Ok, onto flying! I will have to make some posts out of order. Only because i am so excited by what happened. Yesterday, I jumped off a friggin mountain! And it was awesome! It was a friend's birthday and he wanted to go paragliding, so he got a group together and we went. Heres our group:
So, I was nervous in the beginning of the day. Everyone kept making jokes that they were gonna die. What else do you do when you're nervous? I kinda got nervous in the morning, but as we got closer to our destination my nerves subsided.
We got picked up in the city and drove for about 30 mins towards some beautiful mountains, that are actually near a place i went last week that i have yet to share with you. We drive up the mountain, with some pretty gnarly turns. Its kinda like driving way up Refugio Rd. And we were in a minivan, but these guys know the roads pretty well since they drive up it about 5 times in a day. So we get to the top and all there is, is a small clearing and small running area and then, down. The entire area was probably quarter the size of a football field, probably smaller. We got to the top of the mountain around 10:30. The wind wasn't that great. It picked up a little and two people went. About 40 min later they came back to our spot. Then two more went. I got to go this time. I was pumped! People were joking and saying "Why does she look like a natural?!" I dunno, i guess i just like this stuff.
A friend asked me before i jumped, "Are you nervous?"
"Not really."
"You just become my favorite woman."
Why thank you :)
(In all reality, I feel like i have done way more stupid things.)
I got suited up and theres a camera that you can use to take pics while you're in the air. Like what we are using here:
So, its really hard to run when you feel like youre wearing a diaper with saggy pants, so one of the other guys helping out pretty much pulled me and then we took off! But we went down for a little while before we went up. I was a little nervous, i kept saying, "Up! Up! Up! Up!" And just in the nick of time we went up and we got to soar in the sky like a bird. It was incredible. I must say this is a feeling i've wanted for a long time. It was awesome. You just float in the sky, and the other guy does the work. However, my ride was so quick because I guess the weather was bad, it wasn't windy enough. We also had a hard landing. It might of been my fault. I don't remember. You're suppose to just recline the whole time and at the end keep your legs up and just slide across the ground on your butt. I dont really remember doing that. I remember sliding and turning. So when i stopped i was on my side but i couldnt move because of all the harnesses and stuff. The man kept asking me, "Are you ok? Are you ok?" Ya ya im ok, just get me out, cuz i cant! Haha. So i get out im fine, i still had a great time. I didnt feel like it was worth the money at that time. We get in the car and my flight navigator hands me the camera and i look at my pictures. They are over exposed!!! None of them came out. So i told my instructor (who's Korean and sorta speaks English) and showed him. He took the camera and grumbled a little. I told him, i should get a free ride again so i could get some photos. He didnt really respond, i dont know if he didnt understand or just didnt want to deal with me at the moment. We packed up and drove up the mountain to the rest of the crew.
The rest of the day we just hung out on the top of this mountain with a beautiful view of Ulsan. The view is of green foresty mountains with rice patties and gardens at the base. We watched and helped as two by two people would take off and fly in sky. There were a lot of other people flying on their own too. Its like a little community of paragliders. They were all very nice and some spoke some English. It was a hobby for most of them.
By 3 pm, there were two people who were left to go, and then the instructor said that he would take me again so that i could get some photos. I was so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't really expect him to do it. I was mostly kidding. But im glad i said something! So, everyone went off and i waited my turn, again. :) And, there was another instructor who said he would take our friend Zach. Zach is kinda a big guy and it was tricky to have him fly. The wind has to be pretty strong. So, he got to go! And here we are ready:
I got a little more nervous this time. But right before we go, the nerves disappeared and all of a sudden i was in the air again. Oh, it was so worth the money this time. He helped me take some pictures, but i only got about 2 or 3 photos before the memory got full. Haha. I don't care. I only really need one. The rest of the ride was awesome. We went higher, and then he let me navigate. He let me hold the handles and told me which way to pull and when to lean. It was great. Then he pretended to run us into some trees. And we flew back and forth to each side of the canyon. It was about a 15-20 min ride. He would tell me about the different air currents, a little. An then we were above our landing site. He asked me something, and i couldn't understand. For a moment i thought he said spiders, "no i dont like spiders." Then he made a spiral motion with his hand, and i said "Oh yes!!! I like spirals!" "lets go!" So he waited a moment, and all of a sudden there was an incredible pressure and we were spinning!!!! I was not expecting the pressure, the feeling of being on a super fast roller coaster. Then after a minute or two he stopped and we made our way to the landing area. This time the land was much more graceful.
So that was my little adventure for the weekend. I could get used to it. It'd be a great hobby. Apparently, the place we went was number 1 or 2 for the best place to paraglide in Korea. And on our drive back our friend told us he is 62 yrs old. Say what?! I was shocked. Id like to be him, when im that age. The first time i flew, i told him he has a good job.
Here are my two photos from the sky with my new 62 yr old friend:
I don't know how my days get better, but they always do. :)
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