Adventurous Seoul: The February Challenge: Off the Hill

Getting off The Hill

Over here in SFS-land, we live at the top of hill that overlooks Seoul. Okay, so it's not that dramatic but we do live on a hill (see above). Sometimes after a long day at school, all we want to do is go back home, order some doengjang jiggae and watch K-pop videos on MTV. The LAST thing we want to do (especially during winter) is walk all the way down the hill. It is easy to stay on this land but I make it a point to get off the hill and go exploring. Thankfully, the rest of the MELK crew likes doing this, too, so Kristen came up with an idea. The idea: to get off the hill every single day in February (or as many days as possible for Misty and Laura). This may not seem like a major challenge to you, dear reader, but IT IS. As I said, we live on a hill AND this is February. February was by far the COLDEST month last year and that didn't change this year. At the end of January, we came up with a list (mostly from my Korean to-do-list--thanks friends) of things that we wanted to do during the month of February.

Throughout the month, we had other people from the hill join us, as well as other off-the-hill friends. So, here it is, the February Challenge.

Here is the documentation of the month!
(Italic Facebook status updates credited to KE)

OFF THE HILL CHALLENGE-survived two of the coldest days (3F/ -17C) of my life romping around Korea with my Chingu-deul. Building 63 ✓, 10pm kimbop dinner ✓. 27 more days--feeling strong

Day 1: MELK headed to the 63 Building, which is one of the tallest buildings in Seoul. We went to the top and then took silly pictures with the paintings.

Day 2: It was a busy night for everyone with meetings, plays, lifeguarding, zumba, and other events, so at 10:00pm, Kristen and I ventured down to a little kimbop place for a late dinner.

Day 2! It was FRRRReeezing (1 degree!)

Squashed day 3,4,5,and 6 of Off the Hill Challenge. Kimchi class, vino bar, Korean class/Notre Dam Paris play, and tteokboki town

Day 3: On Day 3, I was able to scratch off a major item from my Korea list: Kimchi-making! Later, Kristen, Laura and I joined Fiona and Berengere at a wine bar in Hongdae.

Day 4: Saturdays are always busy. Kristen had Korean class, Misty had church membership class, Laura went skiing and I went and saw Notre Dame de Paris with Colleen and then I met up with other chingus for dinner, noraebang and dancing.

Day 5: On Sunday, once again, everyone did their own thing. Kristen and I went to E-mart in search for a router and to get pictures. I fell into temptation and ended up having American fast food for the first time since in living in this country. Those french fries were calling my name!

Day 6: Rhonda, Misty, Kristen and I met up with Elisa at Sindangdong Tteokbokki Town, which is an area that is known for their delicious tteokbokki. I've had tteokbokki as street food in the past and I've liked it but I think I may have found my new favorite place for it!

This spells out Tteokbokki tao-un (town). :)

Day 7: Tuesday night was another chill-out night. Laura, Kristen and I headed to the bottom of the hill and went to a little cafe for some tea and a wonderful ice-cream waffle.

Day 8: Rhonda, David, Kristen and I went to Sinchon for hookah.

Bats, Balls, and Beers-Day 9 of Off the Hill Challenge is a sweet ending to a long day of work and conferences — with Ellie Meza and Misty Skidmoreat House Of Glitter.

Day 9: Kristen, Misty and I are such BOSSES. After a full day of working and student-led conferences, we headed to Sinchon. We played at the batting cages and then went out for a drink and fries.

Day 10: Wine bar with Fiona, Berengere, Bridgette, Kristen and Misty

Day 11: Caffe Bené grading marathon and Myeongdong/ Korean class for Kristen/ Skiing in Yeongpyong for Laura/ Orphanage for Misty

Day 12: Church and Thai food for me, Saruga and Yonhuidong for Kristen

Day 13: Kristen and I headed to Noryangjin Fish Market and met up with Elisa and some of her co-workers to try an interesting type of fish that we've been eyeing for a while. We call this the "peepee fish." :)

Quotes of the night:
-I'm hungry. I hope the penis fish is good.
-And now the Cass tastes like piss.

Day 14: Jen, Jacob, Kristen, Misty and I headed to Hongdae where we had excellent seagull barbecue (it's not really seagull but just the the name. It's actually pork. Anyyywaaays). Then we had coffee at the Charlie Brown Café (stay tuned for future blog entry on fun and cutesy Korean cafes)

Day 15: Another laid back Wednesday: Kristen and I got on a random bus, explored more of the Sodaemun area, got on a different bus and then came back home.

Day 16: Berengere, Kristen, Misty and I headed to the American military base in Yongsan for dinner and to hear the owner of SeoulEats.com talk about Korean food and culture.

Day 17: Misty, Freddie, Kristen, Laura and I headed to Hapjeong for Peruvian food (about 20 minutes from us) so we decided to go try it out. YES for papa a la huancaína! We then went to Hondgae and ended the night in Sinchon with lots of dancing!

Day 18: It was another busy Saturday. I met up with Elisa and had Bulgarian food and then later that night, Kristen and I headed to Hondgae with Fiona and friends and went to a jazz club.

Day 19: Kristen and I went to the House of Sharing in Gwanju City and then went to church.

Day 20: Kristen and I ventured out to Gangnam and had a late dinner at ButterFinger Pancakes. YUM.

Day 21: We went to Hongdae in search of the trick-eye museum but instead wondered through alleys, looked at jewelry and ended the night at a chicken and beer restaurant.

Day 22: Bridgette, Kristen, Laura and I headed to Myeongdong to try out Vienna Cafe, which was listed on CNN on as one of reasons why Seoul is the world's greatest city. We then walked around, had some street food, danced in the street and headed home. We love Hanguk!

Day 23: Kristen and Laura went to a basketball game in Incheon. I went on a mission to find gray boots but instead hopped on a random bus, got off at Digital Media City, got on line 6 and found a cafe in an unexplored neighborhood. Also, I have now gone to both extremes of line 6 for no other reason but to explore.

Day 24: Kristen and I headed to the World Cup CGV and we watched The Descendants. We then headed back to the hill to help out with the school's 30 hour famine.

Day 25: MELK headed to Gangnam for Butterfinger Pancakes (again) and then to the Seven Luck Casino.

Day 26: Kimchi fries at Vatos, church and Myeongdong. Misty, Kristen and I also took a few pictures for Claire, one of our students. It was Claire's birthday recently and we wanted to document our love for the purses that she gave us.

Day 27: Kondae area with Youngen and Kristen for some much needed food-lamb, dumplings, soup!

Day 28: After a long day, Kristen and I had a low-key night and went to Edhae and shopped for earrings, hair bows and iPhone cases. We ended the night with chocolate cake at a cafe.

Day 29: The Final Day! After a faculty appreciation dinner, we headed to Hongdae for wine and cheese. We ended the night at at noraebang (woot woot!) where we sang our hearts out to Madonna, Britney Spears and we even honored Whitney Houston.