Water Fun Weekend!

Olle 21: The Fabulous Hado Beach

We decided to do Olle 21 this past weekend since it is one of the shortest. It is too hot to be hiking the long trails, plus we wanted to be able to go kayaking. What a good decision! We had a bit of trouble finding the end of the trail (where we wanted to start because we hiked the trail backwards), but we found it after getting a kilometer in. It was a nice start along the ocean, and then...our worst nightmare. A giant oreum (big hill) to climb. It was rough for all of us. Even for us experienced Ollers and mountain climber. The heat makes everything more difficult. I don't regret having to climb the oreum because the view on the top was really amazing! You could see so far, including all of U-do island. It was lovely. The rest of the trail was flat, for which we were thankful.

Part of the view from the top of the oreum.

About the middle of the trail we found the beach. My oh my, was is fantastic! The water was just the most perfect colors or blues and greens that you could ever see. The beach wasn't very busy either. It is definitely a place tourist don't know about. Very cool. To make matters even better for us, we got to go kayaking! It was a windy day and

Another view from the top. It's a bit foggy, but you can see all of U-do island.

they boat rental guy didn't want us to go too far out as it might be hard to paddle back in. Well, we dominated that wind and during the middle of out kayaking he told us that since we were really good at paddling against the wind we could go out further. I only mention this because once we were done, a group of middle aged guys went kayaking and they barely went anywhere. It must have been from fear of the water or something, because there is no way that they wouldn't be capable to steering their kayak in the wind. I just had to laugh, as us foreign girls were boating with such freedom.  From my time kayaking I did take away a nice sunburn leaving my legs with a very strange tan line.
After the wonderful time in the ocean, we still had to finish half of the trail. So off we went to finish out quest. Again, we conquered it. Then off to the city for my new favorite summer dessert, bing soo, and going to my friend Harris' concert.

Donneako: The Hidden Swimming Hole

Cold, real cold.

The Sunday afternoon was another good one. This time we went to Donnaeko, which is a waterfall/swimming hole on Mount Halla. I have never heard of this before until last week, which is just crazy talk. With all of the research on do on Jeju and island exploration I have never come across this. Plus, it is so close to Seogwipo and now, I must say, it is one of my new favorite places. Looking at the pictures is the best way to describe it. The one thing the pictures can't tell you is that the water is cold...like really cold.

The New Season

This weekend marked the first week of people starting to leave the island. August is one of the main times when teaching contracts end and people head back home. I think that every week for the next month I will be saying "Adios" to my island friends. It is such a strange feeling and thought that I have already been hear for 11 months and only have 5 weeks to go. Pretty exciting stuff:)

Never Get Too Bored on Jeju

Olle 11: Mysterious Forest Trail

Gotjawal Forest

I think that the three of us that went hiking on Olle 11 could easily say that this was one of the most unique trails that we have hiked so far. In this short (it's all about perspective) 17 km trail, we walked through cemeteries, through fields,  along roads (all of which are quite normal encounters on these trails), and then the most mysterious forest that I have ventured thus far on the island.  I don't really know how to describe this forest and its oddness, but it was an entertaining place. First of all, the forest is real unique because the forest floor is made completely of rocks. It was very interesting to see how much can grow through the rocks. Then, we are pretty sure that we discovered where all of the butterflies on the island come from. There were endless amounts of caterpillars. They were on every leaf of every branch. Emily got attacked by one, but the rest of us got out of the forest without any incidents. The caterpillars looked were being very healthy, eating leaves and doing an ab workout (or they were dancing, we couldn't decide for sure). 

The caterpillars.

At one point, Sara, found a berry and was about to eat it, but Emily came to the rescue and took the wild berry away. You never know what you can find in these woods. There weren't any Korean hikers around to tell us if it was okay to eat it or not, so Sara was just going to take her chances. I must be honest, I kinda wanted her to try it, but I knew it would be better if she didn't. If it was a poisonous berry, there is no way we could have gotten any help. We were deep in the woods and didn't know how much longer the trail was.
When we finally reached the end of the trail, which is in the middle of absolutely nowhere, we had to walk alother 2 km to the bus stop. Just as we were getting close to the bus stop, the bus drove away. We checked the bus schedule and it turns out that there are only two buses that go by this way everyday and we just missed the last one. I am so thankful that I had my Olle guide with me and it had the number for a taxi on it. We called the taxi, which is a pretty scary thing for me since I don't know enough Korean to know confirm if they were going to send a taxi or not. I can basically read the bus sign and just assume that someone will come a pick us up. Thankfully, Emily was there and she is much better at Korean than I am. We made it back to civilization not too much later. Thank goodness. But I really an trying to avoid that situation again.

