Who would have thought that monsoon type rain would not stop a group of American/Canadian kids from going to the waterpark with an entire Korean family!?
We accomplished that feat today. All week we had plans to go to this waterpark that is about an hour and a half away. It's called Caribbean Bay and is supposed to be one of the best in this part of the world. You have to make a reservation to go because they reach their capacity so quickly. It’s an easy way to control the crowd. If you ever come to Korea, don’t try to just walk up to the park. You probably won’t get in. Here is the link if you want to see more about the park before I continue my story…. http://www.everland.com/MultiLanguage/english/caribbean/main.html . My host mom invited Danny and Stacy to join us. I set my alarm last night for 5am (yes! 5am!! we were leaving at 6)... but when I woke up at 4am to the sounds of ridiculous thunder shaking my building and rain pounding on my window, I thought maybe our day plans were ruined. In the U.S., if even the slightest bit of thunder comes, the park is shut down. Here, NO WAY!! I walked out in the living room to find my entire host family already awake because the thunder scared them. We turned on some music and danced around the living room to calm their nerves (my suggestion!). Afterwards, I asked my host mom if we were going to have to make different plans. She responded by saying "of course not! We have more fun when it’s raining!"
We loaded up our cars and headed out. My host mom's sister, brother-in-law, mother, and the new baby joined us. Hera (my oldest host sister) had to stay home because she had to work today. A little while later, we had arrived! Busting out to "Barbie Girl" in the parking lot while the men bought our tickets, we enjoyed our little bit of calmness before the storm. Once we got inside, Stacy and I both realized this was not going to be like any American waterpark. We first had to go into the ladies locker room and get lockers for our stuff. Let me tell you when I say that Korean women have no shame! Women everywhere just stripped right down to change into their bathing suits. It definitely shocked us. Seeing how we both wore our swimsuits under our clothes for the trip up, we got out of there as quickly as we could. On the website it told us that everyone had to wear swim caps. When we got there, we figured out otherwise and were way excited that we did not have to adorn the fashion no-no. We made a "base camp" so we knew where to meet if we got lost from the group. We went on a few slides before heading to the wave pool. For the wave pool, everyone has to wear life jackets. John (my host brother), Danny and I made our way to the deepest part of the pool. We figured “what the heck, we are in life jackets so we won’t drown.” Going into this wave pool thinking it would be like Wet’n’Wild’s with massive waves knocking you down was a very bad idea for me to think. As we floated there, I realized that all this wave pool was going to be was some giant bumps in the water. We gently floated over each one and no matter how big it was, we never got any ounce of a wave feeling. Danny and I looked at each other like “are you kidding me right now.”
We saw where the waves were breaking so we tried to head back there. When we got to that area, we realized that it was blocked off. In the water, there was a thick green line about 10 feet wide. This was the exact area where the waves crashed. However, before every wave, the lifeguards clear that area. You have to either be in the deeper part where you just get bumps or the shallow part where the waves hit you at your knee caps. VERY DISSAPPOINTED. Danny and I made the move to get out as fast as we could. When we got out, it started pouring rain! Everyone wanted to stay under the tree but we all agreed to head up to where our favorite slides were. Standing in the ridiculous rain, telling stories about how we never get this much rain in a year was sooooo much fun! Stacy and I were laughing pretty hard at the fact that no lines got shorter and it seemed like no was affected by the rain. It stopped raining after a little while.
We left John at the wave pool so when we made the decision to wait in the line for the water rollercoaster, we went back to camp to look for him. Nowhere to be found so Danny, Stacy, Lisa (my middle host sister), and I headed up. The sign on the outside said 80 minute wait. We figured maybe it would go fast like our other waits went. Boy, were we wrong!! I think that after about 2 hours, we finally made it to the front. You climb in your 2 person raft and float around the corner to where a conveyor belt pulls you up to the top. You then have to get on a second belt until you reach the starting point of the rollercoaster. The 2 hour wait was definitely worth it. Going down hills to just be pushed back up another by extreme jets was so much fun. Definitely the highlight of the day! For lunch, I had fried shrimp with this tangy Caribbean sauce. It was awesome! Stacy and I discussed how you would never find an actual restaurant like we had in an American waterpark.
After a few more waves in the not so amazing wave pool, we made the decision to head home. Once again, Stacy and I were greeted by naked women all over the place changing back into their regular clothes. Maybe it’s just me but to get naked in a room full of women I don’t know would just be weird. We quickly changed back and met up with the boys to get out of there. My host father’s favorite song is “Bad Case of Loving You” by Robert Palmer and he used to be in a band. On the way home, he asked if he could sing the song to Stacy and I. As he rocked out with the music blasting and hitting every note, we couldn’t help but laugh at how he excited he was to sing to us. He was actually a pretty good singer too!
After a day full of rain, crazy wait times for rides, and a wave pool with no waves, we were all super tired but my host mom insisted on taking us to dinner. We drove up this hill by our house to this gorgeous restaurant. The street it was on was known was a good place to eat out. There were restaurants everywhere but we were going for BBQ duck. Our restaurant was covered in ivy and had a cute little waterfall out front. It was very quant. It really put be me at ease after the chaos that was Caribbean Bay. Dinner was awesome and I couldn’t have asked for a better time with better people. My host mom’s brother-in-law drove me home while she took home Danny and Stacy.
Now it is time to crash because I have never been so tired in my life!
Tomorrow is a light day… maybe some shopping in a new area of town I haven’t explored yet and maybe a movie!
Goodnight!
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