I recently (read almost 3 months ago because I post everything ridiculously late) decided that it was time to make the move to from Cheonan to Seoul. I wanted to live in Seoul originally but.... when I moved to Korea, I didn't have any previous teaching experience. Seoul is a much bigger city with a much more competitive market for English teachers. I knew if I wanted a good job in Seoul, that I would need experience first. I picked Cheonan for a lot of reasons; it was close to Seoul, it was a transportation hub (I could get anywhere pretty fast), and it was a great place to save money. I loved living in Cheonan and it's a great city to live in. But I am from a big city and I wanted to be back in a big city surrounded by lots and lots of people. When my contract finished at the end of February, I made the move to Seoul.
First things first, the actual move. Due to the situation of having no time off between jobs, I had a very limited window of time for moving. I ended work on a Friday night, moved to a new city on Saturday and started at a new job on Monday. To say it was stressful is a complete understatement. My school helped me hire a truck for Saturday to take me from Cheonan to Seoul. It was supposed to cost around 120 dollars, which isn't bad for a city to city move. Well, I specifically asked for a moving truck because the amount of clothes I have was in definite need of a full on truck. Unfortunately, something changed last minute and the truck was unavailable. A medium sized van pulls up in front of my apartment right on time, but I looked at it and said "not happening, my stuff can't fit in that thing!". The grumpiest faced old stepped out of this van. He looked just severely pissed from the onset. Luckily, I wasn't going through this alone (my male coworker, who is a worrywart, wouldn't hire the truck unless he knew I wasn't going alone). We moved all my stuff down and out of my apartment and into this truck in maybe 10 minutes. We had to tetris my stuff in and the grumpy faced man kept sighing and asking why there was so much stuff. Once we loaded all the stuff, he said he wasn't going to drive for the same price. He wanted 60 more dollars because there was so much stuff. I had no choice but to say yes because my stuff was already in his truck. We all piled into this van and were off on the long ride to Seoul.
No joke, it took 5 hours.... 5 hours!! The trip is usually 2 hours but the traffic was horrible and my new apartment was on the Northern most edge of Seoul. Janelle was blogging the whole way and the van was hot. It was miserable. We were all whining and annoyed in the car. But the absolute worst part was how bad I needed to pee. I needed to pee so bad. I cannot even begin to explain this pain. I should have gone before we left, but I didn't, I was stupid and my bladder, kidneys, whatever... it paid for it. I was literally crying by hour 3. I wanted to ask the man to stop but we were in such bad traffic, it wasn't moving, and I was scared of the driver because he was grumpy. I thought I was going to pee in the back of this man's van. Since, my friend was vlogging the whole thing, she caught the crying on camera. I wish I could say it was funny now, looking back... but it wasn't. The pain of needing to pee that bad will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Anyways, I made it and unloaded my stuff faster than it was loaded because the man was rushing us. But I was finally moved and I was in my new apartment. My friends went out to dinner with me for my first night and then they went back to Cheonan.
That was my moving experience in Korea. It was pretty bad. From the wrong truck, to the grumpy old man, to the bladder infection that I thought I would get.... it was rough. But I guess I successfully moved with all my stuff... so it's not as bad as it could have been. I could have been dropped off in the middle of nowhere and had all my stuff stolen or something. (I don't know, something definitely could have gone very wrong).
Friday, May 19, 2017
Adventure Time in Korea: Vivaldi Park (Skiing for the First Time)
Working at an academy (aka Hagwon) in Korea doesn't come with a lot of vacation time. There are lots of holidays with 4 day weekends but actual vacation time is minimal. Usually, you will get a week in summer and a week in winter. So, those of us working as teachers at Hagwons tend to take these weeks very seriously, you must get EVERYTHING you can in in in this short week. The sqrew and I decided to check out one of Korea's hottest spots for skiing, Vivaldi Park.
DISCLAIMER!
Now, I am from Texas, I didn't actually see snow until I moved to Korea, so you can already guess I have never, ever been skiing in my life. I was accompanied by two other people who had never been skiing before either. We knew this was going to be an interesting, maybe dangerous, experience.
We had help from one of our Korean coworkers in booking everything. Vivaldi Park is not a big tourist place for foreigners. Many Koreans were surprised to find out we were going there because apparently there are more foreigner friendly (read English speaking) places to go. But our coworker said this was the best skiing and that we should go here. She helped us book the house and gave us an itinerary with a break down on how to do pretty much everything.
