My town has a gym...

...FINALLY something to do during the week!!!

About a month ago, we received huge news. A GYM HAS OPENED UP! Of course, I headed right over to see what it contained and let me tell you...I was PLEASANTLY surprised.

Floor 1: Lobby, locker rooms (with Sauna), showers, and a Lapped Pool! A POOL! A POOL!! Ok, I don't swim all that much, but it was exciting to have that option now!

Floor 2: WHAT?!?!?! TWO FLOORS!?!?! YES! The weight/cardio area hosts 5 treadmills (each with its own tv screen), weight machines, free weights, etc. The side room was padded to allow for yoga, stretching, non-weights workouts, cool downs. There is even an outside area to workout as well.

Needless to say, I bought a 2 month membership, and have frequented it at least 3 times a week (if not more). My legs are happy to be moving again....I have actually started to not mind the treadmill (I watch downloaded TV shows on my tablet while I run), and on Fridays I usually do a long treadmill workout followed by some body circuit training or swimming (while the pool is empty). When I swim, I almost ALWAYS see some of my students, and they LOVE to show off their swimming skills to me. Of course, my swimming isn't the best, so I am always impressed.

Since I haven't been to a Jimjibang (bathhouse) yet, I was surprised to see how naked the Koreans get. They are all very reserved in their dress (except their booty shorts), but once they get in the locker room, they strut around in their birthday suits. From the little kids changing into swimsuits to the old women hanging out in the sauna. I feel like I'm part of an all female nudist colony when I'm there!

Ghamsamnidah,
Apes :)


**My friend Adam made me a 4 week workout plan, and it was TOUGH but I finished it. It's perfect for me (it's a 3 day a week workout) and doesn't require a lot of equipment, so I can do the exercises while I travel as well!!

Christmas (part 2) in Jinan

Missed Part 1? You can read it here!!

When I left Seoul, I kidnapped Rachel and brought her with me. Well, not really...but it was not planned for her to come back with me. She had the week off, and had already mentioned coming down for Christmas Eve, so I suggested she just come back with me on Sunday. After absolutely NO arm twisting, she decided to do just that.

So we got to the station (there's a DIRECT bus to Jinan!!) and made the bus with 2 minutes to spare! We got to Jinan about 3 hours later, around 6/7pm. We grabbed dinner on the walk home, then once home we settled onto the couch with some eggnog and cookies.

Christmas Eve I had to teach, but once I was back, we met up with Ricardo, Sam, and Lok for some Korean BBQ Christmas Eve dinner :) We all stuffed our faces, then headed to CHURCH! Yup, you read that right! The priest who teaches Korean to me and Sam had called earlier in the day to tell us that there would be a Christmas Eve festival at his church. So we headed over after dinner, and watched all the locals sing Christmas carols in Korean, and perform their Christmas dances they had choreographed. I saw a few of my students perform as well, so that was a great treat :)

For Christmas morning we had french toast for breakfast. We had Hot Chocolate and marshmellows (with 99bananas added) to get us ready for the day. Then I skyped with the parents so I could open my gifts: sheets (Koreans don't use them), Scarf/Beanie/Glove set, PIEROGIE ORNAMENT(!!!!), Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, aloe-infused socks, REAL coffee to make, powdered donuts (to go with the coffee), candy gummies, and a reindeer stuffed animal. The chocolate has already been broken into :)

Then we headed into Jeonju for lunch and a movie. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?!?! Christmas Day at the movies is just like Christmas Day at the movies in America. Almost everything was sold out, and it was PACKED beyond belief. So, we were unable to catch a movie, so we headed to lunch. It was an hour and half wait. So we put our names down, and ran some errands. Once we were able to sit and eat, IT WAS SOOO WORTH THE WAIT! It was a buffet with; various pastas, pizzas, meats, salads (like tomato mozzarella), bibimbap bar, soup bar, and DESSERT BAR! Think: waffle bar with ALL THE TOPPINGS - caramel, chocolate, nuts, whipped cream, etc. There was also brownies, and cheesecake (I had 2!), and ice cream. I made sure I got my money's worth :)

Once back at home, we both skyped our families. I stayed up to skype my family opening their gifts (eventhough mine hadnt arrived for them yet, BOO!!). But it was good to see them all enjoying Christmas morning. Here's a pic of "us kids" my dad took.

Christmas 2012!!

So to all my family/friends near AND far...MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you are able to celebrate it however you like, and with whomever you like :)

메리 크리스마스!!
Apes :)

My Maisan!

My town may be tiny, but we are known for 2 things...the Red Gingseng Spa and Maisan. Maisan translates to "Horse Ear Mountain" as it is 2 mountains that look like horse ears. Pretty easy, eh?

Anyways, on Election Day we all had the day off, so I headed to FINALLY see Maisan with Sam and his friend Lok. Here is my day in pictures (because they give you a better idea than my words will).

When we first got there, I stopped and got some hot chocolate - the man making it looked EXACTLY like his caricature picture!

Can you see the resemblance?

Here are more photos from the "village" at the entrance of the South Side of Maisan.

The other side has a Rhino.

Old fashioned houses.

That's a golden lion coming down the rock!

HUGE Drum!

Then it was time to hit the Mountain! We walked to the temple in between the two mountains: 

View at the Temple

View through the trees

Love Buddha?

Took a hint from the statue, and sat for a spell.

 

The Temple in the Mountains

banging the drum at the Temple - my favorite part!

Another view of the Temple

Then it was time to hike the actual mountain...not many pix, but I did snap one of my companions heading up:

Lok and Sam starting the Trek up!

Luckily we started on the higher side, so our walk UP was about half of the walk down. I am QUITE happy we didn't go UP the other side and DOWN on our side. Whew! My legs were tired even from the way we DID go, I could only imagine if we reversed it!

Ghamsamnidah,
Apes