Home Sweet Home

A brief synopsis of my vacation in the States:

• Birthday burgers with the Bucklew clan, all 15 of us
• making Vietnamese food with my best bud and sis
• shopping shopping shopping, since I only brought one pair of pants and one shirt home
• Ben's 30th birthday
• running around Raleigh trying to see all my friends and not getting enough time with any of them
• Getting to meet and rub on my favorite baby bump in the world!
• Teaching old church ladies about getting lei'd
• 20 hour kamikaze drive to WV with my sis for only a few hours of visiting
• Showing Jen and Bec the kind of 'shit' Korean kids learn
• Buying G'ma slutty hot pants
• Stealing a kiss from an old friend
• Meeting the newest and bluest (eyed) member of the Franzese clan
• Meeting the mini-Mercer man
• Wally world to buy all the swag for my Korean peeps
• and Food. Glorious, vast, copious amounts of fattening, delicious, tear inducing, gut gorging fooooooood!!!!

Korean Men Wear Manties!

Korean men wear manties! All of them!

The "boxers vs. briefs" debate ceases to exist here. There are no boxers or briefs, unless you count the above picture as a brief. Men here prefer bikini underwear which come in a variety of prints: Butterflies (like above) leopard, zebra, red silk, etc.

Now, I have no problem with men having a little fun and going a little wacky with the undergarments, hell, I think it's entertaining. However, it's just one more thing that bugs me here. In my "I miss sex" post earlier this month, I touched on how men are overtly cute here... and I don't mean that in a good way.

If I've learned nothing else about myself while living in Korea, I have learned this: I like masculine men. There I said it. I like a guy who is a little rough around the edges, one who actually has 5 o'clock shadow by the end of the day, someone who actually gets dirty from time to time and whose arm muscles are actually bigger than mine.

And even as adorable as I find my co-teacher, Dong-Uk, he is just that... adorable. Anytime I try to have a conversation with him he spends half the time covering his face, giggling in embarrassment, over the most mundane topics. And it's not just him. It's a cultural thing. Most Koreans are culturally shy. Even my "outgoing" coworkers who hit on me on a regular basis end up giggling and literally running away when I talk to them. I miss confidence. I miss that cockiness that for some reasons Americans just seem to be born with.

Men really play up to the cultural cuteness here. There is one commercial that I see 100 times a day that drives me crazy. The male actor, while pitching his product, is playing coy. Similar to the way you know when a woman is flirting... batting his eyelashes, tilting his head back, finger in his mouth, then covers his mouth as he giggles and collapses his shoulders downward. This commercial makes me want to scream, "Man up, damnit!!"

This totally confuses me. I've never been into jocks, or jarheads, or meatheads or any kind of macho tough guy before. But a few weeks ago, at Mud-fest, it might as well have been called Meat-fest! There were foreign men everywhere. Big ones, towering over me, with big man muscles and you could feel the testosterone in the air. My girlfriends and I were like kids in a candy store!!!

On my first day teaching at my middle school I was asked to stand up in front of the faculty and introduce myself. Afterwards, they had a few questions for me.

#1: Q: Are you married?
A: No.
#2: Q: How do you feel about dating Korean men?
A: Uuuuhhhh.....

At the time, that was an accurate answer. I was indifferent. Neither for nor against the idea. Now I'm sorry to say that I'm not really interested.

Unless... you are talking about my hunky hunky Korean crush (me and about every other female in Asia) Lee Byung Hun. Mmmmmm. (Go check out the new G.I. Joe movie to get a taste of the manliest man in Korea! God love him!)

No Boobs? No Butt? No Problem!

After spending most of this month in transit, either crashing on friends' floors or staying in Korean motels, that are little more than an empty room with a few blankets in the corner, I have discovered the evolutionary reason as to why Korean women have very little when it comes to boobs, butts, and hips...   Sleeping.

As a society that sleeps primarily on the floor, with little or no padding under them, having curvy woman parts is an absolute handicap.  Having any one of the aforementioned girly bits is quite a hinderance but having all three is complete torture!

If you lay on  your back your butt prevents you from laying flat causing you to get a kink in your spine, you can roll over to your side but your hip is going to take all the pressure and dig into the floor and good luck trying to breathe when lying on your stomach with all the pressure on your chest! 

Though, after sleeping on the floor for the vast majority of July, I am starting to get used to it.   One of the places where I often sleep, and is one of the most comfortable, is on Anastasia's floor...  Though she thinks the comfort level of her floor has more to do with my level of intoxication when I'm staying over rather than the actual feeling of her floor. 

