Saturday, August 20, 2011

The long road home

So after saying our goodbyes at camp, and having a lunch of fried eggs and french fries, and pissing the bus driver off because we took foreeeever to get loaded on the bus, we headed to our next destination. My understanding was that we were headed to Woman Plaza, where we had first started this adventure a month ago. It was kind of our home base away from camp. So I got on the bus ready to wind up in a familiar place. Only, two hours or so later, we were somewhere else entirely. Welcome to Korea. This kind of thing happened all the time.

So, turns out we were to stay that night at Daebul University. We chose roommates and found rooms. Trista and I walked into our room (well, Trista limped in because she broke her foot about a week before this) and it seemed pretty similar to our camp dorm rooms. Except I had left my sheets at camp because I thought we were going to stay somewhere decent. Bad move. But that's not the worst of it. We timidly peeked in the bathroom to find, what else? A toilet full of poop. I mean full of it. I quickly backed away and tried not to throw up. And gallant Jonathan tried to flush it. Which just resulted in the water filling up the toilet bowl and almost overflowing. Which resulted in Trista and I grabbing our bags to search for another room. We found our rooms, begged for blankets and pillows to lay on the nasty mattresses (the blankets not being much better as they were covered in hair and smelled like cat pee. But better than nothing. I think), and then got dressed for our farewell dinner with the governor. After another lovely speech from the governor and an award for Tank for being the best teacher in the program (I'm sure this had nothing to do with the fact that he was male and the oldest teacher in the program...thanks Korean cheauvinism!), we got dinner. A buffet. But not the kind of Korea buffets we had grown accustomed to. This one was amazing. We left so very full and happy! And then were given gifts and were even more happy! And then had to sleep on the nasty mattresses. With one tiny blanket used sleeping-bag style to avoid actually touching the mattress. Which meant being very cold. And not sleeping much. And then it was morning!

The next day we were set to go to a "traditional folk village." Again, we had no idea what to expect. We got there and things seemed better than expected. There was electricity, our room had a bathroom (granted, 17 of us were sharing said room, but still. A bathroom!) and there was a cute puppy. We set up our "beds" (blankets on the ground. Really? Another night without a real bed?!) and then went to mingle. Although my "group" of campers isn't really good at mingling. We kind of stuck to each other. But I did go on a walk with Alice, who I had hung out with quite a bit during our first week of orientation here. Little did we know what that walk would turn into. We were walking in the dark, minding our own business, when this young Korean guy comes up to us asking if we know where such-and-such a thing is. We looked at each other and said, "Uhhh, sorry." Then he said, "Do you know where Shayna is?" This we did know. So he asked us to tell her that Jackie was there for her. Uh...guess our walk was over? So we headed back to the rooms and began a quest for Shayna. We only knew who she was because Jackie had called earlier looking for her. And she said "Oh my gosh, what if he is HERE?" Well, we went to find Shayna. Which took forever. There were a lot of rooms (of course mine was the only one with a billion girls in it.) and no one knew where she was. We finally just started calling her name to the closed doors and found her. And told her to follow us. And we led her to Jackie. And left her there. And were worried that she might be murdered, but thought we could probably hear the screams if he tried anything since they weren't too far away. Anyway, he didn't propose marriage like she was worried he was going to, but hung out at our camp for the night.

I wish I could say that night was over at that point. I hung out with some people for a bit before deciding to go to bed. I'm not sure what made me think that I would be able to sleep in a camp with 100 teachers drinking themselves crazy, or in a room with 17ish other girls being loud and drunk and annoying. I think I fell asleep about two hours before I was supposed to wake up. And then we headed to the bus to make our way to another city. I didn't have great hopes for the hotel. But turns out it was pretty nice!

In the days since camp ended, we have seen museums, burial mounds, bus seats, lots of bus seats (especially because no one else sits on our bus....apparently they don't like the Damyang camp teachers...), roads, rest stops, restaurants, we said goodbye multiple times to our Korean co-teachers as they met us in Gwangju and then a couple more met us in the next city, and now we are in Seoul. Where we have had free time for the firs time in five weeks. Kind of crazy! The hotel here is amazing and kind of makes me just want to sleep and take bubble baths all day instead of exploring the city. But I only have two days here so am making the most of it!

