My First Temple!

On Wednesday, our staff decided to take a random visit to a temple out in Eonyang. It was fine by me; it meant leaving work early and taking in some sites.

We all carpooled to Eonyang, and upon arrival, we made the very pleasant 20 minute walk up to the temple. The purpose of the trip was actually to see the Fall leaves in their colourful splendour, but we were a couple weeks early. Nonetheless, the view was grand, and my co-teacher and I kept going on about how refreshing the air felt away from the city.

The beginning to the trail up to the temple.

The walk towards the temple. 

 

The temple itself was beautiful, though my co-teachers could tell me next to nothing about the temple itself other than the fact that the colours, imagery, and shapes on the buildings had significant meanings. Without context, I just settled on enjoying the view.

The main temple area.

Who's that idiot that ruined a perfectly good photo with his face?

After perusing the area, we headed back down to the entrance and headed off to dinner. Now before I show you where we had dinner, I would just like to point out that it's things like this that still make me take a step back from time to time and say, "Holy crap, I'm in Korea!" Just look at this view as we drove to the restaurant. It kills me that my knees have been acting up, meaning there is no hiking in my immediate future. I want to hike the crap out of Korea. 

Our restaurant was pretty freakin' awesome. On the outside it looks like a palace, as seen below...

...and on the inside, it's like a regal cottage! 

I'd never been to a Korean BBQ place like this before. When you enter downstairs, you find yourself in a butcher shop where you choose the meat you want to eat. They then bring it upstairs for you to cook. While that process was kinda cool, like choosing which lobster you want to eat for dinner, the upstairs ambiance was ruined by pictures of the butcher shop scattered all over the place. I didn't need to be reminded that just a little while ago my dinner was hanging on hooks downstairs.

The highlight of my night came when this drunken dude started making the rounds to each table offering up soju shots. This guy is a real character. He either doesn't care or doesn't know how loud he is. When he comes to volleyball, he calls "MINE" for every single shot. EVERY SINGLE SHOT! Even if it means diving and almost breaking his neck, he'll still call it! He laughs the loudest, he talks the loudest, and he's a little overbearing for others--I could tell even before one of the teachers told me in the car driving home--but I find the guy entertaining as all hell.

At one point he came over to our table and started talking to me. Or at least, he tried to talk to me. He would apologize profusely about his English and tell me that he wants to talk to me, and then shake his head in embarrassment. When I downed the soju shot he poured me, he put his hands to his mouth, laughed like a giddy school girl, and said, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" over and over again. He was fascinated by me, and I was fascinated with how drunk he was. The rest of the teachers at our table, on the other hand, were clearly annoyed.

At the end of the night, he stood up and made a loud, dramatic, emotional speech of some sort. He was probably rambling on about nonsense, as everybody around him looked rather embarrassed, but from where I was sitting, this dude was professing his love to us all. Oh, and did I mention this was on a Wednesday?

When all was said and done, we went back downstairs and several teachers decided to buy some more meat from the butcher shop to take home with them. I saw my drunken friend and complimented him on his wonderful speech. He then proceeded to buy me bulgogi, which is grilled marinated beef, as a gift. I died of laughter. My co-teacher thinks that he did it because I complimented him on his speech. What a stand-up guy. Have I mentioned that I love my school yet? 

Pretty waterfall outside the restaurant.