Happy (Lunar) New Year

So today is 설날 Seollal, or Lunar New Year and so I don't have to teach today or tomorrow! My friend Sam (from Kansas) and I had planned to go to a cave on Saturday, but this area was pretty much crippled by snow for the last few days. I was a little surprised at the amount of snow that we received since usually this area isn't know for getting much snow. There was probably about 6 inches that fell on Saturday. Sam was actually coming to my apartment to pick me up Saturday and he got stuck going up the hill close to my house, so we decided to go to the cave another day.
I don't have many plans for 설날, I think I'll pretty much just relax. It is considered the biggest holiday of the year for most Koreans, so typically people spend time with their families and so everything is closed down and people are at home. Koreans usually eat 떡국 Tteok Guk on New Year's Day and it is supposed to bring good luck for the year. It is a really delicious rice cake soup...people eat it on other occasions too, so I have had it before and it's good!
So Happy Lunar New Year everyone!
I took most of the pictures over at the middle school that I teach at. The other is some kimchi pots here close to my apartment.

Lotte World

Last Saturday I had the chance to go to Lotte World (pronounced Low-tay). When I first got to Korea I thought it was pronounced "law-tee." HAHA, there are a bunch of Lotte Marts, similar to like a Wal-Mart, so when I first got here I was calling them Law-tee Mart, and no one knew what I was talking about. Anyway...Lotte World is, according to their website , the world's largest indoor theme park. It was quite impressive, there are three floors shops, restaurants, etc. On the bottom floor there is also an ice skating rink, but my skating skills are pretty much non-existent, so I didn't venture out onto the ice. It is seperated into an indoor and outdoor park. I was a little surprised that the outdoor rides were open, it was maybe mid 20's and pretty windy. The sun was shining, so it appeared to be a nice day, but trust me it was COLD! I was shocked how many people were out riding the roller coasters and other rides with the weather as cold as it was, but they were. Trust me though...I ventured out to see the rides, and then went right back inside. I love roller coasters, etc. but not when it's 20 degrees. I was happy that inside they had a really fun roller coaster and some other really cool rides like a viking ship, a ride in a jeep through Pharoah's tomb, and then a balloon ride where you are in a balloon at the very top of the park. The pictures aren't the best...it was pretty dark inside when I finally started taking pics, so they didn't turn out great. It was a lot of fun and a really cool place to go visit!

New Zealand Trip!

Happy New Year! I hope 2009 will be an amazing year for everyone. As most of you know we had a week long winter break here and so I decided to take a trip to Auckland, New Zealand. I left Seoul (Incheon) on Christmas night around 7:30 PM. It was an 11 hour flight and adding the 4 hours for New Zealand time I arrived there at around 10:30 AM. I had contacted my hotel previously and asked if I could check in early. The lady was cool and said if they had a room ready they would be more than happy to. So...when I arrived I was sure hoping they had a room ready. It was just my luck that they did and she said they had also upgraded me to a studio room (which had a kitchen) for free. So...I figured it was going to be a good trip! HA! I thought of taking a short nap, but for those of you who know me and my major A.D.D. I thought "how can I be in N.Z. finally and now take a nap?" So, I changed into my shorts and grabbed my camera and a map and took off walking around town. I found a cool little park and took some pictures of the Sky Tower which was just right down the street from my hotel. The Sky Tower is 1,076 feet tall and the tallest free standing structure in the southern hemisphere. I also found a cool little park called Albert Park which had some really cool statues, a fountain, and some really beautiful flowers in bloom. It was pretty amazing to think I was in New Zealand, and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt the day after Christmas! I also ventured over to the Auckland Domain which was a HUGE park that houses the Auckland War Memorial Museum. I thought about checking out the museum right then, but it was a gorgeous day and so I thought I'd save the museum for a rainy day, plus...I didn't want to do everything in one day! HA! I had walked around pretty much all day just exploring and checking everything out, and I must say I was pretty tired, so I figured I'd head back to the hotel and shower and get a little rest.

