Last Saturday I traveled to the Incheon Global Fair and Festival with my boss (Mr. Kim), his wife (Cindy), and their friend, (one of my students) Mr. Lee. We didn't leave until 4 pm because tickets were less than half price after 5. When we got there we parked almost a mile away. It was the last day so there were many people there, also, Mr. Lee didn't know where he was going and we could have parked in the lot near the gates...but that's ok. Cindy told me that the area where we parked actually used to be the West Sea 10 years ago. They have actually built a dam and moved sand and dirt in the create more space to expand the already large city...and oh my goodness were they expanding! I'm putting picture on facebook but I could see at LEAST 20 very new, very tall buildings almost finished and several more being constructed.
If any of you have been to the Kansas State fair, the part of fair that has all of the buildings and expo halls is how you should picture this fair. When we arrived there were people going through the lines to get in...but because I was in the group (oops) we had to go through the "Foreigner" line. I'm not sure why they had this line...who can say whether too many foreigners visited the fair. It was the last day so they weren't doing temperature checks but we did have to wash our hands, get our hands sprayed, and walk through an ultraviolet light doorway thing. We went through a huge flower garden, saw the robot/space expo, a future/economically friendly "what Incheon and other seaport countries will look like" expo (which was CRAZY futuristic...but supposed to be done by 2020), watched a short 3-d movie, ate, and studied pictures of Korea taken from the sky (neat).
Next stop! Little sister! I mean.... A cool light/water show put on by Samsung!
Ok...so when we got to the water show area there were already a lot of people everywhere. It was like the last *bang* the fair was going to get before they closed...also...it was being sponsored by the biggest company in Korea!! It had to be good! We made our way to the front, in front of all the chairs...our first mistake and not my idea. The ground was a little wet from the previous water show but only slightly damp. We (I) had to kneel so people behind us could see over the abnormally tall American. So...let me just say I don't kneel...it's not phyically possible for more than 5 minutes. Not kidding. I've tried. I finally had to say "oh well" and just sit on my rear, a let it get wet. The show finally starts (15 minutes late) and a song plays that is in Korean with the words "Lightning Tomorrow" thrown in every 10 words. Who knows why. The water goes off...we get a little damp from the mist...no big problem. BUT THEN...I look in front of me and realize...we are in the absolute worst spot anyone at the Fair could be at the moment. This isn't an overexaggeration people...like when you're at something like this and people say "Man am I glad we aren't were THEY are." that was us...we were "they." I look...and there is a considerable sized pool of water rushing right...towards me. GREAT!!! So I have to hop back into my excrutiating kneeling position, letting the ant size tsunami wash over my shoes and not enjoy the show at all...which was pretty cool so far. There was a mixture of water, lazers, fire, and music. Luckily, after my 5 minute time limit of kneeling was almost up, some genius set off some fireworks BEHIND US!! Yesssss. Everyone at this point stood up to try and watch the water in front, and fireworks behind. Any other time I would have been annoyed....who separates two cool shows in opposite directions, making it impossible to watch both?! But today...I didn't even care, I didn't have to KNEEL anymore!! Afterwards, with my wet knees, shoes, bottom and head, we walked the mile back to Mr. Lee's car.
Mr. Lee, it turns out, is a person who doesn't like to wait for traffic. So..ignoring his GPS beeping at him, he took a detour. Mr. Kim kept asking him "Mr. Lee....where are you going?" To which Mr. Lee replied with a surprisingly bad rendition of the "Lightning tomorrowwww" phrase of the light show song. I also heard Mr. Kim say, "slow down man!", "you violated!" (which means he broke a road law) and " are we going to get home before tomorrow?" Mr. Lee just laughed and kept going. At one point...he randomly honked at some guys by the side of the road eating dinner. All I could do was sit in the back and laugh. So a fairly eventful 6 hours on Saturday made up for the uneventful Saturday morning I experienced.
miss you.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
And then nature decided....It was Fall.
Because I walked out one morning...and all of the sudden, it was. And it was beautiful. I think that I get to enjoy fall more than other people who live in the city on a day to day basis because I have a strip of park right outside my apartment. There aren't many trees in the more downtown area. For some reason, the park "workers" we'll call them for lack of a better name, have gone all out. There are flowers EVERYWHERE in pots. It's like spring almost. Strange. Today on my run there were people everywhere taking pictures. I must have missed something.
It's strange how I never realized how much my sense of smell was a huge part of Fall as well. In the U.S. I noticed the smell of the fallen leaves after it rained, the smell of the crisp mornings, and my favorite, the smell of the fires in the chimneys when it got cold enough. Here, even though it's beautiful, there is always a smell of exhaust unless I go to the mountains on the weekend. And I think the closest I'm going to get to a fireplace smell is a pile of burning leaves. There are no houses here, therefore no fireplaces.
