Amazing Jeju

Wow. Jeju Island was more than I ever could have expected. The night before flying to Jeju Island the weather reports couldn't have been worse...it was suppose to rain every single day while I was there. The day we arrived it was cloudy and raining...we thought it was going to be a disaster. However, the next morning we woke up in our hotel to a beautiful day out with not a single rain cloud in the sky! And the next 3 days it didn't rain once. We couldn't have been luckier.

The view from the Sun Beach Hotel was amazing. This is the first thing we saw every morning after walking outside of our hotel:

We started off the week exactly how I wanted...we went straight to the famous Jungmun Beach and relaxed in the volcanic rock sand and went swimming in the ocean...it reminded me of the everyday beach life I once lived when studying abroad in Australia...it was awesome. Jungmun Beach occasionally has surfing but unfortunately when I was there the waves were not too surf-able, as you can see below. 

After relaxing at the beach for a few hours we decided it was time for some extreme sports...so we did a little bit of research and figured out that we could go ATVing just 10 km away from the beach. ATVing ended up being way more extreme that I thought...the course had jumps, crazy terrain, and went through the awesome forest all over the southern area of the island. I almost flew off the ATV at one point as was  extremely happy that I had my helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads because these things were FAST.

After we conquered the intense ATV course we felt pretty cool and had to grab a picture with the amazing scenery in the background.

Anyways, from ATVing we decided we should go check out the famous waterfall near our hotel which was very cool. Lots of asians in matching shirts. They LOVE matching shirts here. See Exhibit A below:

And those are just a few of the matching shirts we saw in that 15 minute period. Anyways, after that we grabbed some tasty black pig bbq which is a speciality on Jeju Island and later met this guy named Jack who ended up being the best connection on the island. This guy Jack has been on Jeju for about 16 months and was telling us all about how amazing the spear fishing and rock climbing is on the island. After hearing about all his cool adventures we asked him if we could go spear fishing the next day...the following morning I called jack and he told us he set everything up for us. He said that he organized:

1. A boat to an island for us

2. Rental spears to go spear fishing

3. Rental Snorkeling gear

4. Rental wet suit

5. And lastly, free food preparation for the fish that we catch that night for dinner

I was expecting to pay like 100 dollars for this...but no, Jack hooked it up for $20 a person! Spear fishing ended up being amazing and I caught 7 fish!! I caught 5 angelfish, 1 box fish(very poisonous), and a tiger fish! They ended up being amazing when we cooked them for dinner later and after eating the main meat part we used the leftovers to make a delicious spicy Korean stew. As we left the island that went spear fishing at we snapped a quick picture with a beautiful Jeju Sunset in the background.

After an amazing day of hunting and eating tropical fish we decided to head in early so that we could rest up for a big hike the next day. We were planning on hiking Halla Mt. which is the tallest mountain in all of South Korea. The hike usually is about 5 hours to the top of the mountain along a 9km path...however, you need to get 6km in by 12:30 or else the korean patrol wont let you go any further because they dont want you to get trapped in the mountain once the sun sets...we didn't get our hike started till 10:30 so it seemed as if it would be impossible to make the 6 km mark climbing up steep vertical terrain in under 2 hours. But...as you can see below, we just barely made it!

Had we been 5 minutes slower, we never would have been able to make it all the way to the top! The hike was very rough, and extremely tiring. I don't think my calves and knees have ever been so sore in my entire life. Today they still kill as I try to walk up stairs and its almost 3 days after the hike. Once we got to the top I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw who else was up there! 

After catching up with Joelle for a little while, Nate and I decided that we would head back down the mountain so that we could get into Jeju City around 8:00 pm. After a long nights rest we went on one of the most rocky boat rides of our life going from Jeju Port Harbor to Mokpo in mainland South Korea. From Mokpo we took a train back to our home in Suwon and finally were able to fall asleep in our own beds. It is very strange beginning to think of Suwon as my new home, but every day it feels more and more that way.  A very successful Chuseok holiday in Jeju Island, and another great week in South Korea. Until next time, stay classy U.S.A.

Need a cell phone?

Then stop on by the Suwon train station! Here you will find a huge selection of over 40 booths that all sell cell phones!

At first it looks as if there are only 10 different cell phone booth stores...But once you get to the end of the first walkway, you discover...

30+ more cell phone stores!!

I dont really understand how they all stay in business but I guess they want to make sure you have plenty of selection when you decide to buy a new cell phone... You would think that they would want some diversity among their stores, but no...thats Korea for you.

Hwasong Fortress

Today Nate and I went for a little adventure after a fun-filled night of soju and karaoke. We decided to check out the famous Hwasong Fortress. You see, Suwon is the only completely walled in city left in the entire country of South Korea so it has this sweet wall that looks like the Great Wall of China wrapping around the oldest area of the city. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Of course I had to take a signature shot with the color accent feature on my camera...a nice photo of Nate with Suwon skyline in the background. Oh, and that handsome looking shadow in the bottom left is me. 

