TO THE SLOPES!

This past weekend was, yet again, another first for little Erdmann. The dorm students had a ski trip planned at Muju Ski Resort. (This place is probably the biggest ski resort in all of Korea.. so you know what that means?? crowdiness to the MAX!)

It's 6:30 AM, and everyone is gathering at the bus in front of the school and getting ready to head out at 6:30. I, on the other hand, am just waking up and beginning to run around in a frenzy due to the fact that I did NOT wake up to my alarm clock. (I knew it was a bad idea to reset it after waking up at 5:30 to turn the alarm off on the halls for students leaving for sports. I should have stayed awake. Oh well.)

Alas, I made it to the bus just before 6:30 and we set out on the road to Muju. On the way there our group stopped at a place to rent ski gear and it's here that I tried on my very first pair of snowboarding boots. There was a glow around me as they fit snuggly to my feet.. and I do believe I heard angels singing. ha.



Anyways, we reached Muju and a group of us "chaperoning" the trip decided to head up to the slopes. Not really understanding which are the easiest ones, we go to the one called "rookie" and figure it's easy enough. First, we wait in a line that looks like this:



My reaction:



Well, Dains and I have NEVER done any skiing/snowboarding in our lives and so everything about this venture to the top of the hill was slightly more than intimidating. I click my snowboard to my boots and I'm READY! Err... Ok, and.. GET UP! ....Hmm... Something must be wrong with my board because I can't for the life of me stay up. Or maybe it's because we're not really snowboarding on snow, it seemed to me like we were boarding down a huge slope of concrete with a bit of powder SPARINGLY sprinkled. It was solid ice! Hmm.. I eventually get up and me and Dains pose for a picture:



Alright, so let me, again, just say that I've NEVER gone skiing or snowboarding and so the entire way down the first hill it was .. UP.. DOWN.. UP.. DOWN.. UP. DOWN. UP. DOWN. UP. DOWN. And so forth. My arms got a workout.. that is FOR SURE.

What's today? Wednesday night.. So 4 days after that fateful day, I'm STILL having trouble using the muscles in my arms. Ha.. It's funny because you'd think that my legs would be sore, but no, not at all. It's all my arms and wrists.

HOWEVER, I was determined to get this thing, and so gradually I could stay up on my board for a few seconds, and then a few seconds more and then there was a moment where I actually stayed up for a good 30 seconds! Breakthrough, FINALLY! So about halfway down the hill (after much humilation from the many stares from Koreans passing me on the ski lift right above me) by Joe, I GOT IT! I didn't really do anything fancy, but I could actually stay up on my board and slowly move down the hill. This was monumental, folks.

So we reach the bottom, after a good 40 minutes, and realize that that was actually an intermediate course. Ha.. awesome. So we find the BEGINNER slope and all of us feel MUCH more at ease, and I could stay up for most of the way down. I did have some nasty spills.. face planting into the snow. But hey, I'm still in one piece! :D

Oh, and here's a picture from the top of one of the slopes. As much as I'd like to say I did THIS one, I actually had a hard time moving to the edge of this one.. seriously, it looks like it just drops off!



It was an amazing day, indeed! We ate Domino's pizza for lunch and only had a few injuries on behalf of the students. I'll definitely go again, but, maybe after my arms are fully functioning again.

Hugs, Blessings, and muscle spasms,

Sarah

Cruise Ramblings (in three parts)

This is a collection of writings that just "came to me" while cruising the Caribbean. Now, just as a disclaimer, I was having fun writing this and don't think that I am completely bashing the going of cruises. I, myself, was a cruiser and had QUITE enjoyed myself at that. However, there are just some things I found rather amusing and thought you might appreciate my thoughts. Enjoy.

Dec. 26, 2008

ON PEOPLE:

So here I am on the deck amidst thousands of other Northern travelers. I'm guessing they're mostly from the north due to the fact that I am completely surrounded by a sea of both pasty, fair-skinned fellow friends, as well as those sporting the shiny red tomato look. I think, for some, and myself included, this is the only time we Midwest folk will feel the warm sun until the beginning of July. So as some (these said pasties) are more cautious with their approach to sunbathing by lathering on that 75+ SPF, wearing their clothes in layers, and dodging from umbrella to umbrella, there are those careless few, who believe baking themselves until their skin begins to constantly sizzle is the correct and "cruise-like" thing to do. Myself? I like to be slowly goldened, like a perfect s'more. You know the type, nice and toasted on the outside and warm on the inside, the kind of s'more that you pull off the poker and the entire outside just slips off the melted gooey innards. yeah.. those are great.

