Giant golden Buddha

15.05.2013

I had Teachers' Day off, but it was a Wednesday. I think this park was literally the furthest I could go in a day. It was a lot of bussing. I wanted to do the five hour hike up to the peak, but I had to wait too long for my bus to the park in Cheongju, so I couldn't. Shame shame shame.

The park was beautiful, check the pictures. I would like to say that the road leading up to the park is a gaudy tourist trap. Ugh, I hate that, but what can you do about it, right?

I am having kind of a crisis in my life, and feeling a little hopeless and directionless, so I seriously had a little chat with Buddha while I was there. Since Amy showed me how to pray, I don't feel so weird visiting temples and getting down on the floor and meditating for a bit anymore. So I had a little moment with the creator and did the whole prostration thing, and nothing happened.

I continued on my hike. Picked a relatively close temple for my goal and went up a small mountain to get there. When I got there, however, it was locked and some monks looked at me strangely, like why are you here? So, I went back home a little bit disappointed but still happy to get a good enough workout and see some beautiful countryside. You'll probably think I'm nuts, but whatever. On my way back home while drifting in and out of sleep on the bus, an extreme feeling of peace came over me. I just had this idea come to me that I should stop trying to "force" everything into happening. I know that my life will fall into place if I open myself up to other options, this job in China isn't the only opportunity... by FAR. So Buddha/God/whatever came to me on the bus and told me what to do! He/she told me that I might be trying to force something that was not meant to be (mostly my job in China I think) and that I should just go with whatever happens. If it turns out that I can get my visa completed with NUDT, then I will, I'm not going to do anything crazy to force it to happen. I did my best and if that's not good enough, I will find another employment option. There's really no question about that, so why all this worrying?

Whether it's in China or somewhere else, as long as I don't force anything, it will be good!

Am I nuts? Maybe, but whatever.

Trail