Little did we know that there wasn’t just a cute note inside. There were challenges. Some were harder than others, some were embarrassing, and some were for our challenger’s sheer entertainment. We sadly have not blogged about each one like we should have but I do not want our challenger to think we did not appreciate every thought and ounce of energy that went into creating such a fun challenges for us. So, we thank you Deb Stubbeman, for the most creative and loving treasures that we have had the pleasure of opening throughout our trip. Here you go Deb, our hilarious attempts at your challenges!  We love you and your challenges so much.

(In no particular order)
1)Scream “My aunt rocks” in a crowded airport. This was the first challenge and since I (Ashley) have no problem embarrassing myself, I took this hit for the team. We were in Lima, Peru. I was relieved that afterward, I was not arrested for being crazy. Just so you know Deb, I was not shy about it. The insane laughter that escaped me following my screaming probably kept the security guards at bay. Mission accomplished.







2) Find a red car and put a picture on your blog. We decided to have a little fun with this one. We saw plenty of red cars and we thought that was boring. So, we waiting until we found a red Lamborghini. That’s right, a Lamborghini. We were in Cuzco, Peru and it just appeared. A man was behind it, pushing it through the street. Ok, we are talking about the famous Peruvian ice cream….LAMBORGINI! Mission accomplished.







3)Find some kind of turkey and take a pic-
We were lucky enough by November 2009 in Korea to be friends with the most wonderful people. We were invited to spend Thanksgiving at our friends house along with 15 of our “Socrates Cafe” friends. It was a pot luck dinner full of fun, stories and a little football. Yes, there was a turkey but we didn’t eat any! Mission accomplished.

Little apartment, many friends

Candle light dinner

The pictures are even better!

Soon I recovered from my momentary paralysis and took our first steps into the airport.  Those steps  would later get to be a nonchalant experience as we moved from country to country, but for that moment my feet seemed too heavy with my thoughts to move fast. Jason was still semi-unconscious from the early hour but the look on his face was reassuring. We were all nervous smiles and giggles. I remember the phrase “we’re really leaving” being repeated throughout the morning. I remember feeling caught between so many emotions but the dominant one overcame the meek. I was excited.What would happen on this year 1/2 long journey?

Fast forward one year. To put it lightly, a lot has happened. I am now sitting on my torn, yellowish, imitation leather couch in Busan, South Korea. I have a 40 hour a week job teaching 5 year old’s their ABC’s and not to dong-shim each other (butt sword). For the first time in my life I am living in a  true, hustling bustling city and I can see the ocean in 15 min. on my blue Delfino scooter.  I can’t speak much Korean but I have my students convinced I can so they don’t talk crap about me. A well-placed Korean “really?” into any of their conversations does wonders for my reputation. Each day my conversations with Jason revolve around “the next big adventure” which is referring to our 2nd leg of our trip that starts in November. I get excited when I get packages from home with protein bars in them. I can’t buy any shoes in Korea and most of their pants. Needless to say I have saved a lot of money out of sheer embarrassment of the shop keepers repeatedly telling me I am too big. I will probably cry if I can find a pair of pants to fit my amazon legs. I feel a true sense of community in Busan. I love my friends here and they have become my second family. I feel involved, active, social…..but what does this all mean???

I had all those things back home in Chicago. Well, not the 5 year old Korean children but outside of that, I was set. Why did we leave what most people would call “the perfect life?”

To tell you the truth there has been moments in the past year when I have questioned our quest. Usually those moments have happened because of a negative experience and I immediately sought comfort in the thoughts and memories of home. Home to me right now is comforting. Home is easy because I know where I am, where I can go, who I could see….it’s so comfortable. Soft around the edges with vegetarian food on top.

That’s why we left. We didn’t want to fall into the trap of comfort in everyday life. I thrive on variety and so does Jason. Although we both can be creatures of habit, we both agreed that we wanted to push ourselves on a marathon of a trip. We wanted to combine our passion for helping others with our other passion to travel. I do feel we pushed it to the extreme by being gone so long but with my best friend at my side, the world was ours for the taking.