I woke up pretty early and headed over to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World (pretty long name for a place, eh?) It was pretty cool, they had a snowcat that you can ride in and it takes you into an area that has some penguins. They have two different types of penguins: king penguins and gentoo penguins. I'm not a penguin expert, so I'm not sure in the pictures which are which. It was fun to be up close to them...I've always thought penguins are pretty cool animals. It was fun to see them swimming around...they are incredibly fast in the water. Kelly Tarlton's also has a huge fish tank that has some different types of fish and sharks. After spending a few hours there I was itching to do more, so I headed back to town and caught the ferry out to Devenport, which is a small community right across the harbour from Auckland. It was a really beautiful little town and had some really nice houses. There are also two volcano mountains on each end of the town, so I hiked from one volcano over to the other. There were a lot of different little shops and cafes back in town.

Day Three I took a 45 minute ferry ride over to Waiheke Island. It was a beautiful sunny day, which I was really happy about since I planned to be riding a bike all afternoon. The ferry ride was really nice and we saw tons of people out on the water in all different types of boats. Auckland's nickname is "City of Sails" so of course there were a lot of sailboats out in the harbour. I find it so funny that people who are on boats love to wave to other people who are boats...almost like there is some sort of connection between you just because you are using the same mode of transportation. There was an older lady sitting beside me and I swear, every boat she saw she would frantically wave at them. She received some waves back, but I think a lot of people just looked at her like she was crazy...she seemed so disappointed when she didn't get a wave back. Anyway...I just thought that was funny. So I got to Waiheke (I always like to ask locals the best way to pronounce a place, I asked two people and they both said it is pronounced WY-hick-ee, so that's what I went with) and rented a bicycle. They also had some places that rented scooters which I would have prefered, but all of them were rented out, so I opted for a bike. It wasn't bad really, the weather was amazing and the bike was a pretty nice bike. I ride mine daily here, so I figured I could make the ride around the island no problem. Right behind me in the line were two older women who didn't appear to be in amazing physical condition (in other words most people would say they were hefty, or fluffy, or fat...whichever you prefer) and I wondered how on earth these two women were going to make it around the island. I have no idea if they did...but I also didn't hear or see any ambulances, so I'll hope they made it! Here is a map of Waiheke so you can kind of see where I rode the bike http://www.waihekenz.com/images/map_large.gif I started at Matiatia and pretty much rode along the north shore following the roads that are closest to the beach. I rode to Onetangi and then headed back west on Onetangi Road and followed the road along the southern beaches. I'm not sure exactly how far of a ride it was...I'm guessing somewhere around 20-25 km which is around 12-15 miles probably. It took me about 4 hours to make the loop. There were some pretty steep roads, and then other times it wasn't bad. I saw some other people riding bikes and they all looked pretty tuckered out. I was glad I had brought some sunscreen as it was very sunny all day, and of course it is winter time here in Korea, so my white boy skin was getting a little red even with sunscreen. As I was riding I saw some different tour busses (of which I had the option to ride when I got to the island) and I was really glad I had taken the bike. I think it's either the Holyoak, or Langston in me (or maybe both) but I hate being on someone else's schedule, and having to go where they take me. I liked the fact that if I saw something I wanted to take a picture of...I could take a picture. If I wanted to sit there for 30 minutes and just relax...I could do that too. So, I was happy about the freedom that my bike enabled me to have. Waiheke is well known for all of their vineyards so I stopped at one of them and took a few pictures of some of the grape vines too. It was quite a ride, and I must admit I was pretty happy to get back to Matiatia and catch the ferry back to Auckland.

The next morning I woke up it was quite cloudy and rainy, and so I figured I'd take that chance to go check out the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It's cool sometimes how things just seem to fall into place...as I said before I figured maybe I'd check out the museum on a rainy day, and the one day it rained, that seemed to be just the place to go. It sits atop a dormant volcano in Auckland Domain, and the neo-classicist building is quite intimidating sitting up on the hill. The museum opened in 1929 and was later added on to in the 1950's. The name is a little misleading as it isn't just a war memorial, but also houses some collections of Maori and Pacific Island artifacts. They also had a T-Rex exhibit going on, but since I am cheap (yes, I admitted it, I'm cheap!) and it was $15 more dollars I decided to pass on that, since I'm not that enthralled by dinosaurs. They also had some cool exhibits about volcanoes, some New Zealand birds, fish, and animals, and then of course they had some war exhibits. It was a pretty cool museum...I'm not easily entertained at places like that, but I did my best to try and read some of the signs and such. Most people probably could have spent a day there easy, I could have done it in an hour, but stretched it into about 2.5 hours! I was pretty impressed with myself! HA! After, I went outside and the weather was some better...still not sunny, but the rain had stopped. I must say one of the pictures I got outside might be one of my favorite pictures I've taken. There was a large New Zealand flag high atop the museum, and I had taken about 10 pictures, hoping that the wind would unfurl the flag into a perfect picture...well, it was just my luck that on the BEST flag picture, there was also a bird that had flown right into the picture. I was so happy and when I got back and downloaded the picture, it was even better than I had initally thought. Pretty funny the little things that amuse me!