I love the Bakery's here. They are as numerous as coffee shops with one on practically every corner. The 2 main Bakery's are Tous Le Jour and Paris Baguette. I think Paris is my favorite. You walk into the store, grab a tray and tongs, and place whatever you want on the tray as you walk around. They have everything. It's pretty amazing.
An unusual and suprising treat here is called the red bean. It's a very popular thing to eat. Now, I have an aversion to beans so I was reluctant to try it but Sarah bought me some dough balls with red bean filling inside at a subway station not too long ago. WOW!! So good. She also told me to buy a red bean ice cream treat shaped like a fish next time I saw one...and I did...and I LIKED it! The bean has a sweet taste to it and only has the slight consistency of a mashed up bean. I think they make drink out of it too.
I went to McDonalds after I got my first paycheck. I ordered a Big Mac meal. I know some of you don't like McDonalds...but...can I just say how delicious it is to eat something you know they have America? I'd also be willing to bet this McDonalds was cleaner. :) They also have a nifty way of giving you your drink to go. They just slip it in a plastic sack with handles that was made the perfect size to carry your cup. Handy!
I'm thrilled to say that all of my socks still match. No one here to get them confused with. ;) though I did find a Wall-e chew hole in one of them that I hadn't noticed before I left. I guess he wanted to give me something to say goodbye too. Thanks Wall-e!
Two days ago, on our way home from work, my boss was driving. Him and his wife said to me "Sorry Kaley, I have to drive aggressive sometimes." I hadn't even noticed. (I was getting used to it?) Yesterday my boss went out after work so his wife drove us home instead. I kid you not when I say I ended up in Han's (secretary) lap on one of her turns. I said "Now THAT'S aggressive driving!! You should drive every night!!" We laughed the whole way home. It's great when people in the same car barely speak the same language and we can all be laughing about the same thing.
I went to the Olympic park with Jackie last Saturday. It was amazing. It's where the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics were held. I love the Olmpics. Even though all of the buildings were locked we were able to see how large all of them were. We walked on the same sidewalk that hundreds of thousands of people would have walked on more than 20 years ago. Interesting sculptures were everywhere around the park and the fall leaves made it even more awesome. We found all the country flags, the fire was still lit under the huge peace gate and we walked through the Olympic museum. There was a small room that held information about this years Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I'm excited to watch them as the winter olympics are my favorite. Maybe that will give me a reason to turn my T.V. on. I hope the announcers are english though...
This part of the Blog will be used to tell Melanie Dawn good luck! She's eagerly awaiting her baby boy to enter our world and I'm so excited for her! I love you!!
I miss everyone!
Love!
It's strange how I never realized how much my sense of smell was a huge part of Fall as well. In the U.S. I noticed the smell of the fallen leaves after it rained, the smell of the crisp mornings, and my favorite, the smell of the fires in the chimneys when it got cold enough. Here, even though it's beautiful, there is always a smell of exhaust unless I go to the mountains on the weekend. And I think the closest I'm going to get to a fireplace smell is a pile of burning leaves. There are no houses here, therefore no fireplaces.
I love the Bakery's here. They are as numerous as coffee shops with one on practically every corner. The 2 main Bakery's are Tous Le Jour and Paris Baguette. I think Paris is my favorite. You walk into the store, grab a tray and tongs, and place whatever you want on the tray as you walk around. They have everything. It's pretty amazing.
An unusual and suprising treat here is called the red bean. It's a very popular thing to eat. Now, I have an aversion to beans so I was reluctant to try it but Sarah bought me some dough balls with red bean filling inside at a subway station not too long ago. WOW!! So good. She also told me to buy a red bean ice cream treat shaped like a fish next time I saw one...and I did...and I LIKED it! The bean has a sweet taste to it and only has the slight consistency of a mashed up bean. I think they make drink out of it too.
I went to McDonalds after I got my first paycheck. I ordered a Big Mac meal. I know some of you don't like McDonalds...but...can I just say how delicious it is to eat something you know they have America? I'd also be willing to bet this McDonalds was cleaner. :) They also have a nifty way of giving you your drink to go. They just slip it in a plastic sack with handles that was made the perfect size to carry your cup. Handy!
I'm thrilled to say that all of my socks still match. No one here to get them confused with. ;) though I did find a Wall-e chew hole in one of them that I hadn't noticed before I left. I guess he wanted to give me something to say goodbye too. Thanks Wall-e!
Two days ago, on our way home from work, my boss was driving. Him and his wife said to me "Sorry Kaley, I have to drive aggressive sometimes." I hadn't even noticed. (I was getting used to it?) Yesterday my boss went out after work so his wife drove us home instead. I kid you not when I say I ended up in Han's (secretary) lap on one of her turns. I said "Now THAT'S aggressive driving!! You should drive every night!!" We laughed the whole way home. It's great when people in the same car barely speak the same language and we can all be laughing about the same thing.