Olle 18: The Deserted Island Trail

Emily and I headed out for a trail that was close to the city, since we had to be in the city by later afternoon for some appointments. We hadn't really heard much about this trail and I don't think it's a very popular one. Never the less, this trail did get our stamp of approval. It does involve some climbing up oreums, but the trail overall is really quite scenic. There were large portions of the trail that we seemed to be the only people around. It was a really nice, relaxing hike along the shoreline. There I also learned that there used to be a wall that was build around the whole island to keep off Japanese pirates. Only a small portion of the wall is still standing, but I just couldn't believe that I didn't know this until now. There is also a site where a whole village was destroyed during an attack of Jeju. It seems like Jeju has a very sad history the more and more I learn about the island. This trail is very nice along the sea and it also walks you through some little towns and Samyang Black Sand Beach. I can say we thoroughly enjoyed this it.

The Bing-soo Hunt

#3- Harris and I showing our reaction to the heat.

So after Olle Trail 18, I ran into some friends in the city. After a day of hiking and getting severely sun burnt, I was really wanting something to cool me down after dinner. I really wanted some bing-soo. It is a desert that consists of shaved ice, fruit, yogurt and often times red beans. There are many different kinds of bing-soo, but I wanted one that had a lot of fruit in it. What should be a fairly basic event turned into something much more dramatic than all three of us expected. First we went to this coffee shop that we really just wanted to hangout in. You get your own little room there and it's like you are sitting in a tree house. It's a splendid place, but we didn't know what kind of bing-soo they had. Before we even looked at the menu we asked the staff to clear a table for us. As they were clearing the table, I looked at the menu and said "they only have green tea bing-soo and black tea bing-soo. This is not going to work." This all of a sudden became a bit embarrassing since they had just cleared a place for us. We left (very timidly)  in search for better options. 

Success!

Second we went to a bing-soo place that is famous for their bing-soo. It happened to be so famous in fact that there was a waiting line to get into the place. We didn't want to wait of course. So off we went to the next shop, only this time the place didn't have the A/C on. We walked in and it was just boiling. They had good looking bing-soo but we couldn't handle the heat. So, we left. This was place number 3. 

We are starting to think that this is just a ridiculous search for bing-soo. It shouldn't be this difficult, it's everywhere here!

So good ol' Harris friend suggested going to a place. He obviously remember the place incorrectly because it ended up being a bar and not a place to get bing-soo. After the laughter stopped from teasing Harris about his mistake, we thought we had to still continue with the longest search for bing-soo ever recorded. 

Restaurant # 5: We walk into the cafe and the A/C was on. 1 point. There were tables available. 2 points. Not only did this place sell bing-soo (unlike the previous place), they also had a good selection! Even bing-soo without the red beans!!! 100 points!!! After the perseverance of the search for the perfect bing-soo we finally found it! It was worth the wait!

Doesn't this just seem just a bit similar to the beloved story of Goldilocks and the Three Bear? "This restaurant is too hot." "This restaurant is too crowded." "This restuant doesn't sell bing-soo." "This restaurant doesn't sell good bing-soo." "But this restaruant is just right!"

Olle 1-1: Spider Heart Attack

Before we begun...the spiders anticipating our arrival.

We headed out to U-do island (Cow Island) for a trail that was very different than we expected it to be. As far as where you walk (through fields and on roads) wasn't  much of a surprise. We expected to be going through some fields and things but what we didn't expect to come into contact with countless amounts of spiders and their webs. There was no way around these spiders. They build their webs across the paths that we had to walk on. Our choices were either walk backwards and give up on the trail OR face the spiders and let them know who the boss it. We chose option number two. We fought, and fought and fought. I can't say that we were the most brave of warriors, since we did have numerous scares and fits of screaming. But I can say that we did eventually conquer the trail and all of those spiders. There was even one incident where one spider almost went into my mouth. I can't say I was too calm about the whole situation. I didn't see his web across the trail and it clothes-lined me and when I jumped back, I saw the spider just inches away from my face! Talk about the heeby-jeebies. It was at the same height as my mouth. I almost decided to give up right there. If I weren't the leader trying to protect the rest of the group I would have.

