2021 Summer Break (Part 2)

In the last post, I talked about a rainy braai and my beach day trip to Pohang. In this post, I will talk about obtaining my Korean driver’s license (KDL), a second day trip, and a weekend visiting my university friend’s home after a year!

“I got my driver’s license last week, just like we always talked about.”

Olivia Rodrigo, “Driver’s License” 2021

I decided I needed to get my KDL since I did not have an international driving permit (which expire after a year anyways!). As a U.S.A. citizen with a North Carolina driver’s license, the process was fairly pain free and easy. Korea has specific countries that they allow driver’s license exchanges. Some of these countries (and some US states) simply provide their active driver’s license with the required documentation, whereas other countries (or, in my case, states) have to take the written exam. Luckily, this exam is provided in English. I attempted to study in preparation of the exam, using various phone applications. *Shout out to my friends who told me about these 운전면하PLUS and Korean Driver License apps*  

From my apartment, I took a bus for 30 minutes, and then jumped on Daegu’s yellow line for another 30 minutes to arrive at the city’s only driving authority office by 9am. I provided all of my documentation to the Foreigner division, had my eyes checked, and then shuffled over to take the written exam. The exam is timed for 40 minutes with 40 questions. Some were very specific to Korean driving laws and fines, others were accompanied by cartoon pictures or short videos. Some were very wordy, and all were making me second guess my driving knowledge. I am pretty sure I selected “Hit the pedestrian while obnoxiously honking your horn” at some point.

Somehow, I passed the exam, and successfully obtained my KDL. It felt amazing, and I felt FREE… until I realized that most Korean car rental companies will not rent to anyone with a KDL less than a year old. With all the topics I had researched, this was NOT one of them. Oh well! I’ll find a way!

Day trip to Hapcheon (합천)

I have built a friendship with a work colleague at one school. You may recall, we started by meeting twice a week to practice her English last year. As the year progressed, our workloads increased. We began meeting whenever we could, sometimes going a full month without catching up. During the winter break, we went to Gyeongju for a day trip. This summer we had planned a two day trip to a beautiful mountain temple in Danyang (단양), but this plan was foiled by the vaccine dates. Instead, we decided to do a Sunday drive to Hapcheon, about 1.5 hours outside of Daegu.

We started our journey around 9 Sunday morning. I bought us coffees from A Twosome Place (Korean café chain), which is just a 5 minute walk from my apartment. We drove along, listening to K-Pop (she is a big fan of BTS), and headed up Gaya Mountain (가야산). It was a beautiful forest drive.

We parked our car, and then walked down to where we believed the entrance of Haein Temple (해인사) would be. Our temperatures and entry tickets were checked, and we were given a sticker to wear. The man at the entrance was surprised we planned to walk from there, saying we were at the wrong entrance. As we started trekking upwards, he yelled to us saying he found us a ride! We hopped into a car with 2 friendly strangers making their way up to the temple to pray. It was very kind of them, and definitely necessary, as the drive itself was steep, and took approximately 10 minutes. (Imagine that on foot?!?! Noooo thank you!)

They dropped us off at the entrance to the temple and we walked up many stairs to arrive at the compound. As we were walking, we heard a drum, which was not something I had heard in my temple visits thus far. When on level ground again, we saw a monk beating a very large Dharma drum (법고-beopgo), which hung next to the temple bell. There were two monks on the platform, one beating the drum in a slow rhythm, and the other observing. Then, the second stood up, walked to the drum, and then took over with a faster rhythm. The sound of the drum is for the salvation of all animals.

Then, the monks moved to ring the bell with a large, round, wooden mallet (is that what it’s called??) hanging from the ceiling. Although I did not count the rings, *I was really focused on listening to the peaceful sound rolling into the temple compound and through the mountains* research says the morning bell rings 28 times. It is a call to prayer, and also the sound to save all beings from suffering.

Haein Temple, which is still very active, was built in 802. It is Korea’s second of “three jewels of Buddhism” temples. The three jewels of Buddhism are Buddha, Dharma (teachings of Buddha), and Sangha (community of monks delivering Buddha’s teachings). As Haein Temple houses 80,000 Tripitaka Koreana (Buddhist scriptures) wooden printing blocks within its Janggyeonggak building, it is the Temple of Dharma. The Tripitaka were carved during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). Through various temple fires, and even the Korean War, the Tripitaka have not been harmed.

For more in-depth details about Haein Temple’s history, I suggest you go to Korea’s World Heritage site: Tripitaka and Haeinsa

We walked about the temple grounds during a prayer service, keeping quiet as we listened to the chants and woodblock instruments. Although the prayer temples all appeared to be full of Buddhist followers, there were many of us simply touring. I was impressed with how everyone respected the peace and quiet due to prayers, even the children.

After leaving the temple grounds, we walked down towards the valley, finding the shortcut to our car (hence the entrance man’s surprise earlier). We crossed over a lovely stream, and were at our car after 20 minutes of easy walking. I am really glad we road up with the strangers that morning. The climb, even the shortcut, would have been grueling.

As I had just obtained my driver’s license only a few days prior, my friend offered to let me drive the 2 minutes to our next destination. I was nervous and excited, driving up the road through narrow village streets until we came to the restaurant.

We ordered our lunch, which consisted of many vegetarian side dishes, doenjang-jjigae (된장찌개 – fermented soybean soup) and jeon (전 – a savory Korean pancake). We sat on the floor to enjoy a typical monk’s meal.

As we left the restaurant, I was invited to drive the hour down-mountain to a lake. Less nervous this time, I happily accepted and safely drove us down the winding road and through a few small towns. My friend was very calm, and constantly saying “와우, 잘했어” (“Wow. Well done”). There were only a handful of intersections that threw me for a loop, lacking obvious markings, and half of the road I was unsure the speed limit. Luckily, no tickets were given.

We arrived at our destination, a lake “resort”, where we walked about until we were too hot and wanted something refreshing to drink. We drove along to Hapcheon Dam Lake, stopping at a popular coffee shop. We enjoyed our drinks, and observing other customers. As this is apparently an Instagram-worthy photo spot, people watching was entertaining.

As the sun was starting to go down, we decided to head back to Daegu. We ended our trip by sharing kimchi and jjin mandu (김치만두 and 찐만두 – steamed dumplings).

Summer Break’s End

This past weekend, to end my summer “break” on a high note, I finally returned to Bundang (분당) to visit my university friend and her family! Due to coronavirus cases still threatening us, we decided to lie low, stay in watching movies and eating delicious food. We are planning to go camping in the fall, and hoping we won’t have to wait another full year to reconnect. I really enjoyed spending time with them, as always.

Summer break has ended. Students are coming back from their vacations, and teachers are hustling to get everything prepared for the second semester.

Here’s to another 4 months of 2021! Stay classy, sassy and healthy, y’all!