I am not going to sugar-coat it at all. Many points of this trip have been extremely difficult. Tempers have flared (as well as my nostrils), time-outs have been taken, given, stomachs have shrunk, emptied and the sacred phrase “I wish” has been muttered about numerous things from food to turning signals. I have struggled. I have daydreamed about home, friends, family and little white dogs.

Why? Why travel for so long, be uncomfortable, hungry, missing home, missing a bed, my cute dogs and whatever other creature comforts that keep us happy in a normal everyday life?

I can’t pinpoint one moment when it was all worth it. There are so many. The amazing moments, sights, scenes, experiences, and people far outweigh the negative moments that we will someday laugh about. I do truly believe that because we focused our trip around helping others it in turn helped us. It was much easier to make the sacrifices necessary to live through the challenging situations that come while backpacking through an unfamiliar place when there was a drive and purpose behind it. Not having everything I want at my finger tips has made me forever grateful for the ease at which we can get whatever we want in an hour or less back in the good USA.

This year has been life-changing. There is no way it couldn’t have been. The lessons I have learned in the most unexpected places has brought true happiness to my heart the way buying material things never could and never will. Jason and I have grown closer than I think we have yet to realize. We have always been close but this trip has broken down any last barrier that have ever existed between us. I still can’t believe that he’s not sick of me but I do think it’s because we have learned to laugh about the disastrous moments that we haven’t ditched each other yet.  The shared moments and struggles have strengthened our relationship and focused our direction for our future careers. I have always said if you can travel with a person you are meant to be…well I guess we nailed that one.

Most of all, the best part of this trip hasn’t been getting to see the sights or do really adventurous cool things. It’s been about the people. Jason and I have been so fortunate throughout this trip to meet  people who have challenged us, taught us things and mostly, just been great friends. Some people we have met it has only been for a day but we are still in contact with them (thanks facebook and Skype!). Many of the people we have met didn’t speak any English but somehow we were always able to communicate and find the common ground of laughter. Some of the people we met were unable to talk but shared with us their smiles and spirit that we will never forget. Some people have become our second family away from home and made it possible for us to survive in Korea for so long. The list of family in Busan can go on forever but I must give a shout out to my SLP family Leah, Dianna, Bryan and Courtney. To all the people we have met along the way, we are forever in your debt for the lessons you taught us and the happiness you shared.

To wrap up 1 year being gone I am going to post some of my top 10 moments and experiences.

1) Holding a clinic with Jason  for the poorest people in Pisco, Peru where they have no education or healthcare about people with disabilities. I was able to tell a mother about her daughter’s disability and re-assure her that her daughter could do anything she wanted to do (which was to be a hairdresser).

swept away on sliding sands

2) While volunteering in Hauncayo, Peru at the special needs school I had a student Jahir who I gave physical therapy/occupational therapy to every day. For the first two weeks he threw a tantrum at the beginning because he didn’t like his atrophied arm touched, let alone made to do things with it. I worked extremely hard at setting a routine with Jahir and one day he showed up to the therapy room on his own and sat down on the mat. He then proceeded to tap the mat to get me to sit and place his arm in my hands to massage it. Then he successfully opened a jar by himself for the first time.

Ashley with one of her therapy students, Jahair

3) Spotting my first Leatherback sea turtle while on duty at 2am. Then getting to hold the egg bag as she gave me 120 eggs.

4) Waking up at 3am to hike in the dark to entrance to Machu Picchu. Then hiking up to Waynu Picchu for sunrise.

My first graders in Korea

5)  Meeting Sally, Anthony, Tonje, Mike and Lauren at the Casa Project in Hauncayo and getting to spend the month with them. Included in that memory is trying to fit 9 people into a cab and because it was Peru, the cabbie not caring. This happened at least every other day.There is too many memories to list but playing with the kids at the Casa project while being with this amazing crew is all rolled into one sweet package in my head.

