My Dong (Neighbourhood)

Here's some pictures I took a while back around my neighbourhood. I keep forgetting not everyone has facebook so I picked out a few of my favorites to share with you on here. Most were taken from a mountain 15 minutes from my house. It takes a lot longer to hike up it of course but there was a while when I did it almost every day. It was a nice place to get centered again. I haven't been up there in a while though. It only took one person to tell me giant spiders live there during the summer for me to decide to take the summer off from my new found passion for mountaineering... even if the person that told me was an ankle biter themselves :) Most of the other ones were taken at the UN cemetery that's about a 10 minute walk in the opposite direction of the mountain.

Cups hanging along one of the trails incase hikers want some fresh water out of the spring

Dinosaur Island

Back in June I went on another trip that was organized by the same man I went on the spa/balloon trip with. This time it was with a larger group and instead of it being a day trip it was for the weekend. We went on a sailboat through some of the islands on the South West tip of Korea. Some of the islands are joined certain times of the year and are very famous here for that reason. We were also told they housed some of the most intact fossilized dinosaur footprints in the world.

The bus left at 130am on Friday and we didn’t get back until around midnight Sunday. Needless to say Jellycopter teacher was a little cranky come Monday when I had to go back to school. The trip itself was amazing. The weather held up and it wasn’t too hot or cold. It took about 12hours on the road, which included 2 hours getting lost. We made a few pit stops too, of course – one at a beautiful temple for about an hour to stretch our legs out. After looking at a map I still have no idea why or how it took us that long to get there. Anywho, when we finally got to the dock we were all pretty much zombies from traveling so long and not getting the best sleep from all the karaoke that was going on. I think I forgot to mention most of the private tour buss' here come with a full fledged karaoke machine and disco light show which we took full advantage of. Our zombie like state didn't matter much because the sailboat we were about to board on was incredible. We unloaded our bags into the various cabins below sea level then congregated top side to soak in the sun and go for a swim to refresh ourselves before we started sailing. We sailed for about almost 2 hours. The air was thick with fog. It seemed to almost hug the top of mountains of the deserted islands that passed by. It literally looked and felt like we were in the mist of travelling through time – to the land before time. We joked about taking bets on when the first Pterodactyl would swoop down and pick one of us off. I’d be lying if I said part of me didn’t believe it could happen. In the distance through the haze we saw what looked to be an occupied dock with other sailboats docked. Then we saw it... a giant 20 foot Tyrannosaurus Rex. Granit it was a statue, but still, it was pretty freaky considering the murky atmosphere we were surrounded in.

The island stay was such a nice escape. We got to explore different islands, take some time to relax and unwind, and share some stories and laughs with new found friends. Hope you enjoy the pics!  

  

April Showers bring May Flowers

I found this on my computer today. It was a trip I went on back in May but I forgot to post it. Oooooppsy:)

This past weekend was rainy and I thought I was just going to stay in and catch up on some self indulging TV series but instead I was invited to go on a day trip with one of my friends. We ended up going to a spa about an hour outside of Busan that was mostly indoors. I didn’t know much about it so I couldn’t do the normal research I would have done on the internet. I just went with it. The man that was in charge of planning it is an older Korean man that is an event organizer by trait. He organizes trips for foreigners on the side as a hobbie – its great for him because he gets to show his Country and practice his English at the same time. 

We arrived at a carnival type entrance and took our bags out of the van. One thing i’ve learned about Korea since being here is that no matter what you do, there’s sure to be random stuff involved. As soon as we walked in there was a side alley way full of giant balloon characters. It was some sort of balloon festival. It was amazing how many balloons were put into each design.

Next to all the balloons were other giant balloons, but a different kind – the floating, big enough to fit yourself into kind. How could I pass up on that? My girlfriend and I decided to take a spin in one of them that was built for two. It was wayyyyy harder than I thought it was going to be. We basically just bounced around in it for 5 minutes and floated with the ripples from the wind.  It was ridiculously fun though and we both couldn’t stop giggling from our lack of balance and fitness.

