Hangul Day Weekend

Okay I'm finally going to write a blog post about something that happened two months ago. Hey! Don't act so surprised.

October 9th is a national holiday in Korea called Hangul day. Hangul is the Korean alphabet and Hangul day is a time to celebrate the creation of Hangul. While I enjoy Korean, I especially enjoy three day weekends, which is what I got thanks to Hangul day.

It was a pretty eventful weekend with lots of travel time. I started by going north to Seoul for a Kpop concert, then back down close to my part of the country, then way down south to Jinju for a lantern festival, and finally back home to the middle area of Korea.

My first Kpop concert

The concert was so much fun. It was only 15,000 won per ticket and I got to see about 30 different Kpop groups perform at the world cup stadium. The audience was huge and loud! We were surrounded by screaming fangirls wearing light-up headbands that had the names of their favorite group and member. When the most popular male kpop group, EXO, came out on stage, the reaction was unreal. It was how I've imagined it must have been like when the Beatles came to America.

My friend and I stayed at a jimjilbang (bath house) in Seoul that night. Unfortunately it was packed. I ended up sleeping in the locker room area because there was just no space left in any of the sleeping spaces. Regardless of the rough night's sleep we had, we knew the next day would be fantastic.

In the morning we took a train from Seoul to Daejeon, where a friend of mine picked us up and drove us to a city called Nonsan. Nonsan is well known for Daedunsan mountain. What's so special about this mountain?

 This! I'm not sure how it looks to you, but since I've seen it in real life, it's pretty impressive. There are two suspension bridges you can cross on this hike but one of them is a fairly intimidating set of stairs. It was a great hike, even though we opted for taking the cable car half the distance!

Here comes the cable car!

In the cable car with my friends

Beautiful view!

First suspension bridge

View from the bridge

Up, up, up

View from the top of the floating stairs

On our way back down, we spotted this lovely rainbow off in the distance

Right when we finished hiking, we hopped in the car and headed towards Jinju, traveling through a torrential downpour! Really, the rain was horrible and I was super stressed. But we made it to Jinju in one piece and enjoyed the lantern festival for a little while before the rain caught up to us again. I hear this is a very famous festival in Korea and I would like to have enjoyed it more but unfortunately the weather just want being very agreeable. I did get a few pictures in the short amount of time we were there.

 It was a super full and fun weekend. Thank you, King Sejong for inventing Hangul so I could have a great three day weekend!

24th Birthday Extravaganza

If I could spend one more year being 23, I would be super happy about it. But alas, time marches on and I am ready to embrace 24. My new friends in Gunsan were really sweet and celebrated with me on the day of my birthday with fried chicken and Baskin Robbins ice cream cake.

On the weekend, I headed down to my old city, Gwangju, to celebrate more! We had one of my favorite meals Saturday night: shabu shabu.

Dinner was delicious and super filling. Afterwards, we went to a photo booth to do sticker pictures. The guys sat out for this activity haha.

Inside the photo booth

The hardest part of doing sticker pictures is choosing which ones you want

 Ready for dessert, we headed to Korean Dessert Cafe for bingsu and cake.

Of course, no good birthday is complete without norebang (singing room)!

Singing "Allstar" by Smash Mouth

Big thanks to all my Gunsan and Gwangju friends for making my birthday so incredible. I really am touched by how selfless everyone was. I'm grateful to have friends to be goofy with!

Bonus picture of my view from a bus stop near one of my schools:

Also I have a fun anecdote to share:

Embarrassing moment in Korea #127: my coteacher had to tell me this morning that I was wearing the office secretary's slippers and she wanted them back pronto.

In Korea we wear "slippers" inside the school. We call them slippers but they probably aren't what you'd expect when someone says "slippers."

I really need to buy my own...I've been using the guest slippers at my three schools for the past few weeks. At two schools, it's no problem at all. But at my third school I am reminded how large my feet are every time I take a step, my heels trying their very best not to hang out the back of the slipper.

Staying Warm

For the most part, I haven't had much trouble staying warm but I am prepared for a chilly winter. Before I came to Korea I received many warnings about the relentless, deathly cold Korean Winter. I'm convinced everyone was being a little over-dramatic. For people who like charts (represent!), you can see here that the biggest difference in climate between Denver and Gwangju is the humidity level. Which I'm assuming will not be a fun experience. But really. I can handle it.

