Adventure Korea Trip to Gangcheon: The Hike!

Friday night I met up with Holly after school and we went to the new Garten Bier that opened in the building across the street from my apartment. We ate dinner there and hung for a few hours. I didn't want to drink too much because I had to be up at 5:30 a.m. to head out on an overnight Adventure Korea trip. It's never easy for me to get up in the morning, so you can imagine how easy it was for me to get up at 5:30 a.m...it wasn't. If I didn't live so far from Seoul I wouldn't need to get up so early, but our bus was set to leave at 7:00 a.m. and if we don't catch the trains during transfers it can take a while to get into Seoul. We managed to make it to Seoul about 10-15 minutes early. We set out for our 5 hour bus ride to Gangcheon, which is South of Seoul. We made a couple stops along the way to allow for bathroom breaks and snack breaks. When we arrived in Gangcheon our first stop was the 4-5 hour hike.

Smell that fresh air, look at that greenery...not something we can enjoy in Incheon. Nicole and I are excited and ready for the hike to start...I was hoping for some more warmth as well.

The weather wasn't that great, but it wasn't raining, so that was a relief. The start of the hike seemed easy enough and had enough scenery to keep us amused. The path was smooth, the air was fresh the scenery was spectacular and there was a lot of photo opportunities.

Here you can see how smooth the path is and it's an easy man-made trail...it didn't last the entire hike. It was simply there to lead us up to the gruelling hike about to take place.

It was also at this exact point in the hike when my camera batteries decided to die. My camera and I have been through a lot together and if it's not one thing with it, it's another.The good news we had Nicole's camera as back-up...thank goodness! The next set of hike pictures are courtesy of Nicole's camera. Enjoy!

Nicole and I on the suspension bridge that had me a bit scared, because of my height issue, but I conquered it. We were quite high, so falling would hurt...a lot. Pretty view. Nicole and I made it to the other side of the bridge. I'm liking the view in this picture. We hadn't even started the worst part of the hike yet, so while we waited for the slower people we had a photo shoot. We made our friend and AK tour guide Kyung Su pose with us because we are one BIG happy family. I love seeing such beautiful scenery in Korea because it's not something that I see everyday. The hike had started at this point and it was exhausting, so we stopped for a picture. Now, you can see just how high up we were. The view was breathtaking...literally. I think this was on the way down the mountain after climbing for seriosuly 2 hours or more to the peak. The one lonely little cherry blossom tree amongst the bigger green ones.

We hiked past a fortress on the mountain. It was chilly, but felt nice on my aching/sore body.

Funny story, so I will tell it: Nicole and I were booking it down the mountain because we were one of the faster ones. Anyways, I slipt at this one spot, but didn't fall, so I just laughed and kept going. Literally, 30 seconds later I slipped again, but didn't fall. Nicole and I were laughing hard by now, and I was like, "Phew! I totally almost fell twi...." BOOM! I didn't even finish my sentence and I bailed so hard onto the ground and we were literally 500M away from being done the hike. My ass landed on a rock, I scraped my hand and I dirtied my pants, sweater and shirt. At this point, Nicole and I were laughing our asses off because of the way the whole situation played out. I guess, third time really is a charm.

This is a picture of us at the bottom of the mountain...finally...with Nicole laughing at the mud stain on my butt because I bailed and so close to the end.

The best part about the hike was the spa we got to enjoy after we finished it. Now, this spa is not like a spa you would go to in Canada. It is divided by the sexes, so their is a female spa and a male spa. Basically, you strip down naked and enjoy hot tubs, massages, showers, etc. SO, you are naked in a public bath house (females only), so everything is exposed. This was my first time experiencing a spa in Korea and I have been here over a year, so you can imagine my hesitations. I hate being naked first of all and second of all I'm a foreigner, so staring is inevitable. Anyways, moral of the story, I loved it and can't wait to do it again. It was so relaxing, but we didn't have nearly enough time there.

This is a picture of the outside of the spa and it is rated a 5 star spa., so lucky us.

