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

16 Days, 6 Cities {part 2}

Random Adventures in Ulsan

Now Ulsan was one of the craziest adventures that I have ever had in my life. Besides the fact that I was couch surfing for the first time, Ulsan brings out the best travel stories. I have two stories from my two days in Ulsan. It was...memorable.

Story 1: Taxi Confusion

Inside the cave.

I didn't have a plan for when I arrived in Ulsan. So once I arrived at my host's apartment, I started looking at maps and tourist guides. They lived right outside a national park and I thought I would go for a hike or go to one of the attractions in the park. I only had the afternoon left of the day, so there was only so much sunlight left. I decided to go see the Amethyst Cave. First thing I did to get there was... I got on the wrong bus, now I realized this fairly quickly, but still. So I got off at the train station so that I could talk to the tourist information desk and they could help me figure out how to get there. They tell me the bus number and it was going to be a 40 min wait. I wasn't too happy about this, but I decided to get some food and what did I see....there is my bus. Twenty mins early. So, yep, I missed it and the next one wouldn't come for another hour. I wasn't about to wait for another hour. I didn't have much day light left and I knew this place wasn't really all that far away. So I went back to tourist information and asked them to write down the name of the cave in Korean for me so that I could give it to a taxi driver and they would be able to get me there.

Apparently, the taxi driver didn't know how to get there. He honestly had no idea. He was just giggling the whole time and pulling over on the side of the road asking people how to get there. Many of the people didn't know wither. I had a general idea of where it was because I studied the map a bit, but I really couldn't help much.  Now, this is a very rural part of Korea and we are in the national park and there are very few signs or they are in Korean. But none of the signs were for the Amethyst Cave. Both the taxi driver and myself were just guessing where to go, then all of a sudden he was like, "Ahhh Haaa!" Then there I was. I was real unsure about getting out the of taxi because I didn't look like what I expected to be seeing. There wasn't a sign saying "Amethyst Cave" or anything. What I saw was a small sledding hill, carnival rides and tons of very young families.  This was quite unexpected. I reluctantly got out of the car because these were the two thoughts going through my head; 1. Where am I?   2. How will I get back? I am in the middle of nowhere. I was so tempted to have the taxi driver take me back to town, but I sucked it up and decided to be brave. And boy an I sure glad that I did! 

The kiddie park in front of the cave. Very random.

I got out of the taxi and it took me a minute to figure out that I was in fact in the right place. It was weird, let me tell you. I saw what looked like a ticket counter, and the lady behind the counter was sleeping. It took me a few knocks and saying "hello" for her to wake up. Now, she didn't really say anything because she didn't know English, she just took my money and gave me a ticket for the cave. There was no map or anything. Once I had the ticket, I didn't know where to go. So I just wondered a bit and found the what looked like the entrance. I wasn't so sure, because there weren't any families I could follow. It felt like I was the only person there to see the cave. Everyone one else was by the carnival rides.

The temple built into the mountain.

So now I am in the cave, it's actually quite large and it has lots of different ways you can go. There were only a few other people in the cave. It was basically just your average cave made out of rocks and such. All of the amethysts have been taken out. It took me 30 min to wander through the whole cave, then it was over. I was thinking, I can't just leave now after all the effort it took to get out here. As I exit the cave I see stairs going up the cave on the outside. So, I walk up them and...I was blown away. The view was so beautiful. Since the cave was in a national park, it was just beautiful landscape. There was a small walking trail on top of the cave and then I went around a corner and what do I see...that's right, a Buddhist temple. The temple was built into the side of the mountain and they used the smaller caves that had been carved into the mountain when it was being mined for amethysts. This temple had the most amazing view of the national park.

The amazing view...well part of it.

Now, I was faced with the challenge of trying to get myself back to town. I decided to go back to the ticket window to ask them to call me a taxi to take me back, since the nearest bus stop was 2 km away, and I didn't even know which direction to go. I asked the lady to call me a taxi and she hollered at another guy who worked there and he came out and told me to get into his van. Apparently, this was the shuttle bus and I was soon back to where I needed to be. All that concern for nothing:) Let me remind you that all of this was in Korean, so basically I don't know what's going on.

