ATV's and White Water Rafting!

Saturday, July 6^th, 2013 – Sunday, July 7^th, 2013

Saturday, I woke up at the crack of dawn to meet the rest of the group that signed up for an ATV and white water rafting day!  We went to Sancheong Gyungho River, which is about two hours outside of the city.  Two buses full of people signed up for this day trip.  Like most bus trips, our bus got lost on the way there so we arrived about an hour late, around 11am. 

First on the itinerary was going on the ATVs.  They also gave us the options of paintballing.  We were split up into groups and off we went.  Some people had to ride little ATVs because there weren’t enough big ones.  On our ATVs, we drove down one path, took a group picture.  Next we turned around, drove down another path, this one had a bit of mud, took another group picture.  Then, we turned around and drove back to where we started.  It was very anti-climatic.  It was still fun and we had the white water rafting to look forward to.

We returned for lunch.  We all had bibimbap for lunch.  After eating, some waiting, and getting our gear together (life-jacket, helmet and paddle) we took the bus to the start of our rafting adventure.  Each raft had about ten people and a guide.  Most of the fun was a giant splashing fight between all of the boats using our paddles, as two rafts would pass each other.  We would float down calm waters, start to paddle as a group, one, two, one, two, and then reach some rapids and enjoy the ride.  They were good rapids for Korea since it had been raining a lot before this weekend and we were lucky to get a rare, July, hot sunny day!  Most of the rapids were pretty small and not very scary, but we did have a couple fun dips.  One raft did flip over; I have no idea how that happened when our raft was very stable the entire time.   It was a fun group activity and a good way to meet new people.  One girl in my raft went to the University of Guelph!  Now I look forward to going rafting somewhere with larger rapids someday!

One of the highlights of the day for me was getting outside of the city and seeing the countryside of Korea!  I haven’t seen much nature, grass, trees and country side since I have been here, so that was a nice change of pace.  Some fresh air and serenity never hurt anyone! 

That night, after a long day, I still went out to say hi to a friend, Chris, who just arrived in Korea from the United States.  He is someone I met in Argentina a year ago and I was very happy to see an old friend!

On Sunday, I had a more low key day to recover from the day before.  I went for a nice long walk after dinner and found a nice walking path along the water, which connected to the sea.  The walk started before dinner, by exploring some undiscovered seaside fish markets and then going into an old school amusement park to explore a little.  I rode one of the rides just for fun.  For dinner, I was extremely excited to have found a Latino restaurant that had……..Dulce de Leche!!!  :D This was my favourite sweet in Argentina and very hard to find outside of South America.  I couldn’t believe this restaurant not only had delce de leche, but also mate tea on their Ipad menu (first time using one of those too).  I am very excited to show Aimee, and Chris this restaurant and hopefully we can reminisce about Argentina over delce de leche very soon! 

Yoga Marathon, Flapper party, Canada Celebrations!

Saturday, June 22^nd, 2013 – Monday, July 1^st, 2013

I started off the weekend with a four-hour yoga marathon.  This was a part of Callie’s, African Yoga Project fundraising. 

 Y O G A

Date: Saturday June 22nd, 9:45am - 2pm

Yoga Marathon Schedule:

9:45 - 10am~ Opening Meditation & Setting Intentions

10 - 10:55 am~ Dynamic Vinyasa Flow.  Learn how to link your breath and movement with fluid transitions

11 - 11:55 am~ Inversion Workshop

12 - 12:55 pm~ AcroYoga Playshop

1 - 1:55 pm~ The Power of Pranayama & Meditation

2 pm~ Lunch & Yoga Chatting

This was the schedule for the event.  It was very well put together and everything ran smoothly and I think everyone felt very good after it!  We also had some fun with the partner yoga and trying to do different headstands. 

This was Callie’s message after the yoga marathon:

For four hours we flowed, flipped upside-down, tumbled, laughed, and breathed together for something greater than just ourselves.

I was so moved and am so grateful for everyone's love & support towards The Africa Yoga Project.

The Yoga Marathon is definitely one of my highlights from my two years here in Korea. ♥

Downward dog on two other people doing a downward dog

Good stretch

Later that day, we had a group lunch.  We ate traditional Korean food.  The same type I ate for my first meal in Korea and I hadn’t had since then.  This restaurant was slightly different because we wrapped the meat and veggies that were simmering in boiling broth in rice paper so it had a Vietnamese twist to it!  Later that night I went to the salsa club for some practice and to support my South African friend who was helping the club hold a South African party that night with traditional South African pancakes and some South African inspired music and decorations.

The next day was a bit rainy so I went to the mall with a couple of friends and did some shopping.  I was thinking of trying the skating rink in the mall but didn’t have the type of skates I am familiar with so I decided not to.  For dinner I ate at the Outback Steakhouse for the first time!  I was excited to have my first baked potato since I have been here.  It was comforting eating a baked potato but not exactly what I was expecting.  Things we consider savoury, sometimes Koreans prefer sweet.  There was a sweet butter on my potato, which did not quite hit the spot.  The same thing happened with the bread they serve before your meal. 

That Tuesday, at salsa, I was literally pushed into a contest I was not totally comfortable competing in.   The next thing I knew I was up at the front and I couldn’t turn back.  This was not something I would normally do, but since I was up there, I tried, and to my surprise, I won!  I was able to drink the beer the quickest with a straw!  My stomach was in pain for the next 20- 30 minutes, but it was an interesting thing to discover about myself!

Free entrance another day!

On Saturday, I did yoga on the beach in the morning and then soaked up the sun in Gwangalli the rest of the afternoon.  Since it is rainy season, we were lucky to have a gorgeous sunny day and we took advantage of that!  I also invited my Korean friend Hadee and was able to talk to her a bit more and get to know her better!

That night, I went to a flapper party as another part of the African Yoga Project fundraiser.  We dressed up and drank a cocktail with some appetizers.  After, they had some baked goods left over so we went on the street and sold the remaining sweets to people on the street!

Sunday was another cloudy overcast day.  I went to Haeundae beach to take a look at the international surfing competition.  Since the waves were not very good that day, most of the surfers had to wait patiently in the water with no action for a while until someone would get lucky with one or two waves!  The yoga at night was rained out but I spent some time with the yoga teacher instead and she told me a bit more about her experiences with yoga and getting her training in India before coming to Korea.  She plans on returning to India for another 3 months to expand on her yoga training and practice!

Finally, on Monday it was Canada Day!!  A few Canadian friends and I went to the beach that night to create our own little celebration.  We shot off some fireworks, talked about our favourite Canada Day memories in the past and why we are proud to be from such a great country!

Some interesting rice cakes I was given at school, the green leaf with sweet rice and red bean combination was not my favourite but the middle by itself was good!