A Chingu Christmas

This past Saturday we had Christmas with our tiny Korean family - that's David, Duck, Ryan, and Shannon. Brian and I hosted a potluck Christmas feast at our house and afterwards we exchanged our secret santa gifts. Dad and Margo's package arrived just in time for us to share some yummy Highland brews and chex mix with everyone, and we all made some delicious, if not traditional, dishes.
David and Duck brought pumpkin, raisin, and pistachio pancakes, I made pretzels with hot mustard, Ryan and Shannon made a delicious salad, and there was rice of course. Behold (the pretzels were already gone at this point).

After the feasting, it was finally time to rip open some PRESENTS! The secret santa restrictions were only 15,000 won (15 bucks), and you can't have your boy/girlfriend. So, Brian got to go first, and his secret santa turned out to be David. Below you will find David's gift, a replica of a photo posted from Halloween on the site where costumes were judged; the site called it Soju vs. Laggis. Neither Brian nor David new about this photo when it was taken. And also, the original photo for a side by side comparison.

Pretty good eh? And just because it's hilarious, below is the photo that was entered in the costume competition for David. He was a bit too tipsy to comprehend the situation, so instead of his costume name (tiny princess), he put his own name in the blank so that his costume was called "Laggis" and this is what was judged. Some princess. He'd already lost his crown, earrings, wand, and his boobs had merged into one. But really, the picture couldn't have been more perfect.

But here he's looking jolly again as he gets his present from Shannon!

3 in 1, a hat, a soju cup w/ carribeaner for hiking, and a set of soju cups with Koreans in traditional clothing in various sexual positions! Great work Santa Shannon!

Next it was Shannon's turn, and Duck was the secret giver. As anyone who knows Duck knows, Duck is a master haggler. So Shannon got a bundle.

First up was a notebook with a bit of bad English on the front (something about the environmen (no t)) but with laminated litter pick up tickets to give Duck anytime Shannon sees some litter she'd like removed (This stems from an incident in Gyeongju when Shannon got David to pick up his butts). Next, 3 bad English shirts - number 1: the travel shirt, tiny print says "I wish for a plane!" and other such simple requests, number 2: toughness, kindness, both nessary, and number 3 (not pictured): Charming, 3 times. I hope so! Translation - 3rd time's the charm. All this in a reusable mickey mouse grocery tote. Fantastic work Duckanie. Ryan was up next.

I was Ryan's secret santa! And I got for him a traditional Korean ceramic incense burner with some Korean incense and a couple of candy canes from Dad and Margo's care package. Short story compared to Duck's, but he was excited because they needed one and this one is a Korean keepsake. And then it was my turn!

Ryan was my secret santa and he got me those crazy colored socks (we all know how I love colors) and this hood hat. I've been eyeing these hood hats ever since I got here. They're intriguing. Is it a hood? Is it a hat? It's awesome, I know that much. Thanks Ryan! Last, but most certainly not least, Brian brought some of Duck's Christmas dreams to life with this gift.

The Black Face. Read that tag. NEKEE! GREEL! THE BLACK FACE! Excellent work Brian. After presents and feasting we all settled in for a viewing of Christmas Story, which turned into a winter nap for most of us. And a merry little Christmas we had. And tomorrow night we leave for the Philippines! We're headed for Christmas on Busuanga, New Years on Palawan, and everything in between. We'll be back January 3rd. If you don't hear from us on the 4th, send ransom money. Merry Christmas everyone!

Winter wonders

It's starting to feel a bit more like Christmas even though we're far from home. About a week and a half ago, on a Friday, it snowed in Busan, which is rare. It was short lived, but beautiful and the kids went wild all over town. Even Kyung Mi and I went out to play.

You can see the snow a bit better in these videos.


