I know it has been a looooong time!

Wow I am amazed at how easy it is to get busy in a new country. Busy I am and getting in trouble for not doing my homework with learning Korean. Sooo much pressure. I think my problem is I'm not a home body so to sit home and study is hard to do. My books are too heavy to carry with me unless I use my backpack.

I started on an exercise plan this week with a friend and whilst it has only just begun it has been great. I live a 7 minute walk from Olympic Park where there is the overall grounds (like in Sydney) and the swimming pool. I went swimming last night and was surprised at how well I did considering I hadn't been in a pool doing laps for so long. Many differences though too. You can only sign up to use the pool on a monthly basis in the last 4 days of the month before. As a casual swimmer you can only use the pool at very limited times and you all have just one lane to swim in. Doesn't matter if you are mucking about or doing laps or what your pace is. Oh and they move you too if you try to swim in the monthly lane (we tried). Anyway I did my laps which was great. The change rooms.....hhmmm, well they wander around in there with not a stitch on and no one is bothered by it. There is a quick dry gadget that spins your costume dray in about 30 seconds and they use hand towels for drying themselves. Whilst that seems a bad idea it is great to make sure your bag is small when going to the pool or gym. We (my exercise buddy and I) have also started walking around the park the days we aren't swimming. This morning we joined in the free dance class that they run at 6am. It is a good workout too. I thought it may be Tai Chi but it was full on dance with older women (adjuma) and older men (adjushee) and younger as well. It was fun so now we will dance once a week. We have just bought some light hand weights also for when we are walking so we will be looking like the adjuma's powering around Olympic Park in the morning.

The children here are very obsessessed with my hairy arms. They have only just discovered them now it is getting warmer and they are constantly touching them. For some reason they are obsessed with touching my backside too. Odd!!!

It is a very sharing culture here. When you go hiking you not only share food with your fellow hikers but Koreans on the mountain will share any and all food with you (if you are a foreigner). We have walked away from passing some Koreans eating with a bag of fruit, bottle of markholi (rice based alchol), nuts, kimbap (sushi roll). What was funny about that time is it was literally walking past and saying hello. The children are also big sharers as well. They will share their lollies (or candy as the Americans call it), biscuits, whatever they bring in to class. One sweet girl now knows I love coffee so she bought me in a cold coffee. Pity it had milk in it so I passed it on to one of my Korean co-teachers.

Disappointingly we are not allowed to accept gifts at my school. My boss doesn't want parents to feel they have to give gifts so she has a policy of no gifts. Last week nearly all my students brought something in for me as it was teacher's day. Sadly they all got returned with a phone call from my Korean co-teacher. Boohoo!!

I am addicted to hiking at the moment. Specially if there are rocks on the mountain. San means mountain in Korean and if the letters ak are in the name of the mountain it means there are some difficult rocks. Since learning this I want to go to any 'aksan' mountains. Hiking here though is very different but still fantastic.

Ok I'm going to leave it there for this one......hopefully not over a month before the next one. I'm so sorry for the no photos......they are all on faccebook :o) It is just me and mountains anyways. I steal evryone else's cause my camera seems to stay in my bag all the time. 

Till next time :o)

Jinhae and Geoge-do.......My first weekend out of Seoul

Well it is now official. I'm hopeless at this blogging. I don't seem to have time to sit down and do it and then what do I talk about......I find too many things fun and exciting and I'm sure wouldn't be of much interest to so many.

Last weekend was awesome. It was lovely to be out of Seoul, the weather was amazing. I think around 15 degrees. I know you must be thinking ...Sarah saying 15 is amazing. How easy it is to think that when it was around 1 degree give or take when I arrived. I'm even taking my big red trademark coat to the dry cleaners ready to be put away till November. But back to the weekend. It was to be around 3 hours out of Seoul however because everyone wanted to go to this area to check out the Cherry Blossoms then it was very busy on the roads and took much longer.

The weekend was to check out the cherry blossoms and hike for those that wanted to. I've course I took the hiking option. Due to the late arrival on Saturday we checked out the cherry blossoms and then did a baby walk but it was still got on a mountain for some of it. We had dinner at Jinhae and then got back on the bus for another 2 hours to get to Geoge-do. After dinner the noreabong (Korean karaoke) was put on in the bus and it made for a very lively last part of that. Add in of course that at dinner people were drinking and bought a supple of beer, makoli and soju onto the bus.