Oh, and I guess I've forgotten another cruiser, those few who's color seems to resemble both a lobster and burnt cookie. Ha. They think that because they've "fake baked" themselves all of fall and beginning of winter, that the sun will have no effect on them. Apparently the woman next to me believes this wholeheartedly. (Although, I'd have to say she's definitely more burnt cookie than lobster.)

And now that it's the day before we land back at our port in Florida, I think even those overly cautious are beginning to feel the sun beckoning them and have now decided to risk it all. We, the Erdmann clan, have also thrown caution to the wind by indulging ourselves in VIRGIN piña coladas. yeah.. someone save us, please.

ON LIFESTYLE:

Enough with the burning flesh, the entire idea of a cruise ship has had me chuckling every once in a while this entire trip. I just start to think about the 3,600 people aboard this ship (and that's just passengers!) and I think about how we're all floating here in the middle of no where, no land for miles. A floating metropolis! I mean, think about it from a sea creature's point of view. Your day consists of floating around and eating small fish and, all of a sudden, you hear this faint sound of marimbas playing off in the distance. As it gets closer you begin to make out the giant ship with the thousands of plump, red bodies strewn about, margaritas in hand. Just a bit unusual, right?

At the moment, I'm gazing at everyone lounging around in their beach chairs. The drink guys frantically waiting on them hand and foot. I think some passengers must stay in these chairs 24/7. I mean, I hardly blame them, trying to find 6 open chairs, let alone just one, is almost always a task. But the way that the chair has now begun to form around them is a bit disturbing. It's almost as if they're starting to actually become part of the ship. For example, take this man over here across from me. I think he hasn't even moved for several hours. Quite frankly, I'm a bit worried he might be dead. (And yet, he's still grasping that half-full margarita.. boggles my mind every time I see this.) Oh wait, he's flipping. False alarm.

So I can't help but be reminded of WALL-E right about now. Never leaving their space-age hovercrafts, these people don't even notice the wonder of creation or even those around them, for that matter. Sometimes it makes me nervous that I'll hear that "blue is the new red" aboard the mighty Mariner of the Seas. They do offer the drinks of the day, so I guess that's not too far off.

ON TOURIST SALES TRAPS:

Have you ever noticed passengers ears aboard cruise ships? Haha.. Ok, so that's a bit strange, but ever notice those funny round stickers placed behind their ears to ward off motion sickness? Yeah, it's all a scam. Now, I'm not one to rain on someone's parade when obviously someone out there is making big bucks. In fact, I wish I would have thought of it first! But come on, really? Do you actually believe those things keep you from seasickness?

I bet there was once a guy riding a ferry, who thought, "Hmm, I got a bunch of plain white round stickers and no money. What to do... what to do." While this man is trying to frenziedly figure out a way to use these stickers to somehow pay for his next meal, he begins to notice an extremely seasick man wobbling towards him. Nearly toppling onto the man with the stickers, he mutters cautiously and quietly so as to not let any unwanted lunch spill out of his mouth, "Man, I really wish I had one of those sea sick pills or bracelets." So, naturally, in fear for his life, and life being his only clean white jacket, he immediately grabs a small white sticker and begins to explain to the man that this small white sticker is a "SEASICK BE GONE PATCH" and nervously tries to place it on the man, only to have it end up behind his ear. The man thanks him and miraculously feels 100% better, or so he thinks. So that clever young man leaves the boat with a bag full of stickers and a plan to make millions. For, you see, it's those very stickers that everyone seems to be sporting on our ship. And I'm sure this sticker man is now perched at his desk atop the tallest building in a nearby city, stroking his cat and smiling sort of grinch-like at the thought of his brilliance. So, uhh, think twice the next time someone tries to sell you a migraine saving toothpick or a weight loss curing goggle set. You never know.

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!

I need not explain too much here, but we visited a place called EVERLAND here in Korea and, well, it was pretty much a REAL Christmas Miracle. Watch the videos.. I'm sure you will agree... :D

(I had to divide this thing into 3 parts.. it was just too full of Christmas spirit for blogger.com to handle. ha.)

Cookies anyone?

Alright.

