A Revelation From Davies

School trips.

Wow.

I went on a three day school trip, this past Wednesday through Friday. It was absolutely crazy. The first day we set off from school at maybe nine o'clock. We sat in the bus for just a short time and went to a place where people made ceramic things. I wish I could tell you the name, but... no one ever told me what it was. We just sat around a bit outside a while. Coraline and I just sat and talked to a few of the boys. Then we went inside a building and we all sat down at tables with paintbrushes and paint sitting, waiting for us. We were given the choice of painting a plate or a cup and I chose the plate, simply because of the ease of painting something flat (well, nearly). I started by drawing a design on my plate like everyone else, but halfway through, I looked at my design, said "screw it" and just started painting over it. I decided to paint it blue with one corner that had little pink flowers. I didn't quite have enough time to put in all the flowers that I wanted to, but it was enough to satisfy me. I honestly don't know if we're going to get the things we painted later after the ceramics people finish them, or if we just painted them and never get to see them again. I guess we'll see! After we finished that we outside and ate the lunches we packed. Coraline and I yet again hung out with the boys. Coraline much more outgoing than I am and I just kind of followed her everywhere and that's where she went so.... Yeah. It was fun to actually start to get to know them a little. We had a good time. And I also found a very interesting phrase ( 30 Sexy Years!) on the back of one of the boys shirts.

After the two hours we had for lunch we hopped back on the bus for about another three hours of driving. We drove through an incredibly beautiful area full of mountains. Every single mountain was completely covered in trees. It was just gorgeous. I was very happy to discover that the place we were staying at was right in the middle of the mountains. It was just incredible walking out the door every morning. But the first thing we did when we got there was just kinda sit around while we waited for dinner to be prepared. Coraline and I sat and talked with a couple boys while a few others played Korean soccer, which isn't normal soccer. It's kind of like a mix of volleyball and soccer. There was a low net and the point was to get it over the net and not outside the bounds. The ball could bounce once in between every kick and the same person couldn't kick it more than once in a row.  Those were basically the only rules. It was fun to watch. Then we ate dinner, which was delicious grilled pork. After that we just hung out some more and watched more soccer and then went to bed around maybe ten.

We got up the next morning and had breakfast at eight. At about nine we hopped on a bus and headed out a little bit higher into the mountains to go fourwheeling. It was funny how hesitant and bad most of the people were. It was pretty obvious it was their first time. Most just went at an average/slow speed around our little practice area while Coraline and I lapped them a few times. Then we went on a couple of different trails after people got the hang of it.

Immediately after the four wheeling we went out to go paintballing. We got all geared up with greaves, breastplates, helmets and swords.... I mean, guns. I don't really know whether I ever hit anyone. I got hit once on the hip, but it didn't burst (just hurt quite a bit). I also got a lot of green splatter on my shirt despite my armor. I didn't really think it was all that fun, so I only played the first two games, and even then only about half of them due to gun malfunctions and a depleted supply of ammo. I sat out the last game and just watched. Our team had switched sides and I really didn't like the other side. It was much to dangerous.

As if paintball and four wheeling didn't expend enough of our energy, we also had a busy afternoon. After lunch we went rafting. It was very easy rafting, simple, no white waters, but it was still fun. We had eight people and our "driver" in our raft. The actual rafting part of it really wasn't what made it fun (it wasn't fast enough for me), but the scenery. The river we were on was gorgeous and clean and the surrounding mountains breathtaking. (The picture isn't from our rafting adventure, but just of the mountains nearby). Swimming in the river was awesome as well. We had a short break half way through and there were a few people standing with just their legs in the water. There were a couple guys who were all the way in, but were just sitting there, not really looking as if they were enjoying it. I, on the other hand, jumped right in and floated around a little bit. I also really like the competition we had with all the other rafts. When we got close to one another we were suddenly counting our strokes at about twice volume and using twice the strength. It was a blast.

The third day of our trip was much less eventful. Most of it was spent in the bus. But we stopped in Gwangmyeong (I really hope that's the right name) to go to a Kia Company. There we watched a video about Kia's growth and how it was put into the top 100 worldwide brands. It was about twenty minutes long, and then we left. But we did get a souvenir: a model K5. After that we went home. I didn't do much once I got to my house, as I'm sure you can imagine. I was in great need of restoration.

The very next day my mom had an outing planned for me. In the morning I went to Jacks house and helped his mother wake him up and then watched some TV while we waited for the others (whom I had never met before) to arrive. As I was flipping through the channels I miraculously found that Pokémon was on. Jack was sleeping on the floor in front of the TV so I didn't bother to find out whether it was something he wanted to watch. It was strange seeing it in Korean, but I know the characters well enough that I knew what was going on and still found it to be hilarious. When it ended, I was kind of at a loss on what to watch (we were still waiting) but not for long. Just a few channels away I even more miraculously found Howl's Moving Castle! I was so happy. I, yet again, didn't understand the Korean, but I've seen the movie so many times I knew exactly what they were saying. A little bit into it two of Jack's friends from school, Ochun and Hyunsup, arrived. We chatted a bit (Ochun has fairly good English) and waited for Kaytleen, a Rotarian from France, to come. When she did we all sat down and ate Bibimbab, which was delicious (of course).

After lunch we took the bus out into the city. We walked around for a while to waste the time away until our movie started. We stopped in a couple different places and I finally bought myself a notebook. We stopped and sat in a café for a bit. Then we saw Now You See Me (me for the second time. It was just as good). Afterwards we went out for dinner and ate 닭갈비. Then we went back to Jacks house and hung out for a while. It was really nice to finally feel like I had real Korean friends (meaning Koreans that were real friends, not as if I have friends that are fake Koreans). I know the people in my class, but I still don't really feel like they're my friends. Yet.

 

Even though I've only been here a little over two weeks it feels like it's been a couple months. I've read so many books about fantastic worlds and often times I've thought that I would love to be in them and experience them. But the world we live in is also covered in beauty and filled with wonder. “But life is not a legend or a story. Reality is far more precious than a story...” (David Clement-Davies). Being exposed to new places really helps me to believe that and truly love this world despite it's failings. But I also remember that this isn't my home, and if I love Earth so much, I can't even begin to think what Gods Kingdom will be like.