Ski Trip II

Mark and I are seeing the end of our time in Korea quickly approaching. A few weekends ago, we went on a last trip with some of our Korean friends. We went to the Hyundai Resort, which had longer hills than the resort we went to with SangKwun and his friends. We were pleasantly surprised when we found out that the bus ride to the resort and 8 hours of skiing/snowboarding only cost about $50.

Here's a shot of the hills.

Again, we were able to rent snowsuits and equipment. We both wanted to give snowboarding another try and were pleasantly surprised at how much easier it was this time around. I decided to just wear my own coat and rent the pants. Unfortunately, this time around we didn't get the knee and butt pads for protection.

The 8 hours grew pretty long and my legs felt like rubber after awhile so I had to stop.

But there was no stopping Mark! There he goes!

He even tackled this crazy hill that had 180 turns.

The scenery really was beautiful. Coming from the flat midwest, it's still breathtaking to see all these mountains on a daily basis.

We spent the night in an old-fashioned Korean country house. The rooms were tiny and there was a little Korean grandmother who was the inn-keeper. We all slept on the floor on mats, but not before Yuni cooked us some dakdoritang (spicy chicken soup) -- 덝도리탕.

We're really going to miss these girls. Yuni and Kerry are taking new jobs at other schools. And Ellen (on the right below) is going to Australia and New Zealand in March to study English.

Anyway, it was a fun trip and Mark and I can foresee some skiing/snowboarding trips in our future once we return to the States! :)

New Year Snowboarding Trip

For the first New Year's Eve in my recent memory, Mark and I didn't make it up until midnight to ring in the New Year. That was because we had to get up bright and early to go snowboarding with SangKwun and his friends.

And, uh... it wasn't even "bright" and early. We got picked up at 5:30 am and it was definitely still dark.

We drove about an hour outside Seoul to a mountain. We stopped in a little shop where we could rent coats, snowpants, boots and snowboards. Mark and I had never been snowboarding, so we were a little nervous.

Here we are... ready to hit the slopes...

Unfortunately, we went right before the big snow, so we were sliding down fake snow produced by snowblowers.

Here are a few shots of the hills and the resort.

Snowboarding is a lot more difficult than it looks! I thought I would catch on quickly, but it takes a lot of coordination and leg muscle strength. There were quite a few wipeouts. SangKwun's friends go snowboarding several times a year and were pretty much experts. They were so helpful in teaching us how to coast, stop, and navigate the hills. I was too chicken to venture off the beginner hill, but here's Mark at the end of the intermediate hill.

We were surprised that the prices weren't too high. We got a pass to snowboard for 4 hours for about $40/person. If we did it again, we would go early in the morning for sure. As it neared the end of our time, it started getting very crowded on the mountain. And as we were driving out... there were at least 100 cars lined up waiting to enter the resort.

We thought this was a really fun way to ring in the new year and both felt like we got major workouts. Actually, on the drive home, this was the scene in the back seat...

When Mark's passed out, you KNOW it was a good day! :)