... hmmm.  Very possible.

  Korean motel room on Ulleungdo Island

I Miss Sex!

In America, sex sells.  

In Korea, that's not the case.  Cute sells.  

Every commercial, tv show, and K-pop band is pumped full of doe-eyed, innocent looking, brightly dressed, giggling personalities. 

Case in point:  Girls Generation.   A huge K-pop band here. 

 

When I arrived here in Korea, their smash-hit "Gee" was playing from every store and restaurant, not to mention every kid's ipod.  The song was unavoidable.... and tranquilizing due to the fact that is song is so damn catchy it almost makes you catatonic. 

However, I was blown away when I saw the video for "Gee".  First, the sheer number of them... there are 9!  Secondly, there isn't an ounce of flesh, or smidge of silicone that can be seen in the video.  

The closest American girl group counterpart that I could come up with is the Pussycat Dolls.  Even the name oozes with sex.  Not to mention they are bursting with enhanced girly bits, their songs are about removing their clothes, and watching a video is basically like being in a strip club in your own living room.

And damn I miss that!

I'm so tired of being killed with cuteness!  Every commercial, every show, every time... cute cute cute!  I'm around 800 little kiddies a week, I get all the cute I can handle then!

I miss the raunchiness of American tv.  I miss things being overtly sexual and downright inappropriate just for the shock value.  I miss sex!!

What's even more annoying is that even men play up to the cute factor here in Korea.  It's nauseating and somewhat disturbing....

...Oh, but I'll save that blog for another day.

Cha-Cha-Changes...

Something odd is going on here.

I keep noticing myself doing odd little things.

Like today for instance, at lunch I was eating my soup ( I've already been suckered back into eating Korean lunches) and I looked down and noticed my left hand was participating! Who invited her to the party?!?

I'm using my spoon with my right hand (as usual) but notice my left hand picking up hunks of (unidentified) meat with chopsticks and placing it on my spoon! Wow, when did I learn that trick? Hmmm... congratulations lefty, you are purely decorative no more!

And in the same meal I noticed another freaky phenomenon! I took one bite of my soup and thought it was too bland... so I scooped spoonful after spoonful of hot red pepper paste into my bowl!

WTF? Me and spicy? No way man. Never saw that one coming!

I've also developed a Korean attitude towards elevators. Normally, I would get in, push the floor button and wait for the door to close. Koreans and incredibly impatient. They get in, hit the floor button, and immediately and repeatedly hit the 'door close' button.

I've noticed that now when I get in the elevator I push the "12" button then start jamming my finger on those two little arrows that point towards each other, even though there is only a 2 second difference between pushing it and just waiting for the door to close.

And living out in the sticks has made me lose all my patients for traffic. I was in Daegu last week and was sitting in traffic in a cab for just a few min and wanted to pull my hair out!

How am I going to readjust to being back home??? I'm actually getting nervous about going home. That feels odd. I wasn't neverous to come here but I have serious butterflies about going back.

Hmmm... but it will be nice to drive a car again!

26, 27, 28...

Once again, the first week of July is upon us and my twenties are rapidly approaching their end.

Thus far, my twenties have been spent finding myself.

... and damn it, I've looked everywhere!!!  Where the hell am I already?!?

This year I find myself in Korea... next year.... anyone's guess.  Maybe I'll throw another dart at a globe, seems to be working so far!

Kill 'Em With Kindness... Or Candy, Which Ever Is Easier!

Today is my birthday!

I'm not a big birthday person. Never really have been. Generally my birthday comes and goes and I don't alert many people to the occasion.

Today in my 4th grade class a girl was brave enough to approach me before we started.

"Hello, how are you today Bituhne" she said.
"I'm very good, thanks. And you...?"
"I'm happy." she replied.
"Do you know what today is?" I said.

She looked at me with a blank stare and mouth wide open. I knew what she was thinking... "oh crap... we haven't rehearsed this. She's talking to me and I don't know what she's saying..."

"Do you know what today, Seven/ Seven, is?" I said again.
Still just staring at me, she looks even more confused now.

"It's my birthday." I said.
"Bituhne burrsday?!?" she squealed! Partly delighted that she understood me and partly because I would share that information with her. "OOOh, happy burrsday!"
She ran over and whispered to some of her friends. They all perked up and started pointing and whispering.

