Lazy Days

Snow!!

This past weekend was pretty uneventful. I think the most excitement we had was when we were chatting with a group of co-workers by the station Friday night and this guy came up asking us for money. Of course, it was all in Korean but he kept pestering one of our Korean teachers and finally the other one who was with us went all Korean Drama Heroin on him and was like, “If you don’t stop I’m going to call the police.”

He kept muttering on and so she punched the number into her phone and showed it to him. When he still didn’t back off she actually called the police…

…and the police actually came.

But do you want to know what the best part was?

After getting talked to by the police, our feisty Korean co-worker stared the man down like he was one of our students and told him sternly, “Apologize.”

Apparently he is a regular nuisance in that area and had also said some pretty nasty things to us (which of course we couldn’t understand) but after a little while we were free to go as the police continued to talk to the man.

And that was the highlight of my weekend.

Saturday and Sunday were spent lazing around and I know that sounds so boring but it was so nice to get to do that finally. It’s been a while. Monday came too soon.

On Tuesday, Jenee and I went to see the second Hunger Games movie Catching Fire. It was actually really good. I like the first one but I’m super impressed with the second.

Today we had a bit of excitement: it snowed. It’s has actually already snowed but only a little and nothing stuck. This time it didn’t stick either but huge flakes were falling from the sky and it was pretty. I’m super excited to see snow here so soon (it usually doesn’t snow where I’m from until after Thanksgiving sometime, if at all).

That's pretty much it for this week so far. The weekend needs to get her fassst! 

Seoul Lantern Festival

Weekend before last, on Friday night our friend Michelle headed down from Seoul to our neck of the woods and spent the night. We went to go see a movie called The Five. 

I knew the basic premises of the story so it wasn’t too hard to follow, although I do have to say it was a pretty violent film and overall was just terrible. Some parts were good, though. And of course, since we were together it was hilarious (see the pic below). Of all the movies we’ve seen since coming to South Korea, this one is probably my least favorite.

This is how we have fun 'or here

….But that’s okay! Because it’s still November and that means it’s also still Movie Month (seriously, they keep…coming…out).

Anyway, we’d originally planned on sleeping in on Saturday and doing mostly nothing apart from some much needed spring fall cleaning. However, one of our co-workers informed us that there had been a lantern festival going on at the Cheonggyecheon in Seoul (a small, famous stream we visited once before) and that this past weekend would be the last time we could see it.  Of course we had to go! So, we made new plans to meet up with two of the other foreign teachers at our school on Saturday afternoon in Seoul.

This is how the exit for the station was decorated...looked like a school project or something

That’s how we found ourselves: freezing in front of the City Hall station in Seoul, mouths agape as a grungy ajusshi (middle-aged man) decided to pee in the bushes only a few feet away from us.

Ironically enough, because of the lantern festival there were police officers everywhere. In fact, there was a group of them standing right in front of the exit for the station (about 10-feet away from us) and they just happened to all have their backs turned and totally miss this dude violating some serious public edicts right behind them.

To be fair, it’s not the first time we’ve witnessed someone committing this offence…it’s just…the area was swarming with people. And he was like 5-feet away from law enforcement. Yey, Korea!

Anyway, our friends were a bit late because they took a taxi and traffic was horrible. But it was okay because that gave us time to meet up (again) with Michelle since she left her sweat pants at our apartment and we wanted to give them back. We talked and laughed…(particularly at a guy walking by with this long stick that had a teddy bear tied on the end of it…process that for a moment).

Our co-workers showed after a while and we merged in with the swarm of people heading towards the festival after saying goodbye to Michelle. There really was a lot of people there but it still wasn’t as crowded as the International Fireworks Festival.

Going in!

We were herded by crowd control through a weaving line (think waiting for a ride at Disney Land) that luckily moved fairly quickly. Then we walked along the “river” (stream) in a shuffling crowed that progressed both too fast and too slow.

