My brother David's arrival

My brother David arrived in Busan on Friday May 14th. I was was soooooo excited! I'd been looking forward to his visit for several weeks and it finally arrived :) It was his first trip out of the US. I wanted him to fall in love with traveling as much as I have so taking this trip was a big deal (at least I think so). Getting him at the airport was quite an adventure. He arrived around 9:30. I got out of work at 9:00. After a bus, a subway, a taxi and 1 1/2 hours later, I picked him up. We arrived back at my house around midnight. He was so tired and I was so excited! I had made up a little bed for him on my floor (he said he sprawls out a lot at night). He brought a whole suitcase full of goodies from the family and my 'other' family (the Witchers. Their son Brandon was my high school sweetheart. He passed away several years ago and I have remained VERY close with them). I feel so fortunate to have such great people in my life.
The day after David arrived, I dragged him out and about in Busan. He really wanted to see Haeundae Beach. On the way there, we stopped at at Shinsegae... the biggest department store in the WORLD (Guiness Book of World Records says so). We walked around the department store a bit and explored the top floor which is actually an outdoor park. I'd never been to that part. It was really beautiful! I really enjoyed it up there. Perfect for my writing group ;) Then we looked at the spa, the ice skating rink, and indoor golf range. Then we had a great lunch. One of those places where you load up a plate with veggies and they fry it up in front of you and add some chicken. It was delicious!
Right across the street from Shinsegae is Naru Park. I hadn't been there either. So we walked around there a bit. He had heard that it was a good skateboarding spot (David is an awesome skateboarder) but we didn't see any good skating spots. The park itself was pretty cool. We found this random statue, literally in the middle of flowers and stuff. A naked woman, giving birth. There are so many examples of Korean art that I will never question... I just don't understand it! lol. Still pretty funny none the less.
After the Centum City, Shinsegae area, we went to Haeundae Beach. I think the beach concept is so funny. Koreans LOVE the beach... but they hate the sun and color. Whiter is beautiful. So at the beach, you'll see a bunch of half naked foreigners, and then a bunch of fully dressed Koreans... and usually the Koreans are staring at the foreigners. David and I took a walk on the beach and along the boardwalk. At the end of the day, I wore the wore the poor guy out. Between his jetlag and
just being a busy day, I'm afraid he hung in as long as he did. What a trooper my brother is :) Thank goodness for the subway to get a little bit of sleep :) And Sunday we did it all again :) I had told him awhile ago about jimjilbang, the korean bath houses, aka spas, and he was very interested in going to one. He LOVED it... definitely my brother. I could spend the rest of my life in a jimjilbang and die happy. They're seriously amazing. America is seriously missing out. Needless David went to the jimjilbang SEVERAL times after that trip. The one we went to was called Hirshumchang... the biggest bath house in Asia! Think of the kind of baths the Romans used to take in the old days. It's like that. An amusement park of bath tubs. It's crazy how a lazy day of several hours of doing nothing but relaxing at jimjilbang will wipe you out. We went home, had dinner, and David passed out after that.
Next, he had the opportunity to join me for some of my classes at school. My kids were so excited to see him. I'd talked him up for awhile but yet, many kids still asked if he was a new teacher. He was a rockstar in the classroom. He remembered a lot of the kids names, he played with them, and completely took over. I was so proud of him. I'd never seen him in that kind of scenerio and he rocked it. For several days after, the kids told me they didn't want me there, they wanted David lol. A lot of my middle school girls had crushes on him. They would all tell me how handsome he was (well duh, would u expect anything less from someone in my family?). This week was only a 4 day week. I spent the days at work, and David would explore/skate different parts of Busan and my city Seochang. I was excited when my co-workers decided to do our monthly employee dinner while he was there. He got to see what it was really like. Just everyone I work with, meeting for dinner and drinks (Koreans and their drinking... lol). David was pretty tired after a day of skating. He stayed for dinner and then headed to bed. Dinner was good though and I was glad he could try Korean BBQ. Koreans are infamous for their many side dishes so he definitely indulged in those as well.
Sometime in the middle of the week, David managed to lose my house keyI think I actually held my cool better that he was there than if I had lost it myself lol. Luckily my brother is like a monkey and managed to climb up to my 2nd story window, and climb through my bathroom window. Being small has it's advantages :) But hey at least he can say he broke into an apartment in Korea. .
Before we knew it Friday came.... Time for Seoul and Samcheok... and well that is another story/blog of it's own :)

