I Love Cherry Blossoms!!!

April has been a pretty good month to me. It's FINALLY warmed up a little. It is still not a 'normal' Korean Spring. The weather is so this year, that the Koreans keep saying that the 'Earth is mad at us.' My boss and co-workers have all told me that they've NEVER seen weather so up and down like this. From Saturday, April 10th, the weather was so warm I could've layed out at the beach, Sunday was FREEZING, and then Tuesday it drizzled snow, then come this past Saturday, I was back in a t-shirt. The Korean weather predicitions are sooo unreliable as well so there is really no way to really tell what will happen.
Anyway, yes April has still been pretty good to me. Last weekend, I went to the Cherry Blossom festival in Gyeongju. It was soooo beautiful. I was very excited that my friends that I went with Lacey and Gillian were just as excited as I was and that they wanted to ride bikes along the lake too. We arrived Saturday evening. We found a cute little italian restaurant. The food was sooo good and the restaurant was one of the cutest restaurants I'd ever been to ever. My mother would've loved the ambiance there. It amazes me how little WATER the Koreans drink. At most restaurants they give you a tiny cup of water and for the Koreans that lasts all dinner. Us Westerners are either refilling ourselves constantly or the waitor is constantly refilling and refilling these tiny cups. The food was great. It was nice to have something different. Then we walked around the downtown area of Gyeongju. We did a little bit of shopping, and at one point were looking for a bar to grab a beer. We found, what we thought was a bar, it said Baccarat Bar. As soon as we walked in we saw a woman in a tiny dress singing live karaoke (live karaoke is rare here). We got pretty excited until one of the bartenders waved us over and told us that this was a 'karaoke bar.' We were a bit confused until we saw another woman come out in lace and we realized it was probably a STRIP CLUB! Ooops. We
ran out and opted for beers in our motel room. It was still a fun night.
Sunday, we grabbed breakfast at Paris Baguette (Korean bakery chain)
and figured out which bus we needed to take t go to Bomoon Lake Resort. I've heard a lot about this place and was excited to visit. We finally arrived, rented bikes ($8/day) and just rode our bikes around the Lake all day. It was beautiful!! We stopped for a few photo sessions along the way. It was a big overcast and pretty cold but still very scenic, and a good work out. The Cherry Blossoms were so gorgeous. I loved being surrounded by them. After the petals fell off, the floor looked like little patches of snow. Some of these photos may look like the path was empty, but a majority of our time was spent weaving in and out for crowds trying not to run over people (though some deserved it). The Ajumas amaze me sometimes (the old Korean women). Because Korea is a Confusious society, the old people have the highest reguard of respect. Now to a certain extent, this is a good way to think. Even in America, we give our seat on the bus to the older people, we help them across the street, etc. A common courtesy. However, the older people here, Ajumas (women) and Ajoshi (men), KNOW they are respected and know they have priority over everyone. They will push you out of the way, or if they know they're in their way, they won't move!! There are many people on the bike path, we have bells to rings as we weave in and out. You'd think if you heard someone saying "Shile Hamnida"--Excuse me in Korean, AND a bell, over , and over, and over and over again... you'd look behind to see where it's coming from and move to the side. Nope. Not even a flinch. No look back, nothing. Honestly, even getting yelled at would be an acknowledgement (yes they also yell at you for, Whatever sometimes). I wanted to run them over. They were pissing me off right and left. The younger people, the kids, the families, all so nice and smiling and yelling how beautiful we were, etc. The flip side is that every blue moon, you'll meet and Ajuma or Ajoshi on the subway/bus/train who is really sweet and nice and curious to learn about you.
ANYWAY, along the way, we saw a lot of interesting things. There are the pedal boats in the shapes of ducks and swans. If it was warmer out, we would've definitely done it. It looked fun. I saw this building (left) last time I was in Gyeongju and really liked it. The whole middle is cut out in the shape of a tower (famous tower statue in one of the temples). It just looks really cool. Right across from that was a little festival. We random ran into it. The first thing we noticed was the band...the same band as in Cheongdo for the Bullfighting Festival... they dress like women, and hobos with their faces painted. They're just wierd and I really don't understand it. But they took a liking to us (naturally the only foreigners around). They tried to get Lacey to karaoke but she decided to save it for another time. So we decided to sit on some steps and people watch.... while eating my corn dog and drinking coconut milk out of a coconut (which I had yet to see in Korea so it was a bit exciting). On our way back, we nearly died going into this little plaza area. There must've been hundreds of kids (though it doesn't look like it) on their little 4-wheeler motor bike thingies. There were so many!! I felt like it was bumper cars! We wound up walking our bikes through. Someone had to be the grown up. After surviving the kids, the ajumas, cold weather, and finished our bike path, we found this sign... Oops :) (no bikes). Ironic that his is the only location we saw this sign, and it was facing the opposite direction we were going...and there were a lot of other bikers on that path. We found it pretty funny.

