oh i wanna go crazy, wanna go crazy with you

this past weekend, my friend jennie invited me to go along with her and join her co-teacher for her family reunion. i figured it would be an interesting experience so i joined in. they rented a bus and saturday morning we left ilsan and headed south to, jeolla-do. probably the longest bus ride i have been on so far in korea. it took about 4-5 hours one way. 

thankfully this included many stops along the way so we could stretch our legs. and eat. one of the many things learned on this trip, koreans are always going to try and feed you. at all times and no matter what it is. "eat more, eat more" needless to say i was never hungry on this trip. no was there a shortage of alcohol on this trip either. 

once we arrived to our location, which i am still not sure where exactly we were. the closest city i remember going through/by would be gunsan, which was about an hour north of where we were. once we arrived, we decided we were going to sleep "korean style" while at the pension. this basically means there were a collection of blankets we had to layer to make into a mat of some sort to sleep on. our pillows were also stuffed with cut up straws. yes that would be cut up drinking straws... so random. 

from there we loaded back up on the bus and made our way to the yellow sea. once we arrived jennie and i were surprised to not actually see the sea, but just sand and such. the tide was out, and by out i mean you couldn't see the water at all. 

this was also where we were given our first fish to try. i have no idea what it was, we were handed the fish and sauce and told to eat it. so we did. and yes they filmed it. it was a white piece of fish that was full of bones. and yes we had to eat the bones. needless to say, we won't be eating it again. from there we went to eat dinner. this is where we ate our second sea animal... eel. now being from oregon and near the coast, you would think i would have eaten eel before, but no i haven't, nor will i ever again. it wasn't terrible, just not something i will do again. i can mark it off my list. 

 

this is also where the beginning of mass amounts of alcohol came in. in the region we were in, they are famous for their "strawberry wine". and i put it in quotes, because honestly it wasn't wine. you do not take shots of wine. and that's exactly what we did. many shots. we also took turns singing different songs. which thankfully neither jennie or i were filmed doing, because it wasn't pretty. afterwards we were supposed to have a BBQ, but alas the weather ruined those plans. 

back to the pension and just when we thought our night was over, someone knocks on our door. the children were sent to bring us to a room, where there was more drinking and fruit. so for the next hour or so jennie and i sat there, drinking our beer and eating watermelon as the family discussed money. finally we were told we were allowed to leave. 

sunday was supposed to start at 6am with a hike to a temple. after being awakened by not one, but two text messages at 5:30, there was no way i was getting up, and i promptly went back to bed. apparently no one got up either. so the hike, which really wasn't a hike, was put off till after breakfast. 

after the temple visit, it wasn't raining so the BBQ was back on. that idea quickly went bad when it started pouring. thankfully they had a canopy and we were somewhat dry. after the BBQ began the long bus ride back to ilsan. thankfully it went by rather quick since i slept most of the way. plus the second half was fun because the children finally warmed up to jennie and i and we played with them. 

  overall it was a good experience and was actually a lot of fun.