After the spa we headed to dinner at the best pork ribs restaurant in Korea. The ribs were good, but they were really greasy and came to us kind of cold, because they were serving such large quantities they had to make them in mass amounts. We enjoyed getting to know some of the people who were on the trip with us over food and drinks. After dinner we headed to our pension and some of us ended up drinking, which led to a party room that involved drinking games. When Kyung Su kicked us out and told us all to go to bed, Nicole and I headed to our room and some people joined us. When everyone turned in for the night except Nicole, James (a guy we met) and I we decided to go and crash a room full of Koreans. Little did we know that they were body builders and they loved our company. This led to a rather late night, which sucked because we had an early morning ahead.

I Will Be Fluent In Korean

Monday was such a pointless day, I had no classes because it was evaluation day, I had no co-teacher because she took a day off, so I literally sat in my office all day and watched movies/TV shows. I know, I lead such a rough life. I also researched Taipei, since Nicole and I are heading there next weekend. Anyways, Monday night I went to Inha University to start my first Korean lesson with Enee's friend. Her degree in University is in Teaching Korean as a Foreigner Language, so I figured she would be good at it. It was pouring rain all day and I didn't have an umbrella with me. Since, Enee goes to Inha every Monday I would have gotten a ride from her, but she wasn't at school, so I had to bus. Well, I decided to walk to the meeting spot and without an umbrella...DUMB IDEA!! By the time I met with Enee and So Min I was drenched and getting stared at/laughed at by University students. We ate some dinner and then headed to campus. So Min had to visit a professor first, so I met Enee's English grad school professor and hung out for the first part of her class while I waited for So Min to finish. When we finally started our lesson I was nervous because speaking Korean makes me nervous. So Min kept assuring me that I was good at speaking Korean and that I shouldn't be nervous, but I was. Let me just say this, learning a second language is damn hard, especially one that writes in character and backwards to English. When our lesson finished Enee drove me home, which was nice and she let me borrow an umbrella. I showered as soon as I walked in the door because I was wet from earlier and then I passed out. Tuesday was a busy day at school. I had five grade 6 classes to teach and that is never fun. After school I was suppose to meet up with Carolina, but she was sick, so had to cancel. Instead I went for a walk. I ended up in Nicole's neck of the woods, so she joined me for a walk and even walked me all the back home. Wednesday was a slower day with only four grade 6 classes. I spent the afternoon doing the same thing I do every afternoon I have no classes, watching TV, face booking, etc. After school I went with Enee to Inha for my second Korean lesson. So Min got confused and didn't realize we were also meeting Wednesdays, so she didn't show up until around 6:30, which was fine because that is when Enee's class started, so I wan't stuck alone at the University. Our second lesson wasn't as long as the first one, but we did a lot. I have so much studying to do if I expect to be anywhere close to fluent in Korean. I promised myslef I would study for at least 2 hours a day though, so if I stick to that promise it may happen. After my lesson I met up with my friend Karen across the street from the University because there are loads of restaurants, coffee, shops, hofs, etc. We walked around for a bit and I felt bad because poor Karen is on crutches. We finally decided on a chicken place, so we ordered some chicken and a beer each. The chicken was probably the best I've had in Korea to date. We hung there for about an hour and chatted before heading to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. We parted ways just after 10 p.m., but lucky me Nicole was at the University helping a mutual Korean friend with his resume, so we walked home together. I didn't end up getting home until just before midnight, but the walk felt good and the exercise was necessary.

Old Friends! A BBQ! Soccer!

Friday night was dedicated to Chris Merritt. I haven't had a chance to hang out with him since he came back to Korea in March, so I wanted to get some alone time. I met him at his place in Bupyeong after he got off work. We enjoyed soju, beer, good conversation and each others company. We ended up hanging out together for a few hours before we headed to N's pub to meet up Carolina and Nick. We had a few drinks at N's pub, but it wasn't really happening. Chris was hungry, so Nick took Carolina, Chris and I to this new dulkgalbi restaurant that opened in Bupyeong. The serving size was double what it is at other places and it tasted better to. After we ate some people wanted to head home, but we ended up walking past Boss nightclub, hearing the music, seeing the people coming out of, so we decided to go check it out. Did I mention that at this point it was about 4:00 a.m.?!?! Anyways, we walked in and they were going to charge us 70,000 won, but gave us a discount, so we paid 50,000 won for a table, 5 beers and a fruit platter. There weren't a ton of people in the club at this point, but the four of us managed to dominate the dance floor and we even attracted a small Korean crowd. We were the last ones to leave the club just after 6:00 a.m. and that is when we parted ways. The best part was, I didn't have to taxi home because the subway had already started running. A good portion of Saturday was spent sleeping because of my ridiculously long night Friday. I rolled out of bed at 4:00 p.m. did some laundry, washed some dishes, showered and then met my Korean friend Song Min whom I haven't seen since February. We went for chicken and a beer and then we hung out until he had to head to work. As soon as we parted ways I went straight to bed. Sunday was a BIG day. A bunch of us went to the Incheon United soccer game. Before the game we had a BBQ and enjoyed the beautiful day. We got in trouble for having an open fire on the stadium grounds, so we moved to one of the entrance ways by the parking lot. Here was our view:

A little bit of Korean past mixed with Korean present...An SK gas station blocks the view of the temple. I was lucky enough to get the first Polish sausage...it was DELICIOUS!! Carolina and I decided to share a Polish sausage, so we did it in style...Lady and The Tramp style :)

Finally, it was game time. We sat in our usual spot, which is with the Incheon supporters, who DO NOT stop cheering the entire game. Some of people enjoyed more beers, I was not one of those people, while others cheered/booed and some didn't pay any attention at all. We were playing Suwon, so it was a BIG game for Incheon. Suwon won the championship last year, so most teams are scared of them. However, they are in last place this year, go figure.

This is one of those moments when Chris and Carolina weren't paying attention to the game...clearly, neither was I. There are no words to describe this picture for so many reasons. It is just an amazing picture for so many reasons.Nick, Duncan, Chris and I enjoying the game. I clearly held this picture together :) Carolina and I at the game. I would also like to note that I actually did not take this self-portrait. Well done Caro! High Five to the awesomeness that is us.

The game ended up in a tie 0-0, so we can't really complain, but it would have been nice to kick some Suwon ass. Chris, Carolina, Nick, Nicole, Duncan and I all headed to Yeonsu together after the game. We all went our own separate ways when we got there. Nicole and I waited for Mad Max to open and then headed there for some drinks and food. A Korean friend of ours met us there, we hung out for a bit and then we headed to a new place. We hung a bit later than I was anticipating, but I hardly drank and had no classes on Monday, so I was worried about being tired.

Baseball, Ribs and Exhaustion.

Sunday was used as a day of rest, as it should be. Rebekah and I got together later in the day to go for a walk around our neighborhood, so we can enjoy the cherry blossoms before they disappear. Our walk was just over an hour and felt really good. Afterward, we headed to Lotte Mart to pick up a few necessities and then we parted ways. I wanted to be in bed early because Monday's are never an enjoyable day. Monday turned out to be a pretty alright day. My first and second period classes were moved, so I only had to teach four classes and the last one didn't end until 2:40 p.m. so the afternoon flew by. Since, I've decided to walk home after school, I've started to feel a lot healthier and more energized. You see so much when you walk and find things you never knew existed when you take the bus. I met up briefly with Nicole for some ice cream at McDonalds, so I wasn't in bed as early Monday night as I wanted to be. Tuesday was an average day. I dislike teaching the grade 6's, so Mondays-Thursdays are rough. However, I walked home with Rebekah on Tuesday because she works in new Song-do too and then I headed to my first SK Wyverns baseball game of the season. I met up with Andrea, Mike and Andrea's dad. Nick joined us later when he finally got finished school. I love going to Wyverns games because the fans are so intense and enthusiastic and the Wyverns have won the championship for the past two years running.

The SK Wyverns mascot who only moments before this picture almost biffed it. I'm almost positive the girl mascot is new this year. I definitely don't remember her from last year. This year they decided to upgrade the stadium. What better way then by building a mobile ship that rises up at the beginning of the game, so this guy can announce the players names. It is completely unnecessary. We always sit in the SK Wyverns fan section because it is the most upbeat and exciting. Just a picture of our semi-decent seats we always sit in. The fans on the 3rd base side are cheering for he LG Twins. The team the Wyverns were playing. This picture was taken because the foreign player on the Twins team's last name is apparently "Fettucini" according to the Korean spelling of it. We found it quite amusing.

