Happy New Years from sweaty 40 C Melbourne!!

Hello all,

I just wanted to write and wish a very happy New Years to all our friends and family all over the place! While we will be some of the first bringing in 2008 from Federation Square in Melbourne tonight, we will definitely have other timezones and loved ones on our minds tomorrow!

We have just returned home from beautiful breezy Ocean Grove this afternoon, which is where we took a 3-day holiday with the Kienhuis family after our Christmas/Boxing Day festivities. This beautiful beach town reminded me of both Santa Barbara, California, and Door County, Wisconsin, and was a great look into Australian holidays– filled with wonderful days on the beach, gorgeous skyscapes, colorful coastlines, barbies and good times with Emily’s generous family!… And maybe a bit of sunburn…

The Kienhuis’ have been incredibly wonderful! Such amazing welcoming people! Everyday, I think about know lucky we are to be in the present moment and hope that we aren’t being much of a bother for them! Aussie life is great, especially when we have such thoughtful and fantastic tour guides!

Off to brave the Melb heat for some world music festivities tonight!

-Anne

Mushies on the Barbie

We arrived in Sydney four days ago and immediately everything felt perfect- no more language barrier, no more hats and mittens, and it stays light here until at least 9pm!After exploring the city for 3 days, we took the night train to Melbourne (on the south-eastern coast of Australia) to stay with the family of one of Anne’s friends for Christmas Eve through New Years Day. They welcomed us with open arms, feeding us kangaroo meat on the grill (or “barbie”), “heaps” of wine, and vegemite (very salty spread that is used like we use peanut butter- smells awful). The most surprising thing that I have found about Australia (besides the idea of spending the day after Christmas at the beach) is that a language barrier, or at least language picket fence, does exist between the States and Australia. Someone will say “Does anyone want any snags on the barbie?” and Anne, Julie, and I will look at them blankly, not having any idea that the question translates to “Does anyone want any sausages on the grill?”.

Christmas Eve was also very different that anything that we have ever experienced. Ten of us piled into a few cars to go to a nearby Catholic Church for the 6pm mass, dressed in short-sleeved shirts and sunglasses, as the sun would not set for a few more hours (not even close to the attire that we wear in Wisconsin on Christmas Eve). When we entered the church, it was immediately evident that we wouldn’t be able to find a place to sit- hundreds of people filled the church, including the extra chairs set up behind the altar and people standing in the aisles and spilling out into the sunny evening air from the side doors that had been opened, but could no longer close due to all of the people in the church.

The church service started and all of a sudden we were overwhelmed by the number of children in the building. Children were running across the front stage of the church, perched on their fathers’ shoulders, and crawling through the aisles- the constant crying and talking was incredible, but also very energizing. The priest, clearly a seasoned family-Christmas-service priest, just smiled and went on with his readings, as little girls with angel halos bounced around in front of him and little boys carrying toy trucks ran up and down in front of the altar. However, despite the chaos, the readings went on, the singing continued, and in the church lit brightly with the outside sun and the laughing of the children, I think it was impossible for people to feel anything but joy for life, friends, and family.

After the service, we came home for a quick dinner on the barbie (including mushrooms, hence “mushies on the barbie”) and then, in true Australia fashion, went to a pub for the rest of the night. Again, very different from the United States, Christmas Eve is a night to go to the pub with friends, before spending all of Christmas Day with your family…
I do miss the magical feeling that comes with seeing snow on Christmas morning and opening presents under the tree next to a cozy fire in the fireplace with family, but if I had to choose a different way to celebrate Christmas, I think the Australians have come up with a pretty good alternative.

Merry Christmas!

