YOUR FATHER ASIAN?

Had an amazing three day weekend!  We didn't have school on Friday because Saturday was a holiday called Chuseok.  People kind of say its like Thanksgiving, but basically families get together, children bow to their elders, they eat food and play some games.  It is supposed to be about honoring ancestors and such, but like most holidays it is just mainly about getting together and eating.  We did get a great gift of Nivea lotion, and chapstick, and toothpaste from our directors.  And I received some towels from one of my students so that was fun.

The highlight of the weekend was definitely the hiking trip we took to Bukhansan on Saturday.  Bukhansan is a national park just north of Seoul.  It has three different peaks.  I've never really been hiking very much, and I had never before hiked up a mountain.  However, hiking is pretty popular here since the country is mostly covered with mountains, not huge ones but obviously much bigger than anything you find in Iowa.  Anyways...it was AWESOME!!!!!  The whole hike took us 7 hours.  I'll put some pictures at the end of this post, but the pics in no way do it justice.  I don't really know how to describe the hike but I guess I will do my best...

We started out at about 11am.  It was pretty easy to start out with.  We were following some stair paths, and kind of a road.  For about the first quarter of the way up there were a lot of little restaurants where people could stop and take a break.  They had tables and blankets set up all among the rocks.  It was really neat. 

 The second quarter of the way up was a little bit harder.  There were more rocks and it was a little steeper.  At one point we realized we were not going in the correct direction to get to the peak, but luckily this girl who could speak English saw us looking at the signs kind of confused and helped direct us the right way.  Probably about half-way up we stopped next to a wall built during the Joseon dynasty to eat lunch.  

After that the trail got a little harder and a little steeper.  We started going the wrong way again, but a nice Korean man told us to follow him.  We lost him in no time but managed to stay on the right trail.  I felt like it was the trail that never ended.  Finally we managed to get out of the trees and we were able to see the peak we were headed for.  Then the trail started to get a little hairy.  

At this point I was not really scared.  I didn't get nervous until the top.  Anyways, you basically had to pull yourself up, or climb down, some steep, slippery rocks using a cable that was staked into the rocks.  This whole trip made me very thankful for my hiking shoes I bought before I left.  Especially for the Gryptonite soles.  The trail was also pretty crowded, so you would often have to find some way move over for people or have people move over for you while trying to hold on to a cable for dear life.  

Then when we got nearer to the top we had to go up a bunch of stairs.  This was by far the worst part of the hike.  After hiking for about 4 hours trying to lift my legs up stairs was darn hard.  After the stairs came some more cables and steep, slippery rocks.  At this point I started to get a little nervous.  We were almost to the top so the place was pretty packed.  At times there were probably like 20 people all lined up pulling themselves up the rock and if one of them slipped you are all going down.  I started to have some irrational thoughts at this point, such as, what if we get to the top and this mountain decides it doesn't want to be a mountain anymore and just decides to start tumbling down.  That would really suck.  I managed to keep these thoughts to myself, as I knew it would do no good to mention them to my hiking mates, who I'm pretty sure were also a bit freaked out.  At one point Emily said she might start to hyperventilate so I knew I shouldn't tell her about my fear that the mountain was going to collapse, she was just trying to make it up without slipping to her death.  

But alas, we all made it to the top unscathed, and let me tell you it was quite a view.  To one side you can see the entire city of Seoul, it is amazing to see it like that.  Other than that you are basically looking down on a sea of green mountains.  It truly was pretty darn breathtaking.  We sat and rested at the top for awhile just taking it all in.  It was beautiful.  The way down wasn't too bad.  We took the shorter, more direct way down.  We didn't realize we had taken the long, meandering way up but I'm very happy for that.  If we had taken the hard way up I don't think I really would have enjoyed that.  I now know to take the easy, long way up and then the shorter way down.  We finally made it back down to the bottom and enjoyed a mug of the most refreshing beer I'd ever tasted.  As we finished our beer we got to see an almost full moon come up behind one of the peaks.  It was by far the coolest thing I've done since being here and I can't wait to go hiking again.  

Oh and I almost forgot...the reason this post is called Your Father Asian? is because I was asked that on the hike.  This nice Korean man started talking to us when we were stopped for a little break on the way down.  He asked where we were from, what we were doing here, and such.  Then he asked me if my father was Asian.  He said I kind of looked a little Asian with my dark hair and such.  Never gotten that one before, but Krista and Emily thought it was pretty funny.  It was just one of the many good quotes that came out in this adventure.  I will list some of them just so I can look back and remember them.  If you don't think they are funny that is fine.  I won't mention who said them just in case those individuals don't want to claim they said them.  By the way this hiking trip was made up of Krista, Emily, 3 of Krista's friends from her school, and me.  If you think you can pick out the culprits of these quotes feel free to guess.  Once again you may not care at all, but I want a record so this is mainly for my benefit.

"My shoes are too slippery for this SHIT...I'm done."- said when we were probably only halfway up

"If I die my parents will be really mad at you guys."

-in the middle of hoisting ourselves up a steep rock 

"Oh, bee, bee.  Don't freak out.  Don't freak out."

"I won't, but will you?"

"Your father Asian?"

"I thought I was going to die three times today."

And the mantra for the day...for a couple of us at least..."Hardcore Parkour!"

Here are some pics from the day...they do not do it justice at all.  Simply amazing.

The one on the right is the one we climbed to the top of

Seoul

Just hanging out at the top

Looking down on all the people who are still on their way up

B E A Utilful