DAY 1
Heinously early on Christmas Eve (and wearing couple clothes ;)), we got on a bus to Seoul then on a bus to Vilvaldi Park. The bus from Cheonan to Seoul was easy, because we had made that trek a million times over. But the bus from Seoul to Vilvaldi was a little harder and actually we almost missed it because we were confused. The bus driver was also very grumpy. There were much louder people on the bus but he kept telling us to be quiet and that we were too loud. (Note this actually happens to us a lot, we are not being particularly loud. We think it's the language difference that makes it sound like noise, so it's more bothersome). We weren't really sure what to expect pulling up but we went winding through some mountains and came up to this amazing resort. When we got there we had to call our pension man to come pick us up. He pulled up in an unmarked white van and just motioned for us to get in (can you say sketchy). He was very kind but his English was very minimal.
Maybe 10 minutes later we pulled up to the cutest set of pension houses. He helped us with everything and tried to explain everything as best he could. We had a kitchen with everything we would need (minus food). There were two big beds and lots of bedding under the stairs to make a bed on the floor (that was my bed). Our bathroom was huge and the floor was heated. This was a big deal, because it was really cold and floor heating usually stops at the bathroom. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night in winter is not usually a fun experience. So, the floor heating in the bathroom was a BIG deal. We had a hot-tub on the back porch (it had a lock and we didn't have the code though). There was a grill out back for grilling our own food if we wanted to. It was great butttt it was a little far from the main stuff happening. That being said the owner is always available to drive you wherever you want to go.
30 minutes later we loaded back in the car and the man drove us up the road to a shop to rent our ski gear. The place we went had everything you needed. There were levels of clothing and we chose the cheapest. We probably could have gone eccentric, but we decided to dress in all black because we were all pretty sure we were going to die anyways. The people at the shop were really helpful and although they only spoke korean, we got through everything with no problem. They kept laughing at us because we were always confused because we had never worn ski gear before. Once we looked the part, we loaded back in the car and we were off.
We drove back up to Vilvaldi Park and got out. This is when we realized we made a rookie mistake. Everyone was walking around in regular shoes and were carrying their ski boots. We found out there were lockers inside and we could have left our regular shoes in those. It was really unfortunate because it's hard walking in ski boots and we looked like a group of slow penguins waddling everywhere. We were half hoping to get a lesson when we got there and half thinking maybe we could wing it on YouTube videos. When we looked at the prices, we decided we were winging it and would have to hope for the best. (For future reference, for half a day of skiing it costs 88 just to get in and the lesson costs 100 extra for 2 hours).
Here is where the fun begins. Vivaldi Park is a big man-made snow ski park. There are lots of different hills to choose from and a stage with performances down at the bottom. There are soooo many people. so you are bound to crash with someone eventually (if you have no idea what you are doing, read us). We took it slow and just tried to get used to skiing around. We were doing well on the ground. Little baby slants were fine and we were gaining confidence and making it work. But then I got cocky. I blame myself completely for what happened next. I suggested trying the slope after we had been practicing for a little while. Now I didn't say an actual slope, just the smallest one. We cued up to take the baby lift up to the top of the baby hill. We thought we would be okay because we only saw children and instructors on this baby hill. First the lift was a struggle bus of its own, we kept ramming into the people in front of us and we almost fell just trying to get on the lift. We should have known then to turn back. Getting off was a whole nother struggle. I couldn't stop and almost died getting off, Janelle immediately fell, and the golden child, Cassie, was just fine. We could have stopped then but we kept going. So, we try to practice at the top a little and I felt like I was getting the hang of stopping and it was going fine. We were hovering around people taking lessons and trying to copy what they were doing. However, Janelle immediately went spiraling into the mesh wall and splatted like a bug. She got stuck for the longest. Cassie and I died laughing, which caused me to start going down the hill too fast. I didn't know how to stop, so I just fell to avoid crashing and dying. Janelle tried to get back up and went maybe two feet before she was back tangled in the wall. I tried to get back up but couldn't. I was stuck on the ground. Cassie was doing fine and looked like a professional skier.
At this point, Janelle and I were both flailing in the snow but we were too far apart to help each other. People were watching us like we were crazy but no one was helping us. Because I couldn't stand back up, I slowly "skied" on my butt down to Janelle. We tried to take off our skis to walk down but realized we didn't know how to take them off. Finally, I got one ski off but it turns out the other one was broken, so we continue to flail in the snow trying to get our skis off. At this point, people were pointing and we were about to pee ourselves laughing because the situation was so ridiculous. I had to take off my ski boot with my ski. Janelle had gotten both skis off successfully and we walked (I hopped on one shoe) down the hill. Cassie was waiting at the bottom, having become a master skier in no time. Janelle and I were done skiing forever. We took some pictures to prove we did it. But we walked over to the stage to watch performances from whoever and let Cassie keep practicing her newly acquired skill. We decided to hang up our skis and go inside for some coffee. (Note: It may seem like we were upset at this point, not at all. We may have failed but it was fun and we were still in good spirits and having fun.)