As for adventures in the wonderful life of teacherhood, I've learned a lot about the Korean education system. My school is on the 4th floor of a building and apparently some of the kids were being naughty and spitting out of the windows. Someone came up and told us something. So the secretary, Angelina (who is sooo nice... but the kids are scared of her) called all the kids out of all the classes. They all sat in the lobby while she gave every single of them a lecture. I know it was a sad moment, but I had to take a picture. It doesn't look like many people here but there were probably 150 students there. They all look so sad and guilty! It wouldn't surprise me at all if it was some of my kids. But in this picture you can actually see many of my students. They're good kids... but still kids. ANOTHER example of them being kids is, last Friday, Angelina, the secretary started freaking out and laughing a lot. I couldn't understand what was happening. Apparently the kids were stuck in the elevator!!! At first everyone was a little freaked out. Then I was told that the kids were in the elevator, maybe 15 of them, and as it was headed to our floor, they decided to jump... stopping the elevator right before it reached us. My director, Ho and Angelina were talking to them for about an hour as they waited in the elevator for help. I went over to check it out and some of my students were there and were like "Hello Danielle Teacher. See you next time." I have a feeling they were thrilled to miss class :)

Well another month and another Temple event. This month we made Mandu (dumplings) and flower pancakes (for weeks, i thought it was FLOUR pancakes... until we made them and it is an actual FLOWER). I went early to listen to the Dharma Speaker again. I really enjoy going to the Dharma talks. I leave feeling good, like I went to church. Yet the message mostly consists about learning about a deeper part of yourself... not about changing your lifestyle, or how you're a bad person, or anything like that. Just finding the true you. Many of the Monks whom speak were raised in the US but now living (for SEVERAL years) in Korea.
After the talk, we went outside for cooking. It was beautiful outside. The area was covered in Cherry Blossoms that were just starting to fall. We cooked Mandu first. First order of business, washing your hands... Well the bathrooms in Korea usually only have
cold water and soap is limited. So I opted for rinsing and then using hand sanitizer (hand sanitizer's become my best friend here). Then we had to put on the proper cooking attire... apron and head piece. Now I officially look like a working Ajuma (you often see them cutting herbs on the street that they're trying to sell). They had already pre made the Mandu stuffing. Since we are a the Buddhist Temple, it is vegetarian. They do not eat meat. It had different cabbage, kimchi, tofu, and other veggies, i have no idea. We mixed it all together, and put it in flour skins. We got to shape them to different mandu shapes. Actually not that easy trying to keep it together. The foreigners all got creative with their shapes but were later told that the shape is very important... who knew?? We made tons of them and then while they were getting fried or steamed, we made the flower pancakes. They brought out pre made dough, we got to roll and flatten and put a pretty flower on it. Yes... made quite simple for us. The preparation for making the dough actually sounded difficult. The dough was actually made of rice (of course since EVERYTHING is made out of rice here). Once it is cooked, it turns into rice cake (squishy rice food... i've actually grown to like a lot. It's in just about everything). So pretty much we fry the rice dough, put a flower on it, and eat it with sugar... it was DELICIOUS!! And looks so pretty :) When we finished cooking, it started to drizzle a bit so it was perfect timing.