Then home sweet home! See you all soon!

Also, my lovely friend Kayla had her baby girl today at about 4:30pm: 8 lb 10 oz. Congratulations Kayla and Cody and welcome to the world, Ila Rae!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

FINISHY!

The camp is done! I have never been so exhausted in my life. But it was pretty amazing at the same time! The last few days of camp were crazy. I don't know how I made it, every day I was more and more tired. Time went by quicker this camp since I was always so busy teaching. I taught six classes a day, plus had my homeroom class for about 3 hours a day. Then there were all the activities on top of that.

All the other teachers said they liked the middle school camp better and the middle school kids better. I didn't really get to know the kids at that camp that well, so I don't have as much to compare with. They said the elementary school kids were too hard to control. I didn't think that at all, but it could be that I'm used to dealing with American kids of that age, who are insane. Or it could be that the kids were too busy cooking in my class to cause trouble. Either way, I absolutely adored the elementary school kids. My homeroom class was the best, a fact which all the other teachers agree to. They were fun and smart and goofy but still paid attention and did what they were told. The girls in my class put together a little message poster for me on the last day which was so sweet I almost cried. Almost. We'll get back to that. And my precious little Roger kept pretending to march and would say "this is how I arriving in Oregon." He is going to walk and swim to visit me. I'll expect to see him in about ten years, tired from swimming across the Pacific Ocean.

After teaching 144 kids how to make first ham sandwiches (running out of bread the first day, so we had to switch to banana pancakes early for some classes), then banana pancakes, then chocolate cookies, it was time for the classes to be over and other events to begin. I was shocked when asking some classes what their favorite thing to cook was, and they answered ham and cheese sandwiches. What kid in their right mind would choose a sandwich over chocolate cookes?!

The lesson plans were pretty straight forward-introduce vocabulary, do some worksheets and then make the food. But my co-teacher and I tried to make it a little more fun. So we would come up with ways to turn the vocabulary into a game. Like matching pictures to words, or charades, or putting the recipe in the right order, etc. It wasn't usually until the second day of classes (we taught each recipe for two days-6 classes each day until we taught all 12 classes) that we really had things figured out, but all the kids learned what they needed to! We played a game at the end called "Golden Bell" (apparently a game show on TV here) and we all had to submit questions. I was so proud when almost all the kids answered the cooking questions right! Made me feel like they actually understood what I was teaching them!

The last full day of camp was filled with some games: relay races (I stayed out of it this time to avoid getting injured again!), hula hooping, dodge ball, water balloon toss (where I got soaked), etc. It also included "Camp Idol." Each class had to pick a song to sing and individual kids also performed. And hour and a half each day was allotted to Song Practice. So they should have had 7 days to practice their song before performing. Except my kids couldn't agree on a song. First it was Lemon Tree by Fool's Garden (which I had never heard before but they knew it already), then it was Sk8er Boi. Then back to Lemon Tree. Then it was a medly of songs which kids would perform short parts of. Then it was back to "I don't know!!!" So I made them sing Summer Nights from Grease. Never mind that it is about a summer love affair...they didn't understand the words anyway. They decided to switch parts, and the girls would sing the boys parts and vice versa.

After a fun day of playing games (in first the hot gym and then the hot outdoors), the kids were tired. But ready for their performance! There were a lot of fun songs and performances (including some brave kids imitating the Discipline Teacher (did I fail to mention there are four people at camp with that title?), which was hilaaaarious!), and after some slight technical difficulties my kids did their song perfectly. I have a video but it will take ten years to load, so that will just have to wait to be seen!

