September is upon us, which means that I'm done with summer intensives. Only Janet Chong would know how intense this summer program is cause she was going through it a year ago. 9am-6pm, prep work before and after work, week after week. Anyways, the hardest part of the year is over, and Elite always celebrates by having a biannual speech contest. While students are stressing over their presentations, it's a pretty awesome time for the teachers cause we judge these impressive performances and get pizza for lunch. Of course, the best part is that there's no classes!
The next best thing about Speech Contest is that you get a 1 week vacation after it's all over. I've been planning and planning to go to Jejudo, but I had to switch plans due to my dad's business project that didn't even go down. Anyways, my dad and I resorted to Plan B and borrowed my cousin's car to raise havoc throughout the outskirts of Korea.
I hadn't driven in months, but my dad made sure I did plenty in Korea. All I gotta say is that it is a true comfort to drive in American streets with logical street signs and drivers. Did you know that you can make left turns on certain reds when there's no cars?
Coed bathrooms are hard to put up with.
Can you believe those gas prices? If you do the math, that's approximately $13/gal. How do you like them apples, California?
Our first stop was at Junju, home of our beloved Bibimbap.
When it comes down to it, 비빔밥 is 비빔밥. However, this was probably the best one I've ever had in my life.
We stopped by this random place to ask for directions. Country folk are the nicest people in the whole world. I'd been in Korea one month shy of a year, but I had never gone to a 찜질방...until this roadtrip. My dad and I decided to crash at one cause it was cheap and CHIIILL. I'm a super light sleeper, but I was so relaxed that I fell asleep even with the TV on and an ahjushee snoring nearby. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of the place.
This is 지리산, Korea's third largest mountain. It actually extends into three different provinces, but our goal was to get to the peak.
Cool clouds moving throughout the mountain.
Here's a crazy stack of rocks that we saw at one of the peaks. Unfortunately, we had to commit three extra hours if we wanted to get to the highest point of the mountain. We decided to call it quits and spend more time in other parts of Korea.
We were starved after our hike so we decided to try some 손만두 and 찐 빵. We were especially attracted after seeing that it was open for 40 years (rare for any Korean business). And no wonder! It was the best mandoo I've ever had in my life...all handmade, bitesize, and...
CHEAP!!!
One thing I never got sick of looking at was the ricefields. This country is seriously so full of green. Very nice.
Next, we went way down south to a city called 여수. Since it was right by the water, the streets reminded me a lot of San Francisco.
Here's their little Golden Gate Bridge. You might recognize it from certain movies or dramas.
We took a little fairy around the bay since the weather was so nice.
Here's the fairy's cute little bathroom that I doubt anyone would use. I think you'd have to be in a sitting position to even enter the convenient thing.
When we got off the fairy, we climbed up this heinous set of stairs to go up this hill with a nice view. When we got to the top, we were welcomed by these retarded looking dogs. Apparently, zoos call them goats.
Here's the nice view of the city.
Here's a far away picture of a nearby island called 안동도.
Here's a close up picture of the nearby island. It reminds me of the Dark Island from C.S. Lewis' "Dawn Treader."
Guess what we decided to have for lunch the next day (again)?
This little store was actually in the middle of nowhere by the side of the road. The owners opened this place up about a year ago after having an unsuccessful business in Seoul.
Here's the view from outside the store.
As were driving up 지리산...
we met this mountain man who told us that we could through this crazy off-road course (note: when I say "mountain man," I mean he straight up lives in the mountains, living off the water and whatever he can find to eat. It's like beyond homeless). Although the picture looks whatevers, it was one bumpy and rocky ride full of thrills. You never knew what would come out of those woods and always feared getting stuck in the mud or getting a flat tire. Luckily, we got through the Indiana Jones ride safely after 30 min.
After a long night of driving and getting lost, we finally arrived at a place near another mountain called 주왕산. My dad had always wanted to come here cause he heard it was super beautiful. Unfortunately, it was pouring cats and dogs the whole day in the south, so they closed down the mountain. My dad was quite disappointed especially since we went through ALOT of trouble to get there. The previous night, I had driven for seven straight hours in the dark through thunder and rain with no streetlights or cars. Not a happy camper at all.
As we were walking back to our car, we both laughed when we saw this ice cream. Everything is "one shot" with Koreans. My brother probably remembers the Korean guy who would always say, "ONE SHOT!" before he shot the basketball. Freakin' ridiculous.
We decided to visit the cities that my dad used to live in as a child. He had to move around a lot since my grandfather was a principal who had to change schools every year.
As you can see, some country folk have some unfortunate living conditions.
We stopped by this one convenient store to get some ice cream. When we came in, there was only one light bulb on with an old lady all alone. If you look in the back, you can see her room that practically looks like a small cave. No light, no family, and probably, not too many friends.
For our last dinner, we stopped by this random restaurant near 평창. As usual, the owners were super nice and loved to make conversation. One interesting thing that he said to us was that "Seoul is the most pitiful place in the country." Isn't it ironic how so many Seoul residents pity the country people? As I was driving into Seoul and getting stuck in traffic, it just occurred to me that Seoul is a super big city. I've been to Busan and even accidentally ended up in Daegu (third biggest city in Korea), but nothing can compare to Seoul. I believe that I live in a very particular city in the whole world. The trip was tiring but quite eye-opening. I love our country!
There's this thing called Dr. Fish that's getting pretty big in Korea. You basically dip your feet into a pool full of these tiny fish that eat the bacteria off your feet. Prairie took me to the one in Shinchon.
Look how happy we look.
But seriously, Prairie really needs to shave her legs. Just kidding. This place was packed with people so there weren't as many fish. It was still pretty cool though.
I also spent time with my tutor student named David. He's a Mokdong junior high student who abhors studying. According to him, his "head is crazy." He wanted to take me out to watch Ratatoille. Unfortunately, it was already taken out of theatres, so we watched a random Korean movie called 사랑방 선수와 어머니 that turned out to be fun.
Finally, my dad bought 삼겹살 for Enoch and the Park sisters since he never met Enoch before and the Parks will be leaving Korea really soon. This was a pretty good dessert place that Priscilla took us to after dinner. Chocolate pancakes they had.
I go back to work tomorrow. I feel like this update took up half my vacation. Stay cool, everyone!
Thought of the Day: Mosquito.
Song of the Day: Norwegian Recycling-How 6 Songs Collide
