Jang-eo (eel), Jinju, and Jirisan

Hello everyone! With September coming to a close and already 1/3 into October, I figured it is a good time for an update.

Gwangyang volleyball tournament

The last weekend in September was Gwangyang's big city-wide volleyball (배구)tournament. It was held at various schools throughout the district, so I am not even quite sure how many teams in total participated in the tournament. The tournament was split so that males play against each other, and the females play against each other. I didn't realize how much lower the women's net is compared to the men's net until I started playing (my team had been practicing on the men's height). I was happy because that made blocking and hitting much easier for me as a newcomer to the sport. I had a lot of fun with my team members and built some strong relationships with them throughout this experience. We made it to the semi-finals, but lost to the team who eventually won the tournament. I was very proud of our team (especially for how un-athletic my team members were compared to other female teams in the tournament... haha!). After the tournament we all went out for lunch and had some amazing eel (장어). It tastes a little slurpy and slippery, but the sauce it was mixed with along with the veggies you eat it with makes it taste amazing.

Jeollanam-do Dragons Game

After the tournament, I spent the weekend with friends in a nearby city and enjoyed a soccer game in my city. Gwangyang is home to the Jeollanam-do Dragons Korean soccer team (K-League). Korean soccer games are fun because you can bring any kind of food and beverages into the stadium. My friends and I brought some chicken and beer, which is typical for these kinds of events. We found our seats and enjoyed the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw against Ulsan.

Some of the lanterns during the day

The following weekend was a three-day weekend (no school on Friday), so a group of us foreigners went to a city nearby called Jinju (진주) to check out their annual Lantern Festival. The Jinju Lantern Festival takes place every year for 10 days in October, featuring hundreds of lanterns not only floating on the Nam River, but also scattered inside the Jinju fortress and castles. The festival is held to commemorate the patriotic spirit of the 70,000 militia corps and government troops who died for their country defending Jinju from the Japanese forces during the Imjin War (1592–1598). The lanterns turned on at night made the whole of Jinju glow. The crowds were HUGE. We saw the river full of brightly lit dragons, boats, people – I even saw Santa floating around.

The crosswalk lit up at night

The following day, two friends and I packed up our bags and left Jinju early in the morning to get to Jirisan Mountain (지리산), which stretches across four counties in three different provinces of Korea. The total area of Jirisan National Park is 471.758 kilometers squared, which makes it the largest mountainous national park in Korea. The name of Jirisan means “the mountain of the odd and wise people.” My friends and I went to the eastern side of the mountain to trek one the highest peak in Jirisan and the second highest in Korea, named Cheonwangbong.

Overhead view of some lanterns

The overall hike is about 25 kilometers and takes between 9-12 hours to complete, depending on your speed. We arrived at our starting point around 1:00 p.m., so we had to rush to arrive at the shelter we were going to stay at for the night. It took us 4 hours to hike 8 kilometers - the sun sets early in Korea, and it was getting very cold because of the high altitudes. We stopped at the shelter, cooked some dinner, and called it an early night. Unfortunately, the following day we had to cut out 4-5 hours for traveling time to get home, so we decided that we didn't want to push our limits and climb another 4 kilometers high to get to the peak. However, we made it our goal to come back for a three-day trip and conquer this peak! We hiked the 8 kilometers back down, making our total trip about 16 kilometers.

Hanging out by the sign at the shelter

Changing colors - beautiful!

It was a phenomenal trip - beautiful nature scenery, and some trees were starting to change color so it was breathtaking to see all the different tree colors from up high. I love living in Korea because it is a huge landscape change from flat Illinois. Hiking and other mountain sports like skiing have always been some of my favorite activities, so it is exhilarating being able to do this on a weekly basis. I also discovered a cute smaller mountain that is literally right behind my apartment complex. It is a brief nature walk that is good to relax, have a picnic with friends, or enjoy time to myself to relieve some stress.

At school, my students are quite busy preparing for their midterms exam that will take place over the course of three days next week. I feel bad because they all seem rather stressed out, so I took some extra time out of my schedule and office hours to talk with them, share some laughs, play a bit of soccer, and hopefully relieve some stress. The good thing for me is that I will have a three-day vacation in the middle of the week! I am not sure how I will spend it, but whatever I decide to do, I am sure you will see an update in the future.