I went to the Olympic park with Jackie last Saturday. It was amazing. It's where the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics were held. I love the Olmpics. Even though all of the buildings were locked we were able to see how large all of them were. We walked on the same sidewalk that hundreds of thousands of people would have walked on more than 20 years ago. Interesting sculptures were everywhere around the park and the fall leaves made it even more awesome. We found all the country flags, the fire was still lit under the huge peace gate and we walked through the Olympic museum. There was a small room that held information about this years Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I'm excited to watch them as the winter olympics are my favorite. Maybe that will give me a reason to turn my T.V. on. I hope the announcers are english though...
This part of the Blog will be used to tell Melanie Dawn good luck! She's eagerly awaiting her baby boy to enter our world and I'm so excited for her! I love you!!
I miss everyone!
Love!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Beware the Subway and elevator doors! (And more observations)
'Ello loved ones! It is I again! This one consists of a few stories, some things I miss, and some more Korean observations. Enjoy.
-On Saturday, I was travelling to Seoul with my friend Sae-rom. As we transferred from the blue to the green line...we walked down the stairs and Sae-rom exclaimed "That's the one we need!" So we ran over to the train and I hopped on. Well as I turned around, I noticed, to my dismay, that the doors were closing and my large bag had prevented Sae-rom from hopping on after me before the doors closed. Blast!!! She made the universal "thumb and pinky to ear I'll-call-you" sign...but my phone was dead. Soooo....I thought "i'll just get off at the stop we were going to meet at and wait for her, no big deal." but I soon noticed that I was in fact, not on the right train, but going in the opposite direction than I needed to be. Double blast!!! So I jumped off at the next station. Luckily, Sae-rom caught the next train and we found eachother with no more porblems. Boarded the correct train, and succesfully, if not timely, made it to Seoul.
-Elevators- the doors! They close SO QUICKLY! None of this stay open for 20 seconds stuff. It's literally a 3-5 second open and close deal. If more than one person is getting on you have to actually hold the <> door open button so they have time to get on. It's very interesting with a bike in tow let me tell you. ESPECIALLY when the elevator is tiny. I have to take my bike up the elevator at my school so it won't get stolen... I push the button, rear my bike up on it's back wheel, hold the back brake handle so it doesn't go anywhere, and shove myself in with it. Joy and rapture unforseen. Every day. It's almost as much work backing it off the elevator into the hallway before the doors shut on me! HA!
-Touch- Koreans display emotions by touch? This statement is partially untrue because it's not like they go off and smack eachother in the face in a dispute. (that I've seen) An example, my boss's parents rode home with us on Friday night because they were staying the weekend. His mom grabbed my hand halfway through the car ride because they were talking (in Korean) about how I was far away from home and I must miss my parents. Mr. Kim explained to me that this was normal, and not to "be alarmed." Which I wasn't. It's just much different than in America. Also, I noticed that Korean girls walk arm and arm or hand in hand much of the time. It's perfectly normal. One of my friends does it to me as well...but I think that she is also partially steering me, because I don't know where I'm going much of the time...lol.
-In a discussion about North and South Korea in class the other day, one of my students stated that he thought the North Korean government would fail within the next 3-4 years. I asked him "What do you think will occur when this happens?" to which he replied "I think you should not be in Korea when that happens." HAHAAA! No problem.
-This same student was asking me about what I watched in my apartment. I told him that I had only been able to find one English channel the first day I was here because I only had cable, so I hadn't turned on my TV since then. He said that there were more English channels on satellite TV and did I want it? I said no...I was doing fine with having the internet. "but I can get it for you, for free." lol.....oh my... nooo.....thanks. ha.
-Koreans age AMAZINGLY well. They have a game show where people try and guess the ages of the contestants. Almost every time, the guess is way too low. I saw a man who looked 35, but he was actually 61. My goodness.
-Ordering in resturants/ eating- Usually food is ordered, and then shared by all people. You just eat from the same plate. It's not a bad idea.
-I can't even stress how much I took a dryer for granted. Washing and drying clothes is much more of a process since you can't just throw them in the dryer. My clothes aren't as soft either. *sigh*
-Many Koreans brush their teeth after every meal. They just have their toothbrush with them always. Oral hygiene. Alright!
-High heels. "Everybody's in stilettos! Guess I didn't get the memo!" -song...sorry....but really. Everyone where's high heels. It's crazy! I would literally fall on my face, I'm already clumsy. Not to mention I would be taller than everyone else. Good thing I'm an American and can be forgiven (or so I assume) for wearing flip flops around...lol.
