Celebrating and Wandering: New Year’s in Beachy Busan

We had a few days off from work for the New Year, so Matt, a couple of co-workers, and I decided to head South to see Korea’s other large city, Busan.

When we arrived, we immediately walked along the beach. For a very late December afternoon, it was relatively warm and the sky was cloudless. It was a mesmerizing sight for us to see and feel– especially since Sejong had been so bitterly cold!

During our two night and three day stay, we experienced some both wonderful and tantalizing things. Wonderful to witness and enjoy, but tantalizing in that we’d have to only enjoy it for a short while until we returned to the frigid, dreary, and dull Sejong.

December 31st

Our first day was an ideal day for me because it involved three things I thoroughly enjoy: friends, the beach, and cats. Oh, yeah. I finally witnessed my first cat cafe and, let me tell you, it was like something straight out of a dream!

A lovely juvenile addition to some beach scribbles

“Kitler,” who peed on one of our sweatshirts

This is Bong Bong, one of the most precious and loving felines around

After that, our New Year’s celebration was a rather calm one, involving our own cheap fireworks on the beach and some brews in a local bar during the countdown, which we, being so painfully American, initiated. The fifteen or so Korean patrons joined in with us after a moment of complete confusion and promptly clinked glasses with us.

January 1st

Starting bright and early (painfully, might I add), my friends and I headed to a popular beach where thousands of people gathered to watch the sunrise. Matt unfortunately didn’t join us because he was too exhausted…and hungover, naturally! As the sun rose, music blasted through speakers while a plethora of colorful balloons and lanterns were lifted into the gradually-lightening morning sky to ring in the Year of the Monkey.

Needless to say, after that, we rushed back to our hostel and collapsed back into bed!

When we finally rose in the afternoon, we instantaneously went for some much-needed brunch, then later to a seaside temple. Unfortunately, our bus was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, so we ended up getting there at night.

I apologize for the blurry and dark images

January 2nd

The following day, we went to my favorite sight during our vacation: Gamcheon Culture Village. This village is absolutely spectacular. Cascading along the mountainside, the village is a rainbow sea of houses of various sizes and shapes. Among the houses are numerous hidden alleyways and alternatively open streets, both of which hold gems of cafes, shops, and eateries. We walked along the street with hundreds of other people, stopping to take in the views and snapping pictures along the way.

We decided to stop at a small cafe with retro nic nacs and get some passionately-made and delectable alcohol. Surprise– not coffee! While enjoying some drinks on their deck, we enjoyed the view.

That night, we went to a bar and had some seriously delicious food and drinks from a bar called Sharkie’s. On our way back to our hostel, we walked along the beach. It was a wonderful way to end a great vacation.

The following day, we made the trek back to Sejong with heavy hearts.

The Lantern Festival in Seoul

In late November, Matt, a fellow co-worker and friend, and I made the trek to Seoul in order to see the lantern festival on the Cheonggyecheon stream in the downtown area. The festival is held in order to commemorate Buddha and Buddha’s birthday.

On the bustling streets above the stream, there were bountiful food vendors, serving delectable treats ranging from fried potatoes wound and spread on a kebab stick to roasted chestnuts to even churros!

We had some of this guy’s chicken and it was phenomenal!

Along the stream, which flows just between and below the streets of this specific area of downtown Seoul, there were various sculptures made primarily of the paper material used in lanterns. Artists displayed their luminous and magnificent works of art at night for passersby at which to gaze and learn the historic stories behind them.

Just some of the extravagant artworks

Paper lanterns people were able to make themselves and place in the river for good fortune

Matt, me, and an igloo of white umbrellas 

It was truly an experience I won’t soon forget. However, as for the evening and early morning spent in the city afterward, I can’t exactly say the same! 🙂

 

Zombies, Drinks, and Familiar Faces in Seoul

During our break from school for the Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok, some fellow foreign teachers, Matt and I decided to take an excursion to Seoul. Matt and I were thrilled about this because we hadn’t yet been to Seoul. Plus, we were going to go to an amusement park and have an undoubtedly enthralling night out in the city.

We left around 9 a.m. via bus with everyone and got off at a train station, where there was a god-sent-like Dunkin’ Donuts. After refueling, we hopped on our train. No, it wasn’t the fast train. However, it was the “medium” train, which travels almost as fast as the KTX (fast train), so that was fairly exciting.