The displays were fantastic, though. They were in the middle of the river and lit up in a display of various colors and (generally) historic scenes. Sometimes we would lose each other due to attempting to take pictures so whomever was ahead would wait for the rest of us to catch up and it was all very funny.

We ended up spending a few hours there and then we went up the road a ways to see a nice view of the Yi Soon Shin statue at night. It looked great all illuminated, which we obviously didn't get to see before when we went during the day.

Yi Soon Shin

It was a pretty fantastic day and I’m really glad Jenee and I spend it with some great people instead of lounging around at home. Although a lounging around day needs to happen sometime…soon…

Seoraksan National Park

Friday (not last Friday, the Friday before...I'm behind...) was field trip day. It felt kind of odd to have one so early in the month but I guess that’s just the way it goes. This time our trip was to an indoor playground and basically involved the kids running around and playing for a few hours with the teachers joining in here and there. It was pretty relaxing (the trip itself, not the transportation to and from the facility which consisted of me babysitting 7 bickering, crying, and overall misbehaving children).

Not convinced this thing isn't picking it's nose...

The playground was located inside a mall, and had a bunch of different areas…there was a jungle gym, “sand” box (with barley), ball pit, and this huge inflated air-thing that kids just loooved. It was pretty cute and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Luckily, because of the trip, Friday passed fairly fast. I love the weekend!

Part of Seoraksan National Park

On Saturday, Jenee and I left early in the morning to join up with an Adventure Korea group heading to Seoraksan National Park. We’ve traveled with Adventure Korea before, so this makes our second trip with them and it was (mostly) a success.

The bus ride was a bit long (about three and a half hours) but we stopped once at a rest stop and then again near the park for lunch at an all-you-can-eat bibimbap restaurant.

Once we got to the mountain, the weather was a bit disappointing, overcast skies threatening rain…though I suppose it could have actually been raining which would have been worse.

The leaves on the trees were, as I feared, mostly gone but we were able to still see some great contrasting colors especially near the base of the park.

Our first course was a hike to a waterfall. It was the “easy” course but still involved some good exercise. This seems to be the case anywhere there is “nature” in Korea because it’s such a mountainous country with lots, and lots, and loooots of rocks. It’s so different from the mountains we have back home where I’m from (the North West) but kind of reminds me a bit of the area I visited in Wyoming (although there are more trees here).

 

Yup. That's the waterfall.

Anyway, we successfully made it to the waterfall and while it was a pretty sight it’s doesn’t have anything on my Multnomah Falls back home. Oh, well. Still very nice!!

As we were heading back, I was talking to this older guy in our group from Australia and he was one of those people who has been everywhere and has some great stories to tell so that was quite an experience. Jenee also talked with one of the ladies in our group who happens to go to the same church and same service as us but we’d never met before. South Korea really is a small sometimes.

Once we made it back to the main area we had some time before it was our turn on the cable car (which would take us up the mountain) so we explored a bit of the area. There was a huge statue of Buddha and a temple. Lots of people were out and about but it was nice to get to see some of the great fall colors that weren’t really present anymore further up the mountain.  

After exploring for a bit it was finally time for our trip in the cable car. Everyone gathered inside and headed up the short, very steep journey to the sound of Kelly Clarkson singing "Because of You" (why this music was playing I have no idea but we all thought it was hilarious). 

The view was nice but all the trees had lost their leaves up there and it also started to rain. So, we went inside the little cafe/restaurant area and ate our favorite winter snack: hoddeok before it was time to go back down. 

We gathered back up with the rest of the group near the entrance to the park and got back on the buses for the hour-ish long drive to our hotel. It was somewhere in the mountains and Korean-style with the heated floors and mats that you sleep on (as opposed to beds). I actually really enjoyed the heated floor but didn't like sleeping on it after all that hiking. 

We were, of course, starving so Jenee and I left our cozy room and got some samgyeopsal (pork belly BBQ) at a nearby restaurant. After eating we were so tired that we went to bed at 8:00PM. 

