As Steve and I recalled our trip to Geoje Island, we compared it to scenes from a movie. We made the comparison to movie scenes because it was a really fun day, effortless, carefree, and seemed almost too perfect to be real.
Scene 1: Steve and I wait outside Dunkin Donuts in Gimhae for Sally (our co-worker) and her boyfriend (Sunshine) to pick us up. We have only had about three quick lunchtime conversations with Sally and are now planning to spend the entire day with her and her boyfriend. They pull up to the meeting place and enthusiastically wave at us and smile. We get in the car and begin our 1 hour and 30 minute journey to Geoje Island. On the way we chat non-stop and eat birthday cake (from Sunshine's birthday the night before) with chopsticks by passing the container around the car. We arrive at Geoje Island, via a newly built underwater tunnel which you can read about here.
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/12/14/2010121400955.html
Scene 2: We stop for lunch at a chicken restaurant and eat a delicious marinated chicken stir fry and fried rice (cooked at our table) with Sally, Sunshine, Hero, and Song (Sunshine's friend). They all speak flawless English and we eat and laugh and enjoy some delicious food.
Scene 3: We head to Pebble Beach. Sally says, "let's play a game and throw pebbles into the sea and see who can throw theirs the farthest". We all do this and smile and laugh, as if we are young kids again. We take many photos and we all look genuinely happy in these photos.
Photos with real smiles.
Scene 3: We take a very scenic drive up winding hills and pass beautiful flowers of yellow and pink. Some cherry blossoms are in bloom and to our left is the ocean and mountains in the distance. We arrive at Windy Hill. We begin our walk to the top of the hill where the windmill sits. Along the way, Korean grandmothers are selling snails and other delights. Sally stops to try a snail and then buys a bag for us to eat. We walk to the top. It is extremely windy on Windy Hill (hence the name). We all laugh and smile as we snap many photos and put our arms out to the side as if we were flying like the seagulls. We joke that Steve is "seagull man". I smile so much that my face begins to hurt. I feel really really happy to be having this experience and I think the other three do as well. We sit beneath the windmill and eat our bag of snails. Sally shows us how to jab the toothpick into the shell and twirl their long bodies around the toothpick and pull them out. They are salty and chewy and taste like the sea. We eat them as we look out over the beautiful sea. It is amazing. "We can see the sea". Steve and I eat our first sea snails, beneath a windmill on Windy Hill, overlooking the sea.
Scene 4: We stop off at one more vista point and climb rocks that look like stairs and shelves. We take in the view and the salt air and take many more photos. We drive to Busan to have dinner and drinks. We eat Korean BBQ and go to a bar called Thursday Morning. We can see 'diamond bridge' and the ocean during dinner and drinks. We talk and laugh as though we have been lifelong friends. Sunshine drives us back to Gimhae and Sally finds us a cab and insists on talking to the driver about giving us a good price. It was a wonderful day. It is one of my happiest and best memories of Korea. I think that we have found really good friends in Sally and Sunshine and it was so nice to hang out with another couple. I hope that we can have many more days like this one.
Scene 1: Steve and I wait outside Dunkin Donuts in Gimhae for Sally (our co-worker) and her boyfriend (Sunshine) to pick us up. We have only had about three quick lunchtime conversations with Sally and are now planning to spend the entire day with her and her boyfriend. They pull up to the meeting place and enthusiastically wave at us and smile. We get in the car and begin our 1 hour and 30 minute journey to Geoje Island. On the way we chat non-stop and eat birthday cake (from Sunshine's birthday the night before) with chopsticks by passing the container around the car. We arrive at Geoje Island, via a newly built underwater tunnel which you can read about here.
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/12/14/2010121400955.html
Scene 2: We stop for lunch at a chicken restaurant and eat a delicious marinated chicken stir fry and fried rice (cooked at our table) with Sally, Sunshine, Hero, and Song (Sunshine's friend). They all speak flawless English and we eat and laugh and enjoy some delicious food.
Scene 3: We head to Pebble Beach. Sally says, "let's play a game and throw pebbles into the sea and see who can throw theirs the farthest". We all do this and smile and laugh, as if we are young kids again. We take many photos and we all look genuinely happy in these photos.
Photos with real smiles.
Scene 4: We stop off at one more vista point and climb rocks that look like stairs and shelves. We take in the view and the salt air and take many more photos. We drive to Busan to have dinner and drinks. We eat Korean BBQ and go to a bar called Thursday Morning. We can see 'diamond bridge' and the ocean during dinner and drinks. We talk and laugh as though we have been lifelong friends. Sunshine drives us back to Gimhae and Sally finds us a cab and insists on talking to the driver about giving us a good price. It was a wonderful day. It is one of my happiest and best memories of Korea. I think that we have found really good friends in Sally and Sunshine and it was so nice to hang out with another couple. I hope that we can have many more days like this one.
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