I'm still really enjoying the writing group I've joined. I go every Sunday (unless I'm on a weekend getaway). I was 'forced' to join Script frenzy. Script frenzy is a website that encourages writes to write a 100 page script in 30 days. There's no fee, no prize, just the satisfaction (and a congrats certificate) that you finished something. Many writers start but never finish. So this is just a way to encourage finishing. In November they do it with a Novel. April is a script. I don't know ANYTHING about writing a script. But I took it on. I am now halfway through and I'm up to page 52. :) The longest thing I've ever written and it is a good feeling. :)

Next weekend I have a trip to Seoul planned with Lacey and Gill. I'm very excited to visit Seoul. I hear so much about it. Also excited to visit my friend Derold, a friend of mine from College in San Diego whose also teaching there. It'll be nice to see a friend from home. But Seoul is more of like an NYC of Korea... so much to do and explore. So I'll keep you posted!

Korean cooking, travel plans, and Springtime :)

Another Blog in the day of ME, living in completely different world, where everyday is an adventure and learning experience :) I can't believe sometimes that I've been here for just about 3 months. Times a flying when you're having fun.... only 9 months left in my contract, or 15 if I extend it another 6 months (and yes, I am considering it). We'll see what happens.

For the latest going on my life... my Korean friend Sonny and I have continued our 'Cultural Cooking Fridays.' Our last cooking date, she taught me how to make Kimbap... the Korean version of sushi rolls, but without as much fish. We used crab, carrots, cucumber, raddish (not a fan), fish cake (i have mixed emotions about this), and scrambled egg. It is still quite yummy. This time, one of our students, Jenny (who also lives
in Sonny's apartment building) joined us. Jenny is so cute. Her
brother is also one of my students. She really enjoyed the cooking and watching me try to read and pronounce Korean words. She sipped on pineapple juice while Sonny and I enjoyed our wine. Since Sonny has an oven (a luxury to us foreigners), we are going to make a chicken and broccoli casserole next time (yes, American food week). The only hard part can be finding cheese... oh how I miss cheese! But it should still
be fun.

On other dinner/food news, I was invited to have dinner with my boss and his family. He's been inviting me to his house for dinner for a long time now. I kept pushing it back (partly cause I was a bit uncomfortable at first) but finally went. We went to a pork/duck restaurant (not my pick of food) and he invited his English friend Tom. Tom, an overweight, late 50 year old, English guy joined us. He was a very interesting character. He was sooooo outspoken and sarcastic that I couldn't tell if he was nice, funny, and happy, or if he was a bitter, sad, and lonely old man. Wierd?? Most of my good friends/family know that I am very hesitant when it comes to meat. I try to only stick to beef and chicken if I can help it. But being in Korea, I have eaten a bit more pork. However, I wound up 'trying' the duck here. It was actually a big deal for me (mentally) to try duck. Though it didn't taste bad, I still didn't eat too much, the brain got to me. But it was still a good experience. The picture here, was of my boss's wife. She used to be an english teacher as well, so she spoke pretty good english. She was very funny :) Their daughter was soooooo adorable!! It always amazes me how much the Koreans drink. We're at a nice (somewhat expensive) dinner, and she was drinking a 'cocktail' of Soju, beer, and pineapple soda. and I'm talking several glasses!! The guys were drinking even more. I couldn't believe it! And I couldn't believe they didn't look drunker.
My favorite tradition in Korea so far, is the Employee dinners. Once a month, we go out to dinner, drink, and the boss pays for EVERYTHING!! Soooo awesome :) This past week was my 3rd empl0yee dinner. We have hired 2 new Korean teachers, one of the other Korean teachers (Sonny, my closest friend at work) is leaving :( (though we still plan on hanging out more), and Rory, the newest foreigner, british guy, officially got his new Visa and will be here for a year as well. So there were some things to celebrate. One of the new Korean teachers, sister owned a pork restaurant (sam gip sul = pork) so went there. Sooo yummy! We were there for a bit, and then I ALWAYS forget we go to a 2nd restaurant for after dinner appetizers. I'm a fat kid, so I like to fill up on dinner alone. We've gone to different restaurants for after dinner appetizers in the past... this time, I didn't feel like I was missing out on much. The first thing that came to our table... BUGS!! Pulpa? Cristalis? That part of the bug. Still gross and I refuse to try it. So let's see... Bugs, Kimchi, and Makali in a bowl?? Yes, Makali, Korean rice wine... is served in a bowl... Wierd? It's definitely got a unique taste to it, but it's not bad at all. That's how much people drink at once. So yes, I drank some Makali out of a bowl.
So that's always fun :)

