2022: September

Well hellooooooo there! It’s been a while since I posted, since returning from summer vacation to Vietnam. Many school weeks, adventure- (and also many couch potato) -filled weekends have flown by since then.

One important note is that I have decided 2022 is my last year in Korea. This decision was made a few weeks after my summer vacation ended. There was no negative influence… just simply, I felt I needed to be home and spend quality time with family and friends again. After making such a big, positive decision, I am still wrapping my head and emotions around it.

Every bit of time spent with friends here in Korea… every road trip I make… I try to make the most of, knowing each is numbered. For all the great memories I have created, I can’t help but think I could have explored more of Korea instead of wasting so much time feeling unsocial and unmotivated, staying home most weekends. Hindsight is 20:20.

As my time is winding down (I have a month left), I wanted to catch you up on what happened during the fall and start of winter.

My trip to Vietnam finished about 1 week before my schools’ summer breaks ended. Luckily, 추석 (Chuseok: Korea’s harvest celebration similar to US Thanksgiving) was only a few weeks away, gifting the country with a 4 day weekend. Throughout the following months, I had various road trips, some sporadic and solo, others with friends.

Pohang

I took a day trip to 포항 (Pohang), a coastal city 1.5 hours east of Daegu. I went to the Space Walk at Hwanho Lake Park. This was an artfully engineered bridge that gives you a feeling of a rollercoaster. It was installed and opened to the public in November 2021. The bridge overlooks Pohang’s city and the sea.

As I climbed the stairs, I enjoyed taking in the picturesque views, as well as the shrieks and shrills of everyone around me, with each gust of wind and slight sway of the bridge. Some even turned around and headed back down, just a few steps from the bottom. Belle couldn’t safely make an appearance, due to the wind. The climb is not for everyone!

Joenju

For Chuseok, my downstairs neighbor and I decided to go to 전주 (Jeonju) for a 2-day road trip. This was her first time, and my second. I had actually visited Jeonju for Chuseok in 2020! My first visit was via a ~3 hour bus. This time, however, I was driving. We agree that starting early in the morning would be better, so we could avoid any possible holiday traffic. We left around 6 in the morning, and after grabbing our trusty American breakfast from McDonalds, we arrived in the Jeonju hanok village around 8:30. The streets were quiet, and parking was easy to find! It was a perfect way to introduce M to the area, as usually the place is filled with tourists. We took advantage of the empty streets to take pictures of the beautiful skies and hanoks.

Of course, we had to wear hanbok once the shops were opening up. We toured about for an hour, capturing more scenic moments, and even met a family with three dashing ROK Air Force soldiers. We offered to take their pictures, as it appeared they were celebrating a graduation. They were impressed with our (extremely limited) Korean, but their English was great! As we left, we couldn’t stop giggling about how handsome they were…

fast forward 30 minutes later as we were returning to the hanbok rental shop… a young man is hanging out in front of the same shop enthusiastically waving in our direction… we looked around us, sure they weren’t waving at us.. And they waved again… We were awkward as we entered the shop.. and then realized it was one of our dashing soldiers. He was very sad when we came in.. saying “You didn’t even wave back!” We apologized, and then everyone just laughed about it. Turned out, the entire family was dressing in hanbok! As they left we all said we hoped to run into each other later. M and I made a pact… if we saw them again, we were asking for their Ka-talk or Instagram IDs… Alas… no such luck ㅠㅠ

The rest of our time, we just roamed the winding alleyways, snapping photos. We did stumble upon a childrens’ traditional games area, where the MC and his team were very enthusiastic and engaging with us in broken English and Korean conversation. They showed us how to play each game, and sent us on with prizes, even though we lost.

We enjoyed ramen at a fancy Japanese restaurant, and finished the evening walking more. We happened upon a random musical event, where we were delighted with a dance competition, where the winner would receive a box of dried seaweed or rice. It was an entertaining event, with both young and old trying to win the prizes.

The following day we slowly made our way out of Jeonju, heading home. We decided to check out a suspension bridge in Jiri Mountain.

We climbed…and climbed.. and climbed along with many others, to where the suspension bridge was…CLOSED… much to our dismay. No one could tell us why, and there was no sign at the bottom of the mountain saying it was closed. At least I got a nice workout out of it.  

Cheongju

I also visited my friends, newlyweds, in 청주 (Cheongju). I took a 1.5 hour train, as it would have been 2.5 hours by car. I had attended their lovely wedding in July, and they invited me to stay with them for the weekend, and enjoy a bar-b-q on their rooftop before fall’s chill set in.

After they picked me up from the train station, we explored the local fortress, and walked around local streets. As the sun was setting, we were on the roof top, eating a delicious meal, relaxing and reminiscing about their summer wedding and our trips to Vietnam.

The following day, they took me to a café that was originally a 찜질방 (jjimjilbang: Korean bathhouse). As it was my first time even remotely near one of these, it was very interesting to see how they renovated the space. As we enjoyed our coffees, I taught them how to play Five Crown, a card game my family has always loved to play. They then dropped me to the train station and I headed home.

September’s End…

My friend A and I returned to meeting nearly every week to teach each other Korean and Spanish, over delicious meals. These were lovely ways to break up the mundane school weeks. The remainder of September was slow-paced. I attended a Samsung Lions baseball game with some friends, and worked hard trying to bring children back to school’s reality after the long summer break and Chuseok holiday.

*Side note: attending a Korean baseball game, especially sitting in the specified fans section, is it’s own style of musical exercise. Every player has their own theme song and dance. We were on our feet, dancing and singing 90% of the game. It’s fun, but be prepared!

Keep an eye out for more adventures during fall and winter!