Rest & Digest

Returning to the Land of the Morning Calm, I knew what I was getting into with regards to food.  My favorite Korean staple is the Bi-Bim-Bap, a big bowl of rice, veggies, a barely fried egg, and a dollop of spicy red pepper sauce.  Mix it all together and it's a decent, filling meal.  The very spicy Soon-Do-Boo (tofu soup with egg) was another favorite during the chillier winter season.  Commonly, the food is based around either rice or noodles, much of it being peppery-spicy.  During my time here I've gotten out to taste a nice variety of foods, and have also enjoyed cooking for myself.  


Being vegetarian with an adventurous need to try new things, I'll start with the least expected.  It was early November when my Korean Aunt AeSim stopped by for a visit.  After a nice walk overlooking the sea, she and her sisters took me out for some fresh, raw, Jeju fish.  Some of it was awesome, some I didn't care for.  I'm on an island, I had to try it.  Before I leave here, I'm hoping to be in the mood for a taste of another local specialty, sea urchin soup.  The fish in the photo is, according to translation, either snapper or bream. 



Next, this salad is the first thing I threw together after our kitchen was finally in working order.  Raw tofu with little green leaves, walnuts, almonds, carrot, seaweed, olive oil, and a dash of soy sauce.



I'd never cooked pumpkin before coming to Jeju, but I've always liked everything made with it.  Discovering my deep love of this vegetable would have been reason enough for the trip out here.  Excuse the blurriness, this is steamed pumpkin with tofu, brown rice, raisins, cinnamon, and a drizzle of maple syrup. 



Just a sandwich:  tofu with garlic, spinach, and strawberries on grainy toast. 



Overall, my experiences with restaurants here have been great.  Though many restaurants specialize in meat dishes, I've had some delicious vegetarian food.  I've been to a few pure vegetarian restaurants that were outstanding.  Here's a photo of a typical Korean table spread... including the pork being cooked in the center of the table.  The variety and quantity of side dishes (including egg, vegetables, soup, & tofu stew) was enough to keep me satisfied. 



This past fall, I had the opportunity to do an overnight temple stay.  The food is pure, non-spicy vegetarian.  The three meals we ate included seaweed soup, rice, and various vegetables and tofu.  Nothing too fancy.  Here, we learned proper eating etiquette.  Take only what you will finish, wasting nothing.  Lift the bowl, take a bite, set the bowl down.  Repeat.  After eating, we had to clean out the dishes.  Not everyone tried it, but I did it the "proper way":  wipe out the dish with a sliced radish (stabbed with a chopstick), eat the radish.  Lastly, rinse out the food bowls with a bit of water, then drink the water.  Yum.  



One of the cultural activities included in the temple stay was making rice cakes.  Not the sweet/salty crunchy puffed kind you can buy at Publix.  Glutinous, chewy rice cakes coated with crushed peanut (I think that's what it was) are a traditional Korean snack/dessert.  I'm not a big fan.  They're really bland and too chewy for my taste.  Here are some monks smashing up the rice.  



For special occasions, people buy cakes.  Two common flavors here are green tea and sweet potato.  The cakes are light and airy, and usually not too sweet.  Not nearly as delicious as the cakes back home, but they always look awesome on the outside.  Here's a typical bakery cake.  At least there aren't any cherry tomatoes on this one.  


Many things around here may be flavored with green tea.  Cakes, cookies, candy, ice cream, lattes.  In Japan, we found green tea Kit Kats.  



There's also a lot of Hello Kitty.  Thanks to Jen, we can even make Kitty-head waffles.  Delicious with peanut butter & Canadian maple syrup.  



Last, but not least, Jeju's famous Hallabong (named after Jeju's Mount Halla, which the nippily-tip of the orange resembles) .   Developed in Japan, it's a sweet seedless hybrid.  They're harvested in January/February and sold through May. Hallabongs are really expensive, overhyped oranges.      



Bon appetit!  

