SPF 30...What a Crock!

Ahh the beach. Something...er...someWHERE I haven't been in over three months.
Until this weekend...

So we went four hours east of Seoul to a small city called Gangneung. Erin and Sarah knew a couple of people who were working at a Hagwon out there, so we all decided that it was time on this long Memorial Day weekend to hit up a place that we'd never been before. It seemed perfect.

I was pretty tired the day we left, not just because I got up at 6:20am, but also because I had one of the worst sleeps of my life. You know those nights when you keep waking up, but you think you've never actually been to sleep in the first place? Yeah, well that was my night. I'm not sure if it was because I had some sort of Christmas syndrome, where you're so excited that you can't sleep, or if I thought I would sleep through my alarm, but it sucked none the less.

Well we arrived on Saturday afternoon and headed straight for the beach. It was incredible. A sight that I had most definitely missed. It was some sort of a cross between a California beach and something that you'd find driving down the coast on the Baja. It was awesome.

Rob and I were planning on staying in what is called a Yeogwan. Basically a cheap room, I won't even call it a motel, it's somewhere to sleep that's cheap. So it was about $15 each for the night and we didn't just stay anywhere, nope. We most definitely stayed on the beach. The door to our building lead right to sand, no crossing the street, no walking super far. Open the door...beach. It was great. The sleep, however, was not. I had the second straight night of terrible sleeps, but this was for different reasons. The hallways echo BIG time in this place and people seemed to be coming in to rent rooms at all hours of the night. Every time someone came in, I woke up. It was frustrating to say the least. Not to mention the man in the truck driving around with his loudspeaker at 6am, I swear that guy followed me from Chang-Dong. Frick he won't leave me alone. No sir, I don't want to buy a pineapple...or a computer monitor, or whatever the heck you're selling this week!!

Anyway, when I got up in the morning the memory of my failed sleep attempts faded as soon as I walked out the back door to the beach. It was such an awesome thing to wake up to. So, Rob and I sat on the beach literally all day long. Till we both realized that we were burned to a crisp. Now, I realize that sometimes people say that they're burned really bad, but aren't, but really, the both of us...Him with red hair, and Me with a red haired mother who oh so generously passed her fair skin down to me...we are actually fried....like can't go in the sun and have to take advil while spreading copious amounts of Aloe on our burned arms and legs.

Now, might I add that I'm not totally dense and I DID put SPF 30 on THREE TIMES! I don't know what else I could have done aside from watching the beach from inside, but how much fun is that really?

But, in the end, it was all worthwhile. Although, at this point I'm unable to share photos with you because the camera Rob brought with him had dead batteries, and I still haven't invested in a digital camera as of yet. Pictures are to come though, cause Rob purchased a disposable, we'll just have to wait for the cd.

For now, it's cold showers and Aloe while the Koreans stare at me like I'm some kind of freak (and more than they usually do...). Cause sunburns are some sort of phenomenon that they don't understand, but I guess they wouldn't really get why you'd go to the beach in less clothing than you'd wear snowboarding in January.