The Last Day in Ulsan - Again

This morning, after making my ultimate plan for getting to Seoul and flying home, I went to sleep. Barely slept at all last night, so it was needed. Woke up at 3:00 and decided to go to the Ulsan Grand Park, which is just a 2 minute walk from the hotel.

This park had begun development 5 years ago when I was first here, and now it's finished, all 900 acres of it. There's a swimming pool and a bell and fountain and sports areas, and lots of trails and woods. Five years ago I wrote a few poems sitting in those woods, and read a few as well, transliterated from Korean.

Of course it was warm, but a cool breeze was kicking up from the typhoon that's currently off the East Sea, bothering Japan. We're supposed to get some rain tonight and into tomorrow, as well. I enjoyed walking through the wooded areas and down to the bell and the fountain (yes, I took pictures), and I had an ice cream bar while I sat by the fountain. On my way out of the park, three very nice ajumma (married women) stopped me with a "hello!" and proceded to ask me to fill out a questionnaire (in English) which asked me what religion I follow, and had I read the bible, and did I know about God the Mother! This Christian-based religion apparently believes that the original translation of the Hebrew word for God encompasses the Feminine as well as the Masculine. I really wanted to talk to them and ask them questions, but they only spoke a few words of English. But I could glean from my meager Korean that they appeal to God the Mother because all women are essentially mothers. They were very nice women, not at all condemming like some street-preachers I've run across in the States; they were gentle and warm, and clearly very devout. The pamphlets they gave me are written in English, and there are a couple websites I will check out and post here later (the pamplets are in my suitcase at the moment). Very interesting, though, isn't it? They wanted to cart me off to be baptised there on the spot, which I politely declined.

Around 50% of Koreans follow some form of Christianity nowadays. When I told them I'm Buddhist, they looked at me with a mix of surprise and disappointment. How ironic is that?

I'm off to have dinner where I ate last night. I find myself now with a wad of wan (a wan wad) in my purse because the hotel staff couldn't figure out how to cancel my credit card for two nights and just charge me for one, so they handed me 70,000 in bills (around $76). It's actually better that way, because now I don't have to worry about paying for taxis or buses or whatnot.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped me out on this project as my time in Korea nears its end. I look forward to seeing you and eventually showing you some footage as the editing progresses over the next year.