more mountains, less mondays

a phrase i resonated with strongly (but just this week, i normally enjoy mondays). last weekend, i went with seoul hiking group to juwangsan and the east coast of korea. i took a train up to seoul to meet the midnight bus on friday. and we drove and drove through the night. no sleep on the windy roads. we arrived well before sunrise at jusanji lake, pond, reservoir, call it what you will. we parked it for an hour or so, sleeping bags spread at random, taking over, taking space. some napped, some snacked, some were in a daze. as the sun started to rise, the lake began appearing among misty mountains. steam from the warm water blew across the lake in waves. and this is what we saw: 

afterwards, we started hiking through the valley, across and back over a river, stream. warned to watch for snakes, we saw four babies. where were the mothers? crossing, crossing, slipping on rocks. i fell several times. but the valley was lush and a green i haven't seen in a long while. even now, i crave that green. trail started upwards. steeply. for an hour. climb, climb. through the beautiful trees. feeling like i was in the appalachians or the pnw. to the peak. at the top. jump across to another rock. stand alone. lowered myself to the edge. no fence, no boundary. the edge. and i sat. and admired. and who could not be amazed at that view.

back down. the long way. to the waterfalls (there were three). in the fairy forest. straight out of game of thrones or the elves domain. ghostly. beautiful. eerie. 

waterfalls. rocks. canyon. to the bottom, again. treated with apple makgeolli and various kinds of pajeon (pancake). mushroom and spinach. another round of makgeolli. back on the bus. to the coast. for a coastal jaunt along these rocks.

back on the bus. to a middle-of-nowhere town. with a beautifully empty beach. to camp. for the night. bonfire. fireworks. sleeping to waves. waking to the sun. peaceful. rejuvenating. 

my new favorite view in all of korea. the mountains go for miles and miles.

one of my favorite trips. i always dread wrenching myself into sleepless weekends. but afterwards, i am always so glad i did it. especially this weekend. it was worth the restless nights. the long drives. the windy roads. for this. climbing mountains. seeing things. seeing far and seeing wide. and meeting like-minded people who enjoy this just as much, and get just as much out of it, and are in awe, too. because we 

talk about these mountains for hours and days later. they become a part of us, of me, these people, these weekends, these mountains. these glorious mountains and trees.

arigato, j a p a n

at my twenty-third birthday party, i was asked what was one thing i wanted to do in this upcoming year of life that i'd never done before. after thinking about it, i decided i wanted to travel alone. i'd heard good things about it, i'd heard bad things about it, i'd heard growing things about it. i wanted to see for myself. what there really was about it. 

and now i've done it. japan was the first solo adventure i've had, i didn't know anyone where i was going, i didn't have a set agenda. i had flights. i had reservations. but everything was flexible. as the day grew closer, it was the day i was leaving, and my family was leaving, and it was an emotionally rough day. i was exhausted. i was stretched.  i had been emptied of both energy and effort and want. i didn't feel ready, i didn't want to go. i wanted to curl up in my bed and just feel the emptiness. but japan was surprisingly filling and welcoming and good. 

i landed in osaka kansai airport. i'd heard my fair share of horror stories of the subway and train systems, so going in with awful expectations, it was surprisingly easy. the info desk was helpful and they gave me loads of maps that i used excessively. i took a train directly to namba station and began walking the streets, taking in japan, looking for my capsule hotel, stunned by the bright lights, the amount of humans, the number of bikes flying up and down the sidewalks. i found and checked into my hotel, and found my cocoon for the night. i put my things in my locker. tested the bed. arranged things. then started looking for people who seemed as alone and lonely as i felt. i found a girl who seemed so. she was french and willing to take to the streets with me in search of food. our ages were the same, our lives were completely different, we were both teachers, in japan. we found food. yakisoba and okonomiyaki, staples of japan, delicious staples. so the first night was surprisingly good. i was giddy. i'd made a friend, i'd made it to my hotel, i'd made it. 

the next day, alone again. left to wander. with my backpack. still nervous about the trains, so i decided to walk all the way from namba station to osaka castle. it was far. it took me an hour and a half of sweating and map-reading. but it was beautiful. and different. and worth the 7km round trip walk. i went inside to the 8th floor and got a 360deg view of osaka. there were foreign families and japanese families. and groups of friends. and i pretended to be apart of them. pretended they were my family and my friends. is this a normal symptom of traveling alone? does this happen a lot? am i creepy? 