The next morning we went on our last hike. It was near where we were staying so everyone headed out to the trail and we started walking. The path follows a creek/stream and leads to a waterfall (it actually goes further but that was our destination). The hike was beautiful despite the fact that we had completely missed the fall leaves in this location. 

The waterfall itself was another disappointment but I suppose it was the journey there that counts! 

On our trek back to the restaurant where we would be eating lunch, we strolled along with a member of our group who is actually Korean but he lived in America for twenty years. It was fun exchanging stories and really that's one of the things I love about these trips is being able to meet people and talk about life in Korea. 

 

Anyway, lunch was delicious (I'm thinking it was doenjang jjigae...bean paste soup). After eating we had to load back up on the buses and head home. It was only supposed to be a three hour trip but there was a lot of traffic so we spend nearly six hours on the bus. Yuck. 

It was worth it, though! This trip was really fun and when are we ever going to get another opportunity to see the most popular mountain in South Korea in the fall? Probably never. 

Movies and Movie Moments

View along our way to/from work

[Note: the first part of this post is mostly me rambling on about movies, if you're not interested skip a ways down]

This week has been movie week. I’m pretty sure this month will be movie month, as well. As you may recall, Jenee and I went to see Thor: The Dark World last Friday...it was actually just one of a few movies that are out right now that we want to see. It’s like there was hardly any movies out for the longest time and now they are sprouting up all over the place.

Kya! The advertisements are everywhere!

So on Saturday we’d planned on going to see the Korean movie No Breathing (because…Lee Jong Suk and Seo In-Guk together in one movie is already worth a watch and let’s just add in the fact that the movie is about swimming to make it even more of a must-see…) but we ended up not having enough time…

Which left us in a bit of a movie-dilemma. The film No Gravity has been out for a while and we’d both had no interest in it until a few friends told us it was amazing and we had to add it to our list of movies to see. We figured that this would probably be the last week it was in theaters though so we needed to watch it soon. But we really wanted to see No Breathing and we knew that even more movies are come out next week so…

We decided to just go see No Gravity on Monday after work and No Breathing on Tuesday. The times worked out perfectly and gave us enough time both nights to buy our tickets, get something to eat, watch the movie, and still get home at a decent hour.  I’m pretty sure the employees at the theater thought we were pretty crazy…two foreign girls watching three different movies within the breadth of a mere five days. But, hey! It was worth it.

I’ve also found that seeing a movie after work is actually really nice. It gives you something to look forward to all day; kind of like getting to go to Disneyland after a long, hard week of the nine-to-five grind.

Anyway, No Gravity was fantastic. We watched it in 3D and normally I’d prefer my movies in the typical 2D format and am unimpressed with the effects but this is the first movie where I actually think it is a significantly better experience in 3D. It was pretty awesome!

No Breathing's super cute poster!

No Breathing was also really good. Ah, the bromance. It was cute and funny in all the right ways, albeit a little unoriginal in the plot department. It made for a great relaxing watch in the evening and I’m really glad we went to see it.

Now we just have to get prepared for all the movies yet to come: Safe Haven (probably gonna re-watch it since it’s playing in theaters here), Commitment, 11:00AM, The Five, and Catching Fire.

Wow.

Although this has been movie week, the highlight of this week so far actually happened this morning on the way to work.

There we were, walking just like always and we have to cross like three or four crosswalks along the way so we were coming up to one of them when we noticed some cars almost have a collision in the four-way inner-section near the hospital (which is right across the street). We glanced over and I briefly caught a glimpse of grey in-between the cars.  I’m thinking huge grey-hound got loose and is running amok but as we started going across the cross-walk my brain instantly switched to ‘shoot-I-hope-it’s-a-friendly-loose-gigantic-dog’ when suddenly the cars cleared and here came this enormous boar.

You read that right. Boar. As in over-sized wild pig. I’m like, not even kidding.

It dashed across the street and went full speed ahead not even five-feet away from us as Jenee and I stood flabbergasted in the middle of the cross walk.

