Whitewater Rafting!!

On Saturday (yesterday), I went whitewater rafting with my church!! We were meeting up really early in the morning to take the bus out there. Johnny, Mi-yeon, Abby, and I signed up to go together. It was 45,000 won (about $45), which included whitewater rafting, transportation, and a Korean BBQ lunch. What a great deal! So, we all met at 8am in Gangnam to catch the bus together. I had to get up at 5am to take a shower, pack my bag, and catch the subway in time. It was an early morning, but totally worth it!

We got on the bus and took the very last row, with five seats across the back. That left us with an extra seat to put all our stuff in and spread out a bit. It took about two hours to get out there, and it rained the whole way!! Fortunately for us, it stopped just as we were pulling in...yes!! We went right over to the hut to get our life jackets, helmets, and oars. They explained the basic instructions, which were in Korean of course, then we loaded up on the bus! The bus ride was just up the road, so it didn't matter that we were squished in like sardines with all our gear. :)

Johnny, Mi-yeon, Abby, and I were in the same boat together, so that was fun! It was super busy yesterday, and there were tons of groups there, so we were definitely rushed down the river. Last year when we went, we got a lot of time to get out of the boat and swim around, and we could jump off a cliff into the water about halfway through. This year, the guide told us it would take too long to wait, so we had to keep going. While it was a quick trip down the river, our boatmates and guide were really fun. We had three people in the boat who could speak fluent Korean, so the guide would talk in Korean, and one of the three would translate for the rest of us. The guide was young, around our age, so when we would all start speaking English, he would say in Korean that he felt really left out. It was funny! He was a great sport though, and they tried to translate back into Korean for him so he could feel included. :)

After rafting was finished, we changed and got on the bus to go to the BBQ place. We had pork (from America!), rice, soup, salad, and some sides. We wrapped the meat in pieces of lettuce and ate it. SO GOOD!! After lunch, we got back on the bus to head home. It took us 2 and a half hours to get back home because of traffic, but all of us passed out the whole way! We were wiped out after rafting, our tummies were full, and we had big comfy seats. What else were we gonna do, right? :)

When we got back into Gangnam, we went to Jamba Juice and had a pre-dinner snack. We just wanted to talk a bit more before we headed home. It was a tiring day, and I was happy, but I was also ready to head home, shower, and crash. A good day with good friends. :)