Some silly things/interesting facts about Korea:

-Older Koreans love, love, LOVE hiking. It’s honestly a fashion show for them to wear the most intense hiking gear in the world.
- At the gym I was going to the aerobics/dance class of some sort displayed women in the most hilarious outfits/costumes…80s dance party! However, they love it. Oh and you will hardly ever see a Korean run. All they do is walk to workout; weird.
- There's random workout equipment on the walking trails and on the mountains.
- Koreans love looking at themselves in the mirrors that are plastered everywhere or with their personal mirrors. Oh so vain.
- Everyone and their baby owns a cell phone. (I’m so not cool here…phoneless) Plus cell phone charms are key to being in.
- Kids go to school from 8pm to at least 8:30pm sometimes-even 10pm! From Monday to Saturday.
- You may think that Korean people are really polite but really they might be the rudest people ever. They push, spit, never cover their mouths when they cough, and definitely treat foreigners like crap.
- They love their Soju and brewskis where you can buy in the many of GS 25’s (a convenience store chain) located on every street sometimes more than one.
- Oh and Karaoke. They love Karaoke! It’s called Norri-bong here. SOOO FUN!
- If you are dating someone it is costumed for you to have matching outfits. Watch out Chad.
- Men hear are sooo metro sexual. The way they act and dress would not fly in a lot of places in Canada. They all have purses and hold hands. True story!
- Since us foreigners look different we get a lot of stares from all ages of Koreans. Honestly take a picture with your fancy cell phone…it’ll last longer! Sorry it’s just super annoying at times.
- I swear the women were born in heals. They all have heals, hike in heals, go to the beach in heals, just love their heals.
- Oh and women showing any shoulder skin or lower back skin is seen as scandalous.
- Foreigner women here are labeled as sluts due to the Russian prostitute stereotype. (I experienced my first encounter with a real one last weekend!)
- Koreans marry for money rather than looks/personality.
- They eat so much but are sticks! WTF
- Toast shops/vendors are seen all over the place. I never would have thought toasted sandwiches would be popular here!
- It is cheaper to eat out than it is to buy groceries. BOO!
- Koreans are very whiney at all ages. Ask me someday and I’ll make the sounds they make. GAWD I want to kill that sound.
- Korea has made me cheaper than I already was…I won’t even consider spending $15 on a shirt anymore! There are some dirt cheap stores here.
- Also Korea has made me rude and I really think I’ll be coming back and not remembering how to say “Sorry!”

The Next Perez Hilton?

So today I went with Steph to see what Deokchon had to offer. We walked around a market for a while then decided to find some place to eat. On our way to get some pizza we ended up walking by a dog restaurant area. There were about four different restaurants with dogs in cages being ready to be slaughtered and cooked up for someone’s dinner. AS IF. I almost puked my guts out. Just typing about it makes me feel ill. Gross. I actually witnessed a dog that was JUST butchered and its bloody body was laying spread eagle on the chopping block. That image is permanently stamped in my brain. SICKNESS!!

Then we had some lunch, YUM YUM! Haha, pizza. Where I also witnessed a woman changing her baby’s poopy diaper right in the restaurant. Friggen Koreans. After lunch Steph and I parted our ways and I took off on a sweet hike. I had no idea where the trials were going to take me so it made it fun. I hiked up for about 3 hours and made it to a peak overlooking Busan. It was such a good view! On my way down I wiped out super hard…Stupid leaves being all slippery like. I got home showered and then headed on the subway to Seomyeong in search of a coffee shop that wasn’t Dunken Donuts. After walking around I found the Coffee Bean where I'm currently typing up my Korean life story! That’s all for now folks!

Firework Festival

Last weekend was the firework festival here in Busan. The most amazing fireworks I’ve ever seen in my life. Also the most densely populated place I’ve ever been in my life. There were 1.5 million people stuffed onto the beach and streets near the Gimhae Bridge. Angela and I got there early and staked out a spot on the beach for us to sit so we hung out until night fell for the hour-long show.

While we were waiting we made some drinks, which lead us to needing to find a washroom. Molly and I decided to brave the crowds and find a toilet…I mean an ally. So Molly finds this ally slash someone’s area where they store their bikes and she pops a squat. I was standing guard and then it was my turn. I’m undoing my belt and jeans when I hear Molly yelling “Sarah! Sarah! We gotta go!!” I frantically put myself back together and see a man yelling his face off at us. We sprinted into the crowds amongst the army troops and cops. We honestly thought we were going to be arrested! So I almost peed my pants by the time we got me Soju (super cheap Korean-like vodka ethanol mix) and beer…we found a courtyard and peed for at least 5 minutes then headed back to the insane beach. We pushed and shoved our way throw to area 5 then were crushed sardines for about 10 minutes. The army dudes weren’t letting anyone move and everyone was pushing and shoving trying to get onto the beach. I swear more than half of these people didn’t even have a spot staked out and honestly there was no way in hell that there were going to find one. So this walking dead man…around 80 years of age…comes from behind and starts pushing Molly and I around. One army dude yelled at him then started yelling at us in Korean. WTF mate. Then this old man grabs Molly’s curly locks and pulls as hard as he could! In retaliation I body checked him and yelled “Stop pushing”…Not the brightest moment of my life…He clearly would not have known English plus I could have broke his ribs. But common, pulling hair?! We finally get to our spot on the beach and I vowed I would never leave again. Those crowds were the sickest thing on Earth besides the mess of garbage that was left after the fireworks.

