40. Home is where the Heart is, but Seoul is where it matters.
Hello!
So I'm in the UK and in my house. The flight was long, 11 hours this time. I managed to watch, Monsters vs Aliens, 17 Again, Bride wars, Back to the future and I love you Man. It was crazy and the food was horrible. I had this crazy Korean girl who put her seat all the way back and then would sit up, not even to use it! I twinged my back too, it really really hurt but Helena was so nice and bought me these strip things to help it.
At one point on the plane, we went through turbulence and the plane just dropped, I did mutter some words under my breathe and the guy next to me thought we were all going to die but it was okay, apparently the quickest way out of clouds is to just drop through the air.
We got off in Paris and transferred quickly, we waited an hour and got on a tiny airbus only to go up and then down, it was an amazing flight and when we got to
Heathrow, our luggage arrived really early on.
Mam and Dad bought a big sign with my name on, I felt like a movie star. I managed to chat the whole journey back to wales and in the house, it was about 1am when we finally all got to bed.
Overall I loved Seoul and I really want to go back, maybe see Japan and China next time.
Here are the things I learnt in Korea:
1. If your white, prepared to get stared at.
2. No one knows where Wales is.
3. In Seoul,
Vegetarian = eat everything, get ready to live on rice...
4. The North of Korea is a scary place.
5. Although mainly a Buddhist country, many people are only Buddhist in Theory.
6. Be prepared to eat the same thing for lunch, dinner and breakfast.
7. No one follows
Confucius anymore.
8. When people start getting off the tube in mass numbers, follow them.
9. Get ready to see alot of Palaces and Temples.
10. Just because someone is a monk, don't expect them to act like it.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my time in Korea,
Logging off for the last time,
Angharad
Labels: Angharad john, angylionangharad, bimbamba, bye, donguk university, goodbye, logging off, merthyr tydfil, seoul, twelsh
24. Part 2
Ding, ding, ding, BANG BANG BANG, BOOOOOSSSSHHHHH
That's what woke me up at 2.30Am, a guy going round with a bell, chanting and scraping against a wooden thingy. My three hours sleep was bizarre mainly due to the fact we were in a temple, on the floor. Everyone was getting up when I awoke and I put my stuff away into the locker. I put on my soaking trainers and we went to pee in the hole in the ground, it was an experience. I followed Helena and Lucy and we went to the main temple and started our prayers. My knees got weaker as we done Mantras and full prayer about 20+ times before being ushered out into the courtyard. We were arranged into pairs and one by one went up to slam this huge piece of wood into a massive bell with a Priest. It was really quite loud and meant to call the monks and nuns to prayer. I tried to bang it as loud as I could but the piece of wood took me with it and my attempt was quite feeble. I walked with the others up to main temple and we done mantras and prayers again. I felt really faint as this was about 5am and we hadn't eaten or drunk and had to keep getting up and down. This was for an hour or so, we were lucky as we had a nun in front of us that we just copied the entire time.
After morning prayers we got back to the hall and was greeted by the most awesome monk ever who had this tinkle in his eye. He taught us this really fun meditation and spoke in such a way that we didn't need a translator. We were shown some Buddhist self defence using the international guy as 'a bad man'. We also done some crazy exercises that made everyone laugh, like swinging our arms, doing some sort of JudoBallet combination, it was just too funny. I wish we'd filmed it. Afterwards he let us 'meditate' by lying on the floor and closing our eyes. We done this for an hour and had free time afterwards.
The big dong rung for Breakfast and we all hurried to find.. Babimbap. I had some rice and was told it was bad to waste any which was really annoying as it had these horrible beans in it. I also had some water and tea. Caroline has the same and afterwards we washed our plates out the back and said thank you for the meals.
As the night had been rainy, we couldn't do mountain walking as it was slippery so we got to make our own prayer beads. We had to count 108 out and a big bead. We threaded everything on and then laughed as everyone struggled doing the knots. I'm just Glad scoobies were in fashion when I went to school otherwise I would've never understand the ending pattern and how to finish off the excess wire and thread. I laughed at took pictures of the International guy as revenge and we talked about anime and manga, it was nice and relaxing.
After beads we had more free time before having traditional temple tea and an 'about me' section. The tea was lovely and I tried to drink the 20 cups but only managed about 10 altogether. They brought round the sticky gooey pasta and I warned everyone about it. People tried it only for them to tell me I was right in my description.
