This Past Weekend

This past weekend was the best I have had so far. I have a good friend at work named Jessica (before you jump to conclusions, she is just a friend and nice enough to show me around), and she agreed to take me hiking on Saturday to one of the local mountains (sans)around Daejeon. The mountain we went to is half-an-hour east of Daejeon; it is called Gyeryongsan. Gyeryongsan basically translates to--the dragon, rooster mountain. It is really the mountain of the dragon with the rooster head. Don't ask. Anyways, this trip would prove to be very comforting. The mountains were beautiful. What do I mean by comforting? They were just like the mountains I had been in so many times before in Appalachia or North Georgia, so it felt familiar and was equally as breath-taking. The hike itself was something of a workout. I thought it would be more of a sightseeing trip, but it turned out to be some serious uphill work! We hiked for about four hours in all, and it was steep. Along the path, there were many places to stop and take pictures. We stopped at one place in particular and talked for a while. There was a draw in the mountain where a stream was flowing through and turned into a waterfall. We sat at the base of the waterfall and talked for a while and meditated (Not in the buddhist sense. We just sat, not talking and thinking about whatever.) I really wanted to walk all the way to the top, but Jessica informed me that it would take a lot more gumption and about six more hours. Needless to say, we didn't make it. As soon as I figure it out I will try to get some pictures for you. I am less than apt when it comes to computers.

My next adventure of the weekend was eating Octopus at a Traditional Korean Restaurant. What capitalize all of those words? Because that was the actual name. I have eaten Octopus before, so you might ask what's the big deal. I am not a bleeding-heart vegan, or a let's save the animals, don't eat beef hippy. Let me just tell you, the way they eat Octopus was disturbing even to me. They heat up a big bowl of seafood soup at your table. When it is boiling hot they bring out the octopus on a big, split seashell. They dump it right into the boiling water. That wasn't bad for me. I have eaten lobster and crab and had seen this before. But! While it is still alive and squirming right in front of you, they pick it up with prongs and cut it to pieces with scissors. It was actually quite hard to watch and a little disturbing. It is one of those things can only be really felt by experiencing the massacre first hand. But anyways, it was the best meal I have had in Korea so far.

Next Blog: The Korean Gene Pool (This past weekend I saw some things that were very interesting. Things that were startling and of which I have a few theories.

KICKS ASS: I know the bus route and rate to get to and from the mountains. It's actually very easy, and I will be doing it often. Next time I will take pictures.

SUCKS ASS: This weekend I found out that on two occasions I have eaten Caterpillar (sp.?) Probably wouldn't have done it if I had known, but it actually isn't bad at all. Still a little icky when I try to make it fit into my western norms.

(IN A RUSH AND DID NOT PROOFREAD)