-Luthien

Golgulsa Temple Stay

An image for you: We board a bus numbered 100/150 at the Gyeongju bus terminal in South Korea. Armed with minimal directions we tell the bus driver “Golgulsa?” He’s a jolly seeming man who nods vigorously and kind of bounces up and down in his seat while saying something we can’t understand in Korean. He then smiles and waves us onto the bus. We grab seats in the middle of the bus and it soon takes off. Thankfully this driver is pretty good and doesn’t seem to run red lights or honk angrily at anything in the way as most other buses do. The next instructions we have written down tell us to take this bus for 40-45 minutes until we reach a three-way intersection stop called Andong. The bus is now stuffed full, largely with older Korean woman talking away. We stare out the window as we leave the city and head out into the beautiful, mountainous countryside. We come to a stop that we think might be ours (it’s the first three-way intersection we’ve seen and the timing’s about right), and all get up to get off, asking “Andong?” to the people around us. They shake their heads and smile and wave for us to sit down. A very old woman enthusiastically pats the seat next to her and pulls me down into it. She then proceeds to chat with me in Korean. I smile and try to nod my head at appropriate times. Now the entire front of the bus seems to want to help us get to Andong. The next stop comes up (it’s also a three-way intersection, there are a lot of them as it turns out) and we again get up to look around. Six ladies’ hands fly up in the seats in front of us, waving in near unison for us to wait. We can’t actually see their heads while sitting down since the bus seats are so high. This happens several more times until we do reach our stop. At this point there is much talking and waving, this time urging us to get off the bus. The lady next to me gently pushes me out of the seat and on my way. We say thank you many times to the women as we leave the bus to their goodbyes. It was definitely one of those moments of extreme kindness and nonverbal connection that you hope to find in your travels.

The purpose of the bus trip was to take us (Anne, my friend Kate who is teaching English in Korea, and me) to Golgulsa, a Zen Buddhist temple nestled into the valley of a mountain in the southeast of the country. The word Golgulsa means stone Buddha temple and it was originally built into the rock mountain side in the 6th century. The temple contains a large sculpted Maya Tathagata Buddha and twelve rock caves; it is also the only rock cave temple in Korea. Today the caves still exist and each has a shrine used by the monks, but most of the temple activity takes place in several traditional style Korean Buddhist buildings. Golgulsa is also the world headquarters for Sunmudo. Rather than self defense, Sunmudo is actually a combination of Zen yoga, martial arts, and gymnastics, and it is a way to attain enlightenment through harmonizing the body, mind, and breath. Practitioners use Sunmundo to enter a state of spiritual concentration, samadhi, and ultimately nirvana.

Our agenda for the stay was this:

17:30 – Dinner

19:00 – Chanting

19:30 – Sunmudo Training

22:00 – Bed

4:00 – Wake Up

4:30 – Chanting

5:00 – Sitting Zen/Meditation

5:30 – Walking Meditation

6:30 – Breakfast

8:30 – Sunmudo Training

10:00 – 108 Bows

10:30 – Sitting Zen/Meditation

11:00 – Teatime with Sunmudo Master

11:50 – Lunch

The temple stay experience was very moving for me, and while I didn’t master clearing my mind during meditation, it did provide me with a chance to reflect on the trip so far and slow down. Perhaps the moment that was most wonderful was during the evening. We climbed up the long stone staircase after dinner that led to two temple buildings, one above and one below us. Standing in the cold winter air, we could look out and see silhouettes of distant mountains and stars blanketing the sky. While we were standing in silence, we heard a slow, purposeful triple knock of a woodblock. Then a monk with a deep voice began chanting in the temple above us. Then there were more knocks on woodblocks and two more monks in the temple below us began chanting together. We stayed for a long time on the mountain, listening to the beautiful voices of the monks, finding peace in the moment.

-Julie

food food FOOD

During the past week, I have learned a very important thing about Korea that no one tells you: the food is incredible (and endless).

 Top meals of the country (which includes almost every meal that we didn’t get from 7-11):

1) First night: The co-teacher of our friend, Kate, who we are staying with, took us to a vegetarian restaurant. It was here that we first learned how Koreans eat- 10-20+ little dishes are put anywhere on the table where there is room and everyone at the table uses their chopsticks to grab whatever they want out of the dishes. Additionally, between tofu that was made earlier that day in the restaurant and a soy-based product that had the exact texture, taste, and look of marinated beef, it was clear that Koreans have mastered a variety of vegetarian foods.

2) Second day: We went to visit the school where another one of our Madison friends teaches English and her co-teacher and school principal insisted on taking us out to lunch. Again, our table was loaded with over 20 different dishes, this time including warm pumpkin soup, a grilled fish for each of us, and Bulgolgi, which is a traditional Korean dish with broth, very tender beef, and vegetables.

3) Third night: One of Kate’s adult students owns a restaurant and invited us for a meal cooked especially for us. The meal included a giant salad topped with red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, Korean-style chicken soup that has an entire small stuffed chicken in each individual bowl, and raspberry wine.