Un-lazy Sunday

Formed by volcanic activity, Jeju Island is a gem of the Pacific.  Populated with a mere 500,000 inhabitants, she boasts gorgeous beaches (each being unique from the next), rare, geometrically wonderful basalt rock formations, and hills in every direction. From almost anywhere on the island, including the roof of my living quarters, the 1950 meter high Halla Mountain can be seen.

 

Shortly after my arrival, I recall a conversation with a man named Moon. A group of us were enjoying a warm evening up on the roof. He informed us that, surrounding the centrally located Halla-san, there are precisely 368 hills.  Looking out towards Halla, there’s one hill that always catches my eye.  Her name isn’t important. I just appreciate her form. Locally, my favorite mini-mountain is Sara-bong.  A twelve-minute walk from my abode, she’s a pleasure to traverse.  And so I do, multiple times each week. 

When I have at least an hour, I walk Sara-bong and ‘her sister’, the hill beside her.  On any given day, there are always a few dozen people enjoying the climb to and view from her peak. Today being a mild Sunday, there were scores of walkers out. I enjoyed the company of my friend, Jen.  When I go it alone, it’s usually with the added benefits of sweaty, faster movements. Today’s benefits were different.  Walking more slowly, without music, my senses were fully tuned-in to the smells, colors, and sounds of everything:  feet on the walkway, birds, blossoming plants, and the noises of other people. They're alive! 

At the base of Sara-bong, after descending the far side, we took a break.  For a cool, delicious drink, there is a stone fountain-type trough with multiple faucets and metal drinking tins, surrounded by stone sitting area. There’s a lovely pebble foot-massage path that I enjoy.  As my bare feet slowly walked from one end to the other, I could hear the rhythmic chanting of monks from the temple around the bend.  Continuing on, I escorted Jen around to the ‘sister hill’.  (I have a thing for sisters, and “Sara” is a girls’ name).  A treat for Jen, she’d never walked this path, from which the sea is always visible.  Winding around and down, we come to a clearing that houses exercise machines and rounded wooden bench-planks for stretching… or lying and gazing up at the sky, as I’m wont to do. Rather than turn around, we take it forward to the road, making the walk a loop.  This allows us to pass over a riverbed, walk through a small neighborhood, and ease our way back home via the sidewalk of a main thoroughfare. Oh, and I also had the chance to introduce Jen to my Greek (or is he Roman?) boyfriend.

Run-on sentence

Only in Korea can I go to the supermarket (where there's usually an annoying mix of Korean pop music either urging me to dance or pull my hair out), hear Boy George's "The Crying Game", and know that there's not one other person in the store who, at that moment, is also having visions of transexuals and Jim Carrey.  

You only live once

I can’t figure out if it was Mae West or Joe E. Lewis who once said, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough”.  I’ve always loved that quote.  With each moment and breath, we’re a moment and breath closer to death.  It’s an obvious part of life, and a healthy thought to contemplate now and then.  Thoughts often creep in while I’m out on walks.  The newness of the day and the breathtaking beauty of where I live naturally push me to be grateful for my present state of impermanence.  


How often does everyone really ‘seize the day’ and live as though they could die at any time?  How often do we forget or ignore the truth in that last statement?  Not just ourselves, but the people we love, the people we know.  Who’s it going to be?  The aging grandfather who’s been bedridden for over a year, whose quality of life has been plundered by disease?  The adventurous, sweet, young man who works in the kitchen, plays intense music, is best friend to his widowed father, and sends twisted, funny text photos to his friends?  Or will it be the carrier pigeon that finds your yard to be a great place of rest until he drowns in the swimming pool?  


Now is the time to embrace life… while we’re still alive.  Neither for the charms of yesterday, nor the promises of uncertain tomorrows… we must tap into awareness and give thanks for the present.  Every day is different; every day must be a fun, treasured gift.  Live it up.     

Wake up

Wake up each morning.

Step back and out.

There is life. 

There it is,

perfect.  