Expand Peru crew

Baby Leatherbacks just before release

6) Pouring a cement roof in Pisco, Peru the old fashion way. Buckets and manpower. I had the biggest bruises on my forearms which I proudly showed off after we left.

7) Hiking the Haleakala crater in Hawaii with Jase for our 2 year anniversary.

Watching Jason work with the kids at the special needs school in Peru.

9) Being in the Busan Night Live Comedy Sketch show and the Vagina Monologues…in Korea

10) Getting dressed up at a Geisha in Japan with my cousin Jessica. Also added to this is the entire trip over Christmas with Deb, Cody, Kevin and Jessica.

10 1/2) My epic 26th birthday party in Korea. 7 people dressed up as the rainbow rejects (colors that didn’t make the primary rainbow). Enough said.

A little after the game we all met back up and headed to Haeundae beach where we enjoyed a tasty dinner at Tippy Thai. I love Pad Thai! Shortly after, we all headed to Club Makdem. The club was actually really neat and had green laser lights shining everywhere, with a couple different bars. They played a combination between house/techno and hip hop music. Not what I expected in Busan, but it was fun.

J

I started by taking a few pictures of the temple as they are preparing for Buddha’s Birthday (in May) and have paper lanterns and other decorations hung around the temple. I jetted up the first portion of the hike as I had done it before. At a family pace, it takes about an hour to reach the top. I was not up for spending my day on things I had already seen, so I did it in about 30 minutes. I must say having a stuffy nose, while quickly hiking up a steep mountainside is not an ideal thing. The whole time, I was somewhere between sniffling and needed to blow my nose. I am sure the Koreans around me thought I was making some weird sounds. Nevertheless, I reached the top gate and set off on a new route across the mountain ridge.

I was walking along the ridge line, next to an old – yet refurbished – wall that a century ago was to keep out Japanese invaders. Let’s just say it did not work so well. However, it did leave quite a site to see for visitors today. The wall is only nine feet in height and is made largely of mid-sized blocks. There are lookout posts at set increments along the top of the wall and a few large main gates that served as an entry way to the fortress the wall was surrounding. I very much enjoyed the peace and quite – much different from the sound of constant traffic everywhere in the city. The sun was shining and their was a gentle breeze, so I found one of the rocky outcroppings overlooking the valley and sat for awhile – in peace.

Eventually, I reached the end of one section of the wall and followed a small stream uphill to a place where the cherry blossoms and Magnolias were in full bloom. It was very pretty, especially with the sun shining and the gentle stream flowing below. After a while, I reached a small uphill to a somewhat hidden temple. I say a small uphill, but what I mean is the steepest road I have ever seen in my life. I literally had to walk on my toes for about twenty minutes to reach the temple. The temple itself was very neat. It was framed by a large block of granite behind the main temple, with a bell tower hovering over side of the mountain falling away below. The traditional colors were used in painting – vibrant greens, reds, and blues.

I realized after finding a small map (all in Korean, of course) that I was actually on the opposite (wrong) side of the mountain and had wandered into a small valley somewhere along the way. Though I was tired, I climbed back up to the ridge top and finally descended through a small village filled with small shops and dirt tennis courts. Adults were out playing a version of Nukem with their feet (I am sure it has a real name, but I don’t know it – anyone know?).

I finally reached town and was met with traffic congestion. Wow, it is night and day between the mountains and city! It took me another hour just to walk back to my apartment, even though it had only taken me three hours to hike all the way down the ridge line, including going up and down the mountain twice! Traffic is nuts.

All in all it was a great trip filled with amazing views and picturesque temples, cherry trees, and magnolias.