Fun fact: while traveling in Korea, especially by train, talking loudly is interpreted as rudeness. So, don’t be shouting loudly with your friends. A couple of our friends received some nasty looks for conversing at a reasonable decibel (you know, for America).

On our way, we managed to see some beautiful Korean scenery right outside our large-paneled window.

Another fun fact: when being a foreigner in Asia, anticipate people taking pictures of you. While on the train, one Korean fellow seated in front of us was taking a lot of selfies, which were actually mainly comprised of our faces. In retrospect, I wish I took a picture of him taking a picture of us. Or, at least made an unforgettably horrific face into his camera. That would’ve definitely made the ride a bit more interesting.

Next stop, we got off and jumped onto a subway train (thank the gods one of us was handling the navigation because I honestly was confused the entire time. Kudos, Tara!). Their subway trains are also fairly clean, spacious, and comfortable! So, that’s a nice plus.

Eventually, we made it to Everland, a Korean theme park, which was at the time holding a 50% discount on all tickets for foreigners! After handing in our tickets, we made our way through the park.

Who the hell is this lady?

German town-like replica

In the German town area

In case anyone was curious, I’ve become gradually more terrified of heights as I’ve grown older (am I ancient or something!?), so rides no longer attract me as they used to. However, fortunately for me (and unfortunately for the people I was with), there were lines of impatient people zigzagging all across the park, so not many rides were ridden. Me? Zero. But, I was mainly there for the Halloween-themed evening anyway.

Halloween parade floats!

Beheaded person (notice: Patrick in the background, killin’ a photo op)

My favorite part of the evening had to be the haunted house. I went in with Tara (who led the group again, like the champ she is!), Patrick (her boyfriend and another teacher), and Matt. We went inside train-style with our hands on each others’ shoulders, already quivering in fear, since we were hearing plenty of blood-curdling screams coming from inside while we were on line.

Once inside, we noticed its theme was a haunted asylum, filled with fake blood, rickety stretchers, dark lighting, and people dressed impressively well as inmates. The people followed us as we walked (more like ran) through the maze, jumped out at us, and honestly just scared the ever living shit out of us. We screamed. A lot. It was hands-down the best haunted house I’d ever been in. A+, Korea!

I also thoroughly enjoyed the zombie dance. Employees were dressed impeccably as zombies and were dancing zombie-style to background music within a circle of intrigued park-goers. They would occasionally quickly sprint at the unknowing crowd, causing plenty of jumps and screams. It was an awesome fifteen-minute show!

Zombie dance (sorry for the blurry shots)

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After Everland, five of us made the trek to Itaewon, an area of Seoul city, which was about two hours from where we were. When arriving in Itaewon, we changed in a coffeehouse’s bathroom, had some food, and waltzed to a street littered with bars. We drank some 711 soju on the street corner (we’re classy) and decided to go to another bar a few blocks away.

On the way, a passerby caught my eye and turned out to be an old friend, with whom I grew up! What a small world, huh? I come from a small town with a population of 5,000 people, I move to Korea, and the one night I’m in this one particular area in Seoul, I run into someone from my hometown. How is that even possible?

So, obviously, considering the very unlikely circumstances at hand, he decided to come with us and brought one of his friends along with him. We arrived at a bar called “Thursday Party,” which apparently is notorious for wild foreigner shenanigans.

It had to be documented that we, in fact, found each other in Seoul!

It was honestly a great time! I had many drunken conversations with people from all over the world, such as Africa, Thailand, and native Koreans! Everyone was super kind and talkative. It was such an eventful, yet hazy, evening. Or morning, really.

At around 5 a.m., we left Thursday Party and wandered the streets, looking for a hostel to stay in for the night. We went to one that one of us was familiar with, but it unfortunately had no room available for us. So, instead of being logical and looking for another hostel somewhere else, we made the decision to make the three hour-long trek back to Sejong.

We took a cab, then the KTX (yes, the fast train!), then another cab. Finally, at 8 a.m., we arrived back at our apartment and knocked out immediately!

How about you guys? What are your experiences with Seoul?

A Summation of my First Month Living and Teaching in Sejong City, Korea

Surprise! I now live and work in South Korea and have been for about a month now. And you know what? It’s honestly been an amazing ride thus far.