Story 2: Lost in the Mountains

Great view, minus the power lines.

 I was staying with this awesome Australian couple and they let me tag along on a hike on Saturday in the hills just north of Busan. As far as we know there wasn't a map available  all we knew was the name of the trail. You would think that would be enough, not trails in Korea are pretty well marked so we didn't think it would be a problem...we were wrong. It was estimated to be a three to four hour hike. Perfect, we were prepared!
We start walking and it was suddenly extremely steep, and it didn't flatten out at all. After about an hour of extremely steep upwards climbing we made it to the top of the ridge. It was really a great view of Busan and the hillside. You could see for miles but one of the coolest things was seeing the apartment complexes. Korea has the most gigantic apartment complexes ever. They just seem to jet up out of nowhere. Much of the trail was walking along the ridge line on top of the mountains and then going down the other side of the mountain. There were some places were you couldn't see where the path was supposed to go, so we just climbed up over giant rocks and the trail always seemed to continue. Then we start the decent of the mountain. Let us not forget that it is January, with a bit of snow and ice. It was a nice day out, above 32 degrees so it was muddy from the melting snow and ice, but there was still plenty of it to be found on the trail. Thus, making the trail muddy and very slippery. It took so much concentration to not fall down. We were hoping the the trail would let up and things would get easier soon. After at least a good hour of this difficult walking, we came to a clearing that had the option of taking two different trails. One was steep and long, and the other trail was shorter and yet still steep. The signs didn't have the trail names, so it was basically just a guessing game by this point. We were tired from concentrating so hard from the slippery terrain.

Tiny Buddha cave.

We took the shorter trail. It was steep but not as icy and slippery was before. We walk, and walk and walk. Then the tail leads us to have to shimmy around this giant rock to get to the other side of the mountain. To our surprise, there was a large platform and a cave build into the side of the mountain. Inside this tiny cave was a Buddha alter, this is becoming a norm. From the there the trail seemed to have disappeared  It was a bit more snowy in this part so we thought that it had just gotten covered by the snow. It was obvious that people had been there, because about 20 meters away there was a refrigerator  plugged in and all. It was in it's own little shelter, just big enough for it to fit into. Very random.
We kept walking thinking that the trail has to appear again. We decided that we just had to keep going down-wards. There was no going back, because the trail was too difficult. The decent became very steep once again, and we were not on a trail. This time the challenge was not slipping down the side of the mountain due to the large accumulation of dead leaves that would slide under your feet when you stepped on them. Another hazard become very apparent rather quickly, there was all of a sudden tons of broken glass and bottles everywhere to add more difficulty. It took us awhile to get through this part. We could see the highway far ahead of us and we just thought that we better just keep heading towards the highway. The next challenge we came to was now having to crawl through some very thick foliage. There are so many vines, twigs and such that we had to crawl through. It was unfortunate that none of us brought our machete  with us. It is really what we needed.

Temple that led to the road!

 Then, out of nowhere, it all cleared up and right in front of us was another temple. This was a pretty exciting time because there was a road leading up to the temple, so we followed that for awhile. We made it near the highway and were walking parallel to it, looking for a way to cross. Thanks to the help of my smart phone and Google maps, I was able to see that there was a rest stop just up the road a bit, but there wasn't a road that connected to the highway from where we were. We had no choice to off-road it to get to the highway. So we walk through a cemetery  jump the fence, walk through a small stream, cross under the highway bridge, climb up the ditch and then finally climb over another fence to get onto a highway. It was quite the time. Now we are walking on the side of the highway with the crazy Korean drivers flying past us. We were walking on the highway for 15+ minutes until we finally made it to the rest stop. What a relief! After taking a short rest, we needed to find a taxi. We were in the middle of nowhere Korea, so obviously there are no taxis just waiting around out there. So, we go the tourist info office and ask the girl working there to call us a taxi. We struggled with language issues because she didn't understand why we would need a taxi. People don't just walk to the rest stop. It's one of those places that you drive to. We tried to explain that we got lost in the woods and don't have a car to get back. After some confusion, she called her manager and finally called a taxi for us. The manager motioned for us to follow her outside, we followed. We had no idea where we were going. First we go through a gate to all of the garbage dumpsters, then through a fence with many dog kennels with dogs barking, past that there was a path through the woods. All three of us were laughing this whole way because we had no idea what was going on. Why were we walking back here? Then finally at the end of the trail, there it was...our taxi, waiting for us.

