Kiddos and Kimchi: Mungyeong Sae Gae and Apples

This weekend I was able to get out of Anyang and see a little bit of South Korea. Friday night I finally purchased my T-Money Card, which works similarly to London's Oyster Card. The great thing about the T-card is that it works in cities all over South Korea, not just Seoul. It also gives you a discount on the regular fare and allows you to transfer between the subway and the bus on the same trip for no extra cost! Equipped with my handy card, I left my apartment at 5:45 AM ready for my journey. The subway system in Seoul is widespread and efficient and even though I live in a separate city, I am really as close to many parts of city as if I lived in the Seoul proper.

I met up with the Meetup group Climbing in Korea to hike the Mungyeong Sae Gae pass and visit an apple festival. I am really thankful I found out about Meetup so early on because it lets me meet so many other expats (and English speaking Koreans) that I can't meet because I am not with a program. I sat next to a wonderful lady named Miae and we chatted the entire bus ride. Funnily enough, there was a recent UVA grad on the trip as well! We got to spend some time together on the hike and figured out which friends we had in common! I met so many wonderful people from all over the globe who are in Korea for various reasons. Some were new like me, and other had been there for 5 or 6 years. Everyone was so welcoming and gave me tons of advice on living and working in Korea. I will definitely be taking another trip with them soon. It felt great to get out in the country side and hike some beautiful mountains! Not to mention the bushel of apples I brought home! If only I could bake something tasty with them...alas I have no oven. (Side note, I did hear about the possibility of baking in a rice cooker and found this recipe, so here's hoping!)