Then, this past weekend our little Korean family (David, Duck, Shannon, Ryan, Brian, and I) took a trip out of town to Muju mountain for a weekend of snow and skiing. David arranged everything, so it was a piece of cake for the rest of us. We all had a sleep over at David and Duck's the night before because we left Saturday at 4:30 AM. We took a bus, and the buses in Korea are the best for sleeping, so when we all woke up we were already there. It took no time at all to get lift tickets and rentals (20 dollar discount for using a check card) and we were on the slopes before 10.

I'd never been skiing outside of North Carolina before, so it was a big experience for me. Muju's got the longest run in S. Korea, but unfortunately, the upper runs weren't snowy yet. That area doesn't get much percipitation, so all the snow is blown. It was a little icy, but nothing like NC, and we got lucky in that they weren't blowing the day we were skiing. It was fine and clear and tons of fun, but I think we're all looking forward to heading back sometime when all the runs are open so that it's a bit less crowded. But it was Duck's first snow sport attempt, and as the Koreans would say - she was success! Only one trip down the bunny slope and she was off to the beginner slopes and snow plowing like pro. I think it must have been her new lucky hat she got at the ski shop.

Of course, only half the fun of any good ski trip happens on the slopes. The other part is drinks by a fire, and our particular fire was enhanced by the lounge singing act livening up our lives with the following song.

In fact, it got David so riled up that the following ensued.

K pop means Korean pop music

Before we came to Korea, we'd heard rumors of how awful the pop music was. But we never knew... it's everywhere, and there is a rotation all of 3 songs long. By far the most popular song right now, and ever since we got here, is Nobody But You, by the Wonder Girls. Allow me to demonstrate.

Everyone in S. Korea knows that entire dance by heart. I wish I'd videod this incident, but every school puts on what they call a festival. It's like a talent show but not a competition and a whole class does their gig together. Well, I watched the dress rehearsal at Dong Cheon, and not only did the kids do a great job, so did the cleaning ladies, who put on a spectacular jump roping exhibition, with double, quadruple, and 10 people dutch. But perhaps even better (and stranger) was the mothers' performance. That's right, the moms had a spotlight too. There were 5 of them and they did the Nobody But You dance... and they were good. They sure showed up those 1st graders.

Which reminds me, Koreans never let kids win at something. David plays soccer with his kids after school with another teacher, and the other teacher plays as hard as he can against 3rd graders. David said they all jump out of the way when the guy shoots on goal because he kicks it so hard the kids are afraid to try to stop it. Yun Jae told us about how his son cried one day when he lost the board game they were playing because he never wins and found it frustrating. Yun Jae said he got mad at Yae Dam (the son) for not understanding that it was ok to lose. When will these kids learn? Their parents fully subsrcibe to the if you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch mentality.

But back to the K pop, here's the second most popular group - Brown Eyed Girls. This is their painfully popular How Come.

"Revenge" is hillarious.

And to finish it off, song number 3 on the current cell phone store rotation (these stores are always blasting K pop into the streets): I'm so hot by the Wonder Girls.

So the songs are kind of awful, but the girls are lovely. The make a pop star formula's the same here as in the states. For our next adventure we're off to the mountains of northern South Korea this weekend for a ski trip with the regular gang (David, Duck, Ryan, and Shannon). And now we're all booked up for our winter vacation in the Philippines!!!!!

Jess

Hey, wanna come over?

Here it is! Sorry for the long delay. Our brand new home in all it's square footage. It may be small, but it's got spunk, and class.

This is an apartment for one person, but Brian gets paid a housing stipend (about 300 USD) to live in it instead of his own apartment. The place is free for us, we just have to pay utilities and a 30 USD maintenance fee for 2 in a 1 person. It's well worth it for the setup we have. Our landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Lee, live in the floor above us and they're such honey pies. Our washing machine broke down when we first got here, so we were walking around with our laundry when Mr. Lee saw us and showed us the laundry machine in the garage of our building. He explained how to use it and we told him we'd try it another day because we were spending the night at David and Duck's. But he wouldn't hear of it. He told us to go ahead and do the laundry (he speaks a little English, but we sherade a lot with each other) and that he'd hang it up on the lines on the roof for us. What landlord have you ever known to do something like that for a tennant? They take great pride in the cleanliness of their building too, which is very nice for us because the buildings nearby are sick. There's recycling and food waste all over the entrance ways.

