EPTIt has been nearly two weeks since my last update. I'm sorry about the down time but I have been really busy these past two weeks. But I have good news!! A lot of you wanted to see pics and finally I have some just a couple of random pics some I took myself others I snagged from peoples Facebook.
So first thing I would like to talk about is hiking here. Koreans love hiking so much it is incredibly popular at least in my area. And there are plenty of mountains to choose from and these are legitimate mountains not hills or something. So last Sunday afternoon I was really bored so I decided to just go for a walk outside in a random direction. I ended up at the bottom of this mountain and then on a whim decided why not? I'll just climb to the top. This was probably a bad idea on second thought considering I didn't bring any water or anything else like that with me and was wearing jeans, a hoodie and just like tennis shoes. But whatever I had no idea how far it was till the top but just started walking. So the whole not having water idea was pretty dumb but luckily for me there was this nice Buddhist temple right before the actual difficult part of the climb and this temple had a like a fountain or spring beside so I relaxed there and got some water and stuff.
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This is the temple that I stopped at. The fountain is off to the right side
So after resting at the temple for a bit I started on the actual serious part of the hike. I still had no idea how far till the top. As I climbed I saw less and less people and got more and more tired. Also really thirsty. I wanted to turn back but I was pretty sure I was near the top. I can't really remember how long it took me to get to the top I think maybe around 2 hours. Not sure at all to be honest. So eventually I get to the top of the mountain and am greeted by this
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This says the mountain name then underneath the city Uiwang
Up there were a bunch of Koreans all resting in their serious hiking gear and walking sticks. They stared at me for a long time but it was cool. I was happy I made it up to the top. It was incredibly sunny and very windy but still a really nice place to look around and relax.
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Me!! just as I got to the top. Felt like I should capture how tired I was and such. Also really windy!
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The view from the top. those building on the right hidden by the trees is kind of closeish to where I live.
So I really, really enjoyed the hike. And plan to do another one in 2 weeks to a mountain that is closeby. I would go next weekend but I am going to Jeju Island!
School during the past weeks has been the same nothing really particularly interesting happens. Just the usual stuff. Its good though my classmates and I are becoming more and more friendly and I even now take the bus every morning with the my desk partner and her friend who live kind of close by.
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That is a picture of me, and two of my friends in class. If you combine the vest the girl is wearing and the tie and jacket I am wearing you pretty much get the entire uniform. Although girls have the option of wearing a bow instead of tie.
Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened over the past 2 weeks is my class and I went on a class trip to like a cheese farm and then later to like a astronomy camp. It was really cool seeing my classmates outside of school mode. And damn some people dressed really well, especially some guys all dressed in really nice clothes and such. The bus ride wasn't too bad only like 2 hours and then we got there and were allowed to relax for a while. So instantly everyone goes all asian tourist mode and just starts taking tons of pictures of everything. Then eventually it got to the point of group photos, selcas and shit with different poses. An Example:
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After that we walk around the place for a bit and saw some cows and fed them. Then went inside to make our own pizza's which was fun. We even attempted to do the whole spinning pizza in the air thing to roll out the dough, it didn't work out to well. But eventually we had finished our pizza and had it cooked.
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Our pizza before cooking and after.
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My classmates I made the pizza with.
After nom'ing the pizza. We watched a movie and hung out around the area. Eventually I was time to go to the camp place where we would be sleeping that night. The trip was only two days and one night. The bus ride was around 2 hours again so pretty much everyone just slept on the bus. Upon getting to the place. They searched all of our bags for alcohol and cigarettes and such. A couple of people got caught for bringing alcohol and cigs with them but no major punishments happened, just confiscation of the items. At first the camp reminded me of a military school or something it was really strict. After settling into our room. Which was just a square room with nothing in it. We slept on the floor with blankets. We went and did a couple of astronomy things like watching stars and identifying constellations. Was pretty boring but whatever. Then once we were told to get back to our rooms. My friends told me " On Korean class trips, you never sleep. If you sleep we will mess with you and draw all over you.". So now I am not sleeping. At first we just play a bunch of fun games in the room and talk a bunch/listen to music. Eventually at around 12, the counselors came in and told us to go to sleep. And then they set up patrols around the hallways. This queued us to want to leave the room and go to other rooms so now the goal was to avoid the counselors and make it into other rooms. This was fun and in the other rooms we just did the same thing we did in our room but with different people. Later that night I went to visit some friends in one room. But the door was locked?? So I knocked and then i hear whispering and then one guys says " Oh, its Kevin" then the door opens and it turns out they were having a grill in their room at around 1ish. So they invite me to sit down and we start eating pork on the grill and kimchi. It is really delicious and we chill for around two hours so now it is like 3 am. Then a counselor unlocks the door and walks in!! But my friends all bribe her with the food and she eventually joins us for a bit. I am really tired so I go back to my room and rest after the barbecue.
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Me lying down beside the grill at around 3 am.
So after watching a few peoples faces get drawn on, I eventually pass out, but no ones does anything to me. The next morning we have the option to make mugs or go paint balling. So I obviously choose paint balling and surprisingly so do a bunch of girls. They are really funny to watch as they are all incredibly scared and just hide and wildly shoot. Was pretty cute. After that we go back to school and then I head home exhausted after a great class trip with my Korean school.
Finally I just want to say Korea is really pretty at this time as it is spring the weather is really nice and everything is blossoming.
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I will update my blog again next week after I come back from jeju island hopefully with a bunch of great pics.
Thank you for reading!!!
