Pohang

All year I have been telling my co-worker London that I wanted to go to Pohang with her (the city where her boyfriend lives) and last weekend we finally made it happen. Four girls from Suji: Christine, Britney, London, and myself, left right after work and headed 5 hours down south to a cute city right on the ocean. We arrived around 1am on Saturday with no plans of a place to stay, but we weren't worried. No plans are ever needed if you are willing to stay in a love motel- so that is what we did. A love motel is rented out by the hour, and it is not common for people to book a room for the whole night, but as foreigners we tend to bend the rules a little. It isn't possible, however, to book it for two nights in a row. On Saturday morning we had to take our stuff with us, put it in Fred's apartment (London's boyfriend) and then re-check in to the hotel on Saturday night.

Mom and Dad: I know you are probably a little worried so I want you to know that it was definitely equipped with everything we would
have needed: sex toy vending machines, lacy decor, and TV channels only playing
porn.

Lets just say- it was all worth it for the price!

After we checked into our love motel we headed straight to the beach, because it was only a 3 minute walk. We all stopped at a hut on the beach for a phenomenal late night snack of stuffed squid. Then we headed back to the motel for the night, hoping for a sunny day on Saturday despite the rainy forecast.

For the first time in what feels like forever, mother nature was on our side. On Saturday the sun was shining and the sky was clear! It was wonderful. We started the day off with a meal we are not able to get in Suji and one of the best I have ever had: Bibim-mandu. After lunch we headed to the beach for a day of good conversations, sun, good books, journal time, and maybe a few naps here and there. It was extremely relaxing.

Bibim-mandu

The Beach!

That evening I had another new meal. It may be the number 1 best meal I have had in my lifetime (it beat out our lunch meal): fresh clams. We sat outside right on the beach. There was a grill right in the middle of our table. We were given many side dishes as usual: octopus, kimchi, roots, etc. Then they brought out two different kinds of clams: one had a spicy tomato sauce and cheese on top and one had chives and garlic. We ate slowly, drank, and talked for hours. It was incredible food, in an incredible setting, with incredible people. After dinner we lit some fireworks off on the beach before heading to some local bars where we met some of Fred's friends.

Fresh clams on the beach!

London, Fred, Me, Britney, and Christine

The weather was equally as beautiful the following day, so we spent another relaxing day on the beach. We had Bibim-mandu for lunch once again, because we knew it would be our last time to eat it...probably ever. At about 4 in the afternoon we said our good-byes and thank yous to Fred for showing us around his beautiful city, and we headed on a luxury bus (huge arm chairs with foot rests) back up to Suji!

So far, each weekend seems to be better than the next, but I think we will have a hard time beating that one.

World Cup!!

This weekend, Christine and I went to visit a Gustie friend, Aaron Mayo in Daegu. We woke up early Saturday morning and headed to the train station. We hadn't booked our train in advance so we ended up paying a little more money to get on the train with the quickest departure time. Unknowingly we got on a luxury train where we had lots of space, and recliner chairs. We laid our chairs down flat and slept the entire way. I was so disappointed when we had to get off- it was the most comfortable place I have slept all year. It was about a 3 hour train ride, so we arrived in Daegu at about 2:00pm on Saturday.

We dropped our stuff off at Aaron's, and then headed to the downtown area for a short tour until the World Cup festivities began!

On a side note- for the past week every store employee, waitress, and bus driver in Korea has been decked out in red jerseys and t-shirts in support of the South Korean Soccer Team (something you would never see at home).

There are outdoor viewing sites for the South Korea World Cup games located all over Korea; Daegu was no exception. We met up with a bunch of Aaron's friends and headed to Duryu park to watch South Korea play Greece at 8:30pm. It was one of the most incredible events I have ever been apart of. Thousands and thousands of people gathered at the park with their flags, red jerseys and light-up devil ears. It was not just a handful of soccer fans or sports fans supporting South Korea on this night- it was the entire country. The game was hard for us to see, but we enjoyed yelling, screaming, and booing with the crowd when necessary. The chants, songs, fireworks, and celebrations were massive as South Korea brought home their first win. What a site to see!