The giant hot dog sandwich.

It was either myself or Emily at the front of the pack with a stick or an umbrella knocking down spider webs and clearing the path. These were not your average little house spider either. They were BIG, NASTY, COLORFUL spiders. Let's just say our time in the fields was a character building experience.

Other than that, the trail was great and U-do Island was as beautiful as ever. Plus, I think I have found the biggest hotdog sandwich in the world.

Eventful Sunday Afternoons

Samyang Black Sand Beach

You want to know what is so great about living on Jeju island? Well, the answer is really simple. The ocean and the mountain. Living on Jeju makes it so easy to plan your weekend. Sometimes the hardest decision is choosing between the beach or hiking trails around the island (it's a tough decision). And there are even options for both on most days. Some days, living on Jeju does truly feel like I am living in some kind of dream, fantasy world. For instance, last Sunday after church we went to a brunch restaurant and ate on comfy couches as we looked out at the ocean. Easily one of my new favorite places to go. Then after lunch, walked down to the beach. Really an ideal situation. Then we got hot, so we went to a foot-bath cafe. You can order drinks and soak your feet in water. Also an ideal situation. Then, we headed to the city to take sticker photos like true Korean residence. To top it all off, a friend from church invited us to her new restaurant. It's a pretty trendy place with fusion western and Asian foods.  It is days like these that life on Jeju really does seem like some kind of dream. But to be honest, most days are just regular days. They are good, just not magical;)

Olle 20: Sparkling Blue Waters

Some much needed time in the water!

So this past weekend I was joined by my friend, Madia and we hiked a trail on the North-East side of the island. Oh man, let me tell you....IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!! The water is so many brilliant colors of blue and the trial mostly just stayed right along the ocean. The pictures really say it all. But it was just unbelievable hot and humid. You can't even open the apartment door without the heat and humidity taking over your body, causing unreal amounts of sweating. It's a pretty gross time of year around here as far as that goes, but other than that the days look just beautiful. We walked half of the trail and then we decided to take a swim so that we could recharge before doing the rest of the 16.5 km hike. I don't think I have ever drank so much water in my life as I did on Saturday. It was desperately, desperately needed. I don't know if I will be able to do too many more Olle trails if it's going to be this hot. It's rough. I do still plan on getting a couple more in before I head back to the US next month. This was Olle Trail 14 of 26 for me. I am glad that I can say that I have done over half of them!

Just a few handfuls of adventures to be had before I head on back to the homeland!

Face to Face with North Korea

This past weekend two of my friends (Sarah and Yeasl) and I went up to Seoul to go on a tour to the border of North and South Korea!

The orange stripe represents the DMZ.

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

The DMZ is the 2 km buffer along the border of the two countries on each side (4 km total). The DMZ is represented by the orange line on the map to the right.  Our tour took us to the 3rd Tunnel. These tunnels were created by the North Koreans as they were planning to attack South Korea. Some of these tunnels are quite long, but obviously the digging of these tunnels stopped when S. Korea discovered them.  

While we were there we were able to go into the 3rd Tunnel and walk up to the point that was blocked off. The tunnel is small, wet and chilly. It was big enough to walk through but we had to bend over a bit and wear hard hats because of the low ceiling.

After the tunnel tour, we went to a museum and learned more about the conflict between the countries and what the DMZ now means for Korea. Going to the DMZ really started making the war seem more real to me. Even though I live in Korea, it doesn't seem like the conflict affects our everyday lives. It all just seems like news that has very little to do with me, but here I realized just home close I really was to huge political conflict. 

   **Let me just say that visiting this place isn't scary or anything. It's really just informative and their were so many tour groups. It is just your average light-hearted tourist attraction.

Joint Security Area (JSA)

Now THIS was the most interesting part of the tour for sure!!! The JSA is a place that is not meant to be a tourist attraction, it is an actually army base and is the only place along the border where North and South Korean Armies face each other everyday. Only non-Korean citizen are allowed to come here and you have to be in a tour with the U.S. Army (at least I think that is the only way). When we reached the gate to enter the JSA a U.S. Soldier checked all of our passports again and then continued to be our tour guide. 

