Mom and Frank at large in Korea

About a week and half ago Mom and Frank flew in to Pusan to visit for a week. These are the tales of their time here.

Friday the travelers were wiped from their agonizingly long flight, so we checked them into the hotel, had some dinner and caught up a bit before tucking them in for the night. Their first Korean meal was a great success, and the view from their hotel room (30 USD/night) was priceless. They brought us lots of goodies including a new camera to replace our busted one. Thanks Mom and Grandma! It's great!

Saturday they were still pretty tired, but they were troopers. We went first to Beomosa where Shannon and Ryan met up with us as we cruised around the temple grounds. Then we were off to Dongnae to meet David and Duck and have some of the famous pajeon and makulli from that area. This got 2 thumbs up from both Mom and Frank. Here are some of my favorite temple sites.

After all the delicacies, we tromped on to the Oncheonjang hot spring foot baths where 8 waygooks garnered quite a lot of attention. We soaked for a while and nearly put Mom and Frank to sleep, so we all split up and the visitors came to our apartment to see the neighborhood and have a nap. But they were up again for dinner and a visit to one of our favorite little bars where they still remember us for our infamous Halloween escapades. Every time they see us they all say "Oh! Halloween Day!".

Sunday we went for a hike up to what might be the prettiest place in Pusan, Geumjeongsanseong. I think this might have been Mom and Frank's favorite part of the trip, but you'd have to ask them.

After the hike and picnic we went to check out the famous Dr. Fish we'd heard so much about. There are some pictures in the above slide show, but you don't really get the full effect til you see the following video of Mom's reaction to the pedicure that consists of little fish eating the dead flesh off your feet. It's creepy at first, extremely tickly the whole time, but eventually feels kind of good once you get used to it. It was sort of a feet filled weekend.

Contrary to what you might think after watching this video, Mom actually enjoyed the fish pedicure and ended up staying in the tubs longer than any of us.

Monday I had to go to school, so the waygooks had a chance to relax after the whirlwind weekend we put them through. But thanks to all the wonderful changes that have taken place at my school since the new school year, my great new Principle and Vice Principle gave me the afternoons after class off! I met up with them at 12 and took them to Nampodong to explore and have a raw fish (like Sashimi, called hoe) dinner at Jagalchi with Yun Jae and Mi Yun and all our waygook chingus. They were brave to eat some of the raw creatures they ate, and we had a lot of fun with all of our friends together.

Tuesday they came to school with me! Tuesday is all third grade classes,which means all the cutest kids come to the English Room. My 6th graders the next day were very upset they didn't get to meet them. That night Sun Ja, my new coteacher, took us out to Vietnamese dinner and up to Huryeong Mountain to see the view of the city, and eventually to her home to see Korean home life. At that point I'd known Sun Ja for about 5 days. She's so sweet and great. Hooray for Sun Ja! These are some of my favorites from those couple of days. They're both views from Mom and Frank's hotel room.


And the rest of the photos.

Wednesday I got off early again and Mom and I went to a sauna, which here means a big fancy bath house, usually with many different saunas as we know them in the west. I was a little disappointed at first because there were only 4 baths and it wasn't as nice as many I've seen before, but then we signed up for the "minimassage" and it blew both our minds. I'd seen women being scrubbed down by the sauna workers before, but I thought we were getting a 30 minute massage. It turned out to be an hour of intense exfoliation that nearly drew blood followed by the most painful massage of my life, but also included a facial and a moisture treatment. They even washed our hair and massaged our scalps. It's sounds kind of terrible, and it was kind of, but at the same time afterwards I was limp I was so relaxed. And I don't think either of us have ever had skin so smooth.

That night Yun Jae and Mi Yeon met us for drinks before we had to say goodbye. But Yun Jae offered to pick Brian and I up in the morning to see off the padres so Thursday morning was our official goodbye. I'm so glad Mom and Frank got to come and it got me excited for all the other visitors coming our way soon. Since then we've been up to all kinds of miscellaneous activity. At school I was asked to decorate a green board in the classroom one day when classes were cancelled. I had so much fun making it; I miss crafting things and it felt good to do it again.
Then this past weekend we had a night at the arcade where you can take these fantastically absurd photos and dress them up with obscene amounts of pink and glitter and sparkle. It's amazing.
I decorated Smile Days and Everlasting Miracle For You, Duck did Twins Sweet Love.


You can also sing kareoke and ride ponies at the arcade. It's a magical place.Saturday we met a lot of new teachers in town at a St. Patrick's Day celebration, and Sunday we went to the opening game of the Pusan I Park team's soccer season. The game ended in a draw, but it was fun and not well attended so it was cheap and we could get close.

And that's what we've been up to. Now that things are settling down with the new semester I should be more regular on posts. Check out the Konglish blog too, there are some new prizes there.

Jess