-I'm going to have to start liking spicy FOOOOD! AH!
-Roti buns- delicious. Warms buns that are slightly sweet with a buttery gooey center. My gosh.
-Liquid yogurt- people LOVE it here. And I have to admit...it's quite yummy.
-Waiting a whole month to be paid-Not my idea of a good time.
-Had some Mcdonalds french fries friday night. My first American food since I've been here. And can I just say....they were heaven. And unlike Disney World...I was not attacked by birds while eating them...but I think that's just because Brad wasn't here to taunt them by holding one in the air....lol.
I miss everyone!
Love!
-On Saturday, I was travelling to Seoul with my friend Sae-rom. As we transferred from the blue to the green line...we walked down the stairs and Sae-rom exclaimed "That's the one we need!" So we ran over to the train and I hopped on. Well as I turned around, I noticed, to my dismay, that the doors were closing and my large bag had prevented Sae-rom from hopping on after me before the doors closed. Blast!!! She made the universal "thumb and pinky to ear I'll-call-you" sign...but my phone was dead. Soooo....I thought "i'll just get off at the stop we were going to meet at and wait for her, no big deal." but I soon noticed that I was in fact, not on the right train, but going in the opposite direction than I needed to be. Double blast!!! So I jumped off at the next station. Luckily, Sae-rom caught the next train and we found eachother with no more porblems. Boarded the correct train, and succesfully, if not timely, made it to Seoul.
-Elevators- the doors! They close SO QUICKLY! None of this stay open for 20 seconds stuff. It's literally a 3-5 second open and close deal. If more than one person is getting on you have to actually hold the <> door open button so they have time to get on. It's very interesting with a bike in tow let me tell you. ESPECIALLY when the elevator is tiny. I have to take my bike up the elevator at my school so it won't get stolen... I push the button, rear my bike up on it's back wheel, hold the back brake handle so it doesn't go anywhere, and shove myself in with it. Joy and rapture unforseen. Every day. It's almost as much work backing it off the elevator into the hallway before the doors shut on me! HA!
-Touch- Koreans display emotions by touch? This statement is partially untrue because it's not like they go off and smack eachother in the face in a dispute. (that I've seen) An example, my boss's parents rode home with us on Friday night because they were staying the weekend. His mom grabbed my hand halfway through the car ride because they were talking (in Korean) about how I was far away from home and I must miss my parents. Mr. Kim explained to me that this was normal, and not to "be alarmed." Which I wasn't. It's just much different than in America. Also, I noticed that Korean girls walk arm and arm or hand in hand much of the time. It's perfectly normal. One of my friends does it to me as well...but I think that she is also partially steering me, because I don't know where I'm going much of the time...lol.
-In a discussion about North and South Korea in class the other day, one of my students stated that he thought the North Korean government would fail within the next 3-4 years. I asked him "What do you think will occur when this happens?" to which he replied "I think you should not be in Korea when that happens." HAHAAA! No problem.
-This same student was asking me about what I watched in my apartment. I told him that I had only been able to find one English channel the first day I was here because I only had cable, so I hadn't turned on my TV since then. He said that there were more English channels on satellite TV and did I want it? I said no...I was doing fine with having the internet. "but I can get it for you, for free." lol.....oh my... nooo.....thanks. ha.
-Koreans age AMAZINGLY well. They have a game show where people try and guess the ages of the contestants. Almost every time, the guess is way too low. I saw a man who looked 35, but he was actually 61. My goodness.
-Ordering in resturants/ eating- Usually food is ordered, and then shared by all people. You just eat from the same plate. It's not a bad idea.
-I can't even stress how much I took a dryer for granted. Washing and drying clothes is much more of a process since you can't just throw them in the dryer. My clothes aren't as soft either. *sigh*
-Many Koreans brush their teeth after every meal. They just have their toothbrush with them always. Oral hygiene. Alright!
-High heels. "Everybody's in stilettos! Guess I didn't get the memo!" -song...sorry....but really. Everyone where's high heels. It's crazy! I would literally fall on my face, I'm already clumsy. Not to mention I would be taller than everyone else. Good thing I'm an American and can be forgiven (or so I assume) for wearing flip flops around...lol.
-I'm going to have to start liking spicy FOOOOD! AH!
-Roti buns- delicious. Warms buns that are slightly sweet with a buttery gooey center. My gosh.
-Liquid yogurt- people LOVE it here. And I have to admit...it's quite yummy.
-Waiting a whole month to be paid-Not my idea of a good time.
-Had some Mcdonalds french fries friday night. My first American food since I've been here. And can I just say....they were heaven. And unlike Disney World...I was not attacked by birds while eating them...but I think that's just because Brad wasn't here to taunt them by holding one in the air....lol.
I miss everyone!
Love!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Jeju-do!