This past weekend, I layed pretty low. Some friends and I were originally going to go to Gyeongju for the Cherry Blossom Festival however, due to the extremely strange weather this year, they were JUST starting to bloom so we are going to go next weekend instead. This weekend, we went to the UN park in Busan which also has beautiful Cherry Blossom trees. Before the UN park, we walked around Gwangalli Beach. I hadn't been there yet and it really was GORGEOUS. We had lunch at Breeze Burns, the local hamburger joint which has great burgers and fries :) Reminds us of home. Then walked along the beach. Once we arrived at the UN Park, we were surprised to see barely any Cherry Blossoms blooming. We were actually too late to go into the park so we just walked around it which was still very nice. This gazebo was right outside. It was really picturesque. Itll be even nicer when all the trees are in bloom around it :) All around the UN park, there are a bunch of fertility statues. It is pretty funny to see some of the phallic statues, and all these random reproductive parts.

My friend Gill spent the night at my house Saturday night and we had a fun girls night. I was excited because she was the first person who came to my house. We made tacos, drank wine, and watched, what we thought would be, a good movie (disappointing). For months, I've been eyeing a thin mattress topper and thought that her coming would be the perfect time to get it. Besides going on my bed, it's nice to use on the floor when I have company, etc. It must've been HILARIOUS watching me carry this HUGE mattress that was bigger than me in height and double my size in width through the city, on the bus, and then up the hill to my house. I ran into some of my students on the street and they looked at me like I was crazy!! But it was worth it when Gill and I had a comfy place to sit.
Sunday, we met up with Lacey at Shinsegae...The BIGGEST DEPARTMENT STORE IN THE WORLD!!! literally. I believe it's like 13 stories?? Very expensive... mostly brand name stuff... Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. There is an ICE SKATING rink too (though the most expensive one in Busan) and a Spa/Bathhouse. So we decided we needed to try to the bathhouse there... aka Bathhouse = jimjilbang. Shinsegae's Spaland was supposed to be the biggest/nicest jimjilbang. Well i was VERY nice but I think I was expecting more. There were night many baths or steam rooms. Only 5 baths, and 1 steam room (the last one I went to, Hirschenchang???) had twice that!! And the massage/scrubs were DOUBLE the price and just ridiculous! The rooms (each room has different oxygen flow that helps certain parts of your body to certain things??? Wierd but cool) were BEAUTIFUL!! But the room itself and it's purpose was kinda lame. I really enjoyed the first one I went to better. Hirschenchang was maybe not as beautiful, but more variety, and half the price... ALWAYS important :) But at least I tried the one in Shinsegae... the biggest department store in the world!