[hide]Climate data for Denver (DIA), 1981−2010 normals, extremes 1872−present[a]
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	76 (24)	77 (25)	84 (29)	90 (32)	95 (35)	105 (41)	105 (41)	105 (41)	97 (36)	90 (32)	80 (27)	79 (26)	105 (41)
Average high °F (°C)	44.0 (6.7)	46.2 (7.9)	54.4 (12.4)	61.5 (16.4)	71.5 (21.9)	82.4 (28)	89.4 (31.9)	87.2 (30.7)	78.5 (25.8)	65.3 (18.5)	52.1 (11.2)	42.8 (6)	64.6 (18.1)
Average low °F (°C)	17.4 (−8.1)	18.9 (−7.3)	26.4 (−3.1)	33.3 (0.7)	42.7 (5.9)	52.3 (11.3)	58.9 (14.9)	57.9 (14.4)	48.3 (9.1)	36.6 (2.6)	24.5 (−4.2)	17.1 (−8.3)	36.2 (2.3)
Record low °F (°C)	−29 (−34)	−25 (−32)	−11 (−24)	−2 (−19)	19 (−7)	30 (−1)	42 (6)	40 (4)	17 (−8)	−2 (−19)	−18 (−28)	−25 (−32)	−29 (−34)
Precipitation inches (mm)	0.41 (10.4)	0.37 (9.4)	0.92 (23.4)	1.71 (43.4)	2.12 (53.8)	1.98 (50.3)	2.16 (54.9)	1.69 (42.9)	0.96 (24.4)	1.02 (25.9)	0.61 (15.5)	0.35 (8.9)	14.30 (363.2)
Snowfall inches (cm)	7.0 (17.8)	5.7 (14.5)	10.7 (27.2)	6.8 (17.3)	1.1 (2.8)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	1.3 (3.3)	4.0 (10.2)	8.7 (22.1)	8.5 (21.6)	53.8 (136.7)
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in)	4.1	5.3	5.9	9.1	9.4	8.4	8.3	8.6	6.5	5.3	4.7	4.1	79.7
Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.1 in)	5.0	5.3	5.8	4.1	0.6	0	0	0	0.5	1.8	4.9	5.3	33.3
% humidity	55.2	55.8	53.7	49.6	51.7	49.3	47.8	49.3	50.1	49.2	56.3	56.6	52.0
Mean monthly sunshine hours	215.3	211.1	255.6	276.2	290.0	315.3	325.0	306.4	272.3	249.2	194.3	195.9	3,106.6
Percent possible sunshine	72	70	69	69	65	70	71	72	73	72	65	67	70
Source: NOAA (sun 1961−1990)[51][57][58][59]

[hide]Climate data for Gwangju (1981–2010)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	5.3 (41.5)	7.8 (46)	13.0 (55.4)	19.6 (67.3)	24.3 (75.7)	27.5 (81.5)	29.6 (85.3)	30.7 (87.3)	26.9 (80.4)	21.8 (71.2)	14.6 (58.3)	8.1 (46.6)	19.1 (66.4)
Daily mean °C (°F)	0.6 (33.1)	2.5 (36.5)	7.0 (44.6)	13.2 (55.8)	18.3 (64.9)	22.4 (72.3)	25.6 (78.1)	26.2 (79.2)	21.9 (71.4)	15.8 (60.4)	9.1 (48.4)	3.1 (37.6)	13.8 (56.8)
Average low °C (°F)	−3.1 (26.4)	−1.8 (28.8)	2.1 (35.8)	7.5 (45.5)	13.0 (55.4)	18.2 (64.8)	22.5 (72.5)	22.8 (73)	17.8 (64)	10.9 (51.6)	4.5 (40.1)	−0.9 (30.4)	9.5 (49.1)
Precipitation mm (inches)	37.1 (1.461)	47.9 (1.886)	60.8 (2.394)	80.7 (3.177)	96.6 (3.803)	181.5 (7.146)	308.9 (12.161)	297.8 (11.724)	150.5 (5.925)	46.8 (1.843)	48.8 (1.921)	33.5 (1.319)	1,391 (54.764)
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)	11.0	9.0	9.5	8.9	9.3	10.7	15.5	14.9	9.8	6.8	9.0	10.0	124.4
% humidity	67.7	65.2	62.9	61.9	66.4	72.8	80.0	78.1	74.3	68.4	68.1	68.8	69.5
Mean monthly sunshine hours	159.9	164.6	192.0	213.0	222.8	169.2	145.4	172.6	172.3	205.2	163.6	155.9	2,136.3
Source: Korea Meteorological Administration[3]

Regardless, I do not enjoy the cold! Here is how I am keeping warm through autumn so far:

I don't have a space heater but I have this boiler gizmo that heats my floor.

I really enjoy the floor heating!

Kimchi stew! Mmmm

It's especially nice to eat warm kimchi stew while sitting on my warm floor

I usually start my day with a cup of herbal tea

Thank goodness for electric blankets!

I'm not positive what all the Korean on the control says but all that matters is I know how to turn it on

I've been stocking up on sweaters and long sleeved shirts

And I bought delightfully cozy mittens. I love the reindeer on them!

I don't know how much I'll be travelling in the near future with winter on its way. This is why I decided to sign up for a 7 week Korean language class on Saturdays. Saturdays are usually my only day to do an out-of-town adventure but they are also the only day I can do a Korean class at the Gwangju International Center. So, I figured this was a good time during the year to take the classes. I hope everyone else is staying warm! It sounds like most of my friends and family in the States have already had their first snow. No snow here yet but I'm already dreaming of a White Christmas!