J

Ash and I departed via 6:30 am bus, along with our fellow foreign teachers and a Korean friend (Courtney, Leah, Diana, Bryan and Won Seop), so we could enjoy an early hike before exploring the official Cherry Blossom Festival. We arrived so early, in fact, that we had a hard time finding an open coffee shop. Anyone that has been to South Korea can tell you that it is unheard of not to be able to find an open coffee shop. We did eventually find a small shop that was just putting on their first pot of the day and we all sat and enjoyed a few tasty pastries and joe.

We started our exploration by scaling the “365″ stairs to the central temple, positioned atop a large hill in the middle of town. The funny thing is that there was also an electric tram car that shuttled people up and down the hill for a small fee. We decided to brave the stairs on the way up, counting the whole way.

The temple itself was surrounded by interestingly sculpted bushes in the shapes of animals and hearts as well as some festivities and vendors. We tried our hand at a few traditional Korean sports (basically a version of lawn darts with an arrow) and browsed some amazing wood sculpting pieces from vendors. From the top of the seven-story temple, we could see the surrounding town all the way to the outlying islands and warships in the bay. We also set our eyes on a small temple on a distant mountainside for our hike.

After making our way through town (which involved lots of questioning of locals) we came to the famous “love bridge”. This is a average, but nice, bridge over a small stream that is lined on both sides by cherry trees. Unfortunately, the cherry trees were not blooming!!! We could only see little buds on the trees. It was still nice walking down the pathway as it was lined by accu-pressure walks and foot baths. Another highlight was seeing the actress who plays “Sun” on the TV show Lost on an advertisement for a local musical.

At the base of the mountain, we found a wedding chapel that also doubled as a theme park – rides and all – and looked like Disney World from the outside. After a short time watching a rather odd dance by a Korean guy who was half naked/cross dressed and singing, we took a short break for a brown bag lunch.

The hike itself was pretty easy, but lasted a nice two hours. Jason decided to cut off from the group to reach the ridge (and the view) before catching up with the rest of the group at the temple. The view was amazing, looking over the outlying islands and the entire city, covering the valley on both sides of the mountain.

After Jason caught back up with the group, we explored the temple, which was precariously placed on the side of a very steep valley. The temple had the usually fancy gate, guardian statues, and statues of Buddha and other things.

We split for a dinner of Sushi before heading back on the bus to Busan. Great day!

J

Last weekend we were invited by the mother of one of my former students to go with her and her son to Gyeong Ju. Gyeong Ju is a historic town in eastern South Korea that is listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO for its historical significance. Other than being very old, it is a beautiful town with blooming cherry trees lining many of the streets, temples dotting the mountain sides, and two-thousand year old stone carvings hidden within caves.

We started the 1 1/2 hour drive with a 3 hour trip in traffic…welcome to S. Korea. The entrance into Gyeong Ju off the expressway was a massive toll booth outfitted in traditional architecture with an arched, black slate roof and colorfully decorated sides. Upon arriving, we were all quite hungry so we stopped at a small, mom and pop bi bim bop restaurant. Bi bim bop is a bowl with rice and assorted vegetables with a dash of spicy sauce. It was delicious and came with tea and some other various Korean side dishes.

After lunch, we walked up the hill to a famous historic temple to see beautiful cherry blossoms and well-manicured grounds. We walked by the ancient statues and shiny, golden Buddha ornaments. Ashley was also able to get a painting of three horses painted by one of the monks at the temple.

We later made our way up another mountain, via car, to explore a temple that was situated on the mountainside and surrounded by colorful paper lanterns. After exploring for a while, we came upon an almost two-thousand year old carving of Buddha. It was awe inspiring to think that we were looking at something created that long ago. It was surrounded by other carvings that were done at the same time.

On our way home that evening, we stopped by the Korean equivalent of our interstate rest stops. Let me tell you that they are hoppin’. There are vendors spread everywhere and each stop was quite full of cars and people. Our host shared with us the Korean travel motto… “Eat first, travel after.”

