does going to the grocery store or the open-air market or even walking down the street feel like an adventure, and frankly I'm really glad to be at this point. I can imagine that if the novelty of the everyday motions did not eventually wear off and thus so to the feeling of over-stimulation, that life here would be, well, quite overwhelming.
I am also in the rhythm of SoKo in that I have a couple friend groups with whom I meet and hang out with on a regular basis. In Ulsan live most of my orientation friends, and in Eonyong, my hometown, I've made yet another crew of friends. Typically speaking, I see the Ulsan people on the weekends, and I see the Eonyong people during the week. In fact, for the past 6 or 7 weeks running, my Eonyong-Crew (as I call them) and I have met for "family dinners." We just go to a cheap little Kimbap (Korean sushi) and Chigae (Korean stew) place, but the point is that it's become somewhat of a regular activity.
And though I have found a great rhythm over here, there are the occasional unexpected beats that add so much uniqueness to my life over here. One of those beats happened last weekend, (10/15/11) when Daniella and I visited Tongdosa (Tongdo Temple). To make a LOOOOOONG story short, in an unplanned twist of fate, we ended up meeting one of our Korean friends at Tongdosa. Heidi is her English name. Heidi is very friendly with a couple monks at this Buddhist temple because she is a practicing Buddhist.
Heidi skipped us right by the main temple and took us to two "branch" temples. On the way to the first, Heidi was ranting and raving about how excited she was to show us the "Flogger." Daniella and I could not figure out what she was talking about. Heidi tried to further explain that the Flogger is gold and is about 2cm long. Still, we had no clue. Heidi explained that the Flogger lived in a rock. At this point, Daniella and I just kind of nodded to make it seem like we understood, but we still had no clue. We finally arrived to the much talked about temple, and as Heidi said, people were peering into a small hole in a large rock. "That is the Floggers home" she told us. So, we waited in line, stepped up on to the little stepping stone and peered in. Nothing. We both saw nothing. Somewhat deflated, we walked away from the rock and around another corner at which point Heidi was almost jumping up and down with excitement pointing to a big picture of a GOLD FROG exclaiming, "This is the Flogger." Go figure. Apparently, there is a little auspicious frog that lives in the rock and if it shows itself, it is considered good luck.
Next, Heidi took Daniella and I to another temple and introduced us to one of the monks, and before he even asked our names, he asked us to sit and drink tea, and then for the next 45 minutes, he barraged us with deep philosophical questions such as "what is happiness" "what is the mind" "where is the mind." All the while, Heidi, who really does have great English skills was trying to translate. After out conversation ended, he invited us to eat dinner at the monastery. After a delicious (vegan) meal, Heidi drove Daniella and I back to the bus station. On the way to the bus station we asked Heidi if the monk usually talks about such deep topics, and she said he had never done so before. At that, we all just looked at each other and cracked up.
The oddest part of the day for me was this: Heidi, who was able to quite perfectly translate the philosophical conversation for 45 minutes, could not pronounce the word "frog." Gotta love good ol' south Korea.
Last but not least, last Sunday (10/16/11) Daniella, Virginia Jess and I went paragliding. Rather, Daniella and Virginia went, but by the time Jess I and were up, the wind was dangerous, so once I go, I'll write about it. For some pics of Daniella and Virginia going, check out my Facebook or the Mr. Lee's Ulsan Paragliding School Website (http://www.ulsanpara.co.kr/rgboard/view.php?bbs_id=bbs_c&doc_num=1796).
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