Good Daegu to you.

Greetings and salutations!

The weekend started early last week as we went out on Thursday night to bid farewell to some of the foreign teachers who were leaving. Waking up on Friday morning with a hangover and realising that it was not in fact Saturday and we still had to go to work was most unpleasant…

The rest of my weekend was well spent exploring the city of Daegu. Daegu is South Korea’s third largest city but it is not as hugely perplexing as Seoul. The subway system only has two lines significantly reducing the chances of getting lost forever in an underground labyrinth.  :)

On Saturday we pottered around Daegu’s Herbal Market which has been supplying the good people of South Korea with traditional medicines since 1658. Here you can stock up on such essentials as obscenely large ginseng roots, moose antlers and lizard tails. Sure nothing cures what ails ya like a good old-fashioned dried-up reptile. The streets had a fragrant smell of all things herb making it a pleasant place for a stroll. We also went for a quick perambulation down ‘Rice Cake Street’ where there was a fine array of colourful cakes on display. After we had allowed our hungry eyes to feast on these delicious sights we went on a tour of some of the city’s parks and then retired for the eve.

On Sunday we journeyed to the historic Haein-sa to see the temple and the Buddhist library that are stationed there. Haein-sa library is famed for its collection of 81, 258 woodblock scriptures. Legend has it that silver birches were chopped down and made into woodblocks, then the wood was soaked in sea water for several years before being dried in the shade for a further number of years in order to prepare it for carving. The woodblocks have survived a Japanese invasion, two fires, a near-bombing during the Korean War and nearly a thousand years of potential weathering. Miraculously, they are still in pristine condition. The great bellied man himself seems to be guarding these texts because even the animals and insects are purported to stay away. During the 70s the Korean government ordered ‘top men’ to build a state of the art facility equipped with advanced ventilation, temperature and humidity control to keep the blocks safe. However, the test blocks started to form mildew so the real scriptures were left in the original library under Buddha’s watchful eye. 

In other news the game of musical chairs continues at work with 3 more teachers having quit in the last two weeks. I grow fearful that I won’t recognise anyone the next time I enter the staffroom… But everything else in Korea is still fine and dandy. :)