One a seperate side note, Just some extra little photos I picked up here and there. Some gorgeous plants... I heard it was cabbage... which would be hilarious. Then another diary of one of my students who was talking about her new face mask. It is very common, in Korea, if you are sick, to wear a mask around your mouth so you don't get anyone else sick. I think it is very polite. However, sometimes their views are skewed. Wearing the mask prevents kids from getting sick, yet they never wash their hands after going to the bathroom (GROSSSSSSS!!!!) So I'm sure everyone gets sick anyway. She talks about yellow dust season. In Spring, the 'yellow dust' which is kinda like pollen and other dusty stuff comes over from China... this is what creates acid rain, and why people get sick. Many people talk about 'yellow dust season.'
My last photo which made me happy. was the big statue of the Trevi Fountain (from Rome, Italy). It was like being in Italy in Korea! I've seen 2 different Italian fountain statue thingies around. It's pretty funny if you ask me. When I scrapbook this photo, I can use the new stickers I found... They're Italy/Traveling stickers but written in Korean... I thought it was HILARIOUS!!!

So that's about the latest that's been going on in my life the last few weeks :) The next few weeks should be very fun as well. The Busan Lotte Giants baseball team has just started their season. There is a stadium close by. The Koreans go CRAZZZZY for their baseball team. So I think a game is definitely something I should experience, baseball fan or not. Then Gyeongju for Cherry Blossom season, Then the first weekend of May, I am going with some friends to Seoul. Taking the DMX (North Korea border) tour, and exploring a small art village. Should be fun :) MORE TO COME....

All is routine...

Hi All... another blog in the life of Danielle. There actually isn't a whole lot to report on. Even though everyday is an adventure here, my life is starting to be quite routine and normal now. However, I am still learning things and exploring as much as I can :)
Right when I got comfortable in my school schedule, it was changed on me. I just about had all of my kids names down, and I was very happy with my break time, etc. It seemed like the days were flying by me. Now, with my new schedule, I'm not 100% satisfied but it works, the days go by slower :( I have new classes, some new kids, some the same. Instead of having 3 break split up, I have them all one after another in the beginning. So then all 8 of my classes are back to back... i run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I feel bad when someone comes up to me asking a question about their class and I can't remember which class they're in. But I always say that being busy is better than being bored so I can't complain. I have had the opportunity to make some extra money by teaching some extra classes. I am working every other Saturday from 2-5pm (yes the hours kinda suck but oh well) and in exchange, I get more money and more vacation time. Also, I come into school 30 minutes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to teach a conversational class with the Korean teachers. They said that they all learned a lot of grammer and writing but they do not think they speak well (i think they all speak VERY well.. i can definitely ask them just about anything), but they wanna speak then that's what I'm there for. We just have conversation about... whatever comes up for the day. Today was about natural disasters (since there was an earthquake in Los Angeles, my home, last night), which turned into a lesson for all of us in bad hand signs (like the middle finger, and other various hand gestures, i had no idea were bad lol). I still need a lesson in Korean swear words. As my co-worker Esther says "you need to know when they're saying bad words... either to you or each other. They will definitely talk about u straight to your face cause they know you can't understand." I think it's funny. Every now and then I'll say something to the kids in Korean and they're SHOCKED! "Teacher knows Korean?" and I usually just say "a little. you have to teach me." Since I am the 'speaking' teaching, I tend to get off the books sometimes if there is good english conversation going on. One of my classes really enjoy teaching me Korean words. They try so hard to explain things to me in English, so as long as they're speaking english, and I get to learn Korean, I think everyone is happy. It's really cute watching them get all excited to teach me new words, and see them laugh when I pronounce it funny, or they laugh cause my hangul (korean writing) looks like a 5 year olds.

