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.