Last Days of Jeju

My last days in Jeju were some of the best days of my life! I've made some really amazing friends here and I got to see the best of everyone as I was leaving. Troy and I put together a concert at La Vie where I got to not only play with Troy, but also everyone else that I've played music with this year. I'll bet that more than 100 people showed up to the show, they were overflowing far into the streets and on the roof. This is at a bar that feels crowded with 15 people! It was really really fun! On Sunday, Mark put together a fantastic barbecue. Monday was hectic and stressful with my delayed packing and cleaning up. My words of advice....get EVERYTHING finished a day or two early. Leave NOTHING for the last day. My last day, well...sucked. Fortunately, my friend Sasha miraculously came from nowhere and helped me at the post office. If he didn't come, I wouldn't have made the plane! Thanks Sasha!

I'm now in Kathmandu, Nepal preparing for my trek! I'll be doing the Annapurna Circuit and Sanctuary. I'll let you know how it went when I finish in 24 days!

Hui

Christian has been having couch surfers, we spent the afternoon at the beach with the girl on the left, Hui, who came to Jeju for a Tea Meeting

One Million!!!

Ever wonder what $1,000,000 feels like? We'll have to settle with Won...

Gam Ja Tang

Joel, Amy, Mark, and Shannon took me out to eat some Gam Ja Tang....MMMmmmmm!!!

Kim Young Gap Gallery

Lisa and I went to the Kim Young Gap Gallery

Beautiful Sunset

Storm

Its only a tropical depression...but it's raining a lot right now (10-30mm/hr)!

Hugh and Herbie

Jungmun Beach Volleyball

Troy, Dan Nabben, and So Hee

There's no net at Jungmun, so we just made a circle. I think our best was just over 100 hits!

Temple near Hagwi (하귀)

I went hiking up a very small oreum, but didn't see the temple at first!

Summer Flowers

Lotus Flower at Haga-ri (하가리)

Rainbow

Christian at Gwakji

Lunch with the Haenyo

These nice ladies wouldn't let me refuse to share some lunch (Kimchi Stew) with them. They are the local Haenyo (Jeju women free divers) at Gwakji Beach. These ladies told me they dive 5-7m in the water without airtanks! They were really kind and nice to talk to, and especially forgiving of my Korean abilities.

Students

I've been trying to take photos of my students, but they won't let me

One More Surfing at Jungmun

More Jungmun Surfing

Sand Castle

Chillin at Hamdeok

Typhoon Coming

The waves were big on Friday at Jungmun

Dragon Head Rock

Old Tower at Daejeong

Halla Mountain

Donnaeko

Waterfalls

Troy made him jump 3 times for the picture! The water is probably only 8ft deep...max!

Jeju City

This is actually only half of Jeju City, the part where I live, Sin Jeju (pronounced Shin Jeju)

Space Party

What a great weekend! The weather in Jeju has been really good...hot, but not rainy. Perfect for the beach! I've been spending my mornings waking up early but slowly, drinking coffee, reading, and practicing guitar. Saturday afternoon I went to the river for a bit of climbing. I've been a little slack on my climbing lately, but I was pretty inspired last weekend and got on my project. This picture is of me at my personal crux. Its a deceptively balancey and difficult move where you have to change your feet. The whole climb goes at 5.12a. The picture was taken right after I switched feet. The first time, I fell, so its still a project, but I think I can do it next weekend!

Sunset at Iho Beach

Oreum and Fence

John in the Bunker

There's a vintage WWII bunker at the top of Eoseungsang Oreum built by the Japanese. Here's John, checking out the view. You can fully see 1/4 of the whole island through that little window.

mmm...jiggy da!

Last weekend, Betsy, John, Mike, and I played a jazzy, funky, soul show at La Vie. The picture doesn't show many people, but I'll bet 40-50 people were in the bar or outside that night. It went well and it was fun to see everyone get up and dance!

Photo for Mama

Here I am at the top of Eoseungsang Oreum

Surfing

I caught my first wave on Wednesday!

Foggy Grave

Eoseungsang (어승생악)

This is from a highly recommended hike in Hallasan Nat'l Park at the Eorimok entrance. This oreum, Eoseungsang, has an absolutely spectacular view of the city and of the mountain, as you can see from the picture. Its about a 1km hike and takes 1 hour round trip. The hike is set up like a nature trail, and has a completely different feel than the neighboring Eorimok trail up Hallasan. If you live in Jeju, or are visiting, check it out!

Graveyard

No-Kko-Mae (노꼬에)

Oreum

Mt. Halla, formed through volcanic eruptions, is a shield-shaped volcano.
During the eruptions, lava, because of its low density, flew down slowly,
forming the gentle east and west slopes while the south and north ones remained
steep. A topography formed in this way is geologically referred to as an
htmllite volcano. Mt. Halla takes up the upper part of cone-shaped Jeju Special
Self-Governing Province and is 600m to 1,950m high above sea level.

Mt. Halla was formed through more than 100 volcanic eruptions.
These eruptions also formed parasitic cones or secondary volcanos called
"Oreum" in Jeju dialect. These 368 Oreums are dispersed evewhere on Jeju
Special Self-Governing Province, with Mt. Halla as their center. The
comparatively small place has the most Oreums in the world.

From: http://english.jeju.go.kr/contents/index.php?mid=060701&pno=0102

"Oreum refers to a tiny volcanic zone that contains a volcanic
cone, omnipresent at Jeju Island, excluding Paekrokdam at the peak of Hallasan.
It is a typical Jeju dialect that indicates an independent volcanic zone, made
of ejecta or a parasite volcano.

The origin of the word "Oreum" is traced to a noun, made from
the verb "mount," and it is thought to imply a small hill or slope that one can
easily climb.

Jeju Island is a volcanic one, resulting from a series of
volcanic explosions that have occurred not so long ago. The time period for Jeju
Island's geographical origin is presumed to range from 500,000 to 2 million
years ago, a relatively recent event, considering the 4.6- billion- year earth
history.

A parasite volcano is a small volcanic zone and is widespread
around the Hallasan ridges and volcanic piedmont areas, the mountain being
located at the heart of Jeju Island.

Most of the Oreums, Jeju Island's unique parasite volcanos,
were formed out of small sized sporadic volcanic explosions at the Halla
Mountain piedmont areas a few tens and thousands, or even hundreds and thousands
of years ago.

From: http://english.jeju.go.kr/contents/index.php?mid=060303

Jeong-Mul Oreum

I went out to find Geum Oreum today, but I found this one instead. There were three nice guys at the bottom, working on laying a rubber trail up the oreum. There's a spring at the bottom that people used to get water from, but its pretty gross now thanks to farm pollution.

정물오름(Jeong Mul Oreum)

The view of another oreum from the top

This poor baby...

I've Been Hiking Oreums

On "Dragon's Eye Oreum"

Jeju Marathon

I went to the Jeju Marathon to watch my friends. I didn't run myself....not that hardcore!

Monique, Sloane, Jessica, and Vanessa came down from Mokpo to run the 10k. I met Jessica last year in Thailand and have seen her a few times since. She's from the same town in Indiana my Grandfather is from (Terre Haute)

Kat and Gretchen ran the 10k too!

Emma ran the 1/2 Marathon!

Amelie ran the Full Marathon!

Then she went climbing the next day!

This was the meal you got for running the Marathon!

Congratulations!....Kimchi and Rice Soup!

Musucheon Camping

Portaledge

Mr. Yoo had the most comfortable campsite!