Heil Buddha!

So, this past week has been fairly quick in going by, so much so, that I can't remember much between Monday morning and Friday evening... either the alzheimer's is kickin' in or school is going well and i'm not noticing! Hopefully the latter of the two! Oh, I do remember one thing... I was sittin' at my desk the other day, readin' a book for school with Guns 'n' Roses blastin' in my ear, when "Mike" came over to me and just stood there... right behind me, casting his shadow over the page as I was reading. He tipped me on the shoulder and said: "Brother, can you write your email address and telephone number please?" I didn't ask why he wanted my contact details but I gave him my email address anyway! I "couldn't remember" my phone number at the time!

So that was the highlight of my working week!

Friday arrived and everyone was in good form, and rightly so...the weekend was here, WOOO! After work, myself and another lad I work with headed to our local pub for a few pints... that was 9:30pm! At 5am there were about 8 of us in a Noerebang... locked! Eventually headed home at about 6, but not before four of headed to Mickie D's for breakfast! Yum!

Saturday I was hungover!

Sunday, I got up at around 1pm and decided to go on an adventure! I had heard about this mountain that was near my apt. and that it was possible to hike up it! So, at around 2pm I set off in search of the Mountain! I eventually found it after hiking through woodland, someones back yard and a neverending amount of autumn leaves! I was wrecked by the time I got to the top, but it was worth it! The view was unreal! Check out the photo's!

Random apt. building on my way there:

Someones back yard! ^^Some view!

I have loads more photos, but these one's give you the general gist of the place!

On the way down I came across some temples and a giant golden statue of a Buddha... it was unreal! Alot of Koreans ( alot of Asians in fact) are of the Buddhist faith. To be honest I don't know much about Buddhism so I'm not one to comment on it! One thing I did find both amazing and terrifying at the same time was this:

Yes, I know, that is a Swastika! The Swastika in Buddhism represents good fortune and the heart of Buddha, not what us in the West would associate it with! If you notice, there is a difference between the Buddha Swastika and the Nazi Swastika... the Nazi one is backwards. The Swastika has been a Buddhist symbol for thousands of years, and then for some unknown reason the Nazi's adopted it, flipped it over and used it as their own! It's a shame that what is considered a beautiful symbol of hope and joy in Asia is considered a symbol of anger and hate by those in the West! It's so weird to see it on the side of a temple and on signs pointed towards Buddhist places of worship! I was speechless when I saw it, I had to get closer to make sure I was actually seeing a Swastika... oh, and before people get ratty about the way I am calling it a "Swastika" all the time... it's actually called a "Swastika" (well, at least in India anyway where it is most widely seen, here in Korea it is called the Manji), the Nazi's did not come up with the name!

So, I wandered in after taking the picture of the Swastika and had a look a round! It was so peaceful that I didn't know if I was even allowed be there! I spotted a Buddhist monk sitting on the ground by one of the temples, I think he was planting rice but I can't be certain! I managed to get a sneaky photo of him!

I then went up some steps to see a massive statue of a Buddha!

Some Temples:

They were class! It was an enjoyable day trekking around my area, but it was tiring! Home for a few hours kip and then out again that night! I know... out on a school night, disgraceful! I was fairly hungover this mornin' in school! It was worth it though-our pub quiz team: "The Cunning Linguists" came second and we won a bottle of wine...we then drank the wine!

Later!