Hiking, Hailing, Hooky

We are discovering that this peninsula we live on is full of lots of lovely little surprises.  Our most recent find is a small mountain nearby (only 10 minutes drive from the base) lovingly called Brown Mountain (the locals call it Buraksan, which I think is MUCH more romantic sounding, but it IS brown, so I can't really argue with the nickname!).  It's a forested hill with well-groomed paths that snake for miles up (and sometimes the incline is nearly vertical) and down, all within the city limits of the nearest borough, Songtan.  It's pretty incredible to be so surrounded by nature when just a stones throw beyond the tree line is the hustle and bustle of a busy Korean town.  However, it was just what the doctor ordered a few days ago when the sun finally decided to show up and raise the temperatures up enough to be bearable.  With cabin fever raging through Jirisan 403 we struck out for our rambling adventure.

The Korean's have a very....dedicated.....work ethic.  Basically, according to Korean culture, you can never work too much.  So, it was not very surprising to find workout equipment stationed periodically throughout the trail system on Brown Mountain.  And, these guys aren't messing around! There were bench presses loaded with weights, simple "elliptical" type machines, pull-up bars and abdominal stations for core-strengthening.  You can't just go out for a leisurely hike around here! Oh no! If you are going to take a break to enjoy nature, you'd better make the most use of your time!  Our kids, of course, thought it was great fun.  (The Koreans observing thefab5 clamber all over the equipment displayed a mixture of bemusement and rigor-- no one wanted to be out done by a bunch of kids! 

At the base of the mountain, we found a quaint little fountain park that, because of the frigid temperatures and solid condition of the water features, was dormant.  But, we marked it down on our list of places to return when the ground has thawed and spring has sprung.  

 We were officially "Hailed" in the 36 FS (that's just fancy Air Force speak for welcomed) last weekend at a very authentic Korean bulgogi house called The Mud Hut.  Over what felt like never ending portions of meat grilled at our table, we got to know our new squadron family a little more, and dove even deeper into the Korean food culture.  It was a great evening-- the food was delicious and only rivaled by our company.  In case you didn't notice, the squadron colors are red and black, so any accessories that find their way into my collection in the next two years will be shades of crimson and scarlet for sure.  Honored to be part of such a proud tradition! Harrumph!! to the Fiends!

The snow keeps coming here (we are told this is a highly irregular amount of snow by normal standards), and it came in such great quantity the other night that school was delayed! It began as a two hour delay that allowed us to lounge lazily in our pajamas and enjoy a leisurely breakfast of pancakes and eggs.  The bonus was that Joe was also home to observe Superbowl Monday (oh, what's that? you didn't know that was an actual holiday? Overseas, because the game airs on our Monday, the leadership gets smart and just allows everyone to stay home and enjoy what it really means to be an American :0).  So, the family was together, we were lounging and feasting-- and then, the delay got extended to 3 hours! Well, at this point, there were only going to be about 3 hours left in the school day, AND there was fresh powder calling out from Jisan Forest Moutain resort.  Can you guess what our next move was?  Yes, that's right.  We played hooky! 

 We had the mountain practically to ourselves which meant that the kids could zip down the slopes as fast as their legs could carry them, jump right back on the lift and do the run again.  Snowboard. Lift. Repeat.  4 glorious hours of family fun in the snow.  Oh...I mean, 4 glorious hours of a hands-on lesson in physics, momentum and balance.  After all, life is always about learning.  But who says every classroom has four walls?

Hot chocolate at the top of the run!

                           

JP refueling before he hits the mountain for one last run!