Deok-Joek do!!

This weekend was another Korean holiday celebrating Buddha's Birthday. That meant that we got another three day weekend, so my friends and I headed to Deok-Joek Island for the weekend. We left early Saturday morning on the 10:00 a.m. ferry. This is a picture of the adorable little Korean girl who loved Jenn's dog Bailey. She was really nervous trying to pet him at first, but then she finally did it and got more brave. Every time she pet him she would clap and laugh. She was the cutest thing. Unfortunately, for me I had to spend most of the ferry ride with Bailey on my lap and her reaching across me to pet him because I was in the aisle seat. However, she was way too cute to care.We arrived on the Island about a half hour/forty-five minutes later. It was chilly when we left Incheon, but when we arrived on the Island the sun was shining. Getting off the boat brought us fresh air, which is non-existent in Incheon, so it felt great to be able to breath in the air and not gag.

We had to wait about a half hour when we got off the boat for our ride to come and pick us up and take us to the place we were staying at. When the man finally arrived to pick us up he started to freak out that Jenn had brought her dog Bailey with her. Apparently, there was a no dogs allowed policy at his hotel, but Jenn was told by Missy that the dog was allowed. When we got to the hotel Missy and her co-teacher (via cell phone) tried to deal with the dog situation. Then Erika called her Korean friend and explained that we would pay more for Bailey to stay inside the hotel with us and for her to explain to the man that Bailey would be outside with us when we were outside and that he would only be inside to sleep. In Korea they don't quite understand that a dog can be house trained and they thought Bailey would "do his business" inside the hotel. Anyways, Erika and her friend got the situation dealt with and Jenn just paid $30 extra to have Bailey stay inside. Jenn was panicking and apologizing non-stop for something that wasn't her fault because everyone thought Bailey was allowed before we left for the Island. This is a picture of our hotel and one of the adorable dogs outside the hotel.

The dog dealing situation lasted about forty-five minutes and then we finally got up to out room to unpack and settle in. Since it was such a gorgeous day out we all changed into our beach wear and headed to the beach for some sun and fun. We spent the entire day on the beach drinking, chatting, listening to music, playing catch, volleyball, etc. Left: Brianna and Erika enjoy the beach life. Right: Missy and Mary Anne enjoy the fun in the sun.

I completely underestimated the heat of the sun in Korea. I did bring sunscreen and I did apply it to the parts of my body that I knew would burn instantly, so my nose, shoulders and arms. Well, we were out in the sun all day long, literally 6 hours. I didn't realize until we went back to our hotel for dinner just how burnt our got. My mom is totally saying, "You should know better than that. You burn easy." The burn didn't start to hurt until I put clothes on and moved my body around. It hurt mostly when I slept, which was basically a mat on the floor. It was so uncomfortable and the floor was so hard my back is still aching.

Anyways, the first night we ate and got changed into warmer clothes and headed back down to the beach to enjoy a fire and more drinks. Bri and Mary Anne ended up going to collect wood and we started our own little fire, but by the end of the night our fire for seven ended up being a fire of thirty. I was rooming with Erika and Jenn, which was great because we were the three girls that always turned in early and actually got sleep.

Day Two: Started with Erika and I going for a hike. We wanted to hike up the mountain that had the pagoda, but we couldn't figure out which path we had to take to get to it. Instead we walked along the main road and took this one path up a mountain. It was an intense hike, but the view along the way was amazing and the view from the top was even better. When we got to the top we saw that we were still two mountains away from the mountain with the pagoda, so we couldn't figure it out. All of these pictures are just random pictures of the mountain and the view from the top looking at the beach and the town. You can also see how far away the pagota actually was from our mountain in the bottom right picture.After the hike we headed back to the room to eat some food and change and head back down to the beach. I was scared of getting burnt even more so I was pretty covered up, which was ridiculous because the sun was out again and it was a beautiful day. I don't mind taking a few risks and living dangerously sometimes, but when it comes to skin cancer, no thanks! We hung out again on the beach all day and then headed back to the room for dinner. Jenn, Erika and I ended up taking a nap that lasted longer than anticipated. We fell asleep when it was light outside and woke up to darkness. The three of us contemplated whether or not we wanted to go to the beach that night. Erika and I ended up going and Jenn and Bailey stayed behind. Things got a little wilder for some of the people in our group than it did the first night, but it was fun all the same. I think it was a lot more fun the second night than the first night. Erika and I ended up turning in early again because we weren't enjoying the drunk obnoxious people at the beach anymore.

Today was our last day on the Island and we woke up to rather chilly weather. Erika and I had planned on climbing the pagoda mountain, but we were unsure the weather would hold up and we had to be checked out by 12:30 p.m. Instead, we just chilled all day in the hotel until the owner drove us back to the ferry terminal. They were nice enough to let us stay in one of the three rooms we had booked to chill and relax while we waited for the time to pass. We were each responsible for cleaning our own rooms, which seemed silly because they will never be clean, but they don't even care for them, so that worried me. Anyways, the guys decided to drink while we hung out and that got loud and then the entire van ride back to the ferry consisted of the guys playing 'ki bi bo' (rock, paper, scissors) to see who would have to drink some soju. Basically, loser drinks. The driver and her Korean passenger kept telling us to keep it down and Jenn videotaped the entire ride. The guys were drunk before we even made it to the dock and then the entire time we were on the dock the guys were loud, Koreans stared and foreigners acted like they didn't know us. It was hilarious and I thought it was a fun time, but some people are just uptight. Left: Missy and I waiting for the ferry. Right: Me and Erika on the ferry.The ferry ride back was quick and I was so glad to get home and unpack and do some laundry and write this amazing blog. This picture is the entire crew. Top Row: Sam, John, Gavin and James. Girls Row: Mary Anne, Alexis, Missy, Brianna, Jenn, Me, Erika. Front: James

*NOTE: I managed to take only 11 pictures on my camera before it decided to break again. It broke in the exact same spot that just got fixed. I'm extremely pissed and now I need to get my co-teacher to call them tomorrow and get my money back or fixed again for FREE. I will add more pictures when friends post them and I steal them to post on this blog.*