Korea--Day 11 (Tuesday, July 3)

Today began with my third least favorite activity of the trip and ended with my third best, so it was a bit of a roller coaster.  We began the day with a typhoon advisory. 

We were supposed to go to a beach today, but clearly, that got cancelled.  To get out of the typhoon winds, we toured the Manjanggul lava tube. 

 

It was interesting, but cold and wet. We walked a long time on uneven, slippery lava.  Temperature was in the 50s and humidity was 99%.

Then we went to Cheonjiyeon Falls, which was not the awesome waterfall that we were supposed to go to, but we had to adjust due to Typhoon Crapiroon.

  

There was a herd of Koreans standing nearby when Sarah did her classic handstand pose, and they really oohed and aahed and made surprised and impressed noises.

 

The area around the waterfall was a subtropical rainforest. 

 

My hair looks like it's been through a typhoon.  That's because it has.

We went to lunch at some point.  I don't remember now if that was before or after the waterfall.  It was at a bulgogi place in the middle of nowhere.  They made me a vegetable pancake thing.

I also had spicy bean sprouts,

 and seaweed soup.

To distract us from the typhoon, our leaders gave us little clip-on hearts and chocolate. This is the orange bus.  There's also a green bus, and we don't see those people as much.

 Katie, Sarah, and Grace (all 14 years old)

Drew, Noah, and one of the Jacks

By the time we reached our last stop (Jusangjeolli cliff), the typhoon had passed, and I was very thankful for that, because we could see such a beautiful view!

 The Jusangjeolli cliff is a spectacular volcanic rock formation at the southern part of the island.

It was a really gorgeous place, and it made the whole trip to Jeju worth it.
Another highlight of the day was when I was in the elevator tonight with some Koreans.  A little boy and his dad got on, and the boy was staring at me.  He was maybe five years old at the most. He asked me (in Korean) what country I was from. I actually understood him and could respond, because my Korean class had a whole chapter on this very topic. So I said (in Korean), "I'm American.  Are you Korean?" and all the Koreans on the elevator whooped and cheered like I scored the winning goal in the World Cup. They're so impressed when you make any effort at all to speak Korean.