I woke up on the 30th and thought of my Mom and Dad and wanted to call and wish them a Happy Anniversary, but since I didn't have a phone that could make international calls...I didn't. So...I will take the time to say Happy Anniversary (a few days late) to my Mom and Dad. I believe if my shaky memory serves me right it was their 38th anniversary.

I had really wanted to make it over the western side of New Zealand and see the black sand beaches. I had flip flopped back and forth about renting a car...but as some of you might know in New Zealand they drive on the opposite side of the road. I don't usually fret over small stuff, but I really wondered how I would do if I got to driving and got into some heavy traffic or whatever and my instincts kicked in and I turned down the wrong way of a road, etc. So...I went against everything I believe in (as I stated earlier in the blog) and took a bus ride over the KitaKita Falls and Piha beach. I really hate being on any type of restriction as far as time and seeing what I want to see...but it wasn't quite as bad as I had thought it might be. KitaKita Falls was really cool...it's a three tiered waterfall that drops about 250 feet from the top pool. The area around the falls was initally settled by Europeans who were logging the "kauri" trees. The kauri is a huge tree with a trunk diameter that could reach up to around 16 feet. After checking out the falls we headed over to Piha beach and spent some time there. Lion Rock is a massive rock that lies in the middle of the beach and seperates the north and south beaches. It was a really nice climb up the rock, and there were some amazing views of both of the beaches. Apparently Piha is a great surfer's beach and has been the site of some national and international surfing contests.

The 31st was a day I had been looking forward to all week. I had planned a trip down to the Waitomo Caves to do some blackwater rafting. I had to leave Auckland really early, and it took about 3 hours to get to the caves. Waitomo is the region, and the trip I had planned we actually went rafting down the Ruakuri Cave. Ruakuri is a Maori word which translates to 'den of dogs' in English. I have to say...of all the fun things I have done in my life this might be one of the coolest things I have ever done. We got outfitted for our wetsuits and helmets and then of course had a little safety training course. After we got all dressed out we were taken to a staging area, where we had to jump off a little platform about 10 feet high with our tube. I guess they wanted to make sure people weren't too chicken to jump before we went into the cave (as there were several falls we jumped off of inside the cave). I had pictured the opening of these caves to be pretty big, like big enough to drive maybe an 18 wheeler into. We hiked up this little trail to the opening into the cave, the entry was no bigger than a doorway. It was amazing and I hiked down into there, and stepped into the freezing cold water! After getting inside we all gathered around the guide told us some of the history of the cave, and what to expect as we madeour journey. She told us to turn on the lights on the our helmet and we started into the cave. The water was pretty swift and I couldn't help but think of the first people into the caves the guts they must have had to venture into a place like that...totally dark and water moving swiftly. I don't think I would have been man enough to explore that thing 100s of years ago! There we floated along down the river and had a few waterfalls we had to jump off of with our tubes. We got to one area and she told us to turn our lights off and look up. As I floated on my tube it was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. The roof of the cave was filled with glow worms that let off a light lime green color...it was amazing! So as I floated along in the dark, it was just so cool to look up and see the top of the cave illuminated with these glow worms. Definitely an experience I couldn't have had anywhere else in the world (at least not that I know of). We floated along and just enjoyed being inside the cave...when I saw the light at the end, it was a little bitter sweet. It was so cool to see the light shining into the cave...but I was a little sad as I knew that the ride was over. After getting back to the raft company headquarters I took a shower and they had some soup and bagels. I had about 2 hours to kill before my shuttle ride back, so I took a hike down a trail close to the building. It was really cool and had some nice views. As most of you know, Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand, and there was an area that kind of reminded me of the movie. I don't know if they filmed there or not, but there were some really cool rock formations and a tree that reminded me of the trees that carried the hobbits (I think that's what Froto and the others were, right?) on their journey through the forest.