We're also in an ideal location. It's about a 20 minute bus ride for Brian and I to get to our schools - a necessary buffer judging from what we've heard about kids following teachers home (not in a creepy way, just because they LOVE their English teachers, which depending on your disposition, could still be creepy). The area near our apartment is a lot of fun. We're about a 5 minute walk from 2 universities (where there's a subway stop), so there's a ton of cheap, delicious restaurants and bars and kareoke rooms nearby. There's always a party if you want it, but we're just far enough away from the relentless nightlife that it's quiet. 5 minutes walking in the other direction there's the UN Peace Park, a large green area where we can run and people watch. The UN cemetary is also there. There's also the Busan Cultural Center (ballets, symphonies, etc.) and Busan Metropolitan Museum (30 cents fee, haven't been in yet but we hear it's good). Near the universities there's a street market where we buy all our produce, including the best dubu (tofu) I've ever tasted. I feel that I could say more, but I think I've tantalized you all enough into coming to visit. You can get an idea of the lay out from these google earth images. If you want the interactive version, email me (jessbartels@gmail.com) and I'll send it to you. I couldn't figure out how to embed it here.


Here's the grand view.

Zoomed in on our apartment, Kyungsung area, and our schools.


A close up of the house and park.

Same view scooted up to the Kyungsung area.

A close up of our schools.

And one of David and Duck's place.

Jess

A Korean Thanksgiving and other tales

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving in Korea. I was worried I'd be feeling homesick. I've spent a Thanksgiving abroad before, but Baby Bartels and Mom came to Spain so I still had family at hand. This year though, we adopted some surrogates. We invited Yun Jae, Sa Jin, and Mi Yeun to experience a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment.

Brian and I started cooking Tuesday to manage all the food in our tiny kitchen, and the results were delicious. We had rosemary garlic bread, stuffed acorn squash, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, some wasabi rice (a meal's not a meal in Korea without rice), fruit salad, apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and some of Dad's snickerdoodles that came just in time. Yun Jae brought his 5 year old son, Yae Dam, and David came bearing red wine so that we had a cozy little house full. Poor Duck was home sick and missed the festivities. Like any good Thanksgiving, the eating never ended until everyone went home, but unlike other Thanksgivings, this one involved a who's-the-wimpiest-girl-arm-wrestling-extravaganza! I have a new perspective on my strength now that Sa Jin (not quite 5 ft tall, not quite 100 lbs) beat me with ease - she was laughing in fact, and Mi Yeun (looks frail as cotton candy) and I tied. Yae Dam was too busy playing the wii to condescend to our competition, but I think I could have taken him.


Brian, Mi Yeun, Sa Jin, Yae Dam, me, and our Thanksgiving dinner.


The Koreans loved Thanksgiving dinner, but they liked the rosemary garlic bread and apple pie the best. They'd never eaten rosemary before and Yae Dam said it tasted like flowers. Well said my boy.

Friday night we continued the feasting by going to the Brewery. This is a brew house in Seomyeon that has an all you can eat and drink (in beer) special for only 16,000 won per person (that's less than 14 USD right now!). From 6 to 9 you can eat your heart out and you can continue to get drinks til 9:30. The beer was delicious for Korean beer, but only passable for a brew house by American standards. The food included sushi, spaghetti, a salad bar, wings, a yogurt and coffee bar, and a meat smorgasbord that you cook at your table. This will probably become a Friday night tradition.