1st trip to SEOUL, Hashing, Writing, and AMAZING weather :)

Spring is finally here!!! Woohoo!!! It took FOREVER!! But it may be the best spring EVER! Started out perfectly. Lacey, Gillian, and I took a weekend trip to Seoul. Gill read about this cute art village called Heyri (which we learned later was referred to as Ha-dee). So we went out on a search. It was quite an adventure. We took the 8am train to Seoul via bullet train (this train goes 300 km/hour!!!). We arrived a little bit before 11am. We locked up our bags and looked for the subway. I've been told that Seouls subway system is chaos. We found the line we were supposed to take and it took forever after that. We waited, maybe 40 minutes or so for it to come (aren't subways supposed to come every 15 minutes or so?) and then once we got on and sat down, it waited another 30 minutes. Seemed like FOREVER!! We rode for another 40 minutes. Then transferred to a bus. Luckily the bus ride was only 20 minutes. The journey seemed to take forever. We were happy to have finally arrived. And even happier that the weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! Seoul's weather is supposed to be a few degrees cooler than Busan so we could only imagine what it was like in Busan.
Heyri is a small art village on the outskirts of Seoul. The small village took 20 years of planning to put together. It's filled with art galleries, and bridges and just different artistic things. It was so cute and beautiful. We were greeted at the gate by a giant blue man. It was hilarious that a lot of the Koreans were actually bowing to it. This guy is bowing with it, but 3 people were actually bowing TO it... I was just slow with the camera thing. We had fun just walking around and exploring different areas, doing different things, etc. One cool thing we found was this old school bus. Inside is a little store. Tons of jewelry, knic knacs, etc. Real pretty inside actually, just a bit cramped. I also had to take a photo next to this building. It's ALL purple (my favorite color). Granted u can't see the whole building, but it was cool :) There were different bridges across little ponds and every bridge was different (here are Lacey and Gill at one). And then there are little playground areas all around too. So I had to take advantage and be a bit/little kid again. The playground equipment was a bit different than usual. I actually had to climb through a tiny little hold to get inside of this thingy. We sat down at a chocolateria for some ice cream, iced coffee, and relaxation. We met some other foreigners that we chatted with for a bit. We didn't go into any of the art galleries (we ran out of time and were tired from the journey) but just wondering around outside and in the little shops was great. We found this little store that had a bunch of little dolls that children had made in other countries (yes including US... not sure if the dolls were for show or sale) but I think they were for a charity. We had a great time visiting. Leaving, was ANOTHER adventure. We took a bus back that said it was going to the subway station. Remember, the bus we took getting there took about 20 minutes... this one took 45!! We were so confused. Definitely took the countryside scenic route. Once we FINALLY arrived at the subway, we took it back to the train station.... but the subway stopped midway, everyone got off, and the speakers said final stop... again... confused. This was the same subway that we took...???? To this day, we have no idea what happened. We got fed up, we were tired, hungry, etc. So we took a taxi to the train station, retrieved our things, and then headed to my friend Marcus's house in Itaewon.
Marcus and I had been emailing for awhile. He is the best friend of one of my friends back in

Florida . (Hi Nick!!) We hadn't met yet but thought it was very sweet of him to offer to let us crash at his place. (Marcus is on the left). were sooooo relieved to FINALLY arrive (almost 9pm!). His friend Marty was there and for the next few hours we all chatted and played online (we were introduced to the scary world of Chat Roulette... scary!). I came to find out that Marty actually studied in Florence at the same time I did. He lived very close to my school. I can't believe we never ran into each other there. So it was a really great time reminiscing and talking fabout things there that only someone whose lived there could understand and relate to. We headed to a bar later on. OH BEFORE I forget.... let's talk about how many more foreigners there are in Seoul than in Busan. Just getting of the subway in Itaewon, there were SOOOOOOO many more us. It was actually kinda uncomfortable. In Busan, there are lots but it's pretty spread out so you see people here and there. There were foreigners right and left in Seoul. Very different. Why that's uncomfortable, I have no idea. It just is. To explain it, I have this comic strip :) A couple in Seoul draw these comic about foreigner life in Korea... I swear that EVERY comic is DEAD on. To get more of an idea of their comics and what life is, check out ROKetship.com. I'll post more comics cause seriously, they're HILARIOUS (maybe more so if you're here and understand some of them). So back to the bar story. Not much to tell. Went to a foreigner bar, met some new friends, had a drink or two. I met a girl who was literally my height. She was VERY excited (or just very drunk) to find someone her size. Granted to say we took a couple pictures. We ended the fun-filled evening by eating Kabobs on the street (a favorite Italy past time), the boys got McDonalds (yuck) and even ran into a guy dressed as Steve Urkel in there (apparently I missed that). One the way back to Marcus's place, we had fun making fun of many of the Korean couples who dress identical. The trend here right now, is if you're dating someone, you wear the same shirts, sweatshirts, shoes, and yes, even underwear. It's crazy when you walk by a window and see lingerie for sale that is cute, but not sure if I'd wanna see my boyfriend in a speedo version of that same pattern. ROKetship, again has a great example.


