weekend @ the spa

Sunday afternoon = a weekend update. I should probably start by explaining that a few days ago, I was culturally adopted by the director of my school, a wonderfully kind and generous woman named ... well, come to think of it, I don't actually know her name. All Koreans at the academy (even the adult teachers) choose arbitrary English names to use, which makes my job a LOT easier, but at the same time ...

I'm a teacher -- I have seating charts and everything.

Musings of a Foreign Teacher (official title): my students take pictures of me with their camera phones. I am approx 176 centimeters tall, which is just slightly above the average height of Koreans. Just slightly. One of my first period students asked if she could buy one of my rubber ink stamps from me. And absolutely everyone (kids & co-workers) has asked me about my marital status, and on more than one occasion. I have "Matchmaker" stuck in my head more times in a day than I would like to admit.

Random Korea aside: Bread is pronounced“bahng". Bahng is delicious.

Still on a quest for peanut butter. Well, just plain butter for that matter. Have acquired all other essential dairy products.

And in case you were wondering: it’s still cold.

You speak English? ooooooooooh!

More exploring today. Our new friends told us about sea cliffs at Taejongdae, so that’s where we headed. Bus 8 from Nampo-Dong conveniently dead ends at Taejongdae (that needed to be included for my own benefit, in case I ever want to go back). The walk to the entrance of the “resort park”, as the sign calls it, is lined on both sides of the street with carnival games. As in, walls of balloons to throw darts at, stuffed animal prizes, street vendors with corn dogs, and towards the end a large, antique-looking ferris wheel. I’ve heard that Korea has a strange array of miniature amusement “parks”, so I guess this one of one of them? Anyway, the actual cliffs – there’s a paved road with sidewalks that loops around the rock-peninsula of Taejongdae. Along the trail there are lookout points and stairs that descend down to rocky shoreline and people picnicking with fresh seafood just caught by fisherman. The weather was overcast for most of the day, but there was an impressive sunset just before leaving the park with a great view of the bay and all the ships coming and going. You don’t really realize the bustling port aspect of Busan until you see it from this angle… or at least, I didn’t. I’d like to go back on a clearer day and hike around some more.

Also places of note:

--The shopping at Nampo-Dong! Two streets of open-air markets, selling everything from Nike dri-fit shorts to Hollister hoodies. Reminded me of the markets in Florence… I wonder if they have linen skirts?! There is also a large underground mall just waiting to be perused.

--Simyeon, however, has the king of underground malls. I don’t think any of the shopping districts in Busan compare to what’s down there. That subway station is a shopping mecca!

--Ate dinner at Chen Chen, a Chinese restaurant near Simyeon.. maybe two subway stops over? I honestly can’t remember and will never be able to get back there, but daaammnnn that was some good food. Dumplings to die for, friends. Dumplings to die for.

Geumgang and Geumjeong and Seobulksa, oh my

For our third full day in Korea, Austin and I decided to go exploring ‘round the great city of Busan. Opened up our trusty guide book and decided to check out Geumgang Park / Geumjeong Fortress. This required hopping on the subway (a 10 min walk from our apartment) and taking it about 40 minutes into the city (the subway system, by the way, is extremely easy to use… which is excellent, because I have to take it to work every morning, and we all know about my propensity for getting lost…) Anyway… ended up meeting a bunch of peeps from the States. They were serendipitously headed to the same place we were, so we joined their 3 person hiking team and started up the mountain.

Geumgang Park is one of the most popular places for hiking in Busan, and it didn’t take long to figure out why. There are and endless number of trails, traversing through rocky terrains wicked inclines. The Koreans take hiking very seriously, usually doing it as their exercise for the weekend. They dress in full mountain gear, complete with hiking poles and boots – the whole nine yards. Many of them bring picnics (and soju!), which is actually quite a good idea and something I might try next time. So, on to the hiking -- near the South Gate, where the Park entrance is located, you can choose to hike up a pretty steep 540km incline, orrrr take the much more scenic cable car for 3,500W (a little over $3, approx). Not surprisingly, I voted for the cable car, and did not regret it! Aside from my obvious motives (ahem, laziness), it was an AWESOME view of the city. Probably the only view that could compare with the one we experienced would be from the top of the Busan Tower (I haven’t been yet, but I’ve seen other people’s pics from the top). Anyway, it was a gorgeous day, and the city looked phenomenal.. and BIG. We attempted to find the hidden temple of Seobulksa, but no such luck – turns out the damn thing really is hidden. After the climb we got a bite to eat at a Turkish restaurant near PNU.. Kebob? Something at all similar to that? Not sure, but good hummus & chicken rolls. Visited Haundae briefly, planning to go back during the day.

New year, new everything

Arrived in South Korea with four hours of '08 to spare ... thus begins my Asian Adventure 2009. Greetings and salutations from the future!