Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival - April 8

This is Sunday, the day after the insane 7 hour hike up and down a crazy mountain ridge. I was surprisingly OK. The leg soreness came only on Monday, where I could hardly move my legs and back. It took the whole week to recover.

So, after the motel, it took forever to drive to the festival area. There were so many people there. This was the map of the area where we were.

Eventually we arrived in Changwon city, Jinhae region. The trees were fantastic!!!

They even had little palm trees. It felt really nice to be in the southern part of the country, where summer had already arrived.

A lot of tourist buses were there. Not for foreigners, but for Koreans. This festival was the biggest in the country for Cherry Blossoms, and everyone and their grandmother was there.

This is Nadia. She hiked with the slow group (me) yesterday, even though she could have run the whole thing.

This is Braam. Nadias friend. They are both from South Africa. This is where I met both of them for the first time. I've seen them since on other trips.

And here are the amazingly picturesque images of the white trees.

Random cute Korean baby.

This is how moms carry their babies. Usually wrapped around their body with a blanket.

Loved my hair that weekend.

Lunch time!! Pork spine stew. SOOOOO good!!! It's called Gamja-tang. 

Then I went off to the actual festival part, where they had all the tents.

And there was one tent that did pottery. I so wanted to join in.

And roast pig!!! WHOAA!! I wanted to take a bite!

It's the famous black pig that's supposed to taste so much better. It actually doesn't taste better at all. It's just pork.

The coolest way to eat potatoes at a festival!

And awesome character socks!!!! Korea has converted me on this front for sure. I love having cute and strange and funny socks!

And they had to have a guy in drag as well. I don't know why. But there always is one at every festival.

And then there was a traditional Korean percussion group.

And guys dressed like warriors?

Hmm?

Then, on the way back, it took FOREVER to just leave the city because of the sheer number of people. I knew I'd never arrive in time to Seoul to get the last bus back to my area, so, I decided to get off the bus and make my own way home. Good idea in theory, but did not turn out so well. 

When I got to the train station, it was all fully booked. Only place it would go to was another city in the middle of the country. So, that was my only choice. 

I arrived in Daegu, and at 22:10 was the last bus going to my area. It was a night bus, and would get into Sokcho at 5am. Well, perfect, then I can wait until 5:30am and get the first local bus back to my little town.

Morning snack!

Then I got to school and took a nap.

Puppy for the day

So, this morning, as I'm walking in to school, I see some students crouching at a corner.

What I saw was this small and shaking puppy. The kids took it to their teacher and then closed the door.

I saw it and OH MY GOD!!! It was so cute!!

I went to the bathroom and when I came out, the teacher was holding the puppy in his arms and was walking down the corridor. He didn't know what to do with it, who to ask or where to leave it.

I thought about taking it home, and then I quickly realized it just wouldn't be possible. I can't have a dog. I don't have the time for a dog. And on top of that, Abby would not like it.

So, I told the teacher good luck, and painfully walked away.

I went up the 3 flights of stairs to my floor and stopped. I couldn't go further. They were gonna put that dog back outside, and who knows that would happen to it. Or a student would take it home and it would stay there until it grew up and wasn't so cute anymore, after which they'd just throw it out to wander the streets of this little village until the dog truck would come around and ultimately catch it.

NO!!

Not to this little darling!

So, I went back down, 10 minutes before class would start, and I saw the puppy, terrified and shaking, being passed around from one screaming 14 year old to another.

I told the teacher I'd take it home with me. I have a carrier. The puppy can stay there until I'm home, and then I'd take it to the nearby town to a good vet, who will find it a good home.

And that's what I did :).

There are a few people who have expressed interest in adopting her, and until then, she's safe and warm and taken care of at a really good place in Sokcho.

Here are some pictures.

Toilet Paper

I've been at this middle school for over 4 years now, and it's by no means a new school.

Today, I had an amazing moment in the bathroom. No no, it's not what you think!!

They finally installed a toilet paper dispenser. AMAZING!!!!

Now, I don't have to worry that the students will steal the TP that I put there, or that is in the teachers bathrooms, or that I'm left with my pants down and no TP.

What a glorious day!! Next, I hope in a few years they'll install a soap dispenser. Maybe.

Here's the proof. It's for real!

Food Nutrition Checking

So, I've joined this website called FitDay, you can check it out at www.fitday.com.

It's a website where you can enter your daily food items, and keep track of the amount of carbs, fats, protein, and calories consumed in a day. It's fantastic!!

I realized that I'm not getting enough carbs. I should be consuming between 50g to 80g of carbs from vegetables a day, to keep my fat burning a constant. I've been getting under 50g, every day, which puts my body into ketosis which is good only for a couple of days. Hm...

I've also found another website, also a nutrition tracking site. This one is called MyFitnessPal at www.myfitnesspal.com.

This one has a lot of foods already added in their database, including Korean dishes and it has their nutritional values already recorded. There are many soups and other Korean dishes that I just wouldn't know how to break down.

So, everyday in the morning, I weigh myself with my new fancy and awesome super scale which measures not only your kg, but also fat, muscles, water, bones, BMI and the calories needed to maintain my current figure.
It tells me I'm currently overweight and fat. Hahaha. Like I didn't know.

I got my kettlebell in the mail a few days ago and I started working out with it at home. It's heavy. 20kg. I couldn't even lift it, but now I'm doing the kettlebell swing exercise. Last week I was just lifting it, but I want to the full body workout, so I'm swinging it now :).

I go to Badminton as well. Not every evening because I'm busy, but at least twice a week I go. It's fun, and something active to do.

Today I'm going to check out the Taekwando class in town. My neighbour goes there and says it's a really good workout. I need some stretching and sweating and I'm not really getting that from badminton or the kettlebell.

I'm trying. I'm really trying to get myself healthy!!

April snow

I packed away my winter jacket, and gloves, and hats, and boots, and scarves, and the spring stuff has come out. Finally, beautiful spring is here.

Until this morning.

I woke up late, and opened my curtains. I actually thought I was dreaming.
It's all white outside. And not just a little bit. Oh no!! It's still snowing now, 2 hours later, with many big snowflakes.

Film Fest + ManYi's Birthday - March 23, 24

Another great weekend ahead!!

It started with a not so pleasant lunch at my elementary school. It's all good food, just not what I can eat. 

Carbs and dairy. NO!!

When I got to Seoul, in the bus terminal I stopped and had some meaty spicy soup just to get something better in my system.

Then I met up with Erin at a cinema that was running a Korean Independent Film Festival for which I had tickets to. The movie was very cute, and luckily it had English subtitles, so we had an idea of what the story was about.

After, I was super hungry, and felt like having some steak. I was staying in Itaewon, the foreign district, and luckily this Australian steak restaurant was still open.

SOOOO NICE!!!

Next day again. This time at Geckos, I stopped for a brunch steak.

In the afternoon, I met up with my friend Man Yi. She's from Toronto. It was her birthday.

We stayed at this guesthouse/hostel. Kind of pricey, but a very good location.

Man Yi is the girl in the green sweater at the far end. 

We had a nice BBQ, but like always, there just wasn't enough meat!

Afterwards, we went out to a bar in Hongdae, the clubbing district.

Man Yi on the right, a Russian friend, a co-teacher and me.

We ended up at Zen bar, the place where the party goes wild!

At some point in the morning, we stumbled around and found a Gamjatang restaurant. It's a pork spine stew.  The meat is incredibly soft and delicious!

After sleeping a few hours, it was time to check out at 11am of our hostel, and head out in search of breakfast before heading back to Geojin. We found this expensive but great buffet place. This is what I ate.