saturday was korea's independence day. now, korean independence day is in no way like american independence day. regardless, i got friday and saturday off from work, so i was very very happy to say, 'happy birthday korea,' and get the hell out of seoul!
me and carla took the ktx train (high speed train, like the tgv in france) to busan on thursday night after work. the train was packed, as many koreans had the same idea as us to get out of the chaos of seoul. the ride took three hours and after finding our hostel and taking a short walk, we decided that we were tired and needed to rest up for our day at the beach that awaited us on friday.
i forgot what hostels were like. this was actually quite a nice hostel, compared to a couple of the dumps ive stayed in. it was a three bedroom apartment that had 4, 6, and 2 beds in each room. one bathroom for twelve people. interesting. oh and sometimes people pay ten bucks to sleep on the couch, as was the case when we were there. we got the room with 6 beds. i had the top bunk. not bad, although i certainly felt like i was back in my childhood. the wallpaper in our room was priceless: pink and purple pictures of people. the design was tacky, but the thing that really took the cake was that they didn't just stop at the walls. they did the ceiling too. just kept on going right up the wall til the hit the ceiling. they must have had extra that they didn't want to go to waste.
we woke up quite early on friday. as the sun appeared to be shining, we got up, got our bikinis on, and had our delicious free breakfast of happy toast and tea and coffee. we then began our journey to haeundae beach, probably the most famous beach in korea. there is a new korean movie out now called 'haeundae,' which is about a massive tsunami that hits this beach and everyone dies and there is chaos and so on. no such event happened on friday. whew i was quite worried. we arrived early, about 9:30 am, and claimed a lovely sunny patch of sand. now, haeundae beach is quite a sight. it is covered with beach umbrellas and lounge chairs. as carla and i are not of the korean variety, we preferred to be directly in the sun, soaking in as many of the rays that the koreans tend to avoid. koreans value white skin, so going to a beach in korea is rather interesting. you see girls in bikinis, but then they put on clothes to go swimming. they come out of the sea, dripping wet, and then plop down in the sand, only to make it looked like they took a poo in their saggy wet pants. we did see a few koreans slather on some oil and plunk down in the sun, but this was a rather small percentage. a few hot men were to be found, which i must say, is quite amazing for me to say, as i really do not find korean men to be overly attractive. the swimwear on the majority was interesting, with couples wearing couple bathing suits. i saw a man in a speedo with a ghost over his package. im not sure what the metaphor is there. anyway, the beach was great and we got really really tan and even somewhat burned. it felt nice to just lay on the beach, listen to music, and talk about nothing. ive decided that i need to live close to a beach. it cleanses your soul.
after roasting ourselves at haeundae, we made our way to gwangali beach, as there is a massive bridge that we were told was really lovely when it is lit up at night. we got some italian food and then some hagen daaz for dessert and then made our way out to take some pics of the bridge. we grabbed some beers and headed for a chill time at the beach. we were quite tired so we wandered to the subway, where the fun really began.
as we approached the tracks, i saw an old woman carrying a clear plastic bucket with lid that had this nasty looking brown liquid with whole cloves of garlic. im not trying to be disgusting, but this concoction looked like diarrhea with garlic. i pointed at it and asked carla what the hell she thought it was. the ajouma saw me and she immediately decided that a conversation was necessary. 'garlic,' she said. 'korean garlic, very good for health!' she continued. 'oh of course,' i said, 'but how do you drink it? what do you do with it?' i asked. she said that you drink three cups of this mixture everyday. we had a small conversation and then she said thank you and walked away. the train came. we got on. at this point, there were four of us girls (willow and linda had joined us in the afternoon at haeundae) and we luckily found four seats together on the subway. lo and behold, ajouma was right across from us. we decided that i needed to get a photo with her and her bucket of poo. there was an empty seat next to her, so i jumped at the opportunity for a lovely picture. carla took a couple and i began to chat with the ajouma. at this point, a korean girl took my seat next to the girls, so i had no choice but to remain by ajouma for the rest of our ride (about ten stops). she suddenly said, 'i jehovah's witness! you know jehovah's witness?' i said yes, all the while thinking, 'oh christ she's gonna try to convert me no no no im gonna end up with a bunch of pamphlets in korean about JWs.' i chuckled to myself, thinking about my mother and how she would probably be on the floor rolling around if she could see this. she went on to tell me that her name was susan and that she had one daughter who was a nurse and not married. after a couple moments of silence, she said, 'my favorite celine dion song is my heart will go on from titanic. i love that song. it is my cell phone ring,' and then she pulled out her cell phone. she never did prove that it was her ring, nor did she ask me for my number, which i worried she would do. ajouma susan was lovely, such a funny experience. she kept grabbing my hands and saying, 'i never forget you, never forget your kindness.' i gave her a hug when we got to her stop. i now have a JW ajouma best friend. sweet. i've always wanted one of those.