Vacation on Jeju Island:
It rained on Thursday when we flew in. The forcast called for rain almost everyday that we were going to be there (dang!) but the man who took us to the town where we were staying informed us that the weather was clearing up....while it was still raining. We could only hope that this islander knew what he was talking about. We went to a resturant after unloading our stuff in the hotel. It was pretty good food! It poured the rest of the night but when we woke up the next morning it was only cloudy! The hotel was nice, but near three other hotels that were 5 star, amazing, highly expensive ones called the Shilla, The Lotte, and the Hyatt Regency. The Shilla constantly ran horse drawn carraiges up and down the streets in the evenings. The hotel played music over speakers in the evenings too, reminded me of Epcot.
We took a little while to look around and had the best coffee I've ever tasted and a coffee shop called "Ripley's believe it or not coffee" It had some relation to the actual Ripley's chain in america. We then decided to ride the submarine. We reserved a time and bought a ticket. Then, to kill time, we went to a beautiful waterfall (pictures on facebook soon!). A boat took us out to the submarine. I forgot how much I love boat rides. It brought back memories of our Seattle trip. I guess since we were Americans they let us go first into the submarine. We crawled into the hole and went 40 meters below the water. A scuba diver followed the sub with a bag of fish food so the fish would swim right by the windows. We saw sea anenomies as well as a cool looking sunken ship.
Jeju Island is known for it's black pork so that's what we had for dinner. It was really good. Resturants here have grills in the table so the food is cooked right in front of you. It's a neat concept. Like a Japanese steak house at home but you do most of the grilling of your food, with the waiter coming by to motion that it's done.
We found out Hallasan Mountain (the dormant volcano that formed the Island) only had 2 of the 4 trails open because of the holiday. One didn't go to the top but only took 3 hours, the other did but took 8-9 hours. Lenny and Jen took the 3 hour one but Dave and I really wanted to go to the top so we woke up at 5:00 to drive our propane car an hour to the trail. It was a little chilly in the morning but we thought that it would warm up, so we didn't change our outfits of shorts and tshirts(Dave) with a sweatshirt(me). Mistake. ha! It warmed up a little but we were passing people who were dressed like it was 40 degrees! I would have been sweating a lot if i had dressed like that. As we had a date with Sarah, Soo, and a hamburger big enough to feed 5 people later, we began with a very quick pace. "We'll cut the time down and kick this mountains butt!" we thought! We were passing people right and left! Literally right and left, they have no order on how they walk up and down the stairs (or mountains) here. There are arrows on stairs, up=left, down=right (opposite america...strange) but they don't follow the arrows...frusturating!
My ankles started to get more tired than anything else by hour 2. We were walking/hopping up large pieces of igneous rock. There weren't any flat surfaces. I can't even imagine how they laid the rock out to make step like surfaces. Spaced every once in awhile were some wooden steps they had built to...give us a break? Make it actually physically possible to get to the top? Who knows...but they were handy. Some of the stairs near the top were so new that they weren't even bolted on the the metal beams. As we neared the top about 3 1/2 hours later the wind started to pick up. The trees weren't growing anymore. Not because we were at the tree line (it's not that high) but because they wouldn't be able to grow with wind like that. The temperature was...very...cold.
Side note: Koreans stack rocks here because they believe they have unseen powers. A prayer is said for their family and friends for each rock that is stacked.
After making a quick stack of rocks for our family and friends, we hurried to the top and looked into the awesome crater for a little while. We then took cover from the wind behind a rock and had a delicious lunch of snickers, nuts, bananas, and powerade. We called Soo and Sarah from the top ("You can't be to the top already!!" "No really, we are...") and then HIGH TAILED it to the tree line were the wind wasn't as bad. We decided to try to get to the bottom as fast as physically possible (without breaking something) to make a record. but then...
Side note: there was a sign at the top saying that Hallasan mountain was home to dozens (dozens I tell you) of Roe Deer.
...we heard a strange noise. Dave thought it was a pig. But after hearing rustling, we spotted a deer. It wasn't that far from us and he was aggravated that he couldn't get across the trail to what? another deer who was unknowingly even closer to us than the other. We spent about 45 minutes watching the upset one trying to find a way over while dodging hikers who were oblivious to the whole thing. He finally made it over and then we were on our way again. We saw about 4 more deer, 2 babies, on our way down. With only dozens being on the mountain, we might have seen half the heard right there!
Both Dave and I only fell once each on the rocks. I happened to go hands first down one part of the trail but for me...that's pretty good. :)
After that, we had enough time to grab Sarah, throw our suits on, and swim in the Ocean for awhile. The water was only a little cold getting in but took very little time to get used to.