We were wiped by the time we got back to our pension and Christmas Eve dinner was instant noodles and some chips. Champions of the day, we decided to call it a night early.
DAY 2
Christmas Day, we decked out in our tacky Christmas sweaters and decided to hit up the mall we saw. We walked around and ended up in the arcade. There were lots of games to play and some fun 4D rides. . There are lots of restaurants and some shopping but if you are not skiing, there is not much to do. We had fun exploring anyways. Christmas dinner was a nice restaurant by our pension but walking in the dark definitely gave off a scary movie vibe because we were surrounded by trees and fields.
DAY 3
The last day we went to Ocean World. Ocean World is an indoor swim park located at Vilvaldi Park. The outside part looks like it would be AWESOME for summer but the inside was the only thing open for winter time. There is a lazy river that takes you outside for a little bit. That was fun because we got to swim while it was snowing. There are a few slides and a wave pool. There were some games you could play, but it cost extra money. There are also some hot-tubs and saunas near the changing room that are sectioned off by gender. We spent most of time floating the lazy river and sitting in the wave pool.
We left early the next morning and headed back to Cheonan. All in all, it was a really good experience. We had a lot of fun. I will never ever ever ever ever ever suggest going skiing without some sort of instructor. Vivaldi Park was great and was a fun place to go skiing and hang out. We didn't stay at Ocean World long, but it was worth the day visit. So, if you are looking to go skiing in the winter or to a water park in the summer, this is a really great option.
DISCLAIMER!
Now, I am from Texas, I didn't actually see snow until I moved to Korea, so you can already guess I have never, ever been skiing in my life. I was accompanied by two other people who had never been skiing before either. We knew this was going to be an interesting, maybe dangerous, experience.
We had help from one of our Korean coworkers in booking everything. Vivaldi Park is not a big tourist place for foreigners. Many Koreans were surprised to find out we were going there because apparently there are more foreigner friendly (read English speaking) places to go. But our coworker said this was the best skiing and that we should go here. She helped us book the house and gave us an itinerary with a break down on how to do pretty much everything.
DAY 1
Heinously early on Christmas Eve (and wearing couple clothes ;)), we got on a bus to Seoul then on a bus to Vilvaldi Park. The bus from Cheonan to Seoul was easy, because we had made that trek a million times over. But the bus from Seoul to Vilvaldi was a little harder and actually we almost missed it because we were confused. The bus driver was also very grumpy. There were much louder people on the bus but he kept telling us to be quiet and that we were too loud. (Note this actually happens to us a lot, we are not being particularly loud. We think it's the language difference that makes it sound like noise, so it's more bothersome). We weren't really sure what to expect pulling up but we went winding through some mountains and came up to this amazing resort. When we got there we had to call our pension man to come pick us up. He pulled up in an unmarked white van and just motioned for us to get in (can you say sketchy). He was very kind but his English was very minimal.
Maybe 10 minutes later we pulled up to the cutest set of pension houses. He helped us with everything and tried to explain everything as best he could. We had a kitchen with everything we would need (minus food). There were two big beds and lots of bedding under the stairs to make a bed on the floor (that was my bed). Our bathroom was huge and the floor was heated. This was a big deal, because it was really cold and floor heating usually stops at the bathroom. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night in winter is not usually a fun experience. So, the floor heating in the bathroom was a BIG deal. We had a hot-tub on the back porch (it had a lock and we didn't have the code though). There was a grill out back for grilling our own food if we wanted to. It was great butttt it was a little far from the main stuff happening. That being said the owner is always available to drive you wherever you want to go.
30 minutes later we loaded back in the car and the man drove us up the road to a shop to rent our ski gear. The place we went had everything you needed. There were levels of clothing and we chose the cheapest. We probably could have gone eccentric, but we decided to dress in all black because we were all pretty sure we were going to die anyways. The people at the shop were really helpful and although they only spoke korean, we got through everything with no problem. They kept laughing at us because we were always confused because we had never worn ski gear before. Once we looked the part, we loaded back in the car and we were off.
