Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics

March 17-18, the last two days of the winter Paralympics. What a whirlwind trip! First off, having the opportunity to see the Olympics was definitely one of the big appeals and part of why we chose Korea to come to and teach. That being said, it became clearer and clearer as we got closer to February that this trip would be a difficult one.

The main reasons for this were (1) the transportation to Pyeongchang, which is sort of a remote area, can be a little complicated. Plus tickets for the trains have been super sold out. And (2) the housing situation.

There aren't many hotels in Pyeongchang so many people had to get accommodations in neighboring cities/towns.. and we just didn't have the transportation available to deal with this. I guess you could also throw cost into the equation because the hotels were super pricey, but it's the Olympics, so cost probably goes without saying.

View of the Han river from our KTX train

Luckily for us, we have some amazing friends from MOSS (Willie & Hailey), one of whom (Willie) has a brother who competes in the Paralympics as a cross country skier in the visually impaired category. It was really exciting for us to be able to go and visit them (and as a bonus see some of the Olympics ☺).

Since we didn't have any breaks in work we had to do a whirlwind ~36 hour overnight trip to the area. Fortunately we were able to secure some trains tickets and our friends were able to offer us a spot to crash for the night. With the two issues solved, we were hyped to go.

Saturday:
Apartment --> Bus to Oosong Station --> KTX to Seoul --> KTX to Pyeongchang --> Bus to Olympic Village

So after two buses and two trains we finally made it to Pyeongchang. The train was really beautiful between Seoul and Pyeongchang. The mountains we could see around us were misty and layered, which to me felt reminiscent of mountain paintings.

Anyway, round trip travel time was about 4.5 hours from the time we left our apartment to the time we met up with our friends. Saturday afternoon with them was spent catching up on life and enjoying some fried chicken & beer, definitely a staple here in South Korea.

After our late lunch we wandered around the Olympic Park area where there were huge, temporary tent-buildings set up with the Olympic store and entertainment.

Entertainment area with a free holographic concert and other virtual reality-type games/experiences

Large stadium/arena for the opening/closing ceremonies

Superstore!

We didn't end up buying much, mostly because a lot of things were sold out (we were there on the last day and a half of the Olympics so nothing was being restocked). We did score some fun gloves which were on sale, two pairs for W 15,000. And we bought a magnet for our future fridge ☺

Saturday evening was spent at the medal ceremony. As a bonus, Willie's brother, Jake, had actually won a silver medal earlier that day! We were really excited for him and it made watching the medal ceremony even cooler. 

Prior to the ceremony there was a cultural performance which was really cool

In the forefront: Jake and his guide taking pictures with their silver medals

In the background: After every event's medals were presented there was a national anthem played for the gold medalist

I wanted to get a photo with all of the flags ☺

We left a little while after our Jake was awarded his medal. Our friends' accommodations were located in Gangneung, about 30 minutes away, the coastal site of the Olympics. That was another thing, the Olympic events were so spread out it would have been really difficult to get anywhere without a car. Luckily they had rented a big van.

 

Large tunnel walkway for funneling people out of the Olympic area

On our way back to their air bnb we decided to stop in downtown Gangneung to seek out some Korean BBQ and noraebang (노래방), the Korean version of Karaoke. Usually noraebangs provide a private room for you and your friends to use and you pay by the hour. 

 

Downtown Gangneung

The first place we found wanted to charge us W 100,000/hr (~$94.00) which wasn't happening. Haha. So we tried to find another place. We ended up stumbling into a sort of noraebang that was a single room with a bunch of booths and other seating, with a small stage/karaoke machine in the middle. 

Two older women who seemed to be running the place basically pulled us in and insisted we stay. It smelled like cigarette smoke and it was full of locals who didn't speak English, so it felt pretty uncomfortable... but one of our friends was super into it so we ended up staying. The bench booth that we were seated in was apholstered in a crushed velvet leopard print. Classic.

Despite our reservations in staying, we ended up having a great night. We sang some classic rock songs from Guns N Roses, the Beatles, as well as some Smashmouth and Queen. The local Koreans danced with us, tried to sing along with us, and attempted to talk to us about where we are from. Between our music picks we got to watch and dance along with the Korean songs that were being picked by the other patrons. Not exactly modern Kpop either, these picks were like.. Korean trot music. Really entertaining. Haha. Yeah, we were the youngest people there by a generation.

We didn't have any cowbells but we had some tambourines which we almost as fun to play with


Photo courtesy of Hailey ☺

We got back and had a great sleep, on a comfy floor futon tucked away in an office space.

The next day we were able to look around and see what an amazing spot they had found. Gangneung is a really beautiful coastal city. I would love to go back and visit it sometime.

Beautiful view of the ocean

We were up early, around 6:30am, to get ready for a day of watching Olympic events. We headed over to the cross country skiing area to watch two relays.

Seating area

We were comfortable, warm, and excited as we waited for the relay to start. It was packed with people by the time the event began. It was really cool to be around so many different people cheering for different players. Most of the people around us were Koreans but there was a group of Japanese people sitting in front of us who were decked out in gear to support their athletes. There were groups from China, Canada, and Belarus too. It was amazing to see these athletes who were missing arms, legs, or their vision, compete so fiercely. 

USA placed in 7th for the mixed relay that our friend's brother was in

After a morning full of events, we headed back to the Olympic plaza area. We had to catch a bus to catch a train by about 4 pm, so we didn't have too much time left. We grabbed some lunch and coffee and talked and walked around Pyeongchang. We were approached for pictures and for TV interviews. That part felt a little strange/surreal, but overall the afternoon was just relaxing.

Hanging out at the train station

Bandabi is the mascot for the Paralympics

We wandered around a small Olympic museum at Jinbu station

It was so nice to see our friends and talk with people who get us, you know? As nice as it is to Skype with our family and friends, getting those hugs from them was something else. It was worth all of the little struggles and quick turnaround to just get that.

Thanks for reading ♥ ☺