Who wants to be a millionaire?

So I am a bit behind but on Thursday I got paid and now I am a millionaire haha!Crazy Korean money!

Yes that was my bank balance after all the bills were taken out!If only it was in pounds and not won!

So now I have no excuse, I am settled in and I have money so now it is time to begin a bit more exploring. On Saturday I did exactly that with my lovely new friends who took me to a Buddhist temple called the Dong-hwasa Temple. It was great we got to see where the Buddhist monks meditate and the massive Buddha statue:

The Buddha faces the North and has the object in his hand in order to symbolise the wish to be at peace with North Korea. The sign he has his hand in means 'welcome'. The picture below is a small meditation room that you take your shoes off to go in. Also you can see in the picture with the big stature of Buddha, there is a matt  directly in front when you can take your shoes off and pray. There was calming music that you could here all around this top section. There were bigger rooms with other people in meditating and praying but it was too solemn a place to use your camera. It was an amazing atmosphere to absorb though. When leaving the temples you bow to Buddha three times; one for Buddha the baby, one for Buddha the man and one for Buddha the God. It is a full body bow where you kneel each time and put your hands on the floor and you face not far off the floor.

 There were a few customary things to do when you are there;  one was to drink from the fountain, which I was slightly dubious about until I was reassured that it wasn't like a chocolate fountain. 

Another one was that you are rub these eggs and make a wish, but you have to rub all of them or it won't come true:

There was also this platform that you throw coins on to and if your coin stays on the you get good luck, I got mine but unfortunately bounced my friends coin off...sorry hun!

There was also this really nice tunnel filled with lanterns which I thought was really pretty, and on Buddha's birthday everyone sets a lantern off into the sky at the lantern festival in September, which I am definitely going to.

This was an amazing day out with fantastic people. If you want to see more photos of this day there are lots more on facebook. The night was also a great one as I went with work people to see my friend from work's bands and they were great! This is his second band Denizen - check them out if you get a chance:

So tomorrow is the start of my last week on my current schedule. Next Thursday we have a day for the national holiday that marks the date when the fight for Korean independence, from the Japanese,began. Then the new schedule starts on the Friday, which is what last weeks level up tests were for (an easy week for teachers). I have one less class than I do now and the schedule is more spread out, so I only have one day where I teach seven classes, the rest are six or less-yey!!!!

A few more snippets about Korea- valentines day is for the women to give men candy (argh America!), the 14th of March is for guys to give girls the candy, and on the 14th of April single people eat black noodles to symbolise they are single!Is it just me, or is that just rubbing single people's faces in it?However, it is a good set up for a romantic meeting- "ah I see you are eating black noodles too..."

Korean TV is the weirdest sometimes, today I saw a show that was based on women flicking their shoes in the air to hit another woman in the face!Not only that but the other woman would try to get hit in the face with the shoe - this old Korean woman who was watching it was cracking up laughing so it must me good entertainment for some people...

Ok, sorry for the extra long post. Hope you enjoyed it. Love to England!