It is 10:00 pm here in South Korea and 8:00 am in Indy. Right now we are on the same day. The weather here as been in the mid to high 50s and we have been doing a lot of sightseeing and visiting Rotary clubs. Everyone here is gracious and anxious to please. Kelly kept saying she wanted pizza, so today our host club took us to Pizza Hut - it tasted just like home! We need to rember when the GSE team from here visits us that a taste of home might be good for them too.

Tomorrow we leave Jinju and go to Namhae. It is an island and we understand that it is warmer there - but the forcast for tomorrow is rain (B in Korean - one word we will be able to remember) Anne is doing a great job of learning the language - learns more every day. I'm sure you will have some posts from the other team members with photos.

Nam River

I have this cool program on my iPhone that lets you create panoramas pretty quickly. This is of the Nam River, taken while at the Bronze Age Museum in Jinju. I went for the sepia tone for obvious reasons.

Two Hospital Visits in One Day!

Long story short, do not eat any Italian/South Korean fusion food when in South Korea. The morning after is not pretty. Against all suggestions from me, I was taken to Jinju's largest hospital...not to be treated, but for a tour. After which I was eventually taken back to my hotel, along with Dottie. She and I both had the spaghetti of internal discomfort (closest English translation).

Shortly after returning to the hotel and getting well into a much needed recovery sleep, Mr. Hahn rings my door and tells me that he is here to take me and Dottie to the hospital. Needless to say I didn't want to go. Needless to say, we both went. The process was pretty quick and Mr. Hahn was a great doctor's aid. We both appreciated his presence.

While receiving our IV's, Mr. Hahn drew our privacy curtains to shield us from an emergency. There was an elderly man who suffered a heart attack and died. I could hear his family grieving. It put in perspective the discomfort we were experiencing from the food and unrequested hospital visits, with real suffering.

Silk, Tomatoes, and Steam

The Korean people are enterprising to say the least -- they have to be to compete in global markets in various industries. Yesterday we toured the Gyeongsangnamdo Agricultural Research and Extension Services facility. They are experimenting with hydroponic tomato cultivation. Here's a shot of one of the agricultural ministers posing in front of a bank of pests at the agricultural museum.

We also toured the Korea Silk Research Institute and received lovely scarves. Loved meeting the man who job it is to design the patterns on the filmy, flowing fabric.

Another stop was the Moorim PowerTech thermal energy (steam and electric) plant. Kelly dressed especially to match the color scheme of the plant. I was psyched about the eco-friendly principles behind the plant and wish Indiana would take a cue from Korea.

Lunch was Korean barbecue - sizzling slices of pork roasted on a little grill at your table - then you wrap it in a cool, crunchy lettuce leaf with one of many zingy Korean condiments. Perhaps I should not reference food because two of our team members were down yesterday, bitten by a food poisoning bug.

But they were troopers and made it to the evening meeting where we made a presentation about our lives and work to the Korean Jinju Seonhak Rotary Club.

Oops

Ok - I'm still learning. The pictures on my post didn't do what I wanted but hopefully, you can still follow.

Yesterday was a long but interesting day. We traveled 2 hours north to Gyeongju City which is where the temples and mounds from the time of the Silla kingdom. Three of the GSE team that will be coming to Indiana were with us. Kim, Deok-Sook, Chun, Myung-Ae and Yeum, Dong-Moon and his wife and two daughters. It is nice to be able to spend some time with them while we are here.

This is a picture of the group in front of the Bulguska Temple. There is a "gold" Buddha inside the temple that dates back to a thousand years ago. The grounds are lovely even at this time of year but I am sure it is much more so when the cherry trees and flowers are in bloom. We later went up into the mountains and then walked a while and climbed some steps to see a stone Buddha high up in the mountains. Another wonder of how they managed to do that much like Stonehedge and some of the other stone monuments done in ancient times. Lastly, we visited a modern museum with ancient artifacts.

Have to add this picture. Here in Korea, they use this type of picture on almost all of their signs.

Buddhist Tradition in Korea: Bulguksa Temple

The GSE team sits in front of the entrance to the Temple Grounds

The Bulguksa Temple is built on a mountain and is considered a national treasure. It is also on the UNESCO world heritage list and is seen as having universal value culturally. The grounds are quite large and very beautiful.

Here is a path leading to the temple.

Here is a bridge crossing a waterway fill by mountain springs.

A gate by the bridge with the guardians of the temple. I am always amazaed at the detail and workman ship within all of the Buddhist Tradition. These two fellows represent two of the four winds.

A being at the feet of one of the guardians.

The Temple proper itself. There are 33 stairs representing the 33 steps to enlightnement.

