Some photos from a hike a took with Danielle and her parents about a month ago. We visited Beomosa temple which is one of the largest in Busan and than hiked on the mountains behind our apartment.

Every Thursday Danielle and I have been going to the temple to teach English. Up until last week we were teaching two girls, both about 25. One of them Eun- Chil was getting pretty good at English and worked really hard but since she has now been in South Korea for about 5 months the government was giving her an apartment and so she was leaving the temple. Now we only have one student, Eun- Hee who has a much lower English level. It makes teaching her a little more difficult since neither Danielle or I knows much Korean that would be useful in that situation. She has a great attitude and is fun to spend time with though. After we have our lesson we have lunch with some of the monks. This last Thursday was the day of the big test that seniors take. This test seems to be pretty much the culmination of years of studying and attending academies and it seems that their entire futures rests on their scores. It will effect not only what college they get into but also what job they will be able to get after college. Students who do not get a good enough score will take the next year off and do nothing but study for it. When the test is happening school is delayed for elementary and middle schools so that there isn't a lot of traffic on the roads and airplanes are diverted so that there isn't a lot of noise distracting the test takers. At the temple it was the final day of what had been 100 days of praying for many mothers. Some had even been praying for the entire year. Unfortunately,  we could only see the praying on the CCTV in the house where we have lunch as the temple was completely full with mothers. I can't not imagine the pressure of knowing that your mother was spending every day at the temple, or church praying for your test scores. One student was caught using a bluetooth to cheat on the test and I can only imagine how harsh his parents are going to be on him.
We have been in our new branch for the last couple of weeks and I am getting used to it. It is not a great location but since I only have 3 more months I am not getting too worked up over anything. Yesterday Danielle and I went on what ended up being a fairly rigorous hike behind our apartment to see Seuk Bo Sa temple (it means Rock Buddha temple). It was well worth the near vertical climb to get there as there are beautiful Buddha's carved into the rock face of the mountain behind the temple. The weather was gorgeous and we caught the very end of fall foliage. There will be pictures to come. Its just beginning to get cooler but there weather has been very nice. I am hoping that continues as I will be taking my vacation next weekend when Aaron, Sarah and Pete visit! I am very excited to see them and to spend some time not working! We will spend most of our time in Seoul and then visit Aaron's family...somewhere (I don't ever seem to be able to remember what the town/city is called where they live). It will be great to have a break from work and really get to see more of Seoul. When I get back it will be the start of my last term and I will pretty much be focused on saving money and planning my travels with Danielle! I can't believe its already been almost 9 months but I am definitely getting very excited to do some traveling!