Climb Every Mountain

Before coming to Korea, I had never climbed a mountain in my life, let alone anything bigger than a sand dune at Lake Michigan. So this past weekend was an adventure for me! Some of our friends asked us if we wanted to go hiking with them at Bukhansan National Park in Seoul. Sure, hiking. I was not expecting mountain climbing, but that's exactly what it was! Baekundae Mountain, to be exact.

Tim and I were with our friends Jackie, Collin, and Matt. The hiking trail started as a slight incline, and we laughed as we walked past huge rest stop areas with restaurants full of people! As we kept climbing, it got more and more difficult. At one point, I remember Collin pointing to the peak of a mountain, and saying, "That's where we're going." It was far away. And very high. It was then I knew we were in for a challenging climb!

There was one point in the climb that just seemed impossible for me to get through. The boys were ahead, bounding over rocks, and my friend Jackie and I were behind, taking our time. I was tired, my legs hurt, and there was no end in sight. Just rock after rock, as far as we could see. Collin kept telling us we were "almost there," but we knew we weren't!

Finally, we made it through the physically demanding part of the climb, to a Fortress Wall that was originally built in 132 A.D. I have developed this love for old walls, so I was excited. Not only that, but this was the first time we could really start to see the beautiful view. It was breath-taking, and we weren't even at the top yet. With our renewed energy, we kept climbing. The part of the climb from the Fortress Wall to the top ended up being pure rock climbing. There were cables that we could hold on to to help us, but it was crazy! I felt like I needed to have climbing gear or something! This part of the climb was the most fun for me.

At last, we made it to the top! Altitude: 2700 ft! I have never experienced anything quite like that feeling of finally reaching the peak. Not only the feeling of accomplishment, but the reward of seeing such an incredible view! We could see the city of Seoul, nestled at the base of the gorgeous mountains, and it was stunning. We sat at the top for awhile, resting and admiring the view. We were surprised at how many people were at the top too! Apparently, Koreans are hard-core hikers! After resting for awhile, we started the trek back down the mountain. In some ways, going down was harder than climbing up. I felt like I was constantly losing my balance and almost falling. Plus, at that point, my legs were tired, and were not doing a good job of supporting me. But I am proud to say that I only fell once! :)

Of course, I couldn't climb a mountain, without thinking about the symbolism that was there. As I was climbing, I kept thinking about how mountains symbolize our walk through life. Sometimes life is rough and rocky, and so difficult, but then you see the beautiful view, and you realize why the climb was necessary. I love that I now have an experience to connect with that idea. Also, literal and symbolic mountain climbs are better when you have others there with you to laugh with you and encourage you. We have been lucky to find some good friends here, who we love hanging out with. After the climb, we all went to a Korean BBQ restaurant that was a little "hole in the wall" place. It was perfect. Sitting on the floor, with no shoes, eating Korean food with our friends, after conquering a mountain. Not much compares to that.

Beijing!

Tim and I spent this past weekend in Beijing! We had a couple of days off for Chusok, or Korean Thanksgiving, so we decided to make the trip. We went through a travel agency that offers trips and tours to foreigners in Korea. It was really nice because our tour group was made up of teachers living in Korea, so we had a lot in common. They all spoke English, but we were in the minority being from the United States. There were people from the UK, Ireland, South Africa, and Canada! It was a really fun group of people to hang out with for three days! We also had an amazing tour guide from China named Wade. He spoke great English, and explained the history of everything that we were seeing throughout the weekend. It was great to be on a tour because we got to see so much of Beijing, and we didn't have to think about anything but enjoying it. The stress of the transportation, language barrier, meals, time, and money was nonexistent, so we were able to just take in the beauty of the city. And it is one BEAUTIFUL city.

The Food

One way that we enjoyed the city was through the food! We ate at some great restaurants, and got a good sampling of all different kinds of Chinese foods. There was lots of chicken, beef, fish, shrimp, rice, watermelon, and tea! We ate well! And I now consider myself a seafood eater! I always tried to avoid it before, but it's kind of hard to avoid on this side of the world! And I actually liked all the fish and shrimp that I ate. Yes, I am trying to become more mature, and grow out of my picky-eating ways. :) It had to happen sometime! Our favorite meal in Beijing was Mongolian Hot Pot. We all got our own mini pots of broth that we could cook our food in. We could choose from all different kinds of meat, cabbage, vegetables, noodles, and dumplings. It was delicious, and fun to cook our own food! Funnily enough, there were no egg rolls or fortune cookies at any of our meals! Those are things I always thought of first when thinking about Chinese food. We did get french fries at almost every meal, though! I'm not sure if the Chinese eat a lot of french fries, or if they just brought them to us because we were foreigners! All in all, the food was great, and it was fun to get to know the other people in our tour group during the meals.

