A Day in the Life

WHAAA?!?! DOUBLE POST?
That's right, I'm goin there! Something I've been planning on doing for a bit, for all you non-Koreans. Here's a pictorial journey through a somewhat typical day in the life of a foreigner living in Busan. Share and enjoy!


Wakey wakey, no eggs and bacey (Koreans aren't so big into breakfast foods :(


Current state of the apartment. I cleaned it later that day, I swear!



Locking up and heading out.




Walking down the street towards Seomyeon. Yes, Korean dogs are always that hideous. This one wouldn't stop barking at me from half a block away.



Corner stores are a staple here. The best is Family Mart, as they tend to have the most extensive and delicious ice cream selection (including one called "Black Boy". You know you want one).


A Korean back alley.


NeoSpa is my gym/spa (jinjaebang). Jinjaebangs are just those big communal bathhouses where you hang out in pools and saunas of various heats. It's nice and relaxing if you can get over being surrounded by naked people chilling next to you, though I've heard the ladies have it worse since some get gawked at something awkward. They also have this service where you can pay to get THOROUGHLY scrubbed down, though I have yet to try that out (I like my skin, thank you very much!). Membership's about $52 a month since I got a 6 month contract.



Don't forget to take off your shoes and change into your workout shoes and clothes!



Walking into Seomyeon area.



Lotte Department Store (this is the back) is the big landmark in Seomyeon. It's floors and floors of department store goodness and sooo much more! There're some pretty decent, though expensive, restaurants towards the top, a theater, and the bottom floor has a small, select grocery store along w/ a couple of bakeries, a wine shop, and a variety of quick eating stops. The last is what I'm going for (my salad lady wouldn't let me take a picture of her).



Walking around Seomyeon proper.



To get around some streets, you have to duck down into the underground shopping area. These are all connected around Seomyeon to the subway also, so you can stroll around shopping and pop up pretty much anywhere provided you know the exit number. One of my first nights here, I walked down here at night and was engulfed in a sea of people, shoulder to shoulder. I tend to avoid shopping on Fridays and Saturdays now.



Bookstore. Their English section (that's all of it) is only slightly smaller than most that you find.






Over to my favorite cafe, Mulkoki Kokiri (which apparently means "Fish Elephant"). Randomly ran into Jef and Miranda there (and Janelle joined later). I love this place; the guy in the last picture always laughs at me when I come in and says, "See you tomorrow!" when I go. And he's usually right.



Walking around here can be murder, it's probably the only thing I really hate here. Imagine every annoying thing people do to you while walking in crowded areas; then apply that to pretty much every person you walk around. Also, this is the subway area, they're pretty easy to figure out and convenient. But I tend to walk everywhere.




Kimbop! A staple here in Korea, it's an odd sushi roll that has egg and spam and a few random veggies in it. This is a tiny place that is one of the few that's noticeably different from the rest. When you want a quick Korean version of a sandwich, just look for the orange sign!


Ajuma gang!






Home Plus is like Target or Walmart: everything in one place. It's also the principle supermarket for us. They've got everything you need for your Korean experience!
Kimchi
Rice
and Soju and Mikju (beer).

A short interlude later (where I cleaned and updated my blog, along w/ other boring miscellany), and I'm off to work!






Busan really comes alive when night falls. Seriously, the city never sleeps; at all hours you will find people stumbling around the streets. And I realized when I was taking these that it's really at night that you start to feel how foreign this place can be.



Wheeee!


Massagey? Just look for the double poles!






This is the infamous CDI Busanjin! Paul's manning the front desk (with other staff ducking out of the picture). And lastly, the break room with Anthony, Janelle, and Jef (everyone else had first class off, as did I). Oh, the stories that are told here...





My class tonight is middle school Par Listening/Speaking. In the back is Kevin, who's sitting to since he's training to teach the same thing next term. He's taking the rest of pictures. Aren't those kids so enthusiastic?!?! They're one of my favorite classes this term, and this was my last class with them.