After the ride back from Waitomo I took and shower and got ready for New Year's Eve. Auckland is the first major city in the world to celebrate New Year's Eve. It was pretty cool...downtown was packed and as the clock struck 12:00 they shot off fireworkds from atop the Sky Tower. It was really a nice night, and interesting to think that I celebrated New Year's about 18 hours ahead of East Coast time (or about 20 hours ahead of Mountain Time). I was pretty exhausted from a long day, so after the fireworks ended I headed back and fell asleep.

The last day I didn't really have anything planned...I just retraced some of the places around town I had been, got a few more pictures, and spent a few dollars on some small souvenirs. I was a little sad to realize that the week was already over and I had to leave and go back to the real world again.

I hope this blog wasn't too long...I guess it turned into a bit of a novel. I took over 500 pictures, so if you're interested in seeing any more, just e-mail me and I'd be more than happy to send some more. New Zealand was amazing, and if any of you have ever thought of going there, I would highly recommend it. I do wish I could have made it to the South Island too...but I did as much as I could in just one week!

Merry Christmas!

Well...it's almost December 24th here in Cheonan and so I figured I'd go ahead and wish all of my friends and family MERRY CHRISTMAS since I might not have a chance to get back on here before it's actually Christmas.
This has been an interesting holiday season...my first time out of the States for Christmas and it has kind of just snuck up on me. As I said before, I haven't really done much this year; I've let my kids at the hagwon color some pictures and we've watched some Christmas videos on YouTube, but I just haven't gotten "into" the season. It did snow last night which made it feel a little "Christmas-sy" so I feel a little more into the spirit tonight.
Maybe one the reasons I feel like this is because I can somewhat relate to Toby (from The Office) so just watch this clip and get a good laugh. The first 20 seconds are why I've posted this, but you can watch the whole thing if you just need a good laugh http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=VO87KW-jM9A Sometimes being single this time of year is kind of a bummer and being 7,000 miles from my family also makes Christmas seem a little less exciting.
Anyway...I don't mean to sound like a bum and honestly I feel ok, just haven't really had much of any feeling about Christmas. I have thought a lot about some of the past Christmas' I've had and some of the wonderful memories I have. One of my first recollections is that my Uncle Bill used to go and cut a Christmas tree for all of the families when we were kids. I remember one year he brought ours and we didn't cover it with a tarp and I think it had snowed a bunch, so there was snow and ice all over it. Well...I had really wanted to put the tree up and I remember coming home from school and asking Mom if we could put the tree up. The problem was we had to wait a day or two with it in the garage to thaw out so we could take it inside and I remember how bummed out I was. I remember how excited I was on several occasions when Gram Langston would come stay Christmas Eve with us and how fun it was to have her at our house on Christmas Day. I miss her! I remember all the time we'd open our presents and then go over to Shawcroft's house and see what they got, and then make the scary trip up to Somerset to Aunt Laura's house. I always just knew we were going to slide off the road and into the river and die on Christmas Day! HA! I remember how slow my dear sweet Mother would always open her presents (and still does) as all of us kids were waiting to rip open another present. Mom has always been so sweet though, and I've never met anyone who could seem more genuinely happy about receiving a home made soup in a Mason jar from her visiting teachers. I remember she would always write down every gift she got and from who...she might still have those lists, so if you're interested in what gifts she got in 1986, just ask her...she could probably tell you! HAHA...I just have to pick on my Mom. I remember the first year I was in St. George and I got fly home all the way to Grand Junction. I thought I was such a big boy back then...18 and all. I remember how sad I was when I had to leave to go back to Utah and as always many tears were shed at the airport. Back then remember your family could sit and wait for a plane with you and of course say "goodbye" and "I love you" 53 times before boarding the plane. I remember stealing candy from my Mom's glass Christmas tree containers one at a time and hoping she wouldn't notice. I really loved those Reese's mini cups and I'd eat as many as I could until I started to notice that you could see there was some space in the little tree. I'm sure Mom always knew it was me! I remember the little tiny Santa boots that we set out each year...with the marked "M", "B" and "R" so we could tell them apart. I remember the year Mer and I were bound and determined to catch Santa Claus and we were going to set up fishing string by the front door with some bells on it so he would get caught up in it. We planned that for a few weeks, but never did have the guts to do it! I remember getting up with Mer at about 4-5AM and putting together our Cliffhanger race car track...that thing was so cool with the cars climbing the wall. I remember drawing names each year and hoping I didn't get my Dad...I never did know what to get him! I guess I still don't and once Julie joined the family I think she's had him several times and he's always loved her gifts, so thanks Julie! I remember last year making a quick trip to see my family and then being stuck in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport all day!
I think the thing I think of each year though was how sad my Mom always is when the season is over. I remember she hated to take the tree down and put all the stuff up. As I got older I felt the same way, and I think I've got a lot of my Mom in me. All of the fun and food and friends...and it seems sometimes once the tree is down, and the lights are all rolled back up and put in the garage...well, people sometimes just go back to the daily grind and forget all those good times for another 11 months. Plus, the poor tree always looked so sad sitting there by the trash can with silver icicles on it.
As you can see...I have so many awesome memories of Christmas, and I'm thankful for wonderful friends and family that I've had to share them with. I pray that each of you remember that the birth of Jesus Christ of really the reason that we celebrate this time of year. I know it sounds cliche, but it is sooo easy to forget.
So...Merry Christmas to everyone and have a happy and safe New Year. I'll post some New Zealand pics when I get back in 2009!

