Ok, ok so I know we aren't great at keeping you all up to date but honestly not too much has gone on since we last wrote. We are living weekend to weekend here wishing we lived just a little closer to the beach! So over the past month we have headed down to the beach at Pohang (about an hour away from Daegu) and spent our long weekend on an amazing little island just off the south coast of Korea... this post is dedicated to the second beach trip... Bijindo.
Finally around 2:30 or 3 o'clock we have all of our group members together and we are ready to go to the island. We load up the little boat we are taking over there and help 
another family get all their things in order and we are on our way! The drive over is beautiful and we are all excited for our time there! We arrive and the nicest girl picks us at the dock in a pickup truck. We load all the stuff on and head over to our pension. What is a pension you ask? Well it is kinda like a hotel 
but not really. There are cooking facilities (ie a little kitchen) and one big room. It obviously has a washroom too but there are no beds... the one thing I think I will never get used to in Korea, is sleeping on the floor... but we figured it was only a couple of days so why not? Well let me tell you this was the HARDEST floor I have ever slept on and wouldn't wish that kind of uncomfort on my worst enemy... so we made it easier to sleep by drinking lots and lots of maekju (aka beer).
Dinner that night consisted of BBQed kabo
bs and rice... then we made a big bonfire in an old oil drum and hung out around the fire. A bit more calm of a night... aside from Jill and Laura's turn on the Nore Bang (karoke) which cleared out all the Korean boys next door! We all hit the sack again and looked forward to our last day.
Nothing too eventful happend
our last day... everyone except me as I was feeling a little bit ill and worn out... went on a hike around the island for a while. I sat around the pension and read... it was a beautiful ending to our trip. We took the ferry back to Tongyeong at 4:30pm and then the bus back to Daegu... where real life began again on Monday.
So we headed out to the bus station to catch a 7:30am bus down to Tongyeong, where we would catch the ferry over to Bijindo around 11am. We wanted to make the most of our 3 days off so we wanted to get there as early as possible. The bus ride was uneventful, two and a half hours riding in the back seats (5 across) of a bus full of Koreans. We did get many dirty looks as I think that it must be some kind of unspoken rule that you must be quiet on all forms of public transportation. As a little sidebar, let me tell you about all the times we have gotten looks and shhhhs from people... KTX from Daegu to Busan - got told to be quieter by the train attendant and we weren't even being loud... just playing a little euchre. Express bus from Daegu to Pohang... we were shot about a million dirty looks for simply talking and laughing while all other riders were silent. And now again on the bus from Daegu to Tongyeong... same treatment. I wonder if it is because we are speaking English and people can't really tune it out as well. If you think about times when you are in an elevator or some other closed space and people are speaking a different language it is totally harder to ignore... who knows though!
A
nyways we get to Tongyeong, and head down to the ferry terminal to find everyone and their mother is already there and the 11am ferry is sold out. This put a real monkey wrench in our plans! We are forced to sit and wait in the ferry terminal until the 2pm ferry!! We made the best of it, made a little camp spot and just hung out... music playing, drinks a flowin... Oh and one thing I forgot to mention our good friend Tae had actually overslept and missed the bus to Tongyeong so we are down one group member (who also 
happens to be the only one of our friends who speaks Korean!) We finally get a hold of her and she jumps on a bus for Tongyeong... the only problem is she may not make the 2pm ferry and that is the last one of the day. We are all trying to figure out what to do when she calls back with a plan to take a private boat over (and it will only take 10 minutes as opposed to the 45 minute ferry!) We are pumped and taxi over to the little fishing village where we are to leave from.
nyways we get to Tongyeong, and head down to the ferry terminal to find everyone and their mother is already there and the 11am ferry is sold out. This put a real monkey wrench in our plans! We are forced to sit and wait in the ferry terminal until the 2pm ferry!! We made the best of it, made a little camp spot and just hung out... music playing, drinks a flowin... Oh and one thing I forgot to mention our good friend Tae had actually overslept and missed the bus to Tongyeong so we are down one group member (who also 
happens to be the only one of our friends who speaks Korean!) We finally get a hold of her and she jumps on a bus for Tongyeong... the only problem is she may not make the 2pm ferry and that is the last one of the day. We are all trying to figure out what to do when she calls back with a plan to take a private boat over (and it will only take 10 minutes as opposed to the 45 minute ferry!) We are pumped and taxi over to the little fishing village where we are to leave from. 
Finally around 2:30 or 3 o'clock we have all of our group members together and we are ready to go to the island. We load up the little boat we are taking over there and help 
another family get all their things in order and we are on our way! The drive over is beautiful and we are all excited for our time there! We arrive and the nicest girl picks us at the dock in a pickup truck. We load all the stuff on and head over to our pension. What is a pension you ask? Well it is kinda like a hotel 
but not really. There are cooking facilities (ie a little kitchen) and one big room. It obviously has a washroom too but there are no beds... the one thing I think I will never get used to in Korea, is sleeping on the floor... but we figured it was only a couple of days so why not? Well let me tell you this was the HARDEST floor I have ever slept on and wouldn't wish that kind of uncomfort on my worst enemy... so we made it easier to sleep by drinking lots and lots of maekju (aka beer). Our first day was a great sucess with all of us enjoying a nice lunch of 
roast chicken sandwiches and cajun mayo, hitting the beach for some sun, sand and relaxation and then cooking up a mighty dinner of bulgogi (Korean specialty made by Tae and myself). 
