(no subject)
This weekend, after a "normal" Saturday (in which I met 지영 (Jiyoung) to do the language partner thing, and then spent about four hours at work, giving a presentation and trying to prepare some folders so I can train the teachers who are going to teach honors club), I had a pretty awesome weekend.
Saturday evening, I met David and his friend 선정 from E2People, which was the English practice club he was in when we first met. David dropped out a couple months after he met me (he practices rather a lot of English with me) and he hasn't seen her much since. So we had dinner and ice cream before David and I went to EMart to buy food for our ski trip.
Yep, I went on a ski trip. I've gone skiing twice before, which was fun too, but this was my first ski trip.
은정 (Eun Jung) is in town from Jeju Island at the moment, so she has been staying at my place, and she was able to come along, too, which was fun. David invited his friends from military service (who might be a different from military friends in America, since every man in Korea has to do military service), who were named 문범 and 준녕. They were also delightful people.
So we got up in the morning at 4:30, in order to get on a bus at 5:30. I was supposed to wake up at 4, though...so I forgot a bunch of stuff. But nothing vital.
The bus took us to YongPyeong Resort, where David's friend (also, ex-girlfriend) works, and gave us a massive discount on everything except the bus (which was out of her jurisdiction). Everybody slept like rocks on the bus. I didn't know I could sleep that well on a bus, but it was truly excellent sleep. Anyway, we got there (Gangwondo province) at about 8, which was faster than we expected. We asked the hotel to store our stuff, and put our samgyeopsal meat in the fridge because we couldn't check in until 5 PM.
And then! On we went, to get our tickets...to rent snowboards. Originally, Eun Jung and I were going to go skiing, but the boys (mostly David) strongly suggested snowboarding so we could all do the same thing. So we played rock paper scissors and snowboarding won.
And man, it was so much fun. Lessons were rather expensive so David (who had gone snowboarding a grand total of two times) taught us how to stand up on the board (grab onto the front of the snowboard and pull yourself up) and slow down (sit back onto your heels, like you're doing a squat, and pull your big toes up). I couldn't really understand the next part though, so it took me a while to figure out how to actually move without falling. So the first time down the hill, it was really frustrating, and my arms got really tired, because you have to pull your whole weight up with your arms whenever you fall. I fell a lot. And David came up to help, but it wasn't really working. David's teaching style and my learning style don't really mesh well. (See also: the time he tried to teach me how to play guitar.)
Anyway, later Eun Jung said the magic words, which were: you have to move in a zig-zag. And then, the world of joy that is snowboarding opened up, and I had an awesome time. I think we went down a total of seven times. That was definitely enough. I stayed with Eun Jung the whole time (partly because I didn't want to be alone and partly because Eun Jung is afraid of heights and doesn't like to go on the ski lift by herself. The boys stayed together too, and in the afternoon even went to the intermediate slope. It all worked out well. Around time number 6 though, Eun Jung lost her phone, and we all panicked. Eun Jung went to the information center to ask how likely it was that they would be able to find it. They said not very, unless someone turned it in. She needed another phone number to call in case someone turned it in. Fortunately I had memorized David's that morning (usually I just press the "David" button on my phone), so we called him.
We all went up to the top of the mountain to look for it, but as soon as we got there, someone called David to say they found it, thus once more justifying my belief that Koreans tend to be trustworthy.
Finally, after that, we had lunch, went down the slopes once or twice more (four times, in David's case) and headed back to our hotel. We were apparently too early (5:30) and they were still cleaning our room. Why they didn't do that BEFORE check-in time is beyond me, but maybe they were really busy. David went to say goodbye to his ex-girlfriend, which bothered me more than I expected, and the rest of us played Nintendo Wii. I had to take me camera batteries out to put into one of the Wii remote controls so I don't really have pictures. David and Eun Jung took a bunch, though.
So we played that for a while, and went to the market on the second floor about five times because 준녕, who looks like a man to be reckoned with, was both really hungry all the time, and also really picky about his food. Now, David's picky too, but he's not THAT picky.
But he was nice too.
So we played games for several hours, which at some point morphed into playing for a purpose. We had a tournament wherein the loser had to do all the cooking.
문범 ended up losing, which was ironic since he is younger than David and 준녕 and also their junior in military service, so as per Korean culture, he was already cleaning and serving and preparing everything for everybody. I kind of felt bad, but the whole weekend was very Korean-style (perhaps I should mention that the weekend was 80% in Korean, since 문범 speaks only a little English, and 준녕 speaks almost zero. David was the most senior military rank, so his job was to organize everything and make sure everyone was okay.
We all had dinner together, Eun Jung lost the next game and had to wash the dishes (the boys wouldn't let me help (You are lucky girl! Take a rest!)). The rest of us played more games, went back to the market a couple times. Then 준녕 wanted to gamble in order to finance more food, and nobody informed me about that fact beforehand, so I was kind of aggravated when people started telling me I had to give them money. Not that it was a lot of money, I just dislike gambling, and I don't like giving people money when I don't know what it is for.
But after that we played more games (Korean games in English), drank soju mixed with grape juice (I strongly prefer tangerine juice but I survived, and 준녕 made everybody laugh a lot. When Eun Jung and I had drunk our limit, we went to sleep, and the boys, who have greater blood volumes and stronger constitutions, stayed up a couple more hours.
In the morning, we all got ready and had ramyeon noodles for breakfast, and coffee, and took pictures in the SNOW! Now, the previous day was so warm that the snow on the mountain was turning into slush, but there were four inches of real powdery snow by 11 AM. Our bus home left at 1 PM and got to Daechi station at 6 (twice as long as the way there). It wasn't too bad though, I was sitting with David so I was pretty happy and comfortable.
