It's fall!!

Oct. 27th, 2012
Fall colors around my school....

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Well.. it's fall here in Korea and it's beautiful!! It's warm-ish during the day but is getting colder at night. It really is a lot like Iowa weather. So I guess that is good in the sense that I'm used to it. Bad in that I kind of hate Iowa winters, but oh well I guess I'll deal with it!

I was super bored on Friday after school, since I get done teaching at 3:10 but don't leave until 5, so I took a small hike up the mountain behind my school. I didn't want to search for a trail or get too lost, so I just took the road! I grabbed my camera and my music and started off! I walked by the new middle school being built, some cows - who 'moo-ed' at me as I walked by (I guess their cows are like dogs here!? haha) rice fields (of course) and also grave sites. I am learning that in the country rice fields and cemeteries are EVERYWHERE!.. literally. It was a beautiful day, so it was nice to hike around and be outside in nature. As I was walking back down the road a couple of cars passed and one was my principal. Again, I'm sure he thinks I am beyond crazy. First laying down outside of school and then now hiking on the road up a mountain. Come to find out he was 'worried about me'. Or so he told my co-scholar. I will have to attempt to be super 'normal' from now on!

playground outside Kam Mul shool

standing inside the front door looking out. - there are mountains there somewhere but
the fog is hiding them.

rice. I think the rice is gone and this is the plant part
that is left over. maybe they feed it to livestock?

hiking up the mountain behind my school.

rice field that hasn't been harvested.

dragon fly. he was a good little model. 

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Hiking with Alina up in --  Songnisan National Park -- 속리산국립공원

Oct. 28, 2012

Alina and on off-roading. I love going off the beaten path.

So, there are tons and tons of festivals and things to do here in Korea in the fall. I haven't been to too many festivals, since I haven't gotten out of my city all that much. But I have done a little hiking. Alina (my friend from So. Cal) and I went to Songnisan National Park on Sunday, Oct. 28th. We took at bus, it's about a 1.5 - 2 hour ride to the park. We did a little hiking, not the 'big one' to the peak but we wondered around aimlessly. We stumbled upon a Temple and a massive gold statue of I guess Buddha?!

oh hello statue. you are ginormous. people would take their shoes
off and go up to it and throw money to it. we didn't.

Our beautiful hike -- or more like walk. There wasn't too much incline which was perfect! I love being outdoors but getting a crazy work out in. Not quite my thing. I would rather enjoy myself...... and that I did. I was continuously taking pictures and couldn't help but smile the whole time. It was just what I needed. A day out of the city away from cars, and exhaust and noise and people..... oh wait....

.... so much for getting away from people. I guess EVERYONE else had the same idea - come to the mountain. So there were of course hoards and hoards of Koreans. Now when I say hoards I mean it. I was the only white female ALL day. I heard English twice. Once I guess it was a British guy (or so Alina says) and the other time an Asian American guy. That's it. That is all the English I heard. So basically.... I stuck out! and we stuck out because we were speaking English. At first it was fun and I am kind of used to people staring so it really wasn't a big deal. But then after a while..

I just wanted to yell, 'YES I AM AMERICAN AND YES I AM SPEAKING ENGLISH... STOP STARRING AT ME PLEASE!!'

That clearly would have just drawn more attention to myself. So instead I embraced it and had Alina take this video ------- (sorry I didn't upload a very good quality one -- but I didn't want to wait days for it to upload. So hopefully you get the idea. Lots of Koreans -- most of them staring at me. The one I said 'hello' to said 'very beautiful' (in korean maybe) not sure.

red bean, walnut, cake-y awesome-ness. if you come to Korea
these are a MUST!!!

Yup. Now you see.. stares, glares, half smiles, turn around to look... even a couple of 'Hello's'. I mean sometimes it is kind of nice living the life of a 'celebrity' but man I don't know how real celebrities do it. I sort of in some weird way feel for them! So, besides all the stares, it was a fantastic day. We got red bean pastry things from a street vender! -- they were the BEST I have had in Korea. We also got bibinbap from a lady who really really wanted us to eat at her restaurant! -- so we did.

oh and this gem of a 'squatty potty'.... literally a hole in the ground. but a bit classier.