As soon as the South Korea game ended, we began preparing for the next. We had about 5 1/2 hours between that game and the USA vs England game that was on live at 3:30am...and clearly we were not going to miss that. We spent those hours meeting people (including a former gustie class of '98), celebrating Korea's win, eating, drinking, and having good conversations. By the time 3:30am rolled around we were exhausted but ready! There were an equal amount of Americans and British people at the game which made it very exciting! The game was not as exciting as I had hoped- but a tie is better than a loss! At about 6:00am when the game was over, we finally ventured outside into the daylight.

We made it back to Aaron's, changed into sweats, and headed directly to the train station. We crashed the entire way home- feeling thankful that we set an alarm or we surely would have missed our stop. We arrived home at 11:45 am and I slept most of the day when I got home! It was a short trip but more than worth it to see Aaron and celebrate the start of the World Cup! I know this will not be the last of the World Cup festivities I will take part in- but the rest will be hard to beat. I will be cheering for South Korea in the world cup this year as my heart (and body) are here right now. I think the World Cup is such a meaningful event with the purpose of bringing the nations together as one world rather than a divided one. Dae-Han-Min-Guk!!!

Busan

In honor of Buddha's Birthday on May 21st, the entire country had a three day weekend. I headed down south to Busan with Britney and Christine. We left our houses, after staying up all night, at 6am to get to the Suwon train station for our 7:45 train. The train took almost five hours, as we had to take the slow train because everything else was booked by the time we made our official plans. I was so excited to use the train ride as a time to relax, read, journal, listen to my iPod, etc. But the ride ended up being anything but relaxing. People are allowed to buy standing tickets on the train so the aisles were jam-packed with people standing right overhead; breathing down our necks. It was smelly, hot, and uncomfortable. It was hard to relax and have the desire to do anything personal, like journal, as I had someone standing right over my shoulder. Although it wasn't ideal, it did the trick and got us to Busan safely.

We loved our hostel and it ended up being in a great location. We stayed in a Korean-style room which means our room just had mats on the floor for sleeping-no beds. It was just perfect for us, especially considering the price. When we got there on Friday, the weather was beautiful. We decided to spend the afternoon at the largest fish market in Korea and the surrounding area because it was one of the main attractions in Busan. Little did we know, that was going to be the last bit of nice weather we would see the whole weekend so we should have gone straight to the beach: oh well!

We walked along the coast to get to the market and really enjoyed being near the ocean. The fish market was incredible and a much more enjoyable experience than the fish market we went to in Seoul. It was huge and the people were very friendly. After the market we went to a very fun area with lots of people, new street food, and lots of shopping! We stumbled upon a beautiful temple later in the night. We spent some quality time there, and ended the night at Dragon's Head park overlooking the entire city.

Outside of the train station- right down the street from our hostel!

At the fish market, of course!

I am disappointed I didn't try one of these fish, they actually looked very delicious.

Lots of people, street food, and shopping!

A beautiful temple.

The lotus lanterns guided us through the area.

Inside the temple.

Looking at the Busan Tower from the bottom of the mountain.

Up at the top: in Dragon's Head park!

Up close and personal.

On Saturday, our plan was to spend the day on the beach, but it started raining almost as soon as we got there. We ended up just walking all over the area we were in, and finding ourselves a nice ferris wheel. Later in the day we sat down for a nice meal overlooking the ocean and sat and talked for almost 4 hours, because the weather had gotten really bad. Also, I had forgotten my umbrella in a cab earlier in the day, so I was hesitant to venture too far out in the rain. Luckily, we came across a CARIBOU COFFEE, and sat and talked some more! :) It was such a fun surprise! That evening we went back to our hostel, got ready, and then met up with some other co-workers, that were also in Busan, for some drinks! We definitely didn't let the weather ruin our time.

The Beach! Too bad it was raining!

Happy to be on the beach :)

A caramel cooler from caribou!:)

On Sunday we spent the day at a beautiful temple right on the coast. Because it was the weekend of Buddha's birthday, the temple was covered with lotus lanterns. It was absolutely wonderful!

Walking to the temple..

The entrance!

It took awhile to get to the actual temple...

But when we did- the view was incredible!

The bridge we had to cross to get inside.

It was raining cats and dogs all day so it was nice to have little roof over our heads!

Buddha figurines.

The Buddha himself

Overlooking the ocean- I've never seen anything like it.

Ready to go home after 2 full days in the rain!

Even though we did not venture very far from home, it felt like we were in another country. Busan felt so different than Seoul. The scenery, the laid-back attitude, and the fun atmosphere made for a great weekend getaway!