등산 (hiking) The night before, my Korean Mother's friend invited my to climb 청계산 (cheong kyae mountain). I woke up a little late so I got up, ate breakfast, changed, and head out the door to go to the subway station. Upon arriving, I saw my mom's friend dressed in some pretty official hiking gear--she meant business. We went down in the subway, which was amazing. Seoul's subway is really clean! But it looked like a lot of people wanted to go the same place as us.
After a transfer and meeting up with some more friends, we arrived! And she told me that we would be climbing on the the mountains in the distance :O--it was huge! I didn't know what I got myself into! We, and the huge swarm of people, made our way through a tunnel where vendors were plenty--a common occurrence in Korea.
After passing the stores selling hiking equipment, we made our way up the mountain.
The crew was pretty awesome!
Many times we had to stop because our friend was tired. When we starting hiking again, they would say, "크리스 먼저 가세요. 안 힘들어요?" Or, "Chris, you go first. It isn't difficult?" It was more like a fun game for me.
Finally we reached our stopping point, so it was time for lunch. We had this awesome picnic. Even though I suck at Korean, it was so fun being with them. I was so grateful that I could come and spend time with them. I just wish I could have offered more to the conversations.
We were really tired, but we had a feast!
This was my first time having kimbab and makeoli (김밥과 막걸리). Both were seriously delicious. Kimbab is like sushi but better, and makeolli is rice wine...맛있다!
Listening and trying to focus on a language is so hard and exhausting, but I want to have more conversations so I am motivated to improve my speaking ability. Luckily, we communicate so much with body language that being with them wasn't awkward. They are really a fun crowd to be around! Later that day, the ahjusshi told me that they did the 탈춤 (tradition Korean mask dance) together in college.
Now it was time to go down the mountain, which in my opinion, offered its own unique splendor and beauty.
We did it!!!! After descending down the mountain, we met up with my kmom for coffee. It was such a great experience, and I am so glad I spent my Saturday doing it. 등산하는 것이 엄청 재미있어요!
If you have any questions or comments, please leave on at the bottom of my post. Thanks for reading! 안녕!
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