"Do you like cake?" The little girl said.
"Yes, I like cake"
"Do you like... uuuummm... gifts?" she said.
"Yes, I like cake and gifts."

Then it was time for class to start. Those little girls smiled at me all class like I had shared a special secret with them. It was very cute!

After class, those little girls came into my office, giggling nervously, during the break.

"Bittuuhne.... Happy Burrsday!" and they pulled out a little cake (a gift!) that was made out of clay. It's decorated with clay carrots and kiwi (I think). It actually made my day (thus far anyway!)

Then at lunch (which this week I officially stopped eating in the cafeteria!!) there was a package on my desk! From my grandma, aunts, cousins, parents... Filled with all kinds of fattening treats and goodies! So much for eating right!

There was no way I could eat all those goodies on my own and still fit into my pants, so I decided to take them to my after school class.   

I loathe my after school class! I teach it on my own and the students run a muck. They own me. It's out of control, they run out of the class, crawl around on the floor. I refuse to beat them or even yell at them and they know this so there is a total disregard for everything I try to do. I dread going to that class... and to make it better, it used to be once a week, now it's twice! Yippie!

They really don't deserve the candy, but I needed to share it with someone. I always offer stuff to my co-teachers and they take it but sometimes they eat it and sometimes they don't. Which makes me giggle because now you know how I feel having gooey rice and bean cakes shoved in my face all the time.

Some of those little girls in my 4th grade class are in my after school class so when I walked in today the whole class of 9 year old monsters broke into the English rendition of "Happy Birthday To You!" Apparently it's one of the only songs they know in English! I was actually touched. One little girl scribbled something in Korean on the board. I had no idea what it said, but judging from the topic of conversation, I pointed to it and said, "Happy Birthday".

All the kids mouths dropped open and they all started squealing.   

I guessed right! From my limited Korean vocabulary I could understand them saying "oooh, she reads Korean!" They are always amazed and delighted when I say things in Korean.

The kids were up to their normal antics: fighting, cell phone video games, hiding under desks, umbrella jousting, etc. Then I pulled out the chocolate cadbury eggs and the box of Mike and Ike's.

"Do you want candy?" I said pointing to the boxes.
"Yyyyyyeessssss! Give me candy!!!!" they started screaming.
I wrote the time class was over on the board and explained, in more hand gestures than words, that if you listen to me, you get candy when class is over. If not.... NO CANDY! They shut right up! This class exhausts me and it's the last week of after school classes this semester, so I've given up and resorted to only playing hangman. I've started writing phrases on a piece of paper and let them run the game (so at least I feel like one or two students will be doing something constuctive.)

They were as good as gold today! No one spoke out of turn, no one ran away, there was no blood on the floor... nothing! I'm not one for bribes, but next semester.... I'm bribing these monsters with candy every week!!!

And the day just kept getting better!  I went to dinner with Marica (a fellow North Carolinian, Charlotte actually) and we stuffed ourselves full of bulgogi and galbi (sliced beef and marinated pork) 

After dinner we were just sitting there, on the floor, talking and a man came up to us and picked our bill up off the table.  "This .... I will pay" he said.   Marica and I were confused.   "Why?" we asked.  "Because I'm Korean" he said.  

Fair enough!

I don't think he realized we had ordered at least 4 servings of meat!  Oh well!    Then when I made it home,  the little old man security guard stopped me at the elevator.   He came running out of his little security closet and muttered something at me and handed me a box.

Inside the box was a cake and a note that said, "Happy Birthday Britne!  Always Thank You, Min-Jung, Dong-Uk, Young-Jin"   awwww.  My co-teachers came by with a cake when I wasn't here!  

I threw myself a little birthday party and had some cake!  

It was a great day!

Bike Ride

Okay, I know it's a little shaky... but you try holding a camera while riding a bike down bumpy Korean roads!

I started and ended at my apartment.  It usually takes about an hour or so... but I did some serious editing!

Nice Knockers!

Goal #2

By the time I leave, I want to be able to wear Korean lingerie. They have the cutest little frilly lingerie and unfortunately, nothing comes bigger than an A cup.

I can do it!

Daily Life in Korea

Here is my routine..

5:30am- wake up. Hit snooze. Repeat.

6:45am- snooze is now broken... disassemble battery from alarm clock while still asleep.

7:15am- wake up in a panic wondering why my alarm never went off. Turn on water heater.

7:20am- jump into the shower.

