Bupjusa & Mt. Sognisan

Bupju Temple is in Sognisan, which is only a $1.90, 15 minute bus ride from Boeun. I'll be visiting Sognisan a lot as the weather continues to improve. 

It's one of 5 Buddhist Temples in South Korea. 

This 5 story, wooden pagoda is the largest of it's kind in South Korea. 

I didn't step inside, but here is what the inside looks like from the entrance.

The pagoda is very cool, but it's not exactly the attention grabber of Bupjusa. 

This statue is nearly twice the size of the 5 story pagoda. It's quite a sight.

I'm not really sure what this represents, but it was inside one of the buildings. Just another large statue, but this one was stomping on some smaller statues. 

This was carved into a rock. Pretty good for a rock carving.

This is an ancient bath for monks.

Bupjusa is a very cool place, but it's just a warm up place to go before climbing a mountain. I would like to say that Mountain climbing is ridiculously exhausting. Your legs will be sore afterward, and you will sweat a lot. Just hop on a stair climber machine for 4 hours to get an idea. Okay..so here was my climb up Sognisan Mountain.

 

 

The homestretch! This was so exciting to see.

 On the highest peak.

 So worth it.

Heading back down. Watch your step..

We found a really cool place to relax on our way down.

Tanbu Elementary School

Let me tell you about my school. This is where the bus drops me off every morning around 10:55am.

 I then have to walk down this absurdly long driveway. After about 5 more minutes of walking, I will have arrived at my school.

This is the front of my school and the playground. (It's rare to have any grass on the playground. Only the rich schools have it.)

I enter through here. It's in the back of the school. I have to duck when I walk in this entrance. I'm not sure why it's so small, because Koreans really aren't that short.

Ahhh the mighty principal's office. I've only been in here once. He actually has a really fancy message chair.

My wild first and second graders!!

A couple of fifth graders, third graders, and my Korean Co-teacher on the far right.

More third and fifth graders.

I finish teaching at 4:10 everyday. My bus comes at 4:15, so I get to run down this driveway everyday after school with a bunch of little Korean kids who have to catch the same bus.

STORY: One day after school, one of my third grade girls was swinging on the swing set. She had tied her backpack to it at lunch when she was swinging on it then. It was raining a little at lunch. Every time she went up on the swing, the knot got a little tighter.  Well it stopped raining. So all afternoon the knot was drying. It became very tight.
It was about 4:05pm (I got off a little early). I was walking by and all of these little children kept yelling "Tommy Teacher!! Help!!" So I walked over. It was clear that they were trying to untie this backpack. So I started to try to untie it. I could not. At 4:10 I began panicking, because the bus was coming soon, and there were 5 Korean kids yelling at me to hurry up.  At 4:14 we could see the bus coming. I finally got it loose and gave the girl her backpack. We all started sprinting for it down the long driveway. One of the first graders was too slow because his legs were only about 2 inches long. So I picked him up. I was running down this driveway with a small Korean child in one arm and a few other screaming Korean kids around me. I was most definitely laughing the whole time.

Living

Relative to some of the other cities in SK, Boeun is a pretty small town, but it has everything that I need. It takes about 20 minutes to walk across town.

And of course...

 This is only one of three (that I'm aware of) 7 Elevens in downtown Boeun. There are also a many other stores just like this with other names. Pretty much every intersection has one.


This is central downtown and where I wait for my bus every morning.

 Now for the apartment.
Then entranceee. Shoes off. Slippers on.

My kitchen is the size of some people's apartments.

The bathrooooooom. I have a bathtub. I can't fit in the bathtub...but I still have a bathtub. Also not a common thing in South Korea. I love it because it keeps the floor from getting super wet, which becomes a problem when you put socks on and then need to get something out of the bathroom after showering..

 

 Sunrise view from the balcony.

 Sunset view from the balcony.

Most apartments in SK are not this big. I was very very very very lucky :) I am on the eighth floor, and to the right is just a picture of my building.