At the end of Camp Idol, there were some speeches. I was exhausted and one little girl (who has an amazing accent and speaks English nearly perfectly) gave a short little speech which was really cute. I was willing myself not to cry. But a tear or two squeaked out. Then some teachers saw and made a fuss. Then some kids saw....and started chanting "AMY! AMY! AMY!" Which then turned into "AMY! DON'T CRY! AMY! DON'T CRY!" Which did not help matters. And then I got it under control. And then one of the Discipline Teachers, Sun Flower, showed a video of camp. And then the STUDENTS started crying. One of my girls, Anne, who never really participated much although she was always sweet, started sobbing. Literally sobbing. Shoulders heaving and noises and snot and tears and everything. And she would not stop. So I went to hold her hand. (They love hand-holding here. We all (males included) got used to having kids (or fellow teachers) come grab our hand to walk around). And willed myself not to cry. And only a few tears leaked out.

After Camp Idol, the teary-eyed kids went to bed. And the teachers had a goodbye party. Where the principal kept filling everyone's glasses with Soju. He would not give up. Then the next morning, we had a closing ceremony and the kids headed out. After giving out my email to a few kids (I already got one email, sooooo cute!) and signing my name a zillion times on their camp tshirts, it was time to go. AND I DIDN'T EVEN CRY! Until we had to say goodbye to our co-teachers. They were in the trench with us the whole time and were so amazing! I didn't bond as much with all of them as some of the other teachers did, since I wasn't working one-on-one with anyone the first camp and didn't go get wasted with them every night, but it was still sad to know I won't see them again!

I was so glad camp was over. And am so ready to come home, even though I have a few days left here in Korea. And am ready to get back to my normal life. But seeing the kids reactions to camp and how attached they were and what an impact we made on them was so touching. Teaching really is a beautiful thing. Even if it exhausts you and makes you think you are crazy, at the end of the day, someone will learn something or say something or do something that lets you know that what you are doing is important. And that's what its all about!

They asked us all if we would want to come back and teach in a real school for a year. They pay about $30,000 a year and also give you free housing. Pretty dang good deal. No master's degree or teaching certificate required. If I was five years younger, I probably would do it. But at this point there are things more important to me than adventuring around for a year. I never thought I would say that, but its true! I can still make an impact on kids at home just as much.

In the two days since camp has ended, there have been many adventures. More to come on those soon!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

T minus one day

Field trip...where there was nothing to do but look at this pond.


Oh my gosh I love this kid. He was hot and didn't have an umbrella
so he picked a leaf to shade himself with!


One of the most adorable boys ever


They love their stickers! They count as part of their "grade" so they
get really excited when they get some.


My co-teacher and our student Kate


The boys: practicing their song


And the girls!


Waiting in line! Probably getting in trouble...



Teaching the kids how to make cookies

Playing a game that Diana came up with


Teaching them how to "crack" eggs and "stir." New vocabulary!


Fighting over the last banana pancake! Rock-paper-scissors style.



Golden Bell. This symbol means "true."

Jason was one of the finalists in Golden Bell.
So proud of him! (this is the "false" symbol)


Roger and Transformer :)


Me and my lovely roommates! Me, Diana (also my co-teacher) and Moony.


Love this kid! (Roger)

Bumblebee thinking hard!


Me and Anne


Bumblebee...he did not want a picture taken!
He looks like a trouble maker, but is one of the
smartest kids in our class and so much fun.


Jason on the right is my student, I don't remember the other's name...


Cute :)



"Survival Games"


Chaos in the gym



Teachers goofing around



Today was the last day of actual teaching! Tomorrow we will have some games and testing and other activities for the kids, then the following day we all pack up and head out. It seems like this camp took forever to pass. But now that its the end, it seems like it flew by! I am so in love with my students and had a lot of fun teaching, although I'm as tired as I have ever been. It might be a little sad to say goodbye to these kids that I've bonded with and been inspired by, but I still am looking forward to coming home :)

