Back to the Grind...

Hello Blogosphere!

It's been awhile since I last posted. Let's just say the last two months of my life have been a whirlwind; what with the finishing of my contract and then signing another one, thinking I will have to move and then ending up staying in the same place, bosses and misunderstandings, and, most importantly, my trip back to the homeland (more to come on that). I think it's mostly been a good whirlwind and I'm so happy to be back in the ROK for six more months of fun and games and teaching my little nosepickers.

I think I left off at one of the best weekends of my life, so let's just pick up from there, shall we?

Mudfest is a huge thing in Korea. In fact, I don't think any foreigner is able to enter and spend any amount of time in the country without someone mentioning Mudfest and explaining how kickass it is; therefore, I had known about the festival pretty much since I arrived a year ago and had been looking forward to it all year. Just think about it:

mud+beer+beach+beer+friends+fireworks+beer+hilariously catchy music+mud-related games+beer.

Is there any better combination? Probably. But this festival is definitely up there.

We set out early Saturday morning on the 12th of July- some still awake from spending the night in Now Bar (not me, Mom) and clammered onto the 6 o'clock train bound for the city of Boryeong; home to Daechon beach and Mudfest (the latter being found there only two weeks of the year). This is what we found when we arrived approximately 2.5 hours later:

Kenny G.- a favourite of mine and Grace's.

Mud and bikinis.

Totally wicked body painting booths, as well as several mud baths, slides, and wrestling venues. The mud is supposed to be really good for your skin, by the way, and they cart it over from the delta a few miles away from the beach.

Beach umbrellas being rented out! Thank God. Sunburn won this weekend, my friends. It got us all. We didn't even care about being extorted by the locals (30 bucks for an umbrella, really...).

We found around the clock live and recorded music blaring from the stage. During most of the day the theme music from Everland played, driving several crazy by the end of the weekend. At other times, some terrible Noraebang was happening and at others, actual bands played for the thousands of onlookers.

Amanda and Rachael found the mud prison for several minutes.

In all actuality, the fireworks were the best I have ever seen. They were really amazing. Someone set them up from a barge off the coast and they played really intense music while they were set off. Magic.

We eventually found our massive hotel room, which accomocated 30 of my closest friends and myself. It was interesting.

There was a lot of table dancing going on that night. And check out those sunburns!

As well as the ever present singalong at the end of the night. Priceless.

Touch Rugby: I Don't Get It

I always knew the boys from Now Bar (and some of the girls) were slightly rugby obsessed. Ok, slghtly is an understatement. For me, I find sports really easy to ignore for the most part. If there's a game on in a bar, I just fall asleep or something until it's over. I don't mean to sound like such a girl, but I really have no desire to even try to understand most sports. Anyway, I do have a point to this post.

There's a touch rugby organization for expats in Korea, and the rugby obsessed ladies and gents of Now Bar have come up with a team- aptly named the Suwon Stormers. They participated in their first tournament last weekend at Yeouido Park in Seoul, and some of us came along to support and cheer on our people.

I learned some stuff: they can only throw backwards, and when someone gets touched they need to drop the ball so someone else from their team can pick it up and run until he/she gets touched, and so on. I'm not sure about anything else... I know you need to run to your end of the field (but I guess that's a given). Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, I learned some stuff and I didn't die of boredom and I got a really great tan. And it was nice to see the guys play their little hearts out.



Here are the boys (none of the girl team members participated this time) playing against a Korean team. The teams were pretty diverse- there was one comprised entirely of pre-pubescent French boys, another from New Zealand (the good team), a Korean team, an all-girls team. Our guys beat the little boys from France and the girls, BUT they didn't have very much practise time before the tournie (in their defense).



It was perfect weather for sunning. We should have taken a BBQ.

I was told touch rugby would be less dangerous, but during just this one tournament Patrick sprained his wrist and Andrew (picture above), like, broke one of his toes and had a major slice taken out of another one. Danger!

Rugby team or Burlesque troupe? I like think a little of column A, a little of column B.

I would hate to be likened to a cheerleader, especially a cheerleader who doesn't really understand sports to begin with. Grace; however, knows everything there is to know about rugby and had some pretty kick ass cheers from her Laurier days. She is also a good "rugby rules" teacher.

Our favourite French kid. I think their team was called the "Royal Frogs" or something hilarious and slightly racist like that. Anyway, in his short shorts and with his wavy locks, we're sure he'll end up a snooty French male model someday.

This kid was not playing any games. Just look at that face!

The girls didn't get to play, but we definitely stepped up to the plate to help the guys drink their tournament beer. It was warm, but plentiful.

Disclaimer: I am really not an airhead. Just more artsy than sportsy.