If you look closely at this sign, you can see many where many big cities around the world are in relation to the Hwasong Fortress. It was nice to see that I am just barely over 11,000 kms away from New York. 

Believe it or not, the blue shirts and plad shorts were not planned. However, it is custom in korea to dress exactly like your boyfriend or girlfriend so I can imagine that many people today may have had the wrong idea about Nate and I. 

As you can see, we are already blending in with the Koreans as we flash our peace signs in all of the pictures. Boy, do they love peace signs here.

One last nice night snapshot of another building at the Hwasong Fortress. 

Stay tuned for some more updates!

Video of the day

So as I was walking along the Hwasong Fortress wall I saw a very interesting old man doing some exercise...

Yeah, he was going at that for at least an hour...apparently that is how they chop down trees in South Korea.

My Apartment

I thought I would post a few pics of my apartment for all of those at home. My place is in the center of Suwon so apparently my school had to sacrifice space for location...but I am not complaining at all. There are so many great bars and restaurants nearby I have no reason to be hanging in my apartment.


Here is my bedroom area... I got lucky with a full size bed!

My very fancy, luxurious kitchen equipped with a plug-in stove, rice-maker, as well as a washing machine that turns all of my soft clothes into scratchy cardboard-stiff ones.

And the best part of all, my amazing bathroom! Note the shower just sprays water all over the floor near the sink because there is not a shower stall. There is a little knob you need to turn to switch the water from the sink to the shower...I happened to have learned the hard way that you should always check to make sure that the shower setting is not on when you want to wash your hands...Lets just say I was wearing khakis and a nice button down ready to go to school and I went to go wash my hands one morning...Yeah, I had to change my clothes...they got soaked.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Look what I found!

So I heard there was a roof to my building...but I had no idea that it would look like this!

As I walked up the stairs I get excited for what I might find...

And then I found a gorgeous view of the area of Suwon that I live in!

That is the park that I walk through every day to get to my High School.

The best part about the roof by far. It has tables, benches, chairs, and some type of garden! Definitely will be hosting some pre-games up here very soon.

Band in Seoul

Everywhere we go we find koreans just rocking out on some strange new instrument...

Random

A hug is never far away in South Korea...this place can make anybody happy. People actually get paid to wear green costumes just to give hugs in the streets. What a great place...

Top 10 questions asked by students

1. How tall are you?

2. What is your blood type?

3. Do you have a girlfriend?

4. When was your first kiss?

5. Why did you choose black hair color?

6. Why is your hair short?

7. Are you rich?

8. Do you have kids?

9. Are you married?

10. How much do you weigh?

Not your typical introduction questions you would think your students would ask on the first day...

First Time in Seoul

So 2 weeks ago I went to Seoul along with about 15 other UW-Madison graduates. We all stayed in a guesthouse in an area called Hongdae and it was very accomplishing to meet up with 15 people without having cell phones. I think I could actually survive 30 years ago when we didn't have cell phones. Upon arriving in Hongdae we found a very sketchy entrance to the guesthouse.

Yeah, thats right. Down that creepy hallway/alley was the entrance to our guesthouse. We felt like we were about to get either raped/killed or a combination of the two. However, after walking up a very strange stairwell, we found our very cozy guesthouse that became our home for the weekend. 

Seoul has got to be one of the most crowded places I have been to in my life, hands down. With a population of over 20 million, the streets at night are so crowded it almost gets frustrating trying to navigate through huge crowds and also avoid being hit by random cars. Hongdae was a fun time, but I can't wait to get a cellphone. It is so easy to get lost in a big city like Seoul and it would be so helpful to have a way to communicate with friends when you get separated. 

You can also never be too surprised when you see something that may look out of the ordinary. A perfect example here, is this car which seems to have been crushed by a 4,000 pound egg. 

While in Seoul, we were also able to check out some awesome markets. I didn't feel in the shopping mood that day but I can't wait to go back and hopefully get suited up for under $100. The markets have everything from dried bugs to extremely cheap socks, as well as delicious Korean traditional foods all for an amazing price.

Before heading back to the guesthouse we took a nice picture on the top of a building to try and get a view of some of the mountains in the far back. 

That's all for this week but please stay tuned for some great pictures from Jeju Island when I get back from holidays next week.

Finally got this thing up!

Hello Everyone,

I have officially been in Korea for 3 weeks now and finally have my blog up! I tried to get one set up at wordpress first but then realized how much easier this would be. So to begin:


Korea has been quite the adventure so far.

Beginning with the plane ride from O'Hare the trip to Korea has been quite the adventure. I took a few pictures on the plane to document my first experiences as I travelled to korea.