The games are never boring even when the SK Wyverns lose 7-3 :( The best part of the night was being on TV twice. Korean friends were texting us telling us they can see us on TV, so we are kind of celebrities now...lol! Wednesday was an average day at school. I sat bored in the office from 12:30-4:30 p.m. I basically just stayed caught up on TV shows, finished gathering my materials for my grade 3 classes and teacher's class on Friday. I came home and napped before heading out to meet Andrea, Mike, her dad, Mike Lambert, and Nick for the delcious ribs in Yeonsu. I made the mistake of having beer at dinner, which made me want to stay out and drink more, so Nick, Mike and I headed to guwol-dong where we met with Chris and enjoyed more drinks at Rio's. We left Rio's around 2:00 a.m. so Nick decided to go home, but Mike, Chris and I went for galbi and more drinks. When we finally called it a night it was after 3:00 a.m. I ended up sleeping in on Thursday, so I missed my first class. I felt bad, because it was my own fault I didn't felt well and I ended up missing a class because of it. I was exhausted all day at school and had to teach five grade 6 classes, which ended up being four because I was late. Around 2:00 p.m. Enee and I left to go check out the Edu Expo in new Song-do and then we had a co-teaching meeting to attend at a school in my old area of town. I ended up having to give a presentation that I was asked to do 15 minutes before it was time to present. It's a good thing I'm a relatively decent public speaker and that the presentation was seriously 5 minutes long. After the meeting Enee drove, Holly and her co-teacher home and myself. Holly and I went for shabu shabu and then we parted ways. I ended up falling asleep at 8:30 p.m. which was a good idea because I was so exhausted from my late night. Today (Friday) was a GREAT day! I had four grade 3 classes and their lesson this week was on Occupations. After Enee and I taught our last class we headed back to the Edu Expo for about an hour and a half and then we returned to school because my first teacher's class of the semester was at 3:00 p.m. However, we had to push the teacher's class to 3:30 because the grade 3 teachers ordered some food for us all to share together. The teacher's class was only Enee, Jiny (my old co-teacher), and my grade 4 English co-teacher. I have chosen to do basic conversation with them based on article's I give them to read each week. They seemed to really enjoy the concept, so we'll wait and see how it works out.

*It's Ladies Night and the Feeling's Right*

Lindsay was hosting a Ladies Night at her place Saturday night, so I made chocolate chip cookies and Jell-O shooters (my specialty). I came home from Yeouido, showered, changed, and organized myself for the evenings festivities. I decided to invite my co-teacher Enee out because she is young and cute and I thought she would have a good time with my friends and I. She met me at my house and we headed over to Lindsay's together, which was literally 10 feet away. Lindsay made a whole bunch of food for all of us and she even supplied us with some great beverages.

All the beautiful ladies that attended Ladies Night! L - R: Kristy, Lindsay, Tahee, Me, Enee, Rebekah, Holly, Emily and Lisa.

Lisa's drinking one of my Jell-O shooters as punishment during one of the many games we played. My co-teacher Enee and I at the start of Ladies Night! Kristy, Lisa and Tahee came out for Ladies Night, because it was AWESOME! Lindsay decided the best way to eat nacho's was to drink them out of the bowl...it certainly keeps your fingers clean.

We just spent the first part of the night drinking, eating and playing drinking games. At one point we decided to drop water out of Lindsay's 10th floor window in hopes of hitting passerby's, but all our attempts failed. When we had enough of Lindsay's place we headed out to Mad Max to start the dare night portion of the festivities.

Lindsay brought some props for Ladies Night, so she made everyone choose something to wear at some point. She even got Gus, who works at Mad Max and who we love, to join in on the excitement.

Enee and I were excited for the dare night portion of the festivities to start. I obviously chose the tiara as my prop for the evening because, clearly I am a princess.

We ordered ourselves some more drinks and then the dares got started. However, the clientele at Mad Max wasn't has happening as it usually is and most of the people in there weren't much fun to do the dares with.

As the dare part of the night started Enee decided to pose with me in a butterfly face mask. We really are adorable together and make a great team.

Rebekah, Lisa and Holly were clearly having a great time. I can sense the joy in their faces.

