Teacher's Day Green Tea Farm

In Korea, during the month of May, there are a lot of celebrations for people.  There is Children's Day, Parent's Day, and even Teacher's Day.

On Children's Day, parents honor their children usually with a present of some sort, kinda like Christmas.  In one of my sixth grade classes, we asked the students what they hoped to get, my favorite answer came from a boy who always sits in the left corner, who said "My parent's love is all I need."

Parent's Day is kinda like Mother's Day and Father's Day all in one.

Teacher's Day is kinda the same.  Most teacher's get the day off, so there is no school.  So I had a cool opportunity to go out to a tea farm and make my own green tea from the very beginning.  We (Beatrice, Kjirsten, Jiwon, and I)  got in a car to Iksan, a town close to Gunsan, where I live.  It was gorgeous there.

First we donned our lovely hats and then we went out to pick the tea leaves off the plants.

Kjirsten

Beatrice

Next we had to go inside and heat the leaves and mush them and pick out the stems. Except, there was no more gas... so we ended up eating lunch and going on a mini hike to see more of the tea fields.  It was actually quite beautiful.   

This sign is funny... The bathroom is only 150m to the left. ㅋㅋㅋ but it looks so picturesque. 

White tea farm. 

Finally, the gas came in and it was back to making the green tea.  We had to mush it and heat it and pick it apart and repeat 3 or 4 times.  It was tiring but fun.  

We actually, had to leave early, so I still don't have my tea... but it's all good.  I was exhausted so I went home and napped real hard.  Then for dinner Kjirsten and I ate bingsu which is pretty much one of the best desserts you will ever eat.

Adventure Korea - Seoraksan Buddha's Birthday Trip.

Catch up post #1.

Once again, I'm terrible at maintaining a blog.  So I thought maybe this week I could just make a blog post every couple of days that are a little bit shorter.  Probably heavily loaded with pictures that I've already posted to facebook.  Hahaha.

Anyways, this happened back in May.  Being in Asia, Buddha is a lot bigger of a deal than back home.  So, we got a long weekend.  During this weekend my best friend in all of Asia, Andrea, and I decided to go on a trip.  We ended up bringing along Mieke, Andrea's friend from her home back in South Africa.  Mieke is a real trouper.  She came on this trip with us maybe 2 days after she landed in Korea.  That's what I call adventure!

We went with a group here in Korea called Adventure Korea which is a really cool organization that plans trips for you and all you have to do is pay and show up ready to go.  The people are super nice and friendly too.

Anyways, we left for Seoul that Friday night and stayed in a hostel.  We ended up being placed in a room with some other girls going on the trip.  Side note: reason I love hostels is meeting random people you've never met before in your life and ending up sharing a room with them.  Well, a room and stories.  I love getting to know why people do what they do.  Call it weird. It's what I do.  I love talking to people about their lives and what they do.

The next morning we get up really early and get ready for the day.  Most of which was spent on a bus heading into Gangwon-do.  The first day we climb to the top of one of Korea's highest mountains.  It took a few hours and was totally exhausting.  The view at the top was beautiful, and totally worth feeling like total death while climbing what felt like a million stairs.

Before the hike

Our whole Adventure Korea group. 

At the bottom there is a huge Buddha guy.  

Half way up! 

Look at those stairs... 

Seriously endless stairs... 

View from the top - that's the East Sea

Another view from the top

Proof shot! We made it!! Also, it was super windy. 

A Temple place at the bottom of the mountain. 

I also love the hike back down.  I get a boost of energy at the top so I feel like I can practically fly down the mountain. Also... gravity helps you out going down.

One funny thing happened.  Not surprisingly, I fell.  Let me set the scene for you.

I'm on the way back down the mountain hopping from rock to rock on the path.  Things are no longer super vertical, but more horizontal.  We are almost at the very end.  It was cold at the top, but now warmer, so I have removed my jacket and tied it around my waist.  Then it happens, my feet betray me and slip out from under me.  There are a lot of Koreans around who have all turned to look at me with gasps.  I think to myself: it's okay, you can play this cool.  Just quickly get back up and go on like nothing happened. So I get up like nothing's wrong, and my feet betray me again, this time they step on the jacket that has been tied around my waist and I fall again.  I think: just get up and run away now, there is no smooth move anymore. So I literally jump up, my hand bleeding, say "I'm okay" and run away.  I still have a slight scar on my hand.

That night we eat dinner and turn in for bed fairly early.  The next morning we get up.  That day we go to a place to zipline on the beach.  It wasn't anything like what I had expected.  It wasn't scary in the slightest... but then again, after you've been skydiving, what is? I even used to be scared of roller coasters, but I got on one just last week and wasn't even a tiny bit nervous until we started going.  Then we had a whole day just to chill at this beautiful beach.  I got to dip my toes in the East Sea, which was actually really cold.  We even went on a little boat ride.

with Mieke after ziplining

At the beach

With beautiful Mieke at the beach

That Sunday was the last day, we went another hike up a beautiful mountain.

Just one shot from Sunday's hike. 

Some things I've noticed about Koreans and hiking.  First, they love it. Second, they are really good at it.  I'm not kidding when I say there are little old ladies out there (we call them Ajummahs here) that can out hike me and probably you... all while drinking 막걸리 (rice wine) and eating 김밥 (kimbap).  Seriously, I wish I can be that cool when I get old.  

Then, after lunch, we got on our bus and had a long bus ride back.  Seriously, traffic was rotten.  We almost missed our bus, but as always people are super helpful.  Some friends we made on the bus let us know that we could switch to the next bus.  We ended up having one of those moments where you run through a busy place to catch your bus/plane whatever in order to make it.  Luckily we made it just in time.  Yay us!! 

We then went home and slept... a lot.  

As a bonus... One of my absolute favorite things is finding English written on things soo... here is some English.. please tell me what this mean