Island Get Away!

I have to admit, after the rain in Busan last weekend, I was more than disappointed when I saw another weekend of rain in the forecast. Thank goodness it was 100% wrong! I couldn't convince Britney and/or Shauna to sign up with me, so I registered myself for an Adventure Korea (a group that organizes travels around Korea) trip on my own. I spent the weekend biking around the Seonydo/Gogunsan Islands with clear a blue sky and sunshine. They are so small that they are connected by bridges with no roads and hardly any motorized vehicles. Most of the 200 people that live there ride bikes or drive golf carts. Lots of older tourists get chauffeured around the islands in these as well. There are just a few seafood restaurants, a church, hotel, and a few small houses, with lots of fisherman working along the shores.

Sadly, I had to dip out of our staff party early on Friday night due to my early morning departure. We had a delicious galbi dinner to say good bye to our Korean supervisor, Rebecca who will be greatly missed at LCI. It was also to celebrate to completion of all our Open Class days. I went home around 10:30pm and missed out on the night of Noraebong (not too worried- many more to come). I left my apartment at 5:45am, took the subway into Seoul, and jumped on the bus. I was obviously a little nervous going into this myself and know it was a "God thing" when I sat down right next to a girl who had also signed up alone. We immediately hit it off and ended up spending the weekend with the two girls in the seat in front of us. I slept the entire bus ride to the ferry and then some until we arrived on the islands around 12:30pm. We were on our bikes by 1:00pm stopping every five minutes to appreciate and capture the beauty of the islands. We biked up until we had to return them at 6:00pm, watched a beautiful sunset, and had a clam soup and seasoned pork dinner. The bright sun and fresh air must have worn me right down, because I was sleeping by 9:45pm. That might be the earliest I've gone to bed since I was in 5th grade!

I was glad I went to bed when I did because my group of girls woke up at 4:50am to catch the 5:30am sunrise. Sunsets/rises are always gorgeous, but watching the sun go down and come up over mountains and still ocean water is really something else. Again, I was humbled by the absolute sublime in nature that can only be credited to our creator. While it was completely worth the early wake up, I was ready for bed again by 5:45am. We slept until breakfast time and spent the morning walking along the shore learning how to catch shell fish (putting salt in the holes of the sand make them pop up to grab) and experiences what is called Moses Miracle. When the tide is low, roads to the small islands off the shore appear making it look as if the water has parted for you to walk on. It was pretty spectacular! I spent my last hour getting my first crisp color of the season and a good nap on the beach of a beautiful island. Our ferry back to the mainland left at 2:30, and I arrived home in Suji around 8:00pm on Sunday evening. I am proud of myself for signing up to do this trip that I was so interested in after it was suggested by a co-worker. My nerves proved to be meaningless as I met a wonderful group of girls (Del from Toronto, Melissa from Seattle, Becky from Ireland, and Susan (about the age of my mother) from Canada) who I spent the weekend with! I hope to meet up with them again soon. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend!