Scarin' the Black Jesus Outta Ya!

Black Jesus

Hey kids what's crackin'? It's been a pretty crazy weekend thus far, and it ain't over yet thanks to Arbor Day being a legitimate holiday in this country. Friday night I had a dinner party at my homestead with U-lim, Darrell, and Darrell's lady friend.
On Saturday afternoon I accompanied Darrell and some Korean ladies he knows to a mountain, Bukhansan (북한산). It was some decent hiking. In the evening I met U-lim and her friends for some drinks.
Yesterday I purchased a chest of drawers (I was tired of having my underwear in a box for all to see), and a "Bronx Drier." Last night U-lim and I went out drinking with Darrell at a bar called Zeus which was good fun.


One day in April I went with Darrell, his friend Becca, two Koreans Darrell knew, and our good pal the Firer to a mountain named Bukhansan. We were looking forward to a great time hiking in the crispy, clean (it was outside of Seoul) air. However when we got there we were dismayed to find this sign posted. Dejected, and not wanting to ruin everyone else's fun, the Firer turned around and went home.


Yes, I am the Mountain King, of whom Greig was inspired to create such an epic piece of music. Anyhow here I am on one of my many mountains, Bukhansan. I traveled here to survey things on April 3, 2004. A quick note: as you can see by my thumbs up, this mountain passed inspection.


A view from the top.


Indeed he is. This sign can be found on Bukhan Mountain (북한산) and alerts people of the dangers of being hit by falling cartoon characters who periodically drop down upon unsuspecting hikers.


Here I am with my friends on Bukhansan.


I took this picture of a dove on Bukhan Mountain, mainly because it was the first time I saw an animal in Korea that was not in a cage, or on my plate, or wearing a t-shirt and having a pink tail...in other words, this was the first wild animal I had seen. I took this picture on April 3, 2004, a good 9 months after my arrival in this country. In nince months I did not see one single wild animal...unless you count the ants that infested my apartment in Bongcheon shortly before my departure.


I took this picture of a flower on Bukhansan (북한산) while trying to take a picture of a Korean bee (they look different). Anyhow I did not capture the bee, but I got this picture. It's pretty much looking like a Windows wallpaper. Feel free to use it as such. I'd rather have a picture of a bee myself.


In Korea there's a tradition of placing a stone untop of existing piles of rocks to recieve good luck. I read some Korea folk tale that said this came from a battle in which the Koreans fought the Chinese. The Koreans had all run out of ammo. The Korean general went to sleep on the eve of battle, and had a dream that instructed him to go to a certain tree. Under this tree he would find the means to destroy the enemy. When he awoke he and his soldiers went to the tree and found a pile of rocks. The soldiers threw these rocks down upon the unsuspecting Chinese, and killed many of them, and caused the rest to run away in terror. In order to perpetuate this good fortune (and to be ready should the Chinese ever try to return) Korean people to this day place stone upon piles of rocks that they see.


If you don't know what these wishing stones are, please read the entry below this one first. I promise I'll wait..........
Ok. Are you up to speed now? So Darrell and I (and his other friends) happened upon such a pile of stones on the mountain, Bukhan. Darrrell and I found the existing pile (see the excellent photo above) to be a tad weak. It lacked the might one might typically associate with a big pile of rocks. So he and I set out to create a truly mighty pile of rocks. The task was monumental, be we overcame all odds, including a Korean man who yelled at us for taking stone off the existing pile. Knocking the stones over or otherwise moving them will bring a person bad luck, but putting stones on the pile gives the person good luck, so we figured that we were at least breaking even and probably more on the good luck side....that is until what we did next.


So after having completed construction of our own pile of stones (scroll ahead if you have no idea what I speak of), we couldn't leave well enough alone. Nope not us. It was decided that the best thing to do would be to destroy it...


Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo


Yup...he destroyed it.


This is 이순신 (Yi Sun Shin). He was a famous admiral in Korea who among other things invented the 거북선 (gobuksun) in 1592. These were armored ships shaped like turtles. He used them to do combat with the Japanese, and killed many of them. He saved Korea from certain doom, but was himself killed in the process.
This statue is a fairly accurate depiction of this Korea hero. The real 이순신 (Yi Sun Shin) was also approxiately 9 feet tall, yellow, and made out of what appeared to be Legos.