7:35am- squeegy the puddles from the floor into the floor drain

7:40am- get ready for school

8:15am- shove a scoop of peanut butter down my throat (try to convince myself that it's actually a decent breakfast)

8:20am- run out the door. Curse at the elevator for taking so long. Power walk to school.

8:33am- Arrive at school. Only 3 minutes late, hell, that's practically on time!

9:00am- Start classes. Repeat the words: Hi, Hello, Hello, Hi, Hi, Hi, Bye, Hello, Hello, Hi, Hello, about a million times. Sing the damn ABC song just as many times.

12:20pm- Lunch. Push rice around my plate with chopsticks. Try to hide octopus and squid in my soup bowl so no one notices I didn't eat anything.

1:20pm- back to class. Repeat the following phrases over and over: No, I don't speak Korean...Yes, I live at Chong Ho too... No, I don't remember my phone number. (because that's what I need... 4th graders texting me all night long.)

2:20pm- After school classes. Try my damnedest to wrangle these kids who would rather be anywhere but here. Give up and play hangman until their hearts content.

3:30pm- Sit at my desk. Stare aimlessly at the clock. Write silly little blogs and check facebook 350 times.

4:30pm- Walk home. Wave to the people leaning out the hospital windows smoking cigarettes. Stop by the little market and pick up a few veggies and something to drink.

4:50pm- Wash my hands repeatedly. Damn germy little vermon! Must not get sick again!!!

5:00pm- Head out to the trails... running, biking, anything to clear my head.

6:30pm- Come home and shower. Forget that I opened the corridor window earlier and now all my neighbors can see me naked. Hmmm... rig up some contraption so I can keep the window open without people seeing in.

7:00pm- Paint, watch tv, think about what to eat for dinner.

8:00pm- Cook dinner. Usually involving chicken, onions, greenpeppers and garlic (those are the veggies my little market sells!)

10:30pm- Get on Skype and talk to my mom and sis... and anyone else that drops by my mom's house!

11:00pm- Watch episode after episode of CSI.... catch Man vs. Wild if I'm super lucky!

2:00am- Curse at myself for being a tv junkie and force myself to go to bed!

Repeat 5x a week...

except on Wednesdays. That involves me taking a bus 30 min outside town and repeating the phrase "No punching, fighting, kicking, hitting...."

Koreanized: If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em!

Today I was proud of myself.

At lunch, I managed to bone and skin a piece of fish, using chopsticks - with one hand! Even Koreans sometimes use two hands when trying to eat fish (one chopstick in each hand pulling the meat from the bones.) Even more impressive was the perfect little fish skeleton that was left on my tray.

I wish I had brought my camera to lunch.

Last week I had dinner with some Korean teachers from another school and the Head of the Yeongcheon Education Office.

The head guy, Mr. Hwang, looks across the tiny little table we are sitting at and says, "Buck-lew, you have become Koreanized." Mr. Hwang is the only person in Korea who knows my last name, let alone calls me by it.

The reason I have become "Koreanized" to 

Mr. Hwang is because while loading up my lettuce wrap with barbecued pork, he saw me throw in a few CLOVES of garlic. Koreans eat garlic like it's a vegetable that stands alone, not like it's a spice like the way we westerners use it. I love garlic, the only thing that prevents me from eating more of it at home is that it makes you smell like garlic.

Everyone here smells like garlic... so screw it! Bring on the funk!

Teacher's Pet? or... Teacher Gets Pet?

Well, it took 4 months.

My 4th grade girls finally discovered my hair today.

I teach after school classes on Mondays and Tuesdays. Today we played "Go Fish". Two weeks ago I taught them animal names. Last week we made animal cards that they drew themselves. This week I taught them how to play "Go Fish". They picked it up immediately, and to my delight, they loved it!

Unfortunately, the classroom we are usually in was locked. So I found a big round table in some random knook and we played there. As each kid finished their hand, they would go around the table and help other students. After a while I started to notice all the girls were behind me. Then I noticed 4 little pairs of hands "accidentally" pulling strands of my hair. Then it became 8 little hands feeling big chunks of my hair, and within moments it was fully on beauty parlor!

The little girls would run their palms over my hair and go, "Ooooohhhohhh" at the texture. I'm not a big fan of being rubbed or touched by strangers. (It happens to me an awful lot here)... but, people messing with my hair, well that I'm not going to stop! And they aren't exactly strangers. They are my students, and some of them I almost recognize when i pass them in the halls!

So knock yourselves out ladies, go nuts! And while your at it, whose going to rub teacher's feet?

