I'm literally sitting here staring at my computer (and listening to KPOP(Korean pop music)) because I don't know what to write. There are a LOT of updates that I have, but I sincerely have no interest in writing them. I know I have to though, because if I don't I'll feel guilty.
Okay. Update number one. I've gone back to Seoul since Jamie and I went to the DMZ, but as to be expected with Seoul, I didn't have THAT great a time due to overpowering personalities and conflicting agendas. But, it started out fabulous, despite sleep deprivation, and ended fantasically, again, despite sleep deprivation. I went with a group of friends, the most notable being Nadia and Lee Ann, my new BFF's here in Korea. We get along fantasically, which is perfect, since being with crappy people makes me feel, well, crappy. In previous blogs, I wrote about a girl named Rachel who I thought was really great and nice, but it turned out that she wasn't really interested in being my friend. So Katherine, no worries, your spot is not in any jeopardy whatsoever. Don't worry, I wasn't all upset about Rachel. We have different personalities and that's just the way things are sometimes.
These last couple days, I've actually realized that it's been kind of difficult meeting people here. It's not that it's HARD to meet people, because there are foreigners/people every where. It's hard for me to decide how to act around the people I meet. And I know you people are thinking that I shouldn't have to act a certain way around people, and that people should love me for who I am and all that jazz, but...okay, here's the situation. With Rachel, I was definitely myself. I was more than myself: I shared some pretty personal stuff with her and I don't really know what happened. Maybe I was too negative for her, I really have no idea. But all I know is that we aren't talking, and the only time she's called me has been when she locked herself in her apartment and needed my help. Anyway, yes, it bummed me out, but it really made me consider how much information I should divulge to people I've only known for a couple months. I've actually met a lot of people that I haven't meshed well with me. Maybe I have a very special personality. I don't know. I'm used to having my best friends around me. I have absolutely no qualms about teasing them, or crying to them on the phone if I'm upset. They're my best friends. They know me. And they still love me. Anyway, as most things do, it made me think. Moving on.
I've recently joined the gym with Nadia, which is great because now I have a workout buddy who makes me feel guilty if I don't go to the gym. So the system works out perfectly. There's a guy who works there who is essentially our trainer who is the most adorable thing in Korea. He's very excited about fitness, and even though we didn't pay him a dime to train us, whenever he sees us, he tells us what to do, and we do it. He's just too adorable to upset or ignore. On a side note, the older men here in Korea are...tactless. Here's what went down: our trainer was making us do squats (ugh) so I went first, and started squatting, while this older man was just standing behind me (I COULD SEE HIM IN THE MIRROR) following my butt with his eyes as it moved up and down. He just stood there, drinking his rice tea, staring at my butt. I was mortified (and was even more so when Nadia felt the need to tell a group of people this story), but mostly indignant because our adorable trainer didn't see anything wrong with this breach in subtly. Nadia tried giving him the death stare, but I guess the older gentleman was so immersed in my behind, that he just couldn't see anything else but my plump, lush booty. Since I'm a positive gal, I'll just consider this situation a compliment and never do squats in front of older gentlemen drinking rice tea in a health club.
The older people here in Korea have incredible power. I've seen an older gentlemen start screaming, yelling and throwing chairs at this younger man who just stood there while everyone watched. Lee Ann told me that she saw an older woman start hitting this younger kid, while everyone just stood there and watched. And finally, I saw this video on youtube (that was removed from youtube) that showed this older woman hitting this young girl while everyone, again, just stood there and watched. It's incredibly ridiculous, but like I said in my previous post, I'm in a different culture and I have to accept that otherwise I'll be miserable here. I just have to accept the fact that I won't have clothes fresh out of the dryer, and I won't be able to cook a turkey or bake cookies because there aren't any ovens here. Ugh.
As for my teaching, it definitely has its ups and downs. I have the same students Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This is only relevant because I have two classes which drive me up the wall. I turn into mean, yelling Trisha-teacher because the kids are so horrible. It literally ruins my day every time I have to teach them, which is three times a week. I'm trying to be more positive, but they're just so...ANNOYING that I'm exhausted after I try to teach them. They don't want to be there. They're sarcastic, little brats that feel they're entitled to some special treatment because they're 13 years old and they're grown ups now, so apparently they know everything there is to know and I'm just some stupid American that's trying to teach them a language that they have no interest in learning. And yes, they tell me every day that they hate English. I'm completely stumped as to how to make them listen to me, but I fear that the time for me asserting my power over them has long passed.
