Driver Like Me

Hey Marian,

Here is myself, focused on driving!

This summer, I finally passed all driver tests and got my driver license! I've been excited to be capable to drive a car (not just a golf car, haha). Despite it has been more than 2 months since I got the license, I did not get to drive often until 2 weeks ago. It was because my family has two cars and they are both used daily basis by my parents who go to their works every weekdays. Then, my mom had a business trip for 2 weeks that her car was free for me to drive! With my dad's assistance, I got to practice a lot in my hometown before a big driving opportunity: A ROAD-TRIP to east coast of Korea!

This trip was officially my dad's business trip to a workshop meantime unofficially a father-n-daughter trip:) This was a great opportunity to practice driving on freeways to me. We left on Sunday, a day earlier than the day his workshop started, right after church. We left early to enjoy some landmarks in the east coast of Korea. It was a 3 hours long drive from my house to a small hotel we stayed. Here is a Google Map of the trip route.

We safely arrived in a city called Mangsang

I live relatively in a western part of S. Korea. My dad and I split the 3-hr drive. When it was my turn, I got to drive through harsh rains and fog on a freeway. Such environments made me concentrate more than how much I was. After the drive, I realized how tense my body was. It was an early evening when we arrived in the hotel, which was little early to eat dinner yet. So we spend our time at a beach that was a less than five minutes walk from the hotel. Because it was not a summer break/vacation time in schools and works yet, we could enjoy the beach itself without having too many people around. On our way to the beach, there was a small railroad we had to cross. My dad and I got to put our feet in the water, and it was very peaceful but not boring at all. It has been long since the last time I hung out with just my dad. Even though it was not like we did something super active or different from what we usually do at home, it was great to be outside of our town.

A selfie with Chotdae Bawi behind us!

On the next day, we drove around on our way to an university campus where we were going to stay for next three days for my dad's workshop. This day consisted of few hikes since my dad love going on hikes! On the east coast, there were some popular rocks that create amazing sceneries with East Sea. One of the most common names for rocks in the coast was "chotdae" rock. " Chotdae" in Korean means a candlestick. Because of its vertically extended shape like a candlestick, people named several rocks "Chotdae Bawi." ("Bawi" means a rock) During this 4-days trip, we got to go two places with "Chotdae" rocks; it was the first location we drove to. My dad and I went on a short hike around the rocks. It was not a sunny day but grey colors and the colors of rocks create a great harmony. We also went on a hike to a mountain with several waterfalls and valleys. It was very nice and cool to put our legs in the water of a valley during the hike.

Chotdae Bawi

During this trip, I got to spend two nights in a dorm of the campus, which was WAY nicer than the one of mine, haha. They have their own heating-floor system, AC, two showers in a restroom for three people! I guess one thing I was not envious of was that the campus is located literally at a top of mountain and it takes more than 30 minutes to go down to a town. For next two days, I tagged along my dad during his workshop. This workshop consisted of various lectures and a tour in the east coast for next days. I got to listen to some interesting lectures relating to chemical engineering from various professors in the workshop. There were definitely a few difficulties in understanding but it was cool to have this opportunity of listening to lectures with professors seated in a lecture hall as a college student in STEM major.

On the tour prepared by the workshop, we got to go to several places: a huge cave called Hwan-Sun Cave, ChooChoo Park where used old railroads to show around beautiful mountains, a cable car ride over ocean, and Jukseoru Pavilion where many scholars in the past enjoyed writing poems, and another Chotdae Bawi in a different location. My favorite was definitely seeing a clear ocean. When I saw it, I could not believe its colors were all real. The colors were so vibrant that it looked like someone blended watercolor paint in it.

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In the afternoon of Wednesday, we drove back to home. I volunteered to drive first for two hours. After this trip, I re-learned how beautiful Korea is. Sometimes, I unconsciously wanted to travel to different countries but it was a great reminder that I do not have to go outside of my country to see beautiful nature. I was also grateful to have a father-and-daughter trip with my dad. Since I had a mother-and-daughter trip to Cork with my mom, I had wanted to do something with my dad this summer, and this was it! I got to see who my dad is as a professor during the workshop and as a person during the trip. He loves dad's jokes for sure...I will leave it there. I am so thankful having my dad who is willing to "risk" his life to assist me driving without scarying me too much during drives (actually, I am scared of him when I park...)

Another big thing I became more confident of from this trip is driving! There are definitely things I need to work on more like parking but now I know that I am capable of driving around! I am excited to drive you one day, Marian! Be ready!

Love,

Joanne

Throwback to when you taught me how to drive a golf car!

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This is a part of 10-week challenge with Marian Ledesma. Here is a Marian's recent post!