Namsan Tower

Chuseok is the Korean harvest holiday. It's like Thanksgiving in America. It means that I didn't have to teach on Friday. I had the day off and it was a beautiful, fall day. That meant a hike was in order. One of the veteran teachers took Blake and I to the area where Namsan Tower is located and we began the hike. Here is our destination from quite a ways away. This a meters away from the sub station that we arrived at, and we had a long ways to go.
After we made it to the trail head, we began the climb up the hill and through the forest. The trees had not started to change color yet, but you could hear the rustling of dry leaves. Soon, the leaves will be gold, orange, and brown, but for now it just sounded very nice. Also, there were a lot of pine trees and it reminded me of a forest in Northern Minnesota.
It looked like this was an area for runoff to go in order to prevent erosion. There were a few of them along the way. They had facts about the life cycle of frogs, which, I'm sure would have been interesting to any Korean reading child. I just looked at the pictures and learned...I think.Here are some mysterious creatures I saw in the woods. Oh...wait...those are English teachers. They are indigenous to this area.Along the way there were piles of rocks used as trail markers. I added a rock to a couple of them. They reminded me of when I climbed a mountain in Colorado and there was just NO way of knowing if you were on the trail or not. Thank goodness for previous hikers. The trail wasn't as hard to follow here because it was cut through the woods pretty darn well.Near the top of the hill there was a giant wall. At a time, long ago, this hilltop was used as a strategic outpost, so the evidence of some of these structures could be seen in a couple of places. The first picture is straight at the wall and the second is straight up the wall.We made it to the top! Here is the tower a bit closer. It is very big...and on the bottom of the tower is...These next few pictures are from the observation decks at the bottom of the tower. It cost money to get to the top, which would have been amazing, but I really didn't have the funds to do that. Maybe next time.There is a tradition for couples that go to Namsan Tower. They buy a lock together, write something on it, lock it on the fence at the top of the hill (base of the tower), and then, together, throw the key over the edge of the cliff. This means their bond will always be locked and they can't break it. Romantic, huh? There was a lot of locks up there and it was pretty neat to see.There were some great gardens...More shots from the observation areas at the base of Namsan Tower. Lot of great views, to say the least.Not sure what the story is with this fountain, but I saw it from kilometers away...yes...kilometers, not miles, away.Pictures of the Han river that runs right through the middle of Seoul...A pagoda and also, the signal fires to signal when armies where coming. One if by land, two if by sea...or something like that. I don't know...it was all in Korean.Hey! Look! It's me! And Seoul!More scenes from Seoul.We cheated and took the gondola down the mountain. I was in a hurry because at eight pm the first hockey game of the season was being shown at a great bar. I ate a cheeseburger and had a Coke and some garlic, cheesy bread. It was fantastic. Anyway, here are views from our ride down.Well, there you go. Happy Chuseok everyone. I am gonna enjoy some of my Chuseok gift from the school: three bottles of raspberry wine. Very good. Also, there is a plum wine in there that has flakes of gold. The director made sure we noticed that so we would think they spent a lot of money on us. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you all are enjoying the fall and the harvest. I certainly miss this time of year in the United States, so you should email me some pictures of the harvesting going on. Fall is my favorite time of year, so it will be interesting to be in a giant city where I will not see anything having to do with farming. Ok. Miss you all. Becky...if you are reading...I thought of you while I had my very own tea time today. It wasn't the same.

Later gators.

I win.

Cold loses. I am feeling much better this weekend. This was a hard week because of how sick I felt all week, but I made it through and have spent this whole week and weekend just resting and sleeping. Here are a few quick pictures. Nothing exciting from this week because 1. I was sick. 2. I am running out of money. In fact, I may have to borrow some from some fellow teachers. I didn't really get paid very much this last paycheck, so after sending a large chunk of that money home to cover bills it is getting pretty tight for this last fourteen days. Ok, here come the pics.

Here are some of the classroom that I teach in. We all have planet names and I am Saturn. I was going to be Mars, but one of the teachers that had been there claimed it. Oh well, Saturn is pretty neat because it is at the end of the hallway and so we are in our own world. I like that. That means that we can shout and yell without worrying about disturbing other classes. We do a lot of noise making in my classes. It entertains me and the kids.
Here is my dryer working overtime in my apartment. Oh...that reminds me...I have to go put in some towels to be washed.
Here is a picture of one of my favorite things I have eaten here in South Korea. Some of you asked if I have eaten a lot of fish. The answer is, sadly, no. I have only eaten fish one time. It was good, but I really am looking forward to the next paycheck, so that I can eat some fresh, exotic fish. However, this chicken is pretty great. It is boneless (woman's style apparently? I don't know.) and covered in deliciousness. One of the kinds comes with large noodles and the other (yes, it comes with TWO kinds of boneless chicken!) is crispy and amazing. I didn't a picture of the actual food, but I am going to order it again and take a picture. I was too hungry and excited to take pictures of the actual food, but I did want you to see the strange person and the "woman's style" on the box. It makes no sense to me, but it tastes great. Also, this place introduced me to an amazingly tasty beverage. Green plum juice. I am going to miss this drink when I leave because it is soooo great. I have been drinking it a LOT.
Well, there you go. Sorry none of this is terribly interesting, but I am just thankful to be over my cold. Ok, well I have to go put away my laundry now. It is dry. Thanks for reading and keep up with the questions. I will try to answer them all.

Market.

Here are some of the pictures from my adventure to the top of the hill behind my apartment. On the way to the base of the hill we walked through an outdoor (but covered) market. There are a lot of them around here, so this is just ONE of the many I have seen. Also, I have come down with a bit of a cold this weekend, so this post will not be really anything but these pictures. I just want to lay down some more. It is just a cold, but I really don't want to have this feeling while trying to teach. This week the kids take their monthly tests, so I am looking forward to seeing how they are progressing and if they are learning anything. Hopefully they are. We will see. Anyway, gonna try and destroy this cold now. Sorry this is so short. Also, sorry about this disorder of these pictures. I keep trying to make this website do what I want it to, but I still haven't really gotten it right yet. Hopefully sometime soon so you can follow along even easier. Until then...good luck.
1. BIG octopus for sale. How do you get them home? Seriously, if you were to have stretched these out they would have been as long as I am tall.

2. Beautiful looking fish. Now, if I only knew which ones to buy...

3. Tiny little octopus for sale. Grab a handful...or mouthful.

4. Sting rays. Yum?

5. Lots and lots of tiny dried fishes. Used for everything from soups to arts and crafts time. It's true. I saw them using them for an art project on TV once.

6. Lots and lots of peppers. You find these EVERYWHERE. These are used to make a lot of different things, but the main thing is kimchi. Spicy, delicious, and the cure for everything. hmmm...I should get some for my cold.

7. Out of the market, down the road, and onward to the base of the trail.

8. The base of the hill, start of the hike. My new friend and fellow teacher Tracy leads me up the stairs to...

9. Some great views...

10. Some nice trees...

11. And a pagoda filled with some really nice people who offered some very refreshing drinks called mokele and some delicious homemade food. They didn't speak any English, but they were so very friendly.

12. Blake and I at the top of the pagoda, looking out at the part of the city we live in. Keep in mind this is just a SMALL part of Seoul. A very, very small part.

13. Same view...fewer people.

14. At the end of the hike we discovered a natural spring. The water was cool and refreshing and it was delicious. I have been meaning to get back there in order to fill up some of my own water containers.

It was a good day for a hike. Now it is starting to feel like fall outside, so I am curious to see this area as the trees begin to change color and drop their leaves.