Alright - it wasn't quite a road trip, but it was a trip and we traveled on several roads so that's what I'm calling it. Since Thursday was the day when every high school senior took their college entrance exam, we all had the day off. And, since none of the teachers wanted to come to school the day after supervising those exams all day, we had Friday off from school too. And so, with a delightful four day weekend with no plans on our hands, we decided to take advantage of this nice break and what was left of the gorgeous fall weather we've been having by taking a short trip. We settled on the east coast of Korea to visit one of Korea's major mountains, Seoraksan as well as the nearby coast of the East Sea. What a delightful trip we had :)
We woke up hella early on Thursday morning after a delightful non-school-night-Wednesday-evening-in with our pals Kim and Navy. And, by hella early, I mean earlier than we would have woken up had we had school that day. Ouch. We got to the bus terminal and waited about an hour and a half for our bus to leave. My seat was next to an incredibly friendly middle-aged Korean man who was delighted to be able to dust off his English skills. After a quick chat, I dozed for the better portion of the two and a half hour bus ride. As I woke from my most desirable nap, my bus companion slipped me his card and offered to take Diane, Desiree and I to dinner that night. After having talked to me for less than 10 minutes. Very strangey. Ever more strange - I told him my name so that when (read: if) I called him to arrange dinner plans, he would know who I was. He couldn't have cared less. So weird...
Upon arrival at our cozy hostel (The House Hostel in Sokcho is highly recommended, people!), we explored the city. We were eagerly greeted by several locals waving hello, telling us we were beautiful and even welcoming us to Korea in passing. Being an obvious foreigner is funny sometimes. Eventually we found ourselves in a shipyard, which, let me tell you, we explored to its full extent. Fishermen are colorful characters. Next, we made our way to a sea wall where we took several photos - some beautiful, some emotional, some heartfelt, many silly. We ended our near-the-sea adventure with a delightful chat (over fresh crab) with our restaurant's proprietor. Homeboy was a real big baseball fan. Wowza.
Friday was hiking day. And, by hiking, I mean we took a cable car as high as we could and hiked maybe half an hour total. Buuuut, we saw some beautiful scenery, ate some delicious hiking snacks and did some high quality people watching. Then, we took the bus to the fish market and walked around. Something about markets here just makes me intrinsically happy. I love the energy present there. I don't know.
We spent a good amount of childish time frolicking at Sokcho Beach, walking on the boardwalk, and thoroughly enjoying being together in a strange new city. The rest of the day was spent wandering (literally - we had no idea where we were or where we were going...), eating Chinese food and ice cream and relaxing. We woke up from early evening naps to indulge in some soft tofu soup, a specialty of the area. It was delightful, as was the restaurant's proprietor who later called us a cab and invited us to wait for said cab inside her restaurant. I love people's kindness and hospitality here. Fantastic.
The next morning, we slept in, took it easy, ate brunch at our favorite chain bakery and caught our bus back to reality. What a fantastic, relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable getaway. Now it's back to the grindstone for awhile... and, by grindstone, I mean teaching roughly 10 classes this week in which we prepare for a final exam and put the finishing touches on the first grade business play project. Sometimes this job is painfully delightful.
Also, I can't believe I haven't mentioned this before, but for three glorious weeks in January, my best bud Ruth will grace Korea with her presence!!!! YAYYY! (If you can't tell, I'm real jazzed about her recent plane ticket purchase!) There are grand times to be had. Grand times, indeed.
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