We then went to eat our very large, yummy, hamburger. Hang on monkey bars. Try out the exercise equipment, hurt our feet walking on rocks, and search the town for a gift for the man who let us borrow his car (everything was closed).
The next morning we had to get up early because their flight left at 8:30. Mine didn't leave until 2:00 so I walked around the airport for awhile. I then flew to Fukuoka Airport (in Japan). Strange I know, but it was the only flight available. When I got off the plane, an attendant walked up to me and asked if "I was the one going back to Seoul?" She then took me to a room with 2 other attendants where I sat for almost an hour so they could switch my ticket and send my bag through customs. I'm not totally sure what happened during this time. They were speaking alot of Japanese to each other. But they walked me up the stairs and into the area where all the other people were waiting for the same flight. I bought a shirt with a Japanese Hello Kitty Surfer on it. Rock on.
I flew back to Seoul. Thought I would try the subway home instead of a bus. Realized this was a mistake because line 1 is a darn confusing one. Had a Korean woman help me with my bag because she thought it was too heavy for me. Arrived home, and didn't collapse in bed right away. (another mistake...lol)
So my trip was fantastic! So glad Sarah and David invited me to go. Being here in my apartment for 5 days would have been lonely!
miss you all!
It rained on Thursday when we flew in. The forcast called for rain almost everyday that we were going to be there (dang!) but the man who took us to the town where we were staying informed us that the weather was clearing up....while it was still raining. We could only hope that this islander knew what he was talking about. We went to a resturant after unloading our stuff in the hotel. It was pretty good food! It poured the rest of the night but when we woke up the next morning it was only cloudy! The hotel was nice, but near three other hotels that were 5 star, amazing, highly expensive ones called the Shilla, The Lotte, and the Hyatt Regency. The Shilla constantly ran horse drawn carraiges up and down the streets in the evenings. The hotel played music over speakers in the evenings too, reminded me of Epcot.
We took a little while to look around and had the best coffee I've ever tasted and a coffee shop called "Ripley's believe it or not coffee" It had some relation to the actual Ripley's chain in america. We then decided to ride the submarine. We reserved a time and bought a ticket. Then, to kill time, we went to a beautiful waterfall (pictures on facebook soon!). A boat took us out to the submarine. I forgot how much I love boat rides. It brought back memories of our Seattle trip. I guess since we were Americans they let us go first into the submarine. We crawled into the hole and went 40 meters below the water. A scuba diver followed the sub with a bag of fish food so the fish would swim right by the windows. We saw sea anenomies as well as a cool looking sunken ship.
Jeju Island is known for it's black pork so that's what we had for dinner. It was really good. Resturants here have grills in the table so the food is cooked right in front of you. It's a neat concept. Like a Japanese steak house at home but you do most of the grilling of your food, with the waiter coming by to motion that it's done.
We found out Hallasan Mountain (the dormant volcano that formed the Island) only had 2 of the 4 trails open because of the holiday. One didn't go to the top but only took 3 hours, the other did but took 8-9 hours. Lenny and Jen took the 3 hour one but Dave and I really wanted to go to the top so we woke up at 5:00 to drive our propane car an hour to the trail. It was a little chilly in the morning but we thought that it would warm up, so we didn't change our outfits of shorts and tshirts(Dave) with a sweatshirt(me). Mistake. ha! It warmed up a little but we were passing people who were dressed like it was 40 degrees! I would have been sweating a lot if i had dressed like that. As we had a date with Sarah, Soo, and a hamburger big enough to feed 5 people later, we began with a very quick pace. "We'll cut the time down and kick this mountains butt!" we thought! We were passing people right and left! Literally right and left, they have no order on how they walk up and down the stairs (or mountains) here. There are arrows on stairs, up=left, down=right (opposite america...strange) but they don't follow the arrows...frusturating!
My ankles started to get more tired than anything else by hour 2. We were walking/hopping up large pieces of igneous rock. There weren't any flat surfaces. I can't even imagine how they laid the rock out to make step like surfaces. Spaced every once in awhile were some wooden steps they had built to...give us a break? Make it actually physically possible to get to the top? Who knows...but they were handy. Some of the stairs near the top were so new that they weren't even bolted on the the metal beams. As we neared the top about 3 1/2 hours later the wind started to pick up. The trees weren't growing anymore. Not because we were at the tree line (it's not that high) but because they wouldn't be able to grow with wind like that. The temperature was...very...cold.
Side note: Koreans stack rocks here because they believe they have unseen powers. A prayer is said for their family and friends for each rock that is stacked.
After making a quick stack of rocks for our family and friends, we hurried to the top and looked into the awesome crater for a little while. We then took cover from the wind behind a rock and had a delicious lunch of snickers, nuts, bananas, and powerade. We called Soo and Sarah from the top ("You can't be to the top already!!" "No really, we are...") and then HIGH TAILED it to the tree line were the wind wasn't as bad. We decided to try to get to the bottom as fast as physically possible (without breaking something) to make a record. but then...
