Gyeongpo: Vinyl House

Just one of many "vinyl houses" (aka greenhouses) one can see at Gyeonpo, and all over Korea for that matter. The Konglish term "vinyl house" refers to the plastic (i.e. vinyl) exterior used for these agricultural tunnels. It is likely that the Koreans use this more literal description, instead of "greenhouse", because the latter might be confused with the Blue House, which is the presidential residence, similar to USA's White House or South Africa's Tuynhuys ("Garden House"). The common term is the same for blue and green in Korean, and therefore the possibility that greenhouse could be mistaken for Blue House.

Gyeongpo: Top of a Stele

Gyeongpo: Poeun

In my first post about Gyeongpo, I mentioned the shrine I visited, dedicated to Jeong Mongju (aka Poeun). Below is the shrine, including a frontal view of the gate to the shrine. Apparently the shrine contains a portrait of Jeong Mongju; unforunately, the gate was locked. I went back on Sunday in the hope that it might be open, but alas, it was not. The portrait might be the one below, which I retrieved from Wikipedia.Org.

As I mentioned in the other post, one of ITF Taekwon-Do's patterns is named after Poeun; hence my interest in him, apart for him being a poet. Ironically, I find the pattern Poeun to be unusually difficult to perform. The pattern is not that difficulty, really; I just have a strange mental block to it. It started a couple of years ago, I think in 2005 at the National ITF Taekwon-Do Championships, in Pretoria. It was the last time I participated in a Taekwon-Do tournament as a competitor. (I've retired from Taekwon-Do tournaments for two reasons, the one mostly to do with the fact that they are usually on Sabbaths.) The night before the competition I was quite sick. I had a serious fever, shivering the whole night. The next day I had to perform the customary two patterns. One, a chosen pattern. I chose Juche. The other, the assigned pattern. The umpires assigned my competitor and I Poeun. Somewhere during the performance of Poeun I got stuck, and ever since then I always get stuck doing it. I lost against Ricky Dias, who I must say, did a splendid performance at these patterns. Recently I have been practicising Poeun again, and if ever it should happen that I come out of retirement from Taekwon-Do competitions, and I perform in the pattern category again, and I'm assigned to do Poeun, I hope to do a much better job at it. Those are many ifs.

Gyeongpo: Blossoms

Gyeongpo: Pavilion

The Gyeongpo Pavilion ("Gyeongpodae").

Gyeongpo: Heo Nanseolheon

This is a statue of, I think, Heo Nanseolheon - Korea's great female poet of the Joseon Dynasty.

A Love Song

On the calm autumn pond, jade-blue ripples glitter;
She moors her boat where lotus flowers bloom.
Seeing her love across the water, she throws a lotus seed,
And blushes for half a day, worrying that others may have seen.

- from "The Moonlit Pond"

This is just an exquisite poem.



It is believed that Heo Nanseonheon commited suicide at age 27 after suffering from depression due to the early deaths of both her children. She reminds me of a South African female poet, Ingrid Jonker, who also commited suicide at a fairly young age (31), and let us not forget of Sylvia Plath, yet another poetic genius to commit suicide. I'd like to write something, maybe an essay, still, on poets and depression.

Gyeongpo: A Sketch -- "Gate and Blossoms"

The sketch above I drew Saturday evening while having dinner in a restaurant at Gyeongpo's beach front. The sketch is loosely based on, but definitely inspired by, a scene I saw earlier the day. Being home now, I was able to download the photo from my camera. As I said, loosely based. . .

Gyeongpo

I took the weekend off and came to the sea -- Korea's East Coast.

This is the first weekend I took off since the semester started. As part of my work contract I have to facilitate a cell group every Saturday morning. However, I can take leave once a month. On the spur of the moment I decided to do so Thursday evening -- knowing that the coming two weekends will be too busy to go anywhere -- and Friday afternoon I took the bus from Seoul to Gangneung City, a two and a half hour trip. From Gangneum I took a taxi (about 10 minutes) to the Gyeongpo.

I arrived around 8 pm and booked into a motel with a bathtub. The latter was a serious consideration to which motel I'd choose to stay in. Since my own apartment only has a shower, I've been longing to soak in a tub for some time now; that's exactly what I did last night. This morning I slept in. Aparantly Gyeongpo is famous for its beautiful sunrises, but that's something I will have to take on faith. I might see it tomorrow morning, but that is also unlikely as I am not a morning person.

It is my custom to go to church on Saturday. I seldom miss it. Unfortunately my impulsive decision to come hear on such short notice did not allow me enough time to search for a Sabbath-keeping church before hand. Nonetheless, going to church is not the only way to keep Sabbath. These holy ours are not only a reminder of God's salvation, but also a reminder of God's creative power. So today I spent most of my day outside enjoying the beautiful blue and green retina hues of the East Sea; the pink and white blossoms like pixies perched on the trees in swarms; the merriment of fellow (albeit, native) tourists spending this day with their families and friends.

A local attraction is the Gyeongpodae (Gyeongpo Pavilion), a temple-like structure build specifically to provide an excellent vantage point from which to look over the beautiful Gyeonpo lake. I sat for a long time at the Gyeongpodae, taking in the view, breathing the fresh air, enjoying the wind on my face. In the picture above the roof of the Gyeongpodae is visible, with the scenic lake in clear view and the cherryblossoms in full bloom.

I also saw a little shrine dedicated to Mong Ju Chung, the scholar-poet, pennamed Poeun. One of the patterns in ITF Taekwon-Do is named Poeun, after Mong Ju Chung. Many Koreans are familiar with one of his poems:

Even if, I may die, die a hundred times,
Even if my skeleton may become dust and dirt,
And whether my spirit may be there or not,
My single-hearted loyalty to the lord will not change.