We then head up to one of the main buildings were the pool and restaurants were located. We changed into our bathing suits and swam around for a bit. There was also a giant stage in between the kids and adult pool. We were just in time for an act so we got out of the pool to watch the show. There was singing, dancing, and even a man that blew up a balloon and contorted his body to fit inside of it. Oh, Korea – you never cease to surprise me. After we had our entertainment fill we went upstairs to the outdoors spa. It was perfect too because it was off season so there wasn’t many people. The water came directly from deep within the earth and in some spots it was almost too hot to bare.  Believe it or not one of the restaurant actually sells soft boiled eggs that they cook in there. The rock cliff that surrounded it was beautiful. On top of the rock formation it was surrounded by a lush bamboo forest. It was incredibly relaxing and I soaked in every second of it.

There were a couple more relaxation pools inside that we hung out in. The other girls on the trip and I were debating if we should go inside to the women’s only spa. We said to hell with it and just went with it. It was a giant room surrounded by even more cliffs and caverns.  It was amazingly odd, and comfortable all at the same time. It was definitely another successful Korean experience for the books. 

Famous in Korea

I've been meaning to post this video for a while. I was asked via my school to go have tea with a group of older Korean women in one of the neighboring cities here. They said the women spoke very good English and it would be video taped as part of a piece they were doing for a show. I figured whats the worst that could happen, especially since they said we would be getting paid to do it. One of the other girls I work with said she would do it too. We had no idea what we were in for.....

We woke up fairly early because a woman was going to pick us up and drive us to where they were shooting. It took about an hour or so to get there. During the car ride we got more information on what exactly was in store for us. We were meeting up with an older lady (79 years old) in a coffee shop for a TV comedy type skit. The woman studied English on her own for the past 10 years from books in her apartment. She never had any formal lessons and she was quite famous from what our driver knew. I'll let you watch the video and decide for yourself. It is quite admirable that she would take it upon herself to study English at such an old age... but taking into consideration the piece was put in between a pet badger that does situps and an underwater break dancer I don't think it was a very serious video. It was quite the experience though. I'm a little embarrassed to show it on here since I have such crazy eyes in it. They gave me a script what to say but I don't think I was very convincing... there goes my acting career.

Anyways, hope you enjoy the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XlLHYrq4go

Happy Canada Day!

So its been a while since I've posted on here. I'm still alive and well but haven't been doing all that much. The constant stimulation of things that seemed to be so new in the beginning are blending together and just seem normal now - so to speak. I do catch myself saying "only in Korea" a lot though. For example, I was walking home from the gym yesterday and went by a new bakery that just opened up down the street from me. New stores seem to pop up everyday around here (and ones I've come familiar to get torn down just as easily). Anyways - there was a promotional booth set up with a spin wheel to get prizes. I was checking it out to see if it was worth me trying to cross the language barrier and finagle a way to get some free stuff from when something caught the corner of my eye. I was surprised to see a man on stilts staring down at me on the other side of the wheel dressed up like a giant baguette yelling "Hello, I love you!!" lol I giggled and thought to myself "only in Korea" - then went on my way. It's the land of randomness which is probably why time here has flown by so quickly. I've been here for almost 8 months which is mind boggling to me. I don't think my mind has really slowed down since I got here. Like I said, it's constant simulation - lights flashing - cars here - random men on stilts over there - it's endless. I find myself looking more and more forward to my travels after I leave here when i'll be out on a beach somewhere with no one else there but me and the fish in the ocean... and my ipod of course. It'll probably take me being back in Canada before I have time to digest that I lived overseas for a year. I do miss Canada though - my family, friends, old co-workers, Tim Hortons, driving, fresh air... etc. It was a nice surprise this past weekend when some Canadian (and American) friends and I partook in some Canada Day events. One of the pubs here was serving ceasars! Anyone who's ever worked/gone out with me can vouch for how much I love those delicious contagious drinks. I ended up ordering two of them - and later found out they were 8,500 won each which is equal to two days worth of food... but it was totally worth it. I enjoyed every savory sip! I didn't order it, but I was also surprised to see they were serving poutine in celebration of Canada's 144th birthday. They were also having a Canada Day concert which I opted out of too because it was such a beautiful day for the beach. It was nice to meet so many fellow Canuks celebrating Canada Day in their own way no matter where we went that day. And, it was even nicer to feel so close to home even though I'm so far away.