All of my other classes are great. The kids are so adorable and excited about English. They give me presents, candy and hugs every day. I feel like if I were to make teaching a lifelong career, I would have to teach the younger kids. I still don't know though.
On a much happier note, I have a plane ticket booked for February to go to BEIJING! Ahhhh! I'm so excited, I can't wait. I've always wanted to go see the Great Wall of China, and now I'll be able to cross it off my list of "things I want to do" because I'M FINALLY GOING. We're going during the Chinese New Years, so it should be pretty incredible. They say that there are fireworks everywhere (in fact, there were 663 casualties last year due to fireworks - eek!) and festivals. I can't wait! In December, I think I'm going to Vietnam and Cambodia with my co-worker. We're taking an all inclusive tour which should be amazing. I finally get to eat my pho. YES!
Anyway, those are some of my updates. More to come soon!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Thanksgiving Blues
Thanksgiving is rolling around, and I'm getting slightly nostalgic. I'm used to cooking my family's entire Thanksgiving meal, and since Korea is stupid and doesn't believe in ovens, I can't do anything! I can't cook stuffing; I can't bake a pie; I can't bake a turkey; and I can't even roast some sweet potatoes. And here I thought that I was the grinch and everything about the holiday's made me cranky. But no. I'm walking around here in Korea and I see Christmas lights and trees and winter wonderland decorations and I'm actually getting sad that I won't be with my family during the holidays. Now you might think that I'm weird for being upset that I'm sad about not spending time with my family, but it's just a lose/lose situation. I'm sad when I'm with my family; I'm sad without my family. I don't get it. Stupid holidays.
Moving on from the holidays, because I'm getting sad again just thinking about it.
Life here in Korea, besides Christmas decorations, is great. I really, genuinely love living here. It's actually somewhat scary thinking about moving back to the states because I feel like it'd be completely different, and significantly more stressful.
For some strange reason, I feel like I'm running out of time. There are so many things I want to do, so many things I want to see, so many goals I want to accomplish and I feel like I'm running out of time. That's another thing that I don't understand. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm still young and have plenty of time to do everything that I want to do. Anyway. That was my rant of the night.
Moving on from the holidays, because I'm getting sad again just thinking about it.
Life here in Korea, besides Christmas decorations, is great. I really, genuinely love living here. It's actually somewhat scary thinking about moving back to the states because I feel like it'd be completely different, and significantly more stressful.
For some strange reason, I feel like I'm running out of time. There are so many things I want to do, so many things I want to see, so many goals I want to accomplish and I feel like I'm running out of time. That's another thing that I don't understand. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm still young and have plenty of time to do everything that I want to do. Anyway. That was my rant of the night.
Seoul, My New Best Friend
Of course, Seoul was on our list of places to go. And why shouldn't it be? Who cares if my first trip to Seoul was a disaster and I swore never to return? That was all in the past, right?
Wrong.
What was the first thing that happened? Jamie lost her passport.
Let's rewind.
We woke up Saturday morning after four hours of sleep (I HAVE to get better at sleeping more before traveling) and went to Daejeon Station to catch the KTX to Seoul. Jamie had packed all her stuff since she would stay in Seoul until her departure on Tuesday instead of coming back to Daejeon with me. We got our tickets, boarded the train and arrived in Seoul without any problems, or so we thought. We were so pumped because we were finally going to go to the famed DMZ. And why shouldn't we be pumped? There'd be high security, a strictly enforced dress code, tension between the North and South Korean Soldiers and a sense of danger knowing that you're on the most militarized border in the entire world. We were in a huge rush once we arrived at the train station because we had to go to the hostel, drop off our bags and then take the subway to the Lotte Hotel where we'd be meeting for our tour. It was absolutely necessary that we have our passports due to the high security protocols the governments had put in place so people won't blow the place up. I digress. We took a taxi and were late to getting to the tour, but I had already called in advance so they were expecting us. We got to the hotel and when I whipped out my passport, Jamie reached in her purse to do the same...and it wasn't there. She, predictably and understandably, started to freak out and told me to go upstairs just to prove to the lady that we were there. So I did, but five minutes later, Jamie walked in looking defeated and announced that she had lost her passport. They would, of course, not let us on the tour, but also told us that we had to pay the entire fee for the tour even though we weren't able to go on the tour. Well that was a bunch of BS and Jamie, already angry because she had lost her passport, said that we should just walk out and not pay them a dime. They had already made copies of my passport though, so I was in a really tight spot. We negotiated to take a tour the next day to just the DMZ which only required an ID and nothing else. It wasn't high security, so we'd be able to do that without a passport. We had to pay right away though, so I gave her the money and we booked it.