The fireworks finally started and they were the most amazing thing ever! I’ve never seen fireworks synchronized with music before and they lasted an hour. Amazing. Once in awhile I was thinking that we were being brainwashed by North Korea or something…You know on Zoolander? “Relax don’t do it, when you want to go to it, RELAX” “Kill the prime minister of Micronesia!” Then I would look around and see everyone’s face and jaw, possessed by the fireworks. Hilarious! But really, the fireworks coming off the gorgeous bridge and boats were great. It was super romantic and we were joking around that if anyone asked us to marry them right now we would all say YES. HAHA. But on the other had, honestly if a natural disaster or a terrorist attack happened that would be the time for it. So many people in one little area! After the show ended we hung out on the beach for the crowds to die down then went for some dinner then hung out for the rest of the night mingling around.

X- Games & Jinju Lantern Festival

The next weekend were stuck around Busan and hit up the TreX Games and watched some skateboarding and BMX events. It was pretty neat. Saw some cultural stuff too…We also hit up a pub-crawl in a university area which was insane! It really didn’t seem like we were in Korea because these bars were invaded by all us foreign people. However, I still managed to be asked if I was Korean or not. I get this all the time! Then they go down all the Asian cultures and I have to break it to them that I’m Inuit. Then I have to break that down to Eskimo. A rare bred I guess! The night ended for most of us again around 5am and all of us taking separate cabs home…no intentionally.

The next day started late for me…3pm where I found myself at a Korean pop concert, Alex. Kayly’s coworker hooked her up with three tickets and took Angela and I. Alex is apparently from Canada or lives there and is HUGE here in Korea. The show was hilarious. He was quite entertaining but I managed to fall asleep a couple of times. OOPS. We witnessed an engagement, cell phone wars of some sort, crying girls along with crying Alex (while singing), and paper airplanes being thrown. I guess its something to cross off in the books!

Two weekends ago I went out to Jinju to see the Lantern Festival. It was amazing! The crowds were insane and Ashley and I got separated from Kayly and Stephanie. We walked around all afternoon after the bus ride up and had some beers before the sun went down. The lanterns lit up and the fireworks went off so now it was time to take some shitty pictures! (My camera is sick). We took in the show and then tried to find Steph and Kayly to book it back to the bus station to head back to Busan. The whole lit-up floating lantern idea is awesome. Maybe I’ll bring it back for the YK river? Hmm…Don’t think it would fly.

Chuseok

The next week at work was stressful again…I felt like I wasn’t getting any guidance because I wasn’t…Ha. I teach 6 classes/day starting at 12:55pm and ending at 8:35pm. Its weird to think that I’m teaching kids still! AH. The fallowing weekend was Chuseok, the Korean equivalent to Thanks Giving. We hit up Seoul for our four-day weekend. Beth and Stephanie were on the train earlier than I was so I trained it alone. I was feeling confident that I could get to our hotel in Seoul with the super good directions Steph gave me but I started off on the wrong foot…I missed my train. WELL I was on the right train but the in the wrong cart and being the silly person that I am I jumped off the train and run as fast as I could to the right cart when I could have just stayed on and walked through all the carts without getting off. GAH. So I’m running with my huge back pack and purse (+33c plus humidity) then I see the doors to all the carts close. NO!! I turn to train and start banging on the door for them to open up meanwhile the security guard is freaking out on his whistle to me to stop hitting the train. I was in panic fo sho. What was I going to do in this foreign country with everyone I know gone to Seoul. WTF. So I gathered myself and booked it down to the ticket agent. He laughed at me and canceled my ticket and issues another one that was leaving in half an hour. THANK GOD. However since it was a major holiday here in Korea and the train was full I had a standing ticket and was supposed to stand for the 3 hr train ride to Seoul. EF that noise. I found a fold down seat near the washrooms and marked my territory. After that everything went smooth. I found my way to the hotel with no problems at all which I was proud of cause the subway situation in Seoul is NUTS. In Seoul we did some shopping around, took in some cultural events for Chuseok, did some site seeing, and some partying. I’m stoked that I chose Busan to live in because Seoul is just too huge for me plus I love my set up in Hwamyeong. In all, Seoul was a great first trip to see Korea.

YOYO

So I’ve decided that I would update you all on my Korean adventures over the past month and a half. A majority of my friends are in Seoul this weekend but I decided to kick it in Busan to some money. Smart move on my half because just recently I’ve heard that my school is going through some legal issues so I’m on the edge of my seat to wither or not I’ll be paid on time in November.

ANYWAYS…I arrived in Busan September 4th around 10pm after flying for a trillion hours. My recruiter picked me up at the airport then quickly took me to my school in Hwamyeong (the sub-division of Busan where I live and work). I met the head teacher and she informed me to be at work the next day for noon. After that they took me to my apartment and gave me the low down. There are 15 floors in my building and it is like uni res because there are so many foreigners who live in it! It’s awesome. I slept like shit and really had no idea what I was doing in Korea. WHY KOREA?! Essentially it seemed like the best option for me at this time in my life. Free flight, no rent, good hours, cash-money, and being in a different country. My first day of work was overwhelming and super jet lagged. I sat in on a couple classes and then I had to teach two! It literally felt like I was a piece of raw meat thrown into a cage of dogs. The next day I was able to take in some hiking with some people I met. Busan is a great city for everything! Hiking, beaches, nightlife, events, shopping, and if you’re into crowds, there are plenty of those here. That night we headed down to a club called Foxys. I was hilarious! Minus the part when I had to buy new shoes because they didn’t allow people with flip-flops on. Only if I had heals on those bad boys I’d be set! Foxys had two floors, lots of rap (heard the song “California Love” at least 5 times), sweaty people, and choreographed dancing. We stayed there till around 5am…The bars don’t really close. These Koreans love their booze. I’ve seen many of people passed out on the streets, subways, being carried home, and puking their guts out.