Me vs. the Mountain

Top of the evening to all of you out there in the western hemisphere!

This week was stressful...lots of new things to get used to. My four after school classes and determining their dynamic; co-planning 6th grade with my co-teacher (after she told me that she thinks its "too difficult" for me to do by myself, I disagree); losing most of my planning alone time because of various things...I am very much an introvert, and I need my alone time or else I start to get overwhelmed and snappy. People I have lived with know this well. Which is why I someday hope to marry someone very...content...with being...by themselves? That sounds horrible. I can't think of how to describe it - I've begun a slow but very real process of losing my knowledge of the English language. You think I joke. But its frightening. The other day Hyun asked me what "strict" meant and for the life of me I could not describe it in simple terms. Eventually this is what came out: "You know, its like...mean...no, not really, maybe like severe (she doesn't know what that means)...bad but not really, just like...ahh...whats the freaking word??? (head in hands) aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

But the good news is that my Korean is improving daily. Yesterday I learned how to say "Will you please shut the door?" - roughly its "moon ta-da-ju-say-o". Plus I can read hanguel, which is their alphabet, so I can read Korean words. I don't know what most of them mean, but I can read them. My students LOVE IT when I try to speak Korean or write it. Hilarious.

So after a stressful week Hyun invited me to go hiking with some of the teachers and the principal and some parents on Saturday afternoon. She tells me that we will eat before we leave, so I should arrive at school by 12:30. I get to school at 12:25 and they grab my backpack and start filling it with fried chicken and beer...apparently the principal decided that we should have a picnic at the top of the mountain instead of eating before we leave. So we leave, and I have a backpack full...it had to be at least 20lbs...of fried chicken. And a six-pack.

First of all, this trip made me realize that I have been backpacking with some amazing guides and planners. My hat is off to you - Wyatt, Phil, Jared, Tim, Ryan R. - and please come to Korea to teach these people how to hike. Hyun parks the car, and it turns out that everyone else parked about 1/2 a mile away. So we hike for 1/2 a mile up and downhill before the real hike even began. We start and I soon realize a few things: 1) My shoes are woefully inadequate - I had prepared for hiking whereas we had definitely reached the 'mountain climbing' category; 2) I am SOOOO HUNGRY; and 3) That fried chicken smells really good, taunting me over my shoulder with each step.

As we round the first bend, the principal sees this trail leading off to the right with a rope across it and a sign that I'm sure says "Certain Death Awaits". Naturally, he decides that this is the way we should go. So we step across the barbed wire and proceed. Now, I am no stranger to the "let's make our own trail" style of hiking. Last year at the Fall Conference Kelsey and I foraged through the wilderness calling ourselves "Lewis and Clark", boldly going where probably many people have gone before. This was different. We made our way up the face of the mountain. Everybody loves a shortcut, right? At one point we walked across a flat rock no more than 3 inches wide, a giant boulder to our left and nothing but clear blue sky to our right.

Here's the view from about halfway up:



And the pace of these people - you'd think we were being chased by a grizzly bear. We didn't stop once on the way up, and our speed can be best described as "break-neck", literally. I could not stop to take pictures because I was afraid I would lose everyone, and I don't know about you, but lost on a Korean mountain knowing only a handful of phrases, none of which are appropriate ("Can you please shut the door?") was the last place I wanted to be. So I followed. If I were going any faster I would have been jogging.

Maybe this is a good place to remind you of the 40 lbs. of chicken, water and BEER on my back. It really helps your balance tremendously when clinging to the face of a cliff, Spiderman-style.

We made it to our picnic spot (probably 3/4 of the way up the mountain) in just over an hour. These people don't mess around. Here's a view from that spot - if you look far into the distance, you can see the West (Yellow) Sea:



So we spread out blankets for lunch and the ladies start unloading everything. There wasn't much food for the 10 of us - just 12 rolls of kimbap (Korean sushi), 2 large tupperware containers of pork, 3 boxes of chicken, dumplings (mandu), lettuce, oranges, bananas, grapes, 12 cans of beer, 2 bottles of Soju (whiskey), 3 large tupperware boxes of rice cakes (tteok - dessert), instant coffee, instant tea, a giant thermos of hot water, 12 bottles of water, plus all utensils, plates, napkins, cups, etc.

WHAT THE HECK. WHY DID WE HAUL 100 LBS OF CRAP UP THE MOUNTAIN???? WHY MUST WE HAVE A TEN COURSE MEAL???? WHY ARE THEY DRINKING BEER AND WHISKEY WHEN WE STILL HAVE TO DESCEND THIS TREACHEROUS BEAST????

I laughed. And laughed. And laughed. It was inefficient. It was stupid. And it was hilarious.

We finished lunch and packed our 17 containers of leftovers. I tried to eat as much chicken as possible so I wouldn't have to strap it to my back.

I thought we were at the top of the mountain. There was nothing above us but blue sky. But, I was wrong. More Spidey moves. When we finally did get to the top, THEY DIDN'T EVEN STOP. They just started going down again!!! I said "Forget you people, I'm taking a Kodak moment" and took this picture:


You can see Namsan tower in the background - its a famous Seoul landmark.

This is how close we were to outer space:

You don't every day get a clear picture of a 747 grazing your head. And that wasn't zooming in all the way.

The descent took more time than the ascent did - not because we were going any slower - but because we decided to take the road down instead of sliding down the face of the mountain on our butts. Which I thought was a terrific idea. Just to prove how crazy Koreans are, this man is actually running down the hill:



I just don't get it.

Afterwards the principal took us out for dinner. We ate duck in what looked like some farmer's garage (it was seriously a shed in the backyard of someone's house). It was good. I've never eaten more than a bite or two of duck before. I tried not to but I kept thinking of Mr. Quackers, our classroom duck puppet. But its deliciousness overrode any empathy for Mr. Quackers. Mr. Quackers, thank you for being so tasty.

And that was my day. Another Korean experience. Another story to tell. I'm going to wash my backpack now because it still smells like chicken.

Love you!

Jess