What a weekend!

ROUND TWO!!
Friday:
A long day of testing and yelling. I don't know when I started yelling, but all I know is that lately my fuse has been exceptionally short. It could be that I have been dedicating so much of my outside class time to studying Korea, and that I have been busy all the time... who knows? Anyways, I managed to finish most of my marking at school, which meant that when it was over, I actually felt like the day was over. I headed to Provence, where I had plans to meet up with Carol, Vanessa and HangBin. I had my guitar, and planned on play a few tunes.
Well, a Matt in need of some relaxation with no dinner and wine makes for a loud Matt who experiments in his performance, and that's how I found out that I can sing higher than I thought, right through high G and on to high A now. For those of you who don't know... that's really high. So, I feel good, and my confidence is way up now. I played for about an hour or an hour and a half, and drank a lot of wine... to much wine. There was some throwing of things across the cafe (some of which I picked up and ate), and Vanessa made me laugh and I spat wine out all over my lyrics... and the cabbie closed the window on my hand, but it didn't hurt. Or... I didn't feel pain anyways. It was a really good night, and just what I needed after a tough night at work.
Saturday:
Awoke at nine, and got ready, headed out to pick up some groceries for the day ahead, and some food for Sam. Forgot to buy eggs, so I had to make a second trip, because I wanted to make an omelette. haha, useless information. Had a nice breakfast with Carol, who had crashed for the night, and Bryce and Lana arrived from Gurye at around 11:30. The three of us headed over to Brooke's building, where the gang was meeting with a rented van and we set off on the Birthday Roadtrip Extraodinaire (soundtrack by Smashmouth) to DdangGgeut, the southern-most tip of Korea. We were on the road at around 12:00 or so, and I was surprisingly excited when we passed through Yeongam.
We stopped at the good ole E-Mart to pick up some wine. It has changed a lot since last year. I actually felt a little bit ashamed being back in Yeongam. Being there just reminded me of how isolated we had made ourselves last year, and how little I had done to be a part of the community. I don't really have any connections to the town, and I lived there for a year. Well, aside from the Ryus, and I haven't even seen them! I mean, I haven't even been back to visit since I got here.
anyhoo...
We got back on the road and wound up arriving at a small park on the beach at around 2 or 2:30. We all set out and gathered up armfuls of firewood, and built a small campfire. We had tons of food and a great little picnic in this beautiful little park. There were tall pines and leaf litter scattered all around the ground, and a great long beach that spread on for miles. Bryce and Lana brought devilled eggs, I brought a fruit loaf with cream cheese, Jon and Emily brought tons of snacks (they are the official snack supplier of every event), and Brooke and Ryan contributed chicken that we cooked on the coals of the campfire. Or... should have cooked on the coals. We got a little impatient, so we wound up cooking them on sticks and flames. Very quickly. haha. It was a little lunch, and we cracked a bottle of wine and everyone just hung out on the beach for a few hours.
After the beach, we headed to this little temple that the rest of the gang knew about, and had visited before. I've heard the story so many times... I was excited to see it finally, it always sounded amazing. but we'll get to that.
As they say, getting there is half the fun, and this was no exception. Brooke spotted the turn right away, which was good, because it was small, and looked to me like it might easily have been missed. However, once on the road, the backseast memories became less than confidence-inspiring. They started doubting themselves, so we asked for directions.
Asking for directions turned out to be another problem, because it didn't seem like anyone was really sure that the name that they had for the place was actually the name of THE place that we were going to. But people seemed to point us in the same direction as we had been going... so everyone was encouraged.
Finally, we reached a water-access, and Brooke recognized it, and there was much cheering. Then honking. From behind. From a police car. Waving us over. He came over to talk to us, and told us that we were going the wrong way for what we wanted to find. He offered to guide us out to the place whose name we gave him... but Brooke was sure we were on the right track now that she had seen the waterin' hole...
We wound up turning around and following the police officer... but then the debates started.
"I'm sure that that was the place"
"I can't just turn around, he's a cop!"
"Try to honk and wave him down"
"He's too far ahead now"
"Don't worry, maybe this is just a better way!"
"Turn around!"
And that's what we did. When the cop rounded a corner, Ryan pulled a maneuver that can only be properly described as "Wailin' 'er around!" and zoom zoom zoomed off in the opposite direction. We passed the water place and wound our way up the mountain side on a narrow one-lane road that gave me vertigo when I looked out the window. In a moment that almost made me believe in the power of "The Secret" (gag) I said "Man, it sure would suck to meet another car on this narrow road" seconds before one rounded the corner.
Good one universe!
When we got to the top, we all piled out and walked off down a really narrow little dirt path (a rarity on Korean hikes). It was beautiful. The cherry blossoms have passed their peak, but there are still a lot of them out there. And there are conveniently canary-yellow flowers called "kaenaree" (get it?) and lots of trees just beginning to sprout leaves. Not to mention that this was a beautiful fractured landscape, with sharp rocks jutting out of the trees and making strange silhouettes in the sunlight. We walked for about twenty minutes, and came to the temple. If you weren't looking for it, you might walk right by it without even noticing it. It was very very small, and built right into the rocks or the mountain. There was a tall stone staircase leading up to a mural framed by two tall stone pillars that looked like they must have been natural, and the temple just built to fit inside. It was beautiful. We stayed there for about half an hour or so, admiring the view and snapping photos, but left when we realized that we were really disturbing the woman trying to pray inside.
