Inside the beehive

Well, I've arrived in Korea.  A flurry of organized activity here, just like bees.  I feel sometimes like another insect who has been welcomed into the hive.  It's a great experience for me so far.  I committed for one year, and I already have an apartment that I'll move into tomorrow.  People have been extremely friendly, the food is aMAZing (i'll try to not talk only about the food in future posts, but I have to say, I really love Korean food!!!), and I'm getting over the culture shock (maybe slowly).  I'll be instructing a graduate course in the physics department on technical writing.  I look forward to that.  I may also have the chance to teach some undergraduates in intro-level physics also, which would be very fun, but we're still negotiating that.  I'm signing up for a 1 hr/day Korean class so I can better communicate with people.  I will also be getting involved with some research projects.  I'll definitely have my hands full with lots of activity, but I somehow also feel a spaciousness and calmness around all this activity.  

I have lots more to say, but I'll keep it short for now.   It's funny how both complicated and easy all the red tape stuff is.  I'm working my way through it all... I need to get a bank account, cell phone, and then I'll pretty much be set to live in Korea.  How easy, right?  I need to have an Alien Registration number to use a cell phone or get a bank account (even Koreans need their SSN to do anything, feels sort of funny).  And I need to have a residence address to apply for the Registration number.  It would be great if I could call the Registration office, but... oooh, I need to have a cell phone -- and also their line in perpetually busy :) This sort of "Brazil" (the movie, not the country) style... It's not so bad, but it is sort of funny.  I got glasses today too.  Basically if I didn't have the help of my colleagues, I would be totally lost for a lot of this stuff.

On the way to lunch with my new colleagues.  We actually ate at the Chinese restaurant on the right (red banner).

This was my breakfast today.  I expecting a small bowl of soup, but got this instead.  Yum!  The side dishes are [top row] kim-chi (the famous fermented spiced cabbage), bok-choi (fresh chinese cabbage), sea-weed, nori paper (also seaweed stuff), [2nd row] anchovies, boiled peanuts with a sweet sauce, then the rice and fermented bean soup.  The food here is healing and energizing and makes me a happy Ryan.

Who is that handsome guy? Enjoying the sunset while my glasses were being forged.

Through all this busy city life, there is Nature's Glorious Majesty, smiling upon us.

City view near campus

Kuala Lumpur, the world's melting pot

Batu caves north of KL.  The gold statue is Lord Marugan, who I actually had never heard of before (probably because he is popular with the Tamil Hindus, whom I have not come in contact with before). I was humbled with how little I actually know about Hindu mythology, and I'm motivated to learn more.

Enjoyed a brief stopover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  That place blew my mind.  I thought Fiji was a fusion of cultures, and then that idea got expanded ten-fold when I arrived in KL.  It is a hub of the world where people from all over the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and other places, converge.  Even if I spoke some Malay I wouldn't even know with whom I could speak Malay to.  Fortunately for me, most people speak at least a little English (something I feel both blessed and embarrassed about...).  

I stayed in Chinatown, which actually felt surprisingly like the chinatowns of the U.S. (SF, DC, NY). The markets around were actually similar to the Asian markets in Honolulu.  Walking around, I was surprised both by how foreign and how familiar it all felt, if that makes any sense.  I arrived pretty late at night, but still felt so curious that I had to walk around a little and enjoy a late-night (for me because NZ is 5 hours ahead) dinner, and then hit the sack.  

The next morning I met a couple from Boulder, Marian and Anthony, and they were planning to go to the same place I was, to the Batu caves.  So we spent the day together.  The caves are massive, and there are many Hindu temples inside.  We witnessed the blessing of a new child that morning, carried up the 272 stairs to the temple inside the cave to be blessed.  The ritual was profoundly touching.  We visited some of the temples and gave offerings, and were blessed by the priests.  In the picture of me and Anthony, we have some marks on our foreheads that were a part of the blessing.  The Batu caves stirred up a lot of spiritual stuff for all of us, and we enjoyed a delicious vegetarian Indian lunch afterward.  We then visited a mosque - what a contrast!  In the Hindu caves, the expressions were outward manifestations of God, but in the mosque, the architecture serves as a container for experiencing God within.  I don't judge one as being 'better' than another, but it is very interesting to witness the stark contrasts in worship.  At this point after visiting these holy places, I had imagined that stepping foot into a Christian church would have felt exotic.

We then went to get a massage, because it is so cheap in KL -- about 15 dollars each got us an hour massage, and I felt really relaxed afterward.  We rested and then went out for a nice Malay dinner at a food court.  What a full and satisfying day!

I spent today having one more Session of Beauty (sharing of spiritual wisdom, and just being wonderfully present together) with Anthony, then visited University of Malaya, where my contact that I had met on a bus, Dr. Aminul Islam, introduced me to some faculty in the physics department who were very interested in hiring me. I was planting seeds: it may be that I return to KL to work in the future.  

But right now, I am excited about going to Korea.  Even though my body is tired, and I have a cold trying to come on, I feel clear in the head and have a positive attitude about engaging with the challenges that I will be presented with.

The Colorado contingency of KL.  Me, Marian, and Anthony.  What awesome people!

Me and Anthony.

Blessing the child. The mother and father carried the child up the steps.  The child is in a hammock tied to a cane branch.  Beautiful ceremony.