I'll leave you with the lyrics to "Here was a Man", one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs:

Here was a man a man who was born in a small village the son of a peasant woman
He grew up in another small village
Until he reached the age of thirty he worked as a carpenter
Then for three years he was a traveling minister
But he never traveled more than two hundred miles from where he was born
And where he did go he usually walked
He never held political office he never wrote a book never bought a home
Never had a family he never went to college and he never set foot inside a big city
Yes here was a man
Though he never did one on the things usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself he had nothing to do with this world
Except through the devine purpose that brought him to this world
While he was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him
Most of his friends ran away one of them denied him
One of them betrayed him and turned him over to his enemies
Then he went through the mockery of a trial
And was nailed to a cross between two thieves
And even while he was dying his executioners gambled
For the only piece of property that he had in this world
And that was his robe his purple robe
When he was dead he was taken down from the cross
And laid in a borrowed grave provided by compassionate friends
More than nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today he's a centerpiece of the human race
Our leader in the column to human destiny
I think I'm well within the mark when I say that all of the armies that ever marched All of the navies that ever sailed the seas
All of the legislative bodies that ever sat and all of the kings that ever reigned
All of them put together have not affected the life of man on this earth
So powerfully as that one solitary life
Here was a man

Random thoughts...

I can't believe it's only 10 days until Christmas...this year has flown by and I think back to the times when I was a kid and older people would tell me that each year goes by faster...well I think I have to agree with that. Hard to believe that just a year ago I was sitting in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport all day Christmas since there was a massive snowstorm in Denver (which delayed all of the flights into Dallas-Ft. Worth). I'd had a great 24th with my family in Prescott, AZ and was heading back to Charlotte...what a boring and horrible day that was. Well, this year I'll also be in the airport most of Christmas, but probably a little more excited...I'm so excited to be going to Auckland for Christmas this season. I have wanted to go there since I was just a little kid, and so this is sort of like a dream come true...I'll try to take plenty of pictures and add them here for everyone to see.
The weather here has been weird...it's really really cold for like 4 days and then it gets nice and is pretty warm for about 3 days and then continues the cycle over again. It's not bad except for the nights I'm riding my bicycle back from the hakwon (Kids College) at 8 PM...then I do miss my Maxima and heat! Other than that...I've had a pretty good relationship with my bike. My tires had about gone flat the last few weeks, and I finally got some air in the tires, which has made riding back and forth to school ridiculously easier...amazing what some air in a tire can do. I had meant to get them pumped up, but the tire stems here are totally different and I couldn't figure out really what to do...so I just kept riding as they got lower and lower. I finally went to the bike shop where I bought the bike and got it aired up and the lady checked out my tube for any leaks...the cost was a whopping 3,000 Won, (about $2.25)...so I've been riding around on nearly flat tires the last two months to save $2, pretty smart! HA!
So I finally tried oysters the other night...not the best thing I've ever had. They were on top of some kimchi when I went out to eat the other night and I thought "well, I've never had oysters, so why not try them?!" It tasted kind of like how it smells when you go near a lake after people have been fishing and gutted the fish and left a few hours prior...at least that was my take on it. Almost all of the Korean food I've had here though has been awesome and I really love it all.
