Ho Hum

I'll begin on Sunday. It was a nice day. Really warm. The sun had shone strong through the day. Before I left for my walk with Samjin I brought the plants to the roof for some of the goodness. 

At the foot path by the river some of the small cherry blossoms started to bloom. There was another person next to me taking this same picture.

I made my way down to the river which is running quite dry. At certain points you can walk right across it on its gravel floor. With the water washed out I saw all these large rusted anchor type things on the river bed. I guessed they were to deterrents to boaters. What do you make of it?

So I did the loop and walked further down the river by the bamboo thicket. Across the river at this point was a partially collapsed rock wall.

I headed back up into the streets at the bungee jump platform that hangs over a cesspool. Walked past the damn and headed home after a couple hours on foot. The sun was getting low, and the plants don't do well in low heat so I got home and took them down. Ana got back from soccer and we met some friends at Zio Ricco's for some pizza pies. They serve dark Belgian beer here so I got one.

There were also some jolly fat Italians juggling wine bottles next to me:

A couple nights ago we had an Apartment sale. Got a knock and in came ten shoppers. This is what John got. John is letting us live in his suite for the remainder of our time here. He's holding our beloved and mysterious herb plant. It was vibrant and full, and then our dog was spiteful and attacked it last week. 

So thats been the deal. The rest has been a pretty crappy fight with our management. We worked hard for them, and actually cared about the success of their business, and we get treated like dogs. 

Jinju University of Education

Jinju University of Education CUE English Program ..... DON'T work for them! We once again had a fight at work, they are making us move out of our apartment tomorrow by noon, so that they can move us into a place that is free for the remaining 3 weeks that we are here.  I am very angry right now.  They tried to move us into the dormitory which won't allow our dog and told us to put him in an kennel, which they won't pay for.  Basically, they are pushing us around again and this time I'm really tired of it.  They made all these ridiculous claims that if we stayed in our apartment and they paid for it the entire staff at the school would be fired if an inspector came to audit their spending.  I can't believe this is true because our contract states that they will provide housing for us for the terms of our contract.  Well, at least outside of work we have made so many good friends who are willing to have us stay with them.  So, even though work will make it difficult to live comfortably for the next couple of weeks we will be ok:) 

Perks

Being a teacher here and having your face plastered all over the school advertisements can come in handy.  I was at Baskin Robins the other day and a students mom, a woman I didn't know, came up to me and said, "I'm Jun's Mom".  Now, I didn't know who that was but she said she would buy my ice cream! Sweet! Yum yum yum :) Then my student texted me and so then I knew who it was. I love ice cream, especially when it's free!

4th Times a Charm - Jiri-san Part IV

Mountain goats!

The not so sunny day after all

View from above

Top of the mountain

Top views

Steep and treacherous 

Samjin's hideout

Snowy trees

Climbing

My legs hurt!

We finally made it to the top of the 2nd highest peak in South Korea, 1915 meters up.  It was a beautiful morning when we set out on the bike with Samjin in tow to the mountain.  We arrived at the base at 12:15.  Samjin was put in the backpack and off to the top we went.  It was warm and sunny, the trail was steep and grueling but it felt good.  About 2 kilometers up we started to see bits of snow but it was still quite warm, or the hiking was making us that way.  We came across two women who were impressed that we knew a bit of Korean, they gave us 2 clementines and some candy.  By the time we got to the temple 3.5 km up there was snow and ice all over the trail and big muddy parts.  I fell again, in the same spot as last time, onto my camera, ouch! Don't worry the camera's ok, but my back hurts.  Another km up and poor Samjin was all wet and shivering, so we wrapped him in a sheet and sweatshirt and back into the bag he went.  It was getting colder we could feel the air changing with each step.  Less than 1 km from the top Mike wanted to quit, I said "If we go to the top now we never have to come back!" He agreed and onward we trudged.  The last stretch is actually scary, it feels like you are walking straight up, there is nothing to hold onto, only a loose rock here or there.  Finally, the summit, there was more snow here, the sun had tucked away behind the clouds, my winter jacket was necessary.  It was beautiful, the highest point on the SK peninsula, we could see for miles even with the clouds.  Not too long to take it all in, it was already 4:15 and we still had to go back down.  

Going down is pure torture.  

You can't stop, the pain in your legs sets in, but there is no where to go but down.  We stopped a few times but not for long, going up felt better than going down.  It was dark by the time we made to back to the parking lot.  We were tired and hungry, we got some grub at the restaurant at the bottom, some warm soup and a Korean style pancake.  Then it was off to the cold night for a long ride back to Jinju.