4) Fifth night: We took a bus out of Seoul to the south-eastern coast of the country, for a weekend break from the city. A friend took us to a Shabu Shabu restaurant, which was originally a Japanese dish, but migrated to Korea years ago. This was easily the best meal that I have eaten on the trip and I do not expect it to lose this ranking any time soon. Basically, you sit down at a table that has heated bowls built in to the table. Everyone orders a type of meat (typically chicken, beef, or pork) and then the bowls are filled with broth that is brought to a boil. Each person then receives a plate of meat shaved as thinly as possible, along with a giant plate of uncooked mushrooms, cabbage, noodles, and other ingredients. First, you add the vegetables to the boiling broth and they slowly cook. Then, with chopsticks, you dip a slice of meat into the boiling broth and it cooks immediately- tender, delicious, and flavorful.

5) Sixth night (yesterday): The day before Julie’s birthday, and finally on our own to find food, we wandered the streets trying to figure out what we wanted to eat. Suddenly, a neon sign caught our attention and we knew exactly what we wanted- greasy pizza from Pizza Hut. Alas, even the best food in the world needs a little variety sometimes…

After this week of delicious food, we decided to venture out on our own this afternoon, certain that with this kind of track record, we couldn’t go wrong. After biking around the city for a while, we found ourselves at a restaurant with nice pictures of food outside, so we decided to go in. Unlike most of the other restaurants that we’d been in so far (alone, at least), not a single thing on the menu was in English and the owners did not speak any English. Ready for an adventure, we pointed to the first 3 items on the menu, completely randomly, and hoped for the best. The man taking our order tried to express his disapproval with our choices but the language barrier was too much and we didn’t know what to do except insist on our choices, not sure how we would ever make a more educated decision. Within minutes, the man brought out the usual 10 bowls of food, including a plate of raw meat that we were to cook ourselves on the giant heated skillet at the table. We quickly set to cooking, satisfied with our choices of beef, dumplings, and….some round pieces of mystery meat. Luckily Anne, our courageous eater, volunteered to try the first one and, unfortunately, identified the pile of round meat pieces as intestines. Clearly, the man had known we were Westerners who were not accostomed to eating intestines and tried to warn us, but we were just a little too stubborn.

 -Luthien

Squeaky Clean and Content

We haven’t written a post for a while, which should be representative of how much fun we have been having since commencing this journey almost two weeks ago. We are currently lounging in a swanky love motel in Gyeongji, South Korea, after a fun night out on the town in oceanside Busan last night and some long bus rides through the beautiful mountains in the southern part of this country. South Korea thus far has been very colorful and friendly, filled with good food and peaceful experiences.

One of the highlights of this country that we have enjoyed thoroughly was the jimjilbang or traditional bathhouse in a northern suburb of Seoul. We entered this glorious place down an escalator from the street level around 11pm on a weekday and sort of entered into a parallel universe. The experience was quite awkward and intimidating at first because we couldn’t quite communicate the fact that we wanted to stay overnight to the non-English speaking receptionist. Once inside we knew we needed to shower off and then explore the vast array of spa options. The bath included many different pools at different temperatures and with different jetstreams– one that was even infused with green tea. We mistakenly entered the children’s bath at first and received a few awkward stares and finally a broken English explanation. While our evening spa experience was relaxing after a long and cold day, we definitely wanted to investigate the place further and at that point had absolutely no idea where we were supposed to sleep or enjoy the other amenities.

While bathing, a kind Korean woman sat next to Luthien and started speaking with her in English and was generous enough to later give us all a tour of the entire jimjilbang after we were cleaned up and dressed. The building was much larger and fancier than we were expecting from our just-over-$7 charge. She lead us through about 5 saunas, 3 sleeping rooms, and the ice room upstairs. There were places to use the internet, watch television, view films, play ping-pong, and exercise. We sat and chatted with the wonderful friendly woman in the ice room (her favorite) for quite a while, or at least until we were ready to fall asleep on the cold floor. She was curious to how we had heard of such a place (the answer was through a friend’s Korean friend) and explained that the reason she was so kind to us was because she was so impressed by the kindness of Americans she had met a few years back in Iowa in the states, knowing that someday she wanted to return the favor to Americans in Korea, and finally now having her chance. Her English was great, but even more impressive were her kind gestures, helpfulness, and curiosity about us. She just reconfirmed my philosophy about traveling with an open-mind and an accepting smile and receiving random kindness from strangers as a result. The Korean people we have met thus far have been extremely kind and sharing, but this woman really changed our spa experience to something comfortable out of a bit of awkwardness.

