Endless Weekend

Ahhhh....another weekend draws to a close and I sit here posting photos and wondering why I am not going to bed. Am I tired? Yes. Do I have to get up early tomorrow? Yes. But I'm still up.

Right now is supposed to be the calm before the storm, but I still can't find time to do anything I need to do, like mail packages home, or write my evalutions for work, because I have too much fun stuff to do. But, I am loving every minute of it, enjoying Korea and the friends I have made here as much as I can before its time to go.

So what is this storm I speak of? Basically, beginning next week, I will be working Intensive Session, meaning I work from 9 am to 8:30 pm, 5 days a week. That schedule will last most of the summer, with a slight reprive in August. And on top of it, the next two months are full of plans to do everything and go everywhere before I leave Korea. I still have to visit the DMZ, there is a Mud Festival, a North Korea hiking trip (more on that in a later post), Soraksan, Jeju Do, the green tea fields, ceramics village, beaches, any number of summer festivals, and the World Cup, which ensures massive celebrations if Korea wins any games. Not to mention the museums, palaces and other cultural things I have not yet done.

All of this while I am wrapping up my time at work, moving out of my apartment, and getting ready to go on my 5 month backpacking trip.

It may sound like I am complaining, but really I am grateful for how cool my life is right now.

So anyway...the last week has been a lot of fun, which really stands out against the dullness that I experienced most of winter. Last Wednesday was a holiday, and this Tuesday is also a holiday, so it's feeling like a big long weekend punctuated by annoying days that I have to work. Why didn't they move the Wednesday holiday to Friday, and the Tuesday holiday to Monday, so we could have a 4 day weekend? I'm sure there is some logic to it, but Korean logic doesn't always make sense to everyone else. Regardless, I'm just glad for the days off!

Wednesday was a holiday because of Election Day -- a great idea, I think. (I know the voter turnout still isn't that high, but it's higher than the US.) Jeremy and I headed up to the Western part of Bukhansan (the big national park North of Seoul) and discovered another side of the mountain that was absolutely lovely. It was crowded as usual, but such a nice day, so it didn't matter. I could have spend a week out there just relaxing and enjoying the outdoors.

Of course we took a ton of photos, but I'll spare you all the dozens we took of ourselves posing in front of various trees and flowers. Ok, well most of them, at least.

The river, packed with people taking a dip.

Jeremy looks adorable in every photo, although he refuses to admit it. He is young enough to have been one of my students, and gay, but I'm still in love with him!

One of the cutest things was the number of people taking naps at the top of the mountain. A huge percentage of the hikers in Korea are over age 50, and they are in ridiculously good shape. It's always great to see people old enough to be my grandparents just truckin' up the mountain like its nothing.

Me, with the peaks of Bukhansan in the background.

One of the many fortress gates that still stands from back in the Shilla days. This particular spots was one of the most stategic points of defense and the location of a lot of big battles.

At the end of the hike we sat for about 30 minutes looking at this river view.

The best part was at the bottom -- there a several creekside restaurants that have set up little picnic areas along the banks, and they bring your food down to you.

This was our dinner picnic spot.

Friday involved a lot of merrrymaking in the neighborhood park, so much that the cops actually came by and told us to be quiet. This NEVER happens in Korea, people make all the noise they want and no one complains. Probably because we were speaking English, it was more noticable. But the cops here are so benign. Back home we would have been given a ticket and kicked out, but Korean cops are actually sweet. They nicely asked us to keep the noise down and the left us alone.

At some point in the night, all of the guys ended up posing with their shirts off. I'm not exactly sure why, but it was damn cute. From left to right are Jeremy, Raj, coworkers Dave and Ryan, and new neighborhood buddy, Jake.

Today was a little treat that I haven't had in awhile -- Peruvian food! There is a jewelry vendor in our neighborhood that Stephen, Whitney and I all became friends with awhile back. His name is Walter and he is just wonderful. He is Peruvian, but has been living in Korea for 8 years now. After 9 months of talking about going to the Peruvian/Mexican restaurant with him, we finally made it. The food was delicious -- we had ceviche, which is raw fish "cooked" in lemon juice, onions, peppers and spices. I traveled in Peru a few years back, so it was great to see some familiar dishes.

The remnants of our ceviche.

Walter, Whitney, Syntec, Raj, Me, Esteban.

We spent the later half of the day tripping around Myeong Dong, one of the biggest shopping areas of Seoul. I was thrilled because I found a store that actually sold pants that fit me AND were reasonably priced. Its called Uniqlo, and its somewhat like Old Navy, but from Japan. And of course I spent too much money, but it's all stuff I need!

Breakdancers outside the department store.

Raj in a fitting room with a very tiny door. Why they didn't just make these doors a tad bigger, I don't know.

Nerds in Myeong Dong.

And...now I'm going to bed.