Egg-SEC-Leigh!

Pohang Snowstorm!

I started to write this blog the other day, but it came out lame and boring. “Ok” I said to myself, “This isn’t working!” I erased what I had written and said I would come back to it later. Now, it’s later and I still am having trouble. So, I think I’m going to just go for it, hope it’s not too boring, and let that be that. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like you’ll stop READING it right?  I figured as much.

So let’s start with Friday. I come home to my house and I see Sam. Why do I see Sam? Because Sam decided it was more fun to live at my house than her house. That’s why I saw Sam. So Sam and I did what anyone would do on a New Years Eve afternoon – we watched Glee. And drank Apple juice. We Drank apple juice and watched Glee. Then we went out, bought some more Apple juice, and watched some more Glee.  Then we stumbled to a taxi and met Sandy at the bus station because she had come into town to spend the new year with us!! We walked to Dong-Hoon’s house, where he and Dong-Yum were waiting. We all had a yummy meal, followed by a very long game of Monopoly. And luckily for me, the rules were in my favor quite often – so I WON! 

New Years at the Beach!

After the game, we were going to head downtown to celebrate midnight. But, when we arrived, it was empty! So we headed to the beach to celebrate, but it was cold! So we drove around, and ended up celebrating 12:00 in the car, which was ok because it was soooo cold outside the car. We got out of the car for a few mintes – enough for some pictures, then went and had some warm coffee somewhere warm.

After coffee, we decided to stop and get some jackets from Dong-Hoon’s house, then watch a movie at my house. But, when we got to my house, everyone decided they would like to sleep. So, alarms were set and everyone crashed on the floor. The reasons I say alarms is because at 4:30 we were going to wake up and head to Homigot, the Eastern-most coast of Korea,  to see the first sunrise of the new year.

A bit of the crowd!

Lucky we were up to the challenge, and we all jumped up and ran to the car! The drive was nice and short, we arrived with time to spare, so we cooked a snack! Of course, by we I meant the boys. But who’s counting details eh? We waited around in the car for a while, froze for a while, then walked down to the coast where everyone was waiting for the sun to shine. We joined the crowed and watched. And watched. And watched. The ski kept getting brighter and brighter, but the sun never showed. Eventually it was day time, no sun, and very cold – so we decided to walk back to the car. On the way back it started snowing – a good ending to New Years Morning.

Getting ready for the First Sunrise

Group Picture!

Biggest Soup Pot!

Climbing the Ice

The drive home took a while because there were so many cars, but we got home eventually and everyone went home to crash! The rest of the day was spent sleeping and relaxing from the cold cold day before.

Sunday, it was in the plans to go to a polar plunge at the local beach. But, Saturday night I get a phone call from Dong-Yup – change of plans – ICE CLIMBING!!!

Sam wasn’t able to join – she was still recovering from the cold on Saturday morning. We drove up to the mountain and climbed some ice! I was pretty scared, but it was a lot of fun at the same time. They were saying there are only 2 months of the year when you can safely ice climb, so I was glad I was able to get a climb or 2 in! I do prefer regular climbing though.

Snow Fight!

On Monday, winter camp started for me. It would have been boring and drab going to school, but it was SNOWING! It ended up snowing all day, and Pohang was covered in snow! At first, I thought “What could be better than this?” and I scooted all the little winter camp students out for a snowball fight. Then I realized I was trapped at home – because no buses were running! All week, the buses have been MIA, so getting to the climbing gym has been difficult. 

Pohang Snow Storm

My students made a snowman!

What you do with extra snow

Another piece of news – this weekend I’m going to climb a mountain. The biggest and coldest mountain in South Korea. I think it will be about -30c. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back with all my fingers and toes! That’s my plan anyway.