Saturday we went ice skating! It was easy to find the rink because ice skating in Korea is ice skating. It's only 6k won for skates and you can stay on the ice as long as you want. We skated for over 3 hours and I definitely won most improved. The skates here don't have the grooves on the toe of the blade, which is what I've always used to grip the ice to go. So at first I couldn't move at all while the others were skating laps around me. But I gradually picked it up and by the end I was skating backwards and doing spins and the hockey stop. Shannon's school took all of the kids skating there that Saturday too, and all the 3rd graders learned "can you ____?" the week before. One of the examples was "can you skate?" so all the kids were coming up to us and asking if we could skate and they were so excited to be able to talk to us. Oh, another thing about Korean skating rinks - you have to wear a helmet. They had skates that almost fit Brian and David, but the helmets didn't come close. See for yourself.

Sunday Brian and I decorated the apartment for Christmas. It only took 5 minutes, but we still did it justice with Christmas music, red wine, and then The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's the dinkiest little Christmas job I've ever seen, but it's ours and I love it. Don't judge our tree to harshly, it was only 2,000 won at the dollar store.

Our lovely poinsettia

tiny stockings



tree and poinsettia

Jess

Can you English? Me too!

This weekend we took it easy. Friday David and Duck came over and we cooked in - a new trick we've been using more often now that it's colder. It was so cold out and we were all feeling so cozy in our tiny apartment that we decided it was finally time to pull out one of our treasures from home. We brought very few treats because most things spoil and/or are very heavy. But amongst the chosen few there was whiskey. Sweet sweet vanilla oak belly warming Kentucky bourbon, complements of one David Flood. That's right David, we saved that little beauty and brought it along. And thank goodness because it was a unanimous opinion that whiskey has never tasted so good. There's just enough left for Christmas Eve.

Unfortunately, we decided we should check on the Kyungsung area, see what was going on. So we headed out to our favorite pajeon and makulli bar where an extremely drunk ole Korean fella started offering us drinks and eventually came and sat with us. Poor fool ruined the night. He didn't speak any English, but was convinced that he did, but because he couldn't understand us he assumed that we were Russian and weren't speaking English at all. He kept asking "Can you English?" and when we said yes he'd say most emphatically "Me too!", but this was an incorrect statement. He kept getting angry at us for not speaking English or Korean and while I generally agree that one should at least try one's best at the native language if one chooses to live abroad, he did come sit with an obvious group of foreigners. In another context a situation like this would tug my guilt cord for not being more studious and fluent in Korean, but in this case I was angry right back at him. It would be another story if we'd crashed his party, but come on old man! Don't ruin our night with your Debbie Downer attitude! We hung around far too long, but called it a night early to escape his wandering bad vibe tentacles. We split with David and Duck and headed home.

You sir most certainly cannot English.

Saturday was fun day though. We woke up lazily and relaxed before venturing out to see the UN Peace Park Cemetery. This is right beside our apartment, but it closes at 5 PM so we hadn't been inside yet.

It's beautiful, but pretty tragic. Not exactly full of warm memories and happy thoughts.

After the cemetery we went to Haeundae. There we met David, Duck, Shannon, and Ryan. On our way to the wharf we stopped by the Haeundae market to see what strange things we could see. This time around they were selling bees complete with combs. However, these were not honey bees. They looked like yellow jackets, and I don't know why anyone would want to buy them. Then we had to make a lightning quick convenient store stop for grown up drinks in order to catch the next boat out. We took a 2 hour tourist ferry around the Oryukdo Islets, one of the more common images associated with Busan. We were the only foreigners on board, and therefore, the only people not feeding our snacks to the seagulls. All the Koreans were loving the seagully attention. People were holding snacks out for the birds to take out of their hands and screaming with delight or terror, I couldn't tell which. In this manner we acquired an entourage of flying friends that blocked most pictures of the shoreline. It was a windy, icy, feather filled good time, and the islets were beautiful.

