Ferry ride and cave

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I am very sorry it took me so long to write this entry. The explanation is at the bottom. Please forgive me.

Anyway, I went with a group called Adventure Korea - which arranges English speaking tours around the country - on a day trip in Chungcheongbuk-do, the only landlocked province.


We started with a ferry ride down a river. You can see some of the foliage starting to go. For a country that (supposedly) has the same winters we do, they're a little late getting to the actual cold part.


The scenery was absolutely gorgeous.





I may have mentioned this before, but Koreans have a tendency to put 130% into everything they do. The ferry ride was not an exception. Now only did they have open and closed spaces for us to see the scenery, but there was a disco area downstairs, in which the older Korean women got really involved. Hence the video. I have never seen anything like it.

All over the place, Koreans (some bilingual but most not) were approaching the foreigners, talking (or miming) to them, feeding them food or soju, asking to have their pictures taken with them, pushing their children to speak to us in English... their enthusiasm for foreigners is both hilarious and heartwarming. Two little boys even demonstrated their Tae Kwon Do skills for us.


Afterward, we took a trip through Gosu cave. My batteries were on reserve by then, so the pictures aren't great.


But it was still cool.




What surprised me was that instead of going down into the cave, we climbed UP. Lots of narrow and/or spiral staircases.





The Korean name for this place means "3 rocks." Bet you can't guess why.


As always in the National/Provincial Park areas, it was refreshing to be in a place where the population density was not a 4-digit number.


Korean farmland.

Now.

Some of you know this already, but I am actually composing this entry from home. As in my Vermont home. Much as I loved Korea and the experiences I had traveling there, the situation at work was not as good, and about two weeks ago I came to the decision that the stresses at CDI Gimpo were just too much to make experiencing this country worthwhile any longer. Korean perceptions on the significance of contracts, as well as the rights of people in "inferior" positions (including gender, age and status), are very different from those ideas in America, and the result at CDI Gimpo is an environment where I am the 3rd instructor within the period of a month to leave early - this within a staff of 6. I am disappointed to have to go so soon, but when the stresses of work are enough to make even the weekends difficult to enjoy, it's just not working anymore.

On a brighter note, I seem to have come home at the ideal time. I am absolutely thrilled at the outcome of this historic election, and with the exception of about 52% of the state of California, I have never been more proud of my country. It's a good day to be American.

I'm very sorry to all of you who have been following this blog. So many people have told me how much they enjoy it, and I really, really appreciate your support. Even if I couldn't respond to everyone, I was always pleased to see your feedback, and I'm sorry to have to end this early. Thank you so much for everything.

~Sarah

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