Here’s a bit of the background story:

Matt and I made the decision to come here to teach rather quickly and at an inconvenient time. We had just moved to San Jose, California in July to start a low-paying, high-demanding, and uninteresting after school job. While subletting there for only six days, we dropped hundreds of dollars on just living and surviving there and realized we’d need to spend a lot more in the near future on things such as a car, car insurance, an apartment (deposit and rent), and so on. We immediately realized what a ridiculous and poorly thought out decision we had made. It wasn’t so ridiculous just because of the job, the low pay, or the expensive lifestyle of San Jose, but it was mainly because we both desperately wanted to teach abroad again– and knew that before even moving to California.

Pretty stupid, right? Yeah, we thought so, too, but, I have to be honest: I had felt so relieved once we made the decision to look for teaching jobs in Korea and again when we landed the job we have currently. Fortunately, not much time had passed between the two, either! So, while we were subletting in a house in San Jose, we were getting our documents together for Korea, taking cabs here and there and back again. It was exhausting, but immensely exciting!

After our month-long sublet was over, we returned home to New York to see family and friends for a month. Then, we made our trek across the globe to South Korea!

Anyway, we’ve been in Sejong City, Korea for a month and it’s been wonderful. I’m still overwhelmingly relieved and glad we made the ultimate decision to come here and teach for a year. Just to sum up four weeks of Korea, here’s a list of stuff after we arrived:

• We landed at Incheon Airport in Seoul.
• We stayed at a random hotel in a pretty deserted part of Seoul Province (Seoul is significantly larger and more wide-spread than you would have imagined, since there’s a Seoul province and a Seoul city).
• Ate some food where we first experienced Korean food and their amazing plethora of side dishes

Side dishes!

• Knocked out from exhaustion
• Got a ride from the hotel owner back to the airport, then got a bus from the airport at to Sejong City
• When we arrived in Sejong, we were picked up by a worker from our hogwon (private school) and driven to our hogwon immediately, even though all we wanted to do was relax and take a shower!
• We had to stay with the people who we were replacing for about a week until they moved out (inconvenient, yes, but not bad because they were really nice and helpful). But, after that week, we got to have a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, clean, rent-free apartment to ourselves! (I’ll make a separate post about that in a little bit!)
• Our job had us watch the other teachers teach the day after we arrived, even with our jetlag. Apparently, this is common in Korea.
• We started teaching a few days afterward and it’s way better than teaching in Thailand. The kids care (generally) and so does the administration, which is so important. However, breaks are extremely rare during the work day. But, I honestly don’t see that as much of a negative because the day flies. Oh, and our day starts at 1:00 pm, or 2:00 pm, depending on the day of the week. So awesome.
• We explored Sejong and discovered that it’s beautiful, both naturally and industrially.

What’s this guy riding?

These are everywhere here and they’re terrifiying, but thankfully not poisonous!

This guy is a fun time.

A pizza chain’s slogan on one of their plates: “Love for Women”

I’d really love to know what this sign says…

• We worked for the entire month, having a great time doing so. The people we work with are helpful and sweet, the kids are good and the classes are small, so they’re easier to handle, and the material is easy and fun to teach.
• We went out for drinks in Sejong with a few fellow teachers one weekend and it was a great time! Except for the vomit. Korea works hard and plays hard. And so, they vomit. A lot.

• Matt and I realized that we weren’t really fans of Korean food. I mean, there’s a lot of spam in a lot of food items. Not a fan of spam. Upsetting, but we’re still trying to learn to like the food! We still have eleven months to go, after all. Here’s some food we ate so far:

Some food we cooked in front of ourselves…
Not sure of the name or what was in it!

Silkworm larvae in a Japanese restaurant in Sejong (not yummy)

Vegetable bibimbap! 

An extremely expensive meal (about $43), but it was comprised of lots of pork, which you placed in lettuce leaves, and ate with sauce and side dishes (kimchi is on the far right on bottom). Also, beer and soju! 

Black Soybean Noodles (ah-mazing, actually)

And soju (“red” flavored), which tastes wonderful.
Soju is served with most dinners and drank in shots

• Oh, and for the Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok, our job gave us four bottles (two each) of French wine! That’s definitely worth mentioning!

Basically, Korea is amazing and totally different from Thailand in so many ways. But, we are loving it and are extremely excited for the rest of our year here! Stay tuned. 🙂