Korean Compliments

Though always indirect, I always find Kim Dong Uk's compliments to be genuine and sincere.

KDU: Britne, do you have a date tonight?
BB: What? Um, no. Why?
KDU: Because of the way you look.
BB: Are you saying I look nice today?
KDU: Yes. (then covers his blushing face and walks away)

Another good example of a Kim Dong Uk compliment:

KDU: (Staring at me from across the desk) Your eyes got bigger.
BB: What?
KDU: Your eyes, they are bigger than before.
BB: Are you trying to say that I've lost weight?
KDU: Yes.

I really like this, slightly lost in translation, method of giving someone a compliment. It's not overdone, it's not embellished, it is what it is. They could be misconstrued as backhanded compliments.... but I don't see them that way. I like the brutal honestly of it because at least I know they aren't bullshit.

Transgendered Fruit

I want tomatoes to go back into the veggie category!

I know, I know... they are technically a fruit. Yes, they were born a fruit but they identify with vegetables so much better. They are tart, not sugary sweet, and they should never be on top of your ice cream or other desserts, so therefore they are a veggie!

Koreans love tomatoes. They are included in every social gathering. They'll present you with plates of watermelon, apples, pineapple, oranges and cherry tomatoes. Don't get me wrong, I love tomatoes, I put them on everything (sans dessert) but I'm tired of being force fed plateful after plateful of cherry tomatoes!

Shop Till You Drop-Kick Someone!

I hate shopping in Korea.

That's not such a bad thing though.  It has kept me from spending very much money.  

Korea must have a very low unemployment rate... when you are in a store, every rack of clothes has a sales associate waiting for you.  

Even in the US, I'm the kind person who likes to be left alone when I'm shopping.  I appreciate when they ask if I need anything, but once I've said no thanks it drives me nuts when they hover.  So being in a store, where every 5 feet another person is standing over my shoulder as I browse, drives me crazy.  If you look at something longer than just a fleeting glance, they will yank it off the rack and present it to you in a very, The Price is Right, kind of spokesmodel way. 

I hate it.

What's even more annoying is when I do find something I like.  I take my potential purchase to the fitting room lady, and then this is always the next scenario:

Lady looks at me,

Lady looks at the dress,

Lady looks at me, 

Lady looks at the dress,

Lady looks at me,

Lady flips the dress inside out searching for the tags...

Uhhhg.  So frustrating and such a blow to your ego!    I'm always thinking, "I know I'm twice the size of the emaciated little people that usually shop here, but I swear that dress is the right size!"  Luckily, I've yet to be proven wrong.  The clothes always fit and it does make me feel good that I can actually fit into these itty bitty Korean sizes.

But I hate shopping here!

The worst moments are the best memories

Sometimes when I think back on my life, it plays like a movie in my head, not like my own life.

The places I've been, the people I've met, the things I've done - all chance events haphazardly occurring throughout my life, with no clear rhyme or reason.

It all goes by in the flash on an instant. I desperately try to slow it all down, and to some degree I've been able to. When I travel, I remember more of my life. I can't name 5 things I did in my last 6 months in the US, but I can recall how I've spent every weekend and most weekdays of my time here. My philosophy is: If I remember more of my life, then I've lived more of my life.

But sometimes I get so wrapped up in the now that I forget to savor the insignificant moments. I have to make a conscious effort to step back and let all my senses take over, to absorb everything around me: the good, the bad, the incredible, the uncomfortable, all of them. Even the worst situations eventually become the most vivid scenes in my mental movie.

One of my fondest memories of my time in Mali was the night i was incredibly ill. The heat was sweltering, the humidity thick, sweat was pouring off my face, I was hovering over a nyegen so weak I could hardly stand, while cockroaches crawled all over my feet... At the time, I was in hell.  But I got through it and could even laugh about it the next morning and now, I can't believe how lucky I was just to be there.  I remember every moment, every feeling from that night.

I try to remind myself of that here in Korea.

After work I've been hiking through the mountains of Yeongcheon, trying to release some pent up frustration. Instead of just blazing through the trails as fast as possible, which was my original goal, I've been veering off the path and exploring old tombs that overlook the city, reminding myself to just breathe it all in... Feel the sun, remember how the flowers smell, listen to the sounds of Korea.... it will all be over so fast.

... someday I'll miss all this.

Funky Fish Food

About two weeks ago I went to Gumi, about an hour west of my town, to have a much needed girls night out!