A short bus ride later (not pictured, since you really don't want to try and do anything on a bus here but hold on and pray), and we're over at the kimbop place again! Yes, it's the same one as before; we get off work at 10:10, which means you're stuck eating a very small variety of foods that are still open. There are some 24 kimbop places, which is very nice, but not a whole lot else stays open late besides fried chicken places. That's Janelle with all of our side dishes. And our food from my plate clockwise is cheesu donkatsu (fried pork cutlet w/ cheese, mmmm!), chamche dolkbop (spicy tuna and cabbage and such with rice), and a random, previously unseen noodle dish.


Lotte Hotel (next to Lotte Department Store. Also, that's where the Casino is), done up for Christmas!




A little of Seomyeon by night. The orange tents are these little drinking areas where they also serve terrible drunk food. Haven't been to many, and I doubt I will be with the weather change.





And here's our favorite haunt, Bar Guri (which means something obscene, I forget what at the moment). That's Adrienne, one of the April teachers, drinking with me tonight, though she wasn't keen on the whole photo thing. And the last picture is with Pon, the awesomest bartender in Busan (nay, South Korea!), who also happened to be drunk when we got there.


Aaaand that about does it for the day! We'll do a bit more traveling sometimes, but it's a weekday, cut me some slack! Anyways, that's a bit of what life's like for me.

Fall Comes To Busan

The Autumn season has dropped on us here like a ton of bricks. Literally overnight, the temperature has fallen drastically, prompting a quick change into coats and gloves and knit caps. It wouldn't feel so cold if not for the damn wind, which blasts through Seomyeon like some anti-demon and cuts right through whatever pitiful protection you may possess (that's called alliteration, kiddies!). But this all comes without complaint (ok, maybe just the usual), because the surrounding area has become gorgeously picturesque! Luckily, in the past weeks, I've been able to get out on a few trips to see the countryside. Sadly, we're losing a couple more teachers as the term comes to an end this week (Jef is moving to another branch, but Janelle is going home for good. Or so she says/thinks...), but we've been trying to take in the sights a little more. So here are a few words, though I think I'll let the pictures speak more for themselves (mainly because then I can be lazy!)

First up were the green tea fields in Boseong. We took a jaunty jaunt out there on Sunday morning, waking up bright and early at 5:30 to catch the bus, which ended up taking about 3 1/2 hours(?). We mostly slept the way out; I bought an eye mask shortly before because it gets so damn bright in my apartment, which came in handy. It's a silly lil number that has a red raccoon on it and says "Do you like me?" Pretty standard fare here in Korea. Anyways, we get out there and take the bus out to the fields, which were beautiful! Rows and rows of these green bushes with a background of just-turning trees on the hillside! When we saw our first red and yellow trees, I think there was audible squealing.
(Photos courtesy of Janelle Berghoff, since Erick was an idiot and forgot his camera)







As a side note, there's a trend in Korea where couples will wear matching clothes in some bizarre mating ritual that, I assume, displays heightened affection and marks the territory of those involved. A normal foreigner game is to treat it like Slug Bug, where when you see people dressed like that, you called out "Couple Shirt!" and punch the nearest person. Well, Dan and I decided to up the ante a bit. When you see couples with one matching piece of clothing, you get a punch; with two, a knee/kick; with three or more (the Holy Grail of couple shirts), you get to slap someone in the face! Everyone else gleefully joined in, no doubt hoping to spot the first 3-fer, but no one could find one when others were around. UNTIL THIS WEEKEND! Not 10 minutes after I explain the new rules, Noemi, a teacher at another branch, spots a couple with FOUR matching pieces. She calls it and, without warning, slaps me clear across the face. She did pull back a bit, but I had met her maybe 3 times before, so I was just shocked. And my respect for her grew instantly. Guys are weird.

Anyways, the trip back took about 5 1/2 hours because of some ridonkulous traffic, and we all got off the bus vowing never to take a trip on a Sunday night again.