Randomly back in February I came across an ad on a Korean foreigner website called www.koreabridge.com for open auditions. It was two days before they were to be held but it took me all of two minutes to decide to do it. I was really excited because it was for a sketch comedy show that would be held right in BUSAN! I knew that Seoul had a comedy group, but Busan??? I was shocked and really excited to do something different.

I attended the auditions with an open mind. I really didn’t know what to expect because the ad wasn’t very specific with the type of sketches, if they had been written already, how long, how many….the list goes on. But, I showed up along with about 25 other people to strut my stuff. I did have some experience acting and making people laugh but never in sketch comedy. I mostly dabbled in improv and just straight acting. But, if there’s any chance for me to use my accents, I’m there.  There were about 11 sketches that had been written over the past 2 months by a variety of people, including some Brits and Canadians. We basically just chose which ones we liked and went up on stage with about 2 min. to prep and read. I picked my way through a few and read to the best of what I thought would be funny. As it turns out, I can be funny and was casted in 4 different skits (one to be added later on). So began my life of practice 3 days a week, with a 40 min. subway ride each way.

Even though practices felt like a pilgrammage after a long day at school, I really loved getting to express myself and ideas with the crew. The director, Kady, was really open to other people’s ideas and opinions which made everything fun. All of the cast members were open and willing to take ideas and run with them. I immediately felt at home with people who seemed to have as many crazy ideas running through their heads as I did! Practices were long, but always rewarding and fun. We had 5 weeks until show time and we worked almost every minute. At the end, we had a great show with 13 sketches, two video clips, and a lighting and sound crew that any concert junkie would envy.

Everything was coming together. I was constantly practicing my lines and Jason was probably sick of hearing my different characters in the shower. I even would break into character on the elevator to random Koreans.  But, I felt pumped to develope some outrageous quirks just for a good laugh(hopefully). After 5 weeks, we were all getting nervous. Were we funny? Were people coming? Would we forget our lines? Who was bringing the soju?

Finally, opening night came. The official title of the show was “Busan Night Live (BSNL)” and it was run very similar to the TV show, Saturday Night Live. On the show’s facebook page we had over 200 confirmed guests for the first show!!!! There was a buzz in the Busan community, and I was so anxious to see it all come together. I was so full of energy the night of the show Jason sent me for a mandatory run. The show was held in a club called “Fabric” in the Kyungsung University Area, which had

a stage and very high tech lighting and sound system. Since it’s a club, there was limited seating for about 75. The rest was standing room only but people didn’t seem to care at all. Well, on opening night we filled the place with over 200 people who were ready to laugh. We were all backstage, ready to go.

The opening number had to be great so we had devised a special number. My friend Cullen was elected to dress like Lady Gaga and strut his stuff. Myself and 5 other girls were his backup dancers. We drug him out onto the stage and started dancing a sweet choreographed number to “Bad Romance” while he tried to run off the stage (out of embarassement that he was in 4 inch heels, a white skirt, pink wig, etc.) but we pulled him down into our clutches. He emerged a new Gaga, ready to go and belt it out. Cullen then danced his ass off and we rocked it out behind him. The music stopped, we froze in our finishing pose and we welcomed the crowd by screaming “Live from Club Fabric, It’s Busan Night Live!” The crowd erupted in screams and we knew we had a great show ahead of us.

After a 15 second costume change I was back on stage for the first skit. I felt a little pressure because I had the main part in the first skit of the night. I was the host “Dana” on a hardball type show with a panel of guests from the coffee world. We were to discuss the lack of coffee houses in Korea (which is the opposite of the truth). I couldn’t just do a host, I had to do THE HOST> so I decided to tape my entire face in clear masking tape to make it appear that I had too much plastic surgery. I also added vaseline to the mix to make sure that I looked nice and plastic. I delivered my lines with emotion and determination, all while not moving my face. I guess I sounded like Barbra Walters and Joan Rivers put together. I was pretty frightening but the crowd loved it. The plastic surgery face came into play at the end when I ask the audience to join me again next week “when we’ll discuss another pressing issue, is plastic surgery being unfairly targeted by ugly, poor people, simply because they can’t afford to fix their revolting selves?” I had never taped my face for Jason and he was more than shocked at the transformation. The skit was amazing and each member did a great job interacting and improving. We were a hit and the material was great. It hurt taking the tape off but it was well worth it.

