The last 8:30 AM meetup. I’m a little sad. We met up in the lobby as usually and boarded a bus that took us to Hanok village. Since we had to squeeze it in, we technically arrived before visiting hours. So unfortunately, there wasn’t all too much to do but I did get some good pictures.
Then, we drove to Jogyessa Temple. As we pulled in, I could already see the difference between a normal day at the temple and Buddha’s Birthday. Hundreds of people swarmed it and packed the main area. Seeing as I’m on the shorter side, I really could not see much of anything so I wound up falling back. I got a pin that welcomed me to the celebration and met up with an old lady at the information desk. She taught me the basics of budhism and explained the colors of the lanterns used at the temple. Red is compassion, yellow is for the color of Buddha’s statue, green is for nature, blue is for wisdom, pink is for mankind, and white is for purity. She also gifted me a very pretty postcard that I will probably give to my mom.
When we broke for lunch, I followed a small group that went with Kay who took us to a tea shop. Here, I tried Omija tea, which was absolutely delightful. I really hope to buy some to bring home to my mom.
After the tea, we boarded the bus again to go to Starfield Mall. It’s the biggest underground mall in all of Asia and even features a jogging path. We visited the library which was absolutely massive. I got really excited to find a book to read, only to realize all the books were in Korean. I did read all the titles I could, just to see what popular literature looks like. Eventually, I left the library and went shopping. I found a foot locker sale and bought my very first pair of sneakers (I’m a converse/chucks kind of girl) then had a delicious doughnut with orange juice.
We finished kind of early, but I spent the rest of the day with my group working on our presentation for tomorrow. Wish us luck!
-Therese