A short monk then came over about 10Am ish and we went on a tour of the temple grounds and the museum. Somethings were really interesting but I think generally everyone was really tired and didn't pay much attention. I was shocked to learn that the temple is open to the public to prayer, just like a church. It was weird because I just assumed that only Monks and Nuns could go there. Many Koreans stopped to talk to us and ask us questions. I told a story about the Chinese zodiac to the International guys and they told me one about a turtle in return. They also helped me in the gift shop as I wanted something for year of the Horse, having a friend being able to read Korean comes in handy when you need to buy things.
Next I toured the museum in the temples and was amazed at how old everything was, all made in roughly 1760 or something, crazy. We got to do screen printing of Buddhist texts and pictures too which is a lovely memento to have. The lady doing mine was evil though and made sure it came our perfect. I'm glad in a way by my hands are still covered in ink!
We then heard the dong for lunch which was the same thing as breakfast but with added noodles. I tried a rice thing wrapped in tofu, it was quite yummy but strange along with pineapple which made my mouth sore due to a reaction to the fruit.
Luckily after dinner we had more free time and were able to change into our wet, but normal clothes which was a relief! I was dead happy to be our of our prison ware. Helena told me that her roommate in Sweden was sent to a temple as punishment for bad grades once, I think I can see why it's a fitting punishment!
We gave our gifts and collected our things before saying goodbye. The others visited the tombs but I wasn't interested and just slept on the bus until we got to Dongguk. I'm at the flat now, and am very tired typing this. It's nice to be home and I had such a great experience at the temple, we have so many things for the DVD, mainly bloopers though!
I've been thinking alot about my course in life and I'm debating restarting the year but am still unsure. It feels like I should be doing something more creative at University.
I'd like to say thank you for my birthday messages, it was very nice of everyone!
Anyway, Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, birthday, bu, Buddha, merthyr tydfil, teapot, temple stay, tire seoul, tired
5. Pocky and Mt Dew
Helloo,
I'm up at the uni really early again today, I guess it's just easier for me to go on the computers and it's takes me a long journey to get here anyway. On the way to uni I saw a poster for a vet and on it is a fox terrier! I took a photo straight away. I'm quite impressed that I got here on my own, vise versa with getting home last night.
I think today that we are meeting the man who made the trip possible, I have a welsh squashy rugby ball for him as a present. After that we are getting... PIZZA! I can't wait! Although me and Caroline have to find the place, that hsould be quite hard, the campus is so large. We're then going around the town and going to tourist information to get leaflets and broushures. Hopefully we'll have loads of time to go shopping. I'm not sure if I'll buy anything today but I definiatly want to find a Lolita shop.
This morning for brecfast I had facepack salad again along with Korean Melon. It was lovely but a little too sweet. Host mother stopped me beofre I went out the door today, I managed to get a treat for uni. Pocky (long biscuit sticks with chocolate on) and mountain dew. It made me laugh and she seemed very happy. I managed to walk with Brother today too. He was tired as he was up late studying hard. He really wants his computer game. I explained that my boyfriend also likes computer games.
I now have to go to international affairs to meet the others.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, donguk university, girl, korea, korean melon, merthyr tydfil, metro, mountain dew, pocky, salad, seoul, wales
2. Onigiri
Hello!
