Aug. 22 - Aug. 28: The Great Bag Search

Well, another fast (and uneventful) week in the teaching world followed by a glorious, slightly relaxing week in Seoul! The new soccer season has officially kicked off, so Tuesday and Thursday nights are once again reserved for training.

Saturday morning I set off to Dongdaemun with my friend Erin in search of the perfect travel pack. What a mission it was! Last weekend I failed in turning up anything, but fortunately, after an entire day of hustling about various outdoor shops in the market, I finally walked away with a great pack. I wanted something small and uncombersome for my travels, knowing that a bigger pack would just mean my packing more things I do not need. I settled on a 45 Liter red pack...here's to hoping it's not too small!

Saturday night I went to my friend Kelly's house for a rooftop shindig. Thanks to my newfound weekend obsession with climbing, I have been a bit MIA from the social scene, so it was good to see some folks that thought I had fallen off the face of the earth. Of course, my social skills are quite rusty, and I was on the 11:00 subway train home.

Today was my first soccer game of the new season. Well, some things never change, as I did not get even a second of playing time. At this point, the only reason I really stick with it is because I love all my teammates and enjoy spending time with them. After the game, a few of us went out for spicy chicken and on to our usual dive, the Rockssin.

Aug. 16 - Aug. 21: R'n'R

Aaaahhh...finally, a week of rest and re-energizing! The four-day workweek was fabulous, not to mention that one of the days included a trip to see an Alice in Wonderland play with the kiddies.

I decided to forego traveling out of town to enjoy a nice weekend at home in Seoul. Sleeping in my own bed was brilliant. Friday night I turned off my phone and had a lovely, quiet evening with a video. Saturday I went to Namdaemun market in search of a travel pack, with no success.

I had met a man called Professor Lee and his university students a couple months ago, and he calls me and invites me to various events on a weekly basis. I decided to take him up on his invitation to a barbeque at a student's home in Hongdae Saturday night. However, on Saturday he informed me that due to rain the barbeque was canceled and instead he and the students would be having dinner at a restaurant. I thought it would be a good time, so I invited my friend Lindsey to come along as my English-speaking moral support and chaperone.

Am I ever happy that Lindsey was with me, as we discovered upon arriving to the restaurant that the "student dinner" was a bit of a hoax. Instead of twenty twenty-somethings, we found Professor Lee with three middle-aged Korean men. Lindsey and I ate dinner, worked on our Korean-speaking skills, and by 11:00 pm were on the last train home.

Today was another lazy morning, followed by another trip to Hongdae with my mate Jessica for a visit to a piercing salon. I'll leave it at that.

Aug. 8 - Aug. 15: Seonunsan

Sunset over Seonunsan. 

Well, I swore to myself I would relax a bit, as I still have yet to catch up on sleep and any form of physical or mental recharging since my trip to China, but of course I refuse to waste away a good, three-day weekend.

Friday night I met up with four climbing buddies, crammed ourselves into a tiny Korean car, and made our way far south to Seoununsan National Park. We arrived around 2:00 am, pitched our tents beside a river, and passed out.

The next morning, we awoke to a screaming woman telling us that the park "monks" forbade us to camp at the river. We then dragged our things to an inconspicuous spot next to a lake...fortunately, the road was rarely used so we were not bothered by any grouchy ajummas or monks for the rest of the weekend.

We eventually made our way to the crag, where we found an abundance of difficult climbs and very few easy, breezy, made-for-Tiffany routes. My friend Erin and I decided this was the perfect opportunity to practice "lead climbing." This is when you climb without a rope hooked at the top and you must climb in places without any protection as you stick your rope in many little anchors, or draws. In other words, it is very possible to take a hard fall and hurt yourself! Fortunately, the day came without any mishaps, except for the painfully ripped-up hands we received on the rough limestone.

That evening, after a swim/bath in the lake, we had a scrumptious cooked meal of ramen before crashing into our sleeping bags. Sunday morning we awoke to another gorgeous day of climbing. I do not know what was placed in our oatmeal, but Erin and I had a most-retarded (sorry...don't know a PC adjective) day. It began with my taking about a year to climb my first route, to her getting her braids stuck in her belay device, to her falling down the side of the mountain on a potty break, to other unmentionables. All in all, it was a fun day, but the Koreans were definitely embarrassed for us!

Sunday night was another wonderful night of swimming, eating, and gazing at the stars...we counted seven shooting stars in a matter of minutes! Pretty impressive stuff after living in Seoul for nearly a year and hardly being able to see the moon!

Monday morning was a quick climb followed by another refreshing swim in the lake, before we finally had to catch the train back to Seoul. I can officially, officially say I am so addicted to climbing it is disgusting! It's great to finally have a real hobby...even though it is extremely tiresome!

Aug. 1 - Aug. 7: Back to Ganhyeon

Well, after five days back at work and lovely nights sleeping in my own bed again, I decided to head back into the Korean wilderness for another fantastic weekend of camping and climbing in Ganhyeon. Saturday morning, I met up with Seb and my new climbing friend Erin at the bus station and we made our way southeast to my new favorite climbing spot.

We arrived around 11:00 am and got geared up for a full day of climbing. Erin left that evening, and then the rains began to pour. Since neither Seb or I have a tent, we pondered sleeping on top of a table in one of the make-shift, covered outdoor restaurants. Fortunately, the rain began to let up around bedtime, and we huddled under a tarp for the evening's slumber.

Climbing Ajumma...this old lady was tearing up the rock...pretty impressive at 72!

The next morning we awoke bright and early for another day of climbing. Unfortunately, the rains came again around lunchtime, and just as we had thrown in the towel and packed everything up, the sun decided to reappear. Since the main rock wall was pretty busy (as many Koreans have to work on Saturday and do all of their activities on Sundays), we tackled one of the multi-pitch climbs. This is where one person climbs up a wall, hooks him/herself into the top, and belays the other climber up. Repeat. Repeat again. By the third pitch, the climb was practically impossible. Even Seb, who is an excellent climber, was having some difficulties. Amazingly, I made my way up, and we enjoyed the beautiful view from the top of the mountain.

We finally climbed back down and headed home. I am exhausted...maybe one of these days I'll allow myself some rest!