On a happier note, however, our Chuseok consisted of a solid week of well needed rest! I can honestly say that the Monday after Chuseok was probably the first day I didn't yawn while teaching. The teachers no longer say "oh Sarah, you look tired. Eat this, good for health". So, thank you, thank you, thank you Chuseok!
During our break we decided to stay in Busan rather than venture throughout the country or explore other areas of Southeast Asia. Although the latter sounded verrry appealing, we were unfortunately lacking the funds to travel. Our dear and lovely schools thought it would be wonderful to hold out on payment as long as they could. A $300 settlement allowance? Who would ever want that when starting up in a new country! Definitely not Svein and me! Oh, and I dare not mention the flight allowance and monthly salaries! When we would get them was completely up in the air. You see, in Korea, they like to fly by the seat of their pants. For us Guest English Teachers (GETs) applying for the opportunity of a lifetime (teaching overseas!) we are expected to meet every guideline and agenda the Korean Government (EPIK) sets forth for us. Obviously we are right on the ball with doing everything and anything to help secure our chances of teaching in this country. So, now that we are here, you would think that Korea, in general, would follow similar suit. Oh, no no no my dear readers. Asking your Korean co-teacher when you will receive your settlement allowance is like asking her to fly you to the moon. Along with this goes the strong communication barrier. In my situation, my co-teacher has the English proficiency level of about a kindergartner - and that's being generous! Svein on the other hand has been blessed by the gods with a wonderful, fluent in English co-teacher (Danny). So, luckily we can resort to throwing the majority of our questions, problems and difficulties onto him! So, back to what I was getting at. Svein and I unfortunately were not paid a single cent prior to Chuseok and well, the line of credit really couldn't stand to see any additional withdrawls. So, we, and a wonderful group of EPIK teacher friends, decided to stay in Busan for Chuseok.
On Monday we decided to hike Geumjeong Mountain, which is has the highest elevation of all the Busan mountains (800m - but nothing compared to Skaala in Norway!). Svein and I are lucky as we live in the valley of this mountain, so it is very close to travel to this great hiking destination! Before we started the hike we visited Beomeosa Temple, which is located about 1/3 of the way up the mountain. We decided to take a taxi to the temple as a very friendly taxi driver offered us a group rate up the mountain. Well, how could we resist?? So, the five of us piled into the small cab and started our way up the mountain. For those of you who haven't experienced Korean taxi drivers, well, they are insane. Especially when ascending or descending a mountain. This also includes buses, but that is another story. So, if you like being thrown down/up a mountain in what seems like a roller coaster, then, well, you would love the public transportation in this country. We finally reached the Temple and it was pretty spectacular (Svein says it was just okay haha).
After we looked around the temple and took some photos, we started our hike up Geumjeong Mountain. The hike seemed quite a bit more challenging than we expected. You see, throughout Korea you will notice these ever so trendy, middle aged Koreans mountain climbers in their brand name, coordinated hiking gear. They also like to cover every part of their bodies to block out the "death rays" of the sun - even in the deadliest heat!
So seeing as these hiking enthusiasts were so conscious of their appearance (like the majority of koreans are), we thought this mountain climb would be more like a mountain jaunt. Luckily, however, we got a pretty decent workout out of our trek. The views from the top were incredible, despite the overcast skies.
Our hike down the mountain ended up lasting quite a bite longer than we had intended it to. Somehow we ended up hiking down the wrong side of the mountain and ended up in a little village on the outskirts of Busan. As we walked through the village we managed to find a bus stop and sniped a ride home on what I like to call the suicidal death bus from hell! This bus ride was a million times scarier than the short taxi ride we took up to Beomeosa Temple. Either the bus driver thought it would be funny to scare a bunch of foreigners or he was an absolute loonatic! As we thundered down the mountain, the bus rocketed through switchbacks at over 70 km/hr. I think we all saw our lives flash before us as the bus nearly flipped at every turn. Let's just say we were very relieved once we reached the bottom and the beer that night never tasted better!
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