The white building in the back in North Korea.

First he gave us a presentation about the history of the war and the significance of the JSA. Next, we went outside and right there in front of us was North Korea and one of its soldiers. We were brought into the little blue building (the one with the open door). This building is where the two Korea's come and talk. It is basically a meeting room with an entrance on both sides, one for South Korea and one for North Korea. The building was built exactly on the border. Since we were in the building we were able to walk around the whole room. Meaning we were able to stand in North Korea. Within the room there were two South Korean Soldiers, that at first glance looked completely fake. They don't move just like the British soldiers, but we were warned that they will move if you try to mess with them. All of the South Korean soldiers that work at the JSA are black belts in taekwondo, and they have to stand in the "ready" taekwondo position for their entire shift. I don't think I could do it...but if your country is depending on you to be prepared for an attack, then I guess you don't want to slack on your duties;)

In both North and South Korea!

As we exited the building we were told to stand in line facing North Korea. Then we were allowed to take pictures, but they were very strict saying that we could only take picture of what was in front of us (North Korea) not the South. This is because it's a military base. As we were taking pictures of North Korea, there were plenty of security cameras staring straight back at us from N. Korea. There was only one North Korean guard outside guarding their building. This guy didn't look like the most professional soldier. While the South Korean soldiers stood in their taekwondo position, the North Korean soldier was semi-leisurely pacing back and forth. He was so not ready for battle.

Surrounded by N. Korea on three side.

Following the photo-opp for the north, we were taken bus bus around the base. The first stop was to a memorial site. It was basically a small monument dedicated to all of the counties that are backing South Korea. At this location, we were surrounded by North Korea on three sides. Such a strange thought. We also could see quite a ways into North Korea. It really is such a beautiful landscape. It's so mountainous, it is just too bad that it's such an awful place for people to live.

The Flag Pole Wars

Within the JSA there are two towns. One on the south side Dae-Seong Dong) and one on the north side Gi-Jeong Dong). They are at literally right next to each other. People still live and work in Dae-Seong Dong. The town has about 200 residents and they are mostly all farmers and farm the land within the DMZ. Since they live right on the border, they have to give a three days notice to North Korea telling them that they are going out to work in their fields. This is because in the past there was an incident when the farmers would go work in their fields the North Korean soldiers attacked them. Poor little farming man.

N. Korean town, Gi-Jeong Dong

The city on the north side is known to be a
propaganda town. It was build in the 1950s to make it look like North Korea was doing well. Due to the handy-dandy telescope you can see that all of the buildings are fake and that there are no inhabitants in the town. All of the buildings are just concrete skeletons. Most of the window are just painted on the building and in the other windows there are lights that go on and off at certain times throughout the day. But there is nothing in the buildings, not even walls.  I guess that every once in a while there are people sent their to sweep the streets to make it look like it is a lived in community. 

Okay, so here is a funny little story about these two towns. So when N. Korea build their town they build a large flag pole and placed it in the middle of the town. S. Korea counter acted this with building and even bigger flag pole and placing it in Dae-Seong Dong. N. Korea could not just let it be, so they created a much, much bigger flag pole. It stands 525 ft tall; that being the 3rd largest flag pole in the world. Then on top of that is the largest flag weighing in at 595 lbs. Now that is one giant flag!  

The Bridge of  No Return

The Bridge of No Return

In 1953, when the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed both side were to return the prisoners of war. So, they brought all of the people to this bridge. As you can see it's a small bridge and on one side is the north and the other the south. The prisoners were told that they had to choose a side, but whatever their decision was, it was permanent. They could never return to the other side again. It is from this event that they bridge got it's name, The Bridge of No Return.

Living it Up in Seoul

Being pulled between the North and South!

We were staying in Seoul for the weekend and we had a fun place to stay after our tour. Sarah had won a free night at some fancy pants hotel. So we were living in luxury for the night! It was so much fun! We were like little kids in a candy store, everything was sooo nice. Then to top the day off even more, we went and had some Mexican food. It doesn't get better than that. Especially when you are deprived of Mexican food for months and months at a time. Nothing tastes better. The night just continued to get better, we were able to meet up with some of our friends who live in Seoul for dinner then we went for a walk down by the Han River. What a lovely evening. I can't even believe that I stayed up until 1am two nights in a row while in Seoul. To me that just seems outrageous, but it happened and it was the greatest weekend off the island!

