Last night marked the end of a great three-day weekend here in Korea. Yesterday was Korea's Independence Day, so most schools were closed for the day, including mine. It gave me plenty of time to explore, have fun, AND relax!
On Saturday, I visited a park that is considered one of the top places to see here in the Pohang area. It's called Bogyeongsa, at the base of a small mountain. At the beginning, you get to walk through a beautiful old Buddhist temple, some of it dating back to the 1620s. I had never walked through a Buddhist temple, so it was certainly a highlight of my weekend. Architecturally it was wonderful, from the intricate wood carvings to the many colors, the statues, and the huge bells. From the temple, you can hike up a trail that cuts through a canyon and follows along a stream. All along the stream are pools where people play in the water, and there are a few waterfalls as well. It reminded me of Oregon in many ways, and was one of the most beautiful places I've been to in a long time. I went with two of my new English friends, and we had fun swimming and jumping off rocks (or in my case, slipping off rocks. Don't worry, I'm ok). Half way up the trail, we stopped at some benches to take a break. A minute later, a group of four Korean men sat with us and started conversation in broken English. After a few minutes, one of the men told me to arm wrestle his son, who was a very large guy. So being the good sport that I am, I accepted the offer, even though I knew this guy would win. Of course, he did (though I put up a good fight!). So I tried standing up, and the dad then told us to wrestle with our left arms, so we did, and I lost again. Then he told us to wrestle with our right arms again! So I did. And I lost. Again. I'm trying not to feel too bad about it though, his son was about 6 feet tall and had at least an extra 50 pounds on me. Not a fair match in my opinion!
On Sunday, I bought myself an acoustic guitar! I left mine at home to minimize the amount of luggage I would have to bring. I only had to spend $160 on the guitar, bag, strings, tuner, strap, and picks. You can't get a deal like that in America if you were buying the crummiest guitar ever made. I'm quite happy with my purchase, and it couldn't have come soon enough, I was going through guitar withdrawals! After buying my guitar, I met up with some friends downtown at a cafe where you can rent board games. They give you a menu of all the board games they have, and you order whatever game you want! So we played Pit (a fun stock-market game that requires lots of yelling) for about 2 and a half hours. We had a blast!
I spent Monday mostly relaxing, playing guitar, reading, and drinking coffee (my first trip to a coffee shop). I also saw Cowboys and Aliens with some friends. Luckily it was in English with Korean subtitles. Afterward we got some Korean pizza with a bulgogi topping. It wasn't half bad!
So far I've met some great people and see some friendships budding. Though I haven't discovered my core group of close friends yet, I'm very happy with the friends I have made so far. It's been fun hanging out with foreigners from all English-speaking countries! We have been exchanging our regional slang, and being the history nerd that I am, I've been getting some good history lessons from their home lands. Tonight I played soccer with a group of foreigners. I hadn't really played since high school, but was happy to find out I can still survive a game. I ended up scraping both my legs up pretty badly, so I guess that means it went well! I even scored a couple goals.
More to come.
Much love to you all.
Be well.
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