Back to the crag

Bruce and I have joined a Korean climbing gym. Its a little low-rent compared to what we're used to in the U.S., but its a perfectly adequate bouldering gym. Here it is: note that mattresses are used for crash pads.

The gym is home base for a climbing club. In Korea, as I think I've said before, if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing with as many of your closest friends as possible. I'm not exaggerating - why climb with 2 people only when 20 could go? One of the main members of the club speaks English quite well and on our first day at the climbing gym, he invited us to go climbing outdoors with the club the following day. We begged off, mostly because of my recent recovery from pneumoia, but we did join the club this past Sunday.



Looks like a pretty typical climbing scene!


Stated simply, we had a great time. More than 20 people went, not counting me, Bruce, and Vivian. There were 3 other kids there, and there was a real community-family-friendly atmosphere there that I had never experienced climbing in the U.S. Everyone helped take care of Vivian (who, by the way, had the time of her life!) while Bruce and I climbed. Even the kids, got on the rocks, all except Vivi.

Vivian made lots of friends - she is so friendly and not shy that people just love her. Here are a couple of her new friends. This little boy was really sweet and played with her all day.



This guy made the mistake of letting her play with his hand phone (fun to play with, hard to give back).



In Korea, people don't address each other by their names like we do in America. That felt a little strange for a while, but now I realize how great it is for foreigners such as ourselves. Instead of being the new guy and trying to remember 20 names, you really don't have to remember any! So when I say "this little boy" and "this guy" that's because I don't know their names, although we have "met."

Vivian played so hard, she fell asleep on Bruce's lap.



In the morning we did a couple of routes and played with Vivian. At lunch, everyone stopped climbing and gathered around the portable stove, where an enormous pot of noodles was cooked up and served with kimbap (a very traditional korean version of california roll sushi). Everyone ate, including us. Then came the coffee, then the green tea, then back to the routes.





The rock is granite, the routes were quite good, and Bruce and I are really happy about climbing again. If we had known that these people were so friendly and welcoming, and include kids in their climbing without a second thought, we might have gone sooner. I feel like this is one of the best things that has happened since we've been in Korea.