The Delights of Jeju

View of Jeju Island from Gapa Island.

WOW!!! Time is just flying by. This past month has gone by so quickly. I have been busy hiking and exploring Jeju Island every spare day that I have. The more I explore this little island the more I appreciate it and love it. It is just such an incredible place to be able to live.

Olle 10-1: Gapa Island

We took a trip out to Gapa Island for the barley festival. The island is to tiny! It's not even 5km in circumference and it's all pretty much barley fields. We walked half of the island then some of us got tandem bike for the rest of the way! It was so much fun! I think it only took us about 10 mins to go around the whole island on bikes. It is just such a cute little island.Oh, and while we were waiting in line to get on the ferry to go out to the island we meet the lady who created all of the Olle Trails!

Olles 8 and 9: In the Land of Garlic and Butterflies

This is all garlic. Impressive.

 Little did I know, Jeju has an abundance of garlic fields. It just so happens to be harvest time for the little white vegetable as well. While hiking these two trails we really notice the smell of garlic in the air and the butterflies that danced above the fields. Therefore we have creatively named it "The Land of Garlic and Butterflies." Breathing in garlic-ey air is like a continual meal. You just feel like you are eating and eating and eating. These trails were quite nice. Olle 8 went by the largest temple in Asia, so that is pretty neat. Then it goes through the big tourist area, Jungmun and past the new navel base that is being built. It is a very diverse trail. Most if it is just beautiful nature then you get to the navel base and there is gaffiti everywhere and anti-naval base protesting signs everywhere. Jeju residents didn't want the naval base to be built here and so it is a continual protest. But once you get past all of that it is back to the beautiful nature of the island.

Can you see why I love this island?!?!

 Olle 12: Garlic Overload?

A very small glimpse of the never-ending fields of garlic.

This trail was such a wonderful (once I found the trail) walk.  Let me tell you a story about how a 17.5 km Olle turned into the 25km walking day.  So yesterday, the church had planned an outing to do half of Olle 12 and I was just going to join them at the trail. Being the intense Olle hiker that I am, I decided that I wanted to do the whole Olle, so that I could check it off of my list. So I woke up at 5:00am and got on the bus to head out to the trail at 6:00am. It took an hour and a half to get out there. Then I get off the bus and I have to find the start of the trail. I follow my map and I am just walking into the middle of nowhere. All that I could see around was a sea of garlic fields. Their weren't even houses in my sight. I just kept on walking, and walking and eventually, after one hour of walking I finally found the start of the trail. The plan was to start the trail at 7:30am because I was meeting the group at 10:00am at the half way point of the trail. But with the hour delay I has only an hour and a half to walk have of the 17.5km trail (estimated time according to travel guide is about 3 hours). So, I used one of my God given talents and walked crazy fast!The first few km were really easy, it was just along the paths between the never-ending garlic fields. Then, I saw the one thing that could give me a heart attack! A snake!!! I was all alone with no one to calm me down. Turns out it was dead, but it is still the one of the most scary things in the world. So as I kept on walking I was trying to be my own psychiatrist to work through the mental trauma that I just endured. Anyways, I am being dramatic. Then I get to an oreum (small volcano) and I just ran up it, I had to make sure that I made it to the half way point by 10. It was just lovely and woodsy. I was making incredible time. I am walking along and I end-up walking past the half way point without even knowing it. The group was really late. I see a sign and I look at my map and that is when I realized that I walked 2km past where I was going to meet them. So I had to go back, and that is right when they showed up in the bus, ready to hike. So then we continue along the trail, but part of it wasn't really the Olle trail (so I have to go back and hike the trail properly). The coastline was just amazing. I didn't know there was such beauty on the west side of the island like this. Just look at the two little islands in the picture below, aren't they fascinating! It was a fun day, with so much walking. In the end, I calculated 25km and it was worth it!