Younggung-sa Temple in Busan

BBQ and Softball in Yeongtong

So I've already talked about how great my Saturday in Everland was spent, but in all actuality, my Sunday was also pretty epic. A bunch of Now Bar people got together at a school in the area to make use of their sporting facilities. The plan was to celebrate our friend Andrew's birthday with a BBQ and a game of softball, but Andrew didn't even show up in the end. I still don't know what happened there! Anyway, though, the game went on and so did the BBQ and the Cass-ah drinking. It was totes fun.


My friend Veronica has a hedgehog! This one is not hers. But it belongs to her friends, who I met at the game. They had their two hedgehogs on an outing, and they were the cutest things I've ever seen. I kinda want one (...NO Janine, STOP).

Mich brought out his diggery doo. He's a pretty talented guy. Nova Scotian, too. Go fig.

To my delight my two yoga buddies showed up, too! I was so happy to see Grace and Rachel (I should note that Grace and I became friends while in Korea through my brother's girlfriend, who is good friend's with Grace's sister back in Canada...very random, eh?)

Ciara and Michelle taking a break from the festivities.

I'm saying "for God's sake, why don't you just SMILE at the damn camera?" all the while failing to do so myself. I'm such a hypocrite.

My pal Jeremy was purposely missing out on the ultimate frisbee game until people started taking off articles of clothing. Suddenly he was gone to play and we were all left looking puzzled.

Me and Patrick and Michelle and Kim were the only ones not playing ultimate frisbee by the end. I'm not coordinated at the best of times, but after two beers with a new pair of glasses and it being nighttime, I would have hindered the team rather than helped. Actually, I hindered my softball teamearlier in the day. And every sports team I've ever been on, for that matter.

The frisbee game was divided into the girls against the guys. This is the winning picture! I'd show you the guys' losing picture, but they had lost their pants by that time.

Hiking Suraksan

Hiking Seonunsan

Last Sunday some friends and I got up at an ungodly hour and caught a bus to Jamsil in Seoul. Then we hopped on another bus full of Korean mountain climbers as well as a few foreigners. Our bus started the four hour long journey to Jeolla province, which is southwest of Gyeonggi province where we live. Why were we going there? Well, after countless Sundays being spent in front of the television, getting up only to make our way to the nearest Galbi establishment and promptly returning to the television we decided it was time to get some exercise.

I, for one, abhor the gym and really suck at sports- like, all sports- so for me, going hiking was the least boring and least embarassing way to get some serious exercise. We all decided to go with the Seoul Hiker's Group, which is mostly comprised of middle aged and retired Koreans- we were definitely the youngest in the group. There were about eight foreigners, and we all had a blast! Even if, at times, I didn't think I'd make it...


So I thought this was the highest point on the mountain, and was therefore really happy when we reached our first "peak". All downhill from here, right? Well... not so much.

Me wearing my "I made it to the top of the mountain and have energy to spare" smirk. Little did I know at this point that I still had 3.5 hours to go. I definitely wasn't smirking in the end!

The whole group of foreigners. Three Americans, two Canadians, two Irish, and one lonely Singaporean (is that the correct term...?).

This rock was pretty huge. I had to take a picture, I just had to.

Ok, everything on this mountain was completely dead and it was a really cold day, but these beautiful flowers were flourishing absolutely everywhere. I carried one for almost two hours until I fell down and all the petals fell off. It was a sad moment.

We finally reached our halfway point and what do the Koreans do? Break out the rice wine, that's what. I never drank alcohol on top of a mountain before. The Koreans acted like they did it all the time. They were actually pretty drunk on the bus ride home, while the foreigners (who were also the only ones under the age of 30) were dead sober. Something is wrong with this scenario!

Rosie, Patrick and Kim on the long descend back to the bus. At this point we still had another hour and a half of walking.

Right after I fell down. That was the only time I fell, though, and my pants didn't even get that muddy. I'm totes proud of myself.

This is Dr. Jun. He is absolute comic gold. At this point we were on a hill that was pretty much vertical, with no end in sight. I almost gave up.

Rosie and Patrick sprinted up the hill with no problem, but Kim and I took a little bit longer (with frequent breaks). This is our "I cannot go any further" picture.

But we did eventually make it to the top. Nice view!

Yet another group photo.

At the bottom of the mountain. All of a sudden birds are singing, a stream is trickling past, and beautiful houses are everywhere surrounded by tea plantations. This place was beyond beautiful; the pictures really don't do it justice.

Walking toward the town.

There was a Buddhist temple with this beautiful river flowing by. Pure heaven.

This is my contemplative picture. Just look at the mountain in the background. I climbed that! Me!

Of course we were ravenous at this point and dinner was already paid for by our club fees. No sooner had we sat down when the server brought us two bottles of soju and all of our side dishes. The kimchi was apparently "aged", and it was really delicious. The food in Jeolla, from what I could tell from this meal, seems a little less spicy with more seafood and mushrooms. Maybe it was just this restaurant, though.

The best meal after a really long hike. A clam and tofu stew, not unlike jiggae but a lot less spicy, served over rice and enjoyed with all the delicious sides. Making me hungry just typing about it!