Chuseok Vacation in Namhae

*Disclosure to Family* You will see me drinking...do not be alarmed or angry. It was all done in the name of I-haven't-had-good-beer-in-a-year.

My Chuseok break feell on the end of September and the beginning of October. I went to Namhae for the Oktoberfest celebration that was occuring in the German village on the island of Namhae. Namhae is in the southern part of South Korea. We drove through the night on Friday to Namhae and I discovered I had developed a nasty case of motion sickness. I watched the whole way behind the driver as the sun rose at around 5:30 Am and we still hadn't arrived to our pension. WE finally pulled in around 7 AM and I was
exhausted and ready to get off a moving vehicle for quite some time. I spent most of the day sleeping trying to recover. I stayed in a room with 3 other girls, Jennifer, Jenni, and Vanessa. Luckily, the three of them were also getting over being sick. We walked on the beach and found the many remains of dead jellyfish...needless to say I was glad to not be swimming here!

The next morning I woke up feeling better and prepared to go hiking with a group of people on the trip. Two of these girls were so ill prepared for hiking; I mean full make up on their face, not wearing tennis shoes and looking more prepared to go out then for a hike!

view from bottom

We hiked Geumsan where there is the Boriam temple at the top. It was just around 2 hours up and a little over three hours coming down. We took a couple detours along the way going along the ridges.

You can see what those two girls were weaing! I couldn't help but laugh.

A great statue. You can see how gorgeous this area is.

At the top.

A temple we found that we could go into...and then got promptly was asked to leave.

The next day we spent the day on the bus going to where the german village is on Namhae. We were suppose to go kayaking that day on the bay, but I left my camera in our room so I didn't take any pictures. I wish I had because it would have been absolutely worth it! But I was afraid of getting the camera wet.

The moonrise that night.

The next day was spent at the German Village for Oktoberfest! It was another gorgeous sunny day and I was completely ready to have some great beer! The area was incredibly cute and right across from our pension was this adorable cafe where I got one of the best cafe mochas and blueberry muffin. It wasn't the best breakfast to start a day of drinking off, but I was able to get food at the festival.
The pogession of pictures shows how my sobriety left through out the day and ended with me coming in 3 for a drinking contest. I plead insanity on doing that, but it was one of my highlights living in Korea!

The first beer of the day! SO yummy!

a couple girls did a beer race, I find it entertaining. They ran around the stadium trying not to spill their beer.

Me, Jennifer, Jenny

Tara and I

Oh lookie! I'm on stage for the drinking contest, round 1

I tied with the British girl.

That's right, the girls drank out the boots for the final round. The men still got to drink their beer out of a straw. I am very thankful for the Germans on the trip who helped me figure out how to drink out of the damn thing!

After drinking that final Two and half beers in the boot, I was dismayed when they wouldn't let us keep them! COME ON! that would have been my perfect souvenior for the trip. Oh well, I kept my stein ;)

What did I win, coming in third? More FREE BEER!

After the contest I went back down the hill to sober up a bit so I wasn't too completely wasted for the next day of traveling. Big difference from this morning!

I'm feeling no pain in this picture.

The night ended with some great fireworks! I had a great time in Namhae, and I would place it as my second favorite place in Korea after Gyeonju. I enjoyed this trip and it was a great Chuseok vacation for me!

End of the Month Post - October

Chuseok Break vacation, Tin's B-Day Climbing Seroksan, Halloween

October started off with my Chuseok Vacation. Chuseok is a Korean thanksgiving holiday, which lasts for about two days. Luckily this fell on a weekend and at the end/beginning of September. I went on another Seoul Hiking Group to Namhae for Oktoberfest at the German village located on the island. I went with a group of around 30 people and we had a great time. I got to meet a lot of people there. We spent the first night driving to Namhae and I discourved, unpleasanttlessly, that I had developed motion sickness. It was a long ride after that. We were staying at Sangju beach for the first two nights. We arrived at our first pension near 6:30 AM and I had the "joy" of watching the sun come up over the island. I was NOT feeling the best and was ready to crash on a solid, unmoving floor.  I was on my own on this trip, since other friends were traveling elsewhere for Chuseok and I had not met any one on this trip before. I stayed in a room with Jen, Jenny and Vanessa, who coincedentally all had been sick the previous week and we ended up spending our first day inside our room sleeping until 1 or 2. We ate lunch and eventually went down to the beach to see the sunset.

And you know, stumble on parts and whole GIANT JELY FISH.



The campfire that night on the beach. was very nice.

The next day I went hiking with a group of people on the trip. We hiked Geumsan where there is the Boriam temple at the top. It was just around 2 hours up and a little over three down. We took a couple detours along the way going along the ridges. We had some great views up there.



On Monday we went to Namhae. Every time I was on the bus for more than twenty minutes, I became violently ill. As unpleasant as that was, I was able to relax a little once we got to where the German village was. Monday was sea kayaking day and me and the girls I was rooming with  kayaked in the bay. It was a lot of fun. I had wished I had brought my little digital camera because we watched the sunset over the German village, lighting up the white houses and orange rooftops. It was absolutely gorgeous and I wished I'd remember to bring it, so there are no pictures of  Monday's fun.

Tuesday was Oktoberfest! A bunch of us went up around 11 in the morning and it was a lot of fun. I'll write more about it in my trip post, so you can find more information about my antics there!