We stayed the night at Geoge-do. The rooms were pretty decent however there were 4 to a room and only 1 bed. So how do you decide who gets the floor???? Well I volunteered because originally Koreans slept on the floor and I thought this would be part of my Korean experience. There is  a slight difference though. What they sleep on is a bit thicker than what we had. We had what was like a summer weight doona and it was straight floor with no carpet. The floor was nice and warm as they had the floor heating on however it got too hot for those of us directly on the floor. It was extremely uncomfortable and I didn't sleep well ....but I will still put my hand up again to try with a proper Korean bedding when on the floor. My bed here is like a slat of wood anyway so it wouldn't take too much to be just as comfortable.

Sunday was hiking. The mountain wasn't hard but did have a few steep bits but you recovered within a couple of minutes of stopping. Fantastic views and fresh air. It was divine!!!

I'm not great at putting the photos on here so I'll just download and hope it looks ok.

Hiking/Climbing in Korea

As some of you know I love hiking at home. Here the name is mixed between hiking or some call it climbing. I can see the reference when it is steep etc. I have managed to go on 2 hikes so far.

My first one was out of Seoul and possibly due to it being a little wet in the morning and it being a harder hike there were very few others on the mountain. This was a fantastic hike in a number of ways. It was a very good work out, very few people and there was snow from 2/3rds up the mountain. The snow was amazing and I can now say I have hiked in snow......a beautiful thing. One of the differences I noticed about hiking on Korean mountains compared to at home is that it is directly up, super steep. At home we kind of go up and around a bit then up some more and around a bit. This makes it easier as the steep is made easier with some breaks before the next steep part. I was a bit wowed going straight up constantly but non the less I still held my own in the group. It was a small group of 4 with 1 of those being Korean. He said to me on the subway while on our way that I was brave coming on this hike, which naturally had me quite concerned and then he went on to tell me that there would be ropes. I'm imagining now that if I need to be brave I must be swinging from these ropes or something. No, the ropes are to help you climb up as it is steep and you need something cause there is not enough footing or other things to hold onto. So some sort of glove is also good in case you are on a mountain with ropes.......but we aren't swinging from them so all good :o) By the time we made it to the top of the mountain the Korean decided that I was 'very good' especially for someone who has never hiked in Korea or ever hiked in snow. I was happy as I was also the only female on this hike so I didn't let the team down by being 'too girly!'.

My second hike was today and it was a hike that was within Seoul......I know sounds odd doesn't it. This was very different. There were sooooo many people on the mountain, especially before lunch. It was busy and for me too busy in that it takes away some of the peacefulness of hiking. People everywhere on the mountain....can you imagine that? It was not as enjoyable for me but in the afternoon was better as the track we took didn't seem to have as many people. This hike had 1000 stairs so I had a good stair workout today which I think is good for your butt however I would prefer to be getting it from actually climbing the mountain itself. There were stairs on my first hike and the steps were extremely steep so when I heard there would be 1000 on this hike I kind of thought 'oh no!!' but they were no where near as steep so it made the hike much easier. Funnily I don't think I am cardiovascularly fit at all but I seem to get up them with no huffing and puffing so that was good. Of course my knees didn't like the descent but they felt worse when I did the Grand Staircase in the Mountains. After today's hike we went for shabu shabu which I love (was told tonight though it is actually a Chinese dish originally and not Korean). One of the best things about hiking is it gives me a massive appetite at the end so when they suggested we all go for dinner I was more than happy. One of the American guys was amazed that my table which had 3 women at more than his table that had 2 blokes and a woman. Like I told him give me food after a hike and I can eat as much as the next person. 

Oh on today's mountain when you get to the top you can buy noodles, ice blocks, magkoli (Korean alcohol), water, instant coffee. Some poor person/people have to hike up the mountain with all this on their back and then back again at the end of the day. I think my first mountain may have been too difficult to have someone carry all that stuff up. None the less it is quite the sight to see a little stop set up at the top of the mountain. I wouldn't want to guarantee there would be food at the top though......would be pretty hungry by the end if there wasn't anything. Sharing food during the hike is common here like at home. My sharing that everyone loved was......my pineapple. Those who have been reading my facebook will know that I am in love with pineapple at the moment and can't get enough of it. 

I was told again that I climb very well by a Korean woman so it seems I can hold my own on Korean mountains. I did tell her that whilst it was only my second hike in Korea I have done a bit of hiking back home. 

One of the things that I love about hiking both at home and here is that you get to meet some great people. Good friendships are formed when you hike a mountain and share food/meals. Oh that being said the same lady who told me I climb very well was also trying to teach me 100 new Korean words while we were descending the mountain. I had to say to her that I would love to learn new words but I can't while I am trying to hike!!!! I think I have a male brain often and can't do two things at once. Today I can not descend a mountain with as little impact on my knees and learn a new language. Some of you may be that clever but not me :o)

I am off on my first weekend out of Seoul next weekend. It is to both check out the Cherry Blossoms and hike. I am really looking forward to it.

