Wild Weekend Warrior

2:22 AM Jmo 0 Comments

(unfinished post while in Korea)

These past two months I've been living out of a backpack. Packing, unpacking, dumping out sand, throwing out dirty socks. It's been as fun as it's been exhausting.

A few months back I started my scuba diving certification and, due to logisitcal and time constraints, it hasn't been until now that I finished it. But I did it! I can officially breathe underwater now. After my online course, a trip up to Paju to complete my confined water dives and then a mid-week, 2 day dive camp up on the coast in Gangwondo, I can officially call myself a scuba diver.
I had an incredible time with the Deep Blue Quest family and if anyone is looking to get certified while here in Korea, I suggest you contact them. It truly is a family. The support and comfort level was just what I needed to take the pressure off (no pun intended) this life long goal of mine. And! If anyone is up around Sokcho or Namae (North East coast) be sure to stop by Aqua Gallery. Aqua Gallery is the dive shop where I took part in the scuba camp with my main instructor. The group that runs that shop are absolutely amazing and we became instant friends. It's hard not to like someone when they have a mohawk and invite you to a bbq on their boat.
-Jessica Montgomery: Artist, Teacher, Scuba Diver. Yes!

Another note worthy check on my Korean Bucket List was seeing the DMZ (The Demilitarized Zone. The 38th parallel separating North and South Korea). I took a USO tour with a few of my best buds and I must say, it was incredibly worth it. Not only do you get to step into a part of past and current history, you get to step inside the Hermit Kingdom itself. It's not exactly common to say you've stepped foot inside North Korea, the last true Dictatorship in the world. It was an awe-inspiring day; full of feelings of grief, excitement, disbelief, and pride. An incredible experience. I encourage everyone that ever should find themself on the Korean peninsula to visit. Our tour group guide and US Commander even suggested that we ditch the word "tour" and instead replace it with "education". It was indeed. A mine exploded while we were there.

Toss in another few weekends full of Boryeong Mudfest #2, concerts, packing, trip planning, and a sprained back and I've been one busy expatriate.