After we left the temple, we headed to another peak where we could see all three coasts of Korea. There was a lot of haze, but I could definitely make out the ocean in three directions! It was so beautiful there, and the sun was just starting to go down. I took a few pictures, and I'm pretty sure that the gang all sitting on rocks around this small mountain peak could be used to market any number of guidebooks or hiking products. I'll post it when it gets developed!
When we were heading back, we ran into a man who informed us that the police were looking for us.
Shit.
I got worried, but not too worried, because we hadn't really done anything wrong, we'd just been a little rude. But still... maybe the wailin' 'er around and zoom zoom zooming might have looked suspicious, and he might get worried about our cavities...
It turned out to be for nothing, because all there was was a a note tucked under the windshield wiper with a few phone numbers on it, and the name of where we were. So... problem pinesolved!
Then we went to this lookout in the small town nearby and visited this lookout station that looked like a mini space-needle from one side and a ship from a spy kids (starring Antonio Banderas) movie on the other side. We hung out there for about 40 minutes or so, enjoying the view, and then returned to the van to find that we had left the side door open the whole time. Thank God we were in Korea, where no-one steals (except through contractual loopholes).
Then we headed back to Gwangju. I played Dj in the car. I started aggressive and fun, but fell back on calm music because the mood definitely changed when everyone else fell asleep (nearly including Ryan up in the driver's seat a couple times too). I stayed awake the whole time though... I closed my eyes a few times, but I just couldn't fall asleep.
Everyone kind of petered out once we got back, with the exception of Bryce and I, even Lana, who I thought would require a wall made of six foot thick tempered steel to prevent her from reaching a Norae Bang. Bryce and I wound up catching up with Mel Carol and Stu at the Speakeasy. We sat in the new lounge area, which was pretty nice. The bartender up there was super friendly, and very concerned with making sure that the music was right up our alley. The night was good, but not really the vibe we were looking for, so we headed out. Highlights from that time included me being snubbed by a girl I recently met who came over to talk to Bryce, and a random middle-aged woman coming to sit with us who told us to grow a pair when we refused to do shots with her.
We headed out to a tea house and Bryce and the girls got strange float-ish things with neon red pop and fruit chunks layered with ice cream and cornflakes (that's right, cornflakes) and I got ginger tea. Listen up folks, ginger tea is spicy. If it goes down the wrong tube, you may well sneeze out your lung.
After that we headed home. On the way, we walked through Sajik Park, and stopped in at a live club there. It was very small inside. It was all wood inside, which is really rare, and all the tables had old sewing machine bases for legs. We shared a beer and listened to the people sing at the next table, as they passed a terribly out of tune guitar back and forth and all sang old folk songs together, eight or ten of them. It was wonderful, even with the guitar totally out of town. We left there and popped into another one that looked cool, but they were actually closed and we were quickly ushered out.
Then Bed.
Sunday:
Started with an early wake-up, shower and breakfast with Bryce and Lana (they spent the night, I love having a spare room). Unfortunately, Bryce took ill right after breakfast, but luckily Lana was here. I headed out and collected the last of the things that I needed for the big Easter lunch/brunch at Sajik Park that I had planned. I got there at one, figuring that I could get the food prep done and maybe hide some candies for a little easter hunt... but unfortunately there had been a miscommunication and Reo did not arrive to let me in until right at 2. I mean, that was the agreed upon time, but I had thought that the club would be open before then. Anyways, no hunt.
But, at two, everyone started arriving, and I got the food going. The rest is kind of a blur... there was a lot of photography, with Stu, Mel, and I showing off our fancy SLRs, and Carol getting special attention for her camera, a new Nikon D40 that she had just purchased. I cooked crepes, of course, Brooke made an awesome layered strata thing, Jon and Emily brought some home-made banana bread, and others brought... other stuff. Even SoHee, one of the secretaries from Munhwa came, with a friend, and brought some gimbap, mandu and some tempura-looking shrimp. Unfortunately OkYeon was absent from the affair, for reasons unknown.
After the eating, Stu and I picked up some guitars and plucked a few tunes. That petered out after maybe an hour or so, and everyone started heading for the door. It was a really fun afternoon. There was lots of laughing. And lots of good food.
Oh, I forgot to mention the mini motorcycle gang that accomplanied the Provence family because they had misunderstood that this was a concert, not a meal. haha.
Anyways... it was a great weekend.
The downside to all this hanging out is that I always get the blahs after everyone leaves. What a shitty way to finish an entry about a great weekend. oh well... I have a new editorial policy. No more post editing, unless it's a serious mistake.
Hmm... how to end positively... oh yeah, had a good dinner out with Ryan a couple hours ago, I still can't get over how much delicious meat I can eat for $6. And that's an expensive place! You can find places to get the same meal for as little at $3.50!

shazam!