Caifornia & The Canyons - Westcoast Connection!

For the past three weeks, I have been working with a company called Westcoast Connections - 360 Student Travel. I was a trip leader on a teen tour for 21 days of California & The Canyons. There was a group of 48 teens, aged 12 - 14 with 7 staff.  I was saddled with the job of "trip blogger" as I have had some experience with blogging in the past. ;-)

While blogging, I had to include each trip member's name at least once, but for these copies of the trip blog, I have deleted their names. Just for privacy and what not. Hope you enjoy hearing about my adventure across the west coast!

Click "Read More" to read the blog that I wrote for this trip :)

Travel is a part of me, now.

Well, our adventure in Korea is over and its back to the grind... of unemployment! ha!

I really did have a wonderful time there. I have this tendency that whenever I go on trips, I always appreciate it SO much more when I return home than maybe while I'm experiencing it? The first time it happened was when I went to Hawaii in Grade 12. I went, had fun, and just went with the flow. I never really had moments there where I said: "wait a second, wtf, I'm in HAWAII!" But when I came home, looked at pictures and my journal, I was blown away by how awesome and lucky I was to go on that trip. After Hawaii, the same thing happened in Europe and all the other adventures I've been so fortunate to be able to go on.

That's how I'm feeling now. I am taking some time to look through my pictures, finish updating the blog (sorry for the late posts), and really missing my sister (although that part happened as soon as I got home! p.s. I'm not being a suck up, jac). I am thankful to Mrs. Green for donating her points for our flight and to my parents for basically paying for the whole thing. I have been going through some tough times recently and I never would have probably visited Korea if not for this trip.

Til the next adventure calls....

So Ronery and Sadry Arone....

Susan, you went to Korea and then suddenly Kim Jong II dies? Hmm... Did you get him like you got Michael Jackson? Are there bomb shelters and terrified south Koreans running around now? I kid, I kid. But seriously, don't worry North America, the situation in Korea wasn't as insane as the western media led you to believe. I probably wouldn't have even known he had died if it weren't for my incessant facebook checking! When we watched the news, they were more concerned about their stocks falling than anything else. Guess what else? We were going to DMZ the same day!

We had a tour of the DMZ planned way before we even got there. Jaclyn even had to get our passport numbers to book the trip (apparently certain countries in the middle east or mainland China aren't allowed on tours). It was a no-refund tour but we were assured by the company that it was still running, despite the change of power in North Korea. The DMZ is the "Demilitarized Zone", a buffer area between North and South Korea. Since the armistice was signed in 1953, the DMZ was created as each side agreed to move their troops back from the front line to a establish a "neutral" territory.



Our tour left super SUPER early in the morning... or rather we had to wake up super super early to get there! We checked out at our hotel at 5:30am, walked to Jaclyn and took the subway to where the tour was departing from. I was feeling very under the weather from my cold and early morning wake up, that it probably wasn't til about 12pm that I started to feel better!

We took the hour long coach to the United Nations military base of Camp Bonifas. An American soldier became our new tour guide and gave us a brief history lesson and rules that we needed to follow while in the JSA. These included things such as "Don't wave or make any kind of gestures to the North Koreans - they could take this as a sign of aggression and shoot" and "stand in two lines facing North Korea, do not turn around and take pictures of the South". With our American escort, we went to the JSA - Joint Security Area. The JSA (or "Truce Village") is the only portion of the DMZ where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face and hold discussions.



We went into the building that they held the armistice talks and future talks between both sides. The building has the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) running right through it so it is technically on both sides. We stood around a table and the guide said "if you are standing on this side of the Microphones, congratulations, you are standing in technically, 'North Korea'" !!

Due to poor weather conditions (icy and snowy), we unfortunately could not go see a security tower, the Bridge of No Return or the Observatory (where you could see the two different villages that are allowed to remain inside the DMZ - the "Freedom Village" in the south and the "Propaganda Village" in the North). After we left Camp Bonifas, we went to the 3rd tunnel.

The 3rd Tunnel was discovered in the late 70s and is the most "complete" tunnel that has been discovered. It runs from the North to the South (though they deny making it - regardless of the direction the dynamite blasts indicate). It is the third of four tunnels they have already discovered, but they think there may be up to 10 more. And it is only 44km from Seoul! Although it is now a tourist site, it is also very heavily guarded. You can only go so far before you get to three blockades that do not allow you to go any further into the North Korea side. It was a HECK of a climb though! It runs about 73m deep and believe me, the slope was not an easy task! We were very out of breath by the time we got back up.

The last stop on our DMZ tour was that of Dorasan Station. This is a railway station that connects North and South Korea. Obviously at the moment it does not go past Dorasan to continue onto the Northern side, but the station is a symbol of hope that one day, these two countries will be reunified. I honestly don't really see it happening anytime soon (especially not with the new transition of power, the military is still WAY too influential in North Korea even if the new guy wanted progressive change)...But the Berlin Wall eventually came down, so maybe someday in our lifetime, a peace treaty will be signed.

Bongeunsa Temple

How's it hanging, Buddah?! One tourist activity that I really wanted to participate in Korea was the "Temple Stay Program" . In this program, you can spend one to three days experiencing what it is like to live in a Buddhist temple in Korea. We opted for just the one day experience (not too keen on waking up at 3am to do 108 postures and meditate, plus the temples aren't heated too well!). I am really interested in learning about the Buddhist religion so I thought this was a great opportunity. It also kind of reminded me of the "pray" aspect of Eat, Pray, Love (the AMAZING book, not the horrible Julia Roberts movie). We got to the temple and were very surprised to see how traditional it looked even though it was right in downtown Seoul, surrounded by office towers and a stones throw away from the COEX Mall. It was pretty gorgeous.



Our tour was led by a volunteer who practices at the temple. She was super nice and her English was pretty good! We started off with a temple tour, learning about the different kinds of offerings to Buddha and what different types of candles meant (depending on if the candle was pink or white it was either in memory of someone who has passed away or an offering about someone who is living). Then we went to a prayer room where people were doing the 108 Postures (each bow represents a wish / prayer). It was so beautiful. Lotus lanterns donned the ceiling, golden Buddhas surrounded us as we sat on mats and gaped around with open mouths.



After the prayer, we toured more of the temple and went to the "meditation center". This was a more modern building where they do a lot of the educational programs. We experienced a Buddhist tea ceremony. They explained that serving tea has a very specific meditative quality to it and everything is done in a calm and meditative manner. The tea was delicious, we tried two different kinds. One was chrysanthemum, which really did taste like flowers. We also tried some small snacks. One was a powdered pine needles (BLAGH!!!) and the other was lotus root and sweet potato crisps (yum!).



After the tea ceremony, a Buddhist monk came in and led us in a short meditation. They hit sticks together to signify when the practice begins and ends. We sat on mats, crossed legged, and practiced meditation. I have so much respect for those monks, he said that sometimes he meditates for 10 plus hours!!! You really are in-tune with yourself then!

Our final activity was making lotus flowers. It was a very simple activity (a lot of gluing and pasting) but it resulted in a beautiful flower to hang in my room! They also gave us these small brown bracelets that we could take home to remember our stay. They are mini versions of the prayer beads that the Buddhists use in their prayers (108 beads for 108 wishes). Ours only have 26 beads, but I haven't taken mine off since. :)

When we were leaving we visited the prayer tree at the entrance to the temple. They believe that if you put your wish / prayer on a piece of paper and tie it to the tree, the wind will blow the words and make your prayer come true. Mom and I tied ours to the tree. It was beautiful with the different colours flapping in the winds.