Damyang

A few of the teachers and I got together this past weekend to see the bamboo forest in Damyang. We met up at a local coffee shop to grab a bite to eat before catching the bus. The coffee shop solved my pizza dilemma! They make fresh baked pretzels to order and they offer a cheesy pepperoni pretzel that tastes JUST like delicious American pizza. So anytime I have a pizza craving, I'm headed to the coffee shop (instead of Pizza Hut!). Damyang was only a 40 minute bus ride outside of Gwangju. It's more of a rural county, which reminded me of how much I hate the city. The air just felt better. We trekked around the bamboo forest and visited the folk village. There was a gift shop in the bamboo forest that sold everything from bamboo tea, toiletries, fans, walking sticks, key chains, etc. all made from bamboo.




Outside of the forest were many street vendors that sold gifts and different snacks. We each bought a wood crafted stamp, used for signing your name in Hangul.


안젤라

A few of the teachers bought some snacks. For just 2,000 won you can get an enormous bag of this light, airy grain pancake. There doesn't seem to be much to the snack until you see how it's made. It's as if a whole car engine is needed to form them.



Before leaving Damyang, I really wanted to trek up one of the nearby "mountains". There was a pagoda at the top which looked like it had a pretty nice view. We debated about it for a while and some of the teachers decided to head back and the rest of us headed towards the hill.



It was so nice to get away from the city and large amounts of people. In order to get to the hill, we had to cross through a lot of the rural part of Damyang. I loved it. If I ever teach in Korea again, I'll probably pick a more rural location.
The climb up the hill was a huge wake-up call to how out of shape I've been getting. I was out of breath the whole way up! But once we got to the top, it was more than worth it.







The pictures don't really convey how breathtaking it was. Being from Florida, I don't usually get to see the world from this angle. I hope I get to see more of Korea but I'm about to be locked into a full schedule at work. The fun begins on Thursday... sightseeing will be few and far between.