Today I decided to go shopping for cookie ingredients. I found most of the ingredients, but a fellow teacher was looking for vanilla extract and so we got the lady at the counter to help us find the rest of our ingredients. We managed to explain to her with VERY few Korean words and mostly hand motions that we were making cookies. Thanking her for her help, we make our way to the register to buy our goodies.

The lady, can't remember her name, grabs the bag of sugar, STUNNED, and starts laughing as she tries to get the other ladies attention. They both start laughing and after a while, me and Lynds begin to feel a bit uncomfortable and wonder what exactly we grabbed off the shelf. Our lady tries to explain to us what it was we found, but unfortunately can't find the English word in her phone. We grab another bag of sugar but first make sure it IS sugar, which it was, before she rings it up.

We were about to leave the store, when our lady, determined to tell us what we ALMOST bought was, pointed to her computer screen and we read those dreaded words...

"monosodium glutamate."

HAHAHA... We both starting laughing and all four of us could now join together in the laughter of what COULD have happened to my cookies.

Can you imagine, "Would you like an MSG cookie? Fresh out of the oven!"

Haha... Oh man. Who puts a giant bag of powdered MSG next to the sugar.. I mean, not EVERYONE speaks Korean here! haha.. Good times.

Thanksgiving Feast...

Ah, Thanksgiving Day at last
When we mere mortals break our fast
And all of us, both great and least
Sit down before a bountiful feast
We lift our prayers to God on high
Then stuff ourselves with pumpkin pie
Cranberry sauce and candied yams
Homemade rolls and turkey gams
Taters smashed with driblet gravy
Beans of green, and string, and navy!
Turkey breast and cornbread dressing
All get munched…after the blessing
Till it comes out of our ears, our eyes, our pores, even our tears!
We eat a lot, and then some more
While keeping one foot on the floor
We eat until we’re all done in
And then sit down and start again!
Thanksgiving Day, ah, what a treat
To eat and eat and eat…and EAT!

Haha.. this poem is amazing. And if any of you listen to or still listen to Adventures in Odyssey, you know EXACTLY what I mean.

Anyways, if you were wondering, my sickness has no begun to leave my body. I'm not exactly sure what I had, but I'm thinking it might have been some form of laryngitis or bronchitis. Nevertheless, it's going away.

ANYWAYS, it's definitely that time of year for hats and mittens and THANKSGIVING FEASTS! As much as I wanted to be back with my family for Thanksgiving, this feast will certainly be one to remember. My ACTUAL Thanksgiving feast involved... drumroll please... MEATLOAF.

No joke. On Thanksgiving night, we had food in the cafeteria and it was meatloaf. Haha.. I totally felt like the kid, Randy, from A Christmas Story who sang "Meatloaf, beetloaf, I hate meatloaf." But ALAS, there was a ray of shining light off in the distance because lo and behold we had our Thanksgiving feast that very next day and what a feast it was! The table went from one end of the gym to the other and it was filled with yummy goodness. There was even a Korean addition of Kimchi on the table. (Haha.. it's just not a meal in Korea without Kimchi.)

Anyways, here's some pictures of our Thanksgiving Night!





The last one is of the RA's and Brent, our fearless Resident Staff Leader! :D

This was truly a Thanksgiving to remember...

Hugs, blessings, and Thanksgiving kimchi!

DE-militarized... I think not.

I'm going to begin this blog by saying how incredibly lucky you are to be READING this instead of hearing it from me in person, because as of right now, I have absolutely no voice, whatsoever. Last Thursday I contracted some sort of illness (most likely a cold... with a bit of laryngitis, possibly?), had a fever one night, and for the past 5 days I haven't been able to talk much, let alone belt out some great Christmas tunes. (I've been put into the Christmas mood early this year due to our downstairs lobby being decorated already, which then, spurred me on to also set up and decorate my own tree in my apartment. And yes, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but still...)

So over the past few days I think I've accumulated a MASSIVE pile of tissues, almost using up an entire box, I drank almost all of my instant Lipton soup mixes, and have guzzled down a strange concoction of Dayquil, Nyquil, Halls Vitamin C's, and "Riiiiiii-collll-aaaaaaaaa's!" :D I'm hoping to feel better soon.. we shall see.

Anyways, I've been meaning to update you on my recent travels to the DMZ, De-militarized zone between North and South Korea. A few weeks ago, a bunch of us traveled to the north to see what exactly the border looked like, and to my surprise, there really IS a concrete border between the Koreas. No joke. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We arrive early in the morning at the USO building, and then head off for our bus trip north to the border. On the way, our tour guide gives us some interesting facts and because of the static microphone and her accent, from what I gathered, I'm still very confused as to why it's called DE-militarized. The strip of land, about 2.5 miles wide and about 150 miles long, is THE most heavily armored border in the WORLD. Soo... yeah... De-militarized? Boggles my mind too.

