The Japanese hornet, otherwise known as one gigantic bee

A few weeks ago, Ben and I decided that we would go hiking every week until it got cold. That lasted a full 2 weeks until we both needed to go to Costco one week, then it was cold.

We went to Bukhansan, which is where we all went hiking last year.

Our first hike, we hiked about 11 miles. The fall leaves were out and being beautiful, I was still recovering a bit from my asthma induced cold of death, so having a little bit of difficulty breathing, which just meant I had to stop a couple times halfway up the cliffs, aka slightly steep inclines.

Notice how the leaves are beautiful, the sun was shining.

On approximately mile 7, we stopped briefly at the tree to the right. I thought it was a good spot, there was a large rock to sit on. Ben was standing near the tree when he says, "Whoa, nice resting spot Lauren."

If you look closely at the tree, you can see an enormous hornet.

Or just look there, it's so huge you can clearly see it's eyeballs.

We stayed in the spot and couldn't stop looking at it. There were actually several of them flying around. I imagined them dive-bombing me from the sky.

Luckily, that didn't happen.


I posted it on facebook, which naturally meant that Amy, bug expert extraordinaire, told me it was a Japanese hornet, the largest species of hornet alive. It's the deadliest animal in Japan, because it injects so much venom when it stings, if you're allergic, you will die faster than other hornets. More people die from the stings than from any other animal in Japan, including bears. But, it's not aggressive and if you're not allergic, then you won't die. Thank heavens.

That didn't help me feel better when I was looking at it's eyeballs.

Anyway, back to hiking, the picture to the left there is near the Blue House, which is the Korean equivalent of the White House. Aka, the president lives there. Ben and I wanted to hike behind it, which is a popular hike that requires your passport to do it. North Korea invaded along the path a long time ago and they still have to check the path thoroughly every day to ensure that it's not being invaded. That also means that the path closes at 3PM.

Ben and I got a bit lost and by the time we arrived, it was about 2:15, so we didn't make it. We've been trying to go on that hike for about a year, but still need to make another attempt. It's currently 12 degrees Fahrenheit outside at 2AM and will reach about 20 during the day, so no more hiking until Spring.

So, we went to Bukhansan the following Wednesday.

As I said before, the leaves and the bees were out.

There are some persimmons and a nice view in the background.

There is a bird.

There are some people sitting on the gate eating lunch.

Here is a working temple along the way up.

Here's a waterfall we accidentally stumbled upon by following some random people up the hill.

Here's another temple, which was being remodeled. I didn't realize we were approaching a temple and approached while speaking at full volume, practically shouting around, when we reached the top and it was completely silent. Ben whispered, "I think we're supposed to be silent Lauren."

Oops.

I think I spend most of our time together embarrassing Ben by being loud and speaking like I'm in Victorian England. Or, as was the case in Japan, announcing how the other table is cooking their food in a dramatic voice.

But that's ok. I'm sure he's less embarrassed than Carrie when I dramatically sing Christmas carols through the streets, or sing along with the carols in the cafes we frequent.

The leaves.

The giant hornet from another angle.

Some more beautiful leaves.

The view from the top, approximately mile 7. We walked in a bit of a zig-zag pattern up, but straight down.

A photo bombing leaf.

Look, people up there!

Some more leaves.

While taking this picture and the one below it, I naturally stepped on an unstable rock and fell.

How was I supposed to know that the GIANT rock I was standing on would suddenly fall to the side when I stepped on it?

Naturally that meant that I yelled, "OH NOOOO!" dramatically and Ben laughed at me, as usual. I injured my elbow just a little bit in my attempt to save my camera from death by falling. Luckily that worked. And my elbow was fine in about 15 minutes.

There's the temple from afar.

This was the day of our second hike. I took fewer pictures. We also walked a bit less that day. Aka only about 3 miles. We were a bit more tired and it was colder than the week before.

And those were our 2 days of hiking.

The Unwilling Flower Girl

Many moons ago, when the weather was still hot and humid, I was invited to the wedding of one of my Korean classmates, who I didn't know very well. Her name is Michelle.

I went with Leah and Ok Hyang. The wedding was close to my house and I had to work that day, which was convenient. I met them at the station and we went to the wedding hall.