Historic Gyeong-ju

The Homo Nomad Guest House.

Gyeong-ju wasn't in my original plan for this trip, but I had three nights that I had not planned for before I left Jeju.   I wasn't sure where else I wanted to go in Korea, so as I was traveling the first few days I asked people to make me a recommendation of where I should go. I have several people tell me to check out Gyeong-ju because it is the capital of the Silla dynasty, which is very important in Korean history and affects the culture still today. So I went to Gyeong-ju. Originally I just booked my guest house for just one night because I knew that Gyeong-ju was a small town and I thought I could see everything in one day. I met two others at the guest house who were also traveling by themselves. So we decided to join forces and explore Gyeong-ju together.  

  

Tombs. Similar to the pyramids of Egypt on the inside.

The entrance to the temple area. The fog makes is so mysterious. 

Let me set a scene for you about how the three of us met. First, it was night time, so it was dark. I get out of the taxi and get to the fence of the guest house and there a sign read "Jenna, I am not here right now. But go inside your room is upstairs..." Okay, no problem. I walk through the fence into...I guess you would call it a courtyard. There were small little buildings along one side of the fence and across from them was the house. I walk into the entryway which, in Korea is where you take off your shoes, then you walk through the actual door into the house. I walk in and...there are two people just standing there staring at me, and I at them. I say "hello" and go up the stairs to find my room. I drop me stuff off and thought it would be good to go down and introduce myself and talk to them to make things less awkward. I introduced myself and they did the same. Apparently, we were the only ones in the house and they had just arrived a few minutes before my arrival. They were strangers to each other as well. It was kind of like the in the movie CLUE when everyone was arriving at the house and nobody knew why they were there or what was happening. We were just kind of standing there waiting for something to happen.
These two new travel buddies were both from Europe. He was from the Netherlands and she was from Czech Republic, but she was studying in Taiwan. They were both in Korea for vacation. They really amazed me, be their language knowledge. They both spoke perfect English, but it's obviously not their native language.
Anyways, we all became friends fast because none of us knew what we were doing in Gyeong-ju. We went out to get dinner and then made plans together for the following day.

Part of the ancient palace at night.

One of the main sites in Gyeong-ju is to go see this large temple. So that is what the plan was. It was really large, and quite interesting. The surrounding area was just beautiful and I would love to go back in the summer time. Also in Gyeong-ju I went to the old palace, the National Museum and the tombs of ancient kings. I learned so much about Korean history and it was so much fun. Gyeong-ju is a really beautiful small city. I am really glad that I decided to stop by there for a few nights.

Busy, Busy Seoul

N. Seoul Tower

Festive mall lighting

My final destination before heading back to my little island was Seoul. Now, I had so many people to see and things to get done in Seoul, that my days were basically planned out before I went. Seoul is actually really easy to get around so I didn't have many travel "adventures" as far as transportation goes. Unless you call being inches away from 10 other peoples faces in a packed subway car an adventure. Seoul was a great time, and it was nice not having so much confusion getting places.  I was able to spend a lot of time with my friend, Joanne. She grew up in Seoul and I met her while studying at Stout. This was my second time visiting her in Seoul, but this is the first time that I actually can comprehend where I was, because the first time was when I got off the plane from the US.  I think Joanne was shocked by my ability to read Korean and being able to get around by myself in the big city. I had to assure her that I would be okay doing things on my own since I have lived in Korea for five months already successfully.
 I spent two days shopping. Seoul was my only chance to find western sized clothing and western-ish style clothing. It was a failed attempt until I met up with Joanne and she was able to find just what I had been looking for. I was also with my friend, Kim, who is also a teacher on Jeju. She was spending her vacation time in Seoul as well. One evening all three of us gals met up with my friend, Jack, who is also from Seoul and I met while he was studying at Stout last year. We went to Outback Steak House. Surprisingly, these are all over Korea. We thought that we would get our western food in, since it is lacking a bit on Jeju. I ate a lot of Mexican food in Seoul..MMmm good:) 

