Braii and Yongseo Pokpo

Saturday morning I met up with Matthew and two of our close friends from South Africa, Annemien and Douwe. Annie and Douwe also live and teach with me in Okcheon  and we spend a lot of time eating dinners together and wall climbing on Thursdays along with many other fun activities. During the week it was Annie's 27th birthday and Douwe(being a good husband) planned a birthday Braii (bbq in Afrikaans) for her at the Daejeon Dam. We ate some delicious brats bought from Costco (sorry Shauna) and a delectable cake made by Gabi, another South Africa English teacher.

Not the best quality but the only picture I have from the Braii

Matt and I only stayed for a couple hours, leading a busy weekend life and caught a train with our friend Kevin to a small town called Gyre. On our way to Gyre we had a problem with the doors shutting to quickly for us to get off, or lack of paying attention, so we went one stop too far and had an hour delay. As with most travelers, these things happen. During the delay we went to eat some dinner and buy some camping breakfast. It was quite humorous when I tried to buy one of the MANY containers of cream cheese. They insisted that we could only buy cream cheese scoops in small paper cups but not a full container. Matt eventually convinced them and after a lot of confusion I ended up paying them a hefty 8,000krw which is about $6. Fortunately, both sides of the party were laughing and came out of it more humored than hindered. Just another incident of language and culture barrier.

sooo happy

We were on our way to a local climbing area close by Gyre called Yongseo Pokpo, that is equipped with a beautiful waterfall and a massive rock face perfect for all levels of climbing. We arrived at dark and just in time for a campfire with music. We could hear the waterfall close by but could not see it in the dark, even with the campfire light bouncing of the rock. Hannah, Qasim, Danielle and two other climbers both named Andy were already playing the guitar, ukulele, flute and singing some tunes. We set up our camping gear and sat down with some beer in hand and music at heart. It was one the best nights I ever had camping in Korea and with our rifting and improv lyrics we were all laughing without a single worry in mind.

In the morning Kevin, Matt and I woke up to an extraordinary sight. Yongseo was one of the more beautiful areas in Korea we had seen and we walked around dazed and relaxed. After some tea, bagels and extremely expensive cream cheese, we sat around talking and relaxing with the view. I decided I wanted to try one climb and since I didn't bring any of my gear I had to borrow Danielle's. I tried my first lead climb on real rock and it was a 10a! After putting up four quick draws, I lost confidence and came down. With the support of my friends and coaching of my boyfriend I didn't even untie before I headed back up to finish the job. Thanks to Hannah patiently belaying me, I took it one step at a time, literally, and finished successfully! Changing places, Hannah climbed the route successfully as well and we were both pretty excited about our climbing even though we had only done one for the entire day.

scary part of the climb- going for the fifth bolt

There was some delicious free range spicy chicken(for you Shauna) and veggies that was ate and then Kevin, Matthew and I were headed home after a much too short weekend.

Enjoying a card game on the train home