Busan

Two weekends ago was my trip to Busan. Of course I forgot my camera. However, Tanja was nice enough to share her photos with me. Busan is located on the southeast coast of Korea; basically on the other side of the country. Nonetheless, we took the high speed KTX train down there and it took just under 3 hours. South Korea is only about the size of Virginia. It's a pretty city, what little I saw of it. It's the second largest city after Seoul. It's got a nice setting on the ocean, which was good to see again.

The trip was organized by my recruiter, ASKNow. Which is an awesome recruiter. If anyone wants to come over and do this, I suggest going with them. About 50 people were there and we all slept on the floor in a hostel. A lot of Korean inns give you a thin mat/thick blanket that you sleep on, instead of having actual beds.

ASKNow had organized a scavenger hunt which was a lot of fun. We broke up into random teams of four with our names pulled out of a hat. I just happened to be good friends with two of my teammates- Tanja and Stacy. The fourth person, Ariana was very cool. We had to find and do a lot of odd things like find shells, get a photo with a cab driver, get a photo with a baseball bat, find and bring a Korean "friend" with you. (aka: some poor hapless soul you found on the street and coerced/kidnapped to come along with you). Our first task was to finish a bottle of soju together. Soju is the Korean national drink, being about 18% alcohol and tasting like rubbing alcohol. As you can imagine there were quite a few crazy waygooks (foreigners) running around town. We had only an hour to complete our tasks and the incentive was $200 to winning team. Not too shabby! Despite getting almost everything on the list, sadly we still lost by a wide margin. It was a lot fun though. Once I get the photos from Stacy I'll post them. She was the photographer during that crazy hour.

After the scavenger hunt they had dinner waiting at the hostel for us so we ate and then danced the night away at a club. It was a good weekend! Before all this, by the way, we spent the day on the beach. Interestingly, Koreans, and I think as a larger part, Asians in general, don't like taking off their cloths in public. Before the other waygooks got to the beach I was the only man with my shirt off and Tanja was practically naked in her bikini. Even in the hot sun and in the water they leave their clothes on. It's a very conservative society.

That Sunday was a bust because it poured rain all day long. July is the rainy season, so at least we lucked out with one good day.

That was last week. This past weekend I kept a low profile and didn't really go out. Tanja and I went to the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon and got some sun on Saturday. They have a pool party on the weekends in the summer. It costs 12 bucks to get in but they have good music and tons of beautiful people. Actually, people watching is half the fun.

Sunday I hiked my neighborhood mountain. It's finally beginning to get hot here. Not as hot as home; 86-87 degrees is probably the hottest it's gotten, but nonetheless, my shirt was soaked. Next week is the Mud Festival in Boereyong! Should provide some entertaining stories. One can only hope!

Explanation of Pics: 1) The hostel and a lot of the teachers.
2) My cool group, all with different expressions on our faces. It love that pic.
3) With our glove powers combined...
4) Me and Stacy's different ways to tell the kids to be quiet. Mine was borrowed from my elementary music school teacher, Mrs. Higgins. "Aaaaaaannnd Stooooop!" Some things you never forget. Laura and Michael I hope your remember her, because you're the only ones who'll get that inside joke. That photo took at least 4 takes by the way, and that was the most serious Stacy and I could get our faces.
5) One of the many injuries incurred during the scavenger hunt. Art claims a bicyclist ran into him. That picture was taken that night of. Believe it or not, it actally looked twice as bad the next day!
6) The beach.