At school I brought in a bunch of mini Canadian flags for my students that my old co-workers gave to me before I left. My kids were so excited to get them - they were shaking them around in the air through out the hallways all day. The American guy I sit next to thought it was a bit much, but I just laughed and told him to lighten up. Here's a picture of some of my older kids with the giant flag I brought in.... we also had a work function after school and my flag ended up making a guest appearance there too. Ok - maybe I did over do it a little. What can I say, I'm a proud Canadian :)

Student's Trip

A funny thing happened in class today. One of my students had taken a family vacation to Singapore last week and today was his first day back. Naturally I asked him how his trip was and if he saw anything interesting. He said Singapore was a really beautiful country and the people were very nice, but there were too many rules. When I asked him to explain he kept going on how there were too many to name. My curiosity grew as Singapore is one of the places I might be travelling to after my adventures here in S. Korea. He painfully went on to say that they weren’t allowed to litter, spit, or smoke in public...

That just goes to show things here are definitely different than Canada.  

Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival



This picture reminded me of my mom:)



I’m getting behind on my blog entries!!  I went to a Cherry Blossom Festival early April to check out the famous cherry blossoms in full bloom. Everyone that’s been here long enough to see them has said that I need to check them out. Trees in blossom can be seen all over Busan, but Jinhae (a city about a 1.5 hour bus ride outside of Busan) is renowned for them. If there’s ever a place where you want to get blown away from the quantity and beauty of the blossoms, Jinhae is the place to go.

One of my girlfriends and I left around 930 in the morning and arrived just before noon. Our bus ride to the “country side” was quite nice on its own. I have country side in quotations because we followed a 6 lane high way the whole way there so we weren’t that far off the beaten path, that’s for sure. The sights of the mountains along the way were beautiful. The landscape was a different story. It might just be the time of year, but I have yet to see an actual green landscape here. It’s always been yellow and brown which isn't as easy on the eyes.



View from the top



Some of the many stairs
we climbed



Upon arrival we hopped off the bus and debated where we should go first. On one side of the street was the obvious way to go – it was lined with street venders in what seemed to be a closed off street for the event. On the other side of the street was a tower of stairs that we hoped would lead us to a view of the city. We decided to do that first. It might after all give us a bearing on where we wanted to go.  We had no idea we were about to take a step to signify every day of the year. After 365 steps we finally reached the top – well, what we thought was the top anyways. There was another tower, with about 9 more flights of stairs that we decided to climb. Hey - why not! It ended up being well worth it. The view of the city, mountains, and ocean all coming together was amazing.

After poking around a bit, we went back down the main area where we tickled around some more. There were tons of kiosks shops and places to eat. We ended up getting some kabobs from one of the vendors to fill our stomaches after our crusade of the steps. We had an idea on where we wanted to go next from looking things up on the internet beforehand, it was just a matter of finding it. There was one place in particular I wanted to see - it was a bridge with blossoms that bowed down in bunches on either side. There were quite a bit of foreigners there, so we had no trouble at all finding someone who knew where to go. Once we got to the famous bridge, we had to take a minute to gather our thoughts as it was just that beautiful. I assure you, the pictures I took couldn’t capture how amazing they really were. Granted, if the streets hadn’t been littered with venders and people it would have been nicer, but it’s Korea – that seems to be the norm here.

We also stumbled across a park not far from the bridge, which was less crowded and more my stride. Here are some of the pictures I ended up taking.  

 

 

 

Our trip ended with a 1.5 hour wait to catch a bus back to the city and a 4 hour drive. Traffic was bad, and I think we decided to leave at the same time everyone else did. We couldn’t really complain though because the line up behind us grew to about twice its original size when we got in it. All in all it was a beautifully scenic day!