Ugh. It was so stressful and I couldn't believe that Seoul had let me down once again. One positive aspect of my personality is that in stressful situations, I take charge and solve problems right away. I was cool, calm, collect Trisha and we were going to handle this problem so we could move on and enjoy the rest of our vacation in Seoul. Back at the hostel, we unpacked all of Jamie's luggage and searched for her passport. I think we both knew it was futile but we searched three times anyway. We didn't find it.
Since our hostel owner was amazing, he helped us with everything. I immediately got on the computer and started filing an application for a replacement passport since Jamie's flight left in four days. Monday was a holiday, so the embassy was closed which meant that Jamie would have to get her passport on the day her flight departed. Talk about stress. The hostel owner arranged to have one of his workers take us to the police station so we could file a report for her missing passport. Anyway, long story short, we figured everything out and after a short nap, ventured out to enjoy the rest of our vacation.
The best part of the trip was when we rode bikes around the Han River. It was so much fun and we were working out at the same time! The things that I enjoy the most in life are when I can exercise outside. This of course stipulates that the weather doesn't make me want to pass out after 10 minutes of being outside. The weather was gorgeous however, and our three hour bike ride was probably the most fun I've had since I've been in Korea.
Wrong.
What was the first thing that happened? Jamie lost her passport.
Let's rewind.
We woke up Saturday morning after four hours of sleep (I HAVE to get better at sleeping more before traveling) and went to Daejeon Station to catch the KTX to Seoul. Jamie had packed all her stuff since she would stay in Seoul until her departure on Tuesday instead of coming back to Daejeon with me. We got our tickets, boarded the train and arrived in Seoul without any problems, or so we thought. We were so pumped because we were finally going to go to the famed DMZ. And why shouldn't we be pumped? There'd be high security, a strictly enforced dress code, tension between the North and South Korean Soldiers and a sense of danger knowing that you're on the most militarized border in the entire world. We were in a huge rush once we arrived at the train station because we had to go to the hostel, drop off our bags and then take the subway to the Lotte Hotel where we'd be meeting for our tour. It was absolutely necessary that we have our passports due to the high security protocols the governments had put in place so people won't blow the place up. I digress. We took a taxi and were late to getting to the tour, but I had already called in advance so they were expecting us. We got to the hotel and when I whipped out my passport, Jamie reached in her purse to do the same...and it wasn't there. She, predictably and understandably, started to freak out and told me to go upstairs just to prove to the lady that we were there. So I did, but five minutes later, Jamie walked in looking defeated and announced that she had lost her passport. They would, of course, not let us on the tour, but also told us that we had to pay the entire fee for the tour even though we weren't able to go on the tour. Well that was a bunch of BS and Jamie, already angry because she had lost her passport, said that we should just walk out and not pay them a dime. They had already made copies of my passport though, so I was in a really tight spot. We negotiated to take a tour the next day to just the DMZ which only required an ID and nothing else. It wasn't high security, so we'd be able to do that without a passport. We had to pay right away though, so I gave her the money and we booked it.
Ugh. It was so stressful and I couldn't believe that Seoul had let me down once again. One positive aspect of my personality is that in stressful situations, I take charge and solve problems right away. I was cool, calm, collect Trisha and we were going to handle this problem so we could move on and enjoy the rest of our vacation in Seoul. Back at the hostel, we unpacked all of Jamie's luggage and searched for her passport. I think we both knew it was futile but we searched three times anyway. We didn't find it.
The best part of the trip was when we rode bikes around the Han River. It was so much fun and we were working out at the same time! The things that I enjoy the most in life are when I can exercise outside. This of course stipulates that the weather doesn't make me want to pass out after 10 minutes of being outside. The weather was gorgeous however, and our three hour bike ride was probably the most fun I've had since I've been in Korea.