I am here in Korea at my host families house. It is all very nice, I'm living with the director of international studies, his wife and their son. So far I have unpacked and have just had my first Korean meal, omlette, rice and peppers with a nice glass of orange juice. iI'm down as a vegatrian on the trip to make my life abit easier. Apparently I like Omlettes now, well i'm not fussed but it's food. I am surprised at just how close the weather is, it is so hot and sticky! I can't wait to have a shower. The last 24 hours have been well interesting. Gina backed out literally last minute so mam and dad had to run me up to Heathrow. Caz, Mahinda and Helena arrived and we all checked in. After some amusing photos in Heathrow we got on the plane at about 10.30ish. We were all granted access first to the plane because Mahinda is a monk, it was dead funny. We arrived in Paris at 12, having to rush to the next gate and we found out we were all sitting seperately, so annoying. Mahinda had to wear bags on his feet due to his shoes having metal in lol. The in flight films were really good, I got to watch Madagascar 2, 101 dalmations, Adventures of Tintin and Friends. They also had pretty cool games to play. The food on the plane was icky, I just had a rice ball and a ton of bread and a pot noodle type thing. After 10 very boring very long hours we landed at about 7am and got our baggage and started the wait for the university people. At 10 they came and took us to Dongguk, which is an hour away in a taxi. Mahinda told us all we're fat and ned to lose 10lbs each and tried to get the girls and our poor driver set up. Finally we arrived and had a quick introduction where we met our host families. Everyone else has teenagers but I get the boss dude, bit gutted as all he done was put a piece a paper around my neck, put me in a taxi and wave goodbye, I know how it feels to be an evacuee after that expirence. His wife met me from the taxi and I have my own pair of around the house slippers. The toilet here is dead weird, too many buttons :S It's really quiet here, she doesn't speak much english and is just a housewife who goes out in the day. However she is nice and showed me how to work the computer! My mac is playing up :'(
I'm really homesick atm, just hit me that I'm here for a month and my birthday. :( I got to get to uni tomorrow by myself :( eek
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, girls, jet lag, merthyr tydfil, rice, seoul, tired
1. Packing and Waiting
Hi all,
At home in Wales typing atm and just about to have a cup of tea. Going to start packing my things now. I have no idea of what to take, just light clothes I guess. Gina and Caz text me saying how nervous they both are, I know the feeling. Gav should be coming round about 6 to have tea and many cwtches. Gina is going to pick me up in 12 hours time (5am) and we're going to set off to Heathrow. I'm abit anxious about luggage allowence and the fact that we only have one hour to transport everything between the two flights in Paris. Scary stuff. Lucy is already out in Korea so we'll be meeting up with her on Monday.
My new phone is going well so I'll be able to upload to this blog quite often to keep everyone up to date with my activities. My email is angharad,john@bathspa.org if anyone wants to contact me! I'm quite dissapointed with the fact that I'll be spending my birthday in Korea and not with my family and friends, but I'll be okay, I'm hoping we'll do something special for it.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, blog, girl, girls, korea, merthyr tydfil, parents, seoul
40. Home is where the Heart is, but Seoul is where it matters.
Hello!
So I'm in the UK and in my house. The flight was long, 11 hours this time. I managed to watch, Monsters vs Aliens, 17 Again, Bride wars, Back to the future and I love you Man. It was crazy and the food was horrible. I had this crazy Korean girl who put her seat all the way back and then would sit up, not even to use it! I twinged my back too, it really really hurt but Helena was so nice and bought me these strip things to help it.
At one point on the plane, we went through turbulence and the plane just dropped, I did mutter some words under my breathe and the guy next to me thought we were all going to die but it was okay, apparently the quickest way out of clouds is to just drop through the air.
We got off in Paris and transferred quickly, we waited an hour and got on a tiny airbus only to go up and then down, it was an amazing flight and when we got to
Heathrow, our luggage arrived really early on.
Mam and Dad bought a big sign with my name on, I felt like a movie star. I managed to chat the whole journey back to wales and in the house, it was about 1am when we finally all got to bed.
Overall I loved Seoul and I really want to go back, maybe see Japan and China next time.
Here are the things I learnt in Korea:
1. If your white, prepared to get stared at.
2. No one knows where Wales is.
3. In Seoul,
Vegetarian = eat everything, get ready to live on rice...
4. The North of Korea is a scary place.
5. Although mainly a Buddhist country, many people are only Buddhist in Theory.
6. Be prepared to eat the same thing for lunch, dinner and breakfast.
7. No one follows
Confucius anymore.
8. When people start getting off the tube in mass numbers, follow them.
9. Get ready to see alot of Palaces and Temples.
10. Just because someone is a monk, don't expect them to act like it.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my time in Korea,
Logging off for the last time,
Angharad
Labels: Angharad john, angylionangharad, bimbamba, bye, donguk university, goodbye, logging off, merthyr tydfil, seoul, twelsh
24. Part 2
Ding, ding, ding, BANG BANG BANG, BOOOOOSSSSHHHHH
That's what woke me up at 2.30Am, a guy going round with a bell, chanting and scraping against a wooden thingy. My three hours sleep was bizarre mainly due to the fact we were in a temple, on the floor. Everyone was getting up when I awoke and I put my stuff away into the locker. I put on my soaking trainers and we went to pee in the hole in the ground, it was an experience. I followed Helena and Lucy and we went to the main temple and started our prayers. My knees got weaker as we done Mantras and full prayer about 20+ times before being ushered out into the courtyard. We were arranged into pairs and one by one went up to slam this huge piece of wood into a massive bell with a Priest. It was really quite loud and meant to call the monks and nuns to prayer. I tried to bang it as loud as I could but the piece of wood took me with it and my attempt was quite feeble. I walked with the others up to main temple and we done mantras and prayers again. I felt really faint as this was about 5am and we hadn't eaten or drunk and had to keep getting up and down. This was for an hour or so, we were lucky as we had a nun in front of us that we just copied the entire time.
