penny's boyfriend paul is korean..and he's awesome..i don't know if either of them had been to gangcheon before, but that doesn't matter..paul knew a guy there who owned a pension, so we were able to hire the whole thing..(which was a good thing, because there were about 20 of us in the group)..a pension is basically a guesthouse, but here in korea they are slightly different from europe..a pension here usually involves one or two big rooms, with very little in them, but a tv, and an air conditioner..in a closet on one side are usually lots of blankets and pillows, and mats..you can usually fit 20 people in each room!! it's awesome..anywho, they reserved the pension for the weekend we were all going, and also reserved train tickets for all of us..the koreans who watched us all get on the train probably weren't thrilled to see all the foreign faces..but we weren't nearly as loud as we could've been..we did howeva make a game of counting how many times maria got shushed..she's just loud..all the time..
also in advance penny had given us options for activities to do..paintball, donut boats, butterfly boats, quad bikes, etc..everyone except one girl signed up for paintball..(i never did figure out why she didn't do a single activity, when i talked to her that night, she seemed very unhappy, and it was unclear why she had come on the trip in the first place)..i signed up for three activities, including paintball..
the train arrived, and someone picked us up and took us to the pension..i don't know whether the guy worked for the pension, or what..anywho, it was an OLD bus, and there weren't quite enough seats, but who cares..one of the people who came brought her dog, jory (sp?) who was super cute, and super friendly..when we got to the pension it was clean, or something like that, so we piled our stuff on the picnic tables outside, and amused ourselves..someone had brought a soccer ball,
so a few people kicked that around..i gave a few massages..mostly, people just chatted and got to know each other..i knew all the rugby kids, but that was only about half the group..when the pension finally got sorted, everyone changed to get ready for paintball..there was a lot of confusion as to what we should be wearing, i changed a couple times..eventually, the guy in charge of paintball showed up, and brought the uniforms we'd be wearing..they looked like regular US army clothes!! (who knows where they came from)..after choosing teams (with lots of trash talk) we all put on our uniforms, and hopped in the bus again..paintball ended up being not far away, thank goodness..having those uniforms on top of our other clothes, inside the bus was HOT..after arriving at the paintball area, the guy explained everything, we chose which colour vests (blue or black, i was on the black team) we'd wear, as well as getting kitted out..we all got paintball guns, and helmets as well..the helmets didn't fit anyone properly, and didn't make it easy to see anything..the teams split, we shot at each other, and eventually the blue team smoked the black team, three games to none!! eeek..during the entire thing the guy running it all was pointing out who was "dead" and encouraging us to move move move..(apparently koreans are much more active when paintballing)..he took us back to the pension, a few of us changed again, and the people signed up for quad bikes got back on the bus..only 9 of us decided to go on the bikes..it was completely tame, and didn't really involve any mud or going off road, but it was fun anywho..butters kept trying to pass the leader guy (not the same as the paintball guy) and he was constantly annoyed at her..humourous for the rest of us..we got back, and most of that group stayed put in the bus, as we had signed up for a third activity, on the waters of a nearby river..
well, we thought it was nearby..it turned out to be 25 minutes away..i spent most of the ride with my head tucked into my knees, as i was feeling horribly carsick, and the driver seemed determined to make me throw up at some point..sheila wasn't feeling so hot either..almost as soon as we arrived, we dove in..there was a houseboat of sorts and it provided a great jumping in point..the water was a great temperature for floating around..we swam around a little, then put on life jackets and got ready to go in our boats...emily, penny and jenna had signed up for the donut boat, which was kinda like a BIG innertube that held all three of them and pulled them behind a really fast boat..they had fun, and we had fun watching them..at one point penny lost her grip on the tube, and fell in..soooo funny, especially later, when maria was going through her photos and realized she had captured penny falling in on film...hee hee..sheila and i were next on something called a butterfly boat..the tube was GIANT and yellow..it was pulled behind the fast boat as well, and from time to time, caught the wind and went up on end..i can't describe it well, but sheila and i had a great time..mel got to go on the butterfly boat by herself, and she spent a whole lot more time with it up on end..next time i go, i want to go by myself:)..those of us who spent time on the river loved it, and were super glad..even maria, who didn't get in the water, but came along to take photos and just be social, had a good time..we ended up getting back to the pension later than expected, and people were a little grumpy, as they had to wait for us to get dinner started..dinner was samgipsal (sp?)..normally a cut of pork on a grill that i really really don't like..i don't like it most of the time because it can be really fatty, and i don't like large pieces of fat to eat..most koreans love it, something i just don't understands..this stuff was good though, very little fat...soooo good..with all the normal side dishes being served, i was a fat and happy camper..after dinner some people started playing beer pong, others just stood around and were social..i went to parties while in uni and all, but this was still the first time i'd ever seen beer pong..(i don't intend ever to admit that out loud)..
that night there were a couple world cup games on the schedule..starting at 2300 and 0330 or so..i was surprised at the number of people in our group who had remembered about the games, and were wearing red devil shirts..the US just doesn't get this kind of patriotism..i tried, i really did, to stay awake through the game involving korea..but it didn't happen..i made it just past halftime, dozing a bit through the first half as well..then i was done for the evening..i moved into the smaller room, and was out cold for the rest of the night..
the next morning i woke up to find four more people in the room with me, and it was raining lightly outside..just enough to make you aware it's raining, but not enough to really get wet..our train back to seoul wasn't scheduled until 1600 or so, and we didn't want to stay inside all day, so mel, sheila and i went for a walk..we thought we'd walk to the GS25, which was just up the road..or so we thought..it ended up being a 50 minute walk each way!! still in the little bitty rain..the walk was good, even though way longer than expected..when we finally returned, we found out that most everyone was planning to catch an earlier train back to seoul, as the rain didn't look to be letting up, and no one wanted to be stuck inside all day..so we packed up relatively quickly, and everyone got back on the bus that had brought us to the pension..all of us ended up with standing room tickets for the next train, but it was less than 2 hours, so that wasn't a big deal.. 
i wish i had had my camera during all our activities, but i didn't..so i've only got a few photos of the trip..
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