Like in Busan, we happened upon this amazing festival/parade that had lots of music, people, dancing and floats. All the people made it impossible to navigate our bikes, so we both got off and tried to walk through the mass of people that crowded the pedestrian bridge. I hit a lot of people with my bike, but it was okay since that's what everyone here in Korea does. If they slam into you, they don't say sorry or look apologetic, they just keep moving on with their day as if you were an insignificant ant that they had just smashed. Jamie actually commented on this aspect of Korean culture after some old woman had just cut her off in the subway and said, exasperated, "I don't understand how they flip out if you don't hand them the money correctly, but are completely okay with slamming into other people and invading what little personal space you have while riding the subway." This was hilarious to me, but what can you do? We're in a different culture and we can't change anything about their culture, so...do what they do! I've cut off many Korean couples and felt pretty pleased with myself because I felt more "Korean." Haha.
This is a picture of some drummers that played music and danced around. It was so incredible and I was literally content to just stand there and soak in the fun, playful atmosphere. We had to leave since it was getting dark and we didn't know where we were, so we grudgingly rolled our bikes through the rest of the crowd and made our way back to the bike rental place. On a side note, we almost caused a massive bike wreck between six or seven Korean bikers when Jamie and I got lost and asked a biker at the head of the pack for directions. We both covered our faces as a biker fell over when he tried not to hit the sweet biker that helped us. Afterwards, it was hilarious, but in the heat of the moment...not so much.
That night, there was a fireworks display to celebrate Hangul Day and since Jamie is obsessed with fireworks, she really wanted to go to this roof top party to watch the fireworks. We arrived late and missed the fireworks, but ended up meeting three guys that we hung out with for the rest of the night.
We stayed out much later than we should have, so when we woke up at 5:30 the next morning for the DMZ tour, we were hating ourselves.
The DMZ tour was incredible, well let me rephrase. The tour itself left much to be desired, but the history of the DMZ, and the fact that we were finally there, was fascinating. Let me clarify, because it's somewhat confusing. We didn't OFFICIALLY go to the DMZ. The DMZ is actually this two mile stretch of uninhabited land. The demilitarized zone is only called that because there aren't any people there. It can't be a demilitarized zone if there are people there. Get it? So there's the two mile stretch of land - one mile on each of the Korea's and then another mile on each side, which is where we went. So no, we didn't officially go to the DMZ, we only technically did, according to our very confusing guide.
It's hard to describe what it was like, mostly because it seemed completely contradictory. Our bus drove through the DMZ and it was completely devoid of human life. It seemed we, and the rest of the people on the bus, were the only humans left in the world.
The first stop on our DMZ tour was the Dorasan Train Station. As we got off the bus, it was completely silent and almost peaceful, except for the fact that I felt like I had a sniper rifle trained on my head. When Jamie and I would talk, we'd whisper, as if there was something that we'd be interrupting if we were to talk louder. The station is not operating, but South Korea has hopes that it will one day run. The train station connects the two Koreas, but since North Korea won't let South Korea run the train, the station was absolutely lifeless. The point of the train station was to have South Korea send materials to North Korea via train, then North Korea would send back the finished product via the train.
This is what Wikipedia (and yes, I realize that Wikipedia isn't exactly the most reliable source) says, "On December 11, 2007, freight trains began traveling north past Dorasan Station into North Korea, taking materials to the Kaesong Industrial Region, and returning with finished goods. It was scheduled to make one 16 kilometer (10 mile) trip every weekday."
Our lovely President Bush was there at the opening of the train station, so Jamie and I felt that we needed to have a photo op with the Presidents. Overall, the train station really wasn't that spectacular, but was still incredibly interesting because it was like a ghost station...very weird.
North Korea is so dodgy and downright insane that it's absolutely fascinating, but more on that later. I read some horror stories in my Lonely Planet which I will share with you in a bit.
Next on the tour was the Dora Observatory, which would permit us views of North Korea. On the bus ride, the tour guide explained that the best way to identify whether I'm staring at North or South Korea is to look at the mountains. If the mountains have trees on them, then it's South Korea, and if the mountains don't have any trees, then it's North Korea. I thought the woman was insane, or there was some mistranslation between Korean and English, but when I got to the observatory and looked through the binoculars, the mountains had no trees on them. She explained that the North Koreans were so starved for food and heat that they chopped down all the trees to use them for food/heating. And this is why North Korea is the "heart of darkness" in Asia. I understand that there's a lot of lying going on between the two countries and South Korea probably says a lot of things about North Korea that are slightly exaggerated, BUT North Korea's communist party outlived communist Russia and has a reputation as being the least understood, and secretive/mysterious country in the entire world.