 There is no stopping my explorations of Jeju (except for weather I suppose) and I am so excited to continue with all kinds of hiking. I still have a lot more to get done on the list. So I am sure I will continue to be amazed by this little island in South Korea ;)

Starting off the Spring Right

I am happy to say that Spring comes to Jeju Island much earlier than it does back home. It is just wonderful. With the new season also brings new opportunities for exploring the island. Maybe I shouldn't call them "new opportunities," since most of the new activities I have been doing are always available, but are not quite as enjoyable in the winter months. Hiking had quickly become one of my new hobbies, due to the fact that I life in one of the new 7 wonders of the world, it Jeju continues to live up to being a wonder. The goal is to hike one of Jeju's Olle Trails every weekend. They are basically just hiking trails, it is a system of trails designed by Jeju's Tourism Office and given the name 'Olle,' meaning a narrow path between one's doorstep (Jeju dialect). http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_4_12_13.jsp

The Best of Olle Trails...so far:

Olle 10: The Quest of the Yongmeori Coast and Beyond

What an adventure to walk with such a lovely group of people. We had a nice walk along the beach to start off and then we were climbing over rocks, walking on the road and finished with walking through fields. It's pretty amazing how the island can change so much in just on 15km stretch!

Wouldn't you want to live on a private beach with such sparkly blue water?

There is a lot of farm land on Jeju and the end of the trail led us through a variety of different fields.

Olle 5: Captians, But No Crew

This week was just Emily and myself. We loved Olle 5. It is very different from the two trails hiked before. This was in really rural and peaceful areas. It was a very relaxing hike by the ocean:)

This is at the very end of the trail. My, my isn't it just magical!

Olle 7: The Point of No Return

The floating bridge.

One of the most famous places on the island.

We actually intended to hike Olle 7-1, but by the time we figured out we took the wrong path and were actually walking Olle 7, it was too late to turn back. We were okay with it and it turned out to be one great trail with a few unexpected obstacles. Such as having to take a ladder up a ridge (make a wrong step you end-up as shark food), walking across a floating bridge and rock hoping across a river. The last one we did without realizing that it wasn't part of the trail, we were just following some other hikers. 

Easter and Cherry Blossom Festival

Well, Easter was a pretty festive event this year I suppose. The weather was perfect and so the crew and I had a picnic at a park after church. This was followed by going to the Cherry Blossom Festival. The cherry blossom trees are all in full bloom, creating a magical land of pink, flowery  trees. It was a perfect Easter and surprisingly enough, an Easter without Easter candy. That's right folks, Easter exists despite the lack of candy...shocker, I know!

Just an Average Weekend on Jeju

The 6th Olle

 Jeju is a very special place, because of it's special-ness there have been 21+ hiking paths created for exploring the island. If completed, you have walked around the entire island and have the right to brag for the rest of your life. Each of these trails is anywhere between 8-23km long and they hug the shoreline of the island. There is nothing better than being surrounded by the ocean and oreums (small volcanoes but basically just look like hills) as you walk along these paths.  My friend Emily and I really want to hike off of these paths this summer, so we are planning on hiking them most Saturdays from now on. We started the weekend on March 2 with the attempt to walk the whole Olle 6 but, we overestimated our abilities apparently and got to distracted by all the site that we only made it half way before we ran out of time for the day. So this past weekend, March 9th, was attempt two. Emily invite our other friends to join us of course and this week we had the privilege of hiking with Yeasl and Raynell! This week we really had a time schedule to keep because we wanted to go to the first home game for the Jeju United soccer team after the hike. 

We started the hike at the opposite end than we had started before. It was just such a beautiful place, with a ravine coming in from the ocean. It had the most clear, emerald green water I have ever seen. And to top it all off there were people canoeing in clear canoes, which I really wanted to do. But, we couldn't get distracted this week. We had to finish or else face the endless humiliation from our friends for not finishing the trail two weeks in a row. We pushed onwards, resisted the urge to get a canoe. Off we went, not long into the trail did we come to an oreum that we had to climb. It was a bit rough so we stopped to catch our breath in the middle, then we get passed by two Korean guys. They were fine, no problem getting up the hill. Champions I tell you, champions.

We did it!

