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Published: October 20th 2011
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I sit here with raw, red, and swollen hands, an aching body, and a backpack full of peanuts. Teacher's Day was a success. This year it was decided my school would go to Cheontaesan Mountain in Chungcheongbukdo Province. I woke up this morning to thick fog and a freezing apartment so I can't say I was raring to go on a hike. A shower seemed unnecessary, as did dressing to impress so I threw on some black leggings, a flannel, and a sweatshirt. I'd missed my alarm because I'd been dreaming about being in a play so I had to slam some oatmeal with maple syrup and apple with crunchy peanut butter down and book it to the school to meet my ride.
It took us about 30 minutes to get to the mountain that no other souls were at. I was going to buy a water at the store but it was closed so I had to accept that fact that I would be hiking sans water. Three other teachers and I jumped up and down to keep warm until all the others arrived. We started up the pavement hill and walked through orange, red, and green trees whose
leaves were slowly leaving them and relaxing onto the ground. Further up was a small waterfall that poured into a small swimming pool for leaves on the rocks. The pavement disappeared, becoming dirt, as we headed higher and the slower people got left behind. Soon it was me, Yunmi, the social studies teacher, the math teacher, and the PE teacher. No one was talking much, it was just the sound of our breath quickening as the trail got steeper. We came upon a rope to help us get to the top of the large crop of rocks that we were now on. "Eeeeasy", I thought, "I love doing this shit". I hoisted myself up to the lookout and the rest of the teachers did so with ease. Some water was had (I had to beg for some with a "mul, juseo?") and we went into the trees where it was cold and shaded. I had found the hike fairly easy until we reached this next rope. It went 100 percent vertical up the rock face that was worn from various shoes slipping and sliding up it. I started up and got to the middle and realized my arms are made
of noodles and oh my god I might fall. I used all my strength and made it up, my arms slightly shaking. This was starting to feel like a ropes course, not a hike.
We scrambled over rocks like mountain goats until we got to the mother of all ropes. It went up a massive rock for about 30 feet and looking behind me I knew that if I fell I would die. You would just roll down the rock and off a cliff. There were no trees and any ledges to break your fall. I breathed in quick, stowed away my fear of heights and went into my focus mode. My arms hurt, it felt like I had been doing pushups all day. "You're fine", I told myself. There was no way I could stop. I grabbed the metal pole at the top and flattened myself against the rock, feeling the adrenaline rush through me. Yunmi was behind me and I could hear her yelling "Oh my god! Oh my god!' She came to my spot and curled in a ball against the rock and we both shivered with fear. The math teacher, or Mr Smiles, as I
call him, came up with one hand smiling as usual. He even stopped for a photo op. Way. to. make. us. look. bad.
After two more ropes and a lot more hiking, we made the top at 714 meters high. I signed the guest book with "Hannah. Very beautiful. Very scary." Mr. Smiles said "Hannah. Come here. Sit please." and rolled out a mat for me on a rock. He cut me some apple and just as I was finishing he shoved some banana in my hand. "Do you know mountain banana?" he asked. I didn't and I never found out why I should know about it as he went off in a flurry of Korean at the other teachers and kept handing me sweet gummy candies to eat. At this point my hands were already swelling from the ropes. What can I say? I'm not made to do rope work all day. The PE teacher shook her head at me. "Hannah. Gloves, you need! And new pants, you have a hole." Mr. Smiles took this opportunity to point out that my running shoes were not trekking shoes and I needed to buy some. I scoffed but felt like
an idiot further down the mountain when I fell on my ass after slipping on some leaves. "I heard you fell many times," my co-teacher said to me later at lunch. Damn you Mister Smiles, it was once!
We stopped for the obligatory lunch and I went to town on the shelled peanuts and corn. The peanuts were exciting for me because I'd never seen that at a Korean meal. A pot of chicken and broth was put out and so was a big boiling vat of veggies. I picked at my chicken, getting rid of the fat and pieces I couldn't identify. A large plate of fried shrimp came out and I was so hungry that I ate about 20 in 2 minutes. After this attack I noticed that these shrimps all had eyes. Did I just eat 40 eyes??? This was a freakish thought. Mr Smiles was sat at the other end of the table. Looking over at me he yelled "Hannah! Delicious, you must try!" and shoved his chopsticks near my mouth. They were holding something in red paste. I protested but everyone was watching so I let the man feed me. With his chopsticks. Awkward.
It tasted pretty good so when he came at me again, I accepted but grabbed it with my own chopsticks from him. I looked to see what I was eating and it was small fried fish. I hate fish, especially with eyes. Now that I knew what it was,it didn't taste as good the second time down. I don't want to accept it but guess I enjoy the taste of eyeballs.
"At middle school, we call him Hitler", said the PE teacher laughing. Mr Smiles?! Really? This started to make sense as the man is always bossing me around. Its been said I am a bad judge of character and this is a pretty good piece of evidence in favor of that. Mr Smiles/Hitler then came over, picked up the bowl of peanuts, opened my bag, and poured them in with a maniacal smile. He must have seen me enjoying them and thought this was the appropriate action. Awesome...
After lunch, I got a ride back in a stuffed car, as the principal asked me about my eating habits and attempted to get an invitation to see my apartment which was denied because I had laundry everywhere and
I do not want that man to see my skivvies. "See you tomorrow, Hannah", they yelled out the car as I walked to my apartment exhausted and feeling grateful to work with such hardcore, yet lovely people.
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