I will try super hard to get my camera out. The last two hikes I have left it to others to take pictures and they share them with me on facebook so I can't put them on here. Sooo sorry. I will try harder to take photos. I need to get a camera bag with a strap so I can keep it out of my bag and easy access. It does come with me but stays in my bag so far. I think next weekend will be pretty beautiful if the Cherry Blossoms are out by then. Promise to share what I get.

I am thrilled that I can hike here in Korea just as much as at home.

Well that is all for now from me. Off to bed as I want to walk for an hour around Olympic Park in the morning before walking to work. I know.....I love my walking!!

Food!!!

Well I'm not sure if you all agree but I do actually love food. I just love it to be healthy......give or take the sweets & chocolate that I love.

I was looking forward to coming to Korea because from what I'd seen and heard all food here was healthy. Myth 1 is now out the window. Traditional Korean food is generally healthy however you still have to exercise thought and discipline just like you do at home. There is a plethora of sweet, unhealthy foods here as well as fried foods. Most street food is fried. There is a big chain store here called Paris Baguette which sells cakes and the bread is all sweet bread. I had a new Aussie friend say to me on the weekend that bread can not be viewed as a staple as it is to many back home. Rice is the staple here which for me brings a new way of thinking as I saw white rice as not so healthy. It isn't the most healthiest here either and when they cook it at home they will put beans in it to make it healthier. However the restaurants just serve sticky white rice. Sticky is good because it helps with the chopsticks. Rice is eaten 3 times a day here and they can make so many things with rice as the basis. I have got some black rice bread that is completely flat and sooo delicious. I keep this in the freezer to take for lunch when hiking.

I had my first kimbap which is the same as sushi roll. The serve in the picture was just under $3 and is equal to 2 sushi rolls. I ate all and was completely stuffed as a result. I have now found out how to ask for take away so I don't have to waste it or eat it all in one go. This miso soup is devine here.

When out with Koreans I like to be eating Korean so I can learn what I like and eventually try to go out with foreigners and get Korean food as well. I'm heading out with my Korean co-teacher for a meal on the weekend and she thought I may want to eat something that I can get from home. I said definately not......I want to try Korean food when out with Korean people that can help me with the menu and what I'm eating.

Here are some pics

My first sit down meal. A bonus of Korean culture for me cause I love to sit cross legged at every opportunity.



My first Korean feast

Kimbap.....too much!!





Spitting on the street!

Yes spitting on the street.......completely fine to do here in Korea. For me, as most of you can imagine, it makes me go eekkkhhh!!! There are other things to think about too.....Some of us have pants that touch the ground.....hhhmmmm add to this there is lots of fresh spit. Looking down at the ground in front of me is something I need to keep doing if I am to avoid having spit on the bottom of my trousers. Not to mention the lovely noises that is made just before the spitting is done......I wonder if I will ever get used to this one????? At least in summer I won't have to watch out for my pants getting spit on them. :o)

Finally I've created a blog!!

Well I finally have something up and running. Not too much on here tonight as I have been quiet sick this weekend and still on the mend.

Seeing I have been here for 2 weeks already tomorrow I will probably just write some random thoughts since being here.

Firstly on that it is soooo big and there is sooo much here. You walk around shops and can be overwhelmed by where to look. E-Mart, Homeplus & Lotte Mart are so big and I will need a few trips to them to see all they have. Australia just doesn't do these things this big. One person I have met didn't understand why I would like to look around if I wasn't going to buy anything and I told her just seeing something that is so much larger than what we have. There are a number of the really big shopping areas I haven't been to yet.

I am amazed at how cold it is yet I am doing so well. I was getting toasted this afternoon/evening at the medical centre with all the blankets and heater they put on me while my drip was on. There is no going cold once you are inside and I seem to rug up fairly well when outside. Just my face and ears tend to get very cold.

I had it in my head that there were no coffee shops however it must have been the coffee is not very good. There are tonnes of cafes everywhere which is fantastic however the coffee is very weak. I was with Bea last weekend and we found someone who had Illy coffee and we were both excited by this only to discover they also made it weak. I have a love for ginger tea though at a cafe 3 doors down and will discover more tea than coffee when I meet up with friends in a cafe. I have also since discovered that ginger tea isn't available everywhere here either.

Don't know how I will go with blogging so bare with me or give me a nudge if you think I haven't written on it for a while.

:o)