This Little Light of Mine

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I always complain back home when they shut down the roads in Phoenix for the PF Chang’s Rock N’ Roll Marathon.  It messes up traffic, I can’t pull out of my own driveway, and I’m always late for work!

My Marathon Gear

…But… I had no problem being “part of the problem” here in Korea. 

I joined Jaydon and his friends in the Adidas Hangang 2009 Marathon- we ran the mini-marathon: 10 kilometers (6.3 miles). (We decided to participate despite the yellow dust warning.)

It took me 1 hour 1 minute 23 seconds to complete.  It was COLD!

And while we were running on the highway, where I was used to seeing a gazillion cars at any given time of any given day, I wondered where they all were, and how they were getting around.

But then again, I guess 15,000 of those possible drivers were running alongside me that morning. So, maybe the detours weren’t too bad…

Adidas Hangang Marathon 2009

After the marathon, the 10 of us piled back into the van Jaydon’s friends had borrowed from church and we dropped one of the girls off at her house.

Four of us decided we wanted to go out to lunch, so we drove to Jaydon’s old college- Sahmyook University- to shower and get cleaned up.  This was the first time I’ve showered naked in front of another girl since I slept over at my friend Erica’s house in kindergarten. Not gonna lie… it wasn’t nearly as awkward as it probably should have been for me.  (Hey, when in Rome…. right?)

Well, it DID get a little more awkward… when Jaydon’s mom showed up out of nowhere as we were getting dressed in the locker room.  “What the?!” was all I could muster as I threw a shirt on.  Affirmative.  Awkward factor reached.

I had no idea WHAT the hell she was doing there and I couldn’t ask her- she was deep in (Korean) conversation with another woman.  After she waved “hello” to me, the two of them just stood there at the doorway, chatting away, while I frantically put some clothes on.  My friend and I washed our faces and dried our hair.  When we were getting ready to leave and go meet the boys, Mrs. Lee grabbed my arm.  “Come!  Come, Kaley!  Pastor is waiting for us with lunch.”

What?  I was so confused.  “You know her?” she asked, pointing to my friend incredulously.  “Yeah,” I answered.  “She ran in the marathon with Jaydon and I this morning.  We’re going to meet Jaydon now for lunch.” Nope.  She wasn’t having it. 

“Ohh… Jaydon left.  You say goodbye now.  Hurry, Pastor is waiting.” Wow.  I had no clue what was going on.  Jaydon left?  We weren’t all going to lunch?  I was eating with Mrs. Lee and her husband now?  Where had they even come from?!

I was feeling frustrated and stopped asking questions all together.  I said goodbye to my friend as Mrs. Lee pulled me by the arm into the school cafeteria.  Sure enough, there was Pastor, waving us down while we stood at the door.  I was bombarded by old people all wanting to look me over and shake my hand.  Where the hell was Jaydon?

Pastor kept pointing at me to sit down in the chair across from him.  Small bowls were shoved at me from every corner of the table, full of different kinds of vegetables and noodles. The cafeteria was loud- full of people.  “Try!”… “Try!”… was all the ladies would say as they elbowed one another and watched me fumble with my chopsticks at all of the slippery, slender noodles.

I wanted to scream.  I had wound up in some horror movie where the poor kid gets attacked by clowns.  Only, my clowns were trying to kill me with noodles and all I had was a wimpy pair of wooden chopsticks and a big appetite to fend them off.

“Kaley… No, let’s go.  Come with me.”

Ahhhh!  It was Jaydon!  He had come back to rescue me!  Jaydon and his mom squabbled back and forth in Korean before I was finally released.  We practically ran out the door…

….and back into the church bus.  There was my friend!  We laughed as I plopped down next to her.  “Whew…” I sighed.  “That was a close one.” Just about the whole group was there- 9 of us.   Where had they come from?  Ha!  I didn’t bother asking.  I had never been so out of the loop as today.  We drove off to lunch…

I don’t know what it is about being here in Korea, but I’ll eat things I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole back home: caterpillars, funny fish with their eyeballs still in tact, kimchi, stinky vegetable roots…  Today, it was fish egg soup.

Not bad.  Spicy, salty, not pretty to look at… but not bad.

We finished lunch around 2:30pm, and it was finally time to part ways.  Jaydon and his friend were off to get haircuts, the girls were off to work, one of the boys was off to church, and I was off to the Lotus Lantern Festival in Insadong.

Lotus

Ironically, the first thing I saw after I headed towards the subway station was a Lotus.

But not a lotus flower…. not a lotus lantern… a Lotus car.   (I instantly thought of you, B.S.P.)