And now, I am home! All in all, my first "real Korean culture" experience was a delightful time.
Saturday evening, I met David and his friend 선정 from E2People, which was the English practice club he was in when we first met. David dropped out a couple months after he met me (he practices rather a lot of English with me) and he hasn't seen her much since. So we had dinner and ice cream before David and I went to EMart to buy food for our ski trip.
Yep, I went on a ski trip. I've gone skiing twice before, which was fun too, but this was my first ski trip.
은정 (Eun Jung) is in town from Jeju Island at the moment, so she has been staying at my place, and she was able to come along, too, which was fun. David invited his friends from military service (who might be a different from military friends in America, since every man in Korea has to do military service), who were named 문범 and 준녕. They were also delightful people.
So we got up in the morning at 4:30, in order to get on a bus at 5:30. I was supposed to wake up at 4, though...so I forgot a bunch of stuff. But nothing vital.
The bus took us to YongPyeong Resort, where David's friend (also, ex-girlfriend) works, and gave us a massive discount on everything except the bus (which was out of her jurisdiction). Everybody slept like rocks on the bus. I didn't know I could sleep that well on a bus, but it was truly excellent sleep. Anyway, we got there (Gangwondo province) at about 8, which was faster than we expected. We asked the hotel to store our stuff, and put our samgyeopsal meat in the fridge because we couldn't check in until 5 PM.
And then! On we went, to get our tickets...to rent snowboards. Originally, Eun Jung and I were going to go skiing, but the boys (mostly David) strongly suggested snowboarding so we could all do the same thing. So we played rock paper scissors and snowboarding won.
And man, it was so much fun. Lessons were rather expensive so David (who had gone snowboarding a grand total of two times) taught us how to stand up on the board (grab onto the front of the snowboard and pull yourself up) and slow down (sit back onto your heels, like you're doing a squat, and pull your big toes up). I couldn't really understand the next part though, so it took me a while to figure out how to actually move without falling. So the first time down the hill, it was really frustrating, and my arms got really tired, because you have to pull your whole weight up with your arms whenever you fall. I fell a lot. And David came up to help, but it wasn't really working. David's teaching style and my learning style don't really mesh well. (See also: the time he tried to teach me how to play guitar.)
Anyway, later Eun Jung said the magic words, which were: you have to move in a zig-zag. And then, the world of joy that is snowboarding opened up, and I had an awesome time. I think we went down a total of seven times. That was definitely enough. I stayed with Eun Jung the whole time (partly because I didn't want to be alone and partly because Eun Jung is afraid of heights and doesn't like to go on the ski lift by herself. The boys stayed together too, and in the afternoon even went to the intermediate slope. It all worked out well. Around time number 6 though, Eun Jung lost her phone, and we all panicked. Eun Jung went to the information center to ask how likely it was that they would be able to find it. They said not very, unless someone turned it in. She needed another phone number to call in case someone turned it in. Fortunately I had memorized David's that morning (usually I just press the "David" button on my phone), so we called him.
We all went up to the top of the mountain to look for it, but as soon as we got there, someone called David to say they found it, thus once more justifying my belief that Koreans tend to be trustworthy.
Finally, after that, we had lunch, went down the slopes once or twice more (four times, in David's case) and headed back to our hotel. We were apparently too early (5:30) and they were still cleaning our room. Why they didn't do that BEFORE check-in time is beyond me, but maybe they were really busy. David went to say goodbye to his ex-girlfriend, which bothered me more than I expected, and the rest of us played Nintendo Wii. I had to take me camera batteries out to put into one of the Wii remote controls so I don't really have pictures. David and Eun Jung took a bunch, though.
So we played that for a while, and went to the market on the second floor about five times because 준녕, who looks like a man to be reckoned with, was both really hungry all the time, and also really picky about his food. Now, David's picky too, but he's not THAT picky.
But he was nice too.
So we played games for several hours, which at some point morphed into playing for a purpose. We had a tournament wherein the loser had to do all the cooking.
문범 ended up losing, which was ironic since he is younger than David and 준녕 and also their junior in military service, so as per Korean culture, he was already cleaning and serving and preparing everything for everybody. I kind of felt bad, but the whole weekend was very Korean-style (perhaps I should mention that the weekend was 80% in Korean, since 문범 speaks only a little English, and 준녕 speaks almost zero. David was the most senior military rank, so his job was to organize everything and make sure everyone was okay.
We all had dinner together, Eun Jung lost the next game and had to wash the dishes (the boys wouldn't let me help (You are lucky girl! Take a rest!)). The rest of us played more games, went back to the market a couple times. Then 준녕 wanted to gamble in order to finance more food, and nobody informed me about that fact beforehand, so I was kind of aggravated when people started telling me I had to give them money. Not that it was a lot of money, I just dislike gambling, and I don't like giving people money when I don't know what it is for.
But after that we played more games (Korean games in English), drank soju mixed with grape juice (I strongly prefer tangerine juice but I survived, and 준녕 made everybody laugh a lot. When Eun Jung and I had drunk our limit, we went to sleep, and the boys, who have greater blood volumes and stronger constitutions, stayed up a couple more hours.
In the morning, we all got ready and had ramyeon noodles for breakfast, and coffee, and took pictures in the SNOW! Now, the previous day was so warm that the snow on the mountain was turning into slush, but there were four inches of real powdery snow by 11 AM. Our bus home left at 1 PM and got to Daechi station at 6 (twice as long as the way there). It wasn't too bad though, I was sitting with David so I was pretty happy and comfortable.
And now, I am home! All in all, my first "real Korean culture" experience was a delightful time.