We started at a little coffee/ ice cream shop/ spa. The spa part of it was called "Dr. Fish". It's just a small tub in the back of the shop with a bunch of fish in it. You sit on the side of the tub and stick your feet in the water and the fish will eat the dead skin off your feet!!

Of course... we all had to try it!! And OH MY GOD did it tickle!!!!! I'm freakishly ticklish anyway, so I could hardly sit there without wiggling and giggling.

After Dr. Fish we went to a local Hookah bar and indulged in wine and cheese, tobacco and girl talk! It was fantastic!!

"W-O-W"... it's fun being out with the girls! I love the cheesiness of Korea! Wait.... that's just me being cheesy in Korea. My mistake! Then around midnight we wandered to a Norebang bar (Karaoke in Japan) and we belted out tunes from the cheesiest pop songs we could think of!

Norebang is not for the faint at heart, or the weak... particularly the tambourining! Especially if you've been drinking heavily. I've had bruises for two weeks! Ouch!

I believe this was Journey's "Open Arms" and the one below was probably something like the Spice Girls. Who knows!

We left Norebang around 3am and went to some local Expat bars. I finally made it back to Anastasia's apartment (wearing shoes I'd never seen before! Don't know who they belonged to) around 5:30 am. I had to be up and at least pretending to be sober by 8am to attend my sister's college graduation... via webcam! Yes, my family sat through the whole ceremony with an open laptop just so I could watch!

It was a great weekend! I can't wait to do it again!

Stop and smell the Roses

It's one of those things I always assumed I did, but now that they are everywhere I've noticed that I actually do it... I stop, everytime, and smell the roses.

It's one of those little things that's nice to discover about yourself.

No matter where I'm going, what I'm doing or how late I am; when I see a pretty rose, I stop and breathe it in.

While I'm in Korea

Goal #1:

Get Healthy.

Mind - Body - and Spirit.

Hmmm, I think all three are easier said than done... but I'm trying.

Today was a great day

I really needed today.

Though the frustrations of culture shock are finally weaning, I still end up with a lot of pent up frustration in my day to day life.  However, today was a breath of fresh air.   Literally.

Will and I decided to go hiking today.  He took me to Eunhaesa Temple, on the outskirts of Yeongcheon.  It's a holiday weekend and the parking lot was full when we got there. Will didn't want to look for a parking spot, so in a move that was straight out of the Britne playbook, he drove up to the gate and told the guard he had an appointment with a monk, and in we drove.

We parked next to Eunhaesa Temple.  It's a large and famous temple here in Korea.  We bypassed the temple and started heading up the mountain.  Will wanted to take me to an obscure little temple deep in the mountains.  It's a place he used to go when he was younger.    We hiked the 3.5k up to the temple (whose name I can't remember.)

  

It was so nice to be in the mountains.  I'm a mountains girl, always have been.  I'll choose a day lost in the mountains over a day at the beach every time.  Being in the woods was strangely familiar:  the feeling, the smells, the sounds; it was just like being back home.  It was a perfect day today, sunny and warm, but you could feel the damp coolness of the forest as you climbed up.  It smelled like Appalachia with comforting scents of Pine trees and Azalea blossoms.  It was such a calming and peaceful walk, listening to mountain streams and birds chirping.

I was a little worried about not being able to keep up.  I haven't gone hiking in a long time and I'm really out of shape.  But not to worry, Will's a smoker.  I had no problem keeping up with him!

The air seemed clean today.  Maybe it was because I was deep in the mountains.  Maybe it was just a freak day.  Either way, I couldn't get enough.  I sucked in as much air as I could.  I couldn't breathe deep enough.  I just wanted to stand there and breathe all day.  

It was a long, steep hike to the small temple, and I was dripping with sweat by the time we got to the top... and it felt great!  I love the heat.  I love the feeling of being drenched in sweat, I associate that feeling with a lot of good memories... mostly of traveling.

Will showed me around the temple.  It was a tiny little temple at the top of the mountain.  It was quiet and peaceful it was very.... buddhist.  Will took me to Buddha to pray.  We took off our shoes and entered the main temple building.

We grabbed two mats and put them on the floor.  Will showed me how to pray.  Bowing, kneeling on the floor, and then standing back up... repeated 3 times.  Afterwards we sat there in silence.  It was so peaceful.  Only the two of us, sitting under the alter fixated on the golden Buddha, sweat pouring off of my skin while I sat in that hot little room that was filled with the sweet smell of incense.  I wanted to sit there all day.