Back to the Grind

Back to a regular routine this week after a month of little to no work. I should be full of complaints but in having my lunches all planned out for the week I'm feeling happy.

Two days of hell?

A few weeks ago during a boring vacation day I agreed to do a two day camp at a school outside of Seoul.

Positives:
I get overtime for the two days and have to do zero planning.

Negatives (or fears):
I have no idea where it is.
I have to be at the subway station 30 minutes from here at 7:00 am.
I have no idea what ages the kids are.
I have to work on a Saturday.
I have no idea about the events I am supposed to be running.

This negative list is obviously longer but it should be fun. I have brought along some little extras in case things that have been planned aren't strong. I'm sure I'll be bagged come Saturday night but I just got an email today from my friend Stephen from Japan and he is in town on business so the beer I get as a reward on Saturday night will definitely make me forget all about the last two days.


***Edit...Camp wasn't so bad, sure it was early mornings and it rained all day Friday but all was good.

Jeju Fun

Jeju Island gets sold to new foreigners here as the Hawaii of Korea and seeing as I have been to Apgujeong in Seoul (aka, the Hollywood of Korea) I have been very, very leery going there. I put off multiple invites and long weekend trips to Jeju but when Joone got free lodging at a luxury resort Saejin, Tony and I all jumped at the chance to check it out.


It was a last minute plan and so we had to take whatever flight we could get and that meant a 6:30am departure. This ultimately meant an earlier check-in and with it being a single hour leap to the island we arrived too early to get into our room. This was the perfect reason to change into our trunks and hit one of the resorts two pools. We chose the one with beer.






The outside grounds were gorgeous with palm trees and real grass. Ask a Korean and palm trees are considered local to Jeju but if you look around the only place the trees grow only along roads next to the resorts. Hmmm, really? Now obviously palms can survive here but I know they live here on the far edge of the region palms can grow but either way it did give the island a tropical feel (in the resort area). I will take stunted palms but the pines and lava rocks found everywhere else were beautiful and worthy of being shown off as rural Korea.


Our place was a two room apartment with it's own kitchenette. One bedroom had a bed and it's own private bathroom and the second room was empty where you set down a sleeping pad on floor the way many older Koreans sleep.


We finally hit one of the beaches near the hotel just before sunset and the water had already retreated. The sand was nice and next to lava rocks it gave the beach a completely different feel from any I had ever been to (next stop Hawaii.)


Dinner on the first night was fish. I play up my hatred of fish to my kids as a joke and when I first came to Korea fish did bother me. The smells and looks of the things hit the gag reflects' faster than a shot of tequila but over time (dinners with Korean friends) I can now handle the raw stuff. We went out a little late for sup and so Saejin and June used their Korean skills for a discount to great use. We were all bagged by the early morning flight and hit the sack soon after our fresh meal.






Refreshed from an early night we woke early and hired a taxi for the day to hit some of the sights of the island. First stop was a Jeonbangpokpo just on the edge of Seogwipo city. The pictures speak for themselves.


More of the sights around Jeonbangpokpo which is a five minute walk from the parking lot.


We were in tourist mode but didn't hit all that Seogwipo had to offer, instead we climbed Hallasan the smart way by taxi. Hallasan is a dead volcano and I believe the highest (possibly second )point in South Korea.


The altitude obviously got to Tony (a proper University professor teaching marketing) and June (a banker running his own investment company) as they started doing ridiculous walks hoping none of their students or clients were spying on them.


After a nice (more fucking seafood) lunch in Jeju City we hit the Manjanggul Caves which are lava tubes that were cold, damp and as expected...dark.


The caves were our last spot of the day and thinking Jeju was just a tiny island we scofted at the idea we would need six hours to a simple three spots. Six hours later we took back any ignorant ideas we made on the flight over.


We finally had a land mammal for dinner when the Koreans accepted my choice of pork for dinner.


After dinner we hit the resorts neighbouring hotel for some classy drinks of wine before hitting the minimart for beers outside on the lawn. This lead to more fun and intruducing skinny dipping to the "conservative" Koreans (pictures not included.)


We had a long lay in and after trying out some western food at the resort we walked over to the folk village just across the parking lot. The park is set up to show three diffrent regions of traditional Korean life.


Fun times.



Jeju is famous of dungdaeji (translstes into shit pigs) these black skinned pigs live/lived off of people excrements. June was the only one willing to pose for the much begged picture. While there are still some pigs that still value tradition it's difficult to find restaurants that do serve authentic shit pork.


We had a great long weekend and I have finally crossed over to the Jeju is a must see for anyone coming over to Korea team.