Man, once I got to the Buddhist Street Festival, it was 3:30.  The streets were crowded!

Buddhist Street Festival

There were lots of activities to partake in.  The first thing I did was make a lotus lantern.

Making a Lotus Lantern

“Please attain Buddha-hood in your next lifetime by lighting a lantern in this life,” they say.

The lantern has meanings of prayer and brightening this world.

By the time I finished making mine, the bottom of it was soggy from too much glue and my fingers were dyed pink.  I looked like I had just voted in Iraq.

Making a Buddhist Rosary

Next, I made a Buddhist Rosary.  Long Buddhist Rosaries have 108 beads, and are worn as a necklace.  We made short Rosary bracelets.  Mine is already on my wrist in this picture.  These Buddhist prayer beads are a traditional devotional tool used to count mantras while meditating.

Painting Cosmic Designs

Next, I did some painting and made a woodblock rubbing of a Buddhist holy sutra.

I experienced reproducing the Cosmic Designs in red and blue along with other Buddhist icons while adding to a communal Buddhist painting.

Making a Woodblock Rubbing

“If you perform these artworks with devotion, you may feel a greater equanimity in your life.”

The artist asked me what word I would like written on the paper next to my imprint.  I told him “peace”.  So, he wrote “pyung hwa” in Korean letters.

There were colorful paper lanterns everywhere I went.

They were hanging from canopies, mounted on walls, being carried by people…

As I made my way to the Jogyesa Temple, I stumbled upon a party full of foreigners, locals, and traditional Korean folk music and dance.  I watched, smiling, as performers pulled foreigners into the circle with them to jump and dance.  The Korean woman next to me kept tugging at my sleeve, trying to push me into the circle. She really wanted me to dance!

Well, she eventually got her wish about 10 minutes later, when an older Korean man came up behind me and asked me to “celebrate with him.”  The Korean woman pushed us together and in we went.

Once I was in the circle, it was photo-op central.  And the man I was “dancing” with was quite trigger happy.

He wanted to take my picture everywhere!  At one point, a woman even asked me if he was my dad.

I asked this woman if I could take a picture with her.  I thought she had the best costume in the bunch. 

…Then, this guy asked if he could take a picture with me!

After the celebration was over and herds of people began to migrate towards where the parade would be held, I saw a couple of monks do a drum performance while the children all lit their lanterns and put on their ponchos.

(If you’re thinking my camera was blurry, it’s not.  It’s raining!)

I took a look inside the temple and attended the prayer service for a couple of minutes.

This place was no exception to what I have seen everywhere since I arrived here in Korea.

It was big, beautiful, and FULL of people.

The outside walls of the temple were decorated in lavish, detailed, very colorful paintings.  Lots of “Cosmic colors.”

Inside Jogyesa Temple

The inside of the temple was absolutely breathtaking.

Since the whole point of this festival is to celebrate Buddha’s birthday (which is next Saturday, May 2nd), the temple was adorned with lots of brightly lit, red lanterns.

Outside Jogyesa Temple

Gifts of food, sculptures, and flowers were laid at the Buddhas’ feet.

There were tunnels made from lanterns to walk through all around the temple.

I believe this year marked the 2,545th year since Buddha’s birth.

The Lotus Lantern Parade started about 7pm. 

Dragon Lanterns, Pagoda Lanterns, White Elephant Lanterns, Phoenix Lanterns, Lotus Lanterns… each and every one displaying its own beauty.

With dozens of large floats and some 100,000 individual lanterns, the parade offered a breathtaking experience, turning the streets of Seoul into a sea of lanterns.

Buddhists came from all over the world to join in the celebration and share their country’s traditions.

Countries that I saw being represented included Japan, China, Tawain, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and India, amongst others.

The floats were stunning.  Just absolutely beautiful….

Happy Buddha

The soft glow that these larger floats emanated just warmed the soul and brought a smile to everyone’s face.

Fire-breathing Dragon

Several of the floats actually breathed fire, like the Dragon and these two peacocks:

White Elephant Float

The detail on some of these was just incredible!

We may end our Christmas parades back home with Santa Clause as the grand finale.  But here in Korea, it’s the lovely Lotus Flower Queen who finishes the show and waves goodbye to all!

Lotus Queen

This yearly spring festival was an incredible experience and I’m so happy I was able to attend.

Happy birthday, Buddha!

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Filed under Culture, Holidays, Religion

Tags: Buddhism, Culture, Food, Holidays, Jogyesa Temple, Lotus Lantern Festival, Marathons, Photos, Seoul, Videos, Weather, Yellow dust