Go take a hike. Dobongsan

Dobong Mountain. A beast of a mountain. In fact, some parts would totally be deemed unsafe by American standards. But it was beautiful. This mountain is very popular because it's close to Seoul and is very accessible by public transportation.
It took 2 hours to get up and 1.5 hours to descend. The mountain stands at 739 meters (2424 ft).

From my apartment, I jumped on the 72 bus and within 40 minutes I was standing at the mountain entrance.


With any sport, most Koreans go all out. They have the latest clothes and gear-- materialistic conformity anyone? I felt a bit deviant without a hiking stick, sun hat and a colourful jacket. And I could have purchased all of the above as I walked through the mountain entrance where store after store of hiking accessories were on display.

These women were all ready to go. Notice the similar clothing and gear?

At the entrance there was also food available for your hike up.
Here we have rice cakes:

Want a slab of pig for your hike?

Even some Makali (rice wine):

This was our destination: Jaunbong peak!

Trail map:

Route distances and estimated times:

The pink highlight is our route:

I'm not entirely sure why air hoses are a big thing here, but it most likely has to do with an obsession over clean feet. After your descent, you use the nifty hose to clean off unwanted dirt from your hiking shoes.

Heading up- most of the trail was rocky.

I love hiking in Korea because of the awesome temples you stumble upon!!

Buddha statues:

(Thanks for the hiking pants, Kate!)

good luck drinking well

Cheunchuksa temple:

An hour and a half later we reached a rocky plateau:

This was our view:

Desperately needed to rest:

Man made rainbow of colour:

I wish I would have taken a picture of the trail to the peak... it almost seemed impossible. They had a hand rail and some rope for you to use as you climbed the rocks. It was a steep (maybe 70 degree) incline.
But once you got to the top you had an amazing view!

When in Rome... a kimchi and kimbop lunch on the peak's top.

I am so impressed by how many older Koreans were hiking. Some were well into their 60's and 70's. Something you don't see too often in the States, huh.

시장 A Korean Traditional Market

시장 (Sijang) 

This may be one of my favorite places in all of Korea.

 Sijang means market. It is an indoor/outdoor vendor after vendor experience. Here you can purchase produce, grains, fish and crustaceans from nearby farms. Here you can buy clothing, rice cakes, sweets and shoes. Here you can embrace the essence of Korea through its products and people. 

dried fish

eat me

late winter is strawberry season in Korea

even some foreign sweets and liquors

so many kinds of kimchi

Pajeon (I tried to make this at home)

fresh fish

baby octopus

;0

my washed and cut up strawberries, ready to be devoured :)

This year, my job is a hit!

Internet is still non existent in my apartment, so I'm still cruising on the late-to-update boat.

But I have some time (and internet) at work, so I'll write some words and upload some photos for everyone.

As I've said before, jobs in Korea are a hit or miss.

This year I got a hit!! My job is AMAZING!

It's so nice to have such a great job with great co-workers, a cool director, awesome students and a fun working atmosphere. 

My super cool co-workers

This year I'm working at a Public School (sooooo much better than the Private School sector). I'm employed at Saemal Elementary School.  Usually public schools only hire 1 foreign teacher-- Cathal (he's Irish) is the main man here, he teaches English to all the students at Saemal.

But since our school is unique (and super fly) Diego and I are the [extra] English teachers. We have a slightly different schedule than most public school teachers because we are part of the school's English Experience Language Center (E.E.L Center). Here, students from Saemal and 9 other elementary schools in Uijeongbu come to our Center to talk interactively in English. Our Center is set up to where the students are "traveling abroad". There is an airplane room where the students "take flight" to an English speaking country:

Once they arrive, they can explore different stations. At these stations they converse in English to get their passport books stamped.

My 1st week here was designing and creating these stations... pretty tough first week!

We have a hospital:

A restaurant:

A carnival (I had so much fun making this one):

my crafty skills came in handy for this lucky donkey

showing the kids how to play

and showing them how to be excited when you win

never heard of this game till I got here- it's called SPLAT THE RAT

you drop a "rat" down the tube and try to SPLAT it with your stick.... it's harder than it looks

And a stationery store:

Is this not the cutest little seal you've ever seen!?

Korean stationery is so cute... and so grammatically wrong.... 

I should have a blog post about Korean stationery stores... they are intense and so dang cute!

Now, don't be thinking it's all fun and games. I do teach a 50 minute class based on a cultural theme.... okay, so maybe it is fun and games! I'm so happy to be blessed with a great job.

Until next time (when is the internet guy coming?)
Love, Grace

Back to the land of neon lights and kimchi

This is my goal: frequent (and shorter) updates.
I am sitting on the heated floor typing to you as I steal a neighbors wi-fi. I arrived in Korea late on Friday night. My baggage didn't make it with me so I hope my school doesn't mind that my yoga shirt and leggings smell a bit funky.
I am living in a neighborhood of Seoul called Uijeongbu- it's the same city that M*A*S*H is based from! There are two surrounding mountains and a river that runs through. I'm 40 minutes on the subway from downtown Seoul.
Now I know I'm a bit closer to north Korea this time around, but as I've said before please don't worry. The new north Korean leader is already undergoing peace treaties to bring in food and aid for his people. Prayers for peace is what we need!

I'm off to my first day of work. I'm excited to start work and discover how the public school system is.
Until next time,
Xoxo

so excited!!!! and a bit jet lagged.

road outside my apartment

bike/ walking trail along river

a point-to-the-menu-and-hope-for-a-good-meal meal. ended up being octopus, with onions and garlic

bibimbop (sure have missed this dish)