I won’t go into detail about every sketch that I was in but I did play a career counselor with an obnoxious “ummmmmm” after everything I said, an Iphone application, and my favorite, Michealangelo from the Ninja Turtles. The Ninja Turtles skit was probably my favorite because it was really clever. The NT were being sent by splinter to kill a women…for $800 bucks. The NT had never killed before even though they are trained assassins. Very hilarious and many people said that was their favorite. Ninja’s don’t fight for honor we found out, that’s Samurai.

The first and second night of the show filled the club with over 200 people. We really made people laugh and so many people were asking when the next show was! I don’t know if it will happen soon, but I hope so. The whole experience was beyond my wildest dreams. The positive response that I got from my friends and co-workers who came was enough to make me blush from here until next year. Maybe I should pursue this?? Food for thought.

I wanted to give a special shout out to my new friends from BSNL. I really enjoyed getting to know you all and spending my evenings laughing with you. Also thanks to the many people who came out to see the show. All of my Korean teachers came with a cheesecake! I couldn’t have asked for better support. Now, I just need someone to hand me a fake award because that sounded like an acceptance speech. Wow, maybe I need a break from the spotlight.

Cheers, Ash

Believe it or not, we have two three day weekends this month! Don’t get too excited though, we only have three all year. This past weekend, we ventured to Seoul, departing late Friday night after school and boarding the KTX high-speed train to our friend’s house in the capital city of South Korea. After the near three hour train ride and a while on the subway, we arrived well after midnight and went quickly to sleep.

The next morning, we set out to have a nice American style breakfast in Itaewon (the foreign section of Seoul). I had pancakes, but they did not stack up to my home made specialties : ( Afterward, we met our tour group at the Lotte Hotel downtown and departed for our trip to the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea. Our tour guide was hilarious yet soft spoken and cracked some very funny jokes on the hour ride to the border.

Upon arriving to the DMZ, your bus is boarded by Korean Military personnel and your passports are all checked and bus is visually searched. After being waved across the barricaded bridge, we were in the DMZ. We soon passed the only village (South Korean) that is located in the DMZ. The villagers have to be direct descendants of people who lived there before the war and have very strict military control around the area. They cannot go outside at night and they are constantly guarded, even while farming by military escorts. The villagers are paid $80,000 per year to live there and farm the land and pay no taxes. Sounds like a pretty sweet gig, but there are many sacrifices to living there.

The next step in getting to the JSA portion of the DMZ is to arrive at Camp Bonifas. That is the most forward camp in South Korea. Their motto is, in fact, “In Front of Them All.” We again had our passports checked and we were given United Nations Military Command ID badges to wear at all times. We were given a military police escort that would not leave our side the rest of the tour as well. He made it very clear that he was not part of the tour and was there for our safety and to ensure that none of us did anything stupid. In addition to receiving our UNMC badge and armed escort, we then boarded a military JSA tour bus with a military driver and had an armed military vehicle escort on top of that. Did I mention the part that you (quite literally) sign your life away before starting the tour? The whole process is pretty intense.

