I can't believe it's already June!!

**Because I know I don't have to much time left in Korea, I've been keeping busy seeing as much as I can. A few weekends ago I went with my friend Rebekah to Jirisan in the south. Korea's big 3 mountains are Halasan, Seoraksan, and Jirisan. Making it Jirisan rounded out my list and now I've been to all 3. Koreans LOVE hiking and I understand why. When you live in crowded spaces with big buildings and tons of people, it's extra nice to get out in nature when you can. I didn't take too many photos except for at the beginning of the hike where there was a Buddhist temple. And there was a restaurant that had seating IN the stream. I told you they love nature whenever they can get it.

**The following weekend I went on a wilderness trekking trip with my friend Candice in Gangwon-do with a tour group for foreigners. They claimed it was an area unknown to many, and it was actually true. Besides our big group, we only saw a couple other people the whole time. It wasn't quite like hiking because instead of going up then down a mountain, we walked along a river, climbing over rocks, up hills, through trees, and even having to get in the icy water a few times. It was a pretty unique trip.

**Then this past week, from Wednesday morning to Friday evening, I went with the 5th graders to an English Village in Gyeonggi-do about 2 hours away. The places was amazing!! It as based on old America. The buildings and roads were called things like, Monticello, Virgina Street, Georgetown. All the 5th grade teachers that went with me kept asking me if it was really like that where I lived, haha! Despite the place being beautiful, I really had nothing at all to do for 3 days. None of us teachers did (me, my VP, and all the 5th grade teachers) because they had their own staff that took the children from one activity to the other from the minute we got off the bus. Basically, I slept... a lot, played badminton, played soccer (though by myself because the teachers didn't want to get sweaty), ate lots of Korean food, and watched TV. I actually wished I had more to do because I got bored a lot. But, none the less it was fun to be somewhere new. It was nice also to be around some new teachers that I didn't know. They tried their best to communicate to me in English and I tried to say some things in Korean. But more or less, it was mostly gestures and laughing.


**This past Saturday I went on a tour of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). The DMZ is a 4km wide buffer zone that separates North and South Korea. I went with a couple friends on a tour that the US military gives. We first went to the Joint Security Area, the only area where both North and South Korean forces exist together. It's where a lot of talks and meetings occur between the two countries. Then we went to a few lookout points. At one of them you could see the North Korean town called "Propaganda Village" (named that by the South of course). We also saw "The Bridge of No Return." After the signing of the truce of the Korean War, POW's from each side were lead to either end of the bridge. They could make a choice to cross or stay, but once they made a choice, there was no turning back. The last stop on the tour was the 3rd North Korean Infiltration Tunnel. South Korea found 4 tunnels (though they expect there to be up to 17) that North Korea made leading to Seoul. They were made after the signing of the truce in 1953. We weren't allowed to bring cameras in the tunnel, and actually there were a lot of photo restrictions in the DMZ so the ones you see were in the areas were photos were allowed.

These first 4 photos are from the JSA. The grey buildings belong to North Korea and the blue belong to South Korea. In the 3rd photo you can see the distinct line (the concrete slab) separating the 2 countries. The rocks are South Korea and the sand is North Korea. The 4th photo is inside the T2 building where talks between the 2 countries are held. The building is set in both countries. The microphones on the table are the dividing line of the 2 countries (they are in line with the same concrete slab in the previous picture). We got to cross into North Korea while in this room, so technically I went to North Korea! The mood in the room was very serious and we were'nt allowed to sit in the chairs, touch the soldiers, or touch the tables.

The first photo here is of "Propaganda village" in North Korea. Notice the huge flag pole. It is estimated that the flag weights over 600 pounds and was made that big after South Korea raised a flag bigger than their previous one. The second photo is "The Bridge of No Return."

These last 2 photos were taken outside the 3rd Tunnel. South Korea has tried to make light of the situation and made it into a tourist area.

**These last two pictures were from a while ago, but I forgot to post them. I went to a Swell Season/The Frames concert in Seoul with my friend Mallory. They are the singers from the movie "Once". The concert was amazing!!! They were so good. We rented binoculars too, not because we couldn't see, but just because we thought they looked fun!

Scavenger Hunt

The other weekend I did a scavenger hunt around Seoul. It was tons of fun. I got to see some things I hadn't seen before and met some cool new people. We got into random groups of 5 and set out with a list of things to get or take photos of that were of different values. We had about 5 hours to do as much as we could, with a few bonus point task thrown in the middle. We didn't coe in the top 3, but I didn't mind. Here are some photos from the hunt. The task in the first photo was to get a picture of us all with black rimmed glasses (a huge trend in Korea). The second one we had to take a photo with 3 army men. (and here's a quick fact for you: all Korean men are required to serve at least two years in the military.) The next we had to take a photo with a Ferrari. And the last was to take a photo of us eating Bundigie....umm....which is silkworm larvae. It's sold as street food and you always know when your getting near some because you can smell it from miles away. It's the most disgusting smell ever! If you look closely, I never actually put the thing on my tongue; I just couldn't bear it, but we got the points none the less!


One of the bonus tasks was to meet up at a Norae bong (Karaoke room) and sing a song with our group. We chose "Video Killed the Radio Star". The organizers of the hunt put a vdeo collage together of everyone singing their songs. Ours is right at the beginning, if you want to take a look. I have to say thogh, this is not my best performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nEHbmyo8o

Scootin' around Taiwain

This post is going to have lots of photos of me, just to warn you! Rebekah and I went on a 4 day trip to Taiwan and well, she's really great at remembering to take photos and most of them seemed to involve me. Anyways, let me tell you about the amazing trip.

