Update 2

Hiking -

This last weekend had an extra day tagged on (yay for long weekends!) so I went hiking with a fellow Yalie from a different branch. She's been here for many moons longer than I and has hiked quite a bit in the local hills. At her suggestion, we walked from Jisan (her neck of the woods) back to Siji over a lovely ridge. Not having done any serious walking for so long, it was a bit of a shock to the system, but it felt wonderful to blow away some cobwebs.

I did take a bunch of photos that day, but I'll do another post about hiking later. Not enough time now to do it justice!

One of the longest days in history...

The next day, I managed to be late for Korean class after getting lost in the downtown subway station (in my defense, there are 25 exits). I moved up from the most basic class, which means that it is a little too difficult, but I think if I do some studying between classes, I should be ok-ish. I just really didn't want to spend half my time there re-learning the letters.

At the end of the lesson, I was hanging about to let the teacher know that I was a bit newer to Korea than most of the class, when two other girls said the same thing. They also mentioned going to a baseball game so I went for it and asked if I could join them. Thus began an Adventure of Fun-ness. Lacey's already blogged about most of the day (including a slightly blurry snap of the bartender at Go Go Vinyl).

A few things to add... I ate lunch that had egg on it. Yes I scraped most of it off, but I didn't freak out, send it back to the kitchen or go hungry. I am Growing Up.

Baseball is fun to watch with a good crowd, but the game itself is less interesting than I remember... how people have the patience for cricket I cannot imagine.

Nightlife here seems to be aimed at children (drinking out of ziploc bags, sparklers, throwing ice beer glasses at targets, singing your heart out to rubbish pop songs, bubbles). And this is why it is So Much Fun. I have yet to encounter much 'coolness' in the nightlife, and I don't intend to seek it out.

Next day I was pretty knackered, but did manage to join some fellow teachers and their Korean friends for a wee barbeque next to a river near Siji. (Actually, it is kind of on the river, but the rocks are dry enough.) Good, relaxing, times were had by all and the boys even mustered up a little fire. A perfect end to the weekend.