After boarding our new military bus, went through a variety of military buildings on our way to the actual JSA. When we arrived, walked through the spot where a defector had been gunned down a decade or so ago trying to escape North Korea. The North Korean guards followed him across the border to shoot him, which led to both sides exchanging fire. We walked up some steps, through a building and all of a sudden we were right on the border. We were standing face to face with the elite of the elite Korean military, which were no question at the ready. They wear “JSA sunglasses” which are Raybans so as not to get into “eye fights” with the North Korean soldiers and it makes them look that much tougher. We were able to look across the border at the North Korean military guard, who had their binoculars out trying to catch something to take a picture of for propaganda use. We actually stepped into North Korea inside the UN conference room which is the room they actually hold meetings in. There were two guards standing inside – one to make sure we did not head out the wrong door into North Korea and one to make sure we did not touch the middle desk, whose microphones are running/recorder 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The UN buildings were blue and the North Korean buildings were gray. It was a really ominous sight, but was a really neat experience overall. We also were able to get a closer look at the North Korean propaganda town, which boasts the world’s largest flag and flag pole. The area is riddled with land mines, so you can’t just walk around – not that they would let you anyway, but it is extra incentive to stay on the marked path.

Upon returning to the base, we saw some Korean military personnel doing physical training and then we boarded our tour bus and headed back into Seoul. We had a great dinner at guess what? The Loving Hut Buffet! Yes, our favorite staple in Busan, The Loving Hut, has a buffet version of the restaurant in Seoul. It was amazing! I will let Ashley fill you in on the rest of our great weekend!

J

For Valentine’s Day/ Lunar New Year (a huge holiday in Korea) we traveled to Jirisan National Park for a break from city life. We took a local bus from the Sasang intercity bus terminal and 1 1/2 hours later we arrived in the small city of Jinju. We looked around for a short while and soon checked into a classy “Love Motel”. Love motels here in Korea are the equivalent of older Motel 6′s or any cheaper hotel. They also are what travelers typically stay in since they are affordable. To paint a picture of our accommodation, image an 80′s style decorated prostitution house. The ceilings were painted with a solar system theme in neon glow paint, the walls had scenes of naked girls posing with cars and other various backgrounds – also in glow paint. Each door had a mural of a different girl. To top it off, the elevator was all mirror-covered and the room key had a picture of a girl in a “swimsuit” on it. Contrary to what one might expect, however, and in keeping with Korean tradition, the rooms were quite clean and nice. In addition, the room had a computer with internet included in the $40 price for the night.

We spent the evening walking around Jinju, exploring. We passed through street markets, coffee shops, and every outdoor brand store known to man. Eventually, we decided on a delicious U don Noodle place that seated around 12 people. Afterward, we took in a movie called Valentines Day. The point of the movie was to keep adding stars. There really wasn’t much of a point other than that, but it was interesting to see who the next person to be added was.

We boarded a bus early the next morning and went the last 1 1/2 hours to the “mountains of Jiri.” After a series of stops in small little villages/towns, we were the last two on the bus. Our final stop was a large gravel parking lot down a dirt road overlooked by the mountains and a few small houses/stores that sold trail snacks, but were closed because of the holiday. We started walking towards the trail head, past a temple and eventually through a small little village where the trail began. We stopped for a few moments to get water and had some small children come out to practice their English with us while their grandparents looked on from inside. They were quite good, but were obviously in for the holiday from a larger town.

The road was icy as we walked up the hill, but quickly turned to a few inches of snow as we started the trail up the mountain. We followed along a small mountain stream as we climbed, then continued up towards the ridge along slick, packed snow. A few other Korean hikers passed us, giving us questionable looks for not having crampons (metal hiking cleats) on. The funny thing about this is that in America, we would never consider having crampons for conditions like those, but in Korea, it is the fashionable thing to do. The trail itself was pretty neat. At times, ropes were placed around trees to help us climb up or down steep embankments. There was a bit of bouldering that needed to be done to get over slick, rocky sections, but we finally reached a small hut with a great view of the valley below.

