At the advice of their relationship counselor, Heeseung and Igor went separate ways this weekend in an effort to restore their strained relationship. Igor went to a 4-star hotel and spa in Europe, while Heeseung chose the cheaper route and stayed in Korea, and ended up going to Nabae Island on a trip with students from different Korean universities.

Because of the exclusivity of the hotel and spa Igor went to, he's not permitted to reveal any details about his trip, so this entry will consist of Heeseung's trip, although Igor is sure it was considerably less impressive than his own.

Heeseung's trip began Thursday night in Sinchon, where Heeseung and her trip's five-member team met to gather some last minute supplies for their four-day, three-night trip. Post-Grand Mart, they met up with the rest of the 60-something people going on the trip and took a six hour bus, followed by a 1.5 hour boat ride (during which lots of Korean games that involved a lot of hitting as punishment for losing were played), and, finally, their arrival to Nabae Island, land of many mosquitoes. And old people. 

The small island is sparsely populated and has yet to be touched with the more recent advances in modern technology; the people on the island communicate en masse via loudspeaker. Yes, loudspeaker.

Heeseung stayed in a no-longer-in-use three-classroom schoolhouse with limited supplies of water and old-school, rural-style toilets. 

Filled with trepidation and determined not to use the bathroom for the duration of the trip, Heeseung (and the rest of the students) began Friday, their first day on the island, as soon as they touched ground with work, landscaping around the school and freshening it up. And it needed a lot of freshening up. Really, a lot. Although the work was long and the sun was hot, the day closed with a midnight walk along the sea and much bonding over several bottles of soju and much drunken singing.

The second day on Nabae consisted of an early morning (or so Heeseung was told; however, even after being removed from her sleeping bag, it was still several hours later before she could be considered actually awake), more work, a pig slaughtering (by far the freshest and hairiest pig meat Heeseung has ever had) and feast with the islanders (an announcement was made via loudspeaker for the people on the island to gather for the start of the feast), and more drunken revelry before falling asleep in the wee hours of the morning.

The third, and last, day on the island began miserably with yet another early morning (there's a trend here, you may notice, all involving a severe lack of sleep), last minute packing and cleaning, and then it was back to Seoul, although most of the members of the trip met for one last meal together before parting ways.

In all, this weekend can be considered a success: Heeseung saw a completely different Korea and met lots of Korean students (while communication was at times difficult, it was by no means impossible, and there are plans in the making to meet again soon), while Igor got the most divine mud bath and shell shine at the hotel and spa and is also soon to have new members in his posse, handpicked from Heeseung's new friends. And when Igor says members of his posse, he really means minions under his control. Just kidding. But not really.