Adventures in NZ

it's late at night, and my last night in NZ.  just a quick update that I'm alive and well, although a tired guy, and heading to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for a 24 hr stopover before heading to Korea.  Very excited about Korea.  Looking forward to resting on the plane :)

Here are a few pictures to summarize my last week spent with my friend Dave.  The days have been intense and maybe we did a little bit too much with the short week that we had together, but every moment sure was amazing.  We walked a lot and climbed on a lot of rocks.  That made me a happy Ryan.

Here I come, Korea!

 

fun repel at wye creek outside queenstown

me with my compadre dave.  outside queenstown.

walking the Routeburn track.... more pictures of that later... it was so cool to experience tropical forests mixed with epic alpine landscapes...

it looks at first like i'm climbing without a rope here.  be assured that i DID use a rope on every climb! :)

Beauty and wonder in New Zealand

10:53 PM 2/5/2011

I sit in my tent in the Abel Tasman national park as I end my day, and I realize that after a little more than a week, I've written nothing so far about my experiences in NZ.  Every day has been a full experience, rich with adventures, colorful people, epic scenery, and moments of stillness and peace.

After landing in Auckland with some GI problems, I stayed at a hostel for a night to get my bearings.  Skipped dinner and slept for 15 hours or so.  Took the bus to the town National Park in the morning, where I hitched into Whakapapa, trailhead for the Tongariro Northern Circuit.  This is one of the "great walks" of NZ, and setting out that same afternoon, I quickly realized why it is named that.  For 4 days, I walked through stunning wilderness areas with stark contrasts: lush forests, wide-open grasslands, heaps of lava rocks that felt like the surface of the moon, sulfer vents and emerald lakes.  After summiting Mt. Tongariro (across the way from Mt. Ngaurahoe, aka Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings film), I scrambled down the back side off-trail and finished late in the evening at my place of origin.  I had met a guide, Bruce, on the track who invited me to stay at his place and join him for a beer, but I accidentally went to the wrong meeting place, too far away to connect.  So I had a burger alone and a couple beers, then crashed in the woods before continuing in the morning.  Caught a ride with a French traveller, then got picked up by a very kind French couple whom I had met on the track (Bruce was their guide).  We travelled together to Wellington, stopping for a picnic along the way.  Very pleasant day.

In Wellington, I visited *the* museum, called Te Papa - very well-done place.  It covered natural and human history in many facets.  My favorite part was going inside a re-creation of a Maori temple, where I sat and meditated in the dark room and let the faces and images on the wall move me with their ancient stories.

The next morning I took the ferry to the South Island -- considered by some to be the most beautiful ferry ride in the world.  It was easy to see why.  I spent the entire 3 hours absorbed in the scenery, as the North Island faded away and we entered the luscious sounds of the south island, full of mountains and trees and breathtaking cliffs in the bays.  Arriving in Picton, I caught a bus to Nelson, where I proceeded to make my way to Marahau, the trailhead for the Abel Tasman hike.  I only made it half-way, and so as dusk came and I wasn't able to hitch a ride, I visited a nearby farm to see if I could pitch my tent on their land.  The older Kiwi couple, Brian and Hillary, were very warm and even offered me a room in their home.  They are cow-milk farmers.  I enjoyed chatting with them over a cup of delicious home-made apple juice before turning in to my tent.

In the morning, I went out to the road in effort to make it to Tasman, and an Austrian man, Toby, stopped his van to give me a ride.  We were going the same way.  We're the same age, and have lots in common, including that we're both beekeepers.  Toby works as a goldsmith half the year and a shepard in the summers in Austria.  We decided to be companions for this walk, and I'm so grateful to share time with him.  We also met a young German woman, Anne, who is traveling NZ by bicycle.  Toby caught red snapper fish and we had an excellent breakfast of that this morning.  And today we crossed paths with another young German, Paul, and so the four of us walked today and enjoyed a delicious meal of mussels (found on our crossing of the bay at low-tide) along with rice and lentils in a delicious curry sauce.  I feel so rich to receive such gifts from the sea.  Tomorrow we'll head a bit further north, and take a day to rest -- we've been walking quite a lot, and need to remember that we're on vacation :)  It'll be nice to take the day tomorrow to read and stretch and slow down.  In the rush of new experiences, it's quite easy to forget the wisdom I learned in Fiji about slowing down and experiencing "Fiji-time."

So that's at least a practical summary of what I've been up to in the past week.  On the 12th I'll be in Christchurch to meet up with my friend Dave and we'll travel together to the Fjordlands and maybe even climb some rocks. Then on the 19th I'll go to Korea.  It's all happening so fast, but I'm just trying to give myself permission to relax and enjoy this unique experience in life.  NZ is so full of magic and unmatched landscapes and moments.  Abel Tasman is an especially unique "great walk" because it follows the coast of the S Island.  It's incredible to look out to the ocean and see the cliffs, and islands, and the sun... I've taken a million pictures because it's so amazing.  I was worried that it would be too crowded here, but it doesn't feel that way at all.

I'm unable to do justice to explaining this place without pictures.  I'll try to put some up on the internet when I am able.  I definitely recommend this tramp - it is simply unforgettable.

I'm excited about Korea, and I've been preparing myself mentally for the roles of instructor and researcher.  It will be such a new experience for me, and I am very willing to fully embrace all the challenges and opportunities there.  I have a feeling that this is going to be an awesome experience, and possibly life-changing.  So grateful to have the opportunity to go to Korea.  I need to start gearing up my Korean phrases, and brush up on my physics as well.  Hopefully I'll have some chance to do all this once I arrive.  It will probably be some very full days out there.  But for right now, I'll be present with my experience, and joyfully await the next chapter.