I had an amazing 3-day weekend :) On Saturday, I was very productive and got all my laundry and cleaning finished, which was a huge task that I've been putting off for quite some time now. On Sunday, I met up with Beth, Dara, Pex, and two new Korean friends, Cham-Chee and Anchovie. (They're just nicknames, of course!) We all met in Seoul around 1:30pm and took a taxi to the docks. We bought round-trip tickets for the ferry, and our adventure began :)
We took the ferry to a small island, Seopori Beach. The ferry ride was pretty long-it took about an hour to get to the island. The ferry was really nice! I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised. There were really comfortable seats with lots of leg room, flat screen tvs hanging on the walls, and a small snack bar in the center. When we got to the island, it was like something from a movie. It looked exactly like typical "fishing villages" look like in movies. We docked, and a taxi drove us to our accommodation. The taxi took us about 20 minutes up the mountain to a small pension. (Accommodation and pension are just names for the places that you stay.) Our pension was SO ADORABLE!! It was a group of small rooms, all connected, that were up on risers. We got two rooms, one for the boys, one for the girls.
The pension was very traditional: The rooms were small, only one window. Each person got a mattress for the floor and a pillow. The bathrooms had normal toilets and sinks, but if you wanted to shower (which we didn't!), you had to fill up a bucket of FREEZING COLD water and dump it over your body. No thanks!! Near the front there were a few traditional tables set up on risers as well. The woman who owned the pension was super sweet and made us side dishes for our meals :)
Once we got settled in, we walked down to the beach and took some pictures. We weren't in our bathing suits, so we just put our feet in. We walked to a market nearby and bought pork, coal, and lettuce to make our own barbecue back at the pension. The woman made us sides of white rice, kimchi, and a cooked kimchi dish that was DELICIOUS!! The boys were in charge of cooking and playing with the fire, and the girls were in charge of taking pictures :) After we ate, we wandered around to find some raw seafood that the others really liked. I had never had it before, but I was willing to give it a try. We stopped at a restaurant near our house and ordered clams and scallops. They brought them to the table raw, and we cooked them over the fire at our table. I tried one bite, and knew that scallops and clams were not for me!! I'm not a seafood person to begin with, but I was willing to try it. Now I know... :)
After that, we wandered back out to the beach where we took an insane amount of pictures. We had purchased fireworks and sparklers earlier, so we set those off on the beach. There were a few mishaps and some people with bad aim (cough cough), but all-in-all it was tons of fun!! There was a group of people standing around a campfire, and we really wanted to get in on that. Pex told us that they would probably invite us over if we talked to them a little bit. After our fireworks fiasco, we became fast friends. They invited us over, and we enjoyed the warmth of their campfire :) The night was really cool, and we were all pretty cold, so it was nice to warm up for a bit.
After that, we walked out towards the ocean. I experienced something that I've never experienced before. The tide was out, but when I say "out," I mean, it was nowhere to be found!! Where there was ocean just a few hours earlier, there was now only wet sand and shells. As far as we could see, there was no water. I never knew that the tide could go out that far!! Beth said that in New England where she's from, the tide goes out for miles, and you can't see the ocean. So crazy!!
The next day, we had to catch the ferry back at 9:50am...so we had to rise-and-shine pretty early!! We got to bed around 2:30am, so it wasn't too terrible, but we were still pretty exhausted. We took a taxi back to the docks and caught the ferry home. All six of us passed out the second we boarded. We took buses back to where we originally met. Everyone parted ways and headed home. Dara, Beth, and I were all going home the same way, so the three of us stayed together. We were walking to the busstop when we saw a sign: "Final Sale." It was an accessories shop that was going out of business, so most of their inventory was on sale. We obviously had to check it out. I ended up with two necklaces and a new pair of flip flops :)
Dara, Beth, and I caught the bus back home. We hadn't eaten all day, and by this time it was almost 4pm. We all bought pizzas and Baskin Robbins ice cream and went home. It was so nice to come home and sit in my bed and just relax and eat :) I'm really tired from our weekend, but it was awesome!!
Tomorrow we start back on our "normal" schedule again, working 2:30pm to 9:45pm. I won't have a problem sleeping in tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll adjust to the schedule just fine :)
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