The lower staircase has 17 steps and is called Cheoungungyo or the Blue Cloud Bridge. The upper staircase has 16 steps and is called Baegungyo or the White Cloud Bridge.

The Seokgatap pagoda inside the grounds is contructed with a 4:3:2 Ratio which gives it a semblance of balance.


The complex is big with three buildings with Buddhas statues in them.


One of the temple buildings on the grounds.

People donating money. There is a monk on the left.

More guardians on a gate.

A bell just outside the temple.

We have experienced much of Buddhist Culture on this trip.

Buddhism is the major religion practiced in Korea. It is fundamental belief is that of Karma or the law of cause and effect. This is the idea that we will experience ourselves what we cause others to experience. For example, if I cause someone mental anguish because of ridicule, I too will experience that anguish. This is based on intention. Thus right action or right intent will bring peace to yourself and others and by extension the world. This, as many Buddhists would tell you, is a simplified version. The monk that fed us chocolate says that "we are all one, so what we do to others we do to ourselves." That is a simple and elegant way of stating the golden rule, or do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Every major religion has some form of that rule. Imagine for a moment if everyone in the world would live like that for a day or even an hour. What kind of transformation would take place? Then ask yourself, do you treat others the way you wish to be treated? I know that I need to work on that.

Peace,

JASON

An Epic Meal

As Kelly noted, last night we met the District Governor of the local Rotary and were treated to an elaborate Korean-style Japanese meal.

The image you see here is a stately platter of raw fish, or woe, nestled on cellophane noodles. ["Woe" was Kelly. She was hoping for something cooked].

The meal had at least five courses and included a vinegary salad, uncooked soft shell crab, a pleasant pancake, and raw fish served with smoked pork that Duwayno described as tasting of Lysol. It had a brazen sting, like a bit of novocain. My gag reflex kicked in, but a swig of tea helped me save face -- which is culturally crucial here in Korea.

Later came some familiar-looking tempura, a steamed egg, and small cooked fish with a salmon-like flavor, along with some fish soup. The last victual presented was an exquisite platter of bright, sweet tangerines.

I said to Kelly that this meal must have cost more than one million won. Another example of Korean generosity. At dinner I sat next to Mr. Kim Jae-il. He's the secretary of the Rotary district. A nice man with three children, we learned. We are getting to know our hosts.

If only we could all look 18!

We are on day 3 in South Korea. Last night we enjoyed a meal with the South Korean GSE Team that will be coming to Indianapolis in April. There are 3 women and 2 men. All of us immediately thought the women were so young and barely 20 years old - both from the pictures we saw and upon meeting them in person. After dinner, we had time to talk and get to know each other and we quickly found out that they are 37, 38, and 39! They honestly look at least 10 years younger - not fair!
I am excited for them to come to Indianapolis and experience the United States. We will welcome them to The Village Experience store and hopefully join in on some meals and activities while they are in town. They are anxious, excited, nervous, and curious to experience our culture just as we are to experience theirs. Because of the vast differences in the way we eat, we have already begun asking them their preferences and what they enjoy to eat. Hopefully we can expose them to some new things, but also be mindful of how good it feels to taste home once you've been away for awhile. No one knows that better than me - what I wouldn't do for a slice pizza right now. After that octupus dish above, I get scared that everything I eat is about to start moving as I pick it up to eat it. And the hot dogs with mouths are haunting my dreams...
We are off with the GSE Team to explore a different part of South Korea today - looking forward to the journey!

A walk in the park

Here is a picture of a park around the corner from our hotel.

I decided to take a leisurely stroll because the weather was beautiful, shining sun and no snow.

We had a few hours before our welcome dinner and I did not want to be sitting in my room.

As I enter the park, I immediately run into this sign with a diagram of feet and Korean script.

To the left of the sign is a wall with faucets to wash your feet and a shoe rack. In Korea, almost any space you go into you take off your shoes. But outside?

Then I saw the footpath.

It is a reflexology path. You would walk on different shaped stones to trigger pressure points that correspond to different organs in the body.

Stimulating these pressure points is supposed to promote health in the body.

This path had many sizes and shaped stones, large ones and small ones.

The path was very beautiful.

But it sure was a bear on my feet.

Peace,

Jason

Food so fast it's still living.

I think the idea of zombies came from the first South Korean chef to cook octopus. This is technically not the most exotic meal I have eaten because I have had octopus a thousand times (I think that number will triple over the next month). However, it is the most exotic preparation of a meal I have ever witnessed. It leaped frogged my grandmother's chitlins.....which I promptly stopped eating after smelling the preparation.

The Markets Of Jinju

We spent part of the afternoon walking the markets in downtown Jinju.

