September 12-20
Well this week couldn't go by quick enough at times, while at others it seemed as though I was begging for time to slow down so that I could rethink my weekend plans. See last week Margaret, Jameson, Brian, and I signed up for a weekend long trip with a company called Adventure Korea to the DMZ and a change to go BUNGEE JUMPING!!!!!!!
As the week went on I kept studying my Korean with Alex and teaching what students we had, since holding was setting in again and students were beginning to fade out. We had a pretty good week at school with the kids, because with less kids we were free to stray from the material more and could give the kids more personal attention when we were doing school work. I played scrabble with one of my students, had a chance to talk about proper essay outlines with others, and even stepped in on Margaret's class to play some pictionary.
Then before we knew it, it was Friday and I was heading home from work to pack my bag for the weekend. Jameson, Brian and I planned to stay at Blakes place since he lives right next to Express Bus Terminal and we had to be there by 830 am. So after I packed my bags I went to meet the guys and Danielle in Gangnam fora few drinks. We eventually got back to Blakes and passed out around 430 am. We got up in the morning at 730 and slowly made our way to the bus station to wait for Margaret, who was running late and almost didn't make it, to show up. then we were off.
It was a quick couple hour bus ride northeast to the Cherwon, Gangwon-do Province to see the DMZ. We started the day at a military museum rest area; where we had lunch and got to see some old war machines. After that we headed to the 2nd tunnel, which had been dug by the North Koreans as infiltration tunnels, that the South Koreans found. It was neat but nothing to make a huge deal of. We were only able to walk in about 500 m or so because after that you get into no-mans land territory that is off limits. Along with the tunnel was a small museum of artifacts found in the tunnel when the North Koreans had abandoned it including shovels, guns, cooking supplies, alcohol, and clothing.
After the tunnel we headed to the Unification Observatory to have a look at Battle area called the Iron Triangle, which was the headquarters and front line of the North Korean forces and witnesses the highest number of casualties during the war. We were able to see North Korea through some binoculars and take pictures of the DMZ. Unfortunately it was all just grassy fields and hills/mountains hat didn't look all that different from the areas I have see elsewhere in Korea. Following the observatory we headed to the sight of Wolcheongri Station, which was the last train station at the border between the north and south until it was bombed and now sits right on the edge of the demarcation line. It has been sitting and rusting for 40 years and was a real glimpse into the damage done during the intensive bombing of the war. Following that was drove past the Labor Party Building, which was used as a prison and torture site. We didn't get a chance to stop due to construction.
Now for the fun stuff.
We were scheduled to do a bungee jump on the Sunday, but for fear of bad traffic the tour guide decided to move it to Saturday. We headed to a local bridge with a platform 51 m above a shallow river. Those who cared to jump signed up and climbed the tower to get suited up. We had a choice of jumping with a body harness or ankle harness. All of us except Margaret chose the ankle harness way so that you go down head first. Since there were so many of us it took a long time to get through us all. But, as each person got to the edge you could see the tension build and the thought of not doing it cross their minds. In the end everyone jumped, and only a couple had to be "escorted" of by the jump supervisor.
I have wanted to bungee for a long time but have never had the chance so when I got up there I was super pumped. It wasn't until I got right to the edge and looked down that I realized how crazy it was. Needless to say I jumped anyways and watched as the river bellow came screaming at my face before getting snapped back into the air. It felt fantastic once it was all over and we had a chance to look back at what we had just done. After the jump we were all starving so we headed back to the area we would be staying and had a BBQ, bonfire, and had some drinks.
The after party was a great time. We had a chance to talk to some people on the trip who were pretty cool, and some who were really annoying; but in the end it was a good time. The humor in it all was that between the 4 of us we only had $13 for the night since Jameson and Margaret had forgotten to bring money and Brian and I had payed for their jumps, and there were no ATM's in the town. So we drank straight soju instead of beer because it is cheaper and eventually, and this sounds really scummy, after almost everyone had called it a night and we were bored we cleaned up around the fire and found tons of unopened booze and took the liberty of drinking some of it. Now normally I would not do that because if it's not mine I shouldn't touch it. But I know that the people who did own it were in no need of it and that it would have all been cleaned up and thrown out the next morning before woke up. We partied with a few awesome Britt's until the early morning before getting some sleep.
After only a couple hours of rest we got back up and had some breakfast before going to see a war memorial dedicated to the Battle of White Horse Hill, which was one of the most gruesome battle sites of the war. From there we went to have a chance to harvest rice using sickles like they did back in the day.
And wouldn't you know it shit hit the fan.
I, along with several others, had taken some pictures of a guard post that we walked past. Thinking nothing of it, because it really makes no difference what I am taking pictures of, everything looks the same, we kept walking. Well a few minutes later some troops approached our group asking for the person who took pictures of the guard post. Nobody was going to say anything so i stepped up to take the blame so that if my pictures were sacrificed then all the others could keep theirs. My plan of attack was to show them my pictures while everyone else put their cameras away, since I had only taken a couple and they all had dozens. It was made easier when the guards wanted to take my camera out of my hands and I told them no, that they can watch me delete my photos without touching my things. After a few minutes of awkwardness I had deleted the pictures I assumed were the problem. Boy was I wrong, they asked me to see the rest and as I showed them a few more they asked me to delete some really obscure mountain photos. This aided my plan because I got rather upset telling them that the pictures I took could be taken from miles away and that anyone could get them. i deleted them anyways and it was enough for them to want to get away from the yelling foreigner and not check anyone elses photos. I didn't lose much and we headed out after that. the bus ride home was not that long since there was no traffic and we got back earlier than we had planned, which gave us a chance to get some well needed rest.
Sorry this is such a long one,but it was been a pretty eventful weekend.
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