We flew into Taipei early Thursday and wondered around the city looking at all the big sights. Like in the first picture you can see the Taipei 101 building (which was once the tallest building in the World) and a few photos of the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall area. We rented our scooters that evening, ate dinner at a nearby night market where we tried stinky tofu (ughhhh) and after a few test drives around the scariest city to drive in ever, we left early Saturday for adventure.

Saturday we left Taipei and headed north to the coast, first to a city called Keelung. We stopped off a few places before getting to the city, like to see this cemetery built into the side of the hills and to do a little hiking to a waterfall that we saw a sign for on the side of the rode. Keelung was a nice sea side city, but we were more interested in getting out of the city, so we didn't stay too long.

We kept driving, now east along the coastline, until we got to Zhongzheng park. Not a park like a park your thinking of! But a Buddhist park with statues and bells and lots of Buddhas. We got to climb up the 5 story tall Buddha statue you see between the gold lions. And they did have a few kiddy things to do, as you can see me enjoying a horse ride.

After the park we kept driving and stopped in Nanya, known for its "peculiar rocks". That's the picture where I'm standing on top of the rock. We stopped often to admire the beautiful coastline. Our last stop before calling it a day was Bitou Cape Lighthouse. The lighthouse seemed like something that would be in Maine, not Taiwan, but the view from it was amazing. (last 2 photos).

That night we thought it would be really easy to find somewhere to stay, but we were wrong. After asking a few passer-byers and then resorting to the police station for help, we found somewhere to stay. It was way beyond our expectations, as it was a resort with spas, free breakfast, a swimming pool; much more than the hostels I'm use to. It was more then we expected to pay for a place that night, but for about $50 total, it really wasn't expensive in the long run. That night we lived like kings: soaking in the spas, watching TV, sprawling out in our beds. We ate dinner at another nearby night market and enjoyed our resort stay!

On Saturday we continued along the northeast coast. Our first event of the day was a hike on the Tsauling Historical Trail. We didn't do the whole thing, just enough to get fully soaked from sweat and collect a following of Taiwanese friends that wanted to practice their English. After a couple hours hiking we made our way to Honeymoon Bay for an afternoon of body boarding. We put on our swimsuits and roughed the waves, which were bigger than expected. It was really fun, and I only got a couple bruises! That night we stayed in something more suitable, the basement of a surf shop that held about 6 sets of bunk beds, just about all full with 20-something-year-olds.

Sunday we had to make our way back to Taipei to catch our evening flight, so we set out extra early to make sure we'd get back in time. We had to take a curvy mountain road back to the city, which I was initially really nervous about, but it ended up being one of my favorite things. The wind felt great and the views beautiful. We had a little extra time so we stopped off to climb up to a Buddha on the top of a hill and take a look at the tea growing in the hills. We also stopped at Carrfour, a French mega-market that I fondly remember from Europe days. I bought a ham log (made of soy of course) to bring home with me as a special treat! We returned our scooters, and took the 2 hour flight back home. We were exhausted by the end, but had an amazing time!

Adventure Weekends!

My last few weekends have been full of adventure, just the way I like it! A few weekends ago I went camping with my friend Rebekah. I have just 3 little photos from the amazing trip because we took most pictures with Rebekah's camera, unfortunately she lost her camera on the way home. But, I did manage to catch a shot of our little tent (which said it was for 2-3 people, but in American standards more like 1-2 people) and the beach view from our camp sight. We went to a small town 2 hours from Incheon called Mongsanpo near the city of Taean. We really had no agenda and basically wondered about for two days. The first day we decided to walk to the right. We stumbled upon an octopus festival with live music and everything. That night we went to the one restaurant near us and met an older Korean couple who insisted we eat with them. They were so funny! They ended up buying our dinner, we bought them ice cream and then they bought fireworks that we shot off on the beach. Though the weather during the day was wonderful, the night was pretty freezing; something we didn't quite prepare enough for (good thing that tent was small to keep in the body heat!) The next day we decided to walk to the left. No festivals, but we did meet a nice guy who showed us his many pets: rabbits, guinea pigs, etc. We headed back early afternoon on Sunday only to end up taking the wrong bus somehow and ending up east instead of north. The bus people bought us new tickets and despite a slight 2 hour detour, we made it home safe and sound.


The following weekend was just terrible weather: cold and rainy. But, it didn't keep me down! A few friends and I attempted a picnic in Incheon Grand Park. We had a picnic, but made sure we didn't sit too long so we wouldn't get too cold. I'll go back there for sure when the weather is nicer. That night there was a big lantern parade in Seoul to celebrate Buddha's birthday. Wow! It as really cool! Here are some pictures and video from the parade. I also went and saw the play Vagina Monologues, which was really good and very entertaining. I never would have thought I'd find a play in English here, let alone that one, hehe!




This past weekend was another fun one. My co-teacher Se-Jeong invited me and my friend Mallory to go on a day trip with her and her husband. We went to a little art village called Haytie, then to a faux-European village called Provence for a picnic lunch, and finally to Ilsan where we went to this huge flower expo. I have never seen so many flowers in my life. Don't get me wrong, they were beautiful, but I was jaded by the end of it. Then that night, us four and 3 other friends went out to a bar near my house. I really love hanging out with my co-teacher, but I must say it is strange mixing my work friends with my English friends. Despite the fact that I think they had trouble understanding our rambling, I think they enjoyed it! I did!

Also, Tuesday (May 5th) is Children's Day in Korea. It's a national holiday so there is no work or school. Rebekah and I made the most of the day off and headed to another nearby city called Suwon. They are known for their walled city. We walked the entire route, taking us a few hours. It was a perfect day to take a long walk and see something new. It was basically a mini-Great Wall; preparing me for things to come!!

And this weekend.....Taiwan!!!