Here is a picture of a small portion of the market.

The markets ran for blocks and blocks. Some places were very crowded with street vendors pitching all kinds of foods, and other things. There ware also people on scooters zipping around. You had to watch yourself or you would get run down.

Here is our team leader Dottie and Anne talking with Mr. Han, our interpreter, about what kinds of food we are looking at. I have come to find out that Anne is quite adventurous when it comes to food. She will try anything. Ask her what she thought of the silk worms at dinner.











A woman in the midst of all kinds of seafood.
Many vendors would just set up in the middle of the street and lay all of their food out like this woman. She was one of probably 100 vendors selling seafood.

Here is Duwayno trying on a hat. Duwayno was explaining that he can never find any clothing to wear in the Asain markets. He is just too large. We walked into a couple of clothing stores and the vendors would shake there heads before he could even ask about sizes. One man was willing to let him try on a jacket but it wouldn't even fit on his arms.

Mr. Han, our interpreter decides to try a hat on, too.

A entrance to the traditional markets.

All of the signs in Korea are colorful and many have cartoons or rainbow coloring. The child like pictures make you laugh and yet convey what they sell.

For example, Jinju city's matriarch or mascot is Nongae

You see her everywhere pointing out directions and telling people about construction sites. This picture was taken from a fountain in a park that is under construction. Very friendly!

A Korean vendor selling snacks. Mr. Han bought us some rice cakes that were delicious.

Duwayno and Mr. Han sitting at a fountain in the underground market. There are many underground malls we have seen in Korea. They remind me of Union Station but larger, way larger.

Colorful kids clothing.

Well that wraps up a day of city markets.

Tomorrow we visit the Buddist temple. So we go from attachment to non attachment.

Peace,

Jason

Finally figured out how to get on the blog again. Some of the instructions show up in Korean and I just had to click on everything until I found the right spot.

The trip has been great so far. The other posts have filled you in on some of our challenges - octopus - wrong terminal..... Good thing we made the plane to Jinju as we were greeted by Rotarians with a welcome banner and flowers. Everyone here is very gracious and are happy to have us here. We have a translator with us most of the time. Not too many people speak English here.

Today we went to the Jinju market. I think they are all afraid we will starve as it seems like we just get done with one meal and then we are off to another. This evening we will meet the District Governor and attend a welcome party.

The Freshest Seafood in town!!!

After a relaxing a bit in the tearoom, coffee shop, we made our way to the motel to check in. Having dropped off our bags, our host Mr. Cho asked us where we wanted to go for lunch. We said we don't care take us to your favorite spot. As we are walking to this restaurant, Kelly says to me, "I just don't want octopus." As we turn the corner, we see the sign for the restaurant and it has a cartoon octopus on the front. Uh Oh!

In the Korean restarants we have been to so far you take off your shoes at the front door. As I am taking off my shoes, I notice a waiteress bringing a dish to some people by the front door. I take a peek at their selection and of course it is octopus. The fascinating part was that the tentacles were still moving writhing and squirming around on the platter as it was being cooked.

I thought to myself at that moment, "We should have picked something ourselves." The discussion at our table was the squirming octopus at the other table and the way the waitress used scissors to cut the tentacles into smaller pieces. Our interpreter Mr. Han told us about the popularity of the dish in the country. In fact, in the two days we have explored Korea, we have seen many fish in aquariums outside of restaurants. The strangest was a hot dog with a mouth. I don't know what it was but I do know you could get it for a few dollars.

One big contrast between food from the states and food here in Korea I have noticed is in the preparation. There are a lot of soupy stews and broths. Very healthy, tasty and filling. Contrast that to the majority of foods prepped in the States. They are fried and greasy. I can see why costal diets are so healthy.

If you have never had Korean food, try Mama's Restaraunt on Pendleton Pike and 56th. It is authentic Korean cuisine. At the Korean table you have your main dish (which has been a lot of seafood.) Besides the main course are many at least five smaller dishes with various textures and flavors. Kimchi is the famous one. It is a feremented cabbage with a spice vinegar taste. Some of the other options we have sampled included shrimp with our breakfast, seaweed with our lunch, tofu, and radishes. They have their own unique features. The shrimp for example was teeny tiny and very salty. I like salt so I found them tasty. The seaweed was cut into 3 inch squares and it looked like green photo film. It was very slick and hard to grab with you chopsticks. Ultimately, the smooth texture was the draw because it tasted somewhat bland. At dinner we had a beef dish for the main course and it was accompanied with lettuce covered with a sweet sauce, kimchi, tofu, and silk worms, stomach, and livers. Anne described the silk worm as reminding her of bran cereal. I agree with that. I could could not stomach eating the stomach or the liver. Both were chopped up into bitesize morsels. The stomach had a spiny look to it and the liver is what you would imagine, meaty morsels in a red sauce. The rest of the meal was super tasty. Beef with garlic and you mixed that with the salad. Mmm. Mmm. Good.

