Save Our Toya: Sokcho

Oh my gosh! A post that isn't on Sunday!?

Haha, yeah it's been a while...a little over a week....maybe?

You might hate me, but I've finally got around to making my post about Sokcho! (All pictures can be found at the end of the post if they are not strategically placed within the post~!)As you can see in the header of this post, I even included the Korean spelling! Sokcho is a city on the east coast of South Korea. If you were to google it, you'd see that it's pretty close to the DMZ. In fact, it was the only time I actually saw military anything while being here.

And even then, it wasn't like they were armed. They were going to the convenience store for a snack or waiting for the bus. Nothing crazy army-like.

Sokcho is known for its beaches and back in July 2016, it was the only place in South Korea where you could play Pokémon GO. Government mapping restrictions...according to Wikipedia.

And if you know me, I don't play Pokémon GO, but I do like going to the beach!

It was a nice reminder of home, to be honest.

Temple we went to

Friday: The bus ride was nice going there. It was roughly four hours long, with a stop around mid-way through. When we got there, it was a little bit past noon. We had limited programming, where we learnt about Buddhism and Korea. It was rather interesting, and I enjoyed seeing the Buddhist temple afterwards. Despite the hot humidity and glaring down on you sun, it was a nice temple visit. We even had dinner at the temple, which was a unique experience in itself!

All I gotta say is: dem potatoes tho!!!!

After the temple, a few of us found our way to a 7/11, grabbed a variety of soju bottles and snackies, grabbed a table outside and had fun. After two intense weeks of Orientation with two following weeks of FEP, we needed a moment to just relax and realize that we were definitely not in America anymore.

Before I forget, we stayed in the Class 300 hotel!

We off to the beach~!

Saturday: The relaxation continued. Some of us found our way to the beach (me) whereas others went hiking (definitely not me - waaayyyy too hot for that). What was supposed to be a quick trip to the beach turned into a four to five hour stay. My tanning game was as strong as ever and I easily got four to five shades darker. Unlike others, who got sunburnt (No shade, fam!).

Angelina's birthday cake

Saturday was also a good friend's birthday. And because it was their birthday, a few of us wanted to surprise them with a cake! That was when Crap-How-We-Going-To-Finesse-This-Happy-Birthday-Plan came alive. While (Anni) was tasked with distracting the birthday bae, Tae Hee and I finessed a birthday cake.

It took a little bit to find the bakery, but when we did. Oh thank Jesus for air conditioning and pretty cakes! I wish I had taken a picture of the cakes, but I did get a picture of the cake we ended up picking. 😀

Angelina Beelina, thank you for letting us celebrate your birthday with you!

Grilling AT the table

There was also went to a really yummy place for dinner. It's the type of place you go to where you can grill your own meat at your table. I have to give a shout out to my girl Anni, who looked like a literal pro as she cooked for us. (I also think she was the youngest at our table..., which works out nicely.)

We ended the night at 노레방. Or as we like to say in English, Karaoke. It's not what we know it as though. Karaoke in Korea is where you and your group of friends get to go into your own rooms, and have your own karaoke party. Whereas in the states, you perform in front of a crowd. A lot less pressure. BUT! at 노레방 we were being scored. That took me by surprise. Haha~!

At the end, we went our separate ways back to our hotel room.

But. In Tae Hee, Angelina, and my room...karaoke continued. We didn't get to sleep until around midnight.

Sunday: We left Sokcho a little bit after breakfast. And I thought it would take a nice comfortable four hours, like it was on our way up.

I couldn't have been more wrong. Instead...it took us eight hours.

4 hours < 8 hours

You may be wondering why...good question.

Honest answer: 2 museums, 1 lunch, free ice cream (thanks KAEC!), a bus stop, and traffic. Lots and lots of traffic.

And the kicker, the bus had no A/C. After the museums and lunch, I happened to wake up after falling asleep. After looking around, I found myself in the middle of a sleepover. Everyone, except for the bus driver, was out cold.

#FulbrightKoreaGrantees

Whether it was because of the heat, the adventures from the days previously, delayed jetlag, or the activites from that day alone, but we were all exhausted. [see image to the right]

When we got back to the Orientation site, we couldn't hang around as most of us were inappropriately dressed for FEP. So we went to our floor (7th Floor) and either crashed in our rooms, changed and mozied about, or something.

I honestly didn't pay too much attention to what the others were up to. I was tired and nasty. I took a shower and went to bed.

Overall, Sokcho is a nice place for a mini-vacation. The beach was nice, if a bit odd from my perspective. Back home, you can pretty much go swimming all along the coast. But here, there were designated swimming areas and barely any waves. The only waves that really came at us were the ones from the boats or jetskies zooming about.

The water was also really cold...

I think I'm going to see if a few of us ever want to go back for a weekend or another place along the coast. Can't go too long without seeing the beach!

Make good choices, Fam~!

#SaveOurToya

The pictures are a little all over...please bear with me until I figure this out!)