I think I have a problem...!

There were a few things that I wanted to do while I was in Seoul. One of those things was to go to the Trick Art Museum. Joanne and I went there one evening and so I want to show you just a few of the pictures.

Joanne lost her head...literally.

 I had also told Joanne that I wanted to go to Lotte World. I knew it was a theme park, but I didn't realize that it was like the Disney World of Korea. Joanne doesn't like rides, so she asked one of her friends to take me to Lotte World. This place was packed! It was so busy. The lines for the rides were a good two hours long. So most of the time we were there we spent waiting in line. It was fun to get to know Joanne's friend and to be around tons of Korean families.

Tricky

Hehehe

Lotte World

Well, back to Jeju I went. Home sweet home. Wow. I didn't realize that this would be such a long post, but I guess a lot can happen on a 16 day trek around Korea! I have decided that on any given day in Korea, anything can happen:)

-Jenna

16 Days, 6 Cities: {part 1}

Korean Vacation

My Journey through South Korea

Setting out on an adventure that well, honestly I don't know if I was ready for. I wasn't very well prepared due to the craziness of work the week before and getting sick. Thus, leaving me without a plan of where to stay for three nights of the journey. I had most other things booked or planned but there were three days that I just didn't know where I was going or what I was going to do.  So I packed my giant backpack and headed to the airport. Then it began...

Gwang-ju

On the first leg of my trip, I flew from Jeju-do to Gwang-ju to visit my friend Grace and to meet her family.  They are really the first Korean family that I have met and spent time with. They were just the sweetest people and I loved playing card games with Grace and her cousins all Sunday afternoon after church. Grace had to do all of the translating between her parents and I, but I hope to work on my Korean so next time I will be able to at least have a small conversation with them without translating through Grace. The Jeong family took such good care of me and made me feel right at home. As they dropped me off at the bus station, Grace's mom gave me a bag full of snacks for my trip. Such a lovely family, and I hope to see them again this summer.

They were just too cute:)

While I was in Gwang-ju I stayed at a guest house, which was really just a room in the upstairs of a families home. The daughter of the family was having a sleepover with her friends and they were staying in the room across the hall. When they saw me I could just hear giggling and then they finally became brave enough to come out and say "Hello." Then they wanted to take lots of pictures with me and make sure I knew Gangnam Style. Thus, we broke out into a spontaneous dance party in true Gangnam style fashion. 

Busan

Next, I took a bus to Busan. I didn't have any plans to meet people in Busan, so this part of the trip I was a solo-traveler.  I arrived at 1 of 2 bus stations, the problem was that I didn't know which one. It took some time to try to find a sign that would tell me where I was in Busan. I had to figure that out first so that I could figure out how to get to my hostel by the subway. I eventually figured it out and found my way pretty easily. Now, if this would have been my first time taking a subway, I would have been freaking out. I was very thankful that I had already learned how to work a subway system and read the map in London a few years ago.

The elevators lit up going to my Hostel.

