Jeju Island Trip Recap

I've been really busy the past few days for a change, which has actually been nice, so it's taken me a little while to post about my weekend trip to Jeju. But here goes.

I went to the airport without my passport. It wasn't an international flight, and to me it was just another weekend trip. Luckily they let me through security with a US driver's license, a Fulbright ID, and a "sorry! won't do it again!" or two. When I got off the plane in Jeju it was cold and rainy. Come on! I thought.

Friday night I stayed with Shoni, another ETA, and tried to cheer him up a little bit. He's going through a little (understatement) culture shock. I did bring him some Peppero since it was Peppero day though. (Peppero day is a holiday for giving Peppero, little chocolate sticks, instituted recently by the company who makes Peppero) Not sure that he fully appreciated it.

Saturday I met up with the other ETA's on the island - Lauren, Henry, Laura, and Lindsay. One of the English teachers from Lindsay's school took us on a little tour of Jeju City all day and night. It was fantastic. I picked a really good weekend to go. Some quick highlights:

1. the mixture of smells at the 5 day fish market, fish, pets, produce, worms, and really anything that could be sold at a market
2. Rolling on the mysterious road - I was a little skeptical, but on the right spot of this famous road it looks like you're rolling uphill if you're in a car and put it in neutral. Natural optical illusion. So MYSTERIOUS...
3. Traditional tea ceremony - besides working on sitting on the floor for a while, I tried some new teas, learned how to properly sip tea the korean way, and got a new nickname from a Korean guy - Strong Breast.
4. Eating sand at dinner - it was a seafood stew and the creature I dug out of a shell still had some sand in him. Not really a highlight.
5. Loveland - a sex museum in Korea. I know, Korea! Innocent, prude, little Korea. It's in Jeju city and has a lot of statues of naked people in various poses. Lindsay's English teacher was thought it would be a funny stop, and he was right.
6. Trying to eat a Jeju tangerine for every waking hour I was in Jeju do. I almost made it - 23 little oranges for 25 hours.

The saturday tour was really awesome, easily one of the cultural experience kind of times I've had since I've been here, thanks to the other ETAs (esp Lindsay and her extremely nice English teacher) for making it happen.