Saturday, May 20, 2006
Random Times: 2nd 48 (part II)
Last weekend was honestly insane....so much stuff crammed into 3 days. So the first 24 consisted of Friday night to Saturday night: bball, indian camp frat party, kareoke room , sleep, wedding aka intestinal bombardment, and then sleep. I will now attempt to paint a vivid picture with words of what occurred in my Korean life from Sunday to Monday.
Saturday: went to Seoul with a mob of peeps from ECC (name of my school). ECC is short for English Children Center, however I refer to it as Evil Corrupt Children, or Every Child on Crack, and many other derogatory anacronyms (sarcasm, yet it helps to relieve stress). I welcome anybodies suggestions for new ones. The goal of our trip to Seoul was to conquer the highest mountain peak in the city, and scream the name of a past or current romantic interest off of the top (not really). The hike was a hike, same as it would have been in Seattle. Natural Beauty, wonderful foliage (I appreciate greenery so much now that I live in the city) vertical climbing, rivers, etc.
However there were some differences at the top that absolutely screamed KOREA!!! Apparently at the top of every mountain there is a Buddhist temple. I have come to that well founded conclusion after two hikes, but it just seems like the norm. The temples on this hike were a little more impressive. The first one we came to honestly had every inch of feasible surface area consumed by buddha statues. There were more buddhas in this room then there are hair follicles on an average monkey. I attempted finding my inner chi, but was too distracted by the architecture and design. The temples are still leaving me
wanting a little more, maybe the next one will have monks doing keg stands or dancing in a conga line. After a little more climbing we reached the top and much to my delight, there were vendors selling beer. It felt pretty good drinkin a brew at the top of this mountain, soakin up some rays amidst a sea of Koreans. Only in Korea. The hike was about 5 miles round trip and I have no idea how much elevation we gained, but it was a workout for sure. It took us about 4 hours up and down, plus 1 
hour of taking in the view and beer at the top. After meals and travel, the trip lasted almost 12 hours. Seriously long, seriously exhausting, completely worth it.
Monday (May 15th) was teachers day in Korea and we were mercifully given the day off. Praise to all that is holy. I celebrated this holiday with a similar but larger team of both foreigners and Korean teachers (who can speak English) by going to one of the major amusement parks of Korea called Lotte World (lowttay). Despite long lines, the place was pretty fun. For whatever
reason, I didn't think twice about putting the control and outcome of my very being into the hands of Korean "thrill ride" engineering. I went on some seriously scary rides....not skydiving scary, not alligator wrestling scary, but pretty nuts. One of the rides ended an employees life just recently (he was drunk and not wearing a harness). On one of these rides called the "gyro swing," I thought my friend Tamara had swallowed her tongue or something. I am sitting there screaming like a 5 year old girl and she's next to me absolutely silent and not responding to my questions. She was cool, only just 
having a mild heart attack. Another 12 hour endeavor under the belt. One more crazy ass outing full of packed subways, g-forces, and drinking alcohol in the middle of the day at family oriented amusement parks. I'll let the pics say the rest.
¶ 6:02 AM 
Saturday: went to Seoul with a mob of peeps from ECC (name of my school). ECC is short for English Children Center, however I refer to it as Evil Corrupt Children, or Every Child on Crack, and many other derogatory anacronyms (sarcasm, yet it helps to relieve stress). I welcome anybodies suggestions for new ones. The goal of our trip to Seoul was to conquer the highest mountain peak in the city, and scream the name of a past or current romantic interest off of the top (not really). The hike was a hike, same as it would have been in Seattle. Natural Beauty, wonderful foliage (I appreciate greenery so much now that I live in the city) vertical climbing, rivers, etc.
However there were some differences at the top that absolutely screamed KOREA!!! Apparently at the top of every mountain there is a Buddhist temple. I have come to that well founded conclusion after two hikes, but it just seems like the norm. The temples on this hike were a little more impressive. The first one we came to honestly had every inch of feasible surface area consumed by buddha statues. There were more buddhas in this room then there are hair follicles on an average monkey. I attempted finding my inner chi, but was too distracted by the architecture and design. The temples are still leaving me
wanting a little more, maybe the next one will have monks doing keg stands or dancing in a conga line. After a little more climbing we reached the top and much to my delight, there were vendors selling beer. It felt pretty good drinkin a brew at the top of this mountain, soakin up some rays amidst a sea of Koreans. Only in Korea. The hike was about 5 miles round trip and I have no idea how much elevation we gained, but it was a workout for sure. It took us about 4 hours up and down, plus 1 
hour of taking in the view and beer at the top. After meals and travel, the trip lasted almost 12 hours. Seriously long, seriously exhausting, completely worth it.Monday (May 15th) was teachers day in Korea and we were mercifully given the day off. Praise to all that is holy. I celebrated this holiday with a similar but larger team of both foreigners and Korean teachers (who can speak English) by going to one of the major amusement parks of Korea called Lotte World (lowttay). Despite long lines, the place was pretty fun. For whatever
reason, I didn't think twice about putting the control and outcome of my very being into the hands of Korean "thrill ride" engineering. I went on some seriously scary rides....not skydiving scary, not alligator wrestling scary, but pretty nuts. One of the rides ended an employees life just recently (he was drunk and not wearing a harness). On one of these rides called the "gyro swing," I thought my friend Tamara had swallowed her tongue or something. I am sitting there screaming like a 5 year old girl and she's next to me absolutely silent and not responding to my questions. She was cool, only just 
having a mild heart attack. Another 12 hour endeavor under the belt. One more crazy ass outing full of packed subways, g-forces, and drinking alcohol in the middle of the day at family oriented amusement parks. I'll let the pics say the rest.
¶ 6:02 AM
