nudge from home

nyanya no more Seoul, I basically said it all. 

An example of the dynamic-ness that is Korea's essence, I was invited by John's co-teacher to go hiking on Saturday. Somehow, the fact that we are surrounded by mountains and that typically, hikers like to hike to their summits eluded me when I said yes. I don't know what I was thinking... actually I do. I pictured a park. Like an American park with a gravel "trail" and me walking leisurely while enjoying some nice pre-autumn weather. I was absolutely dumb. 

We met John's co-teacher and husband at 10. We were on the trail by 10:30. We finished at 4. 

I hiked Old Rag in July, and that was the longest trail I'd ever done. About 9 miles, 1.5 dedicated to rock scrambling, about 4 to knee breaking downhill trekking. That was hard. 


Saturday brought back images of Old Rag. I have no idea how long the trail was. They pointed to one summit, and I thought that was endgame, and we'd head down. I believe they even said that we'd go that far, and that they showed us something further and said it was TOO far. But, um. No. 20-30 minutes after leaving the summit, we reached another lookout area, and the husband pointed to something much higher than we were and said we were going there. 


It's just that something this long and intense, I would've appreciated a heads up so I could've dressed more appropriately and also prepared! Stupidstupid me has no hiking pants- I wore jeans and a new shirt- and might I mention that Koreans take hiking seriously! Well, I think it's more that they take their hiking gear seriously. The hats, the pants, shoes, shirts, jackets, the sticks that look like ski poles. Oh, and the backpacks, and the neck towels, too. Everything specially designed for hiking. Seriously. 

It was definitely fun, and the view was worth it- the views are ALWAYS worth it. And I would probably do that trail again, except that it was an hour and a half down and it was kind of a scary trip down... and my knees don't like going down for that long. 


Sunday some friends and I found a place in Daejeon where you can rent different things on wheels- bikes, adult tricycles, mini motorbikes, big wheels, kid car things that I can't remember the name of... and ride around on a giant lot. I mean. FUN. There were so many little kids in those little electric cars, some were remote controlled so their parents would drive them around. Something like that I'd love to take my future kids to. 

John's co-teacher said that teachers can apply to move to a new school after 2 years and then have to move after 5. The basic reason is that the school system wants teachers to rotate, I guess to keep things fresh. When I told my co-teacher that I found this strange, he said that he thinks it's good because otherwise work would become boring. 


This fact has been bothering me since I was told about it, and I don't know why it bothers me so much. It really just makes me kind of sad. I guess maybe I like to make attachments, and if I knew I had to move every so many years, what's the point of letting yourself love some place? And then my school in particular, the teachers with vision impairments can stay forever if they want. I wonder how they feel with teachers moving through... but then I have no idea how long teachers tend to stay in American schools so maybe it isn't all that different. I think the fact that you aren't allowed to stay if you love a school is what gets to me the most. 


A friend from home has recently had something absolutely horrific happen and I'd rather be there with her right now.