Taebaek Mountain

The weather is finally giving some hope of warmer and brighter days.  Recently, the skies have been grey and wet for a few weeks now. I appreciate the rain for how it helps keep the yellow dust out of the air.  Yellow dust comes in from China and moves down thru Korea and Japan. But because Korea has so many mountains it doesn't hit our neighborhood too badly. But I personally blame the yellow dust for my constant sore throat. 

Here is a pictures I found off of the Internet from 2006 depicting the yellow dust problem.

This past weekend, I decided to go for a hike with 9 of my friends up Taebaek Mountain.It was a two hour drive away, and once we arrived we decided to get lunch. We didn't start the climb

 until about 1:00 pm. The way up was pretty difficult, slick and steep.  I didn't realize how much snow there would be and my running shoes quickly became blocks of ice, snow and water. It took us about 2 hours to get to the top, and there is a temple at the top. 

We were all very happy to have made it and breathe the clean air!

We decided to walk from one peak to the next which took about another hour or so. This trail had even more snow, slush and mud than the one before and my feet were starting to get very cold.  We found a tree that is hallowed out, somehow, and still alive but you can fit an entire person inside!

       

It was pretty cool. Once we reached the second peak most of us were just hungry for some food and excited to head back down. We ate a little and enjoyed the scenery and time to rest. The mountains in Korea are definitely beautiful and vast. 

The way down was tricky because of the snow and ice and there were many falls.  Luckily some areas had rope where you could hold on and just slide down the mountain-side. 

We were all very happy to have made it down in one piece and we all just wanted a hot shower to thaw our feet.  

Bad Bloggers

Since N8 and I have started back at work, we have fallen back into a semi-boring routine.  Since we are in front of the computer all day at work, we usually try to stay away from the computer at home to give our eyes a rest.  The problem with the school computers, though, is that they have some blocked sites and our blogging site is one of those sites...so that is why we have been slacking.

One interesting thing that has happened here is that N8 hurt his foot. He was running on a treadmill when he felt a pain on the bottom of his foot. We weren't sure what caused the pain, and the Korean doctors didn't give much insight.  But he adapted well by creating his signature limp/run/shuffle around the house that left me howling every time!

So, sceptical N8 decided to turn to eastern medicine for help.  This was his first experience with acupuncture, which is mainly paid by our medical insurance and very cheap otherwise.  Many Korean people highly suggest acupuncture for a variety of illnesses and pain.  N8 was not too happy with his experience.  They start by asking for a pain point and then place needles in different areas on the body (just a few) and then put burning herbs that are placed in a bullet sized capsule on his foot. 

N8 only went a few times and then gave his foot a few days of rest from being poked and prodded and he surprisingly got much better! His foot is good as new, but he is still keeping a close eye on it while he works out regularly. 

P.S. I put this photo representing N8 because I didn't want to gross out my dad with real pictures of acupuncture. You're welcome Lar.