I stayed at a hostel in the Nampo area of Busan. What a nice place! This is the a huge shopping district and at night all of the streets were lit up with lights over the sidewalks, making you feel like you are in some kind of magical land. There are many different kinds of shopping in this area. You could go to the underground market and shop at a tiny locally-owned stores. You could also shop on the main street where there are many chain/brand name stores. Then there was the international market that sold everything from socks to a full, hot meal, right in the middle of the street. It was quite the sight. One of my favorite moments while exploring this area in Busan was walking from the underground market into the huge mall that was connected to it. If I would have come in from any other entrance I don't think I would have been as amazed, but coming in from the bottom floor and right in front of me was a huge water and light show playing.  I came in at the perfect time. There was k-pop playing with the water and lights dancing to the music. All of the families in the mall were gathered in the middle of the mall enjoying the show and the children were so adorable and dancing to the music. It was like I just walked into a huge party. Probably my favorite memory from Busan.

Water and light show!

My only full day in Busan was spent mostly outside. Most things to do in Korea, are outside. Which isn't a problem...during the summer months. It was really cold. I went to the Busan tower to get a good look at the view over the city.  Someone also suggested to me to go to the roof of the mall, because the view is really good from up there as well. They were right. On top of the mall there was a park, petting zoo, coffee shop and an observation deck. So, that was pretty neat.

Jenny and I at Les Miserables!!!

Daegu

Next stop, Daegu. I was pretty pumped to go to Daegu, not because of the city itself but because I was going to be staying with a friend from the states and we had tickets to go see the Korean production of Les Miserables! It was such an amazing show. Now it was all in Korean, but that didn't matter because the whole show is a musical and you know exactly what is going on because of what song is playing. The voices were beautiful and the acting was fantastic. But the most amazing part about it was the special effects! There was one part in the show where Jenny and I looked at each other and were like "Did that really just happen?!?!" We couldn't believe how amazing it was.  I think we both wanted to go the next night to, but it's too bad that the tickets are about $60 per show. Otherwise, we would have been there.

Sorry, I had to split the stories of this trip into a two part series because they are taking me awhile to write. I will try to post them next week! I just wanted to post at least part of it now!

-Jenna

The Final Post of 2012

This has been one rather exciting year, with so many stories and adventures. I would have never guessed a year ago, while I was waiting for my final semester of college to start, that I would be living in South Korea by the end of the year. It's crazy how fast (and drastically) thing change sometimes. You know what they say "Go big or go home."

This is us eating lunch with the ravens.

Now it has been awhile since I have updated my blog with the happenings of my life in Korea. Things this past month have been pretty low key. On Saturdays, my adventure day, I have mostly just stayed in my city doing nothing too exciting. But this weekend was different. I was invited to go hiking through the wonderful woodlands of Jeju. It was the most glorious day of nice weather, snow, ice, and friends. While we were out on the trails we had to eat lunch, so of course we sit on some benches along the path. Apparently the ravens were real hungry as well. Before we knew it we were being watched by 5+ ravens from the trees above. They just kept creepin' closer and closer. They looked like very greedy little ravens but, not to fear, we didn't get attacked.

On the icy, snowy trails of the enchanted woods of Jeju.

As tradition has it, every Sunday after church we go out for lunch and then lunch is always followed by some other activity.  The activity that took place yesterday was something that I never new existed as a business. Thank you Korea for never ceasing to amaze. We ended up at a Multi-bong (Multi-room), so basically this is where you rent a room and you can play the Wii, watch movies or sing Karaoke with your friends. You just rent by the hour, so for 2 hours seven of us played Mario Kart, and Super Mario Brothers. Talk about a good time. Most of us haven't played many video games before, thus making it more entertaining.

This was a while ago but, this is part of our Sunday funday group.

This week is the beginning of not having any classes until February. So basically I just sit at my desk counting the 40 hours for the week. I do have New Years Day off, but other than that not much to do. Next week I teach winter camp in the mornings. Then starting the 12th of January I am going on a two week tour of main land Korea. I will be traveling mostly by myself and will be able to visit some Korean friends for a few days. I am very excited to see the main land. I hear Jeju Island is quite different. I haven't even really begun to plan that trip, that is something that I need to figure out this week.

Overall, this year has been fairly unpredictable and who knows where I will be at this time next year. As far as I know, I will be back living in MN. We shall see. Well I hope you have have had a great 2012 and are looking forward to 2013!

