Adventures of a LuLu: 월명Park

Phew!!! Thank god!!! I am finally
a) sat down somewhere for longer than 10 minutes
b) am alone therefore catching up on some valuable "me time". (Koreans, while very kind, are also very clingy!!!).

This weekend I resolved to enjoy the spring weather by taking a walk in Wolmyeong Park. This is situated at the edge of Gunsan city, by the harbour, and has around 6 hills/mountains in total, as well as a lake, sculpture garden, and a couple of war memorials. I decided that yesterday was a good day to make full use of my new memory card, as well as get some much needed fresh air and excerise.

My journey started at 2.30 in the afternoon, at one of the many gates to the enterance of the park. At the gate there was a buddhist house, painted in the traditional manner shown on previous blogs:

Upon climbing the hill to the left there is the sculpture garden, and to the right there is a viewing tower, though unfortunately all I could see was trees.

View of Gunsan city from the viewing tower

A handful of the modern-day sculptures in the Sculpture garden, (more feature at the begining of this website).

A little further along from the sculpture garden are a couple of war memorials:

Marine Corps Monument. ROKMC, Gunsan, Janghang, Iri area (erected December 1990 by the ROKMC Headquarters).
The ROKMC defended Gunsan, Janghang, Iri area along the river Kum during the Korean War. (This was the first battle fought by the ROKMC). In July 1950 the Ko Kil Hoon battalion of the ROKMC landed in Gunsan, crossed the river Kum and conducted a suprise atttack against the Japanese 4km north of Janghang. This successfully blocked and diverted the enemies spearhead, resulting in the enemy fleeing in panic.

After the successful defense of Gunsan, the 3rd company of the Ko Kil Hoon battalion was moved to Iri to join forces with an Army Independent Battalion and Local Police Unit, which delayed enemy advance. Gaining confidence, the ROKMC attacked the enemy with combined naval and land forces in defence of the Pusan Perimeter, earning themselves the name: Devil Catching Marines.

In September of the same year the ROKMC made a demonstration on Gunsan beach to deceive the enemy of the correct landing area. Subsequently on 15th September the ROCKMC and the US Marines made a suprise amphibious assault at Inchon.

Susi tower. This represents rice, apparently.

Cher Man-Sik Literature Memorial

After taking this picture, I continued my way through the park, taking photos of the views:

In the background of this picture there is a huge industrial site, situated on the edge of Gunsan

A couple of peaks later, I saw this lake in the daylight for the first time (this was the last picture I took before the camera battery died)

After descending this particular peak, I ran into James's boss (of all people!), and friend. We continued round the park together, and then accompanied them to an eating house. While we were eating he brought up the subject of James' imminent departure in July, and please, please PLEASE would I consider replacing him? He said that our first meeting 4 months ago, and the meeting today had left a very good impression, and that he is willing to pay 2.9 million won per month if I agree...sounds a little fishy given that teachers pay with one years experience is on average 2.2 million in the capital city.

After the eating house we went to a Noraebang, and got kicked out due to Boss tipping crisps on to the floor and purposely crushing them underfoot as he gyrated to my dulcet tones (with toilet paper wrapped around his head-don't ask). While searching for a different noraebang another of his friends joined us (from Iksan, a neighbouring city) as he was desperate to meet the "little cute woman from England" as he spent a couple of years working in London (doctor). His English was fantastic, and I really enjoyed chatting to him in between my attempts at Korean songs that I did not know the tunes of, let alone able to follow the words at the appropriate speed ("why just English songs, you must try Korean songs!").

We left the noraebang at 2am, having made an arrangement to walk round Wolmyeong once more...I wanted to take more photos and Boss wanted to continue persuading me to join his hagwon rather than see my family at Christmas (Pah!). The following photos are from today's walk:

On the left, James' boss, on the right is his doctor friend (who is the Korean version of my father, don't you think?!)

er...me. Age 24, squinting in the sun. The first decent photo of me here in Korea (despite weight gain), and I still look younger than my age!!!. My typical taxi ride is as follows:
Taxi 아저씨: 대핚요 하생 이ㅔ요? Are you a university student?
me: 아니요! 저는 연국말 선생님이 이에요 ! No! I am an English language teacher!
Taxi 아저씨: 진짜요? Really?
Me: 그래요! It's true!

Bosses friend commented that I look a little Asian...I can't see it, myself.