Spring trips and fun!

Cherry blossoms on my way home

That's me winning our march madness group by chance. too bad we
didn't bet any money.

strange wedge potatoes at lunch... the orange
stuff is like cheese sauce?

Young Ah and I went out to dinner Saturday to belatedly
celebrate our birthdays~

On Saturday, Cesca and I started out early because we were going on another weekend trip. This one ended up being more successful. Our first stop was Jindo, to see the Miracle Sea Road or the Sea Parting Festival.  

Legend has it that a grandma was separated from her family because they moved to an island and she was left behind. She prayed and prayed for a road to open so she could be reunited with her family. A rainbow appeared and a path opened. They were reunited but the grandma also died (in true Korean story fashion) because it was her last wish to see her family. 

The scientific reason is because of extreme differences in the tides. Once in a great while, just a few days every year, the tides match up so well that this sea road appears. Cool stuff. 

SO here's the photo rundown of the day:

we bought these awesome boots for the
crossing

laughing cause people kept getting in our pics

we were pretty far out and the water really does
recede like all the way

starfish!

the path was still open when we left, but
we didn't want to get caught out there

lemonade from the America booth

No idea why these people were performing

car rollover seatbelt demo

they had global entertainment 

And korean wrestling 

They let foreigners try

This ahjumma would not stop chasing this poor
girl around to shower her with affection

people come and bring bags to gather seaweed and any food they
find on the walk. We saw lots of people digging for
clams and some lady even picked up an octopus

preparing for the crossing

enjoying our boots

we were amazed that the water really does go away! It really
made a path!

can't avoid the photo bombers

using their minds to part the sea

Katie and Cesca being explorers 

Finished the night with cotton candy 

Fun fact, Jindo is also the place where Admiral Yi Sun Shin defeated the much larger Japanese armada or navy or whatever in a great sea battle. Pretty cool stuff. 

the best part was meeting this
Jindo puppy. The dog breed is
also from this island and it's adorable

We got on the bus for another 2 hour ride (the ride to Jindo was 6 hours. Wheeeeee) and we arrived at our hotel in Boseong late at night. We rested up as best we could on floor mats, and then in the morning, headed out to the green tea fields. 

I've been here before, but the viewing time was quite short and it was a little rushed. This time, we had most of the day, so we got to leisurely stroll around the bamboo forest and tea fields, while trying all the green tea foods. 

we loved our hotel name~ Da Beach

we even had time to hike to the top of the fields.
it was a gorgeous day!

Green Tea naeng myeon.. Nothing special
but the theme was fun

we also got to participate in a tea
ceremony which had a lot of steps to
drinking tea 

Pandas, where u at?

getting good angles

abusing nature, clearly

the churros, ice cream and ddeokbokki were the best

We climbed all the way to the top!

After a 6 hour bus ride and another hour on the subway, I was finally home just after 11. Exhausted but internally energized by the great weekend. Neither place was too crowded (despite how crowded the Jindo pics seem, that was a decently roomy festival) and there wasn't anything to frustrating about this weekend, which made it feel amazing. I got to see some beautiful things and enjoy some great weather outside of Seoul, plus I spent a lot of time in good company. 

Hoping to fill my last few months in Korea with many more adventures :D

Spring in the air! Along with some dust...

Today's semi short update is brought to you by Neko Atsume and a massive headache. Had quite an active weekend so I'm pretty worn out, and apparently my head knows it. 

The plus side of this week was that my cat collecting really started picking up!

eeeewww... I mean... woooo my
first memento...

I'm an adult but good job stamps still make me
super happy!

The fine dust was bad at the beginning of the week, warranting the use of a dust mask on my walk to school,

It got worse on Wednesday, so on went the mask again. I hate wearing it, but if I don't, the dust makes me feel massively ill. My co workers were surprised when I wore it again, since, to them, the air didn't look that bad and it wasn't bothering them. I guess the idea of 'fine dust' being invisible is a little lost. Granted, some days you can tell by the sky. Anyway, they joked they should just check with me for the levels, since I know them well. I explained that in good ol' Lockport, NY, we don't have this fine dust pollution problem, so my body just can't adjust to it. I haven't been living in it my  whole life. Though, really, everyone should be careful about it...

cherry blossom season is starting

haha we are the representative foreigners at the studio!

 On Wednesday after school, I went to the Han River for a bit~

this snack is shaped like crabs

That night, Tubbs visited me in Neko Atsume and wouldn't leave, even though I wanted to go to bed early... I'm obsessed. 

I also got this sphinx cat, Ramses the Great,
to visit

It's election season in Seoul, so these little campaign cars are noisily going around with candidates blaring music and speeches from them as early as 7:30 am -__-

 On Saturday, we had an early start as we headed out to pick strawberries with a group trip from Seoul. We were supposed to go to a strawberry festival, but it was cancelled because of some animal flu gong around. We still got to pick strawberries though!

seductive strawberry eater

MUTANT STRAWBERRY

There was an adorable puppy on the farm

Then we went to Daedunsan to see the famous cloud bridge. Unfortunately, Cesca and my bad luck struck again, and the god damn cable car was broken. The itinerary had clearly only accounted for the cable car time, not actual hiking time, so we started the hike, but ultimately turned back because it was basically rock climbing and not hiking. For our first post winter hike, it was too much. We'd eaten lunch too close to the hike as well, making us feel quite blah during it. When we saw how precarious the remaining half looked, we just gave up and hung out at the bottom.

only a few parts had stairs, the rest was crazy steep.

most of the hike looked like this

at least the scenery was nice and we got a bit of 
exercise outside of seoul

this was our endgoal, we just couldn't make it up there
with limited time and mediocre korean hiking abilities

would have been cool but oh well

We got back in one piece and on time, so we felt pretty good. And we weren't too sore from the hike, so that was nice. We were still tired though, so we went to bed early.

 Unfortunately, Ces and I were woken up early by the POLICE arriving to check on the couple in the apartment across the way from me, who were fighting quite loudly at around 7 am this morning. Since it was inside and a private matter, all the police could really do was say "don't fight anymore. no fighting.." before leaving. The couple then continued to make noise for the morning and I think one of them was packing their things to leave or completely move out. They fight a lot so I'm hoping they just finally decided to break up. I'm not sure whose the instigator or anything. All I know is they fight vocally and often. 

We headed to dance class, where we learned SNSD's I Got a Boy again. Cesca and I even helped with a short tutorial video after class! I think I sound awkward on camera, but I'm glad they asked us! It was exciting!

Unfortunately, the dust this week and my hiking yesterday caught up with me today, and I have a pretty bad headache. I'm hoping the air is better this week and that I can take it easy in school and get through with minimal issues. 

 Spring has sprung here! Looking forward to more skirts, less sweaters!