At the observatory, Jamie and I looked through the binoculars into North Korea. We could see guard posts with guards walking around holding their rifles. We weren't allowed to take pictures where the binoculars were. We had to walk back about 30 meters and take pictures behind the big yellow line that was being guarded by some friendly South Korea soldiers, which also made us feel like a photo op was in order.
The next stop on our turbo tour was the 3rd Tunnel. I was extremely apprehensive to do this portion of the tour and I blame the book Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. It's a WWI novel that takes place in France and one story line in the novel involves a man that builds tunnels into enemy territory. It depicts trench warfare in a horrifying light (because it was horrifying) and well, the descriptions of the tunnels and the "tunnel rats" basically freaked me out. I cannot find anything that scares me out more than to be in a confined space, on my belly, unable to turn around, stand up or breathe clean air ALL THE WHILE knowing that the walls around me could collapse at any moment and lock me into a grave, while I'm still alive. I want to go throw up now just thinking about it. Moving on, sort of. The tunnel was going to give me some problems, but I knew that I'd regret it if I didn't suck it up and just do it. We boarded the little monorail train that would take us about 300 feet underground and as we descended, my hands got sweatier and sweatier. Jamie was great support though, and held my hand the entire way down. What a pal! As the tunnel got smaller and smaller, the people on each side of me had to tilt their head towards me so they wouldn't smack their heads on the tunnel walls. Thank God I was sitting in the middle seat.
The climate in the tunnel gradually got colder and damper (there was water covering the walls which didn't help my state of mind. ("GREAT. We're going to drown in here"). We got off the monorail and started walking through the tunnel, and as I kept walking I became more calm and even laughed when Jamie smacked her head on the metal bars above her that were being used to stabilize the ceiling. Yikes! She was wearing a helmet though, so no harm done! We had to crouch most of the way, but at least we didn't have to crawl. The walls were also covered in concrete or rock so dirt debris wasn't falling on me while I was walking. All in all, it seemed like a pretty safe, sturdy tunnel, but still. It was underground and the walls could collapse around me AT ANY MOMENT! There have been four tunnels that have been found by South Korean/American military, but there's an estimated 21 tunnels that have been suspected to exist, but haven't been found. Crazy! Since Seoul is so close to the border, most tunnels have been aimed towards the city, and one tunnel in particular was big and wide enough to fit over 10,000 soldiers in one hour. Seoul, by the way, holds 45% of all the population in Korea, which is why it's such a huge target for the North Koreans. Once you have Seoul, you have the entire country, which is exactly what happened during the war, by the way.
That night, there was a fireworks display to celebrate Hangul Day and since Jamie is obsessed with fireworks, she really wanted to go to this roof top party to watch the fireworks. We arrived late and missed the fireworks, but ended up meeting three guys that we hung out with for the rest of the night.
We stayed out much later than we should have, so when we woke up at 5:30 the next morning for the DMZ tour, we were hating ourselves.
The DMZ tour was incredible, well let me rephrase. The tour itself left much to be desired, but the history of the DMZ, and the fact that we were finally there, was fascinating. Let me clarify, because it's somewhat confusing. We didn't OFFICIALLY go to the DMZ. The DMZ is actually this two mile stretch of uninhabited land. The demilitarized zone is only called that because there aren't any people there. It can't be a demilitarized zone if there are people there. Get it? So there's the two mile stretch of land - one mile on each of the Korea's and then another mile on each side, which is where we went. So no, we didn't officially go to the DMZ, we only technically did, according to our very confusing guide.
It's hard to describe what it was like, mostly because it seemed completely contradictory. Our bus drove through the DMZ and it was completely devoid of human life. It seemed we, and the rest of the people on the bus, were the only humans left in the world.
The first stop on our DMZ tour was the Dorasan Train Station. As we got off the bus, it was completely silent and almost peaceful, except for the fact that I felt like I had a sniper rifle trained on my head. When Jamie and I would talk, we'd whisper, as if there was something that we'd be interrupting if we were to talk louder. The station is not operating, but South Korea has hopes that it will one day run. The train station connects the two Koreas, but since North Korea won't let South Korea run the train, the station was absolutely lifeless. The point of the train station was to have South Korea send materials to North Korea via train, then North Korea would send back the finished product via the train. 