The wonderful sunrises of Seogwipo.

- Jenna

Thanksgiving in a Far Away Land

Being in Korea for Thanksgiving is such a strange experience. It doesn't really feel like it should be that time of year again, since the weather isn't too cold yet. Plus, there is nothing in the stores or on the streets telling me of the holiday coming up.  If it weren't for Facebook, I could easily blow right past the holiday without even realizing it.
Since I know that it's Thanksgiving time, I'll be honest and say that I would really love some turkey (and everything else that comes with it) right now! I think around here the closest thing I will get is some mashed potatoes. Mmm:)
Well family, since I have been here, I have told many people about the wonderful family that I come from. I tell them that we are always together for every holiday. I tell them that we get along and that everybody comes of our gatherings if they can. If someone doesn't show up, it's not because of a disagreement, it's simply because they can't be there. I also tell them that I come from a family that is committed to each other. Whether it's to their spouse or to the whole family. This is true on both sides of the family.
The more I talk about my family to others the more thankful I become. It really is an amazing family that I grew up in. I haven't really meet anyone that can say the same. Divorce and arguing has damaged so many family relationships and broken up so many families that it has become a rare commodity to have a family that all stays together.  I have the family that everybody wants to have, the ideal situation. I mean, what a wonderful thing to be able to only say good things about my family and actually mean it.
There is no mistaking the reason why my family has turned out like this. It is simply because we follow the teaching of the Bible and follow Jesus with our whole lives. I believe that if it weren't for the work of our God , my family would look just like any other family. I'm not saying that my family is perfect. Of course we have problems and conflict and have hurt one another, but I am saying that Jesus has been the one to work in our hearts to solve the problems and to see the bigger picture that he has for us. God loves the family and he created it to stay together and to never give up on each other. So for this thanksgiving, I don't want to have empty meaning behind my saying "I'm thankful for my family." I am sincerely saying "I am thankful for my family."
I love you and miss you all! I hope you enjoy each others company this Thanksgiving and remember what a blessing it is just to all be together and have a Savior who has kept us together!

My Little Korean Life

Zip line and Maze Land

Here is a brief summary if a wonderful trip I took with Jeju Tourism. They took us zip lining and to Maze Land. This was nothing less than an amazing day. First of all, they paid for everything. Lunch, admission, transportation. Second of all, I made some new friends. This whole adventure from start to finish was so much fun. Most of the other people on the trip were Chinese students studying at a university here on the island. They couldn't really speak English but when we were up on the zip line coarse you don't need a translator to know how people are nervous or scared to jump off the safety of the ledge and go fly on a little rope, high up in the air. This translates into every language perfectly.  The zip line place was as the home of a dog park (random) and The Cave Cafe. Below you see a picture of the cafe. It was such a unique find. First, you walk under this tent and it leads you to a cave. Then you have to keep walking into the cave for a few minutes and right when you feel like "this is really weird, maybe we should just go back." BOOM! There it is, this small cave hallway leads to this massive Cave Cafe. Incredible. The thing is, this cave is an actual cave, it wasn't man-made, and they turned it into an awesome place to hangout. Genius if you ask me.  After the discovery of the cave, they treated us to a large Korean lunch. The problem with the food here is that if I am willing to eat it, it is always way to spicy. Thus, I am not able to eat all that much even if  I like it. The final part of the day was spent at Maze Land. Here there are 3 large mazes (1 stone, 2 hedge), the largest being stone. The mazes were in different shapes that resemble symbols of Jeju Island. Even with a map, that stone maze was a bit tricky. At the exit of the maze you get to ring a bell to brag to all of the other people who are still trying to find their way through it. For some reason there was another bell, a really large, stationary one. Now, this gets a bit evil. But when you walk up to this bell it rings really loudly. It has a motion sensor and it startles everyone with it's unexpected ring. So, since we were the first ones in our big group to finish the maze, we encouraged people to go and check-out the big bell and then watch them jump when it rang.  I am not going to lie, I took video of this and I even have it scaring a grandma. I can't say I am proud of this, I am just saying it was pretty funny:)                                                 