After dinner we decided to kick it outside with our new friends the Korean boys living next door. We still are unsure of their story as none of them spoke English but we sure did have a great time!! They told us a ghost story about the haunted path up the mountain which then Luke and I decided would be a good idea to explore! We headed up the mountain, no flashlight, no plan.... let me tell you, I was scared... so scared in fact that I decided to turn on Luke and book it all the way back down to the pension! hahaha On the way I met our Korean friends and they walked me the rest of the way back down... then they went off to look for Luke! This whole pro
cess was getting to be too funny... then Ian went up to look for Luke and the Korean guys... the Koreans ended coming down first but from a completely different way... and then like 10 minutes later Luke and Ian came from another different path! It was unreal! Tae and I ended up staying awake until all hours of the night talking about English education in small towns with the girl who ran the pension (of course it was Tae and I talking, Tae translating, Tae and the girl talking, Tae translating!) Finally we decided it was time for a little ramyeon snack (Korean noodle soup that is super popular) and then we hit the sack...
roast chicken sandwiches and cajun mayo, hitting the beach for some sun, sand and relaxation and then cooking up a mighty dinner of bulgogi (Korean specialty made by Tae and myself). 
After dinner we decided to kick it outside with our new friends the Korean boys living next door. We still are unsure of their story as none of them spoke English but we sure did have a great time!! They told us a ghost story about the haunted path up the mountain which then Luke and I decided would be a good idea to explore! We headed up the mountain, no flashlight, no plan.... let me tell you, I was scared... so scared in fact that I decided to turn on Luke and book it all the way back down to the pension! hahaha On the way I met our Korean friends and they walked me the rest of the way back down... then they went off to look for Luke! This whole pro
cess was getting to be too funny... then Ian went up to look for Luke and the Korean guys... the Koreans ended coming down first but from a completely different way... and then like 10 minutes later Luke and Ian came from another different path! It was unreal! Tae and I ended up staying awake until all hours of the night talking about English education in small towns with the girl who ran the pension (of course it was Tae and I talking, Tae translating, Tae and the girl talking, Tae translating!) Finally we decided it was time for a little ramyeon snack (Korean noodle soup that is super popular) and then we hit the sack... Mor
ning came early and it wasn't too hard to convince any of us to get up as well the floor wasn't all that comfy! We decided that this was a day to hit the beach hard and work on our tans... I wasn't hard to convince... The boys brought down their toys (baseball gloves, volleyball etc) and proceeded to play on the beach while us girls read our books and took in the sun. It was all going so well until our resident accident waiting to happen (aka Luke) ran to catch a ball in the water and sliced open his foot on a piece of glass or a rock or something in the water!!! Now this is a pretty serious problem as we are on an island in the middle of nowhere... and it is Saturday so there is no doctor on the island (why it matters that its Sat I'll never know). Luke wanted to stay, he figured it would be ok but Ian (our resident firefighter and therefore the most knowledgable about emergency situations) put his foot down and Luke had to go to the hospital. One call to 119 (the Korean equivalent to 911) had a boat on its way out to collect our friends (Luke, Tae and Ian) and off they went to Tongyeong. Hours later they return with a little worse for wear Luke and his 25 stitches. With the emergency averted we continued on with our vacation.
ning came early and it wasn't too hard to convince any of us to get up as well the floor wasn't all that comfy! We decided that this was a day to hit the beach hard and work on our tans... I wasn't hard to convince... The boys brought down their toys (baseball gloves, volleyball etc) and proceeded to play on the beach while us girls read our books and took in the sun. It was all going so well until our resident accident waiting to happen (aka Luke) ran to catch a ball in the water and sliced open his foot on a piece of glass or a rock or something in the water!!! Now this is a pretty serious problem as we are on an island in the middle of nowhere... and it is Saturday so there is no doctor on the island (why it matters that its Sat I'll never know). Luke wanted to stay, he figured it would be ok but Ian (our resident firefighter and therefore the most knowledgable about emergency situations) put his foot down and Luke had to go to the hospital. One call to 119 (the Korean equivalent to 911) had a boat on its way out to collect our friends (Luke, Tae and Ian) and off they went to Tongyeong. Hours later they return with a little worse for wear Luke and his 25 stitches. With the emergency averted we continued on with our vacation. 
Dinner that night consisted of BBQed kabo
bs and rice... then we made a big bonfire in an old oil drum and hung out around the fire. A bit more calm of a night... aside from Jill and Laura's turn on the Nore Bang (karoke) which cleared out all the Korean boys next door! We all hit the sack again and looked forward to our last day. 
Nothing too eventful happend
our last day... everyone except me as I was feeling a little bit ill and worn out... went on a hike around the island for a while. I sat around the pension and read... it was a beautiful ending to our trip. We took the ferry back to Tongyeong at 4:30pm and then the bus back to Daegu... where real life began again on Monday.That is about all that has gone down recently but I will be sure to keep you posted on our next big trip to Mudfest, the Daegu Amazing Race and our softball championships! Until next time... xoxo
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