Seafood and Sand

Hello everyone.

So to start with where we left off from the last blog, on Thursday, Ali and I decided we would go see the Korea-Argentina soccer game. As you may recall, we watched the first game against Greece in the logical choice of a Mexican themed restaurant. This time, however, we had no definite plans and headed out to find a bar-like place. We've been lucky here that the games have been at 8:30pm; the other times for the games are at 11pm and 3:30 in the morning. Ali and I took awhile to find a place. Everyone in town it seems goes out to watch the game at a restaurant or bar. It's funny walking down the street and just seeing every single building with the game on. It's an intense atmosphere. We finally ended up at a table outside of a restaurant on the sidewalk. They had set up TV's outside so it was a good location. Thinking I could order chicken, we were told that our table actually belonged to the seafood restaurant next door. We had to order something, and unable to get anywhere with our limited Korean and the waiter's limited English, I ended up pointing at another table just to say we'll have what they're having. Well, I guess I should have known better than to point to what a family of 4 was eating because we got a massive tray of seafood. Correction: Ali is a vegetarian so I got a massive tray of seafood and I've never been much of a fan. Well, it had clams, mussels, oysters and every other aquatic creature. We had to cook it at our table, but our waiter showed us mercy and cooked it for awhile to show us how to do it. In between eating half of the Yellow Sea's population, it was an okay game. Korea lost 4-1 but the fans were still cheering up until Argentina's 4th goal. Korea's not out yet, as they still have a good shot to advance. The next (and possibly last) game is a 3:30am one though and I doubt we'll end up at any restaurants for that one.

Ali showing her Korea spirit.


Me with my massive tray of shells

This weekend we went to an island off of Incheon call Muui-Do. It was a friend of Ali's idea since she's been in Korea for almost a year and knows the spots. I haven't been to a beach here yet so I was looking forward to it. It was quite a trek to get there, but very affordable. We took a bus to Incheon airport, which was where we landed, so it was a bit of a trip down memory lane. Then a bus to the port. Then a ferry to the island. And finally, another bus to the beach.

The beach was nice. We rented these tiny beach huts that could fit 4 people comfortably... so we decided to fit 5. Our group was of about 15 and three huts seemed do-able at the time. The huts were literally one empty room about 8x8. They provided blankets and pillows but you slept on the floor from wall-to-wall. I don't mind small spaces so I had no problem with it. We spent Saturday just relaxing on the beach, kicking a ball around and just exploring. I couldn't believe how low the tide was. During the day, it was a 20 minute walk to reach even ankle-deep water, but later at night it was right near the huts. It was easy to forget we were in Korea because there were lots of foreigners there. We ended up joining one of the groups that night and having a bonfire on the beach. Then we finished the night by being cramped together with 5 other people while we slept.

Our friends at low tide


All of us on the ferry over to Muuido

Dave waking up inside the beach hut.

We left Sunday afternoon after some more lazing around on the beach. Ali needed some new shoes so we checked out a section of Uijeongbu we'd never been to before and were surprised to find a large shopping area with Nike, Puma, and Adidas outlets. There was even a Pizza Hut and Burger king, which is good to know about whenever I may be missing bad habits. It was quite a quest to find Ali shoes, as Korean women have tiny feet that are usually a maximum of size seven. Even my shoe size is a little difficult to find.

Anyway, it was a good weekend overall. I was glad to finally see another area of Korea. School seems like it's beginning to wind down for this semester as there's only a month to go. Not sure what we're doing next weekend, but I'm sure we'll find something interesting.

Miss you all,
Ali and Jesse

Buddha and Beaches

Hello everyone!

Hope this blog finds you all well. This week Jesse and I did different things on the weekend so we're going to write two separate entires - so try not to pick favourites:

Ali's Week:

So, this past week at school we had a field trip to this crazy sand park which was really fun. The kids all had to wear matching sun hats that looked like ducks, which was pretty much the cutest thing on earth. The sand park was really fun. The kids could look for 'dinosaur bones' in the sand, make sand art, make 'fossils' out of clay, build sandcastles and it was very cool. It was a nice break from school and our directors gave all the foreign teachers a really nice picnic lunch.

