Well, we’re now up to July, which seems to have come much, much too soon. The semester wrapped up July 20th, so after my birthday I had a week to work on my travel plans while the kids were testing, then we had a week of Olympics lessons (which was equally as fun for me to research and learn about while making the lesson,) followed by our last week of classes, which was technically my last class teaching them. I said goodbye to my country school and my adopted-this-semester third school students, but luckily I won’t have to say goodbye to my main school until right before I leave. The goodbyes are getting harder and harder, but again, since I want to save that for another time, I’ll just continue on with all my fun this past month.
After a three hour trip to the north east, I spent the entire sunny afternoon walking around Daegu, exploring the downtown, the historical city center, stumbling into parks, people watching, and of course, taking some time to chill at a local coffee shop. 
The next morning, I woke up bright and early to hit the bus station and catch a bus straight to the temple, about an hour’s ride away from Daegu. When I arrived at the start of the hike, (just a simple walk along a path, more like) I was immediately struck by the beauty of the mountains - the bright morning sun was shining, but there were still some light clouds blowing over the mountaintops.
After about 15 minutes of walking through the peaceful mountain trails, I reached the front entrance of the temple complex. I headed up a long flight of stone steps and was rewarded with a magnificent display of traditional Korean temples, which had been in existence (though most have been rebuilt due to a series of invasions) since 802 AD, tended to by monks and Buddhist patrons.
Occasionally during my wandering there was some chanting, drumming, and bell ringing during an honor ceremony, which added to the atmosphere nicely. Among the mix of people there were monks, Korean Buddhists, Korean tourists, and there were many international tourists as well. I chatted with a group of American high school social studies teachers, as well as overheard a tour being conducted in Spanish. But, like everyone else, I spent most of my time just wandering around, enjoying the peace and tranquility.
So why was this temple complex so famous? Because it also holds the largest collection of well preserved printed woodblock Buddhist texts. According to Wikipedia (who can explain this better than I, ) "the Tripitaka Koreana is a Korean collection of the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures,) carved onto 81,258 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. It is the world's most comprehensive and oldest intact version of Buddhist canon in Hanja script, with no known errors."
The library display was impressive, and so amazing to think how much effort must have been put into making each and every print, with such precision and detail. After viewing the Tripitaka, I spent some time just sitting on the ledge watching the clouds blow over the mountaintops and listening to the chants. What was I thinking about? As always, how lucky I am to be able to experience and see such incredible places like Haeinsa, and how much my two years in Korea has opened my eyes to the world.
Well, it was a good thing I enjoyed the mountains that day, because after a whirlwind week of teaching classes about the Olympics, (can you name all 26 sports in the London Olympics? ) I was off to the second highest peak in South Korea, located in Seoraksan National Park.
Well, the experience was quite different from what I expected, but it was fantastic nonetheless. My friend Dan and I made the two and a half hour trip from Seoul bright and early on Saturday morning, though we were warned of the impending rain. We decided that it was worth it to go in the rain and try the hike, just because I didn't have many more opportunities.
The rain and fog turned out to be a blessing in disguise - it didn't even rain most of the hike, and made the air quite cool and pleasant for hiking. Though it limited our visibility, what we could see was different terrain than anything else I'd seen in Korea, with lots of rocky blocks in between the verdant trees and bushes. We started the hike just after lunch, and decided to take the four hour up, three hour down trek straight to the peak.
The hike was the most difficult one I'd done in Korea, with lots of scrambling up (sometimes quite slippery) rocks and trails. However, our morale was boosted by the herds of brightly clad Korean hikers, most of them over twice our age, who were cheerfully trekking up the trails, rain gear and all, and who happily offered us food to share as we crossed paths. 
We made good time, reaching the peak within about three hours, but once we got to the top it was freezing! At the top we couldn't see much due to the rain clouds (most of which we were actually above at that point, see left) but the mist actually created an eerie, even mystical atmosphere from the top, since we couldn't see what was below us.
After a high five and a picture, we headed back down, and had a more difficult time due to the slippery rocks and our tired legs. We made it back just before sundown, and collapsed in the back of the bus. We were wiped out, but satisfied with our hike. You win, Seoraksan. Nicely done.
I had about five days to recover (sore for three of them, I might add) before my next adventure the following weekend, which took me to the opposite side of Korea, for the annual Boryeong Mud Festival. What is a mud festival, you might ask? Well, basically it is hundreds of people running around...throwing mud on each other. No joke. Here is Alyssa demonstrating the use of the 'mud paintbrush,' designed for maximum mudding, on Pat. 