SO the next morning, we enjoyed a wonderful Western breakfast of pancakes :) And they were delicious!! Afterwards, we headed to Changdeokgung Palace near Insadong (infamous shopping area :) ) The palace has been rebuilt in places a few times, but it is hundreds of years old. So big! and so gorgeous! We thought we'd be able to just go in and look around, but no, you had to sign up for an English tour (which personally I like better because it's very interesting to learn the history). The Palace was sooooo huge!! It was hard to keep track of what happened where. This picture on the left is Chong-jon Hall. The coronation ceremonies of the King or another grand official was done here. It's so crazy to imagine this room completely FILLED with Korean royalty. Then there was a secret garden that was absolutely beautiful. There was a pond area (though it was a bit dirty) with a bunch of little buildings and gazebo type things around. I love the traditional style Korean buildings. It's so different than what I'm used to back in the US, and even in Europe. Looking at one reminds me that I'm LIVING IN KOREA!!! Sometimes it is still hard to believe this. I get to see and do things that some people NEVER get to do in a lifetime. I feel so lucky in so many ways.

So before I get all emotional (I'll save it for my writing group), I'll finish my story. After the Palace, we headed to Hongdae University where we met up with my friend Derold. Derold and I went to San Diego State University together. It was just pure coincidence that he was moving to Seoul just weeks before I moved to Busan. So we finally were able to get together. It was really great to see a familiar face. Gillian was CRAVING mexican food, and honestly, I don't blame her. We found a great little spot and ate burritos and margaritas. They were GOOD (it's not as good as Southern California mexican food, but I'm not complaining). After dinner, we went to Gio Cat Cafe. My friend Kiva, from my writing group, told me about this place where you just hang out and play with cats and have coffee/tea, etc...literally a Cat Cafe!!! This would NEVER be allowed in the US. Animal rights, sanitation laws, I could just see so many things going wrong. But I'm not in the US and this is one of those places that just make Korea awesome. There were several cats around, some were very tired, others were playing. They had a list of all the cats, their names, their breed, and something about their personality (playful, stand offish, etc). Yes it was in English (these little things help so much). It really made me miss my cat, Lila. She's seriously the best cat in the world. I miss her cuddles. I miss her waking me up in the middle of the night chasing my feet. I miss coming home and seeing her stare at me in the window. It was so nice to play with kitties again :)
So just a random funny photo. This plate of noodles was next door to the cat cafe. The chopsticks were moving up and down. Some electronic thing. I'm convinced it was blowing up air in order to keep the chopsticks up and floating around (but I couldn't feel it). There wasn't a string, etc but it was just really cool. Yes, i'm a nerd :) Easily entertained.

On Another AMAZING weather note... I've been getting more involved in hashing lately. Hashing is like a game type thing that involves working out and drinking (wierd combo i know). Apparently it's popular worldwide, though I'd never heard of it till here. I've gone twice and it's been really great. There is a person or two who lays a trail around a city, or up a mountain, wherever they want. Your job is to follow the trail... sometimes you may get lead in the wrong direction and told to go back to a certain point, etc. It's a lot of fun (pic on the left is a view from my first hash, and the pic on the right is the most recent one). Literally a game around a neighborhood area. Both times I've gone was more of a hike, up and down dirt hills. Technically everyone is supposed to run, but I hate running so I walk... and i still get a good work out in. Walking up and down hills for over 2 hours will definitely wear you out.
The guy who leads it is in the American military stationed here. He offered to get anyone antyhing they wanted that was American at the military base. He is an ANGEL to me... because he brought me 2 12-packs of Dr. Pepper!!!! and for $7!!!! I found Dr. Pepper at one place and it was $2 for 1 can... i just got 24 cans!! I don't drink soda that much, but Dr. Pepper is my soda of choice. It made me so happy :) Of course I had to carry it home for over an hour after that. That must've been pretty entertaining to watch. But I've met some more people and been having a lot of fun. The bartender at one of the bars we went to was wearing a San Diego Chargers hat. He used to live around the SDSU area so we instantly became BFFS. lol. Gotta represent! So I have pictures of the hash coming later. They're mostly on Lacey's camera so I'll post more later.

