I have, since winter ended, been going to the gym fairly regularly. Some weeks I go almost everyday, some just one or 2 times. Jess and I, hoping that we had gotten ourselves back into reasonably decent shape decided to try hiking Seoraksan with Warren. Ok, Seoraksan is supposed to be one of the hardest mountains to climb in Korea and Warren, who runs the trips we go on, is crazy and a hardcore hiker.
This was the type of hike I did in the fall without too much trouble. We left Seoul at 11:30pm on Friday and arrived at the mountain at around 2:30am Saturday.
We started hiking with our head-lamps on at 3am. To start were the stairs. Now, I hate stairs. I would rather climb my way up nature then climb stairs. This was the first clue I had that this hike wasn't going to go well for me. The stairs were never ending. And they were big, like king-size steps. Eventually, after about 30-45mins (though it felt like HOURS) of climbing stairs, we conquered them! However, by this time it had started to rain. Not just a gentle sprinkling either. I was cold, I was wet, for whatever reason I was having trouble breathing, and it just wasn't fun. Also, I was REALLY far behind the group. Picture: me in a bright purple poncho, wearing a head-light, hiking up this miserable mountain in the cold rain. Alone. I was not loving it.
Two others from my group had passed by me and told me that they were so far behind because one of their friends decided to turn around and head back to the bus. Now, this sounded like a great idea to me, so I got that guys number, checked that the bus was still there, and turned around. I called Jess to tell her what I was doing and she decided to come with me as she wasn't really enjoying herself either. So then I stood in the rainy, dark woods and waited. And waited. I kept picturing all the animals that could come out and kill/eat me. Thought about ghost stories and all the bad things that can happen when your alone in the woods. I managed to spook myself a little bit in the 20mins it took Jess to reach me.
We continued down together and eventually made it the bus where another 2 from our group were. By that time it was around 4:30-5am, so naturally we curled up as best we could on the seats and went to sleep. We got up a few hours later and went on an easy hike for maybe 3 or 4 hours. It was quite nice and was only raining off-and-on. By the time we got back to the bus it was raining pretty steadily. There was also a hot spring by the bus where we sat and soaked our feet. That was probably the best part of the whole trip.
A while later another few people had made their way back to the bus. Did I mention we were supposed to camp on the beach that night? Yeah. It sounded like a lot of fun when we signed up, hiking/camping in the sunshine on the warm beach. Not nearly as appealing in the cold rain. So, Jess and I, along with another 4 from our group, decided to catch the bus back to Seoul that luckily stopped on the road we were on. We made it back, caught the train back to Ilsan, and I went home and passed out. It was definitely an interesting day.
This weekend is a long weekend, memorial day or something is on Monday. Saturday I'm planning to go to Suwon to see a fortress with Mychaela and Sunday were going to try rafting. Fingers-crossed that it doesn't rain on me again.
Everything else is going pretty well. I got my plane ticket home!!! August 13th!!! Can't wait! I want fruit, vegetables, real Mexican food, and to get back to a regular diet. And, of course, to see my family and friends! And watch Phillies games!!! But I will miss South Korea, my school, my students, friends, Lake Park, and, of course, kimchi-jjigae.
As of right now, I'll arrive home at around 10pm on the 13th, if everything is on time, anyway. On the 16th I will have Law School orientation at Temple and on the 23rd classes will start. Sometime before classes start I want to 1) go to at least 1 Phillies game and 2) possibly find somewhere in the city to live, though I can commute for a while, but there is a good chance that with no car living at home could get old fast. Plus, nothing is set yet and I tend to change my mind about what I want to do every 5 minutes, so we'll see what actually happens :-)
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