Here are the Korean words/phrases I've learned so far during my stay (if you speak Korean, please ignore the phonetic spelling and horrific pronunciation):
Annyong haseyo (hello) (or just 'Annyong' if you're talking to a child)
Kamsahamnida (thank you)
Bali Bali! (Hurry!)
Ne (yes-pronounced like 'nay')
Anyi (no)
Man gi gi ma (don't touch me)
Piyante (pervert)
Hua jang shil (bathroom)
Opa (brother-used by females to refer to any male older than themselves)
Oma (mom-used by my students in reference to me cooking in an apron)
Annyong hikaseyo (goodbye-if you are leaving the other person)
Annyong hikayseyo (goodbye-if you are the one staying)
Hapyang (put your hands together in front of your chest-prayer position at the temple)
Pambay (bow)
Otokay (I have no idea what it means, but hear it all the time)
Assa! (awesome!)
Nakshi! ("Just kidding!" Actually, more like "psych!")
Hull ("wow" or any other equivalent utterance of amazement/shock/surprise/excitement)
Aish (kind of like "oh my gosh")

Friday, August 12, 2011

Amy teacher!

I have a pretty amazing class of 12 year olds here at the Jeollanamdo English Camp in Damyang, South Korea. Here is who I have:

Jason-super smart and adorable
Roger-cutest kid ever. So tiny and fiesty and funny.
Transformer-trouble maker
Bumblebee-partner in crime to the above....
Soap-pretty quiet guy but so cute!
Sarah-sweet and smart and good sense of humor.
Kate-very smart girl!
Anne-suuuuper quiet and shy and scared at first, but now she's having more fun!
Nero-is disabled in some way (has a back brace) and the kids are mean to her :(
Hot Dog-ATTITUDE!
Sophia-tiiiiny little adorable girl
Jane-quiet, but apparently quite a complainer in Korean

My homeroom class enjoying their ham and cheese sandwiches!

My co-teacher, Yunhee (Diana is her English name), is amazing. She speaks English nearly perfectly, is so sweet and works hard. Some co-teachers don't want to do anything so don't really help teach at all. But Yunhee is always coming up with ideas and helping lead the class and steps in whenever she needs to. We work quite well together! And we make some dang good banana pancakes.

So we teach six 40-minute classes per day. There are 12 classes total, and they rotate through our room. We have three lessons, so every two days we teach a new lesson. My class is cooking, so the first lesson was ham and cheese sandwiches. Next up was banana pancakes, and tomorrow the cookies begin. The lessons are technically already planned for us, but we try to make it a little more interactive and interesting. So we came up with some games for the sandwich lesson (a race to put the recipe in the correct order-nine different steps). The banana pancakes take a little longer, so there isn't much time for games. But we did introduce some new vocabulary that the book didn't mention. Things like eggshell, banana peel, pour, crack (asking a class of twelve year olds to repeat the word "crack" over and over just seemed wrong....but they just know it in reference to eggs!). The cookie lesson tomorrow will have to be modified as well I'm sure, but we kind of just do it as we go and figure it out. The first few classes don't get as fun of lessons for that reason, but they still get yummy food!

The kids here are so great. They love our cooking class, which makes me happy! And they just have so much fun. I fell in love with a little girl from another class named Lolly. She sat next to me during the soccer game we watched the other night, and talked nonstop. Most kids avoid speaking in English whenever they can. So when I find a kid who actually wants to practice their English and who isn't afraid to make mistakes, I get so excited! She told her homeroom teacher after the game all about her conversation with me and now makes sure to talk to me whenever she sees me.

There is another girl named U-jin who I'm pretty sure speaks better English than I do. I don't know where she learned it or how she speaks so perfectly, but its quite impressive. She doesn't even have an accent! English is quite different from Korean, if you weren't aware. The kids have a really hard time distinguishing between "L" and "R" and also between "P" and "F." So the word "pour" might come out "four" and the word "stir" might sound like "still." My co-teacher is really good about catching that and making them say it right. But they only have one symbol for those letters, and it gets pronounced differently depending on where it falls in a word. They don't have words that end in an "r" sound, it would always be pronounced "l." So they have a hard time with that!