In the morning, the three our us sort of went different directions and utilized different areas of the jimjilbang. I fell in love with this ridiculous crystal sauna, a domed room covered in quartz crystals and huge cracked geodes. I also enjoyed the peaceful room with heightened levels of oxygen and the clay sauna infused with the smell of Korean tea and other herbs. The baths downstairs were great, especially when I rotated between hot and cold treatments and one that massaged my back with strong water jets. While I could go on and on about this affordable and wonderful spa experience, the point is that we had an amazing time attempting to integrate into this traditional Korean pasttime and much of that was because of the kind woman’s generous patience and explanations. We left the building before lunch to go off to the north to help teach in an all boy’s private middle school that Julie’s friend Christina Hanna works at; we rode the metro completely at peace with the world. Relaxed, refreshed, and inspired by someone’s kindness.

That’s it for now,

Anne 

Foreigners Obviously Love MacDonalds

Yesterday we (Anne, Julie, our host Erin, and I) went hiking in a huge park outside of Tokyo, in a town called Kamakura. It was a beautiful fall day and every time we came to a ridge, we could see Fall colors, quaint towns around us, and glimpses of the ocean.

There were quite a few foreigners hiking, but definitely more Japanese people. At one point a group of about 5 Japanese people walked up to us and one man asked if he could take a picture with the 4 of us. We agreed hesitantly and lined up for the picture. Before the man`s friend took the picture, rathering than saying `Say cheese!`he sang the MacDonald`s theme song and then the man in the picture with us shouted `I`m Lovin` It!` This happened about 3 times, for each picture taken, and then finally it was over. Our friend Erin speaks fluent Japanese so she asked the man why he wanted to take a picture with us…

Man: Because you are foreigners!
Erin: Yes, but there are a lot of foreigners around here- why us
Man: Because you are foreigners and I love MacDonalds!

(In the background his friend is singing the MacDonalds theme song over and over and grinning ridiculously)

Erin (deciding to screw around with the guy): Do you eat MacDonald`s every day
Man: I`m lovin`it!!
Erin: Right, I know…but do you eat it every day
Man (louder): I`m lovin`it!!!!

At this point we all kind of smiled awkwardly and left, as the man singing the theme song right in our faces was getting pretty annoying….

-Luthien

Tokyo: Cuteness Factor Very High

It is hard to know where to begin. Tokyo had proven to be a city of extreme contrasts. Not in terms of wealth or diversity, as I might think of in the US, but in terms of capitalism and tradition. An example: yesterday we stumbled upon KiddyLand, a six-story high toy store filled to the brim with kitsh. Tiny umbrellas topped with teddy bears, bobble-headed Pokemon figurines, cell phone charms of all types (some that would dwarf a cell phone), remote-controlled stuffed animals, Hello Kitty paraphernalia galore, the list goes on. Most amusing to us was a set of water bottles for kids with random English phrases: `Gibbon is friend with banana` and Deer in the wood. The deer was humming a little air to herself.` Then, after walking not more than half a mile up the road, we came to Meiji Jingu, a beautiful wooden Shinto temple complex in the middle of a large patch of woods in central Tokyo. It was one of the most peaceful places I have ever been. Today our wanderings took us to the Tokyo fish market, which is the largest in the world. We narrowly avoided being run down by motorized mini-fish carts as we searched for the market amidst warehouses. Hopefully the pictures that we will soon be posting will help to convey the chaotic order (an oxymoron normally, but not here) that prevailed.  Interestingly, since the fish were so fresh, we really could`t smell them, or at least not the stinky seafood smell one would generally expect.  We definitely saw more varieties of edible marine life there than I have ever seen before.

A few random urbanist observations: The underground here is privatized. Subway lines are owned by different companies. While the subway network is vast, it seems that you have to pay each time you transfer between lines with different owners. I`m not sure yet what I think of this. Tokyo is also quite clean, possibly the cleanest city I have ever been in (though I`ve been told that other Japanese cities are even cleaner!). Much of the city has been rebuilt in the last century, after an earthquake before WWII, and then after the city was fire-bombed during the war. Apparently, though, the American military included several Japanese history buffs, so the most historic parts of the city were spared from the bombs.

