South Korea

I’ll first talk about the head monk, Da-hye Sunim. He’s been a monk for more than 30 years, most of those years here at this temple. He’s in his late 50’s I think. People say he’s enlightened. I don’t have any strong feelings one way or another about whether or not he’s got it, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. And if he really does have “it” then what a great opportunity to be around him. To benefit somewhat from his presence and from whatever else I might be able to gain. So I’m super glad to live and work here. I can see him often. I have told myself and others that I want to find an enlightened person. I guess I’ve found two actually. This monk and the head monk of Asoke, Samana Bodhiraksa. I didn’t have any strong feelings about whether or not he is enlightened either. And, like with Da-hye Sunim, I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

He seems to be a good guy. Congenial. Good humored. Helpful. Sincere.

I’m studying Korean pretty intensively in order, in large part, to be able to understand his teachings.

One difference in being around these two monks is that I get much much more exposure to Da-hye Sunim. Good. Great. One thing I think about monks from a long time ago is that they stayed in one temple for a long time. They knew their disciples. Now it seems like the people who are regarded as “masters” are traveling a lot. So those who don’t travel along don’t see so much of these masters.

Another person I see a lot is the lady “who makes food for the monks”. She’s a fairly old woman but still plenty strong and feisty! Her name is Kong Yang-ju. Actually, that’s probably more of a title. It means person “who makes food for the monks”. She’s never ever nice to me. There was one time, I’d say, that she was almost a bit nice. Saturday at noon. A bunch of us took a break from work to have lunch. I asked for one of those fruit skin peelers. She handed me a knife telling me, I guess to use it to peel the melons I brought in to eat. Well, I took the knife but had no intention of using it. But she was a bit playful in telling me. I don’t know where that came from. The rest of the time she is curt or downright harsh. Like last night, I had picked a bunch of vegetables for my dinner. But I wanted a bit more. So I went into the kitchen where she was washing dishes. On the table just behind her was a plate with some vegetables on it. I think nobody was going to eat them. So I asked if I could have them. She turned around, then barked out a few words which came across to me as very harsh. I don’t know the words she said, I’m not even sure she speaks to me in standard Korean. Sunmi has told me she speaks her native dialect to me!! Clear communication will never come in this way.

A few days ago at lunch I asked for two of the four bananas that were in the kitchen. She heard me plainly. But she was silent. I took the bananas, sat down at the same table as her where she could plainly see me, and ate the bananas. She was silent the whole time.

In the mornings when I go into the kitchen, she’s usually there and I usually greet her. She’ll usually respond with a word of acknowledgement.

She’s curt and harsh to everyone. But I do hear her talking decently and even joking with others. Like I said, she’s never kind to me. Unless you call that one time that I mentioned above kindness. I have no problem with her rudeness really. It’d be nice if we had a better relationship but I am fine with her the way she is. It would be better for work too if we had a better relationship. I would love to help with some of the work but there’s no way that we can communicate with her the way she is.

I’ve never been upset with her. Who knows. as I learn more Korean, maybe she’ll start talking with me. Who knows, maybe then I’ll start having problems with her!!

More about people in another entry. It’s 6:30 now and so it’s time to get to the Dharma Hall for a 3 ½ hour ceremony!

Troy.

A few introductory things first. The name of the temple is Won Myeong Seon Won. The head monk’s name is Tae Hye Sunim (sunim is Korean for monk). The friend here that I have the most contact with is a woman named Sunmi. She knows a ton of English. And my ex-boss’ name is Mr. Mun. So, from here on out I’ll refer to these people and the temple by name.

I moved in Saturday afternoon, April 7th. A lady who works at the temple, Cha Bee-heng and Sunmi picked me and my things up at my old apartment in the temple vehicle. Didn’t take long to settle in. A few hours the next morning was all it took.

I’ve got a small room. Cleaning didn’t take long either. This is the same room I used when I stayed here for two days in December during a fast. It was cleaned before I moved it then and it didn’t get very dirty in between then and now. There’s plenty of space to put away my things. I don’t have an awful lot anyway. Books, clothes, food and kitchen things, and a bunch of miscellaneous things.

There is one window in the room and it faces west so I don’t get any sun until the afternoon. It’s 4pm now and if it weren’t overcast the sun would be shining right on me. I can see it through the haze. The room is about 3 meters x 4 meters I guess, or about 3 yards x 4 yards. Rough guesses. I’ll see if I can take a few pictures and put them up so you can take a look.