After morning prayers we got back to the hall and was greeted by the most awesome monk ever who had this tinkle in his eye. He taught us this really fun meditation and spoke in such a way that we didn't need a translator. We were shown some Buddhist self defence using the international guy as 'a bad man'. We also done some crazy exercises that made everyone laugh, like swinging our arms, doing some sort of JudoBallet combination, it was just too funny. I wish we'd filmed it. Afterwards he let us 'meditate' by lying on the floor and closing our eyes. We done this for an hour and had free time afterwards.
The big dong rung for Breakfast and we all hurried to find.. Babimbap. I had some rice and was told it was bad to waste any which was really annoying as it had these horrible beans in it. I also had some water and tea. Caroline has the same and afterwards we washed our plates out the back and said thank you for the meals.
As the night had been rainy, we couldn't do mountain walking as it was slippery so we got to make our own prayer beads. We had to count 108 out and a big bead. We threaded everything on and then laughed as everyone struggled doing the knots. I'm just Glad scoobies were in fashion when I went to school otherwise I would've never understand the ending pattern and how to finish off the excess wire and thread. I laughed at took pictures of the International guy as revenge and we talked about anime and manga, it was nice and relaxing.
After beads we had more free time before having traditional temple tea and an 'about me' section. The tea was lovely and I tried to drink the 20 cups but only managed about 10 altogether. They brought round the sticky gooey pasta and I warned everyone about it. People tried it only for them to tell me I was right in my description.
A short monk then came over about 10Am ish and we went on a tour of the temple grounds and the museum. Somethings were really interesting but I think generally everyone was really tired and didn't pay much attention. I was shocked to learn that the temple is open to the public to prayer, just like a church. It was weird because I just assumed that only Monks and Nuns could go there. Many Koreans stopped to talk to us and ask us questions. I told a story about the Chinese zodiac to the International guys and they told me one about a turtle in return. They also helped me in the gift shop as I wanted something for year of the Horse, having a friend being able to read Korean comes in handy when you need to buy things.
Next I toured the museum in the temples and was amazed at how old everything was, all made in roughly 1760 or something, crazy. We got to do screen printing of Buddhist texts and pictures too which is a lovely memento to have. The lady doing mine was evil though and made sure it came our perfect. I'm glad in a way by my hands are still covered in ink!
We then heard the dong for lunch which was the same thing as breakfast but with added noodles. I tried a rice thing wrapped in tofu, it was quite yummy but strange along with pineapple which made my mouth sore due to a reaction to the fruit.
Luckily after dinner we had more free time and were able to change into our wet, but normal clothes which was a relief! I was dead happy to be our of our prison ware. Helena told me that her roommate in Sweden was sent to a temple as punishment for bad grades once, I think I can see why it's a fitting punishment!
We gave our gifts and collected our things before saying goodbye. The others visited the tombs but I wasn't interested and just slept on the bus until we got to Dongguk. I'm at the flat now, and am very tired typing this. It's nice to be home and I had such a great experience at the temple, we have so many things for the DVD, mainly bloopers though!
I've been thinking alot about my course in life and I'm debating restarting the year but am still unsure. It feels like I should be doing something more creative at University.
I'd like to say thank you for my birthday messages, it was very nice of everyone!
Anyway, Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, birthday, bu, Buddha, merthyr tydfil, teapot, temple stay, tire seoul, tired
5. Pocky and Mt Dew
Helloo,
I'm up at the uni really early again today, I guess it's just easier for me to go on the computers and it's takes me a long journey to get here anyway. On the way to uni I saw a poster for a vet and on it is a fox terrier! I took a photo straight away. I'm quite impressed that I got here on my own, vise versa with getting home last night.