the next day began with a slow and relaxed (and air-conditioned) bus tour around busan. it wasn't the greatest, but carla and i didn't really care, as it was hot outside and we were a tad red. we got off the bus at jalgachi fish market, where we soon met a good korean friend i met in madison. we were waiting by the entrance of the market when suddenly i heard, 'kendraaaaaa kendra kendra kendra!!!!' and saw a little korean girl running up the street. there jessica was, in true jessica form. she is a riot. i've never met someone so crazy and full of energy. we wandered around the fish market. now, jalgachi fish market is really famous in korea. most of the fish there are alive and you wander around, find a fish you like, pick it out and pay, and then you go upstairs while the fish mongers whack its head off, gut it, and make delicious sushi for you. we picked out two lovely fishes and the monger threw in two smaller ones for free. it was a tad disturbing, i will say, when we heard a very loud whack and heard a tail flap down on the chopping block. that was my lunch...and it just died. we went upstairs and after about twenty minutes, our lunch arrived. it was a massive platter of raw fishes to be wrapped in lettuce and sesame leaves, smothered with soy and wasabi and/or gaochojung (red chili pepper paste). it was delicious. ive never had either of the fishes before, certainly not in raw form. we were given very sexy aprons to wear so as to avoid getting ourselves covered in sauce.
after lunch, we wandered around looking at the dried fishes and then decided we had seen enough fish for one day and then went to coldstone for dessert. yes, coldstone. but we had what is called pot-bing-soo, a very traditional korean summer dessert. it is basically a bowl of shaved ice covered with condensed milk, ice cream, fruit, red bean, rice cake, and ice cream. it comes out very pretty and then you mix it all together and it looks awful but tastes quite nice. after dessert and some more AC, we went to gukje market, where we looked at just about anything imaginable that one could desire to buy. i picked up some unique tshirts and a few souvenirs. it was nice to just wander around a relatively calm market. the markets in seoul are pure chaos. but this was somewhat calm, albeit the dicks on motorbikes who think they own the road and can run you over.
after the market, we wandered up to some park and got a nice view of busan. we said goodbye to jessica, made our way back to the hostel to grab our things, and then subway-ed our way to the train station. we had a nice dinner of cheese sticks, kimbap, and chocolate sundaes, followed by digestion biscuits covered in chocolate on the train. we got in around 11 saturday night. it was a perfect two day vacation. and it was absolutely needed to keep my sanity. i felt refreshed, calm, relaxed. i realized on sunday that my problem the first few months of living here was not that it was korea, it was that all i did was work. i had no life. i didn't leave seoul until i went to spain. if i could do it over again, id take some small trips to get away from the city. 6 weeks til we go to jeju island, and then after that, it's two months til the philippines, and then a couple days til im back in the states. when you count it down like that, it really seems short. my life in korea is slowly creeping to an end, which i am rather happy about. i liked my time here, but don't think i could stay any longer than a year without going insane. you do work a lot here and the society is, let's say, rather unique.
ill certainly be ready for jeju when it comes around, very much ready for the phils, and even more ready for a few weeks on richard's lovely couch in my room chez mes parents. and then ill be ready for another adventure, preferably to somewhere less chaotic and work-crazy.