Beyond petty complaints, let it hit

like a big, fluffy pillow

widening

sleepy eyes.  

Consciousness.  

Movement.  

Sound.  

Vision.  

Senses. 

Fun.

Awareness.  

Wonder.  

Sky.  

Breath.

different 

new

sky.

sky.

sky.

sky.

sky.

sky.

sky.

seven layers,

seven heavens.

infinite blues.    

Bad Manners / Good Karma

When I lived at the ashram as a student of yoga, we were introduced to the practice of Karma Yoga. The idea is to do work for no reward.  Work becomes worship, or devotion.  Fruits of our labors go out the window, as we free ourselves from attachment to the results. One must let the ego go, releasing feelings of superiority and resentment.  During afternoons, we were organized to do certain chores for maintaining the order and cleanliness of the grounds, such as picking up pieces of trash and scrubbing the floor of the meditation hall.  At the end there was no reward, no pay, and no free cookie.  It wasn’t a big deal; we weren’t performing work for praise, pay, or our own benefit.  Everyone worked for the good of all.  When I was in the Navy, I was often assigned to similar tasks:  weeding the cracks in the sidewalks, picking up trash, painting things that seemingly didn’t need another coat of paint.  I can’t say my work in the Navy was anything close to being considered karmic, as it was part of the job.  At the ashram, I got a nice little taste of the idea of Karmic actions. 

Sharing living spaces with others makes me miss my last apartment mate, and also brings me back to those lessons and ideas of Karma Yoga.  It’s not easy when flat mates don’t have similar standards of cleanliness or respect for the shared space. Some individuals use the space with no second thoughts, and no effort to clean up after themselves.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, one individual doesn’t think twice about getting up to her elbows in grime to clean our area.  Today, she scrubbed the washing machine components with a toothbrush.  I don’t know what goes through her head, but she seems quite content to do these tasks for the good of all.

I can only strive to be that cool as I’m doing my part.  I definitely feel like I do far more than my share.  I don’t expect a pat on the back, or even ‘thanks’.  In a way, I know my actions could potentially be a form of Karma Yoga.  I’m just not there yet.  If I complete this work with thoughts of increasing my good karma, it defeats the purpose of Karma Yoga’s goal:  doing work as worship, without being attached to its fruits.  I try to keep it clean with a smile, but perhaps just need to let go of the anger and resentment that occasionally accompanies me on the frequent walks to the trash receptacles.  

Sweet dreams

In a dream, I was heading out with an old favorite college buddy from the 90’s, the adventurous, redheaded Becca.  We were going for a bike ride on a sunny, spring day.  She’s pregnant, but doesn’t hesitate to go out to the stairwell, lift her bike in through the hallway, and lug it down the stairs.  Outside waiting for her, I encounter a few strangers, presumably friends of hers.  They’re eating cactus.  Not the fruits or flowers, but the flesh.  I’m handed a huge, oblong piece, sliced open and ready to eat.  The outside of the plant appears to be the standard, light green cactus.  The innards are a lovely purple, light and almost pink, but still purple.  Not sure what you’d call the color, but it was gorgeous.  As I pulled the juicy flesh to taste it, the texture was stringy like a mango, juice filled like a grapefruit, and light like cotton candy.  Beyond being not too sweet, the taste was indescribable. 

Needless to say, I’ve been craving cactus for two days.  Luckily, I’m living in a place where there happens to be a special cactus, Baeknyuncho or "palm cactus", native to this island.  I’d tasted the chocolate they make with it.  Great flavor, but the chocolate isn’t anything to write home about.  Today, I bought the cactus tea.  70% cactus fruit, 10% honey, and I think the rest is water.  The sticky consistency of this pink-purple gel is like plasma.  The taste is perfect, on its own and with hot water, as tea.  I guess it’s just what I needed.  This weekend, ansha allah, my best girl & I will go west to check out this special, native, cacti... growing along a lovely trail for a Sunday.