Chonggaesan, Nov. 26th

This time we didn't get lost, nor did we have to go through a firing range. We did, however, start early, and I had my share of hurdles to jump over to make it down to Gwacheon. At 1:30 on the previous night (morning?) I realised that my cell-phone had gone missing. I have no other working alarm clock in my house - my cell had that function since I bought it more than 2 years ago.I spent a sleepless night worrying that I wouldn't wake up on time. I was actually awake waiting for dawn when on the way to the bathroom I saw that it was already 7:00 a.m. - no time for coffee, breakfast, just a quick toothbrushing-water splashing over my face activity and dash for the subway. On top of it, I had cramps that could be measured on the Richter scale, that's how badly they shook me.
Iwas 15 min late only, not much considering the lateness of other people, but I guess when one is usually punctual, being late on ocassion is neither expected nor tolerated by others. I paid the penalty to shut them up.The hike was great as it always is. Melanie hiked for the first time, a bit slow in the beginning but then she picked up nicely. Seokjong and I kept her company not leaving her behind only to be teased by Deb and CD about being slow. Some people!We had warm odaeng and the murky water it was swimming in (gongmul). It was quite nice on a cold day.We had our ddju and tubu kimchi at a nice big restaurant with some very funny hikers and very well-organized stuff. Everything went so smoothly that we concluded they must have hired a consulting agency to show them how to do their job properly.Having finished the hike early, we went to Dongdaemun to shop for hiking gear. I bought a new pair of gortex hiking boots - I like them a lot but they need some breaking in. Deb bought a new backpack.After that we headed down to Kangnam to meet Penny who is leaving Korea in a couple of days. Oh, my god - the woman has become a total babe, so impossibly slim and impossibly platinum blonde. I wasn't feeling well after a day of hiking under the influence of Advil and alcohol, so I had to leave early, although I wanted to spend more time with Penny at her fairwell party.A super hot shower at home and hot chocolate with a few drops of rum warmed me up and I slept like a baby, which is just as well, as I spent today all day long grading students' papers.Conqured about 800 stairs today.