So away from school, there hasn't been a whole lot going on. Mostly just hanging out with friends doing different things. 2 weeks ago, I went to a Toga/charity event party which was raising money for a Korean orphanage. It was TOUGH trying to turn a full sized fitted sheet and turn it into a toga. It was fun trying. There were soooo many foreigners and good food! Ranch dressing, and cheddar cheese!! Mmmmm. I was so happy :) We stayed there a bit, and then ventured into Kyungsun (when I say we, I mean my friend Gillian and Tina, in the pic, and my friend Albert, who is kinda my neighbor). I had never been to Kyungsun so that was fun. We wound up at a dance club and danced till 5AM!!! I am pretty sure that Korea is the first and only place I've been in my life where time flies EVERYWHERE all the TIME! My 2 months here have flown by, my days at school go by quickly, my nights on the town fly by... I can't tell what time is around here. I don't know if that's good or bad.
Saturday night, we went with my friend Lacey to a B-boy musical type thing. Lacey is a break dancer so she's always finding out about cool dance performances. This one was supposed to be really good and she got free tickets. I had no idea what to expect and I was BLOWN AWAY!!! It was sooooo great. It was literally a musical... kinda. No singing and no talking. Just acting and dancing about a ballerina who fell for a break dancer. It was really funny! And sooooo entertaining They were REALLY GOOD!! It was one of the best shows I'd been to in a long time. I LOVED IT!!

So just so my parents don't think I party every weekend (As much fun as i am having, I am also serious too... lol), I will let you know some of the other events I've been involved in/are starting this weekend. Last weekend, I ditched out on seeing Alice in Wonderland in 3D to take a Korean class. It was really really helpful. There were so many things cleared up that I was confused about, and I finally got some clarity into hangul (the alphabet characters). I even wound up reading my first word 'bus' this week (i only could understand it cause they say 'bus' also. If they had another word for 'bus' it would be a lot more complicated). But I'm definitely starting to get the hang of it all, the characters, the order, the syllables, the boxes, etc. This weekend I am torn between my 2nd korean class and attending a writing group... though I've pretty much made up my mind to go to the writing group (I wasn't able to attend the first meet up because of work). I'm VERY excited about the writing group. I've been wanting to join one for awhile in LA. I've always enjoyed writing. I love writing poems, short stories, etc. So I've started writing a lot about my experience here (i think i'll attempt an Eat, Pray, Love type novel) so it'll be great to have some support and help with that. This weekend is also another cultural event day at the Temple... English Dharma and Korean calligraphy (hopefully this helps with my hangul) on Sunday. Saturday, I'm going to attempt to go to a Bullfighting Festival in Cheongdo... about an hour or so away. I never connected Korea with bullfighting but it should be pretty interesting.

Independence Day, Moonrise hot spring festival, and more!!!

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I've written! So much to catch up on :) Hard to beat Gyeongju but there has still been a lot of excitement in my life.
I found out that at the end of the month, there is a local temple in Busan that hosts a cultural events day for the foreigners. It's free and they just teach a lot of traditional activities. In January they learned how to make kimchi (i missed it but this would've been great seeing how Koreans LOVE kimchi). This month was kite making. The theory is that you make your own kite around the Lunar New Year. You write what you hope for for the new year... your wishes, hopes, dream, as well as what you DON'T want. Then you fly the kite high in the sky :)
The bus for the Temple picked us up from the Nopodong terminal (the main subway/bus termainal in Busan) around 1:30 and took us the Temple. It was so beautiful. The 'see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil' statue was in the entrance of the Temple property. Gotta love it....pretty fitting I think. Then in front of the Temple itself were these big hand symbols. I know they are very important and mean something in the Buddhist religion... I just haven't figured out what yet. Whenever I see the symbol, the description was written in Korean... but I will find out!! I wanted to take pictures when we were in the temple, however I am not sure if we were allowed, and I wasn't about to be the one who was disrespecting Buddha :)
Once in the Temple, there were about 35 people all sitting in about 3 big circles on mats. We had a piece of thick paperish type material in the diamond kite shape, 2 sticks, markers, string, and then we were instructed, step by step, how to make a kite :) It was a lot of fun. My friend Gillian took pictures of the process... I'll have to get them from her. The hardest part was thinking of what to draw on it... what do I want this year? Love (maybe not from someone else, just love within myself), health, my family to be safe, healthy, happy, success (if not in money then in finding what I want to do with my life), things like that. I used symbols in representing it all. Some of the kites were really elaborate and beautiful... mine looked like a 9 year old colored on it lol. I'm sooooo not artistically talented :) But it was still fun. Then we went outside to fly them :) Luckily it was a nice/semi-windy day. The picture on the left shows most of the group flying their kites... it was a bit crowded so my friends and I went into a different area. My kite didn't like me at all. First it wouldn't go up for the life of me (i was sooo frusterated), then once it finally got up, the string got crossed with some of the other fliers causing a lot of complications in the sky lol. Then finally the string on the spool was yanked, broke, and my kite flew away to a far far away land without me... :( I hope that doesn't mean bad luck this year... I was actually hoping to keep the kite to put on my wall for decoration. Oh well. At least Gillian and Christina had fun (though Christina's kite flew away also later). Next class in March is calligraphy. That should be fun!!

