Circle beds and Golden Bulls

Another week down! Getting closer and closer to Halloween celebrations at Little America this week. The kids are getting excited (aka scared, aka some of them may not show up because they are to afraid of the haunted house)! I'm going to be working on my ninja costume and corresponding ninja moves for the party on Friday. I have also been assigned to be in charge of the "dissecting room" that day, which means I get to have kids put their hands into bowls of spaghetti and peeled grapes making them believe they are touching body parts. I might bring a white lab coat covered in fake blood to put over my ninja costume so I look the part for "mad, dissecting scientist". We'll see what I can put together over the next few days.

Before I get ahead of myself with Halloween plans, let me fill you in about the past few days! Friday was another field trip day for the kindergarteners. We went to the firehouse nearby. The day began with a lecture about fire safety accompanied with a Power Point completely in Korean. Now I know that these kids are very mature for their age, however, an hour long lecture about what to do in case of a fire for a group of 100 kids under the age of 7 is complete and utter insanity. There were multiple school trips there, one of which was a group of 2 and 3 year olds!! Now, don't get me wrong, our kids were exceptional! They sat nicely throughout the majority of the presentation and answered the questions that the firewoman asked them, but by the end you could tell that they were getting restless. Even the super cool fire safety music video at the end of the presentation did nothing to entertain them- and that music video was quite the show stopper. Once the lecture finished, the kids were led outside for a demonstration of the firetruck and fire extinguisher. This part of the trip was a bit more age appropriate.

kids putting out fires

Standard Little America photo shoot

 Overall, I think the kids just like being able to get out of the school for the day. It doesn't really matter where we go or what we do as long as they can play "I spy" and "Rock scissors paper" on the bus rides they are happy as clams!

After school I got back and packed a bag for the hiking adventure at Seoraksan (Seorak Mountain) national park! Shanna, Katrina, Seol, Amanda and I met outside the next morning at 5 to pick up a taxi and head to the bus terminal about an hour away. The bus we had booked was a bit more classy than previous buses we had taken. These held less people and allowed for much more leg room. The chairs could recline AND they had a foot rest! For 16,000 Won ($16) we decided that we will no longer be able to ride regular buses on long trips. The ride was about 3 hours long. The scenery on the way there was incredible. I guess I'm getting too used to seeing neon lights and buildings everywhere, that I appreciated the leaves and mountains so much more. I was definitely looking forward to some fresh air! When we stopped at a rest stop a couple hours in it was freeeezziinnggg outside! I was worried that I didn't bring enough layers to survive this hiking trip. When we arrived in Sokcho (the city where the park is located) the weather totally cleared up and it was sunny and warm! Phew- I really did not want to bust out fuzzy socks and parkas just yet.

First, we met up with Brenda at the bus station. Then, our next task upon arrival in Sokcho was to find a motel to bunk up for the night. We had a few options to look into:

Are we feeling Indian?

Or a ginger bread house style?

Or maybe something a little more western?

You will just have to stay tuned to see which one we decided on...


After booking our room and grabbing some food we headed off to the mountain! The bus ride there was a bit crowded, but nothing compares to that one subway ride (see previous post if you feel out of the loop). Everyone was dressed in their bright neon hiking gear. We made our way up to the park, gathering more and more hikers as we went. At one point the bus driver decided to administer a "seat-belt check". This did not bode well for those of us who were standing, holding a little handle from the ceiling. I think practicing my ninja moves have paid off though because the twisty jumpy maneuver that I performed kept me vertical and uninjured.

On the way up to the park we passed Kensington Hotel, complete with red double-decker bus. Amanda was sure she could get us rooms there for free. Something about a secret British code (know anything mum?). 

 The area around and in the park are absolutely gorgeous. Mountains and trees everywhere! The perfect clear blue sky helped make the day even better! We grabbed our tickets and made our way inside. At first we wanted to get a ride on the cable car that takes you up over the valley and to the top of a peak where you can then hike down, but the cars were all booked til about 5:45 that evening. As it was only about 1 in the afternoon, we decided against waiting for a cable car.

Ready to hike!

Entrance

 When you first enter the park you are greeted by a HUGE Buddha statue! It was  beautiful! Just the sheer size of him blew my mind. Officially named "Tongil Daebul- The Great Unification Buddha", this statue apparently represents the hope for reunification of North and South Korea.