One of the best parts of Mudfest was that it was located about 20 meters from the beach, so once you got muddy and dirty enough...you could just run down to the beach, wash yourself off, and start all over again. There was also a stage and some DJ music playing on the beach, so you could get a little dancing in in between the mudding and the washing off if you wanted to. After setting up a tent on the beach a little ways down to sleep in and dump our stuff, we headed back to the mud area to, well, get muddy.
The mud stations were outside the festival gates, but you could pay five bucks to get a wristband and enter the area full of what I like to call 'mud toys.' Among the mud toys were giant blow up slides, an obstacle course, a mud arena, and our personal favorite, the mud prison. The dudes who worked at the mud prison had the best job ever, as all they had to do was stand and throw buckets of mud on the people who stood inside the mud prison. Not too shabby.
After a sufficient few hours of getting muddy (which, we all agreed, made our skin feel great,) we went into the ocean to cool off and clean off before getting ready for a fantastic seafood stew dinner. But our fun wasn't over for the night. The three of us had been able to receive free tickets for yet another festival in the same location, which boasted a big-name concert lineup that evening. We headed back near the Mudfest area to watch the Wonder Girls, an internationally famous Korean girl group, and then for the concert headline performance, Akon. 
The concert was a ton of fun, as was waking up to the sound of waves crashing on the beach the next morning. Sunday proved to be just as beach-worthy as the day before, but I had to take off for Seoul in order to meet up with Sokhom and Meghan for concert number 2 of the weekend...MBLAQ!
I don't know if you recall my minor obsession with this Korean boy group, but it's definitely still there. When Sokhom found tickets on the Internet a few weeks ago we had no idea it was being promoted, and were lucky enough to snag tickets before they sold out a day or two later. So, to refresh your memory, MBLAQ was the first K-Pop group I was ever interested in, due to their extremely catchy song 'Stay' that I kept hearing at the gym. The rest is history, and I might even be able to thank MBLAQ and their K-Pop friends for convincing me to stay in Korea for an extra year - my interest in Korea definitely increased once I started getting interested in K-Pop.
So, the day was finally here when I'd be able to see them perform 'Stay' and all of my other favorites, thanks to Sokhom treating me to the concert for my birthday! Before the concert we of course had to take pictures with our boys (pictured: Lee Joon, aka Gina's Boyfriend if you are one of my students.)
Of course, the concert was amazing, and our tickets were so close I could have fought through about five rows of screaming Korean girls to reach out my long arms and touch them. I'm pretty sure I had about a foot on said screaming girls, so I had a great view the whole time also. And then...it was all over. The entire weekend seemed to blur together, but all I know is that it was fun. Really fun. I spent the whole next week teaching summer camp for four hours in the morning with my trusty co-teacher Miss Yoo, which mostly consisted of games, snacks, and chatting. I had the afternoons free to work on getting things ready for my departure, which made Friday come much sooner than expected...and then I was off again!
This time the destination was Jangheung, Sara's town, and one of my favorite places in Korea for its home-like feel, free of all the hustle and bustle of the city. When I go to Jangheung I feel like I escape to the cabin for a weekend, and this weekend didn't disappoint.
The entire event was focused on the riverbank...and in the river itself. There were boat events, water slides, swimming pools, water sprayers, and sectioned off areas of the river to swim around in. The weekend was perfect, boasting sunny skies and temperatures well into the nineties.
So, after my Friday night arrival, the next day we waited for about twenty of our friends to trickle in all day Saturday, while we hung out right by the water, alternating laying out, swimming around in the river, and walking around to enjoy the international food booths and watch the festival events.
After spending the day enjoying the festival in the sun, we went out for a fantastic beef barbecue dinner, as Jangheung beef is well known around the province (hence the cow in the above picture.) It was a great mix of people, some of which I hadn't seen for most of the summer, so it felt like a big family reunion. It was a great way to end the month, and it felt like an end to the summer as well - the next time I'll see most of those people is when I'm about to leave Korea. I spent this weekend with people I've grown so close to over the past two years, and though we're all about to go our own separate ways in just a few weeks, I know that in my heart, we'll still be family. 
Okay folks, that's it for now. I've got four more days of teaching camp, then I'm off to Seoul for the weekend so that I can fly out on Sunday to Taiwan! I'll be traveling for a week with my friend Katie, and then when I return I'll have one more week to fit in my goodbyes, tie up loose ends, and take off for my next adventure. I'll update you more on my trip and my plans next month, so until then take care and enjoy the rest of the summer. And for all of you back home in Minnesota...see you in less than four months! Much love.
