Sooo, I'm in class, which seems to be the only time I can commit myself to blogging. Oops. So, I have decided to stay in Korea for one more year. I weighed my options and realized I should really save more money for school and try to get a scholarship with my LSAT score. I can save money here more easily than at home and I’m enjoying myself here. Wooo. What have I been up to? Well, a couple of weeks ago I went to Seoraksan (Seorak mountain) again, but this time I went with Gina, Sunny, and their friends Phillip and Jae. Aaand I hiked. Hiking is very popular in Korea and as winter is quickly approaching, there were tons of people on the mountain. So many in fact, that we couldn’t get to the top because there was a line. Hiking is different here in that it is not as “rugged” as you would say hiking is in the US. The trail is lined with stairs and there are 마걸리 (Korean rice wine, mahkali) and food stands about every mile. Also, people get pretty decked out for the event with hiking outfits. After hiking, we hung out at Gina’s dad’s cabin with her dad’s friends until they dropped us off at a 찜질방 (jjimjilbang). The jjimjilbang is a giant sauna where everyone gets naked and showers and hangs out in steam rooms. Then, everyone puts the clothes they give you on and you can rest in a co-ed area. A lot of people were sleeping there because it was close to the mountain and cheap, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend it. We slept on the floor and because we got there late we were without padded mats. We also happened to find a place right next to some dude that ended up snoring his head off all night, so that wasn’t fun. And they leave a giant TV and the lights on all night long. I also lost my iPod.
HAH
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| Basically a giant latka with squid + Korean rice wine (Mahkali) |
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| adorable children (Gina's dad's friends) |
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| I don't know whose dogs these were but they were freakin adorable. |
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| The cabin |
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| Sunny + pups |
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| Wishing stones. |
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| Cabin |
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| Me, Sunny, and the million-person line. |
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| Jae + kids again. |
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| Mahkali |
Overall, it was a good time. Oh... ALSO, While I was at Seoraksan, Halloween came and went. The kids know about it but they don't really celebrate here. I (sort of) dressed up as Hermoine for class that day.
Today is 빼뺴로 (Pepero, the Korean version of Pocky) day. It’s one of Korea’s many versions of Valentine’s Day. (It's called "Pepero" because 11-11 looks like 4 sticks of the candy.) Now that I have a new iPod ( I splurged on an iPod touch which has a camera, so now I don’t have to buy one of those!), I tried to take pictures of the giant displays of enormous Pepero boxes, but store clerks are pretty touchy about taking pictures in their shops. I’ll see what happens later this evening. I did take a picture of the display of Pepero that our director’s son laid out for us in the staff room, though.
Namsan got in on the action, too.
Also, like Valentine’s Day in the US, children exchange packages of candy (Pepero), which means they are all out of control hyper right now.
Omg. I have to go…
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