I think today that we are meeting the man who made the trip possible, I have a welsh squashy rugby ball for him as a present. After that we are getting... PIZZA! I can't wait! Although me and Caroline have to find the place, that hsould be quite hard, the campus is so large. We're then going around the town and going to tourist information to get leaflets and broushures. Hopefully we'll have loads of time to go shopping. I'm not sure if I'll buy anything today but I definiatly want to find a Lolita shop.
This morning for brecfast I had facepack salad again along with Korean Melon. It was lovely but a little too sweet. Host mother stopped me beofre I went out the door today, I managed to get a treat for uni. Pocky (long biscuit sticks with chocolate on) and mountain dew. It made me laugh and she seemed very happy. I managed to walk with Brother today too. He was tired as he was up late studying hard. He really wants his computer game. I explained that my boyfriend also likes computer games.
I now have to go to international affairs to meet the others.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, donguk university, girl, korea, korean melon, merthyr tydfil, metro, mountain dew, pocky, salad, seoul, wales
2. Onigiri
Hello!
I am here in Korea at my host families house. It is all very nice, I'm living with the director of international studies, his wife and their son. So far I have unpacked and have just had my first Korean meal, omlette, rice and peppers with a nice glass of orange juice. iI'm down as a vegatrian on the trip to make my life abit easier. Apparently I like Omlettes now, well i'm not fussed but it's food. I am surprised at just how close the weather is, it is so hot and sticky! I can't wait to have a shower. The last 24 hours have been well interesting. Gina backed out literally last minute so mam and dad had to run me up to Heathrow. Caz, Mahinda and Helena arrived and we all checked in. After some amusing photos in Heathrow we got on the plane at about 10.30ish. We were all granted access first to the plane because Mahinda is a monk, it was dead funny. We arrived in Paris at 12, having to rush to the next gate and we found out we were all sitting seperately, so annoying. Mahinda had to wear bags on his feet due to his shoes having metal in lol. The in flight films were really good, I got to watch Madagascar 2, 101 dalmations, Adventures of Tintin and Friends. They also had pretty cool games to play. The food on the plane was icky, I just had a rice ball and a ton of bread and a pot noodle type thing. After 10 very boring very long hours we landed at about 7am and got our baggage and started the wait for the university people. At 10 they came and took us to Dongguk, which is an hour away in a taxi. Mahinda told us all we're fat and ned to lose 10lbs each and tried to get the girls and our poor driver set up. Finally we arrived and had a quick introduction where we met our host families. Everyone else has teenagers but I get the boss dude, bit gutted as all he done was put a piece a paper around my neck, put me in a taxi and wave goodbye, I know how it feels to be an evacuee after that expirence. His wife met me from the taxi and I have my own pair of around the house slippers. The toilet here is dead weird, too many buttons :S It's really quiet here, she doesn't speak much english and is just a housewife who goes out in the day. However she is nice and showed me how to work the computer! My mac is playing up :'(
I'm really homesick atm, just hit me that I'm here for a month and my birthday. :( I got to get to uni tomorrow by myself :( eek
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, girls, jet lag, merthyr tydfil, rice, seoul, tired
1. Packing and Waiting
Hi all,
At home in Wales typing atm and just about to have a cup of tea. Going to start packing my things now. I have no idea of what to take, just light clothes I guess. Gina and Caz text me saying how nervous they both are, I know the feeling. Gav should be coming round about 6 to have tea and many cwtches. Gina is going to pick me up in 12 hours time (5am) and we're going to set off to Heathrow. I'm abit anxious about luggage allowence and the fact that we only have one hour to transport everything between the two flights in Paris. Scary stuff. Lucy is already out in Korea so we'll be meeting up with her on Monday.
My new phone is going well so I'll be able to upload to this blog quite often to keep everyone up to date with my activities. My email is angharad,john@bathspa.org if anyone wants to contact me! I'm quite dissapointed with the fact that I'll be spending my birthday in Korea and not with my family and friends, but I'll be okay, I'm hoping we'll do something special for it.
Logging off for now,
Angharad
Labels: bath spa university, blog, girl, girls, korea, merthyr tydfil, parents, seoul
Designer : Cynna
Welcome to my blog. This is my blog to keep you all updated on what I'm doing in Korea. Hopefully you can follow me on my adventure, I'll be sure to upload lots of pictures and to tell you what I'm doing each day!!
Small, Welsh, 18 years young. Mrs Edwards to be! Studying in Bath Spa. Living in Merthyr Tydfil. <3
