Hard Rocks and Harry Horses

Well, I ended up not going scuba diving this weekend, and it worked out to be a really good decision, because I was able to take an outing with my family. Friday night I met five other girls: Julienne, Lindsay, Emerald, Lauryn, and Katie for a beer. We went to a bar called KANSAS, where we indulged in french fries and beer; it was delicious. Saturday I met Kate and another friend Alex for lunch and then a movie at the DVD Bong. A DVD bong is a place where you can pick out a movie and then sit in a small room, on a comfy couch with air conditioning seeping out from above your head, and watch your movie projected on a screen that is about 4ft X 4ft.
We watched Narnia, which I hadn't seen and thought was wonderful...it brought back many images that have been stuck in my mind since I read the books when I was a little girl. Saturday night my family and I went to E.Mart, which is Korea's version of Wal.Mart. We had dinner at a food court on the top floor of E.Mart and then did some grocery shopping, clothes shopping. Sunday I went for a jog and then my family took me on an outing. First, went to the Jeju Rock Museum. I will never think of rocks in the same light, let me tell you. We saw rocks that looked like they had been molded from playdough; we saw rocks that cast shadows that looked like animals and big buddhas drinking tea. It was interesting to see how much Jeju Islanders connect their history with rocks, due to the fact that there are so many of these strangely shaped rocks, that formed from lava when they were ejected out of the big volcano during eruption 1.5 billion years ago. They labeled these rocks, and I still have no idea if the labels are at all scientific in nature, but my gut tells me that perhaps they aren't... one rock classification was the ribbon rocks, another the button rocks, and yet another (my personal favorite) were the cow dung rocks. After the rock museum, we headed to a sort of horse farm, I really cannot call it a ranch with a good conscience. (Actually, by the end of the experience I was likening it more to a Nazi prison camp for horses.) Of course, in the Korean tradition of doing things, we had to put our "horseback riding gear" on or else what's the point of doing it? So we put our boots, red vests, and Jeju style cowboy hats. Stood on a stack of three tires, to mount the horse. I immediately took the reins and was told that I was not supposed to do that, rather I should just clutch a metal handle that was sticking up from the saddle. My guide also shoved my boots back as far as he could into the stirrups so I'd be sure to get dragged good and far should I fall off the horse. They walked us about 10 feet and shoved the horses together for photos. It felt like a professional photo shoot as they told us where to place our hands and what poses to form. (Later we would return to the outfitting room, where roughly 80 pictures of families in the exact same poses and outfits hung from the wall.) Next, they led our horses around a short trail, about the size of going halfway around a city block. Then our guides whipped our horses on the butts and we trotted for 5 laps around a small ring (all of this without holding our reins.) The guide just stood at the gate of the arena, yelling stuff to the horses to keep them trotting. At one point I heard "Ilbon" which means Japan, and I thought he may be threatening to send them back there to be eaten.) I don't know what he was yelling, but it kept them moving until, at last, they parked us and we climbed back down onto the tires and then the ground. It was quite an experience! Next stop was this gigantic crater that was also formed when the volcano exploded, and it was a perfect evening to walk around. The air has really cooled off here, I think it was in the low 70's and not humid. There was an amazing view of Mt. Halla (the volcano); a great ending to a wonderful day! To prove what a wonderful day it had been, Eunnae, Sue Jeon and I all fell asleep in the back of the car on the way home.