After the cruise it was dinner in Haeundae and then back to Kyungsung were we first had drinks at the 7-11, then one bar and finally we checked out my new favorite bar. Bob Dylan Bar is filled with old vinyl and you can select the record you want to hear while you sip the cheapest glass of red wine in town. It's got a great rundown in a cozy sort of way atmosphere and the strangest assortment of music I've ever seen. Right next to Nico live in Tokyo there's Puddle of Mud, and I found Blond on Blond sandwiched between a Korean record and some obscure country album. It's going to take some delving, but I think there might be some more gems in there.

Then it was back to the pajeon and makulli joint. The night before had been a bust there, but Saturday night there was a group of older (40-50) Koreans there who were celebrating a birthday. They kept inviting a couple of us up to their table to drink and talk and they were great fun. They all knew each other through yoga. One woman was a yoga master, 2 were teachers, the rest were students. Of the students, one man taught Korean and Chinese tea ceremonies and has invited us to his tea house this Friday when another of the friends- the saxophone player - will be playing live jazz. There were also a professor and physical therapist amongst them. They were so jolly and kept sharing their makulli and spilling it all over my lap. They were aggressively friendly with me. The yoga master woman kept grabbing me around the neck to take pictures with me, but she had me in a choke hold most of the time. When we finally went home Ryan, Shannon, David and Duck all crashed in a sweet, sweet slumber party of friends.

Before we met our new friends

Saxophone dragged me off to meet his friends

Ryan, Shannon, Professor, Physical Therapist, Yoga Teacher, Saxophone, Me, and Tea Man with a sliver of Yoga Master on the side

That Yoga Master was aggresive.

Saxophone loved the boys. Well, he loved everyone.

David, Yoga Master, Careef, and Saxophone.

Shannon sandwhich

This is right before he kissed Ryan's lips

This is as he's kissing David's lips.

Friend swap again

Makulli faces

That's the waiter in the background. He hates us I think.

Incidentally, I cut my own bangs this morning before school, and it turned out better than expected.
Jess

Sushi School

Thursday night my second school (Yong Dang) had a dinner for all the teachers. This is very common in Korea - in fact, it's the second dinner I've been to with Yong Dang. But this time was different. This time was sushi, and I had some of the most delicious raw fish of my life. But along with the raw fish, this 12 course meal came with whale. I don't know what kind of whale, but there was sliced whale on the table, and people ate the flesh and left the skin. I took a cell phone picture, I didn't have my camera. Among the other rare dishes were triton and other shell fish, served raw. This makes for tough eating. Imagine eating conch, but unbeaten, uncooked conch. It's a jaw workout, and it's not that tasty. There was also triton eggs, which were delicious, like butter kind of. There were 3 rounds of soup, 5 rounds of raw animals, rice of course, a round of fried fish, fried veggies, salad, and many many rounds of a drink they call thousand year promise. The dinner lasted over 2 hours and people got rowdy drunk. Afterwards we went to a norebang - the singing room, and while the principal was grinding some woman teacher I sang brown eyed girl just because they could sha la la along with that one. What is this magical place we've come to? But one song wasn't enough for me. Oh no, they wanted more. So this man teacher, who took it upon himself to ensure that I always had a friend arm in arm, usually him, picked out a song for me. He chose Don't Cry for Me Argentina, the Madonna version. Of course I don't know this song. I barely know the chorus. But there I was, with his arm around my shoulder and three other Korean teachers by my side, mumbling the words and belting the chorus. Surprisingly, no one asked me to sing again. But I'd won their hearts with my attempts. So much so that a woman brought me a shot of house whiskey followed by an american cheese chaser. This may sound awful, but it's actually worse than it sounds. But it was lots of fun regardless of putridness.