Side note: there was a sign at the top saying that Hallasan mountain was home to dozens (dozens I tell you) of Roe Deer.
...we heard a strange noise. Dave thought it was a pig. But after hearing rustling, we spotted a deer. It wasn't that far from us and he was aggravated that he couldn't get across the trail to what? another deer who was unknowingly even closer to us than the other. We spent about 45 minutes watching the upset one trying to find a way over while dodging hikers who were oblivious to the whole thing. He finally made it over and then we were on our way again. We saw about 4 more deer, 2 babies, on our way down. With only dozens being on the mountain, we might have seen half the heard right there!
Both Dave and I only fell once each on the rocks. I happened to go hands first down one part of the trail but for me...that's pretty good. :)
After that, we had enough time to grab Sarah, throw our suits on, and swim in the Ocean for awhile. The water was only a little cold getting in but took very little time to get used to.
We then went to eat our very large, yummy, hamburger. Hang on monkey bars. Try out the exercise equipment, hurt our feet walking on rocks, and search the town for a gift for the man who let us borrow his car (everything was closed).
The next morning we had to get up early because their flight left at 8:30. Mine didn't leave until 2:00 so I walked around the airport for awhile. I then flew to Fukuoka Airport (in Japan). Strange I know, but it was the only flight available. When I got off the plane, an attendant walked up to me and asked if "I was the one going back to Seoul?" She then took me to a room with 2 other attendants where I sat for almost an hour so they could switch my ticket and send my bag through customs. I'm not totally sure what happened during this time. They were speaking alot of Japanese to each other. But they walked me up the stairs and into the area where all the other people were waiting for the same flight. I bought a shirt with a Japanese Hello Kitty Surfer on it. Rock on.
I flew back to Seoul. Thought I would try the subway home instead of a bus. Realized this was a mistake because line 1 is a darn confusing one. Had a Korean woman help me with my bag because she thought it was too heavy for me. Arrived home, and didn't collapse in bed right away. (another mistake...lol)
So my trip was fantastic! So glad Sarah and David invited me to go. Being here in my apartment for 5 days would have been lonely!
miss you all!
Some observations...this is a doozie. Doozie is a strange word...
OK! It's been awhile kids! The length of this blog may make up for it. We'll see. You can stop reading at any point if it becomes boring, rambling, or just downright ridiculous. *wink*
Men's purses or.. murses?: They exist. Everywhere. Literally almost every male in this country has one. They look good too! No joke. They are hip, handy, fashionable and make perfect sense. Also, if men are with their significant other, they hold their purse too. How kind!
Tax: There isn't any. It's so GREAT! Oh hey, I need some milk, but only have 2,000 won. The milk is 2,000 won. Can I afford it? YES! Because it's 2,000 won. Not 2,015 won with tax. What the price tag says is what the price is. Fantastic!
Tip: Again, there isn't any. They will literally not take a tip. It's not expected, and it's not given...anywhere. So great.
Squid: Koreans love dried squid. It's like beef jerky to them. Being dried, you'd think the smell would, maybe, not be as strong, but it is...and it's disgusting. yuck!
Sleeping on the Subway: The percentage of people falling asleep on the subway is amazing. I just watch as people hop on, sit down, and are asleep before we get to the next station, which is usually not more than 3 or 4 minutes away. Koreans fall asleep really well in moving vehicles anyway I have heard. It's interesting to observe someone who is asleep, jump awake to check what station we have stopped at, and after confirming it isn't their stop, precede to fall back asleep. lol. Every once in awhile, they will wake up too late, sprint to the closing door, and end up having to stay one station too many because they missed it. I should wear a sign that says, "For 1,000 won, you can tell me what station you need to get off at, and I'll make sure you don't miss it!" hahaaa....or not.
Flavoring for fries: WOAH! I went to a resturant at the airport and they give you a bag of fries. Then you tell them what seasoning you want. They hand you a package that your pour into the bag, shake, taste, and yum! "It's shake and bake, and I helped!" Ok so it's not shake and BAKE but same concept. Pretty delicious!
Dreams: They take dreams seriously here. If you have a pig in your dreams, it's good luck, run to buy a lottery ticket! One of my students told me that he had a dream with 3 pigs in it. He went to buy the lottery ticket and got 3 of the 6 numbers right. he said that if his dream had 6 pigs in it...he would have won. Also, if you don't have any dreams, that means you are healthy...well I guess I'm not a healthy person then! lol.