When Mad Max and the clientele continued to be boring we decided it was time to move elsewhere. Most of the ladies had decided it was time to go dancing, so we made a decision to head to Juan. BUT, not before I started a dance segment in the streets outside the GS25. I decided it would be fun to sing and dance to some K-pop songs. Of course, I'm not fluent in Korean, so I only knew certain words to certain songs, so I just made the words up and danced my heart out. I did manage to attract an audience of passerbys who just couldn't resist watching the waguk (foreigner) bust a move or two to K-pop songs on the street. Lisa did manage to get a video, so when she finally uploads them I will be sure to post it on this blog. We all shared cabs to Juan and were very disappointed when we got there and were told by numerous people that the nightclubs were closed...GASP! On a Saturday night?? Instead, Lindsay decided she was hungry, so we headed for some dulkgalbi and more drinks. My Korean friend ended up showing up randomly and intruding on our Ladies Night. Everyone ended up calling it a night after we ate, except for Enee, Kevin and I. We weren't ready to call it a night, so we headed upstairs to Boss and enjoyed some peach soju cocktails and more food (it is a requirement at most Hof's to order food with your drinks because Koreans must eat around the clock. I started to get really tired, so around 4:30 a.m. we called it a night. Enee and I cabbed home together and it was really fun drinking and partying with her. Who knew she would outlast my foreigner friends and still want to stay out late with me?!?! She is a champion!! I would say, overall, Ladies Night was a success :)

The Best Time of the Year!!

I woke up early Saturday to meet Rebekah, Emily and Candace because we were heading to Yeouido in Seoul for the cherry blossom festival. It was such a beautiful spring day, so sleeping in was not and option. Plus, the cherry blossoms don't last for very long. I took advantage of the cherry blossoms in Yeouido, so enjoy the pictures below.

A picture of the cherry blossoms just outside the train station and we hadn't even made it to the festival yet. The beautiful cherry blossom tree just outside the subway station at Yeouido. I needed a picture of me with the beautiful cherry blossom trees, because this time last year my camera was broken :( There was a giant, what I think is, a flower vase at the entrance to the festival. We saw a bunch of Koreans framing their faces too look like flowers blooming, so we joined in on the fun. A cute little flower display where real jeans were used as the base. The cherry blossoms look like snow on the trees. They are so beautiful! Best time of year in Korea for sure. There were couples every where. This couple was especially adorable because they were wearing matching outfits, which is actually very common and the thing to do here. Their sweaters were especially cute. Rebekah, Emily, Candace and I had to get a picture with the condom mascots :) Rebekah finally found a man taller than her in Korea...who knew?!?!

When we finished with Yeouido we headed to Itaewon to grab some food. Rebekah was craving Mexican and knew of a good place to go, so we headed there. After dinner Candace and I headed back to Incheon together. I had to get ready for Girl's Night!

Does Time Really Stand Still??

Last week was a really quiet week at school. The grade 5's and 6's went on a school field trip, so I only had grade 3 to teach, but I also got to teach grade 4 to fill in some space. My two favorite grades this year in one week was awesome. I did a lesson on family with the grade 3's, which they really liked. The grade 4's lessons are boring because we are following the text book, but not actually using it. However, we try to play about two games a class, sing songs, etc to make the curriculum more fun to learn. I've decided to start walking home from school every day because the exercise is just what I need and the weather is just too beautiful to ignore by busing home. I've also resisted going out during the week, so that I can focus on my lifestyle change and get some sleep during the school week. However, Nicole and I did make a trip to Yongsan on Thursday evening to buy Big Bang shoes and pick up a few things at Costco.

These are the fabulous, Limited Edition, Big Bang shoes that both Nicole and I purchased. Here is a close-up. Yes, they are actually on the sides of the shoes. It's quite fabulous.

The school week went by a bit slow because I didn't have full teaching days, except for one, so I was bored in the office all afternoon. The weekend could not have come fast enough last week. I mean I was so bored some days I took random pictures of things. See below:

This is the sweet pink bike that sits outside my apartment door that I want to steal. I have yet to see it move from this spot. A giant mountain of sand for the students to play with/in at my school. Bad idea, does the school not realize the students play in this mountain of sand in their school clothes?!?! That equals, dirty, smelly, sandy kids.

When the weekend finally did come I had a lot to look forward to. Friday was a relatively chill night. Nicole and I mett up in the evening for a few beers at Mad Max, but called it a night around midnight because we both had early days ahead of us Saturday...