As I was leaving, I said "see you tomorrow", and no less than three teachers said no, they'd see me next week because tomorrow was a holiday (this was Thursday night). They said there were no classes tomorrow and that I didn't have to come to school. I thought this was strange because Kyung Mi, my coteacher, didn't mention it. But I also thought, they know better than I. So Friday morning as Brian was getting ready for school, I layed in bed. I got up late and slowly made breakfast and coffee as I worked on an essay (there's a contest with cash prizes for EPIK teachers, we're all trying it out for a travelling fund bonus). At 8:25 I got a text from Kyug Mi. All it said was today is not a holiday. So with a heroic show of speed and determination, I made it to school only 5 minutes late. Welcome to life in Korea. So much for my relaxing day, but I did get to see my 1st graders and be buddy buddy with my fellow crooners from the night before. Surreal.

Jess

We made it out of Busan!

This Saturday we made our first escapade outside of Busan proper. Brian, David, Duck, and Ryan and Shannon and I headed out Saturday morning to see Gyeongju, a city about an hour north of Busan by bus that was the capital of Korea during the Shilla Dynasty. The Shilla Dynasty began in 56 or 57 BC and lasted over 1000 years. It was during this reign that peninsular Korea was first unified, and it's amongst the longest dynasties on record in Asia. Therefore, Gyeongju is loaded with Shilla era architecture and ruins.

We met at the express bus terminal Saturday morning, and I was amazed at what an easy time we had buying tickets. For 4000 won (about 4 USD) we got a luxurious cross country ride with leg space even for the freakishly tall amongst us. But before the bus ride, we stopped in Lotteria, the Korean McDonald's, where hidden between the normal beef items on the menu is the delicious shrimp and avocado burger. It was my first time in a Lotteria, and I think I'll go back, which is strong language for me and fast food. When we got to Geongju we stopped by the tourist information center and got maps and some advice. Then we hopped on some rental bikes and headed out to see the sites. Some of my favorites were the Gyerim (chicken)forest, where the 김 (kim) lineage was born - something like 85% of Koreans have Kim as their family name - and Cheomseongdae, the oldest standing astronomical observation tower in all of East Asia.

After an amazing dinner we found ourselves a cheap "love motel", which means you can rent it by the hour, but we took it for the night. Unfortunately, I felt really sick the next day, so Brian and I headed back to Busan early. But Duck has some great pictures of the temple the rest of the crew visited Sunday on her blog. Sunday night Brian made some traditional Korean food at home and it was better than many restaurants that we've tried. Hopefully we'll be pros when we leave so we can bring home the tasty treats we've tried here.

Jess

Beomosa

Last weekend we went hiking! A teacher from Brian's school - Mr. Kim, AKA Skinhead Kim (this at his own request, because he's bald) - invited us to go hiking with himself and Yun Jae. We met at 8 AM on a rainy, cold morning and headed to Beomosa, Pusan's most famous Buddhist temple, and probably the largest. David and Duck met us at the subway stop and after buying some snacks, we were off.

Beomosa is Busan's largest temple, with many scattered compounds and courtyards. We saw the main section first, where monks with umbrellas gave us hot tea, and we listened to the faithful chanting in Sanskrit. We were told Korean Buddhism is different from other forms in that it isn't one form only. Even within that temple they practiced Theravada, Mahayana, Zen, and a sort of nondenominational Korean Buddhism.

Leaving the main compound, we walked to an area with 7 or so enormous statues of Buddha, all in bright colors. It was the perfect time to visit the temple because all of the leaves were jumping out of their skin with color. From here we started our ascent on the mountain. It was raining pretty good at that point, so the only photo is from the summit. By that time our hands were so cold they couldn't grip anything and it hurt to touch them to rocks, but the summit was this knife edge ridge of boulders with a rope to hang on to, that may or may not have prevented the gusting wind from blowing you off the top. But my hands were too cold to hold on, so I bore the pain of pressing them against the rocks and keeping low to keep from soaring into the mist hidden abyss. It was treacherous, and there was a woman screaming the whole time. Even though the fear factor makes the adventure more fun, I was glad to get out of the wind and onto more sure footing.