Anyways, we arrive and are taken to the US base where we sat in a room and watched a presentation done by a US soldier about the history of North and South Korea and the infamous DMZ. It was also then that we signed a paper that stated "The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action."

...yeah.

NEVERTHELESS, we all signed our lives away and walked onto the bus that would take us to Panmunjeom. On the ride there, we weren't allowed to take pictures but definitely passed signs that read "This is a mine area" and it was then that I realized how much I was leaving my life in the hands of our bus driver. Every uphill twist and turn I felt a bit squeamish thinking what would happen if our bus accidentally drove off into the mine-filled brush. Oh, and we also got badges so that the North Koreans would be able to identify each of us and not just pick us off.. I was very thankful.



As we got off the bus, we were again reminded "Do not point at, gesture, or talk to the North Koreans." The atmosphere of this whole tour was very exhausting. I think the majority of the time, I tried to remind myself not to make any sudden moves, like grabbing my zoom lens out of my pocket and switching it out. (I wanted to take NO chances..ha.)

We made two lines and since ours was the first, we were also first to go inside the MAC Conference room. (Or otherwise called "T2" that stands for temporary 2... funny how places keep temporary buildings FOREVER and yet still call them temporary- like portables in high school.. hmm...)



This is the building that lays right smack dab on the Military Demarcation Line (yes, there's actually a concrete line marked out in case anyone were to just start walking the direction of North Korea and be confused at all.) I crossed over that very line into North Korea that day!



and is also where North and South Korea hold meetings. (Convenient how they don't even have to cross borders in order to hold meetings, right?) So we make it inside and here's our US soldier tour guide, Harvey, explaining just where exactly we are.

[movie clip: sorry, I'll upload it later, when I get better internet]

Anyways, we decided to take some pictures with the Korean soldiers standing watch by the door and just as I'm about to walk up to him, another man decides to take a picture with the dude and totally puts his arm around him. HAHAHAH.. I think my face was like "Oh man.. we are going to witness a SMACKDOWN." It would have been only a mere mistake had we NOT been JUST informed to not touch the soldiers and if we did, they had full permission to do whatever they wanted to us. (And I dunno about you, but when you see a man in uniform standing in a taekwondo stance.. umm.. well, you don't mess with him.) Well, the poor man soon realized he got himself into a pickle when the soldier totally shoved him to the side full force. (It was quite exciting to watch.) But then it was almost my turn to take a picture next to him.. haha.. so this was my face.



So I still got one next to him, but DEFINITELY kept my distance.



But it was really crazy to be so close to North Korea. Like I said before, you feel like so many eyes are on you the ENTIRE time, it's a bit exhausting, but definitely a crazy memory, indeed. Here's a picture of how close everything is. There's a soldier on the other side who had binoculars and was just scoping us out, which was a bit unnerving because just as I switched out my zoom lens, I looked up and he's staring right back at me. EEK.. I think I might have jumped a little. ha.





Also, if you look closely at the Korean soldiers glasses, they're definitely wearing Ray Ban aviators. (Supposedly they're very intimidating...totally makes me think Top Gun though..) Also, the soldiers were ball bearings in the bottoms of their pants so that when they march it sounds like more people.. interesting, right? I was really confused at first and wondered what exactly it was making that noise, but definitely didn't want to touch them to find out..ha.

And here's a picture of our group minus Mike in front of North Korea and the DMZ...



Well, moving right along, we leave that area and head out to a lookout place and check out a NK village called Kijŏng-dong, or otherwise known as the Propaganda Village. Supposedly some people think that there's really nothing there at all but soldiers patrolling because the lights in the village will turn on and off at EXACTLY the same times every day. The name also was given because they would blast information to the South Koreans with giant speakers about their country and leaders, etc. Oh, and their flagpole..haha.. I guess there's a war of who's flagpole is the tallest because at one point, North Korea had a really tall flagpole and then South Korea added theirs right next to it, which was taller. So what happened next? The North Koreans add their 525 foot flagpole with a 300 lb. flag flying on top of it. We were lucky to see it flying because, I guess, when it's raining, the flag is so weighted down that it doesn't fly.