There’s a boiler (heater I guess we say in the US. Koreans call it a boiler) just outside the door to my room. It’s on now because it’s chilly outside so the room would be even colder if the boiler weren’t on. It’s heated with water, not oil. It warms the floor directly and so the air gets warm from the warm air rising. I don’t turn the heat up very high so it’s actually a bit chilly inside too. With the boiler on it can be a little bit annoying. The silence when it turns off, as it just did a moment ago, is really pleasing. Everyone knows how your shoulders and tension just drop when the refrigerator or the A/C turns off. Same thing. Wonderful! I keep it on during the night because I was told it’s okay. I don’t pay for utilities here so I am glad for that. If I did, I’d want to be a bit more frugal with the boiler. But, really, this room is on the cold side even with the boiler on much of the time.

Sunmi said that Cha Bee-heng had talked about putting up some wallpaper. I said no there’s no reason at all for that. I can understand though why she might have wanted to. The paper on the cement walls is white. Not like “wallpaper” that I know of in the US. This is thin stuff, and it’s coming off in many places. Nothing attractive about these walls at all. But it doesn’t matter.

There are two cabinets mostly full of bedding. But there’s enough empty space and then some for my things.

The temple is in a quiet location so even though my room is a few seconds walk from the road, there’s not much noise from traffic. There’s no telephone line so I don’t have an internet connection.

Enough for this entry, huh?
Troy.

In Thailand, Asoke monks made a point of being honest, and I am sure, staying within the law. They may have broken the law on certain instances but if so, I'm sure they had a good reason. Koreans monks, perhaps, are less strict about honesty than Asoke monks. Asoke people, and monks and nuns in particular are pretty strict with rules and things though.

So, at the meeting last night, I was asked to stay on until the end of the school term, and as long after the first term as I can. I asked when the end of the term is and the monk said it ends in February. I said I'd stay. I told him the main reason I want to go home, to be closer to aging parents. He understands. He said he'd quit the English program after I leave. I told him that I don't think it'd be hard to find someone to continue after me. I told him I'd be happy to find someone. So we'll see if he asks me to find someone. So, it looks like I'll be here until February next year.

Sorry to extend my stay here. I really really had intended to be home for the holidays. But I understand the monk's situation. And I thought, "Well, just a few more months won't be that much longer before I can get home to family." So, again, I apologize for delaying my return, but I didn't want to say no. Plus I see this as a really good opportunity to learn Seon and to make some more money.

The thought of another winter here isn't a warming one by any means! But winters here are probably warmer here than in the S.F. Bay Area!

Went to look for some teaching material today. Borrowed a few books (!) from a book store, at my ex-boss' guarantee (Thank you Mr. Mun). Took them back to the temple. Looked them over with a teacher and my friend Sunmi. We won't use them. So tomorrow I'll return them. We'll use some other books that some company brought over for us to use. They'll be good.

There was a teacher's meeting a little while ago. I won't start tomorrow. One teacher wants to start the English program next Monday. So tomorrow, I'll return the books and go to the dentist again. Yeah, this is another blog entry I could write. My dentist visits!

Well, I guess that's enough for now. It's about time to get into the main hall for a some chanting and some meditation.

The chanting and the wooden knocker thing are another blog entry. Someday. I've got my laptop hooked up in the office right now. I bring it in here when I want to use the internet. So I expect to have frequent internet access.

I welcome any comments. Especially from anyone who doesn't dare call! I hope to get my Skype connection working again soon. Real soon.

Love,
Troy.

HIYA!

Bad news first. I got fired from the school I work at. Today's my last day.

The good news. I got a job at the temple I go to regularly.

Now some details. I have had a hard time with the kids since the beginning. The littler ones aren't quite as hard for me. It's the older little kids. Around 13 to 16 years old. Some are shy and disinterested, some are rowdy and rambunctious and disinterested. A few are interested and studious. I have three hours a day with the littler ones and two to three hours a day with the older ones. And three days a week I've been teaching adults. So most of the day goes pretty well.

But the class I call the class from hell had one girl who was just never really there. I have thought of ways to discipline such kids. One day I decided to threaten kids with a Wet Willie. Where you stick your pinky in your mouth, get it pretty good and wet, then put it in someone's ear. This is a Wet Willie, no? I tried it with some of the littler ones and they had fun running away from me. The one girl in this class from hell (these kids are little ones too, around 10 years old) just wasn't paying any attention and rarely does. So I went over to her and put my finger in my ear and .... She put her jacket hood over her head and stayed there. A few seconds later I noticed she was crying so I walked away. She put her face in her hands for the next 40 minutes or so until the end of class.

