Beomosa

We are really starting to get the hang of things, but it still wears us out. By Friday night we are so ready for the weekends and not seeing kids for two days. This is actually Friday during our afternoon break - (we have a longer one on Friday because we go in earlier) and Jon is catching a little nap. :) I thought he looked so cute I couldn't resist.

On Saturday we went to Beomosa which is where a really beautiful and I guess maybe famous set of Buddhist temples are. We wanted to see the temples but probably next time we will go more for the hiking. We didn't hike much this time, but this mountain is very big and there are some awesome trails we have heard about - a few miles long and with some amazing views. We will be going back soon. These are our friends Jeffery and Juyoung who went with us.

The walk up to the temple area was beautiful. It was a small taste of what a long hike might be like. This trail went much farther up and we will take it soon.

On their way up the rock path.

This is where we turned off the path up the mountain and on to the path toward the temples.

A shot of one of the many temples. Unfortunately I had my camera on a bad setting and many of the outdoor pictures in sunlight were terribly overexposed! There were some good views off the mountain but you wouldn't know it ----they just look white in the picture. Guess I need to do some more practice with the camera.

A little closer up on the artistry of each temple. All of them had this and all of it is done by hand. Beautiful colors.

This was in the temple. We didn't actually go inside of any, but I took a shot through the door. Jon and I both felt sad when we were there. We didn't feel creeped out or heavy from being on ground claimed for Buddha, but our hearts did break for the people who come here and are looking for something that can't be found here. Juyoung told us that when people are feeling guilty about something they will come and bow 1,000 times... and that means get on their knees, head to the floor and then stand all the way back up again. If only they knew grace.

We didn't have a gong or whatever you call it for a bell, so Jeff and Jon thought they'd use their fists.

A small prayer room in the side of the mountain.

Just being a wayguek. (foreigner)

We are still looking for a place to call a church home. We haven't found a place where we particularly feel like we are supposed to land just yet. Fortunately we found out about a Korean church just 10 minutes away that has an English ministry. This is exciting because all the other churches we have found that have English are about an hour away. We will try it out and see what happens.

Another fun thing that we did this weekend was go into the next neighborhood over to an outdoor market where people just set up carts and sell vegetables and fruits and fish in the alleys. We found some really cute old ladies that had a pretty good selection of both fruits and veggies and we made out like bandits! The prices in the alley were much better than the grocery store. People have also told us that the food is usually better and fresher that way. I don't know if these people pick it from their own garden's or what - but it was wonderful! We got 10 tomatoes, 3 huge carrots, 3 onions, 3 bunches of grapes, 2 apples, a pear, lettuce, and some green onions for about $11.50! We were also told that if you find a good booth and always go there they may start giving you a discount. Plus it will be fun to practice our Korean on these women. They seem really fun :)