I had a surge of different thoughts and emotions in that moment: disbelief being the foremost, fear being the second because wooooow boars are a lot bigger when they are up-close and personal…I was also questioning my sanity because seriously? A boar? In the middle of a Seoul suburb?

Then Jenee and I just kind of looked at each other like, ‘Did you see that? Cuz I just saw that.’ And we burst into side-splitting laughter. It was probably part hysteria (at least for me) because there was a small part of me that had been terrified the wild pig would notice us standing there as it made its way past and change direction. I know it’s hard to imagine but the thing was nearly waist-high on me and had to be at least 200lbs.

As we continued on our way, finally crossing the rest of the inner-section and gasping for breath between bouts of hysterical laughter I was un-surprised to see a cluster of pedestrians huddled in the doorway of a near-by shop with looks of horror on their faces and hands over their hearts. It only made me laugh even harder because it was assurance that I hadn't just day-dreamed a generous boar racing through the city. It’s actually happened.

It was certainly one of the oddest things I've ever experienced (Jenee agrees with me fully on this).

Just another day in South Korea, folks.

I'm never making fun of him in the scene again. I know, now. I know...

(Ps. Why don’t we have cameras embedded in our foreheads yet? That are voice activated? Because I just totally missed my million-hit YouTube video).

Saturday Trip in to Seoul

Sky Park

Yesterday we made a trip into Seoul to hit up some sights for the first time in a while (other than our group trip to Changdeokgung last weekend). 

First on the list was Hollys Coffee. We actually tried to find this spot a while back but didn't have the best directions so failed miserably (seems to be a theme for us). I found a map though so we located it with little difficulty this time...

 

Aaaaand it's an I Hear Your Voice shooting location! I know, I know...but this was where an adorable scene from the drama was shot so I just had to go here! 

 

I got a delicious mint hot chocolate...wow it was so good! This is going to be my regular drink any time I go to Hollys Coffee...

Ah. It's like liquid thin mints!

It was also raining outside which sucked but was kind of sorta perfect...

 

I'm actually really sad because I don't think there's a Hollys Coffee anywhere near us and I want that mint hot chocolate again already, haha! 

Anyway, after lunch we left back to the station and checked out the park that was nearby. It's part of Hangang Park and was really pretty. Also, you could see what I believe is City Hall from there.

Having spent enough time in the rain we took off to our next destination: Sky Park.

This park is just one of the handful of parks around the World Cup Stadium. We found that, no problem but in typical Jenee-Danielle-traveling-around fashion we were lost on how to actually get to the specific park we wanted. Go figure. 

We wondered around the entire stadium trying to figure it out and trust me when I say I have no idea how we actually ended up going the right direction but we did eventually find the little shuttle bus that takes you all the way up to Sky Park (it's quite a hike if you don't take the shuttle). 

I'm so glad we went in fall! It's so pretty. I really don't know what it is about Korea and parks but it's always such a pleasant experience. 

  

And of course a park just wouldn't be a park here without some good ol' modern art and sculptures...

I really, really love the trees here. I don't think I can say that enough. They are so pretty. So many different colors...I think fall is even prettier than spring! 

We walked around the park and then took the shuttle back. We had one more stop we needed to make before leaving Seoul and after a long day of walking it was a perfect spot: Mango 6.

You may recall us visiting a Mango 6 previously because of a drama called A Gentleman's Dignity. Well, this was a different branch in Gangnam and we went there because of the currently airing drama Heirs (왕관을 쓰려는자) staring Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye (and for those of you who like him: Woo Bin). 

I'm really glad we were able to find it since it's located back a little from the main road. Luckily,  it was still an easy walk from the station but I'm not going to say I wasn't disappointed that they weren't filming given the amount of scenes which have been shot there so far! Of course, I didn't really expect it but hey, maybe someday!  

We really wanted to finish off our evening watching a movie but we just didn't have time. We already went to see Thor 2 on Friday so I guess having to wait until next week to go see another movie isn't such a bad idea, haha. 

We have big plans for next weekend...going to be going on a 2-day trip with Adventure Korea. I hope this week goes quickly!