I had thought this might be a fun way to get and to keep their attention during class. Not for this one girl that's for sure.

After my last class of the evening, my boss wanted to talk with me. He said the girl's mom called and was furious. She said that this Wet Willie is a sign of affection in Korea. I didn't know this. My boss didn't know this. So I wonder if she just made this up.

My boss asked if I'd rather go to a different school, one on the mainland, owned by a person he knows, where the working conditions would be less stressful. I told him I'd go if he wanted me to go. He said let's wait.

That Wet Willie incident happened last Wednesday. Friday night he asked if I'd rather take the job on the mainland. That's when I said I'd go if he wanted me to go and he asked me to wait. Monday afternoon, before my first class, he asked me to leave.

So I guess I got fired. I haven't asked if this is the case. Anyway, it doesn't matter much. I'm out of this school. Today, Thursday the 5th is my last day.

More in the next post. I'd rather keep things pretty short. Feels better.
Troy.

For some reason Korean kids get an enormous kick out of calling someone crazy. So, just today my 2:00 class called the supermarket that they just finished "Crazy Troy's Supermarket". They love the name. One of the kids drew a balloon - which hardly looks like a ballon - and wrote on the arms (?!) "This is Crazy Troy". All good fun.

If this ain't crazy enough (!) try this. I've recently started teaching a few adults at the school where I teach. It's a private English language school which was set up strictly for kids. But somehow my boss signed a deal with a local exporting association to teach some of the members. I teach them three nights a week and it's by far my favorite class. Even more enjoyable than the little little kids who are so adorable.

Well, yesterday my boss told me that they're going to have a seminar today. And that they've invited my boss and me "to participate". My boss couldn't go but he said I'm free to go. He wanted me to go. And I was more than happy to get out of class, and, to go to the seminar.

He told me that I should quit my 4 pm class at 4:40 and get to the seminar about 5 pm. There'd be a dinner at 6. I couldn't see why I should go to a seminar that I'm not going to understand but I was happy enough at the thought of getting out of class, and, of being at this thing, just for the hell of it.

Then today I went in to work and my boss told me to go after the 3 pm class. The seminar started at 4. Why and how would I participate?! Well, I was thinking it'd be rows of seats and that I could sit in back and read my Korean language textbook. (I've been studying quite a bit lately.) No such luck.

I looked inside the room where we'd be and saw that there were half a dozen or so tables. Chairs all around. Damn.

The president of the association wanted me to sit at the front table. But I chose to sit at a back table with one or two of the students who come to class.

So for nearly two hours, I just sat there, looked around, meditated a little, went out for the bathroom and something to drink once, and, well, just sort of absorbed things.

The president explained to me that I'm really important to the goals of the association. That's why he invited me. I suppose that's the case. He's a nice guy.

The students who come to class know I eat only vegetarian. And that I eat mostly raw foods. So they weren't so surprised to see me eat all the salad stuff.

Thing that happens sometimes when you are in a new country is that you eat something you don't expect. I saw a plate with some shredded cucumber that had obviously been prepared in some way. I grabbed a bunch of it. Then seconds. It was on the second helping that I realized a fishy taste. I asked what it was. Jellyfish. I didn't go for anymore.

One lady told me it's okay. It's vegetarian food! Yeah yeah yeah.

During dinner, we sat at the table and had a nice meal and some good chit chat.

Though it seemed a bizarre thing, it actually makes lots of sense.

My boss wanted me to go and represent the school. I guess I made a positive enough impression on the 30 or so people who attended. I introduced myself very briefly and talked very briefly about the class.

And, since this is an exporting association, it makes sense that the more English these people know the better for them. There are I'd say at least 50 members of this association but only 4 or 5 attend class regularly. So, promote the English language class by having the teacher attend your seminar even though he's sitting there like a guy who is obviously a fish out of water. But even fish on dry land can have a good time.

We've talked about going out for dinner soon. As a class. As a classroom lesson. At a local restaurant that I mentioned. They have some Korean food that I'm interested in trying out. And it'll be a good way for them to apply restaurant language in a real life situation.

Enough,
Love at ya,
Troy.