Most amazing place I've seen thus far!!

My week days continue to be pretty uneventful and the weekends amazing!!! This past weekend that I had, I went to Yongseo Pokpo. Pokpo is waterfall in Korean (i was told that anyways). We got up there about 11 pm friday night and hiked up to the crag (rock face). It was really dark and all we could see was what was in front of us bc of our lamps. Later the moon came out and we could see much better. Everyone was drinking a bit except me because I was planning on going to bed fairly early. That didn't happen. Around mid-night the guys decided they wanted to climb and since I was sober I belayed. It was funny to watch someone climb with a headlamp. Around 2:30 we all went to bed. Two guys in one tent, one in another tent, and me under a blanket of stars and almost full moon.

What I woke up to the next morning was amazing!!

These were taken from sitting on my sleeping bag.

As you can see where we were was small but very tall and colorful. We were the only people up there and it was pretty quite for the most part. We climbed all day saturday until about 5 or so. There was a route that two of the boys had tried and got a ways up and so one of the girls gave it a go. She got up to where the boys had stopped and kept climbing up. When she took a lead fall she hit the wall just right and rolled her ankle really bad. We called the mountain rescue team and they came up, splinted her ankle, put her on a stretcher, carried her out, and gave her and 2 of her friends a ride in the ambulance to the hospital and myself and another guy a ride in the mountain rescue SUV to the hospital. She was there less than 5 minutes before they took her for x-rays. 10 minutes later they came out saying she was almost ready to leave and that it was time to pay. We all looked at each other trying to figure out how much this would be and if we had the cash to pay for it. While that was going on Mack was asking for directions to a hotel for us to stay in. After giving us some bogus directions they just insisted taking us all in the ambulance. So now we were back to, "How much and how are we going to pay?" After some looking at documents, the one rescuer that spoke English looked at us and said 58,620. We all kinda dropped our jaws to the floor. That means that the mountain rescue, the ambulance ride to the hospital and to the hotel, the x-rays, and the emergency room visit was about $45-$50. We could not believe that we weren't selling our kidneys.

The next day the boys and I got up and went back to the crag. I went on a hike up to the top of the falls to see an amazing view.




We did a little more climbing after we got back down before I had to leave. I climbed up and clipped into the anchor and sent the rope back down. I stayed up there and got some cool pictures of people climbing. A new girl I met had to leave at 1 so I decided to leave with her. We decided to walk back to town, to the train station (30 minute walk). We took a wrong direction and had to back track. Her train was supposed to leave at 2:04 so we were running low on time. I said lets hitch-hike. So we walked with our thumbs out and back packs on. 10 cars later this man picks us up in an SUV and took us to the train station. We both looked at each other because we had never done that before. At the train station we tried to figure out where the bus station was so I could catch my bus. We asked around and no one knew. So I took off in the dirrection I thought the bus station might be. I walked past a bus and I asked him. He said some stuff to me about it being 4 km away and some other things. I asked if he was going there and he said, "ahslkfoi" so I said thank you and walked back to the train station. I decided forget it and take a taxi. After the taxi dropped me off this old man in a bus drove by, while pulling up to the station with his door open, and yelled, "lkajsdflj." I just smiled and did the I don't know arms and kept walking. I ended up on the same bus as 2 of our other people that left an hour after me... whoops. The ride was long and crowded but always interesting.

This past week I was sick and had my first run in with a Korean Hospital. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes and it only cost me 8,000 won ($6.50). That included the shot in my buttocks, my pills, cough syrup, and doctors visit. Man I love Korea!!! It turns out I had tonsillitis probably from Yellow-dust. The doctor suggested I buy a mask. That is the 3rd person suggesting that... maybe I should?!?!

More eventful than I would have liked.

Again, last week was pretty boring but I found out that I was going to start teaching after school class this week by myself. That means no more lazy afternoons.

Friday I got to go with my co-teacher to Haeundae and go shopping for some furniture with the schools credit card. I bout a couch, coffee table, and a bedside table. What I found out is that Koreans love leather furniture. They had a total of 3 couches that were not leather. I wasn't crazy about the color (black and grey) because everything in my apartment was brown with some black in it. I got it Tuesday and it doesn't look to bad, now I just have to figure out where to put everything.

Saturday I was thinking of going bouldering with some friends in Busan but after reading that they were 20 foot or so boulders (no ropes). Didn't feel like getting hurt so I went to Haeundae beach and played beach volleyball all day with some foreigners. The weather was perfect and the view was amazing!!! This was taken right after I dove... why not strike a pose?!?!


After sand volleyball we headed to Dr. Fish. For those that have never heard of that, it's where you stick your feet in a bath
with tons of fish that eat the dead skin off your feet. That was by far the weirdest feeling in the world. The fish went to town on my feet. It was so funny to watch them because they would almost swim upside down to eat the top of your feet. Jin freaked out the whole time. I did at first but some Korean women said that that is how everyone is their first time, it takes time to get used to it.

Sunday I met up with Mack about 1.5 hours from where I live. I got there around 8:30 and met the owners of the gym he climbs at by his house. They were taking us what we thought was climbing and later found out it was mountaineering (climbing the ridge of a mountain top)
We climbed up to two different landings tied into a rope for safety. Then we repelled down to another landing before climbing up a next. Not sure I'm a fan of this climbing up then repelling down just to climb up again (with a back pack on). The third landing we were climbing up to, I was the 3rd one up. I slipped and fell. The person that was my belay (protection from falling) was not clipped in to the rock, so when I fell, I fell to the ground and he followed me. In a matter of seconds I fell 15 feet and rolled a bit down a hill and the person on the other end of the rope fell 25 feet and landed next to me. We were both fine for the most part, we were both able to hike out but he did go to the hospital to make sure everything was okay. God was definitely watching over me and I guess Buddha was doing the same in his case.

After that, I headed home but missed the bus because it was early. After the day I had I did not want to wait another 20 minutes for one so I took a 20,000 won taxi ride home. We passed the bus on the way and it was packed with people (like usual) so I would have been standing the whole ride home. At that point I was completely satisfied that I took the taxi (and it dropped me off at my door instead of me walking for 10 minutes home after the bus)

I started my after school classes this week. I have two second grade classes, one with 23 kids and another with 8. Neither class really understands anything I say and I don't understand anything they say. What do you do with 23 kids that you can't talk to and that can't talk to you?? Like a friend put it,"an adorable bunch of kids who look at you like Mr. Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street!" That about sums it up.

This weekend I'm super excited because I'm going climbing at Yongseo Pokpo...a friend said that is the most beautiful place he has climbed in korea and also the most quite. "You stand in an ampitheatre around a very high falls (50m?), surrounded by steep bluffs on 3 sides."

I'll let you know how that is!!! That is all for now