Geronimo! To Korea!

My name is Ashley, and I am from Portland, OR. I am a recent graduate of PNCA with a BFA in Sculpture. My main medium is ceramics, but I dabble as a mix media artist. I am currently an ESL teacher in Gwangju-Si in South Korea. This is my first time traveling and living outside the U.S. This blog is documentation about my time in Korea, and my experiences assimilating within an unfamiliar culture for the first time, featuring photographs, written thoughts, and personal sketches and artwork made through this experience.

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See ya later Japan. I hope to come back soon!

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Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan: Day 2

With blistered and pinched feet (I wore the wrong shoes on this entire trip with no extras) I went back out to Kyoto and to the Fushimi Inari shrine. I hiked up the whole mountain, and the shrine was just as moving and full of energy all the way up. It's a short hike, but a good quite walk for some alone time. The main worship site on the shrine is usually packed with more people because it's at the bottom and not many people want to hike the whole mountain.  However, I saw some Japanese girls hiking in heels all the way up and down  from the main worship site at the top and it kind of made me feel a bit better about the shoes I chose. I really got into researching Shintoism after this, because my curiosity was piqued. It is a rather interesting religion and I'm glad I got to experience a huge part of Japan's history and culture on the religious side.

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Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto Japan: Day 1

So, I was a little silly walking through this shrine, in that throughout my walk through, I kept thinking how interesting  it was, and how I'd never seen anything like it before. Well, that's because it's a Shinto shrine, which are generally only in Japan since Shintoism is the main religious practice of Japan.

This shrine is so beautiful. Following through the gates and walking among the worship sites was kind of a touching experience. I think, after researching Shintoism, I found why it resonated with me. There was evidence everywhere of the ritual practices that people have performed and so the energy was really strong there. Unfortunately, by the time I got here it was late afternoon and so when I started up the mountain, thinking I'd have time to make the full circle before heading back to Osaka, I ended up taking a wrong turn and wandering down one path until houses started cropping up among the small worship sites lining the path. By the time I got back to the place where I had taken a wrong turn it was super dark, and I had to go back to the station and catch my train back to Osaka before I missed the last one. Shinto Shrines are creepy at night. Since I didn't get to see the whole Shrine, I decided to come back the next day. Those pictures are to come.

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Kiyomizu dera in Kyoto, Japan

The Buddhist temples in Japan are certainly different than the ones in Korea. The architecture and the intensity of them is a little different because well, duh its two completely different countries. Still, the air about the temples in Japan are certainly different than Korea. It was a beautiful temple with a beautiful view.

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The street en route to Kiyoumizu dera from the train. I planned out a few different things to do with my time in the Osaka area, because Osaka is close to Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, and other places of great historical interest. I decided to head to Kyoto first and see some of the  things that were of greater interest to me than the things I knew of in Osaka.

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Taking off from Busan's International terminal. Osaka, here I come!

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Sorry about my delay on getting some stuff queued up. After my trip to Japan time just got away from me. Have some cuties in handboks for Chuseok :3

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Gonna be boarding soon. ♥ See you suckas in three days. ♥♥♥

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Going to Osaka, Japan this weekend from Saturday to Tuesday for Chuseok. Jumping to my second country outside the U.S. ever. I never thought that I'd have an opportunity to just easily hop over to Japan for a trip. Always imagined that a trip like this would be out of my reach financially and just in general but then again, I never imagined I'd be  working and living in a country right next door to it. I'm excited to see another country already.

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Quick warm up in the SLP parking lot with stretching before jumping into the pool at the school next door. Pictured from top to bottom, left to right: All kindergarteners at SLP stretching, Hodori class posing for their picture, Roni class posing for their picture.

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The day i took this picture, I didn't get why my student had put his hair up all crazy and then I remembered: Nobody at SLP had a birthday in August so we declared the birthday party we normally have as a crazy hair day/party. He was one of two students that I knew of that came with their hair done special for the day.

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Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, Busan, South Korea.

I felt a little odd about visiting a temple for a religion I'm not part of, but I was told that this was a temple that I should see if I was in Busan so I decided to go. This temple is of interest particularly because it's built right on the ocean with a view to the ocean. Usually, these temples are built in the mountains, so that makes this temple different than the others I've seen here in Korea. It was a really beautiful temple. I'm very happy I went. There were a lot of non-religious (or at least they seemed like it, the way they were walking  and observing and taking pictures like we were) Koreans there too so I didn't feel so strange about walking around temple.

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Doctor Who Monopoly and Sunday morning Brunch in Busan, South Korea. Biggest but most satisfying brunch plate I have had in a while.

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Went to Busan this weekend. About to hop on the bus back to Gwangju but ill post the rest of my pictures later

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Busan, South Korea. Will get better pictures later

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I'm sorry I've been a little absent lately with posting. Life and general overall....disinterest in how monotonous my life had become kind of left me with few experiences to brag about. However, a few things changed so that I can do a little more sharing hopefully:

I broke up with my boyfriend. He was not contributing positively to my experience here much and so it was time to let it go.

I was left (due in part to my ex boyfriend) with weekends where I wasn't traveling and taking advantage of the accessibility I have to most of Korea due to its small size. Without said boyfriend to weigh me down, that will change.

I have my week long summer vacation coming up. I have a trip to Busan that I am planning where my search for a nice and affordable hostel came through extremely well (Someone who knows someone in the area answered my post add on the Gwangju facebook page and told me they were opening a new hostel the weekend I wanted to be in Busan, and when I inquired about it, she said I could stay there opening weekend and even offered me a discount for staying during their opening)

I've got an overall better attitude about things.

So I'll come through and post pictures that I've had hiding in my phone for a few months now and catch up, and be sure to stay on top of posting things from now on.

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There's just wayyyy too much piling up on me emotionally right now. I'm sad that I don't have many friends here in Korea. The guy I'm dating is nice and supportive but he works like a bajillion hours a week on school and work, like more than I did when I was in college so I never see him, and all I want is to crawl into a bed back home in America, in Portland OR, so I can wake up in the morning and bike to work, bike to a bar or restaurant to see my friends, bike home, bike to the store, bike everywhere. Then go see the most important person in my life who I love more than anything else in the world because of a beautiful thing called "graduation" that we both experienced recently, giving us so much more free time than before. Then go to the coast. Go to the mountains. Go biking on that trail I've always wanted to take into the woods. Go with this person, or go with other people because I know so many there who would love to go. Go to art shows, actually get off work at a decent hour in a place where things like art galleries and museums are open later and also open on the weekends. I was told that this was the normal reaction to being three months into living in Korea. I keep questioning my choice to come, asking if it was the right one. Asking if it was worth all the stress and worry and worth being comforted only by the meals I can cook that are relatively close to foods I can have back home, and comforted by the occasional meal from McDonalds or Burger King.

Part of me knows this is probably temporary, because I enjoy a few of the people I know. I enjoy how much I've been drawing and how much creativity I've expressed with all the free time. I enjoy the kids and seeing them each morning when I'm up to the task and full of sleep and good food. I enjoy Korea a lot. Just, right now...I keep dreaming about the arms of a person I know and the places I was so happy to be in. Really, it takes being displaced in a new country to recognize that why you were afraid to stay in a place before, is really silly by comparison.