Saturday was Teacher's Day here in Korea so students gave gifts and stuff on Friday. I guess one of the benefits of working at a private school is that the students are rich so, for my teachers day, I got a $100 gift card to this huge department store, tons of soaps, body washes, scrubs, mists, etc. I got flowers, cards, weird ginsing candies and lots more. Jesse just got a few soaps and an origami flower so I really cleaned up in comparison. Anyway, I love Teachers' Day.

On the weekend I went down to Busan which is the second biggest city in Korea and is way in the South of the country, right on the coast. I met my friend Marijke (from college) in Seoul and then we took the KTX high-speed train down to Busan. The train, apparently, goes 300km an hour, and it took 3 hours to get down to Busan.

Marijke and I with our KTX tickets.

There, we met our other friend from college who is staying in a city near Busan. Her name's Jen I hadn't seen her in months so it was a great mini-reunion. We got a hotel and explored Busan and caught up Friday night. On Saturday we went to Haeundae Beach, the most famous beach in Busan. Jesse actually watched a Korean movie on the plane over here called 'Haeundae'. Unfortunately it was about a tsunami striking the beach and killing everyone but, fortunately, it was fictional. Jen had a bunch of her foreign co-teachers come down and we had a girls day on the beach, just relaxing.

Me, Marijke, and Jen on the beach.

The water was way too cold to swim but it was sunny and warm and a beautiful day to be relaxing on the beach. That night we all went out for dinner and then hit the town and I finally got to go to a noraebong (private kareoke), which I've been dying to do since I arrived. It was such a fun weekend and it was so good to see my friends. Marijke and I took the train home on Sunday and that was the whole weekend.

Koreans are funny because they HATE the sun. All the women wear massive visors and carry umbrellas in the sun and, even on the beach, everyone wears long sleeves and pants to avoid the sun. It's because, apparently, they are very afraid of cancer, which is legitimate, but it would make a lot more sense if they weren't such heavy smokers. Almost everyone here smokes and smoking is legal in every restaurant and bar and public place. I'm not sure if I'm going to understand Koreans, even after a year here, but I'm trying.

A bunch of 'ajeemas' (old Korean ladies) protecting themselves from the sun.

Here is Jesse's week:

While Ali was basking under the Busan sun, I went down Seoul on Sunday afternoon with some of the friends we've made since being here. Buddha's birthday is next Friday and for some reason that I'm not too sure of yet, they have all the celebrations the weekend before. Anyway, when I got off the subway, I saw a vast amount of white tents framing the street, all featuring events and activities varying in form and function. There were arts and crafts tents where you could paint a small wooden Buddah or create a lotus lantern; information tents with all the different forms of Buddahism; sales tents where you could buy clothes and other stuff; and performance tents where you could watch a group of women do yoga moves while holding empty plates (I would have been more impressed if their was food that stayed on the plates, but it was still okay). We walked around for a few hours taking in the sights and enjoying the food. I must say there is a lot of Korean food that I'm getting used to and will probably miss once it's gone.

The main event was at 7:00 pm, the Lotus Lantern parade, which I'd been told was quite cool to see with hundreds of people walking the streets with their cool lanterns lit up in the night. Despite the hype, I was not disappointed; not only were there many lanterns as advertised, but there was numerous floats ranging from kings and queens to fire-breathing dragons and tigers. My camera doesn't take the best pictures at night so these photos really don't do the parade justice.


Fire-breathing dragon float


Peacock that also breathes fire - just like the real ones.


Tiger

Anyway, that was both our weekends. This week has a 3-day weekend, not for Victoria's Day but for Buddha's Birthday. Friday is a holiday, which will be awesome. Jesse and I haven't made a plan yet but it's supposed to be beautiful weather so we should do something cool. We'll let you know what that is in our next blog.

All the best,
Ali and Jesse