Cheonggyesan

I realized it's been a while since we blogged, mainly because we've been taking our time enjoying our home.  Staying home and relaxing has been our idea of a nice weekend the last few weeks.  It's been so nice to finally live very close to work, very close to a grocery store, and a bit closer to a subway station too.  We are definitely enjoying it!

On Saturday I was invited to go hiking with a couple girls I met recently.  We went to Cheonggyesan (Cheonggye Mountain).  It was so beautiful!  The fall colors on the trees were amazing and the view from the top was great too.  The hike was relatively short, coming from the Pacific Northwest I would have called it a hill not a mountain, but the climb was also pretty steep at times I thought.  It was located on the south side of Seoul and it was easy to tell that the air was already much nicer than the air in the middle of the city.  We were also very surprised with how quiet the trail was.  Normally Koreans of all ages are out hiking every weekend of the year, but at least not on the path that we took to the top this time.  It was nice and quiet with just the three of us on the trail and we could really take our time and enjoy the trees and the view as we went.  Last night I met up with another friend and we toured the Seoul Lantern Festival since this was the last weekend it would be here.  Actually we toured it from a distance after the nightmare experience of the last "festival" we went to.  It was pretty neat though.  Many different countries contribute lanterns of different things which are lit along a stream that runs through the city.  Instead of walking down along the stream with everyone else, we were able to get a good enough view by walking along the road and looking down at the lanterns and the stream.  Meanwhile, Eric spent the day seeing a movie and browsing through the electronic shop before spending some more time relaxing at home.  :)

The weather was perfect for hiking and being outside on Saturday as well: sunny and not too cold.  All we feel during the week is how cold it is outside when we leave work at night.  Our classrooms at work are heated but the hallways, stairs, and bathrooms are not.  I already find myself bundling up before I make my way into the hallway or up the stairs!  It's quite amazing how quickly we can forget about that awful summer weather!  It has felt quite cold for the last couple weeks and will likely stay that way at least through March.  Thank goodness for lots and lots of layers!

 View from the top of Cheonggyesan

 Some of the fall colors we saw on our way up the mountain

Seoul Lantern Festival