Half way down the mountain we had a picnic of all the snacks we'd brought. We'd planned to go up one side and down the other, but the weather made that a dangerous proposition. We were headed back towards Beomosa when we stopped for the traditional Korean hiker's fare - soju, kimchi, any other snacks, and some red wine (I don't think that parts traditional, but drinking in general is). The ground was wet so I tried out my new Asian style squatting skills. It worked ok at first, but them my legs started to cramp up. That's going to take more practice.

Once back at the temple, we saw another smaller compound with a unique dragon roofed building. It was less crowded and more serene than what we'd seen earlier. There was also a small grotto with a shrine inside that felt so cozy after the cold rain outside. Incense billowed out and a small fountain babbled within. There were persimmon trees all around the perimiter, and the leaves were beautiful.

After our temple/hiking extravaganza, it was time for the time honored pajeon and makulli. We went to a tent, a sort of permanent tent, with heat lamps and the best pajeon I've had so far. The makulli was served in a large bowl with a ladel and tasted perfect. I fell in love with the heat lamps, but even so it took an hour before my hands could grip again. We decided we could use a relaxing bath, so we were off to our first bath house experience!

We had one in mind - largest in Asia it's claimed - but good ole Skinhead Kim had other plans. He took us to a smaller one, but one where all the hot waters are from natural hot springs. The girls and boys separated here, but comparing stories it sounds like they had the same design. Duck and I headed into our locker room not knowing what to expect. There a large woman in her bra and panties showed us a locker and gave us a towel and some soap. Then she led us into the bath room. Here there were 5 or so showers along one wall where you shower first. Then there were 3 tubs in the center, the largest being a very comfortably hot tub big enough for 20 or so bodies. It had a dragon spewing water into it too. Along the long side of this pool were two smaller ones. One was the same temperature with Jasmine flavored water. The other was painfully hot and all I could bear was to put my feet in for a second. The Korean's didn't seem to mind though, and they found it very funny that Duck and I couldn't take the heat. But they were so friendly and helpful, showing us where to go and what to do when we tried new tubs. Along another wall were the cold tubs. Again, one big enough for 20 or so and a smaller one. The smaller was icy cold - awful. The larger felt great after the hot tubs. And it had this turbo shower that blast massaged you if you could stand it; I couldn't. In fact, all of the tubs had massaging jets, some more comfortable than others. Then there was a sauna and steam room. The steam room's steam tasted and smelled like green tea and it felt amazing, but it was hotter than any steam room I've ever been in. There were also sit down shower stations with big mirrors in front of them, like vanities, but for showering. There were at least 10 of these, and women were scrubbing and putting on masks and such there. Then there was a station where the bra and panty ladies (everyone else was nude) were applying various scrubs and treatments to people. We only stayed for 20 minutes, but I loved it and can't wait to go back to the big famous one. Anyone who travels to South Korea would be foolish to miss out on the bath house.

We headed to a bar in Kyungsung after all the excitement. Poor Skinhead Kim was so shy until he got some drinks in him. But Yun Jae is becoming a great friend. Another friend I hope to get to know better is Mi Yun, Brian's coteacher. Last night we went out to dinner with her and then she took us up to see the city lights from a mountain top. I didn't have my camera, but it was a glittery wonderland. We also had the best coffee we've had so far in Korea up there. Enjoy the pictures!

Gwangan Li Fireworks Festival!

So 3 weeks ago was the 4th annual Gwangan Li Fireworks Festival. Just now getting around to posting it because the video was tough to manage. Gwangan Li is a beach nearby where we live and it's got this beautiful bridge that looks like the Golden Gate, but it's white. And at night it has colored lights that change slowly through the spectrum. They estimated over 1 million people where there to watch the show, and the fireworks were timed to music they had booming out over the crowd. We went with Brian's coteacher and music teacher, Mi Yeon and Sa Jin. They brought kimbap (rice wrapped in seaweed) and fruit and we brought soju (the most common and cheap alcohol here made from sweet potatos - tastes like bad vodka and they drink it like wine) and cider (tastes like Sprite, good for mixing with soju). David and Duck got there before us and saved a spot along with Shannon, Ryan, Heather, and Sam (all friends from orientation in Seul, but we hadn't met Heather or Sam before). We were all there 5 hours early and we still barely had any space.

