Ice Fishing & the Gators!!!

Korea gets cold! I'm sure you've noticed the excessive amount of snow in my last few posts, and it hasn't ended yet. Before I tell you about my trip to sunny, hot Thailand and Cambodia, I want to back track and tell you about some Korea stuff. So my friend Rebekah G. and I signed up for this trip we saw online to an ice fishing festival a couple hours east of Seoul in Hwacheon city, Gangwon-Do. Can't say I ever thought I would go ice fishing in my life! So there was a big bus of foreigners and we spent a Saturday at this ice festival. We went fishing of course (we never actually caught anything but the press people wanted to take photos of Rebekah and I so they out fish on our hook for pictures!) They also had some really amazing snow and ice sculptures (the blue and green photos are from inside an igloo thing.), sledding, ice skating, and ice soccer. The main event however, was bare hand fishing. They had a special foreigner challenge, so any foreigner that wanted to (and I did!) could go into ths big cold pool of water and try to catch trout with their bare hands. It was SOOOO cold. It hurt so bad to just stand in the water. I unfortunately came up empty handed again and actually stayed in the water for maybe a minute tops as it was just too cold.


The following weekend I went on another snowy adventure. A friend that I went on the road trip with asked me if I wanted to join him and a group of 7 of his Korean friends (he is Korean American so he speaks English and Korean) to go skiing. We left on Saturday morning, stopped by another snow festival for a bit and then made it to Phoenix Park ski resort. Saturday we just hung out, ate, and drank. I have to say this was the first time I've ever hung out with just a Korean group, usually it has been a mix of Koreans and foreigners. Though I honestly did not understand a thing that was going on during the 5 hour conversation we had sitting around in the hotel, it was still fun and they were really cool to me. They tried every so often to say stuff in English, but then it usually just ended up in a fit of laughter. (Koreans always laught when they try to speak English... I think because they are embarrassed) Sunday we went skiing all day before heading back home that night. Glad I got a chance to ski at least once while here and it was fun to meet some new people. (sorry there aren't many pictures from skiing)


These next few pictures are some snowy ones from around Incheon that fit into this whole winter theme; just in case you didn't believe me when I said it's cold!


And lastly, UF is NATIONAL CHAMPIONS... AGAIN! Rebekah J and I really wanted to watch the football game so we could cheer on the Gators, but the thing was it played at 10am on a Friday here in Korea and we both had work. Hmm, BUT because it is winter break for the students, neither of us actaully had any classes that day, we just had to be at the school. There was only one way to be able to watch the game and that was to call in sick. I know they say, "Don't cry wolf," but this was important. So, I called in sick to school that morning and Rebekah and I went into Seoul to watch the game on a big screen TV on the military base (the one place we knew it would be playing). And I must say it was totally worth skipping work for because we won! It was sad not to be in Gainesville for the celebration, but the next best thing was watching it with a UF friend and seeing us win on the other side of the world! (notice we even wore Gator gear!)

Road Trip Part 3 (last one)

Part 3 is going to be a long one, just to warn you. After Yeosu, we took the ferry to Jeju island and we stayed there the longest and I think it was the highlight of the trip. We got there New Years Eve and explore a folk village before we prepared for the new year. Those are kimchi pots in the first picture. In the other two I'm displaying how the bathrooms once were and how they use to cook. haha.

That night we went out for a dinner, wasted some time at a hotel bar and then dared the freezing cold to celebrate at the outdoor festival. They had fireworks , a big bon fire, and music. It was really fun. I use to hate new Years, but the last couple years have made me change my mind!

Over the course of the night, the weather turned frigid and it snowed. By the time we were on our way home, the roads were slippery and our car skidded off the road. Nothing was hurt and the other car of people came to our rescue pretty quickly. That doesn't happen in Florida!

After sleeping just a couple hours we all woke up for a sunrise hike (a popular thing to do in Korea to celebrate a new year.) We ate and then did yet another hike to the top of an old volcano island, Udo-myeon.

The cold only got worse the following day. We picked the coldest of cold days to do our ultimate 7.5 hour hike on Hala mountain. I can't even tell you how cold it was. If you look closely you can see ice in my hair and ice sickles hanging horizontally off the pole. 7 of us started the hike; 4 made it to the top. I want to do this hike again... in the summer!

Our last day, you wouldn't believe how beautiful the weather was. It was sunny, all the snow had melted and it was like 20 degrees warmer. So, we of course set off on another hike. We opted for a much easier one that was more like a walk since we were all a bit sore and tired. We walked along the southern coast line and WOW, was it amazing. I've already decided I will be back when the weather warms up.

Before leaving Jeju, we stopped by one more temple that I honestly can't remember the name of and then jumped on the ferry. On our trip over we had nice reclining seats, but the ferry back was jammed packed and all we got was a mat on the floor for the 4 hour ride. It went by pretty quickly as we played match after match of a Korean card game called Hwa-too.

After making it back to the main land, we had one more day before having to head back to Seoul. We stayed at Naganeupseong Folk Village. They let people rent out huts for the night, and then you can explore the traditional village during the day. The first picture is the hut we stayed in. That old women was in charge of our hut and was super nice. She kept trying to talk to us and she washed all our dishes. Then during the day we basically played. We had a 6 hour long drive home later in the day so we went wild before the coup up.

We made it home Sunday night and then I started English camp Monday morning. You think I'd be exhausted, but this trip actually really energized me. I'd been feeling a little down, just tired of work and not understanding things around me and feeling a little lonly. This trip really just let me have fun, laugh, meet new people, and be myself. I think it just woke me up and reminded me to enjoy the things around me again and stop taking things so seriously. Fun times!

Road Trip Part 2

After Busan we left some of our new friends and went Yeosu city. We were there for just a day, but got to enjoy some of the city's highlights. We did a sunrise hike to Hyangilam Temple.

After a nap, we did another hike that took us around the coast line. It was sooo beautiful!

This next picture is Yeosu's big attraction (the bridge). It's not a very big city, but cute. Less modern then up north where I live. The southern part of Korea actually has some less developed areas that were actually nice to see after living in the big city.

Before heading to the place where we needed to go to get the ferry to Jeju-do, we visited a wetlands. I didn't imagine to see wetlands?! See if you can find me!!