To take a break from class and to give the students a chance to experience more of Korea, the school organized a trip to Jeju Island. There was about 270 students (120 Chinese, 120 Japanese, 50 other ^^) so it was pretty crazy. But many Koreans like to travel and go on tours so it was actually kind of normal to have so many. It was a 2 hour trip by bus to the airport and then about an hour flight south to Jeju. We stayed at this hotel, but it was kind of like a mini hotel village. There were a lot of small buildings that could hold 5 people and then a few bigger ones that could hold more.
It was pretty nice except it was a Korean style hotel. Which means you sleep on mats on the floor and the floors are heated. Heated floors are nice as it the weather is getting cold, but they get way too hot during the night. Honestly, I slept the best when we didn't use them. Also we were supposed to share blankets, but some of the guys didn't really. So I just used my jacket as a blanket. The first night I didn't have a pillow either, and because the floor made the room too hot I opened the window. Then I woke up around 2am because it was too cold and then I couldn't sleep because I had been bitten 5 times by mosquitos and was itching all over. The second night I had a pillow and made sure not to open the window, but something else strange happened. I was sleeping on my own mat and there really wasn't room for another person. But for some reason of the Mongolian guys came and laid down next to me at about 2am. He had already been sleeping in another spot, so I didn't know what was going on. Maybe the guy he was sleeping next to was snoring too loud. At first I thought ok, I'll just scoot over a little and it'll be fine. But after I scooted over, he took up more space. So then I turned to the side to move away more. But then he turned to the side too and started putting his arm on me. That was too much so I moved to the TV room and just slept on the floor with a shirt as a blanket and my backpack as a pillow. At around 4 or 5am the guy from Cameroon got up to watch soccer (cuz of the time difference some soccer games are really early in the morning) so I woke up and took his bed. Luckily the third night was uneventful.
Anyway, back to the trip. Jeju was very beautiful and we visited a lot of wonderful places. First we went on a short hike up a mountain. The veiw from up there was very beautiful and there was also something like a sniper pit. I'm not sure if thats what it really was, but it definitely could have been. It was a concrete structure built into the side of the mountain so that it was basically part of the mountain. And then inside were small rectangular windows to look out of, perfect for sniping enemy troop trying to come up the mountain. Just like in Counterstrike.
Then we went to a waterfall. Also very pretty.
We visited this huge Buddhist temple. Very tranquil. Drank some water thats supposed to be good for health.
And finally we got to go to a real beach!!!! Oh the beach was so wonderful. Not too different from beaches back in LA. The sand was nice and smooth, the water was clear. And you could walk out at least a 100 feet and the water was still less than a foot deep. The beach was definitely my favorite part of the visit.
We also visited some other coastal areas that were amazing. Jeju (I think) was originally a volcano so you can buy volcanic rock and they have these funny statues of men with big noses they make out of the rock. Mmmm we went to some other nice nature-y type places. And to a museum about how Jeju was created. A bunch of korean high school girls took pictures with me there, it was pretty funny. And we went to this folk village that is being preserved. They have this thing about feeding poop to pigs. And then they eat the pigs. I don't know. But I ate some pig that ate some poop. Hahaha, sometimes its fun being immature. Anyway. Jeju island was a lot of fun and we did a lot of things. I took a little over 200 pictures, but it takes too long to upload them here. Sorry, you'll just have to go there for yourself.