Besides the six classes we teach each day, there are multiple meetings with our homeroom class to just hang out, to write journals, to practice for their skit at the end of camp (my kids are singing "Summer Nights" from Grease. That's what they get for not picking a song on their own. I am SO EXCITED! They might not share that feeling...), or to give instructions for the day. We have our meal times where we eat with the kids. Then there are the evening activities. My class won the scavenger hunt last night, which I was super excited about. And I may have questioned another team's score and double checked it (resulting in two less points for them) in order to win.....but the kids were so happy!

The kids call me "teacher" or "Amy teacher" or "Amy." They live for stickers. Will choose a sticker over candy EVERY time if given the choice. I love it when they forget I am a silly American teacher and they bow to me in greeting. This is something they would have to do to a normal teacher, but sometimes out of habit they just do it to us. They have crazy long days and must be even more exhausted than me, but still have such good attitudes for the most part and just power through no matter what. They are fascinated with my height. Even more fascinated than American kids. They looove rock-paper-scissors (kai-bai-bo or something in Korean), but their version is quite violent and sometimes causes tears to be shed. And they are just adorable and so smart and goofy!

I think I'm more tired than I ever have been in my life! And talking to Ben makes me miss him a whole lot. And videos from my amazing roommate Megan make me miss my apartment and my roommates. And pictures of Sierra and the family make me miss everyone else! I am preeetttty ready to be back home. There are four more days of camp. Then 5 days of traveling. Then home sweet home! Nine days never seemed so long...

I am having a good time and am glad I had this opportunity! But five weeks is a long time to be working 13 hour days and be away from a boyfriend and missing things back home! I will come away from this trip with lots of memories and having learned a lot. But I will also come away with it ready to stay home for a while :) But can I bring home a dozen or so 12 year old Koren kids with me?

Monday, August 8, 2011

Monk-photos

Our lovely outfits waiting for us in our room.


And our lovely room!


Morning prayer-4am


No shoes allowed in the temple/dining room!


Inside the temple for morning prayer


Breakfast...


These guys take their breakfast seriously.


Gardening. Not by choice.


This symbol seems familiar for some reason....?


Beautiful hike with some monks.



And SWIMMING with the monks!


Tea meditation. Much better than regular meditation.





Sewing a handkerchief that we had previously dyed.
Please ignore how gross I look.



Some sort of ceremony. That turned into us being photographed
by visiting Korean women there to honor their ancestors.





Sometimes after a hard three days at a Buddhist temple,
you have to start drinking as soon as you get on the bus...




This is me ringing a bell. They let every single one of us come through and ring it. This is not normally something that foreigners do. They kind of doted on us hand and foot the whole time, I think they were super excited to have so many visitors. I think it must have been too loud because the sound cuts out when the bell actually gets hit. Also, what you think is feedback is probably the cicadas in the background. They are everywhere. And they are GIANT. And gross.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Bowing and dish water = Buddhist temple stay

If you are ever given a choice between spending three days at a beach in Korea or spending that time at a Buddhist temple, take my advice. Go to the beach for goodness sake.

Actually, the truth is, I wouldn't have traded the experience. But if you are looking for a relaxing time, a temple stay is anything but that. Here was our typical schedule:

3:30 am (yes, you read that right)-wake up call. You are woken up by a monk outside of your room hitting a bamboo stick.
4:00 am-prayer time in the temple. A monk sings/chants while hitting the bamboo stick some more and you have to bow a few dozen times. First in one direction, then in another.
4:30 ish am-108 prostrations of repentance. I will explain this in further detail a little later. Just know that this involves bowing. 108 times.
6:00 am-breakfast. Involving a very elaborate and structured routine. Also involving drinking the dish water.
7:30ish am-chores. Which meant weeding the pathways. And dealing with Korea's interesting insect life. And HOT SUN.
(this next time period was filled with either a break on the first day or dying fabric to make a handkerchief the next day)
noon-lunch. Monks are vegetarian. I was always hungry during this period because all I ate were vegetables. Although I did get some fruit which was nice!
(this time frame is a little hazy as I had already been up for nine hours. But one day I think we went for a hike/swim (WITH MONKS) during this time. Another day we finished making our handkerchiefs (who knew sewing a square would be so difficult for so many people!). And we also watched a ceremony celebrating ancestors/became an attraction for all visiting Korean elderly women at the temple during this time.)
late afternoonish (I told you things got a little hazy. don't ask for specifics here)-more prayer. more bowing.
eveningish-dinner. (these last two things could have been swapped in order. Or maybe there was prayer before AND after dinner. I have no idea).
9:00 lights out. Literally turned out by the monks. And all 20 of us ladies slept on the ground in one room. Next morning at 3:30 am, repeat.

