Shreddin' Slope!

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, we headed to Muju Resort (무주리조트) to spend a day on the mountain with a few friends. Muju Resort is one of the largest ski resorts in Korea, and only about 3 hours from Ulsan by bus. Judy's coteacher set everything up for us, so all we had to do was pay the driver as we boarded the bus at 5AM, and that covered our bus fare, lift ticket, equipment and clothing rental.

At first glance, it seemed surprisingly normal...

But, the little Korean touches quickly shinned through!

Those two diagonal lines going up the center of this picture are the rope-tows. Only, they weren't ropes at all. They were two moving side walks that you stand on! And, that Echo chairlift, in the bottom corner, had a conveyor belt that took you from the line to where the chair picks you up. It was incredible, instead of having to walk the 7 feet you just took one step onto the belt and then rode the rest of the way!

Only in Korea would there be a Popeye's Chicken in the ski lodge...

Yeeyah

There were so many amazing Korean ski and snowboard outfits.

This is the line for the moving sidewalk!

So much NEON!!!

Korean snowboarders take out both of their feet and hold their board on the chairlift.

Born to carve!

Sky, Emily, Emily's lobster claw* gloves & Judy
*Pronounced robster craw, in Korean!

After lunch, we rode the chair to the top and went into the lodge there to warm up with some hot sake.

A poncho wearing snowboard team.

A windburned Judy & Jung-Eun

More windburn

Trail Map

Korey and Jung-Eun

That helmet is denim... And there were also large numbers of skiers and snowboarders with snow pants made to look like jeans.

Ski Bunny

There were so many snowboarders wearing these long sweatshirts. We couldn't make any sense of it.

This jacket has skiing and snowboarding scenes on it, but says, "Take Me Out To The Ballgame?" Hmmm...

Yay, couple ski pants!

Sweet elf hat, dude!

We had the same rental jacket, only Judy's was black and Andrew's was red.

Views from the top

Hwajin English Camp

After the three week camp in Gyeongju, Andrew returned to Ulsan to work at his elementary school's English camp. He went into it with high spirits and a bright attitude, but those feelings were quickly shattered and replaced with rage and resentment.

Peace!

They look so nice and innocent in pictures...

The one on the right may, or may not be the child
Andrew pushed down, pinned and yelled at...

So cute, but so evil

Don't let their cute, little faces deceive you, these first and
second graders were sent straight from the depths of hell to
seek and destroy every ounce of life within Andrew's being.

This was the best/most docile class. They were great.

"There was a farmer had a dog..."

Look at that enthusiasm!

"(clap) - (clap) - (clap) - G - O"

"...and Bingo was his name-o!"

"You put your left arm in and you shake it all about..."

The Perfect Time To Study...

The Koreans really are on top of their game... Just when you least expect it, they hit you with an unforeseen opportunity to continue your studies. Even while experiencing a bout of 'Korean explosions' you're still presented with study materials.

All the toilet paper at our Fun & Up! English Camp had pictures of objects with their names written below in English, Korean and Chinese (I think).

Amazing!

The word choice is really the most amazing part.
How many times have you used the word, "locust" in your lifetime?

A useful one

This is a chook, clearly...

I think we call that a vine in English

Was that a stapler you just wiped your butt with?!

For some reason bamboo didn't get an English or Korean translation.