I'd almost forgotten I was living on a beach island

This is why I've missed Summer on Jeju (as always, click the pictures to make them bigger) 

Part of the fun of living in Asia is standing out.  Two prime examples occurred this last weekend.

The first was when Vicky and I walked into a restaurant we like to visit.  Without saying a word, the waitress brought us the drinks we wanted and started cooking our food.  When we go anywhere more than a couple times, they always remember us.  Can't imagine why.

The more random one was on Friday.  I was walking home from school and was about 100 feet from our apartment building when a delivery man walked up to me and handed me a package.  Confused, I looked down and saw that it was addressed to me and had our address on the package.  Apparently he's been to our apartment before, recognized me as I was walking by and decide to save himself the trouble of going up to the 7th floor. When did I become famous?  (When I became a 6'2 white guy on a small Korean island, that's when)

Hamdeok Soebong before we hiked it

Cool moss-covered rocks.  Just don't try to walk on them!

Smiling into the sun is not easy but Vicky does a great job of it here

But enough about how we blend in about as well as common sense in a political debate.  The rest of our weekend was spent out walking and exploring.  We did this because it's gorgeous here right now and because we want to get our bodies used to walking a lot.  A long cold winter means we were stuck inside for about 5 months straight and got out of shape.  Now that it's not miserably cold and windy outside, we're working to get ourselves back into shape and feeling good!

Vicky even decided to go local by wearing a tracksuit   Her's wasn't as colorful as most Korean hikers opt for (think bright neon colored wind-pants and jackets.  Like her sunglasses but all over)  (And yes they wear those even in summer. Sun protection) but it worked well for her.  It kept her comfortable and shielded the worst of the sun from her lovely, fair skin.

Which way to go?  We opted for both :)

To quote my students when posing for pictures, "Cheese-oo"

On Sunday we elected to pursue our goal by hiking part of Olle Trail 19 near Hamdeok beach.  In case I haven't mentioned it, the Olle Trails are a series of walking trails that circle the entire coast of Jeju.  They are a fantastic way place to go for a walk and see some beautiful scenery.  And as you can tell from the pictures, we did just that!

I really like this one

PS.  I did get my new camera and these are pictures from it.  Don't know if the difference shows much here but I'm really happy with it!

And as long as it keeps taking pictures like these, I'll keep being really happy with it!