So as much as I love Korea there are a few funny things I've noticed here:
People love to honk their horns. I don't really know why or what causes it, but I can be riding my bike crossing the street 50 yards in front of a car, and I can guarantee that the car will honk their horn at me. At first it really would tick me off...now I just kind of laugh and think it's ridiculous.
Koreans love "fake brands." When I first got here I was baffled at how many women had Louis Viton hand bags...they were everywhere! I knew that they were expensive and so I couldn't really understand why I saw so many of them. Well...in the Seoul subway you can buy anything, and I mean anything...well, I finally figured out why there were so many "Louis Viton" bags, they were fake! They're like 10,000 Won ($7.50) for a purse, and so it all made sense then. I bought some really nice "handmade silk (wink, wink)" ties, 2 for 5,000 Won! HA!
Koreans love microphones and blaring their voice to everyone. It's nothing to hear the the apple or tangerine truck rolling by at 8AM on Saturday with a recording just blaring over and over, giving the prices for the fruit. I go to the local grocery store and there is a dude who just walks around with a headset on, talking non-stop about all of the different sales and pricing...I think a nice sale flyer will suffice! HA
Anyway...as most of you know I love Korea, and those are only a few funny things I can really find here. Most of the people here are very kind and appreciate foreigners who try to struggle with some seriously broken (maybe busted is a better word) Korean. I have had a lot of fun learning Korean, but I'm always so hesitant to actually speak anything since I think my pronunciation is so awful...but every once and a while I'll try to break out some new Korean I've learned from my book!
So...anyway, I just had a few minutes tonight and wanted to just say some random stuff...I don't even know if any of it made sense, and althought I usually give in to my OCD and read, then re-read, then re-re-read my post, tonight I'm just going to post it and forget if there are any grammatical errors, or things that just don't make sense!

Korean basketball

Sorry I've been SOOO horrible writing, I always have good intentions and then just don't write and then the days go by and then I just kind of forget or figure the stuff I was going to say is old news now. So...I'll be honest, these pictures are a few weeks old, but I guess they're still new, right?! HAHA

I had the chance to go to a Dongbu Promy basketball game a few weeks ago. I was actually pretty impressed with the skills the guys had...we're not talking LeBron and Dirk here, but still they were actually pretty decent. I have seen some of the guys balling at the playgrounds here, and I can say in all honesty that as much as I love Koreans...they are awful at basketball for the most part. They can certainly kill me in badminton though. Anyway...my friend bought some tickets for the game for 6,000 Won, which is about $4.50 and we actually had some pretty good seats. As I said over the summer after going to the Doosan Bears game...Korean sports fans are amazing. There is never a dull moment and they had a dude out leading people in cheers about 20 minutes before the game even started! In Charlotte we were lucky if there were fans 20 minutes AFTER the game started. They had balloons for everyone and they waived them around and cheered like crazy. Dongbu is by far the best team over the past 6 or 7 years, they had like 4 championship banners up in the rafters. In the Korean Basketball League each team is allowed 2 foreign players, I guess so the league isn't over run by foreigners. There were two really big dudes from the US and then some speedy Koreans. The game was pretty fun to watch and Dongbu pretty much dominated the game and destroyed K.C.C.

As I said, these pictures are a few weeks old, so I'll also include some pictures of the leaves changing.

I promise I will do better with this thing...that's one of my resolutions...so I'll do better for a few weeks and then not write again, kind of like my journals! HAHA

Thanks for reading!

