What's new in Korea

I have lived in Korea for almost 14 months now, but that doesn't mean I have had a chance to see all the things that the country has to offer. I have spent much of the past 4 days during the "tourist thing" in the Southern part of my province.

On last Saturday, October 6th, we went mountain climbing. It was an early morning as we departed at 730am and finally returned around 8pm. It was about a two hour drive from Jeonju. And it was freezing cold on the way there. I needed to stop just to try to warm up. We arrived to Jiri Mountain in a caravan. There were five people in this this car (the one I often drive to work when it is raining and is technically 'stolen' since the owner, my friend Lindsay is now in America.) I was on my new motorcycle with Jackie and my friend Jay was also on his motorycle with his girlfriend So Young. Altogether, 9 of us made the journey.

Here we are taking a rest and loading up on food and water before we begin the climb.

Jackie exercising in preparation for the mountain climb by giving my a piggy back. That's the sky and the top of a tree in the background.

We were driving up the mountain for a lot of the journey. That was the easy part.

We made it to the top! Just kidding. This was just a giant rock on the side of the road that we decided to climb.

Did I mention that I got a new motorycle? It much nice than my Korean motorcycle version 1.0. And a comfortable ride with the backrest and trunk attached,

Jackie and I going for a ride.

Kids, don't try this at home. An action picture when we are cruising through the mountains.

We stumbled upon a temple in our journey up the mountain. Notice the vast amounts of alcohol in front of the statue. Apparently, drinking isn't just a vice in this world.

We also found our way to a waterfall where we played for a little while before finally beginning our climb.

This is what happens when you get too close. I've fallen into the water. Helpful advice: green rocks= slippery rocks.

Hanging out near the water.

Stephanie and I hanging out on some slippery rocks.

We were sitting nicely to take a picture and then Stephanie turned crazy on me. It must be those statues is the background.

We made it! Broken knee and all. I injured it playing soccer last week, but it is slowing getting better.

The view from the top. You can't see any cities from here. It's a panoramic view of mountains.

Everyone catching their breath and enjoying the view.

It is difficult to see, but if there were clouds on this beautiful day, we would be among them. The top of this mountain is almost 2000m above sea level.

One more group shot to prove that we made it to the top and it's back down for us.

I have had many days off from work lately. I can't remember the last time that I worked a full week. This is much different than last year! With holidays and exams and school trips, I always seem to have a little bit of a break during the week. This last Monday and Tuesday was middle school exam time. The school board decided to have a workshop over these two days. Monday was boring and filled with many speeches from 10am until 5pm.

Monday night, we went to a nearby city, Namwon. It is supposed to be historically significant. In order to promote group bonding I recommended that we go to a Norebong (singing room) with all the teachers. While it was a fun time and beer-filled, it made for a difficult wake up (which was 7am) the next day.

On Tuesday, we toured the city visiting historical sites and the place where a famous Korean love story supposedly took place. As it turns out, there are no really good Korean stories that actually took place, so this one was was created. That's kind of a sad past...

Here are some of the boys including myself in traditional Korean clothes, called a Hanbok. Apparently we also know taekwondo. We also learned how to play a traditional drum, learned ancient Korean torturing techniques and visited a museum. Quite a full day!

As I write this, I am enjoying a warm and sunny Wednesday off as my middle school students are busy writing exams. I feel sorry for them. I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving on the weekend. I am wishing I had some turkey but I think the birds are extinct in Korea. That just about catches up my life to this point.

One last piece of information is my phone number here. My new cell phone number is 010-2448-6985. From home you would dial 001-82-10-2448-6985. If you have SkypeOut: select South Korea and enter 10-2448-6985. Talk to you soon!