Hiking in November

Last Sunday, Kenny and I went for a hike behind Chonnam National University. It was such a pretty hike, and a lot less crowded than hiking up Mudeungsan! We didn't know where exactly to begin hiking because the number 6 bus dropped us off at Home Plus, a short distance from the mountain. So we just started walking up behind some apartments in the area. We had no problems though, and the hiking was relatively easy, especially since I wasn't even wearing tennis shoes.

It took about an hour to get to the peak, where we enjoyed our snacks (apples and peanuts). The trees were so beautiful, different shades of red, yellow, green, and brown; I wish I could say the same about the view.

It's always hard to tell in Korea if you're seeing pollution, haze, fog, or what exactly the white "stuff" in the sky is. I've heard mixed things, the Koreans always say it's just moisture, but most foreigners know that it's gotta be a mix of pollution and clouds, because it's always there.

Here's some of the pictures. If only it was clearer, you'd be able to see almost the entire city!

Suwan Spring 2010 Field Trip

Last week Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I took a three day field trip with my school. It seems like we covered almost all of Korea, and spent so much time in the bus!

Our first stop was at the DMZ on the East Sea. This is the gym teacher and me... he's got a pretty good sense of humor!



Later that day, we went do a different beach where there was a pretty temple:



After a sleepless night in a resort up somewhere in Gangwon provience (the kids didn't have a bedtime), we went to Seoraksan National Park. The weather was very hot and humid, that's why it appears so cloudy in these pictures. It made for some uncomfortable hiking on a very long trail to the famous "Rocking Rock."





Later, we went to Everland. Everland is just like Disneyworld, but smaller. It was the perfect day to go because it was a Thursday, and Korea played Argentina. Hardly anyone was in the park! The most popular ride, the roller coaster T-Express, only took us 10 minutes in line, and usually the wait is three hours!



Here's the kids we went on T-Express with.



We also went on a safari and saw a sea lion show, which was pretty cute. Later, we watched the soccer game in the rose gardens of Everland but had problems finding a seat. It was too bad that we lost the game.

The last day, we went to the Independence Memorial. I was impressed by their museums. A lot was in English, so that was nice. It wasn't really as cloudy as it looks!



By the time we got home Friday night, I was exhaused. On Monday, they gave me a thank you present for going on the field trip- 5 dried squid. I'm so lucky.

지리산국럽공원 (Jirisan National Park)

On Saturday, my friends Michael and Kenny and I went to 지리산국럽공원. Jirisan National Park was the first National Park ever in Korea, and is still one of the best. It is about 2 hours away by bus and pretty easy to get to.

We met at the bus terminal around 9, and took a bus to Gurye, the best gateway to the park. The bus terminal there was really sketchy. We didn't really know what to do, luckily our friends Drew and Kevin from Incheon went a few weeks ago and they helped us via text. We purchased a ticket to Jirisan, and the bus we boarded took us up very close to the top. The ride was quite long, about 40 minutes and the roads were so steep and curvy that Kenny and I got a little queazy, but Michael loved it.

We were dropped off at a lookout point where we began to hike. We really wanted to go on some trails, but for some reason, there weren't many there. We came across a path that was closed, probably due to poor trail/weather conditions. All three of us were game for jumping over it to make it to a peak we spotted. The trail was okay, but near the end, the trail stopped. We had to literally climb some big rocks to make it to the point. Kenny didn't come all the way up, but he took some pictures instead. Here's the rock:



Here was the view from the top of the rock. It's not green yet because of the cooler temperatures. I'm sure later in summer it'd be bright green.



After we had successfully blazed our own trail, we got back on the main road and walked up to the highest point in South Korea. The view was pretty impressive. Usually we can say whatever we like because nobody understands anyhow, but there just happened to be a group of 85 English speakers on an Adventure Korea tour. I'm sure they heard bits of our inappropriate conversation. Oh well. Anyway, this is what the view looked like:



Here's Michael, myself, and Kenny.



It was definitely a full day. We didn't really get the kind of hiking that we were looking for, mostly just trekking. However, we had great weather, and saw some great views. If you're interested in more pictures, find them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2230977&id=59501140&page=7#!/album.php?id=59501140&aid=2230977&s=100&hash=d9bba7fd6adb49ae14493454e79a69d6

Chuseok 2009

This past weekend was Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving. I had a busy weekend, and wish I would have had more than just Friday off! Typically, you get the day before and after the holiday off. This year, it just happened to be on Saturday. That's okay though, my co-teacher HunJu told me today that we'll start winter break sooner instead!

The weekend started with the crew meeting out Thursday night at Chonnam University. This was the first time we had been to the area, and some of our friends, Allie and Alex, got lost on the way. They eventually made it to "Pump," a pretty cool bar with crazy lights. We got a table tap of beer, my first time seeing one of those! Another highlight at the bar was the coasters that light up different colors when you put the drinks on. Made for a pretty cool looking martini!

On Friday, my co-teacher Mihey came by with her 7 year old nephew. They dropped off some Korean Rice Cakes, songpyon. To be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan. I thought I'd try another one today, but they had started to mold. Ew.

Friday night we met at German Bar. The owner of German Bar has been telling us for the past 2 weeks that Oktoberfest is starting. However, he's never really specified a date. He just says, "Next weekend Oktoberfest." We are starting to think it's never going to happen. But that was okay, we just had a couple of beers anyhow.

Emily and I took a hike up Mt. Mudengsang on Saturday afternoon. We took our time on the way up. Neither of us really knew where we were going, so we just kept on walking. We kept saying, "just a little farther! I think I see the top!" Eventually we made it. It took about an hour and 20 minutes, but we probably could have done it in 1 hour. From the top, an area called Jungmeorijae, we had some awesome views. On one side, we got to see the entire city, surrounded by mountains. When we turned around, it was completely lush green mountains. It was very impressive and felt great to make it (almost) all the way to the top. When the leaves start turning, we want to go back again, this time all the way. Here are some pictures of the views:

Here was a temple we stopped at on the way up.

One side was green mountains like this for as far as you could see.

It was pretty sunny, so that's why the city is hard to see. And yes, there are 1.5 million people living here. It is a very high and dense city, not at all like back home!

Finally, here are Emily and I sporting our new hiking shirts for the first time. Next hiking purchase- a backpack. Oh wait, I got that today. Make that hiking boots.

Emily had heard that there was going to be an EPIK pig roast on Friday night, and we wanted to check that out with our friend Joe, who was visiting from Incheon for the weekend. So Gabe, Emily, Allie, Brian, Alex, Joe, and I looked for it later on that night. However, all we saw was a car accident happen in front of The Underground Groceriers. That almost made up for missing the pig roast. Instead, we just showed Joe around downtown. We checked out an amazing and kinda fancy restaurant, Ethinic Cafe, German Bar, WaBar, and Fusion Soju. Emily, Allie, and I even snuck in a bit of shopping. We had heard that many places would be closed over Chuseok, but luckily we didn't have any problems.

Sunday, Joe had to go home, so we took it easy. It was kinda rainy too. I definitely did a lot of fun stuff, and it was good to see Joe again. This coming weekend I'm going to visit Dinah in Busan, so I need to rest up for that this week. It will be hard to though, I'm staying busy with going to the gym and my 4 hours a week of Korean class!