This past weekend was Independence Day here in Korea (when they were freed from Japan during the war way back when). In Haeundae Beach, they host a big bonfire event called Moonrise Hot Spring Festival. Since Haeundae is the most popular beach in all Korea, I was very curious to see how crowded it would get and what would happen there. The 2 nights before the festival, a friend of mine arrived in town, so we spent the evening roaming the streets of Haeundae. First off, I would like to point out the toilet in his hotel room...the most complicated/wierd/yet cleanest toilet in the world.... Yes, there is a wash or spray for everything and I do mean... EVERYTHING... lol. And yes you can get a massage as well while you're sitting on the toilet lol. I almost fell to the floor laughing!! Definitely the highlight of my night.
So yea we and I just bounced around the streets all night... almost looks like Christmas doesn't it? I will always be fascinated in the fact that drinking, is an older, successful mans job. In Korea, it is customary to drink Soju or beer when you have dinner out, and with co-workers. You will often find adult men in their 50-70's passed out on the street, or roaming the streets completely beligerant. This is a lot more common/accepted than seeing the younger generation out getting drunk (though they do too, trust me... but most live with their parents so I believe they control it a little it more). So yes we took a picture with this older man who was sooo excited to be talking to foreigners (though neither of us could really understand each other). I was a bit surprised he looked normal for the photo lol. At one point we ended up at a very popular 'foreigner' bar called Fuzzy Navel (great name right). I'd heard about it but never been. There, I was 'forced' to take their famous flame shot. They piled glasses up to make a pyramid, put a shot glass on top, layered it with about 5 liquors, and then managed to put the whole thing on fire...and when I say fire, I don't mean a little flame, I mean you have to stand back 6 feet because the whole thing will blow up!!. The is a little bit of liquor on the top of each glass. The bartender, River (whom we became great friends with) , lit the top of the shot on fire, took a drink of some strong liquor, dunked his finger tips in the liquor, lit his fingers on fire, and then spit the liquor in his mouth through the fire on his finger tips and onto the shot, creating a HUGE explosion and creating a flame on top of all the glasses. It was the first time I'd seen something this big!! U gotta see the video to believe it. Pretty cool! Needless to say I was a bit tipsy after that.

