I'm trying to get better about my postings on here but thank you to my loyal followers ... when buddha's birthday roles around your loyalty will not be forgotten.
Last Saturday we climbed a mountain as I had spoke about earlier. There is no way to say this with out sounding like a fool, but when they say climb a mountain ... I didn't know you would be CLIMBING a mountain. We "climbed" a mountain during orientation but I guess that was more of hiking. That one was walking up slight inclines on a well paved path. The mountain in Wonju took 4 hours to get to the top and it was the hardest work out I've had since mile repeats in cross-country. You walk 2 kilometers on a nice path and then you get to spend some time playing in a little stream until you start the second half of the mountain ... which takes 3 more hours. It starts with a 400 step staircase ... no biggy ... followed by upwards of 50 more sets of stairs taking you up. When I say stairs, I mean anything resembling a stair. Half are man made, half are rocks made to look like stairs by man. The stairs really aren't the worst part ... it's the places that don't have stairs that get you. At one point there was a 3-4 foot wide rock path with 50 foot drops on each side and in order to cross it you had to jump over a gap in the rocks. Not what I expected. The worst part was watching all of these old people who hike the mountain every weekend pass you in their hardcore mountain climbing gear and tell you "don't give up" and "you're almost there". I also liked the guy who told me I needed mountain climbing shoes ... you're right sir, I realized that seven steps into the first stair set. As brutal as it was going up, it was probably the most rewarding experience of my life as I stood on top of the mountain and could see everything. Our city was probably a good 30 minutes away but you could see it from the top of the mountain which made the trip worth it. It took only about 2 and a half hours to get down but with each step I got more disappointed that I didn't achieve my one true goal ... find a praying mantis. All the kids in my class told me the mountains would be the best place to find one and I have been searching since the moment we came here for a pet praying mantis. I'm literally the only person I've talked to who hasn't seen one. I think a praying mantis is pretty similar to the food in neverland or santa clauses workshop ... you can only see it if you believe in it and I no longer believe praying mantis' exist.
Sunday we made a trip to Seoul to meet up with friends and to find mexican food. Mexican food in Korea is what you think Mexican food in Korea would be like ... not good and confusing. I miss mexican restaurants where you are able to buy a plate of food that will take a minimum of 2 months of your life by eating all the greasy bad food. Itaweon (where we went) is suppose to be very westernized and I was very excited to see all the MLB hat stands there. Unfortunately one team didn't make the list and unfortunately it wasn't the brewers ... it was my hometown heroes the Minnesota Twins. Each stand would have a surprising new team that you hadn't seen at others but after seeing the diamondbacks, the astros, and even the montreal expos (COME ON!) there wasn't a Twins hat in sight. I left with a heavy heart and hopes that someday Korea will wise up.
On a positive note, I have seen some great things here that have made me happy. Last Wednesday I found the Watchmen graphic novels all in Korean but half the price as they are in the U.S. God bless the nerd in me who knows a comic book deal when they find one. Also ... they have random pirate DVD stands when you get in big cities and they had the movie "Harsh Times" in the mix of the other big names. I couldn't even find that DVD in the U.S. for the longest time so kudos to you Korea .... now pirate me a damn Twins hat. The surprising lists of movies I find on T.V. here continues to grow with new additions such as "Underdog", "When Harry met Sally" and "P.S. I love you". I also had the pleasure of watching a prison break marathon ... every episode in 3 days. Those fools didn't realize after season one the show is no longer prison "break", it's prison "break in, break out, run, get caught, break in, break out, break back in because they forgot their car keys, break out, stop for lunch, get caught again, break out, break in, break out ... over" ... I guess that wouldn't have fit on the DVD case though. How does one man break out of prison 3 times? Just watch him a little closer or something. No hard feelings though, they were all innocent and deserved their freedom it just got too ridiculous for me but I still chose that over watching 24 hour Starcraft on T.V.
I don't have anything else to report. Oh wait yes I do ... I lost my apartment keys on the only Korean holiday of the semester. We went to play football and I forgot to pick them up so Lauren and I searched the park at 2 am trying to find them and finally gave up. I called my mentor teacher to ask her to call my landlord but Korea again blows my mind with the fact that your landlord doesn't have a spare key. If he/she ever knocks on my door for any reason they are not getting in so I can prove a point. I had to get a locksmith to come and break in, replace my locks, and charge me up the ying yang so I could get in.
Ok now I really don't have anything else to report. I hope everything is going well for all of you and you are staying out of prison. I miss you guys and next time I climb a mountain I'll make sure it's high enough to wave to you.
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