Being flexible

Each week I continue to learn what it really means to "be flexible." I considered myself a flexible person before I got here and can just go with the flow.  Working in a school in Korea really has away of challenging me, in this area specifically.  Whether it's a sudden change in class times, change in lesson plan or having classes just not show up unexpectedly. Everyday when I come to school, I expect the day to go the way it is laid out on my calendar, but rarely does it actually do that. Classes are always changing times, being cancelled or I will have a random English contest to help with that I know zero information about.At least I will have tons of examples for future interviews about being flexible, what to do when things don't go as planned or working through bad communication.

K-Pop Concert

Well, now that most people know about K-pop, thanks to the viral spread of Gangnam Style. I heard about a K-pop concert that was happening on Jeju-do. Now, here is the issue. It was on a Tuesday night and it's an hour away from my city. This meant that I had to run (literally run) home in a skirt from school 1.5miles to my apartment, and then get to the bus stop before the next bus came. It was crazy stuff, and I was sore the rest of the week because I was running so hard. Silliness. Anyways, I made it to Jeju city and met with a friend there. We jump in a taxi and ask him to take us to Topdong, where the concert was. We get of\ut of the cab and have no idea what is going on or what we are doing. Now, most concerts in Korea are free, it's all a matter of getting in. We arrived at 6:15 and the concert was going to start at 6:30. Hmm, difficult situation. We see a mob of people and guess that is probably where we need to be.  This mob contained of mostly middle/high school girls in their school uniforms screaming and yelling at the security guards to let them into the show. The security guards were also shouting, and we didn't know what. So thought we would take our chances and yelling out questions in English because we figured that all of the students knew English (at least a little) and would translate what was happening for us.  It turns out the girls right in front of us we great at translating:) The guards had everyone sit down. So Jade and I were crouching down but we remained taller than everyone else. (Now, Jade has really blonde hair, and when you are among a sea of Korean's with black hair you can't help but notice her.)As one of the guards was yelling at the sitting crowd, he notices Jade and I, and then he smiles and waves. We just about die of laughter! One second he is screaming in some little girls face and the next he had is friendly face on. We were hoping that this was our ticket into the so, but no luck. We didn't make it in and they weren't letting anymore people in.  It was an outdoor concert and we could kind of see the stage from the side of the stage. Mostly we could just hear it and see the lights on the stage. We hung out for awhile with all of the other hard core fans that didn't make it in. We ate some food from some street vendors and went to sit down on a bench. Now, this part got real interesting. We sat down and instantly people kept comming up to us trying to speak English and before we knew it there was a crowd of kids around us commenting on our appearance. Then one kid said an extremely disrespectful comment (this included a swear) and Jade set him straight. That was pretty funny. I think he knew it was bad, but maybe he didn't know how bad. He probably picked it up from some rap or something. Anyways, we felt a bit like celebrities. This was the first time that I have seen foreigner getting that much attention. It was intense.

Funny Korea Stuff

   1. Strangers touch you without warning  (so far just older ladies, don't worry men don't do this...I think/hope.). The other day I was wearing a necklace and an older lady came and poking me in the chest saying "Beautiful, beautiful! How much?! How much?!" I didn't know what was happening or how to respond. Very strange, yet funny.

     2. Seeing a pig heads (Yep, that's right. Just the heads) at the market is almost no big deal. It's becoming normal.

     3. Clean air, sewer, fish and trash are the lovely smells that will randomly overpower your senses while walking down any given street.

     4.My co-teacher finally understanding that I DON'T LIKE SEAFOOD has been helpful. It took a long time but now she tells me if things have fish in them. I can always smell it regardless if she tells me, but often times I can't figure out which mystery food it is in.

     5. waygook = foreigner   I say/hear this all the time. I normally say "waygook moment." It has basically become my saying of my life here.