The next Sunday, I jumped on a bus with most of my branch and our April (little little kiddies) branch for another trip out of the city. I can't remember the exact place we went to (I'll look into it and get back to you, maybe), but it was a really pretty and quaint coastal area. We rode up there (2 1/2 hours) and took some time walking around a bit before heading over to a little restaurant on the water where we had some mussels and seafood noodles. Then we jumped on bikes and rode down the coast for a bit, playing around and skipping rocks and other grabassery. Anthony, our new HI, got shown up by some random little kid who wouldn't even acknowledge him as he skipped his stones about 20 times. I call for a blood test.







After we go up to a hill to watch a beautiful sunset over the water and the surrounding islands, we jump on the bus for what would be the most torturous bus experience of my life! Seriously, it took us 7 1/2 hours to get back, 5 hours longer than it took us to get to the damn place! I tried to sleep, but the ease and comfort of Korean stop-and-go prevented that, so we entertained ourselves as best we could. At one point, we jumped out of the bus and walked along the road to get some air and stretch. We figured, "Hey, when the bus catches up, we'll just jump back on!" But the bus never caught up. We walked for about 20 minutes before we stopped and waited the same amount of time for the bus to catch up. We also stopped for dinner to let the traffic give up a bit, then started the drinking. After that experience, one of the April teachers Adrienne and I beelined for the bar and had a few stiff drinks.

Finally, last Friday a few of us went out to Beomosa, which is the big temple just in Busan. I'd been up there before with Dan and Mac (see issue #235. And give God a high five if you get that reference!), but this time around, the Fall change was in full effect. I won't write much here, but enjoy the pics! Peace out!

The other day we had a company wide sports day, which meant all the branches got together at a spot and spent the day doing all sorts of activities. The draw that I heard repeatedly was that the company had spent a million won ($1000, for you dirty Americans) on meat along. With a bill like that, how could you pass up?

I love my branch. Our head instructor spent the night buying me shots and encouraging us to go out clubbing only to text us at 9 in the morning to "remind" us to show up on time! Also, we were given these lime green collared shirts with the implication that all the other branches would be wearing similar uniforms. Of course, we showed up and were the only ones. We tend to be a group that stands out already, and proudly so. We don't really need the assistance most of the time.

The day started out with all the groups breaking up into teams and participating in a variety of sport goodnesses. A good portion of us showed up late (for obvious reasons) and so we jumped on the nearest team and started playing/cheering/recovering. With great pride, our team took first in dodgeball (huzzah!), then got combined with another, lesser team (awww), only to be lead on to glory by Busanjin's own Jef (huzzah, redux!). We took the lead with such invigorating and Olympic-worthy events as Pass-the-People-Along-On-the-Tarp(?), Blow-Up-the-Balloons, Pop-Said-Balloons, and Bounce-the-Enormous-Ball-On-the-Tarp. It was a tarpy, balloony kinda time. Needless to say, I feel confident in declaring us the winners, though on a day like that, how could you be a loser?

I have to admit, I really do enjoy stuff like that. I met up with a lot of people that I haven't had near as much contact with. It's easy to get insular here, since your work routine combines with your foreigner routine to shut you off from a lot of others. Sometimes you're tired, sometimes you don't want to put the effort in required of somebody in a different country and want to hole yourself in a wall. I realize I've slowed down a bit since I came here; every weekend I was in a new place before and saw new things every day. You need stuff to keep you invigorated or else you fall in the trap. I guess that's the same anywhere you go, but I don't want to squander my time here since it's already limited enough.

We also celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday with a potluck dinner at the coworker's place. Gotta say, I couldn't name a single Canadian holiday before I got here and now I'm jumping at the chance to join everything from Canadian Independence Day to Canadian Kwanzaa (please, let that exist...). Also, I miss cooking since it's so cheap here to eat out and I'm a lazy bastard. So if anyone has some new recipes/cooking ideas, send them my way. I only have a stove, no oven (baking ain't so big here), no microwave or anything really, no space for much. So if you have ideas on delicious meals using only a range and the sweat o' my brow (maybe not actually IN the food), post em up! Otherwise, later all! I'll have more actual Korean culture soon, I swear!

P.S. No, I probably won't.