Tongyeong

I had a chance last week to experience a "package trip" tour in Korea and I must say it was quite an experience and one I won't forget anytime soon. HA! Dana (English name, her Korean name is Mi Sun) who is our director at Kids College asked Sam and I if we wanted to go with her on a package trip down to the sea. Of course I said yes and so she said she would plan the whole thing. She said there would be a few stops along the way and people would try to sell us something, but then we would go to the sea and we could do whatever we wanted there. The trip was quite cheap because of course they are hoping to sell people on stuff along the way, and so to get them on the bus they make the trip quite affordable (20,000 Won). I figured what the heck, I can't really speak much Korean anyway so what do I have to lose...I could just look at the person and shrug my shoulders or say "molayo" Korean for "I don't know." We left Cheonan at around 7:30 AM, they fed us some kimbap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbap on the bus, it was actually quite good. I had brought my MP3 and was hoping to get a little sleep on the way, however...as I have said before Koreans LOVE to talk on microphones, so our hostess started talking on this microphone and of course there was a big speaker right about my seat. I assumed she was welcoming all of us and telling us about the days events. I swear she talked for 30 minutes and went on and on. Right after she finished, she turned on this AWFUL music and of course had it cranked up...so there went my chance to get any sleep. We were riding along on the bus and then took an exit in a very rural area. After a few turns on a dirt road we pulled up into this little place that, much to my surprise, had elk in these little tiny corrals. All of them were de-antlered which was quite a surprise to me. So...we go into this little building and the guy starts to talk. I asked Dana what they heck he was talking about and I found out that Koreans (well some) like to drink the juice from elk and deer antlers...it is some sort of a health drink I guess. Of course since Sam and I were the foreigners he wanted us to drink it. He handed both of us some and usually I am cool with trying new stuff, but at 9 AM I didn't feel like drinking antler juice so I passed it back to Dana. After his presentation (which lasted about 35 minutes) they brought in all of these ladies to try and get us to buy this juice. I found out it was 350,000 Won for a supply! No one bought any and the guy was upset and so was our "guide" lady. So...we all piled on the bus and headed to our next stop. It was a Korean Black Ginseng place. They brought in some famous Korean wrestler guy (I don't speak Korean, but I can usually figure out what people are talking about) and he was trying to sell us on how great this product was. After him, another true salesman came in and talked for about 30 minutes. Of course...once again Sam and I being the foreigners he wanted us to drink some ginseng. I actually did and it was ok, but not all that great. They were trying hard to sell some ginseng and one lady bought, but that wasn't enough. So they started throwing in all of these free products. Well, the lady was upset then and she wanted the free products too, and after a little bit of talking they decided to give her the free items as well. Two other people bought the ginseng (for 500,000 Won! around $425) and so everyone was happy. Finally we were on our way to Tongyeong.

We got there at around 1 PM and it is a really pretty place. It is right on the Korean straight and there are tons and tons of little islands all over. The spot we went to had a gondola ride up to the top of a little mountain (this was included in the package trip) and so we hopped in the gondola and went to the top. The view was amazing and I really wish that my pictures would have turned out a little better. It was a little cloudy but still a really pretty view. Dana said on a clear sunny day that you can see to the Japanese island of Tsushima (well, with some binoculars. They had some set up that you can pay and look through it) which I think is about 70 miles from Tongyeong. I was happy to finally have seen the sea, as Korea is surrounded by water and I still hadn't even seen it yet.

We hiked around up on the mountain for a while and got some cool pictures and then had to head back. The bus ride home was quite long and so to make the time pass by some of the older Korean men broke out the soju http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soju and offered it around the bus. Of course I don't drink so I declined but Sam helped himself to some. Most of the people on the bus were in their 50s (I was the youngest person) and they were all having a good time and wanted to start dancing. So they out on some music and people started dancing in the isle of the bus...it was hilarious. There was a car accident and so we had to sit in traffic for a while and all was well until our tour guide announced that they would NOT be serving us dinner as they had earlier promised because of the traffic delay. Well...all of the drunk old men were NOT HAPPY and so they started yelling at the lady. It got a little tense but after some shouting and arguing, everyone calmed down and we made it back to Cheonan around 9PM. Wow...what a trip! HA! Dana said that was the first time she had been on a package trip and it would be her last too!