We survive the trail of having to climb the oreum and make it to the half way point around our anticipated time. Emily and I were pretty excited that we were going to actually be able to finish this trail! Continuing to walk we end up passing the two Korean guys. This is about 3 hours later. We thought they must be way a head of us since they passed us so long ago, and we had stopped for lunch and rested a few places, but no, this time we were passing them. They notice us first and say "Fast!", we kindly say back to them "Slow." This is clearly an in-depth conversation and lead to an eternal bond of friendship. They were looking down into a river and pointed out a turtle for us saying, "Turtle, like stone." It was about the cutest thing thus making me want to hug him, but I refrained. He was right, the turtle just blended right into the rocks. We observed turtle and continued on. We are at the tail end of the trail and were very excited to finish, partly because we wanted to go to the soccer game and partly because we wanted to just sit...and at the game there would be seats:) We plowed through the end of the trail in fear that we would be late for the game. Just as we finish and we looking for a taxi guess who we see making their was to the end of the trail...the two Korean guys. They must have gotten distracted by the wonderful sights of Jeju. We beat them by a long shot, those slow pokes:)

 Jeju United Soccer Game

Well there isn't too much to say about this, it was just a typical soccer game with lots of fans. I guess one big difference was that they were all cheering in Korean, which was pretty wonderful. I enjoyed the commentary from the guys behind me. I could understand everything he said basically because they use the same type of expressions while watching sports like we do. For instance "Seriously!" "Are you kidding me?!" "GOAL! GOAL!" "Go! Go!"  I was pretty distracted by all of the people that I only maybe watched half of the game. I guess the most eventful thing at the game, besides the game itself, was that during half time while the players were practicing kicking the ball into the goal, one of the girls sitting behind the goal caught a ball with her face. All of a sudden you heard the majority of the crowd go, "OOHHH!" All of the teams doctors came over to help her. I think she was maybe knocked-out. I mean that ball was going fast. She was even a big fan of the team with a jersey on and everything, we'll see if she comes back. And because I am a terrible person, I couldn't stop laughing at her misery. I don't know what my problem is, I will try to work on that.

The Fire Festival

Sunset at the Festival.

I don't think that there is a way for me to properly describe the Fire Festival.  It was...intense, in many ways. There were intense amounts of fire all at one time, there were intense amounts of food in every direction. The amount of people was pretty amazing and the fireworks show was certainly intense. It was freezing outside, which was pretty unexpected because the rest of the island was having nice warm temps. But the winds on the side of Mt. Halla really made it cold.
Right was it got dark the show started. There was a parade of people playing drums and traditional Korean instruments followed by the torches, which were being held by children. Now, this is quite a thought to ponder. Why would you have children holding torches in the insane Jeju winds? Anyways, they survived and successfully complete their mission in the parade and lighting all of the other peoples torches. Then once the large group of people got their torches lit, they started to line up at the base of the oreum. It was pretty neat. Then, the greatest show I have ever seen came to be right before my very eyes. First came the fireworks show. It wasn't very long but it sure was quality. We all just stood there in amazement. Then we had a countdown to starting the oreum on fire. In just seconds, the biggest fire I have ever seen burned before me. The heat was felt almost instantly, which was nice because it was so cold out. And the smoke was filling up the whole sky. It was quite the site. I can say that if you are ever on Jeju during the Fire Festival, GO!
 It's a bit surreal!

After living in Korea for a few months now, I have realized that I have come accustom to things that before I thought before were quite exotic.

In the past six months....

Octopus outside my apt. ready to eat.

1. I don't consider Octopus as an exotic food anymore. It's almost strange to not see tentacles in at least one dish at the dinner table. (I still don't eat them, but they have been hidden in my food before...tricky Korean cooking.)
2. I miss using chopsticks if I don't use them for a few days. I have learned that somethings are just easier to eat with chopsticks...but not soup, we still use a spoon for that.
3. Having everything written in Korean. What else can I expect, I live in Korea. At first, everything is a bit overwhelming because you can't understand anything, but now I still don't understand much, however it has become normal for me to not know what things are. Just content with being confused most days. I still have those days where I really just want to be able to understand a food label or read a menu because it takes so much effort to try and figure out what things are.

Then there are things that even after six months that I still haven't adjusted to, such as...

1. Changing my shoes when I walk into school. At first I was really compliant, but now I just find it annoying and try to get away with it as much as I can:)
2. The smell of seafood. It still makes me want to vomit. It's a real unfortunate situation because there is never a meal where you don't smell it. My tolerance of the smell has increased, but my disdain for seafood has not.
3. The lack of communication about everything. There is never a time that I am able to be prepared, due to the fact that I never know what I have to prepare for. For example, there have been two days when I have come to school and I was told that it was school picture day, one of those days being a picture with the principal. Surprise surprise!

Until Next Time,
- Jenna