The People

Beijing was packed with people when we were there! There are already 21 million people who live in Beijing, and on top of that, there were even more people in the city celebrating the Chinese National Day! So it was crazy! But the Chinese people that we came in contact with were so warm and welcoming! I kind of thought it would be like Korea, where they are used to seeing foreigners, for the most part. But when we were out sightseeing, people would come up to us to get pictures with us, and to practice their English. When we were at Tianamen Square, I was getting swarmed with people wanting pictures with me! It was really funny! One mother wanted me to hold her baby for a picture. It made me feel famous! My favorite was a girl who came up to me, and said, "Hello, welcome to Beijing." Her english was really good, so we had a little conversation. It almost made me cry! She was so adorable. All of the people were so kind and amazing.

The Shopping

Of course, we couldn't enjoy the city without shopping! Our tour guide took us to several shopping areas, including a pearl store and a jade factory. Both were very affordable, so it was easy to succumb to the persuasive salespeople. I got a pearl ring and some jade earrings that I was very happy about. The craziest place that we went shopping, though, was the market. It was five floors of clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, crafts, purses... and hundreds of salespeople trying to entice you. You're supposed to barter for everything, so we did. I think we did pretty well too, because we were willing to just walk away if we didn't get a good price on something. But bartering is really stressful! And you can't just browse without someone coming up to you and saying, "How many do you want?" Not, "Do you want to buy this?" HOW MANY? So we tried not to touch or point at anything, unless we had intent to buy it. Tim said that their motto must be, "You touch it, you bought it." That's pretty much true!

The Attractions

The best part about being on a tour was that we got to see so many places in such a short amount of time. Also, our tour guide told us a lot of the history, so that we knew the stories behind the beautiful things we were seeing. It's so interesting to me that, in the Chinese culture, everything means something. I loved learning about all the symbolism. They don't just take life at face value, they look for the deeper meaning in everything. And the culture is so artistic. Everywhere we went, I was in awe of the beautiful architecture. Everything seemed so intentionally beautiful because there was a reason for every single detail. We were able to see the Temple of Heaven, the Ming Tombs, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and of course, THE GREAT WALL!

Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is a group of several buildings where the emperors would go to pray to the heavenly god for good weather for their crops and good harvests. They held elaborate ceremonies here twice a year. Above, is a picture of me in front of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The use of circular and square shapes were very important here because Earth was represented by a square, and Heaven was represented by a circle. For instance, two of the halls are square-shaped, and the Imperial Vault of Heaven is circular. This represents the connection between Heaven and Earth. Just outside of the Temple of Heaven is a beautiful park where mostly senior citizens were playing chess, playing instruments, singing, dancing, exercising.... it was incredible! It is the cool hang-out for the retirees in Beijing!

There were many old trees at the Temple of Heaven. Above is a picture of a tree that is 500 years old! If only trees could talk!

Ming Tombs

The Ming Tombs is the site where the 13 emperors from the Ming Dynasty are buried. Here, we learned about Emperor Yongle, who chose the site for the Ming Tombs. He also was the emperor who moved the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing. He is one of the most influential and revered emperors in China. He selected his burial site and created his own mausoleum on the site of the Ming Tombs.

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is the place where the emperors would spend their summers. It is a gorgeous area with a man-made lake, a place called Longevity Hill, a marble boat, beautiful gardens, and beautiful architectural structures. We visited the Summer Palace at sunset, so it set the mood, and made it even more beautiful.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was one of my favorite places that we visited. It is the place that the emperors lived during the Ming and Qin dynasties, nearly 500 years. It was built from 1406-1420, has 980 buildings, and almost 9,000 rooms! Walking around the Forbidden City, I could feel the grandeur, and the weight of history all around me. 500 years of stories were built into those walls. I thought about all of the emperors, empresses, and concubines, and servants who had lived there, and what amazing stories they must have had. We learned that the last emperor who lived there was only 3 years old when he became emperor. He grew up in the Forbidden City, and was different from all the other emperors before him. He was very interested in the western way of life, and took English lessons. Also, he and the Empress were actually in love. They didn't marry just for political reasons. They even wrote love letters to each other because they lived on opposite sides of the very large Forbidden City! Stunning stories, history, and architecture were everywhere in the Forbidden City.

THE GREAT WALL!

The Great Wall is an amazing symbol of history. Construction on the Wall began in the 5th Century B.C. and it is over 3,800 miles long! The main reason that we wanted to go to Beijing was to see the Great Wall! We wanted to be able to walk where millions before us had walked, and to witness history up close. So actually being at there was incredible! We walked on a section of the wall that went up a mountain. So it was quite a climb! The steps were made of stone and were irregular sizes, so it made the climb challenging. Every time I thought we were getting close to the top, there would be another peak around the corner. As I climbed, I thought of the millions of people it took to build that wall, and all of the incredible hard work that went into it. I thought of the many people who had died building the Wall. And I thought about what walls symbolize. I decided that they can symbolize protection and unity, but also insecurity and close-mindedness. Finally, we reached the top! The view was breath-taking, and it was an experience I will never forget!

Our three days in Beijing were full of history, beauty, and stories! We loved every second of it, and it is definitely a place that we want to visit again someday!