This was my second wedding in Korea. This was my first wedding hall experience, which I have now heard referred to as "factory weddings" from several sources. They are extremely common and basically people run in, get married, and run out. They are scheduled at strange times like 11:50 or 1:25.The wedding hall has several rooms where weddings occur and then there's some sort of buffet meal afterwards. It is tradition to give money as a gift, rather than a gift, which basically go towards paying for the wedding and honeymoon, which I think makes sense.

We arrived and took pictures with Michelle. They made me do the pose to the right for her official pictures, which was slightly humiliating and then someone captured it with my camera.

My own weapon was used against me.

Then, just as we were about to walk into the wedding hall to attend the wedding, the wedding attendants grabbed me, Leah and Ok Hyang (in her jean shorts,) dragged us near the room where the bride and groom were sitting and said in Korean, "Here takes these."

And by "these" she meant 2 baskets of flowers for me and Leah and 2 bells for Ok Hyang.

She then said, "When they walk by, I will point to you and you will throw the flowers at them" (them being the bride and groom).



I had unwillingly become the flower girl for the wedding. And I had no idea how it had happened.

This was all being videotaped and broadcast into the wedding hall room and photographed.

Leah and I both said, "We just want to sit down and watch the wedding!"

So we awkwardly threw flowers at them as they walked by (I of course didn't throw enough of the flowers and they walked by really fast) then had to awkwardly walk to our seats in the hall, with a lot of people looking at us.

One thing I noticed about the wedding was no one was paying attention and they were all talking to each other, instead of listening to the officiant and watching the wedding happen. Some people were turned around in their seats talking to the people behind them. I asked Leah, who's married to a Korean man, what that was about and apparently it's very normal.

Also, the foreigners tended to send looks at the people talking, but no one was noticing because they were too busy chatting away.

I didn't understand any of the wedding, of course, since it was in Korean.

After the vows were said, they bowed to all the parents, as is tradition, took pictures with everyone and then it was finished. It was about 15 minutes total.

After the ceremony, we were ushered out to the room, so the next wedding could commence, to the next room where the meal was held. We showed the ticket we were given when we gave our gift, then ate. Afterwards, I had to head to work fairly quickly.

Ok Hyang and I are in the picture above this one. That's Leah and I to the left on the bottom.

And that was my second wedding experience: The Unwilling Flower girl.

Atomic Bomb Museum

While in Nagasaki, we headed to the Atomic Bomb Museum. It will be difficult to describe the experience. It is something that's important to see, but difficult to take in and really process for a long time.

Entering the museum, you see these cranes, which circle into the entrance.

One of the first things you see entering the museum is this clock, which stopped 11:02 AM, the time the bomb detonated.

They also have pieces of the church that was destroyed by the bomb.

Pieces of the stained glass.

This metal structure was bent by the bomb.

This is a roof tile, which bubbled because the bomb was so hot. The bubbling happen on most of the buildings, if they were not destroy.

Another thing that happened was the shadow of plants was burned onto wood or the sides of building.

Various metals and rocks that were melted by the blast.

Coins melted together.

Melted glass.

As you can see, there are bones of a hand melted into the glass around it.

This horse was facing in the opposite direction when the bomb detonated.

There was a video playing where survivors told their stories, which were devastating and powerful. People listening were crying listening to the testimonies.

One thing that was really overwhelming was the number of women and children that were killed during the blast. While Nagasaki was an important sea port for the war, the number of women and children and the pictures really put into perspective the damage that was done.

13 POWs died, as well as 2000 Korean prisoners.

The bomb was detonated in the middle of the city, rather than near the port or a military base.

While I do understand that the Japanese were being very violent in their own right, the atomic bomb was detonated in the middle of a city, where men, women and children who were not involved in the war were killed. And if they weren't killed, the faced years of recovery from injuries or, as one described it, waiting for the waves of diseases to come, whether in the first year, or years later in the form of various cancers.

One thing that I noticed during the visit was the fact that at no point did they blame the United States for the bombing. They never said it was terrible for it to happen, but that the world needs to unite and make sure that it never happens again. They not only had survivors of Nagasaki tell their stories in videos, but also they had videos from various cities where nuclear plants exist and the cancer and disease that results from them, including the one in western Washington.

It definitely made me reconsider everything I've ever known about World War II, or at the very least, will make me read from more perspectives what happened that day.

This was below this picture which we couldn't take a picture of. You can also read the story on that blog as well.

It is an incredibly sad story and made me tear up both at the museum and reading it again just now.