Seoraksan Hiking Trip: Saturday

Saturday morning, I popped out of bed at 5am, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to begin our hiking adventure! We slipped on our new hiking boots and boarded the subway.

The Bronze Buddha of Sinheungsa

We chose the "easy" hike on Saturday. The guide convinced everyone to do a similar hike with a better view. We all agreed, looks easy, right?

We started the hike strong.

We made it up to this lookout point. Turns out, this hike was not what I would call easy.

It was beautiful, but we decided to keep trekking to see a cave.

The Climb begins. Not even close.

Still not there. The stone steps before these metal ones were basically a ladder.

And that down there, is where we WERE.

Success!

The cave was smaller than most people had imagined, but it contained a shrine and a monk was living up there. We thought it was really great.

Seoraksan Hiking Trip: Sunday

Our accommodations

Sunday morning, we woke up around 7am, ate some PB&Js for breakfast, and then Heather did this.

While I did this. I win.

Our second hike was much easier than Saturday, more of a nature walk. This area is called the Place of Fake Money. A long time ago, a fake monk lived here and made fake money. I love this.

Day 2 hiking shoes

Seoraksan Hiking Trip: Signage

Don't fall 2 ft. into the 1ft. deep stream and leave your baby behind, who was obviously more capable of standing properly

Rock Party!!

Again, safety first. In case any of your male hiking partners fall into the treacherous waters below (same 1 ft. deep stream).

I love love love my kids

After finding out some sad news on Thursday, I was dreading going to school, especially because of my students behavior earlier in the week. I won't go into detail, but lets just say it involved me taking one student outside and staring at him until he cried and then making the entire class sit in complete silence for the last 10 minutes of class.

It was like they knew, like a dog can sense something is wrong and comfort you. They were complete angels, even my worst student sat in his chair, did the assignment, and shared it with the class. Unheard of.

When my classes were finished for the day, it was time to start phone teaching. This means at the end of the month, I call every one of my students and ask them questions over the phone, for the sole purpose of their parents hearing them speak english. It's tedious and ultimately pointless. However, I always look forward to one student. Michael. He is crazy in class and difficult to control, but he understands the language. The brightest kids are the ones that are able to convey a sense of humor in english. Anyway, I ask Michael what his favorite movie is and he responds with Life is Beautiful. He is an 11 year old Korean boy and Life is Beautiful is his favorite movie. He explained the plot to me and said that it was an Italia movie but he watched it with english subtitles. What a great kid.

Papa Jim, I imagine you are still keeping up with my blog in heaven. You were an amazing man and you will be missed. Love you.

Busan, Abbreviated

Just some quick pictures from our Busan trip. We were so ready to get outta town last week, we didn't take care of business at work. It's gonna be a long week.

We had a great time. The sun was shining all day Friday and we spent every second at the beach. It rained the rest of the trip, so we hung out in restaurants and coffee shops. More to come...

Lantern Parade

The Lotus Lantern Festival lasted a few weeks in Seoul and ended with a long parade last Sunday. The lotus flower represents Buddha and purity. It normally blooms in dirty swamps and lakes, but the flower remains clean.

We arrived early and scored a great spot.

It was nice, but it turns out parades are not THAT fun, especially parades intending to last 2 and a half hours. Also, none of our cameras could take a decent photo because of the darkness and speed of the parade. We left early.

This weekend is Buddha's Birthday and we get Friday off! Cynthia, Heather, and I are heading down to Busan. A large coastal city in the southern part of Korea, Busan is supposed to be beautiful. The forecast is rain the entire time, but I am determined to be in that ocean. Wish me luck.

Children's Day

Wednesday was Children's Day in Korea. Everyone gets the day off, and parents take their kids to amusement parks (cool parents), museums and palaces (nerd parents), and buy them gifts for being little angels. We went to a Palace since us teachers had the day off as well. I took some stealth photos of cute little kids enjoying "their" day.

The Palace was unimpressive itself, but the scenery was incredible. We tried to imagine what it was like for the royal family to actually live here. It must have been magical.

And of course I took some photos of Korean couples just living their adorable lives.

Goodbye Jason Teacher

Jason left for Nova Scotia this morning. He comes back in a month. How could you not miss this face?

This is a pretty picture of our hood.

Insadong, Again

On Saturday, we went to Insadong again so Jason could pick up some gifts for his family. He is going back to Canada for a month. My favorite place to go in Seoul got even better when we found this park...

And Koreans making pottery

And a robot museum!

And flowers

Unfortunately my rooftop was closed, but it's so green and beautiful now. I knew it.

So, we hung out nearby and stared at Koreans while they subtly tried to take photos of us.
Bare arms = good day.