This past week, we had Wednesday off school (the week went by so quickly because of it). Wednesday was Childrens Day. As hard as the kids work here, they deserve a day off in their honor. On Tuesday, we didn't have regular classes. We planned a bunch of different games and a party. In this picture is my co-worker, Iris, and some of my students. Thsi room is actually like 3 classes combined. Most classes are only between 4-10 kids. Many Koreans like to share things. Sometimes this is awesome. When someone has food, you automatically get some too :) But some of the snacks these kids gave me scared me. Shrimp chips, dried squid. I like shrimp, and i like chips but the combo of the two didn't sound/smell too appetizing. I won't even get started on dried squid. One of the girls brought Baskin Robbins ice cream sandwiches.... she was my favorite :)
SO on my day off, I hit the beach!! It was an amazing day for the beach. I had lunch with another friend, and we layed out for a bit. I don't know if I've ever experienced MY definition of PERFECT weather. Not in Florida or San Diego... I'm either too hot and wish for more of a cooler breeze, or the breeze is too much and I get chilly. The weather was PERFECT!! I was hot but didn't break much of a sweat because the breeze was just perfect. I was in heaven. A few hours later, I looked up and saw a group of Koreans on the stairs above the beach... they were ALL staring at the other foreigners next to me who were playing volleyball something. It cracked me up. (edit ROKetship comic here... I seriously could post a comic for EVERYTHING). Ironically, I actually got to finally meet Thom... the guy that I replaced at my school. When I interviewed with ELC, I got to speak with him and ask him about his experience there... this was back in September?? We'd kept in touch ever since but never met. He is now living in Ulsan but was at the beach in Haeundae for the day. I managed to spot him out of a crowd and we finally got to meet. Pretty cool to meet someone whose worked at my school and knows all my co-workers. Anyway, Once I got up and walking around, I realized that the music that was in the background was actually live music. It was actually good music. Some classical sped up a little bit, and slower type music. This girl was playing the violin and she was soooo cute! I didn't realize till she got closer how much older she actually was. All the women here try to look young and dress young and use lots of bows and things to make them look younger. She was around 30 or so. But so cute :) After here was a girl band. They were AWESOME too!! They played the electric cello, electric violin, the keyboard thingy and something else. Again, some faster version of classical music. They were great... and ironically dressed like skanks. I walk out in a tank top and sunglasses and some of the older traditional Koreans think I'm the one dressing scandelous. But seriously!!! Look at those leggings!! You can't even see where her shorts start... and just because I'm showing my shoulders, I'm the bad one? lol. The difference between Western culture and Korean culture :) This pic isn't even that bad. There are girls whose skirts are WAAAAAAAY shorter. It's ok to show your legs and whatever else is up there, but still not 100% acceptable yet (tho it's getting better) to show your shoulders or God forbid a v-neck shirt lol. Never a dull moment :)

One thing I'm very proud of is that I officially finished Script frenzy. Script frenzy is just a nation wide event where all the writers try to write a 100 page script in 30 days. Mostly just a motivator for people to start and finish something. I joined with another guy from my writing group. He was a great supporter and pushed me and challenged me all 30 days. There were some days that I was like 15 pages behind... but low and behold... I finished my 100 pages :) So now as my life continues in Korea, I just wanted to let all my loved ones know how much I love and miss them. Mothers Day is this weekend (and Fathers day next month) and I wanted to tell my parents how amazing they are. Thank you for always supporting me and not laughing at me (to my face) when I did stupid stuff. I love you :) And on that happy note, my brother David is coming NEXT WEEK!!!!! I'm soooooo excited. We have big plans playing tourist around Busan, Seoul, and a visit to a smaller city as well. :) More to come....