Recently at work, we realigned and Civilian Training came into the Education Services/Force Development umbrella. With that, we welcomed Ms. Chin to our office. Ms. Chin is delightful and loves that our family loves to explore Korea. She brings by bits of information on events and festivals and is encouraging me to use the very little Korean I know. In getting to know one another, she found out that Ronnie and I love the outdoors and Ronnie in particular loves hiking. She immediately invited us to join the hiking club.
Yes, a hiking club - on base - and we had no clue. Turns out there's a good reason though, the club is mainly for the Korean Civilian Service employees but anyone can join them.
So, Ronnie joined them for a hike to Seoraksan this past weekend. The directions to the bus were go to the bus terminal and look across the street for the bus that says "Good Bus." It was easy enough to find too - the bus was right where she said it would be and "Good Bus" was right where you would find "Greyhound."
The weather was wonderful, the traffic was heavy, and the hiking was fantastic. The leaves are turning over here, which is why traffic was so heavy up to the mountain. In general, hiking trails aren't cut like they are in the States; they mostly are staircases straight up the side rather than switchbacks. Hearing this, it was a good thing I decided to stay home with the girls.
Ms. Chin wasn't able to go on the tour, so she asked her friend Ms. Kim to watch over Ronnie to be sure he didn't fall off the trail anywhere. Ronnie said she took care of him alright - every time she was eating, she was feeding him too. An orange here, snack cakes there, and a full Korean dinner after he got something off the snack bar.
After a few hours of hiking, they made the long, traffic filled trip back to Songtan. Ronnie's summary was that it was a good trip, pleasant company, and nice to have someone lead the way. We're hoping to join them on another hike in the spring.
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