The monks were amazing. They were so cute and had a great sense of humor and are just really lovely people. They were constantly taking photos of us and I'm pretty sure they'd never had this many whiteys at their temple at once before because they were all so fascinated!

We had to wear these lovely monk-y outfits. Which included some brown genie pants and a matching brown vest. I put on the first one I grabbed, which happened to be an extra large. And the pants were long enough if I sagged em a lot. Our translator, Zoe (her English name), told me after that the lady in charge of us was worried when she saw me that they wouldn't have anything to fit me. Welcome to my life. Anyway, it worked. She should have been more worried about Jose, who is 6'3" and almost 300 pounds (and is the one responsible for dislocating my shoulder, even if it was in no way his fault). I think he and I were wearing the same size outfit....something is not right about that.

Remember those 108 prostrations I mentioned? I'm sure you are dying to hear more about that. The point of this bowing is to clear your mind of all the 108 evils that can be there. Each bow is done in repentance of an evil, in gratitude for something, or as a vow of some sort. To see all 108 of these, go here. Some of them seem kind of silly ("I prostrate in repentance for having thought that only what I smelled/tasted/felt was right."). Others really make you think (especially because I didn't know what "avarice" meant and had to look it up-apparently it means "extreme greed"). Now, before you go and think that all we did was bow from the waist and listen to these words of repentance being spoken to us by a man's voice from a CD, I should explain the bowing process. You start on your feet, with your feet together. You then get down on your knees and sit on your heels. Then your hands go to the ground and your forehead touches the ground. Then you have to stand back up. Without using your hands. So you rest on your toes and your knees, then push yourself up to standing. Now repeat this 108 times. Right now, I dare you. Needless to say, I have sore quads. Then we had to sit and "meditate" for 20-45 minutes (depending on which monk was in charge...), which mostly consisted of me fidgeting like crazy because 1) my legs were tired from 108 bows and 2) I am incapable of sitting still for more than two minutes.

Anyway, the bowing ceremony was actually really cool. For each "repentance" that we bowed for, I turned it into a prayer for whatever it was. Praying for forgiveness for selfishness or lack of compassion, for help in using only kind words and for being aware of the beauty that surrounds me every day, to vow to never regress in practice (although they meant practice of Buddhism, I turned it into practice of my faith in Christ!). So after 108 quick prayers and 108 squats, I was feeling pretty good! Until the meditation time, as mentioned before.

I should mention, Buddhists do not believe in a god, technically. So the bowing in this religion is not done in worship of anything, it is done to clear the mind. They are all about awareness of every moment, so they want their minds to be clear of any thoughts not pertaining to the present moment. So they bow to focus and to remind themselves that they are wanting to attain the status of Buddha, or of complete enlightenment and happiness. An interesting concept, and while I do think that it is good to try to focus on the current moment and to clear your mind of any unnecessary, unhealthy, or impure thoughts, I'm not sure that bowing repeatedly is the only way to do that (although it is hard to think of anything else while you are doing that!)

