Rejuvenation in Namhae

Tuesday, June 5th
 I signed up to go  to the Namhae Garlic Festival, so I got up earlyish (8 am) and then met everyone else going at the USA Pavilion. There was like 13 of us total, 11 student ambassadors, our photographer, and another team member sent from U.S. Embassy Seoul. We all caught a ferry to Namhae, which is on the Korean peninsula, but it's faster and cheaper to get there by taking a ferry than driving there. The ferry ride was actually really refreshing and I didn't get seasick at all, which I had been worried about. When we got to Namhae, an employee at the Hilton met us at the ship and drove us to the garlic fields. I think the Hilton was having an MT (group bonding sessions common in Korea to do with coworkers and groups) and they had luckily already picked most of the garlic. We only had to pick garlic for 30 minutes thankfully because it was an unusually hot day. After that everyone who had the afternoon shift had to leave to catch the ferry. They had no idea what they were about to miss out on. The other six of us got to go back to the Hilton for a girls' day out essentially. First we got a free meal (thanks to our pavilion) and it was absolutely delicious. I had plum tea to drink, which was just the right amount of sweet. I don't even know if I like plums but it was amazing. Then we were waiting for Cathy to get back from the ferry since she had gone with everyone else to make sure they got their tickets back (also complimentary thanks to our pavilion). While waiting for her we got 2 Pumpkin and Feta Cheese Salads to share among the five of  us. I can not tell you how much I have missed salads. In Korea, salads are pretty much always Japanese style salads with cabbage and a lot of dressing and that's it. So I'm pretty sure I ate one of those salads myself I was so excited. Then for my actual meal, I got a Margherita Pizza with artichokes.  Also absolutely delicious. (As a side note, the menu had its dishes marked if they were vegetarian, making the food ordering process so much simpler.) Then for dessert I split an apple pie and ice cream with Lauren, who was sitting next to me. I'm not even a big pie person, but this was the best apple pie I have ever tasted in my life. Even though we were both stuffed, we were debating ordering another one because it was that good. After finishing the meal, we had a dilemma as to whether we wanted to go to the spa or to the pool. None of us had swimsuits, but the pool won out since people didn't want to pay the 13,000 won to use the spa area. I had wanted to go to the spa, but I had no problem with the pool. I had only wanted to go to the spa because I still felt gross from picking garlic out of the ground. I also had both sunscreen and lotion on, making my skin feel gross. Anyway, the pool had a gorgeous view of the ocean and pretty much all of us ended up falling asleep from food comas and long-term lack of sleep after chatting for awhile. A couple hours later we all felt positively amazing and refreshed. A couple of us wanted to take the ferry back at sunset, but we ended up taking the 5 pm ferry back, which still had an amazing view. I seriously had no complaints that day. I felt so relaxed the whole entire day and it was just so great to take a day off and get away from Yeosu. It was like a mini vacation. 


After we got back from Namhae, Lauren and I along with some other people went to dinner at a restaurant specializing in duck. I thought it would be fine since I had eaten there before during a team dinner at the beginning of May. It turns out though that they had only made me bibimbap because we were in a huge group even though it wasn't on the menu. So I ended up just eating side dishes and getting this rice soup kind of thing, which tasted way better than it sounds.


Afterwards, I went back to my apartment to chill a bit more and then I went to the 노래방 (karaoke room) with Josh, Bjorn, Eric, and Jenna to sing my heart out while being tone deaf. Fantastic combination.