that night, i was couch-surfing with a korean girl who lives in osaka. i met with her and her friends along the dotonbori and they took me to a korean restaurant for dinner (in japan, eating korean). there were two japanese girls, a korean, a spaniard, and two americans. and not a common language amongst us. and it was such fun. they would translate for me. they would translate into japanese for them. i tried to use my little korean and my little spanish. there were misunderstandings, there was laughter, there was a common friendship made. and we continued to chocolatey desserts because we didn't want the night to end. but it eventually had to, and jihee took me to her tiny apartment in another part of town. my bed took the only floor space she had. but it was cozy, and it was so nice to shower. and she was so welcoming. 

the next morning, early, i took a train to kyoto. i had a bike tour (that ended up being private) and exploring kyoto via bike was the best way to see it. we biked to a shrine, a zen temple, another temple, and the philosophers path. to the imperial palace of old, through the streets, up hills, around lots and lots of people. no accidents. i forgot how much i like cruising on a bike. and kyoto is my favorite city in japan. the small streets. the old architecture. the winding pathways. the attitude. the colors. the smells. everything. i wish i'd had longer there.

took a spontaneous trip to nara that afternoon to see the deer. they were great sports, taking selfies with me. herds of deer and herds of people. sunny days.

back to kyoto before my overnight bus to tokyo. ordered ramen from a vending machine. you punch in the kind of ramen you want and any sides, pay, the waitress gives you a ticket and shows you to a seat and they deliver ramen minutes later. for vending machine ramen, it was mighty delicious. 

got to tokyo around 6am. only mcdonald's and starbucks were open, with plugs in the former and wifi in the latter. spent my morning alternating between them. took the subway to tokyo station and found a sky bus tour around the downtown. stumbled to shinjuku station and got lost. met up with stefan in starbucks. found chris somewhere between starbucks and crossing the street. found tatiana at mcdonalds. picked up seoul hiking group hikers randomly throughout the area. we were all lost. luckily we found each other. left at 8:30pm and arrived at fujisan at 11pm. donned headlamps and O2 buddies and started hiking at 11:30pm from the 5th station. the beginning of the hike was beautiful. clear, crisp skies. bright and shooting stars. clouds and city below. at 2am (and the 7th or 8th station) it started getting windier, rain began. soon it was pouring and we were adding layers and rain jackets. hats and gloves. ponchos. we kept going. through the wind and rain, through the soggy exterior and soaking socks. we trudged on. 4am we had 1.8km to go. 4:40am, 800m. the last 200m were the worst. the altitude, the weather, it got steeper, my headlamp started flickering and dying, i kept tripping over rocks. the sky began lightening. 5am i passed through the last gate and made it to the cloudy, windy top. entered the first building i saw to try to get warm. others joined me. we moved to the next building to get hot ramen and warm milk and hot coals. we were shivering, turning blue, soaked to the bone, at the top of mt. fuji. after an hour, the sun started peaking through, the clouds shifted. the sky became a work of art. and it was worth the five and half hours of climbing through wind and rain and altitude. the views on the way down were glorious. the clouds, spectacular. i'm glad we climbed in the dark, because seeing what we'd accomplished in the daylight was horrifying. we'd climbed up the side of the mountain, and now could see all the way down to the tree-line far far below. we conquered the mountain.

back in tokyo that night. we celebrated our climb with conveyor belt sushi where you pay by the plate. we drank guinness at an irish pub. and we slept long and hard. 

the next day, the last day, the day i flew back. stephanie and i took the subway to shibuya, one of the busiest crossings in tokyo. we posted up in the starbucks and watched the people below flock to and fro. it was a quiet sunday morning. 

from the airplane, we could see fuji-san and it was even more impressive from the sky. i was at the top of that! special thanks to the little girl sitting by the window that took this fantastic picture for me. arigato, japan. thank you, japan. 

 i survived it. the alone-ness. the wandering. the subway system. the overnight bus. and it was good. i gained courage. i gained confidence. i gained friends. i was filled again, after being emptied. i understand why people enjoy traveling alone, there was a lot of freedom in it. but i also understand why people don't enjoy it, you have to be content with being alone, exploring alone, always being alone. you do make friends, you are surrounded. but you're still alone. and there's a lot of pressure in being alone. but i think the freedom out-weighs the loneliness. i could do anything i wanted. 