The next weekend was my coworker's TinTin's birthday! We took a trip down to Busan, which is the largest coastal city in Korea. It was a lot of fun. The same weekend was the film festival. We didn't get the chance to see any movies because most of the English or English subtitled movies were all sold out. We did bump into one of the actors while going between the theatres, trying to get a ticket which was entertaining.

View from our hotel room window, that's the festival there!

Outside the festival on the first day in Busan.

TO celebrate Tin's birthday, we went to the fish market in Busan and while I'm not the biggest fan of fish, we got a ton of clams and eel. I didn't really enjoy the eel but I love shellfish.

TinTin, Me, Nicole, and Mckenna.

ALso in October I hiked Seroksan, the third tallest mountain in South Korea. I had been sick for this trip and we started hiking at 3 AM in the morning. I was exhausted and fell behind my friends but I was still able to get some great shots of all the fall foliage. It was great weather Saturday and Sunday was spent on the beach. I t was a great trip with my friends before winter set in.

The Last weekend of the month was Halloween! I dressed as Mini-Mouse and met up with Bryan and his friends. Bryan was leaving in November and I wanted to spend as much time with him. Bryan is such an awesome person and I have enjoyed getting to know him. I spent the night in Itaewon and had a ton of fun!

Another girl, Lindsey was dressed as Mini too!

Bryan and Brooke dressed as a Korean couple

The tallest lady in drag I've ever seen! Look at those legs!

Mario and Luigi getting stopped by Koreans.

Some awesome costumes were to be found in Itaewon.

End of the Month Post: September

Burning Korea, Susanne's Birthday

September was one of the first months where there things really settled down and marked my one year being in Korea. When it came to my one year, I wasn't really thinking about celebrating it as others have done, but I was fairly indifferent. I made me start thinking about what I had done since I had come to Korea. Had I pushed myself out of my comfort zone? Was I truly living to the fullest while here and not letting the petty things get in the way of my happiness? These questions made me think and it has helped me firgure out where I want to be in a year from then and what I wanted to be doing.

The beginning of september was Burning Korea, which is similar to the great Burning Man that happens every year for a week in the Black Rock Desert  of Nevada. It was truly a moment that was outside my usual comfort zone. The weekend was filled with drinking on a beach at the end of summer, enjoying the last bit of warmth, meeting some fabulous people, watching people get painted, and celebrating what it means to be in a communal atmospher and caring for the others around you. As well as tons of drunken debauchery. It wasn't all wholesome fun. I won't get into any of the negative stereotypes that a lot of people have about Burning Man and the people who attend, but I felt that a lot of the people I met there were truly accepting individuals that wanted to hear who I was and I about them. It was a great experience and sadly...I have little to NO pictures of it. There is one of me hula-hooping that a friend took and possibly others from being around the fire but I did not take any at the event since I had misplaced my point and shoot and did NOT want to bring my nice camera. So...there are no photos for you to enjoy. Feel free to look at photos on Flikr though if you want to see any!

I love this pic, even if it is blurry. Love Suzanne and Bryan :)

The birthday girl really liked her cake :)

This guy was dancing with all of us, showing Alex and Mckenna how to salsa.  It was hilarious.

The other big event of September was Suzanne's birthday! This girl has been such a great friend since I met her back in April, and is easily one of the people I've gotten very close with. She has definitely helped push me out of my comfort zone and helped me just be a bit more of myself here, and made sure I get my monthly alotments of very good Indian food.

Resolution List

With a new again beginning, I have been thinking about where I am going to be next year. Already a year away, but I am excited to think about what my next big adventure will be. But with that, I have realized that I don't want to make this year another year of waiting for the next big leap(or flight, but more on that later). I saw on Pinstrosity that the one lady had made a list for her todo this year. She has 101 items to do and while I admire that, I think for my first time doing this, I will make mine a max of 50.
My list will consist of bad habits to break, new skills to learn, improving skills I have, and things I want to accomplish. Committing to things that improve myself is hard for me. This is something I want to do though.
Once I have accomplished an item, I will write a date and post a picture if it is something I can publish.

1. Write once a week in my journal.
2. Have blog up to date by March 1st.
*Update - So I missed this deadline drastically, so I am going setting a new goal of getting the blog up to day by the end of March. I have more free time coming up, since I am not taking my photography class on Sundays anymore.
3. Complete one knitting project every two months
*EEP- Didn't make January/February deadline, so I am hoping to comlete my first project of the year again by the end of March!
4. Write 2 blog posts a month
5. Write 1000 for my story once a month
6. Write 1 short story a month(1,000-2,000)
7. For one week, clean apartment every night so that way it is cleaned.
8. For one week, make sure all clothes are put away
9. For one week, dress up nice for work every day
10. Work out 3x a week
11. By the end of the year, be able to run a 9 minute mile
12. Go a month with out buying pop
13. Don't buy yarn until 6 knitting projects have been finished
14. Learn to use the sewing machine again
15. Finish story by Dec. 31. 2013
16. Complete NaNoWriMo
17. See 3 new countries
18. Save around 3,000 dollars by the end of the year
19. Learn to crochet
20. Get TESOL certified
21. Retake GRE - ROCK IT
22. Scrapbook of living in Korea.
23. Collage of photos from Korea
24. Become efficient in Microsoft
25. Learn photoshop(as well as my camera)
26. Run a 5k in Korea
27. Run a 10k in Korea or US
28. Complete a half marathon
29. Improve my grammar
30. Get a short story or anything published

This year, like every year, is another to build my future. I want to be able to think that this was not a year wasting away or playing games all the time. I want to find a path to walk down. I hope this year I find it.