The snow at the top was considerably heavier than at the start of the trail and almost immediately upon reaching the top, the snow began to come down heavily. We were greeted by an older Korean man, also a hiker, who had a mug of Soju (the staple Korean acohol) oustretched in offering before we even sat down on our wooden block seats. After a short drink, the man departed on his way and we took a short – cold – nap before preparing some dinner. We had not brought our bag liners for our sleeping bags, not knowing it would be that cold or snow covered, so our nap was a shivering one. After waking, we broke out our camp stove and began cooking. We had a delicious meal of ramen noodles with tuna and some improvised spices. It hit the spot! We actually used our stove to warm up after dinner for a bit as we sat in a little room off the side of the cabin looking out at the snow. After a short trip by myself down a snowy embankment to gather fresh water in the dark, we retired for the evening with some rented blankets that were provided in the cabin. Our sleeping quarters were in a dual level bunk that had a large, lower platform for males and an upper platform for females.

The next morning, we set off down the mountain with only one set of footprints leading the way in the fresh snow layer. It was very nice as we were able to slide down the soft snow blanket easily for most of the trip. We arrived back at our original parking lot with plenty of time to spare to wait on the bus. While we were waiting, a Korean man, who had also been hiking, sat down near us. When his friend pulled up in a car to pick him up, he called over to us to see if we were waiting on the bus. Although they spoke no English, we were able to determine that he wanted to give us a ride to what we thought was the bus station. We agreed and loaded our bags in to the back of the car. After a while in the car, we realized that we were going farther than just down the street. As the signs were still pointing towards Jinju and we couldn’t communicate anyway, we just rode along. Over an hour later, we arrived at the Jinju bus terminal! The complete stranger had driven us over an hour – without us even asking – to our bus terminal, saving us a whole bus ticket and lots of time. Awesome!

We grabbed a quick coffee then boarded a bus back to our home in Busan where we had dinner at our local favorite, The Loving Hut, and headed home to get ready for the week.

J

The next day, we started a new yoga class that is led by Tiffany, one of Ashley’s friends here in Korea who is from San Diego, CA. We had a great class, even though I felt like I was going to break after climbing hard the night before. After yoga, a group of us decided to go out for lunch. We met our friend Ryan, which is Hyesook’s (Kate teacher – she teaches with us at SLP) husband (he is from Fort Wayne, IN) and went to The Loving Hut in PNU (an area in Busan near Pusan National University). We had a great meal, then parted ways. I headed off to Korean lessons to take an impossible test.  I am nearing the end of my time in Korean lessons, so I brushed up on a few things I needed to know, then joined the other teachers and students for some snacks to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

That night, we all headed over to Ryan and Hyesook’s apartment for burritos and to watch the new episode of the tv show LOST. Dinner was excellent and the show left us all on the edge of our seats, as it always does. Afterwards, we played Wii sword fighting and archery. I learned I am an excellent video game swordsman, but a very poor archer. To cap the evening off, we headed up to the roof on the 25th floor for a great view of Busan. At night, you can see the city lit up with neon lights and the outlines of the mountains all around town.

On Sunday, Ashley started her day like a good girl, heading out for an early run while I was lazy and slept in a little. We soon headed off to Philosophy club after Skyping with my parents. It was an interesting conversation at philosophy club, as always, and afterwards the group headed over to another Starbucks to see if we could find a more quiet space to hold our meetings. I felt bad for the baristas there. You should have seen the look on their face when they saw a group of 20 waygookeens (foreingers – AKA white people) walk in to observe, then leave just a few seconds later.

Ashley spent the afternoon auditioning for a comedy skit show. She randomly found the auditions on Saturday and thought it sounded fun. She landed a role in three different skits so she is very excited for the performance on March 13th. She then heading to quiz night with some of the coolest friends that we have made in Busan, Jon and Cory. Not only are they cool, they are very smart which makes quiz night super fun. I wasn’t there but I know they rip it up on all the difficult questions. While Ashley was hanging out with awesome Cory and Jon, I headed off to the book store with some friends, then headed home to chill out.  All in all… another great weekend, then back to the grind. We have our school play this Tuesday, which is the culmination of months of confusing and unorganized preparation. Wish us luck!

J