October had two 3-day weekends, due to holidays, and offered some adventures for Belle and myself! We had a field trip, and 2 road trips!
Field Trip: 해파랑길
Usually, my middle school students would enjoy an entire week in Jeju Island, however, due to Coronavirus restrictions, the school could not plan for an overnight field trip. Instead, the school planned for a hiking trip along 해파랑길 (Haeparang Trail), a trail by the eastern coastline of Korea, stretching over 770 kilometers.
For three consecutive days, students and teachers would meet before 7am, hop on their buses, and drive 3 hours to the east coast to trek part of the Haeparang Trail. They would hop back on the buses around 4pm, and drive 3 hours back to Daegu, to go home and rest for the next day.
I joined my students for the first of their three day trip (remember, I work at 2 schools), walking 14 kilometers. We left Daegu with the morning sun peeking out from behind clouds, and arrived at the starting point of the trail’s Blue Road with non-stop, pouring rain. Thankfully, I had checked the forecast the day before and was somewhat prepared. The school provided each of us with a poncho, a bottle of water and a snack, and all 80 of us began our very wet hike. The rain did not stop the entire time we walked. The views, regardless, were still lovely. We had an hour lunch break to enjoy bibimbap, huddling in whatever shelter we could to try to dry off, before we had to continue. As we were broken into manageable groups of 10 students to 1 teacher, we left lunch at different times, and began trekking along again.
We all caught up with each other overlooking a small harbor, where our buses picked us up, with warm air blasting. We had dinner at a rest stop along the route home, and saw a beautiful rainbow!
It was definitely an experience. I enjoyed interacting with students and teachers, (even the vice principal was with us) outside of the school environment! The students did an amazing job pushing through the discomfort of wet clothes, shoes and keeping positive as we made our way along the trail.
I heard the second and third days were filled with beautiful blue skies and sunshine!
Road Trip 1: 평창
That very weekend I headed up to Bundang to visit with my college friend H and her family! We were going to 평창 (Pyeongchang) to view the colorful fall leaves and get some fresh air.
Saturday was a bit wet (I really was running out of luck), but we warmed up with some delicious Korean BBQ (삼겹살) in our rented apartment.
Sunday started off sunny, albeit a bit cold. We waited in line for nearly 2 hours to get in a cable car taking us up the mountain for the scenic view. We walked along the sky bridge, trying not to blow away with the strong, whistling winds that didn’t stop blowing. H’s 5 year old daughter was fearless and gleeful, laughing at the wind catching her coat as she twirled around on the metal grates, high up above the trees. Her laughter was precious!
We rode back down the mountain, grabbed lunch and started making our way back to Bundang. As Pyeongchang is a very popular weekend spot, and we happened to be traveling during a holiday weekend, there was a lot of traffic. We decided to stop by a few temples to pass some time and wait for traffic to die down a bit.
Unfortunately, I cannot recall the names of the 2 temples, nor the mountain they were on. All I do remember, was that the views were lovely as we drove, winding up the mountain roads, alongside a river. Unfortunately, it began to rain as we were heading up the mountain, but it did not stop us from enjoying the temples.
Our return trip was long, and we were all very tired. We arrived much later that night than we had hoped, but we had a nice hot pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut that we devoured before we headed off to sleep.
Monday was a sick day for all of us. We were all fighting colds, and had little energy to do anything beyond watching movies and doing small crafts.
I returned to Daegu, and hopped right into bed.
Road Trip 2: 단양
The weekend following Pyeongchang, my friend HJ and I went to 단양 (Danyang), because I really wanted to see 구인사 (Guin Temple), which I had seen on a photographer’s Instagram post months prior.
The 2.5 hour drive north of Daegu started on Saturday morning. We arrived at the temple’s entrance around 11am. We took a 3 minutes (literally) bus ride up a small portion of the mountain, where we then continued hiking up a very steep path for another 15 or 20 minutes (I felt like I was dying every 2 minutes).
Guin Temple is nestled in 소백산 (Sobaek Mountain), and the temple buildings are built climbing the mountain. As it is the headquarters of the Cheontae Buddhists, it is a massive complex. It felt like a colorful medieval castle, with bridges overhead, connecting buildings. There were many monks walking around, both male and female. As quiet and peaceful as the complex felt, it was very active.
We spent a few hours walking up the mountain, as we observed the intricate, bright paintings on the temple building walls. The sun was out, and the temperature was perfect. When we finally walked back down the steep mountain, we ate a late lunch and then headed to our pension to relax after a long day.
The following morning, I woke up early, called my parents and walked along the quiet street while my friend was still sleeping. We headed out after eating breakfast, and went to some very touristy spots in Danyang. The city offers many beautiful views, and is a popular tourist spot for Korean families.
These road trips really motivate me to buy a used car next year, so I can travel more freely. The remainder of October was filled with school, and preparing Halloween lessons for my students. I dressed up as a “Fancy” witch (according to students and teachers) and received a lot of delightful surprised stares and “Oh! Wow!”s from everyone.
A Girl And Her Pez 