I was prepared this weekend to be sleeping on a freezing, hard, floor, in a tiny room, huddled with all my friends, robbing them of their body heat. As fun as that sounds, the weekend turned out a bit differently.

When our friend Daria invited us to take a pension trip with her, we blindly accepted without any idea of what exactly pension trip entailed. A little taste for adventure got the best of us, and we jumped at the opportunity. We were told that these Korean pension trips are like camping, so we were honestly expecting to rough it.

We were very pleasantly suprised when we arrived at our condo/pension at Daechon beach (up north about an hour from Cheonan). Except for the lack of beds (Korean style...sleeping on the floor), it was just like a cabin getaway you'd find at a nice mountain lodge in the U.S. It was much more spacious than I expected, with several rooms , TVs, a nice kitchen and a couch. Though there were no beds, there were more than enough mats, pillows and blankets we threw into the living room. It was like sleepover stlye straight out of a Babysitter Club book. It was very comfortable and cozy. Outside, we had a tent with a barbeque and table to have ourselves a little winter cookout.

Before settling in, the women (Krystin, Jenny, Daria, Judy and myself) scurried to E-Mart to get grocceries for the weekend. Daria and Judy are Korean so they bought a lot of Korean food to make for us. They were wonderful hostesses! Meanwhile the men (Josh, Andy, Ben and Beagle (a Korean bartender friend)) lazed around, while we shopped. I suppose in a perfect world they should've been chopping wood or something manly.

After shopping, Daria drove us girls to see the ocean. It was absolutely freezing, but beautiful. There is something very calm about a beach in the wintertime.

Daria and Judy really did a nice job taking care of us, organzing the whole trip, preparing amazing meals throughout the weekend. When they weren't cooking and we weren't eating their amazing cooking, we talked, goofed off, relaxed, slept, just passed the time leisurely until nightfall.

Saturday night we had a Korean style cookout. It was delicious, but nothing like a cookout back home. To give you an idea, just picture a big green leaf instead of a bun, little strips of pork instead of a huge hamburger patty, and a spicy sauce instead of ketchup. Oh and of course, throw in some rice. Who am I kidding... there's always rice. And any Korean cookout has beer and soju (comparable to watered down vodka). That is where you can find a similarity between Korean and American cookouts... booze... lots of it.

Once we were so cold that we couldn't feel our toes anymore, we headed back inside. Somehow or another a big dance party extravaganza ensued. I, for one, was in heaven. I love to dance. We all goofed around until we wore ourselves out, laughing so hard, we were falling to the floor in fits of laughter. Though Daria, Judy and Beagle don't speak much English and us foreigners are worthless in Korean, there is no barrier when it comes to genuine smiles, laughter and fun. I will keep these memories with me for a lifetime.