a few things

the other day, it was stormy and slightly dreary and i dreamed of sitting at LJ's with MJ. there were days senior year we would sit under the overhang and watch the rain and the people. and there was one time in particular where the rain was coming down in buckets and we had to make it all the way to the chapel without umbrellas. dr. b lent me his dryer that day because i was dripping all over his lab. those are days i crave. little moments like that keep resurfacing and make me ache to be back there. to re-do it all. not to change it, but to appreciate it differently. to take note, make mental photographs, never knowing how much i would need or want it back. but i'm grateful M remembers that day, those days, and hopefully misses it just as much. here's to when we'll go back someday and remember.

this is my friends' band formed here in cheonan, korea. they tour around the country, and i've followed them to several of the venues so you could call me their groupie roadie. but they've got some good music and we've had some good times. and this is them: 

a few weeks ago, i climbed another korean mountain.

this one was special, though, because it's the highest mountain on the south korean peninsula. (there's a higher one in jeju and a higher one in north korea). it was a hard hike: because of the elevation, because of the stone steps, wood steps, and metal steps, and because the ascension was a solo endeavor. 

the adventure began when we left seoul at 10pm friday night, tried to sleep on the bus, then began hiking at 3am when we got to the town in the national park. the day started with head lamps and darkness and listening to the sounds of the night and looking at the stars overhead. the stars were so brightly beautiful and visible because we were far away from the busy lights and life of the korean cities. i've never hiked in the dark or with a head lamp, so i relied on and trusted the other people around me to avoid rocks and not fall off the waterfalls and to make it up the steps. the sun began rising when we were halfway up the mountain, when groups began separating. i had a friend before me and a friend after me and we decided to hike at our own paces, so we weren't rushed or held up by each other and so we could enjoy the pace of nature. we did what we wanted. so it was hard because i had to push myself, i had to convince myself i could make it to the top, i had to keep myself going. but it was easy because it was so beautiful and the people i saw along the way were encouraging and i was determined to make it. and it was all worth it. 

i reached the peak at 7:16am that morning. 4 hours of hiking up. 1,915 meters. and i could see for miles. we drank starbucks double shots to toast the mountain. we ate kimbap because that's what the koreans do. and we sat there and looked. looked outward and upward and all around. 360deg view. mountains in all directions. jirisan is the most beautiful place.

while on the peak, a korean man slightly below us started waving his arms and yelling. but we couldn't understand, and our korean guide, warren, was distracted. then a helicopter came and we realized we needed to get off the peak so it could land. the second helicopter evacuation i've seen since starting to climb korean mountains. they're always exciting. after sitting on the top for an hour, we began going a different way down. this way was longer, and we went in a group, and we laughed and talked and realized we all had a lot in common and that we'd just climbed an amazing mountain. everyone was happy on the way down. we finished the hike in 8 hours, 2 hours faster than predicted. we were proud and rewarded ourselves with sitting on big rocks in the middle of the river and taking naps to the rushing water. 

i don't know if it's official yet, but i've decided to re-sign my contract and to stay in korea another year. many of you knew i went in with this notion, but in the beginning, i wasn't convinced. but after having spent, eight or nine months here, i know i'm not done. i've still got some exploring to do, things to learn, things to see, things to experience. i don't think i've outgrown my life here yet. while i sorely miss everything about michigan and life there, and things are going to change drastically here in august, it's good for me // it's still good for me, and i'll stay until it isn't, i think. people are going to leave this summer, new people are going to come, life will be different here, but i think (and hope) it will still be good. 

something i felt i should add: 

i'm realizing how much i miss the friendships of hope. the friendships we spent four hard years on. friendships that are easy and are on the same page as me. i'm glad for email and facebook and pretending i'm still surrounded by people who know me inside and out. i forgot how hard it is to start with fresh friendships! blank pages! and it happens especially fast in korea because people come and go all the time. i'm learning to be alone. people who i hang out with now aren't going to be here after august, and i don't know who's coming. i can't necessarily rely on these friendships because they'll be gone soon. so i'm learning to rely more on my Rock . 

God is the same today and yesterday and tomorrow. and i need that. i need his consistency and his presence. he is always with me, no matter where i go. he is the friendship that i will never be without. 

He is my Rock and my Anchor and my Friend.