Well that gives you a taste of the cuisine we have been eating. Two days in all of this has happened so far. Duwayno has some great pics including a video of the octopus dish he will be posting.

All the Best,
JASON

What a morning!

So we finally made it to Jinju...we got up on time, we made it to the airport on time, but something wasn't quite right since we were the only ones there. We got coffee, we hung out, and then Dottie decided to check on the flights, and we were quickly informed that we were at the wrong terminal. So five foreigners in Rotary Blazers with about 12 pieces of luggage proceeded to run through the airport searching for a way to the domestic terminal. We thankfully found a bus and formed an assembly line to get our luggage on board and then proceeded to check in. We wormed our way into the "prestige line" then weaseled our way to the front of the security line and then sprinted to the gate....just in time. Sweating and disheleved, we barely made it onto the flight. As Anne, pointed out...it was a suspiciously "calm morning!"

Adventures in Octopus and Lemon Tea

It's a Friday morning in the city of Jinju, South Korea. About 40 degrees and sunny. We are in a tea shop and I just had the most zingy cup of lemon tea. Like hot lemonade with softened lemon rinds swimming around, and a touch of honey, in a very zen ceramic mug and a wooden saucer. Duwayno had a type of tea made from dates, with three pine nuts floating in it. This tea shop is owned by a Korean Rotarian -- friends in high places.

Last night in Seoul, we wandered into an alley lit with neon storefronts and found a seafood restaurant. A piping hot communal bowl of bean sprouts, crab legs, mussels, squid and octopus. We ordered this with no idea what we were ordering, but we ate most of it with gratitude, if not pleasure and curiosity.

In Jinju

We have arrived safely in Jinju after a night in Seoul and an interesting morning. More to come.....

New Adventure!

So I guess I'm the last one to blog - sorry! Finally all packed and ready to go. By the time my laundry was done from Africa and Middle East, it was time to repack it for Asia. Just had to add some warm clothes and a heavy coat in case its really cold! I'll check back in after we arrive in Seoul!

Packing Anticipation

It's almost time, GSE-ers. Today I ran to the Indiana State Museum to buy gifts for the generous Korean people we have not yet met who have agreed to host us in their homes. What will they make of Indiana-made goat milk soap, goodies from the South Bend Chocolate Company, and key chains with basketballs on them?

Thank you

Greetings to everyone who will be traveling with the GSE 6560 team to South Korea!

Are you ready for an adventure? I am.

I would like to begin by thanking Duwayno for setting this blog up. You are the man.

I would also like to thank the Sunrise Rotary Club in Indy for the support and sponsorship and guidance. I literally would not be here without you. John, thanks for the surprise phone call.

A big thank you to Kittles Home Furnishings up in Castleton, thanks to the management team, Sandy, Lynn, Beth and Brian as well as Ferd Burgman and the whole sales team. I would list you all but there is so many of you... just know I thank you guys for your support and enthusiasm. I cannot forget Jill Diehl in HR. I am so glad everyone recognizes the opportunity I have been afforded. I will work hard to represent you well.

Thanks to my family, Mom, Dad, Ben, and Annie for the love and enthusiasm. I will bring you back some cool gifts and some even better stories!!!

Thank you again, Sharon. There is not a day that goes by that I don't count my blessings that you are in my life. I love you!

And finally, my class at the School of Metaphysics, thanks for the love and the learning. I am certainly the person I am today because of our discussions and exercises. Thought is cause!

Anyone else who is taking the time to share in our journey, thank you for taking the time!
Feel free to post any questions you have about Korea in the comments to particular posts. I will ask our hosts when we arrive and post them back.

I see this blog not so much as a "read-a-long" posting but a conversation. The experience will be some much more enriching if you share your thoughts and ideas. I look forward to getting to know you.


--JASON--

Time is getting short for getting everything done before leaving next Wednesday but I can hardly wait! Think I have what I am taking finally decided - not in suitcase yet, but that can be done quickly. We will be departing Indy at 7:00 a.m, going through Atlanta and then a 15 hour flight to Seoul. Will spend the night in Seoul before leaving the next morning to Jinju. Now that I find I can post to the blog, you may get really tired of hearing from me :)

Avatar in 4D!!

I saw it in 1D in Hawaii. Avatar 4D. This may be a side trip while in Seoul.

South Korean iPhone stylus

I have to test this. South Korean iPhone stylus

Less than a week away....

Last weekend before departure.