Next we are off to Nanja Town, an indoor high tech amusement park. We are actually going to people-watch rather than partake. The live-action scavenger hunt promises to be good.

Ta-ta for now,

Julie

End of Week One…

…back to where I started!

I left Minneapolis, MN, last Sunday for California. Joel (another SPASH and Madison graduate) picked me up from the airport very late on Sunday night and brought me back to the apartment that he shares with Tami in Berkeley, only 3 blocks from the campus. On Monday I wandered around the campus, basking in the sun and admiring all of the different kinds of trees, while Joel was at work. By the time I had walked from one corner of campus to the Law School in the other corner, I was convinced that this was where I wanted to go to law school. The building isn’t nearly as new and exciting as the UW-Madison law school, but what it lacks indoors, it makes up for outdoors. Considering that I hope to pursue Environmental Law, it’s the outdoors that seems to matter the most anyway, and the Berkeley campus promises to provide plenty of support and inspiration for environmental pursuits.

I met Chloe in Berkeley later that day and we continued to explore the area and then took the BART (Bay Area’s subway) to Oakland to meet Tyler. They live in Oakland, which is in the Top 10 most dangerous cities in the United States, but during the day you’d never know it- we walked the 25 minutes from the BART station to their apartment in the beautiful sun, winding around a very clear lake full of a huge variety of birds, past a grocery store and a tennis court that was teeming with people, and finally to their neighborhood that had cute, quaint houses lining the streets that were straight out of a movie set in Northern California. Again, different varieties of trees and flowers everywhere you looked and not a cloud in the sky.

After seeing Into the Wild at a local speakeasy movie theater (where they serve alcohol and food on love seats rather than chairs), we returned to Tyler and Chloe’s apartment to make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, only a few days too late, and sample a variety of California red wines that Chloe wanted to try. Based on the wine book that Chloe brought from work, common words to describe wine can be “urine” and “beer towel” and the word for the amount that the wine sticks to your mouth after you swallow is described as “tannin”.

On Tuesday we went to Golden Gate Park which, we soon learned, does not meet up with the Golden Gate Bridge anywhere. Nevertheless, the day was beautiful (as always) and so we had a picnic in the park and wandered around a giant (55 acres) botanical garden. Chloe had to get to work so we headed back to Oakland fairly early (because it takes at least an hour to get anywhere, realistically) and then Tyler and I met Joel in Berkeley for dinner. We ate at a Brazilian restaurant, after passing up plenty of other ethnic restaurants that looked awesome, and had wonderful dinner, then went to a local brewery to watch the (disappointing) Wisconsin basketball game. With the huge variety of restaurants that are just as expensive (or inexpensive) as Madison, wine that is cheaper than I’ve ever seen (and still delicious), and constant sunshine, it really is a very enjoyable place.

After returning to Oakland, however, I found out that my grandfather had kind of unexpectedly passed away earlier that day and the funeral was on Saturday in Stevens Point. After quite a bit of thought, I decided to make a detour back to Wisconsin for the funeral so I could slow down for a moment and be with my family for a little while, rather than rushing off to the rest of my trip and probably feeling a little weighed down by everything.

On Thursday night Tami found a townie bar (by San Francisco standards) that was showing the Packer game so we went there for her birthday. It was quite the sight, really, because people were not dressed as “hip” Californians and there were quite a few dogs in the bar, also. I was finally able to try a number of California beers and was consoled by the fact that, for the most part, it looks like they aren’t lacking delicious beer, something I wasn’t sure I would find out of Wisconsin. It was weird seeing Miller Lite on tap, though…

Joel and I returned to the airport early Friday morning (4:30am!) so I could catch my flight back to Stevens Point. After a full day of traveling, I finally arrived in the little Central Wisconsin airport (one gate and one gift shop- quite the difference from San Francisco or Minneapolis). The funeral was today and, as soon as it finished, the blizzard began. At 11am this morning, 9 hours before my flight from Chicago to San Francisco was even scheduled to leave, my flight from Central Wisconsin to Chicago, and then Chicago to San Francisco, were both cancelled. Definitely not in California anymore…

Hopefully things will clear up by tomorrow, as I have to get back to San Francisco and collect my bags before my flight leaves for Tokyo on Tuesday!

-Luthien