Geomundo Island

Over Children's Day weekend, us Seoulites escaped the city and ventured way down south to a tiny island for a bit of an island getaway. Geomundo is located halfway between the Korean penninsula and Jeju-do. It's pretty small, and very secluded (there isn't even an ATM on the island) and that made it the perfect place to chill out and forget about being a kindergarten teacher for awhile.

We left Seoul on Friday and rode a bus through the night. We got to the coast around 6 am, ate a quick breakfast and then boarded the ferry to Geomundo. Along the way we took a tour around the Baekdo Islands, which are a collections of over 100 small islands that are just chilling out there in the ocean. They all have creative names and great stories about their history - but the guide only spoke in Korean so we just took pictures and revelled in the bright blue water and clear sky.

Once we got to our hotel we had lunch at a local restaurant and then bummed it on the beach for the rest of the day. There were about 40 people that went on the trip - all English teachers of course - and we spent the afternoon getting to know one another and relaxing. Not many people swam, because the water was pretty cold. I thought it was refreshing - but it was too cold for most everyone else. (I can't lie, that made the Southern Californian in me a bit proud - I miss the Pacific Ocean. That night we shared dinner at another local restaurant. I ate rice since the main course was random fish soup and crab. Of course by crab, I mean those tiny 2 inchers we used to catch with bologna on a string in science camp as kids. They served them up whole, shells and all. Everyone just popped them in their mouth and crunched away. I passed and grabbed a coffee after dinner.

Here's a few photos of the day... I'll post more about the awesome Korean folks we met and our hike tomorrow. But for now, enjoy!

Two sunkissed blondies.

Dean-o was owning Ultimae Frisbee.

The girls on the beach. :-)

This was our home for the weekend... I miss it!

Sunset in the evening.

This was the main drag of the island. I loved the reflection in the harbor.. If it wasn't for the neon Baz Luhrmann cross, you might forget you were in Korea!

A typical Korean ajumma avoiding the sun like it's the plague.

Some of the 100 (I said the were small) Baekdo Islands...From the back of the ferry.

Very Lord of the Rings, right?

It was pretty windy on the boat.

So wonderful..

Seoulland

A few weeks back we took a trip to Seoul Land and to celebrate Andrea's birthday! I am really sorry it has taken me this long to write about it.

There are three major amusement parks in Seoul: Seoul Land, Everland and Lotte World. Everland is supposedly the nicest, but it's kind of hard to get to without a car. Seoul Land and Lotte World are both great too though! Lotte World is in the middle of the city and has both an indoor and outdoor park, plus a department store. Seoul Land is a bit further out and has an amusement park and a zoo. Admission is about 15 bucks if you don't want to go on any rides, and about 26 to go on all of them. Even though I am too young to remember, it reminded me of the old E-ticket system at Disneyland! Although, I think all of Seoul Land's attractions would have only been A-tickets. haha.

There were your typical carnival rides. Good junk food. A few big and fast roller coasters - and a whole host of things that make you think, "Only in Korea." The strangest thing was probably the sexual education museum. Yes. You read that correctly. On a list of things recommended for families to do on a rainy day (which it was), the sexual education museum was first. It offers a fun and interactive way to explain the iracle of life to your kids --- or you know, tramautize them with a trip to an amusement park. Seriously, I am surprised we don't have this at home! Can't you just see it - next to Toon Town a special place where Goofy and the gang find out where babies come from! Oh, and don't forget the end where we learned about sexual health and STDs. yeah. AWKWARD.

Almost everything was completely ripped off from Disneyland in some way - including the souvenirs they sold! That made me pretty homesick. They even had an 'Old West' shooting gallery! Except that in Korea you don't shoot tombstones and trains ... you shot Native Americans. So completely normal. Right? But overall it was a great day. The sun came out. We ate ice cream We rode strange motorized stuffed animals around Tomorrow Land. Good times were had by all.

At the entrance to Seoul Land!!

Is that Epcot? Oh no .. Seoul Land has one too. How original.

Oh hey Peter Pan. In Seoul?

Tinkerbell :-)

Look familiar? - Oh you know, flying elephants are a very common ride. Or not.

Waiting for the roller coaster

Kirsten and Me

The Sex Ed Museum: Before

The Sex Ed museum: After

The shooting gallery I mentioned before. I couldn't believe it!

Me and the Birthday Girl!!

Everyone hanging out in Tomorrow Land .. seriously - give me a break.

Riding the giant plush animals.

It's a GIANT man! He reminded me of Legolas.

Freaking out on the first - and scariest - ride of the day.

The whole gang.

Crash! BOOM!

That was the sound of me falling back on the face of the Earth. I sort fell off for awhile - sorry. The good news is that I have lots of fun things that have been keeping me busy, mostly including celebrating birthdays, escaping Seoul on the weekend, partaking of a festival or two and planning lots of family visits and vacations! I will update soon, so stay tuned!