Buddha

Colorful hiking gear

 The park offers several trail options of differing lengths and difficulty. We decided against the 14 hour hike, as we felt it would be a bit to easy for our expert hiking abilities. We decided to do a shorter on to see a Buddhist temple as well as some famous rocks (I know...but they had their own signs saying "rock" so they must have been important!).

The hike was fun! Mostly rocks and gravel with some stairs and pathways stuck in there. We followed the crowd, stopping to get pictures of pretty trees (Katrina) and other scenic views. This weekend, the leaves had just begun to change colors for fall. Over the next few weeks this park will turn into a red, yellow, and orange paradise! It will also be even more crowded than it was this weekend. I think we chose the best time to go!

Along the trail we chose, there is a Buddhist temple that is open to the public to walk through. My favorite part about this temple is the intricate paintings on all of the buildings and roofs! The bright colors and patterns were so unexpected when I heard we would be seeing a temple.

A lot of my pictures of this part of the trail were of these buildings. I just couldn't capture how amazing they are! I can't imagine the skill and time that must have gone into painting each building with this style.
Some artwork that probably did not take as much time and skill, yet was still very much appreciated was found on the signs around the temple. 

Is that toilet one really necessary?

Monk butt

After walking through the temple we continued our hike up the mountain to find those infamous rocks. If you noticed, there is the sign for one of the "rocks" in that last picture. The hike was the perfect amount of difficulty for us. We could still carry a conversation while walking but it wasn't exactly a bunny hill either. We definitely felt accomplished by the time we reached "the rocks" at the top. The site of the rocks is another Buddhist temple. One praying area is actually carved into the side of the rock face. It was difficult to truly appreciate the area for its historic value as there were people everywhere and booths selling refreshments and cheap trinkets. A bit sad when you think about the original purpose of this place.

Darn kids today

The next part of our trail if we chose to accept it...no we did not.

cave prayer room

 So after a short rest at the top we made our way back down. As the sun began to go down the fall colors became brighter. The leaves looked gorgeous in the evening sunlight!

When we got to the bottom we were met with a line wrapped around the parking lot waiting for the bus...our bus...to take us back to our motel...
Instead of waiting for what would have been more than 2 hours we decided to trek down on foot. The traffic of cars coming up to the park was at a standstill for as long as we could see! After a while Brenda, Amanda, Shanna, and Seol found a taxi driver, who was obviously not enjoying the traffic, and asked if he would turn around and go back down. We felt super sneaky as the taxi line at the park was an hour long line of tired hikers, but we are foreigners...we don't know any better...

When we made it back to our mystery motel, we showered and rested up for a fun night ahead. The 4:30 am wake up call had kicked in and we needed to rally ourselves. We all met up in downtown Sokcho for a kalbi dinner together. The food was great and the 20-questions game kept us laughing the whole evening. I found out that I am not very good on my celebrity knowledge.

After dinner it was obviously time for a norebang. But first...we needed to ride the bull...

 Now that that was out of our systems, we found a non-sketchy norebang to sing to our hearts content. Our set included some classics like "Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles and "Ghostbusters". After we had sufficiently lost our voices and romantically serenaded each other, it was time for bed. Now you can see which motel we ultimately decided on.

C'mon, obviously we couldn't pass on the disney princess castle motel! Amanda even got a circular bed in her room! Can't get much better than that. And it lights up like this at night...No competition.

The next morning we had a few hours to kill so we headed down to Sokcho beach a just a couple blocks away. The sun felt so nice as we relaxed and took in the sea side. As I think I've mentioned, Koreans really do not like to get tan. Several families were sporting their winter jackets while making sandcastles! Still don't understand.

 Overall this trip was relaxing, scenic, and full of good company! I love getting to see more of this country. I will have to come back to Sokcho again to do a different hiking trail! That will probably have to wait until warmer weather returns. Winter is coming...
We hopped onto our bus at 1:30 and planned on being home around 5:30 or 6. Seoul traffic decided otherwise. Stuck in bumper to bumper, we were on the bus until about 6 then still had to take the subway back to Songnae station and a taxi from there. Phew! Lots of travel time, but completely worth it! Now for a full week of Halloween lessons and crafts. The next post will most likely have my class's Halloween song- so prepare yourself!
xoxo
The Korean phrase of the post today is accompanied by a photo explanation:

화장실 (wha-jang-sheel) "toilet"

why...would anyone..ever..do that...

hope that left you with a great mental image! 

 xoxox