The next day, I decided I was going to explore a bit more. My friend Tina and I had previously walked around Haeundae beach but only in 1 direction, I was going to walk in another direction... plus I really wanted to exercise a bit :) This walk turned into a long 1 1/2 hour walk along the beach, up/over/through a hill, around a lighthouse, traditional Korean gazebo type things, a fishing area, and the APEK building. It was a GREAT WALK!! The APEK building was pretty interesting. You got to see the seats of the representatives from about 30 countries around the world. It tell you a little bit about the building, the surroundings, etc. Outside of the building is a little trail area and there are glass statue type things of every country and something that represents that country... naturally the U.S. had an eagle. Though I enjoy my walks alone, I can't wait to come back on a non-cloudy day with a friend and take really cool photos. It was beautiful!
On my way back, I noticed this HUGE pile on the beach of what looked like pine branches. I honestly couldn't tell what it was. There is a huge branch coming off the top, and about 20 kites flying off the very top of it. I knew there was going to be a bonfire the next night for the Moonrise Festival, but Wow... this was gonna be a HUGE bonfire :) I was so excited!!
The next day (Sunday) I went to a break dancing competition with my friend Lacey (I think it's awesome to have a girl friend who break dances!). On my way into Busan, I saw this mini marching band in the middle of the street playing around in circles... wonderful colors! lol I have no idea what they were practicing for or what or when but it looked pretty funny. Only in Korea :) I met up with Lacey and some of her other friends in Nopodong. There were surpisingly a lot of foreigners at this competition. There were about 20 or so teams of break dancers and they literally just battled each other 2 at a time. It was so funny. The MC would talk inbetween each battle and I often caught myself listening in deep concentration.... I couldn't understand a word (besides please and thank you) lol but I listened just like I could. I thought it was pretty funny. The break dancers were actually VERY good! I was impressed and entertained for sure! I love dancing :) I think next weekend we are actually going to another dance thing... not sure what yet but the we got free tickets so I'm in!! :)
After break dancing, I met Gillian back in Haeundae for the Moonrise Hot Spring Festival :) It was definitely a sight to see. When we arrived, we saw the bonfire, it had just got lit. This picture doesn't do it justice of how big it eventually got. But this gives you an idea of the setup, how many people were there (thousands!!) It was crazy trying to walk around. In Korea, the older (as we call senior citizens) get the most respect out of anyone. If they are walking, you let them go in front of you. If you don't let them through, they know they deserve to be first so they will elbow their way through a crowd... heck they elbow their way through a crowd no matter what, no matter where. Those little Hazumas (old women) are brutal!! If there is a line, they will push your back forward making you push the people in front of you, until there is a slight break where they will then push you aside so they can walk through. I know this is very customary and traditional, but this may be the one thing I will never get used to. I've seen people fall over from being elbowed or pushed aside and the old people don't care. It's soo rude!! ANYWAY... Gillian and I managed to get pushed through a crowd to where we could see a little bit of the traditional Korean dancing and singing on the beach. It was quite lovely.

As I continue to enjoy and explore this new foreign land and culture, I've really taken the time to enjoy the little things. Everyday, I take a bus to school or a bus into the city. Every single bus driver waves to each and every other bus they pass on the road. I don't know why but this just makes me smile. Listening to my kids call each other 'Unie" and "Opa" (meaning big sister and big brother). If there is a boy in your class that is 3 months older than you, you refer to him as your big brother. I understand calling friends who are older that but it's funny hearing the kids say it when they're literally the same age. As I buy food at the local grocery store, I am often just stared at... for no reason, just that I'm foreign, but blunt stareing lol. It warms my heart a little and I don't know why. Our culture is so different in so many little ways that you'll never know of until you see the opposite somewhere else. When I am out to dinner with people, I have to slurp my soup as loud as I can. If I do not slurp (and yes make the big slurping sound), it is considered an insult that you are not enjoying your meal... in America, we learn it is rude to slurp. I feel like I learn so much everyday. Culture, traditions, and language. I love roaming the streets and watching the cars drive by, knowing that they will all run the red light in front of me (apparently rules on road are purely just optional. This is very common) and know that if I am not walking far enough over on the sidewalk, I will get honked at. Forget the idea that the car move over a little... Oh no... I need to be shoulder to wall on the sidewalk lol. NEVER a dull moment in Korea :)

As I head to bed, I wanted to share with you that I am still having minor issues in the grocery store. I really need to learn hangul (korean alphabet) cause I can not figure out what ANYTHING is in there!! lol But still managed to survive (i love that it's cheaper to eat out than to eat at home... I just wish fruites and veggies weren't so expensive!!!). But I manage to get by. I make things similar to the picture... little salads (which can be quite colorful as u can see), and potato soup with tofu, lots of fruit salad with yogurt, boxed food, instant rice, stir fry, frozen potsticker dumplings which I can make on the stove things like this :) I haven't even attempted the meat yet. I can say chicken (dalc) and beef (sogogee) but it looks completely different. One day I'll have to figure it all out... and I"m looking forward to it!