We drove back up to Vilvaldi Park and got out. This is when we realized we made a rookie mistake. Everyone was walking around in regular shoes and were carrying their ski boots. We found out there were lockers inside and we could have left our regular shoes in those. It was really unfortunate because it's hard walking in ski boots and we looked like a group of slow penguins waddling everywhere. We were half hoping to get a lesson when we got there and half thinking maybe we could wing it on YouTube videos. When we looked at the prices, we decided we were winging it and would have to hope for the best. (For future reference, for half a day of skiing it costs 88 just to get in and the lesson costs 100 extra for 2 hours).
Here is where the fun begins. Vivaldi Park is a big man-made snow ski park. There are lots of different hills to choose from and a stage with performances down at the bottom. There are soooo many people. so you are bound to crash with someone eventually (if you have no idea what you are doing, read us). We took it slow and just tried to get used to skiing around. We were doing well on the ground. Little baby slants were fine and we were gaining confidence and making it work. But then I got cocky. I blame myself completely for what happened next. I suggested trying the slope after we had been practicing for a little while. Now I didn't say an actual slope, just the smallest one. We cued up to take the baby lift up to the top of the baby hill. We thought we would be okay because we only saw children and instructors on this baby hill. First the lift was a struggle bus of its own, we kept ramming into the people in front of us and we almost fell just trying to get on the lift. We should have known then to turn back. Getting off was a whole nother struggle. I couldn't stop and almost died getting off, Janelle immediately fell, and the golden child, Cassie, was just fine. We could have stopped then but we kept going. So, we try to practice at the top a little and I felt like I was getting the hang of stopping and it was going fine. We were hovering around people taking lessons and trying to copy what they were doing. However, Janelle immediately went spiraling into the mesh wall and splatted like a bug. She got stuck for the longest. Cassie and I died laughing, which caused me to start going down the hill too fast. I didn't know how to stop, so I just fell to avoid crashing and dying. Janelle tried to get back up and went maybe two feet before she was back tangled in the wall. I tried to get back up but couldn't. I was stuck on the ground. Cassie was doing fine and looked like a professional skier.
At this point, Janelle and I were both flailing in the snow but we were too far apart to help each other. People were watching us like we were crazy but no one was helping us. Because I couldn't stand back up, I slowly "skied" on my butt down to Janelle. We tried to take off our skis to walk down but realized we didn't know how to take them off. Finally, I got one ski off but it turns out the other one was broken, so we continue to flail in the snow trying to get our skis off. At this point, people were pointing and we were about to pee ourselves laughing because the situation was so ridiculous. I had to take off my ski boot with my ski. Janelle had gotten both skis off successfully and we walked (I hopped on one shoe) down the hill. Cassie was waiting at the bottom, having become a master skier in no time. Janelle and I were done skiing forever. We took some pictures to prove we did it. But we walked over to the stage to watch performances from whoever and let Cassie keep practicing her newly acquired skill. We decided to hang up our skis and go inside for some coffee. (Note: It may seem like we were upset at this point, not at all. We may have failed but it was fun and we were still in good spirits and having fun.)
We were wiped by the time we got back to our pension and Christmas Eve dinner was instant noodles and some chips. Champions of the day, we decided to call it a night early.DAY 2
Christmas Day, we decked out in our tacky Christmas sweaters and decided to hit up the mall we saw. We walked around and ended up in the arcade. There were lots of games to play and some fun 4D rides. . There are lots of restaurants and some shopping but if you are not skiing, there is not much to do. We had fun exploring anyways. Christmas dinner was a nice restaurant by our pension but walking in the dark definitely gave off a scary movie vibe because we were surrounded by trees and fields.
DAY 3
The last day we went to Ocean World. Ocean World is an indoor swim park located at Vilvaldi Park. The outside part looks like it would be AWESOME for summer but the inside was the only thing open for winter time. There is a lazy river that takes you outside for a little bit. That was fun because we got to swim while it was snowing. There are a few slides and a wave pool. There were some games you could play, but it cost extra money. There are also some hot-tubs and saunas near the changing room that are sectioned off by gender. We spent most of time floating the lazy river and sitting in the wave pool.We left early the next morning and headed back to Cheonan. All in all, it was a really good experience. We had a lot of fun. I will never ever ever ever ever ever suggest going skiing without some sort of instructor. Vivaldi Park was great and was a fun place to go skiing and hang out. We didn't stay at Ocean World long, but it was worth the day visit. So, if you are looking to go skiing in the winter or to a water park in the summer, this is a really great option.
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