 

Sorry for the weird formatting. I tried to fix it but it wouldn't let me:(

Diving, Lava Tubes and Fabulous Jungmun

Diving with Heanyeos

Wow. So much has happened in this last week and a half. Let's get started. So last Saturday (Sept. 22) my friend, Jamie, brought us to this small town that is famous for it's mountain. Just below Mountain Sanbang lies a wonderful little town that is a mix of farmland, the Dragon Head Shore and random little tourist trinkets for purchase. Word can't really describe how beautiful the island is. You just have to look at the pictures. 
  So diving with the Heanyeos. What an experience! First we arrived that the diving place and they were closed. We were a bit disappointed, but we also knew this could be a possibility because we didn't call before. Anyways, we were just kinda hanging out by the shop and some old women saw us. We asked them when the diving shop is open. All of a sudden, one of the women is on the phone yelling and telling the divers to come and open the shop for us and take us diving. So there we were, 7 North Americans preparing to take our first dive. Wetsuit, flipper, mask, gloves, net and weight belt; we were ready to jump in the water. Now these diving women are famous on the island. They are also called the "Mermaids of Jeju." The average age of a heanyeo (woman diver) is 65 yrs. old and they have been diving all they're lives. They are known for being able to hold they're breath underwater for 5 mins, and they don't use any breathing equipment. Amazing stuff I tell you. Know we young folks look like fools swimming with these experienced divers, and we are at least 40 years younger! They put us to shame. I don't know what it is we were diving for, but it was some sort of shell.  Some of the people in our group got the hang of it really quickly and were able to spot these shells easily on the bottom of the ocean. I had great difficulty. My mask was foggy and I had water coming in it as well. It wasn't going to well, and after an hour I still didn't catch anything. At one point, I had one it my hand but then it fell out and it was lost forever.  So for me, diving was kind of a failure if you are going to count diving success on the amount of shells captured. So the heanyeos caught so many of these shells, that her net looked like it was about to break. As agile as she was in the water, it looked like she could hardly walk getting out. Plus she insisted on carrying her extremely heavy net of shells back.  After we were all done diving, the heanyeos cooked for us what we had just caught. I have to admit that I didn't eat any of it. It look real scary. These ladies seem to be having the time of their lives just sitting around, diving, laughing and eating. I could tell that they have all be together for years and are possibly their family.  Over all it was a neat experience.

Manjanggul Lava Cave

This past Saturday, my friend Jade and I headed to the north part of the island to check out the famous Lava Cave. I don't think I fully understand how this cave was made, but somehow the lava from the volcano mad a cave, and today it's pretty cool. This is the largest cave with in the series of lava caves on the island. Jeju is the home of one of the largest lava tube systems in the world. So basically, you take a bunch of stairs and walk into this dark cave. It is really dark and the temperature is much colder than outside. There are light throughout the cave to help you through. This isn't a small cave, that's for sure. It is really big. We walked as far as they allow us with the grand finally being this neat formation that the lava has made.  After exploring the lava caves, we wanted to check-out the hedge maze just down the street. It was a bit of an Alice in Wonderland moment. It was a tricky maze. We ended up just following this family that looked like they knew the way out...and sure enough they brought us the the end. You can't end a wonderful cave and maze experience without some ice cream, right? Right, so this is what happened and I don't regret it one bit.

The "Alice in Wonderland" Maze

Jungmun

Now this is truly an amazing place. Jungmun is the main place for tourist. There are many fancy resorts and one of the beautiful beaches I have ever seen. It is like when you are looking for a place to travel online and you see the most amazing beach and say "We need to go there!" This beach is that good. The whole town is such a lovely place, and it really feels like you are on vacation. Bonus, it's only a 25 min bus ride from my place! I think I will be spending my days off here.

Chuseok Holiday

So this weekend was Chuseok. This is the most important holiday in Korea and is celebrated for three days. Therefore I had an extra day to my weekend. I am just going to add this link that talks about the holiday if your interested in learning more about it. http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=811650