For Chuseok - Korean Thanksgiving - we got three days off work in the middle of the week. We journeyed up to northern South Korea to Sokcho for strenuous hiking at Seoraksan Mountain - the third highest mountain in South Korea. It was beautiful in "Fresh Sokcho." It's a small town, but there were a lot of people around for the holiday and tons of foreigners visiting as well.
We spent one day just hiking the giant mountain, or rock rather. There was one 14 ton rock that is famous for people trying to push it off the ledge. It still cannot be done. We tried and tried to make history and get on CNN but to no avail. We rewarded ourselves for our hard work and went into town for dak galbi (chicken korean bbq) and some drinks. There, we met a group of hilarious Koreans who were back home in Sokcho for the holiday.
The next day, we did the touristy things, checked out the beach, Sokcho Tower, etc. Dozens of adorable Korean children were driving around in plastic motor cars in the courtyard of Sokcho Tower. Some mistakenly were playing bumper cars with each other. One precious girl was just as fascinated with me as I was with her - she walked right up to my face.
When it was raining, we went to a Jimjilbang, which is a place with all kinds of saunas. There are some unisex areas with various temperature saunas to include 'ice' saunas. There are TVs in some of the sauna rooms, there are massage chairs, PC rentals, a cafe, draft beer area and a section separated by sex with different hot pools and showers for a no clothing, no swimsuit area. Beth managed to snap a few photos in the clothed sections.
It was an awesome trip, great scenery, excellent workout and couldn't have been a better break from Daegu.
Yom Kippur fell on Friday to Saturday, the 17th and 18th. Unfortunatley, my school was not exactly accommodating and didn't let me have the Friday off, but I didn't push it too far either. Saturday morning, I headed up to Seoul en route to the Chabad House services at the US Army Base Religious Retreat Center in Itaewon. There was a good group of fellow "Dae-Jewers" (Jews of Daegu) that were there also. It was a pretty decent turnout - maybe 100 people - definitely more Jews in Korea than I had anticipated. And I could not get over the adorable half-Korean children running around speaking Hebrew at 4 years old - I kid you not, it was amazing. Other than that, it was a normal Chabad service, much like the others I've previously experienced. It did make me miss our Yom Kippur services and the reform nature and family feel, but it was nice to make the journey to the only services in Korea.
On the verge of passing out nearing the "break-fast" point, I finally made it to 7:30 and snacked on crackers, tuna, hummus, veggies, fruit and cake at the Army base. We walked into the Itaewon area and grabbed a beer with the Jews and moved on to an area called Hongdae. It was pretty fun - we got a bag drink from GoGo Vinyl (minus the "GoGo") to keep things like Daegu, got some BBQ Chicken and beers, stopped by a hookah bar/lounge and at 3am headed back to the hotel. We stayed at the Ibis Hotel which was fairly nice but really not near any of the places we were ever at. Not sure how that worked out. I'm still skeptical of all hotels, motels or whatever other type of accommodations. The cleanliness is always FAR below par, and I will never step foot into the shower without shower shoes - even at Ibis, the shower floor was dirty. Just one of those things you have to expect.
Sunday, I spent the day shopping around in the Myeongdong area. There are many Western restaurants and clothing stores, so it was nice to catch some of those once in a while. There was a huge Forever21 and H&M, Nike stores, adidas, GUESS, Outback Steakhouse, CPK, the list goes on - we opted for a meal at CPK, but I enjoyed every bite. I even found Red Mango for the first time since I've been here, despite the fact that it's a Korean chain that was recently named #4 on fastest growing food service chains in the US in 2009 - but nowhere to be found in Korea. It was a fun day regardless of the pouring rain, but I wish I was able to enjoy Seoul a bit more and not have to fast and stay so far from the attractions.
Til next time, Hi Seoul!
Every city in Korea has a little motto, usually an adjective + city name. So far, the only exception I've seen is "Hi Seoul," but I'm sure there are others.
Every Wednesday, a group of us active, Daegu ladies get together and play soccer in Siji at Gosan field. Last week, the moon was stunning. I love the moon every day, but this one was on my list of favorites - low and golden. Oh my moon.
There's always random English text out and about, on signs, in shops, restaurants, etc. The hedgehog appeared at a burger joint about a 5 minute bike ride from my apartment.
After an absolutely delightful sol galbi dinner (beef rib slices, perhaps... with amazing sides) in Wolbae last week, we stumbled over to a bar next door. This was my first experience being served larvae - beondegi. Of course, I didn't try it. But I had to take a picture, which never fails to disgust me every time I look at it.
Next up, tandem toilets: mother/child. The restrooms in the subway in Siji was again a first sight for me. In one stall, there's a regular toilet, and directly in front it is another toilet - only it's a third of the size. An actual toilet for a toddler. You can "sit" and watch your child "sit" in front of you. Enjoy.
This weekend, some people put on a pub crawl with a golf theme - pub golf. Basically, nine different bars turned into nine different "holes" with a pre-determined alcoholic beverage to be consumed at each location. Each beverage was assigned a "par" - number of sips - and individuals and teams with the lowest scores would be crowned winners. Apparently, this round - round 3 - was made easier than previous rounds, and all of the competitive players, or drinkers rather, finished something like 14 below par. Also, golf attire was a requirement. I, of course, did not play competitively since it would take me 2 days and 65 above par to finish. It was a fun event though. The guys made two trophies for the winners - a smaller one made of Hite beer cans for the lady champ, and a tower of Hite 40s for gents champ.