A sweet picture of both North and South Korea all in one picture.. clever, right? ha..





Next, we make our way to the DMZ museum, which, I might add, told us a VERY idealistic view of the whole situation. I dunno what everyone else saw, but I definitely didn't see butterflies and flowers abounding with life everywhere you turned. No... only soldiers, barbed wire, and signs explaining there are live mines in the area. BUT, after our EXTREMELY fast tour of the museum, (seriously, they give you no time in these places, I think we spent a total of 10 minutes in that place.. no joke. Which also reminds me of our trip to the gift shop. I think our tour had roughly 80 people and when you cram that many people into a small little gift shop and expect EVERYONE to buy their souvenirs in less than 10 minutes.. I mean.. ridiculous, right? I barely had time to make my way through the crowded mess. The thought had occurred to me to jump up onto a table and crowd surf my way to the cash register, but I didn't want to make a scene. ;D



this is me in front of the museum with a statue of a soldier..haha..

We were then taken on a tour of the underground tunnels, or incursion tunnels, that NK had been making into SK. As of now, there are four tunnels that have been discovered the first found in 1974 and the latest in 1990. These run about 3,000 feet past the Demarcation line and when they were found, the North Koreans had explained that they were simply mining coal, but the SK's soon found out that was false due to the coal they had so strategically PAINTED onto the walls. Nice. Anyways, it was a LONG trek down and even LONGER way back up, but it was fun. You definitely feel GIANT inside of these tunnels, because as I am about average size 5'4" there were many times where I'd hit my head/helmet against the rock face shooting down from above us. Now that I think about it, it was this very thing that I was laughing about during the tour down underground. About every minute or so you could hear the clanging of heads hitting rock..haha.. quite entertaining actually. Oh, and on the way back up, we were met by about 500 elementary kids who noticed we were a large group of Americans and so they kept yelling out "HELLO! HOW ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" haha.. So for HONESTLY 10 minutes, I kept saying "Hello... hello... hello... hello... hello.. hello.. Michigan.. hello.. hello... hello... hello..." and so on..

FINALLY, they take us to a lookout to view North Korea one last time. The only thing they told us was that we could only take pictures behind the yellow line. Simple enough. Well.. here's our view behind the yellow line...



Haha.. so it was definitely a task actually getting a picture of North Korea. We all stood right on the line and reached as high as we possibly could to get some shots.



But I managed to use my zoom lens and a few good shots, so there you have it.. a view of North Korea BEHIND the yellow line. :D



Wow. again, I have seriously made this thing MUCH too long. It was a crazy day, but definitely a fun memory! Thanks for reading and until next time...

Hugs, blessings, and yellow lines

HAPPY PEPERO DAY!

Now..you're probably wondering what in the world is a pepero? It's an interesting little Korean cookie snack. A pepero is a small, thin cookie stick dipped or filled with chocolate and November 11 is claimed as Pepero Day.

I did some research and found out that Pepero Day is sort of like a Korean version of Sweetest or Valentines Day. Pretty much every store today has GIANT teddy bears outside their store and tons and tons of candy, mostly these strange little peperos. You buy the pepero, maybe one box, 2 boxes, OR a GIANT gift box the size of my body filled with stuffed animals and way too many peperos to eat yourself, and hand them out to people you care about. So I'm thinking to myself, who came up with this idea to celebrate chocolate covered cookie sticks? I can only imagine the owner of Lotte (manufacturer of "pepero") talking to his team of marketing people, and so this is how I believe it went down"

"It's November and our numbers are WAY down with these here pepero sticks. Anyone have any ideas to boost sales?"

"Hmm.. We could package them differently? Add new flavors? Make a new exciting cartoon advertisement?"

"Nah.. we've tried all of that and it just doesn't seem to be working."

"Oh, I know! We'll make the month of November, 'Pepero Month'!"

"A month is too long. How about just one day."

"Ok, make it November 11, the date is all number ones (11/11), so it looks like PEPERO!"

"Eureka!! November 11 is now "Pepero Day!" You're a genius, Stan! ...You're name is Stan, right?"


Yep. That's how I believe it all came about, but feel free to disagree. Sort of a funny thing to be celebrating, but seriously, GENIUS marketing move for Lotte. Someone's making millions from that decision.

So from me, and every other Korean, to you, I wish you all a very Happy Pepero Day!

Hugs, blessings, and plethoras of pepero!

Sarah