These photos show the beach the first time we visited the first week we were here during the day.


These are photos from the Fireworks Festival. It was unbelievable how crowded the beach was. And the subway on the way there.

This video is a bit long, but it gives you an idea of just how spectacular the show was. It went on for over an hour. This isn't even the grand finale; it's just a pinch of the splendor. Imagine every fireworks finale you've ever seen, and multiply it by 10, and make that last over an hour. That's what we saw.

Once the crowd really got packed in they wouldn't let people leave the beach, or come onto it. But we were drinking in a jolly sort of way, so to solve the bathroom problem we tried to squat in the ocean. This of course drew much attention and was generally a bad idea, but it solved the problem. It also left us with sandy, salty, wet jeans for the walk home.

After the festival we all walked back to our house and then had dinner at a pajeon and makulli hole in the wall we love nearby. The night ended in a giant Girl Fighter tournament against 20 or so Koreans, and Heather and Sam and Duck and David all stayed the night in our tiny apartment. Overall I'd say the Fireworks Festival was my favorite Pusan event so far. Great job Pusan! Since then we've seen one of the girls from the girl fighter tournament 3 or 4 times around the area where we live. Girl fighter, breaking down cultural barriers and making the world a better place.

Blow Fish Soup

I had always heard about people eating blowfish in Japan, but I didn't know until yesterday that it is quite common in Korea. Blowfish have a toxin that, if eaten, can cause paralysis or even death (aparently 1 fish has enough tetrodoxin to kill 30 humans). Many westerners are wary of blowfish restaurants, but sickness/death is rare (or so we were told). The blow chefs (as I prefer to call them) are required to have a special liscence - so why not give it a try. I'm not sure how common these types of establishments are in the rest of Korea, but you see them everywhere in Busan - just look for the friendly blowfish on the sign. The fish is served raw, fried, or in our case mixed in with a soup. I think they put two fish in each bowl of soup and its usually served on the bone. They do cut the lips off before hand and make a special banchan (side dish) out of them. It was relatively cheap ($6000 won or $6 per person) and delicious. The meat was very dense (almost like chicken). The soup was accompanied with other banchan including kimchi, pumpkin pancakes, and dried fish. Rice was also served with the soup. They put it in a piping hot stoneware bowl so the rice gets nice and crispy on the bottom - after you scoup the rice out its customary to pour water over the top and drink it afterwords (its actually pretty tasty). It was a really tasty experience and we'll probably go back soon.

the ole Korean song and dance

Last Thursday and Friday at Yong Dang (my second school) a troup of traditional Korean performers came to the school to teach the students about their culture and I got to check it out. This is at a church near our apartment. These women are wearing the traditional Korean garb called Hanbok. The performers in the videos below are also wearing Hanbok, but you can't see them as well because they're seated. This first video showcases various traditional instruments. They are playing an excerpt from a Korean opera that Kyung Mi told me lasts for 8 hours! There's a lunch built into the opera. I don't know if I'd love it for 8 hours, but the instruments are beautfiul.
In this video the woman is wearing the clothing of a queen. The dance she is performing is a palacial dance usually danced before royalty. The flowers are peonies.

The man in this video is not wearing a Hanbok, though there is a male version. This headress and drum dance were often performed in a millitary context, but also to drive evil spirits out of the rice fields in order to insure a good harvest. I like that twirlygig. I couldn't figure out how to rotate it, but the advantage is you can lay down to watch it!

And that's a bit of Korean tradition. We'll show you more as we discover it.