Breakfast is an interesting ritual here at the Seonamsa Temple. First, you get a set of four bowls which are all tied up nicely with napkins and other cloth...things. Then you have to untie them, put the napkin on your right, the utensils on top of that, the towel on top of those, then the ribbon-y thing on top of everything else. Then you unfold the place mat and put the bowls on the bottom left corner. You then remove the smallest bowl from inside the big bowl and place it above the big bowl on the placemat. Then the next bowl goes on the bottom right. The last bowl goes on the top right and the spoon and chopsticks go in that. Sound confusing? Just you wait. And remember that this is happening at 6 am after you've already been awake for a few hours. Okay, now you've got your "table" (you are sitting on a cushion on the ground-no table involved) set. Then someone comes along and ceremoniously pours hot water into the biggest bowl. You have to move your bowl from side to side to tell the pourer when you have enough water. (Note: do this quickly or else you will have a lot of water. You will see later why this is bad). Next comes the food. Someone serves you some rice, then some soup broth. Then a tray comes and you can serve your own kimchi, seaweed sheets, soup and radishes (everyone must take at least one radish and save it until the end to clean with. Just go with me on this.). Then you eat. And you have to eat at a good pace-too quickly and you will look like a pig and too slowly and you will have too much food left over when its cleaning time. Next is cleaning time. After eating every single tiny crumb you can scrape up (with chopsticks...this is no easy task), you are served some rice water in the largest bowl. Again, move the bowl from side to side quickly so you don't have too much water. Then you plop the radish in the water and scrape the bowl with it to clean it. Who knew pickled radish was so handy! After scraping up all the food particles in one bowl, you pour the hot rice water and radish into the next bowl. Rinse and repeat. After all four bowls are cleaned, you will most likely have some food particles floating around. Because this rice is STICKY and leaves residue no matter how much you try to scrape it off. Next up you drink the rice water. With all food particles in it. Then, remember the water you were first served before getting food? That goes in the largest bowl next. More scraping with the radish. At this point, all the food should be gone because you should have drank it down with the rice water. But occasionally it doesn't all get cleaned. Or you don't drink it fast enough and so the particles stick to the side of the bowl after you've drank the rice water. If you have no food left in your bowl, you just get to dump the water into a bucket. If you DO have food particles left (and I mean PARTICLES. Like, little floating specs of....gummy rice residue), you also have to drink THAT water. And if your group has food left in the bucket after pouring your water out, because they didn't drink it like they were supposed to, then the water gets shared among all those in your group. Done? Now wipe down your bowl and put it back on the shelf. No
actual dish washing occurs here. Alright, now breakfast is done! Time for chores....!

There were a lot of mosquitoes there. And no air conditioning. And you eat on the floor. And sleep on the floor. And do everything else sitting on the floor. And take communal showers, only one of which has hot water. And WAKE UP AT 3:30 AM. But it was an experience I wouldn't have traded! One thing that I really came away with was realizing how much dedication most religions require of their followers. Getting up super early, bowing, prayer rituals...many religions have these kinds of things as requirements. It just made me realize that as Christians we can easily become lazy followers. Go to church when we feel like it, pray when we need to, maybe wear a cross around our necks or carry a Bible in our cars. All these things are good, don't get me wrong. But why can't we be as dedicated as followers of other religions? Why can't I make it a point to pray and repent daily? To spend as much time reading my Bible as a monk does bowing every day (it only took about 25 minutes to do the 108 prostrations)? The Buddhist people have some great practices and wonderful attitudes. I may not believe what they do or agree with their ideas of heaven/hell/life/God, but I can still come away from this experience inspired and motivated to become a Christian with maybe a bit of a Buddhist attitude. Work at it, spend time devoted to my faith and not just be a lazy follower of Jesus. Also I will make it a goal to repe
nt "to all sentient beings that I have harmed or killed for entertainment or pleasure." (Tell that to the dragonflies in your fans and the mosquitoes and flies on your bug tape, MONKS.).


I will add a "photo blog" post of this trip soon. Once I get the photos on my computer....which may take a while as the new group of kids arrived today (yikes!) and I have a class now (yay!) which means I will be crazy busy wrangling the "Tranformer"s and "Hot Dog"s and "Soap"s of my class!