Day 343 in Korea-Donggureung

Donggureung:

Two weeks ago, I finally went to one of my Guri’s most famous sites: Donggureung. Donggureung is a collection of royal tombs dating back to around 600 years ago. This blows my mind. Being from Kansas, I’m not used to seeing things older than 150 years. The strange thing is, for me anyway, people here were using it as a meeting place, playing badminton and climbing trees.  Right next to the tombs of people that have been dead for 600 years. 

Strangeness aside, it was a very pleasant day. I live at a very busy intersection so I’ve gotten accustomed to lots of horns honking, random people yelling who-only-knows-what and lots of traffic noise. It was a wonderful respite to spend the day not only surrounded by tombs of dead people but deep inside a forest as well. My initial thought was to blast my iPod while I was walking through but then I realized that I would be missing out on a lot. As soon as I took off my headphones, I could hear woodpeckers doing what they do best, bees buzzing all around me (although I could never see them, which really freaked me out), and the occasional yell from an excited kid. It was so refreshing!!

Most of the tombs are roped off so you can’t actually see the detail involved. Fortunately, three are open for wandering. Unfortunately, because of my busted toe I was only able to climb one before the stupid toe started hurting. The rest of the time you can only admire from afar. 

The one tomb that I did climb was quite interesting. Each tomb is actually two hills: a large hill with a smaller one on top, containing the actual body itself. On each of the large hill there’s a collection of animals, statues of civil and military officials, and other sculptures, including a stone lantern and a large stone table. In front of each of the tombs is a shrine and a shed. The shrine hosts the ancestral rites for the respective royal buried at that tomb and each shed has a tombstone inscribed with the royal’s achievements. 

One of the things that I really liked about Donggureung was they had a very well written English explanation for each of the tombs, which doesn’t always happen in Korea. It really helped me to appreciate the history and the accomplishments of Korea and its residents even more. The best part was the entrance fee was only 1,000 won, about 90 cents. It was beautifully kept and very well maintained. If you’re reading this from Korea, I highly recommend a visit!

Updates

The last 72 hours have been insane! Tuesday night I received my visa issuance number, which was the last piece of the puzzle that I needed! Or so I thought...

Wednesday morning I called the Korean Consulate in Chicago to make sure that I had the right documents assembled. To my surprise, they told me that I needed to come to Chicago for an interview. With my brother getting married next weekend and me tied up with medical appointments and other prior engagements, there was absolutely no way that I could get to Chicago and back and still make it to the wedding, the rehearsal, all of my appts, etc. So I called my recruiter Joyce (through KorVia Consulting) and asked her to talk to the school. Fortunately God was smiling down upon me! My amazing mom and I will be traveling to Chicago on June 7th, my interview is on the 8th, I pick up my passport on the 10th, and we both fly out of Chicago on the 11th! Of course, she'll be returning to KS while I'll be en route to Korea!

All of these changes are just now starting to sink in. I'm spending as much time as possible with my family and it's getting harder and harder to say goodbye to them each time I see them. The actual booking of the ticket really cemented things for me. My hands were literally shaking the entire time I did it. I've also started packing suitcases and the rest of my house up. Seeing a full suitcase in my bedroom and seeing piles of stuff everywhere else is an emotional kick in the pants. I'm incredibly excited to begin this new life, to sit down and dig in my beliefs, feelings, and all of the long forgotten corners of my mind. I can't wait to sit down and completely reinvent myself over the course of this year. But I hate that it's coming at the expense of my friends and family. *sigh*

Since the next two weeks are so busy, I probably won't be updating this much (if at all.) Once I arrived in Korea, look for more frequent updates!

Work in progress!!!

You're either here because I told you to come here or because you stumbled across my little blog. If it's the latter, welcome, but be patient with me! If it's the former, I'll only be working on the blog for the next couple of weeks.

For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Stephanie and I'm preparing to move to South Korea. I'll be living in the city of Guri, teaching at In chang Middle School. My start date is supposed to be June 8th, but until I hear more about my visa number, everything is pretty up in the air.

Please feel free to follow me if you'd like to keep up on my new life in South Korea!