Chris is going home!

Well chris is going back to the US today! We had a good time and are both exhausted now from the trip! The road trip to gangwon province was really fun. We skiied a lot, ate raw fish by the ocean and visited the DMZ. We got to look into north korea across the border but all we could see was mountains! After the trip we went skiing at the Yangji pine resort one day, had lunch with my co teacher and went out to Hongdae. Chris also got to experience Nore bang or singing room which was a lot of fun. This last weekend we went to Wolmi Island in Incheon one day and we ate grilled clams by the ocean. It was freezing cold so the last day we went to the Korean war memorial and shopped. Now that the trip is over its time for me to get refocused on studying for the gmat and get ready to go back to work at school in a week. I still have a week of vacation to relax and recover though! I think I will ski, do some hiking and if the weather is good get back out on my road bike.

Chris arrived

My friend chris made it out to Korea on Friday night. and to my surprise he is barely jetlagged. We had a pretty long and packed Saturday. We woke up and went into seoul to meet some of my friends that worked at the summer camp I did 3 years ago here. It was really fun and they got to practice their english a lot with chris. Then we met up with Yujin and one of her friends and allan and melanie and went to namsan tower at night. We were basically totally exhausted after this and headed home to sleep for about 10 hours. Its sunday morning now. The plan is to hike a small mountain before driving into seoul for the afternoon of sight seeing with Yujin and a few of my other friends. Monday we are heading out to Phoenix park for skiing!

English camp is over and Chris is coming!

Today 2 big things are happening! My 2 week english camp at school just finished and my old roommate from Purdue Chris Uberti is coming here to visit me and will be here in 4 hours!!! Im excited I think it will be really fun. This weekend we are gonna tour around seoul mostly and then Monday tuesday and wednesday we are going on a road trip to gangwon province to ski and tour the DMZ (border between north and south korea). thats as far ahead as I planned for certain but I think we are probably going to visit incheon and do a boat ride, as well as have dinner with my bike team one night. My english camp was actually really fun and easy this time around. The only part about it that is tiring is that it is 6 classes a day which is a long time to be teaching. I think ive become a much better teacher since coming here and thats a big part of why it is more fun and more easy. After Chris leaves it will be time to get back down to business as far as studying for the GMAT goes. Im going to give it one more go in April because I know I can improve my math score a lot if I study and practice a little bit more. But this week should be really relaxing and fun!

Test, Chi Ak San, Skiing

Well I took the gmat! I did pretty well but I think I can do better so Im gonna take it again on April. I think I can definitely improve my math by a few points and my verbal score was pretty good. After the test I got on a train to Wonju city. It was a beatiful but cold day. I met a really nice old guy on the train and we talked the whole way! Once I arrived I figured out where a jjimjilbang was that I could sleep at and bought some eisens for my boots. Eisens are like metal chains that fit onto the bottom of your hiking boots to give you more traction on snow and ice. They were well worth the 20 bucks I paid for them! There was about 2 feet of snow on top of Chi ak san and I hike for about 8 miles along a a snow covered ridge. I ate pizza for dinner with my friend Raymond and woke up at 7:30 to catch the bus for the hike. The view from the top was absolutely amazing!! I have some pictures on my facebook of it. It was a really tough hike but im glad I did it. It was really refreshing! I wanna get out and do some more epic winter hikes this year for sure! Last week my English camp at school started. Its basically just normal class that lasts for 2 weeks 6 classes a day. Its pretty fun actually. This friday my old roommate and panther teammate Chris is coming to visit me in Korea for 10 days!! Im really excited. We are gonna do a 3 day road trip to gangwon province for skiing and touring the DMZ! Its going to be really fun to show him around korea.

Test time!

Im taking the GMAT in 2 days! So ive been busy studying but also trying not to get stressed out about it. I got to meet Greg one more time before he went back to the US too. We went hiking at Bukhansan on Monday which is the biggest mountain in Seoul at 800 some meters. There was a lot of snow too which made the hike more challenging and fun too. I realized I haven't really been to any epic mountains lately so I decided that after the GMAT im going to go hike Chi Ak san which is a big mountain about 70 miles east of Yangji. Im going to take the train out after the test and then hike it all day Friday. Its about 400o feet of elevation so there should it should be a pretty good challenge and a great view! Not too much else exciting has happened here but it should be a good week!

New Year New Goals!

Its New Years Eve and its been a pretty slow week at school because there are no classes. I have basically been studying for the GMAT and making a lesson plan for my English camp which starts in 2 weeks. I have also been thinking about what I want to accomplish next year. I definitely like making goals which probably comes from 10 years of making goals for bike racing.
Next season as far as riding goes I have a few pretty simple goals. 1. Win a stage of the Tour of Korea (which is the most important ameteur cycling competition in Korea) 2. Win as many other races as possible 3. Be a strong teammate and help my team be as successful if not more than we were last season.
As far as other goals go I want to get admitted to business school next fall. I also want to continue to be a good teacher to all of my students here at Yangji Elementary school. I'm really excited about next year. Im enjoying skiing at Yangji Pine resort but I will be ready to get back in good riding shape next March for sure.
This year will be a challenging and exciting one for sure. Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas and Greg comes to Korea

Last week 3 big things happened it was Christmas. the last day of school was Wednesday and one of my best friends Greg Christian visited! He is in Korea with his parents visting his sister who is also and English teacher here. I took Thursday and Friday off work but got a call from Greg thursday morning saying that he was sick and couldn't come out! I didnt' want to waste my day off so I took my car down to Jobi San and hiked a big ridge line that I had seen from my bike but never hiked. I found a couple of new fire roads I want to try out on my bike too. After hiking I met Yujin for dinner in Seoul. Friday Greg was feeling better so he came out to Yangji. We hiked Do du Ram San which has a big crazy rock section at the top of it. It was fun but also super cold. After that we went to the sauna at Yangji Pine resort to get warmed up. It was christmas eve and I was supposed to have dinner with Yujin again so I said I would drive greg up to seoul. Turned out to be the worst traffic I have ever seen in my life up there. I went about 500m in 1 hour before finally parking my car and taking the subway! Its Christmas tradition in Korea to take your girlfriend on a date on Christmas eve and Christmas day so thats what I did. Saturday I met Yujin in Bundang and we went to a park with a lake and out for dinner. It was freezing cold the whole day. Sunday Yujin came out to Yangji and we went skiing! She was actually pretty good at skiing and said she learned when she was 5 years old! Overall it was a pretty good 4 day break from school. This week I have to make a lesson plan for my English camp and study for the GMAT! Im taking it Jan 6!