Blood Type: "What is your blood type?" someone asked me. This someone was not a doctor, or nurse. Some Koreans judge personality by blood types. I am O positive, apparently that is a good type to have. "We like O positive! They are happy and easy to get along with!" Oh good! I'm not sure what personality goes with the other blood types but I heard, "strange and short tempered." Boy was I lucky on that one. Thanks Mom and Dad! :)
Moonpies: The Korean version, stick them in the freezer, delicious. My boss's wife bought me a box. It would be great if she never did that again...because I have no will power against them. They were gone in less than a week. Yikes!
Interesting instances:
-using "chicken" instead of "kitchen" in class
-one student keeps say he has a "Good body" instead of "Healthy body"...ha! I keep correcting him, but he has this grin on his face when he says it now and everyone laughs...ornery Korean!
-asking questions in the form of statements...it's hard to get used to. "Kaley, I think you miss home." "Kaley, you go to Jeju for holiday." "Kaley, you have friends in Bundang." These are all asking something...but what!?
-"Have you eaten?" this is a way to ask "how are you?" My boss asks me this, he explained that in the small town where he grew up, that's what they asked. He informed me of this after I, confused as I was, told him what I had eaten for dinner a few times. Embarassing. lol. He has since started asking me "how are you." Much easier to answer. ha.
And...that's it! I'm typing another about my vacation to Jeju Island...but I wanted to let you guys breath before having to read that one..... :)
love!
Men's purses or.. murses?: They exist. Everywhere. Literally almost every male in this country has one. They look good too! No joke. They are hip, handy, fashionable and make perfect sense. Also, if men are with their significant other, they hold their purse too. How kind!
Tax: There isn't any. It's so GREAT! Oh hey, I need some milk, but only have 2,000 won. The milk is 2,000 won. Can I afford it? YES! Because it's 2,000 won. Not 2,015 won with tax. What the price tag says is what the price is. Fantastic!
Tip: Again, there isn't any. They will literally not take a tip. It's not expected, and it's not given...anywhere. So great.
Squid: Koreans love dried squid. It's like beef jerky to them. Being dried, you'd think the smell would, maybe, not be as strong, but it is...and it's disgusting. yuck!
Sleeping on the Subway: The percentage of people falling asleep on the subway is amazing. I just watch as people hop on, sit down, and are asleep before we get to the next station, which is usually not more than 3 or 4 minutes away. Koreans fall asleep really well in moving vehicles anyway I have heard. It's interesting to observe someone who is asleep, jump awake to check what station we have stopped at, and after confirming it isn't their stop, precede to fall back asleep. lol. Every once in awhile, they will wake up too late, sprint to the closing door, and end up having to stay one station too many because they missed it. I should wear a sign that says, "For 1,000 won, you can tell me what station you need to get off at, and I'll make sure you don't miss it!" hahaaa....or not.
Flavoring for fries: WOAH! I went to a resturant at the airport and they give you a bag of fries. Then you tell them what seasoning you want. They hand you a package that your pour into the bag, shake, taste, and yum! "It's shake and bake, and I helped!" Ok so it's not shake and BAKE but same concept. Pretty delicious!
Dreams: They take dreams seriously here. If you have a pig in your dreams, it's good luck, run to buy a lottery ticket! One of my students told me that he had a dream with 3 pigs in it. He went to buy the lottery ticket and got 3 of the 6 numbers right. he said that if his dream had 6 pigs in it...he would have won. Also, if you don't have any dreams, that means you are healthy...well I guess I'm not a healthy person then! lol.
Blood Type: "What is your blood type?" someone asked me. This someone was not a doctor, or nurse. Some Koreans judge personality by blood types. I am O positive, apparently that is a good type to have. "We like O positive! They are happy and easy to get along with!" Oh good! I'm not sure what personality goes with the other blood types but I heard, "strange and short tempered." Boy was I lucky on that one. Thanks Mom and Dad! :)
Moonpies: The Korean version, stick them in the freezer, delicious. My boss's wife bought me a box. It would be great if she never did that again...because I have no will power against them. They were gone in less than a week. Yikes!
Interesting instances:
-using "chicken" instead of "kitchen" in class
-one student keeps say he has a "Good body" instead of "Healthy body"...ha! I keep correcting him, but he has this grin on his face when he says it now and everyone laughs...ornery Korean!
-asking questions in the form of statements...it's hard to get used to. "Kaley, I think you miss home." "Kaley, you go to Jeju for holiday." "Kaley, you have friends in Bundang." These are all asking something...but what!?
-"Have you eaten?" this is a way to ask "how are you?" My boss asks me this, he explained that in the small town where he grew up, that's what they asked. He informed me of this after I, confused as I was, told him what I had eaten for dinner a few times. Embarassing. lol. He has since started asking me "how are you." Much easier to answer. ha.
And...that's it! I'm typing another about my vacation to Jeju Island...but I wanted to let you guys breath before having to read that one..... :)
love!
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