Sorry it’s been a while everyone! Been a wee bit busy… So I just got back from a week off from work, my first break. The weekend before my break from work, I went to the city of Jinju with my lovely friends Heeyoon, Boram, and Boram’s parents. I had to take the subway to Seoul then I met them at a subway station to travel by car. Jinju, if you look at Google Earth is 2 hours southwest from Seoul. The ride down to Jinju was really funny. Boram’s father understands English more than he can speak it and Boram’s mom can barely speak English. So it was funny because Boram and Heeyoon had to translate a lot of what I was saying. We didn’t leave until 10pm and we got there around midnight or 1am. I can’t remember exactly. We did a lot of laughing on the way, joking around and whatnot. Boram’s mom kept on teasing us in Korean. Ha-ha… She was saying that all three of our laughs sounded like an orchestra.. HA!! I sounded like the cello; Boram was the bass, and Heeyoon I think was the flute?? I can’t exactly remember what she said. But it was soo funny! When we got there we stayed at Heeyoon’s house. Her parents were soo welcoming and soo nice along with Boram’s parents of course. They cut up some watermelon and we sat around the living room just relaxing and talking. It was quite lovely. But I was soo tired, so I went to bed soon after we arrived. They’re house was soo beautiful!! They had some furniture from Indonesia!

The next day we woke up around 10am showered and went out for breakfast. Here they sit on the floor or on the floor with cushions to sit on. I had traditional Korean food all day on Saturday. That morning I had soup that had seaweed in it and cooked pork. I can’t remember exactly what it’s called, but I’ll put the proper name up here soon. After breakfast we went to the market because they needed to get some food at the market. When we came back, we got ready for hiking in the Ji-ri Mountain! I was soo excited to experience hiking, which I’ve never quite experienced before. It took about an hour to actually get there. OH MY GOSH! On the way to the Park it was sooo gorgeous. Jinju is a countryside city where traditional Korean houses are and the landscapes are unbelievable!! It was really funny because on the way there I kept on saying “oh my goooodddd” HA! Boram’s mom was imitating me in English of course. HAHA! It was really funny! My intonation talks of course. On our way to the mountains I was telling them about my students and how they talk. A lot of my kids won’t use correct English completely. For example, I’ll hear a lot of sayings like, “Teacher! Teacher! Me mom, no say homework” or “ me go to pool” or “ me, don’t have” or “Teacher! Bathroom.” And the famous, “me, no do”. Ohhhh… their quite entertaining to imitate how my kids talk to other people. It was funny because Heeyoon’s and Boram’s parents recognized the words and were laughing. One time Boram was hanging out in my apartment and she forgot her cell phone, so her mom called my cell phone and says “Annamarie, Boram’s mom”. HAHA! It was so funny! =)

Along the way of the ooooohhhing and aaaahhhhhing of the scenery, Heeyoon’s dad made a pitstop to treat us for ice scream. We also were singing to “One More Time” and “Tell Me”, by the Korean girl group The Wonder Girls and other songs. You can find the song/video on youtube.com. It was quite fun! It was funny because Heeyoon told me that Boram’s mom was talking to me in Korean saying, “isn’t it beautiful Annamarie?” I just said “Naaaay” which means yes in Korean, obviously.

So when we arrived at the mountains, it was so fun! We had the backpacks and everything. We hiked up the mountain, stepping on rocks, grass, mud, and huge hills obviously. Crossing bridges over water and climbing up steps. It was so cool! Especially looking at the scenery while hiking. So after we hiked for about maybe half hour or more, can’t remember exactly the time, we stopped to go swimming in the mountains!!! The water was very clean and VERY COLD!! Brrrrr! But totally worth it! In the countryside the air is cleaner and definitely less polluted. Especially in Seoul and where I am unfortunately. Well it’s better than Seoul, but still polluted. But it was so hot! All of us didn’t care that we didn’t have bathing suits on! HA! We just went in with our clothes on! Ahhhh…. Very refreshing especially hiking some more after that. After we swam with the tadpoles and the fishies for a little bit and then we went hiking some more and we sat down around another area where there was water and rocks. We sat there relaxed and had wonderful chicken and a Korean food called Cho-Bop.. But basically it’s small rice with carrots and eggs mixed together and put in a little breaded pocket. It was absolutely DIVINE .. haha.. as my New Zealand co-worker would say with Korean tea to drink. So yummy! So after we ate, we could swim some more but I was kinda tired and still wet from swimming before. But everyone else swam around and I just hung out with them on the big rock. =) Taking pictures with Boram’s camera. haha..
We hiked some more and back to where the car was and it took an hour to get back to where the house was. We went out to dinner still a little WET!! Haha… We had Korean barbeque, which was beef grilled, so delicious! Along with this really good soup was actually really cold.. ha! Considered a summer favorite here. Besides the fact it’s ridiculously healthy for you, it was long noodles, seaweed, and eggs in it. Hopefully I’m right in my description. It was really good though! Here they use sharp scissor in cutting meat and even soup! Interesting huh? It was really cool though and funny because we were still wet! Haha! Here dessert is basically coffee, similar to the states in that way to some extent. At dinner it was quite amusing. Boram’s dad is absolutely hilarious! He mainly speaks Korean of course, and he would randomly speak in English with his really deep voice. I sat across from him. He looks at me and says “ Liberta, says the mouse” I just laugh but I didn’t get it! HA! Boram was sitting next me and was wearing a hat that said Liberta! HAHAHA.. so the mouse was Boram! Oh man! I was laughing soo hard!

Then we had like a rainbow flavored ice scream, which was free. After dinner we went to go see the Jinju Fortress, which they call here basically a castle.. It was so beautiful!! I’m definitely going to stay in a lodge with some friends in the mountains because besides the fact that it’s gorgeous with the leaves and the colors, the fortress I saw only at night. It was really funny, because when we were about to go. Boram’s dad was waiting by a pole and says in his deep voice, “I’m waiting here… I’m waiting” HAHA!! He had this goofy tone to it.. It was soo funny! Oh man! But I have an idea of it because I visited the Gyeongbokgong Palace over the week. So gorgeous! It was really interesting. I’ll get to that later.

We came back to the house, took showers and hung out relaxing. Ahhhh so lovely. Then I hit the sack! Soooo exhausted after a longg day. On Sunday, I woke up at 11am. We went out for breakfast and I had Hae-jang-guk! Hopefully I’m spelling that correctly. It was so yummy. I forgot what it was called, but I’m totally having it again! It had really thick noodles and it reminded me of chicken noodle soup in some ways except more noodles and it was thicker. A slight different taste in the liquid part though. After breakfast they took us to the bus station so we could get a ride back to Seoul to be in time for the Charity Volleyball Tournament. The volleyball tournament was to benefit the children’s orphanage in a city I can’t remember south of Seoul. It was quite fun and I met more foreigners like me! I got a little bruised up around my arms but it’s gone down since then. No permanent harm done. But hoping to play again soon with the same groupie every week. It was really funny because I played for 2 teams. I played with the team Peace and the team Love. Peace was inexperienced and since I knew more what I was doing it was a little frustrating, but I didn’t get too frustrated after all it was for fun. But I asked the referee if I could join another team since I knew more what I was doing. I joined Love too! Ha! It was great fun! We won quite a few games. More of a balance of the level of skill.

I definitely have more stories to tell. But I must depart.. I’ll write another one soon because it’s been a while since I updated what I’ve been up to. Pictures will be up soon!