**Skiing**

I went on a ski trip two weekends ago from Feb. 11-13 at Phoenix Resort in Pyeongchang.  A while back, Hyunjoo unni invited me to go with the deaf ski and snowboard club.  I really really like skiing and figure I ought to take the opportunity to ski on real mountains (as opposed to Minnesota's trash heaps...) whenever possible, so I jumped at the opportunity~ Unfortunately, it was the weekend before my Korean language exams, but as you saw in the previous post, it all turned out okay.

Anyhow, I was to meet Hyunjoo unni was down on CheonAhn Station (천안역) on line number 1. It took me more than 2 hours to get there!!! I had no idea it was that far! lol. Its waaaaay south on the dark blue line number one, near the end of the line. From there, I met Joo unni and two other people, and we took a rental car and drove another few hours to get to the resort.  In total, there were 30 people gathering, and they trickled in from all over Korea through ought the evening and night.

Everyone except me and one other guy were deaf and they were all using Korean Sign Language. Wow~ a bit overwhelming, as I knew like next to none... Luckily Joo unni was there and interpreted for me. ^^
But people were super nice! Some people knew some American sign language, and we used lots of gestures. I also learned some KSL; basic stuff considering I arrived only knowing the alphabet and a few extraneous signs.
I had a really awesome time and met lots of cool people.

Korea has heated flooring and because there were 30 people in the condo the temperature skyrocketed!!! It got up to 40 deg. Celsius, which is 104 deg. Fahrenheit!!! sick... I was soooo hot! I didn't sleep at all our first night.  Me and some of the girls in my room got up and went to sit in the hall for a bit it was so hot... We had to wake up at 6:30 am anyhow... I was really worried I was going to be mega tired for skiing, but I was actually completely fine and didn't even go to sleep until 2:30 am the next night.
We had breakfast, got our stuff ready, and headed out.

Hyunjoo unni and me

one of the organizers briefing us before we headed out~

I opted for the all day lift ticket, so I could ski morning and afternoon.  In the morning I went out with two girls who were riding snowboards.  I realized how cumbersome snowboards are unless you're really skilled.  I had fun hanging out with them so it was fine, but I can't tell you how looooong I waited at the bottom of the hill each time.  It was like stop-go with them as well as most of the other snowboarders on the hill. The hills were literally littered with snowboarders sitting on the slope fixing their binding etc.

snowboarders... ><

on our way to the slopes

on top of the mountain!!!

The weather was pretty perfect.  Nice mild temps and later in the day we got lots of snow, which looked really pretty!  (This was right before the huge snow storm hit Korea).
Korea is awesome because you can rent just about anything here.  I rented ski pants, jacket, and googles for under $25!
[side tangent: Like everything else in Korea, skiing/boarding is totally all about appearance and presentation!! People spend a pretty penny to rent some really nice clothes and equipment!  Dang.. People get all decked out, and look super professional until they start going down the hill... lol~ but it does make the hill much more colorful]

 waiting inline for the gondola

riding the gondola~

 on top of the mountain

 look at all the snow!!!

Anyhow, after lunch, I went back out again.  This time, I skied with some of the guys, who's skills were much higher. That was awesome! Some of the had brought video cameras, so we made movies of ourselves going down the hill one by one in a train etc.  I also got to ski with Joo unni a bit which was fun!  Ohhh! And I got to ride the gondola!!! So cool! I've ridden in cable cars before but not for skiing.  I really liked how high up it went!

Anyhow, Saturday evening, after skiing, we went back to the condo and played games.  We were split up into 4 teams, and played a variety of fun games!  In my opinion, Koreans are very good at coming up with and participating in group games.
I did the pepero contest (pepero is like a long pretzel covered in chocolate), where a girl and a guy have to eat a pepero stick from opposite ends and each team tries to get the smallest amount left, and the soju game, where all the cups but one are filled with water.  The audience has to watch our faces and guess who had the cup of real alcohol.

The losing teams had to prepare dinner.  Guess what we ate?... You got it. Samgyupsal and alcohol.  This was kind of like the MT I never had.  Since on our MT with Tte (drumming club I joined while studying abroad) I missed all the fun and games and arrived for all the serious name choosing ceremony.
There was lots and lots of meat, and lots and lots of alcohol~ haha.

 getting dinner ready~

 poor guy... hehe.

 먹자!!! lets eat!

 ice cream!!!

 see how ice cream makes everyone happy?~ 

It was really fun; just ate and chatted.  Someone also brought Baskin Robins ice cream, which was gone in like 3 seconds.  By then, I had picked up enough KSL and people knew enough ASL for me to have a conversation without Joo unni interpreting everything.  Easy stuff, and given everyone had had something to drink... haha!  (Really great, but after I got home, I realized that mixing ASL and KSL for 3 days straight was not the best idea... because I am to take my ASLPI (American Sign Language Proficiency Interview) this coming Monday and now I'm kind of confused on what signs are what language...AND the sign for correct in KSL looks the same as a bad word in ASL... watch me royally mess up in my test and sign that and have my interview freak out... Oh no!)

항선 오빠 making kimchi fried rice with the leftovers

Anyhow, we ate ramen for breakfast the next morning, packed up, cleaned and everyone headed back to their respective cities.  I took the bus with a few other people back to Sinchon, the area in Seoul that I live in, and we were back by 12 or 1 in the afternoon.
Then I hit the books hardcore for my Korean final. ^^