Kyungju and a Play

The weekend was great, as I've already said. Saturday we left around 9:45 (after meeting at 9 AM--had some sleepyheads meeting us!). It was overcast in Ulsan; by the time we reached Kyungju it was drizzling. Dave suggested returning to Ulsan for lunch and an activity like bowling or a singing room, but most of the foreigners didn't mind the rain (as it was only the slightest bit chilly). We're in Kyungju, so let's see something!

As that was being agreed on, the vehicles were moved from one parking lot to another and back again. At some point Kendall and Shelly had a motorcycle accident. Nothing major, but a bus changed lanes without signaling and because of the wet roads he couldn't stop in time so had to swerve off to the side too sharply, so tipped the bike. Shelly had a scraped elbow and possibly fractured collar bone (an x-ray that evening showed nothing); Kendall had a gash on his arm and another on his leg. The Koreans in our group yelled at the bus driver for a bit, but because the bus and motorcycle hadn't actually hit each other and there were no witnesses, they couldn't call the police.

After Kendall got patched up at the firehouse we entered Bulguksa and spent an hour there. There was a special event so tons of people were there and dressed up. Monks and nuns were out everywhere walking with umbrellas. In one of the temples loads of fruit and rice cakes were being delivered as offerings either to Buddha or the dead monk's picture. Shelly told me that they don't eat any of it!

I asked Roger's wife if she knew who the man in the picture was. She doesn't speak much English, but she seems to be comfortable speaking with me. I think she thinks I know more Korean than I do. Of the Koreans that I've heard speak Korean, I understand her better than many people--is it the tone of her voice, or the fact that she repeats the important words several times, or something else? I also understand Dave pretty well—he tends to speak slower than many people, and perhaps an easier vocabulary??

Anyway, she went into this long story about how she used to be Buddhist but then she met Jesus and became Christian but her family was still Buddhist. I don't often hear all the church words in Korean, but she was able to make me understand "trinity" and a couple of other words. My church vocabulary in Korean was limited to words like God, Jesus, prayer, church, and love. Then the story got weirder as she used yet new words. I understood the word "ghost" and from her body language that she was scared. I also understood the word "Satan" (in Korean it sounds a little the same as in English). Later I asked Miran what another word she kept saying meant. I had guessed correctly: 마기 means evil spirit or demon. I didn't understand everything she said, but got the idea.

Next we went to a buffet-style Korean lunch, then to Seokguram Grotto, which was incredibly foggy. On the 15-minute walk to the temple and then as we looked around I talked with Jo, a new teacher from Ireland. Her accent wasn't strong enough to be difficult to understand, but was just strong enough to be adorable. She's only been here for 2 weeks, so had lots of questions about everything.

Then the bus ride back to Ulsan. We arrived at 5 PM. Pastor Cho dropped people off along the way (it helped that most of the people in our vehicle lived in Mugeo-dong). Euri went shopping while I went home for a short time.

At 6 PM Euri, Miran, Danica, and I met for a "girls' night." We ate at the new Italian place near the university, then went to the first ever play by foreigners in Ulsan. About 200 people showed up, at least 60~70% of them foreigners. The play was written by one of the 6 actors. Owen helped with music, someone else collected money (3000 won) and handed out programs. It was really well done. The play itself was just under an hour and a little strange, yet entertaining. The title was "Twenty-four five," referring to how the workday is always the same and people are tired of doing the same thing over and over everyday and thinking that their lives have purpose when it's really just an endless pursuit of nothing. On second thought, how depressing! After it was over Miran met some people from her academy and Danica, Euri, and I went to Baskin Robbins. Their newest flavor, "alien mom," is pretty good, but what an odd name! Finally we said goodnight.