This is what Wikipedia (and yes, I realize that Wikipedia isn't exactly the most reliable source) says, "On December 11, 2007, freight trains began traveling north past Dorasan Station into North Korea, taking materials to the Kaesong Industrial Region, and returning with finished goods. It was scheduled to make one 16 kilometer (10 mile) trip every weekday." Our lovely President Bush was there at the opening of the train station, so Jamie and I felt that we needed to have a photo op with the Presidents. Overall, the train station really wasn't that spectacular, but was still incredibly interesting because it was like a ghost station...very weird.
North Korea is so dodgy and downright insane that it's absolutely fascinating, but more on that later. I read some horror stories in my Lonely Planet which I will share with you in a bit.
Next on the tour was the Dora Observatory, which would permit us views of North Korea. On the bus ride, the tour guide explained that the best way to identify whether I'm staring at North or South Korea is to look at the mountains. If the mountains have trees on them, then it's South Korea, and if the mountains don't have any trees, then it's North Korea. I thought the woman was insane, or there was some mistranslation between Korean and English, but when I got to the observatory and looked through the binoculars, the mountains had no trees on them. She explained that the North Koreans were so starved for food and heat that they chopped down all the trees to use them for food/heating. And this is why North Korea is the "heart of darkness" in Asia. I understand that there's a lot of lying going on between the two countries and South Korea probably says a lot of things about North Korea that are slightly exaggerated, BUT North Korea's communist party outlived communist Russia and has a reputation as being the least understood, and secretive/mysterious country in the entire world. At the observatory, Jamie and I looked through the binoculars into North Korea. We could see guard posts with guards walking around holding their rifles. We weren't allowed to take pictures where the binoculars were. We had to walk back about 30 meters and take pictures behind the big yellow line that was being guarded by some friendly South Korea soldiers, which also made us feel like a photo op was in order.
What can I say? I'm a sucker for a man in uniform.
Jamie and I got a little irritated with our tour guide because she was constantly rushing us to get back on the bus. There was still a lot to see, but because she was a time freak, we couldn't see everything or even take our time. It was very annoying and Jamie, unsurprisingly, said, "We spent a lot of money to come on this tour, and so I'm going to take as long as I want." The tour guide didn't bat an eyelash and kept ushering back towards the bus. Oh well.
The next stop on our turbo tour was the 3rd Tunnel. I was extremely apprehensive to do this portion of the tour and I blame the book Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. It's a WWI novel that takes place in France and one story line in the novel involves a man that builds tunnels into enemy territory. It depicts trench warfare in a horrifying light (because it was horrifying) and well, the descriptions of the tunnels and the "tunnel rats" basically freaked me out. I cannot find anything that scares me out more than to be in a confined space, on my belly, unable to turn around, stand up or breathe clean air ALL THE WHILE knowing that the walls around me could collapse at any moment and lock me into a grave, while I'm still alive. I want to go throw up now just thinking about it. Moving on, sort of. The tunnel was going to give me some problems, but I knew that I'd regret it if I didn't suck it up and just do it. We boarded the little monorail train that would take us about 300 feet underground and as we descended, my hands got sweatier and sweatier. Jamie was great support though, and held my hand the entire way down. What a pal! As the tunnel got smaller and smaller, the people on each side of me had to tilt their head towards me so they wouldn't smack their heads on the tunnel walls. Thank God I was sitting in the middle seat. 
The climate in the tunnel gradually got colder and damper (there was water covering the walls which didn't help my state of mind. ("GREAT. We're going to drown in here"). We got off the monorail and started walking through the tunnel, and as I kept walking I became more calm and even laughed when Jamie smacked her head on the metal bars above her that were being used to stabilize the ceiling. Yikes! She was wearing a helmet though, so no harm done! We had to crouch most of the way, but at least we didn't have to crawl. The walls were also covered in concrete or rock so dirt debris wasn't falling on me while I was walking. All in all, it seemed like a pretty safe, sturdy tunnel, but still. It was underground and the walls could collapse around me AT ANY MOMENT! There have been four tunnels that have been found by South Korean/American military, but there's an estimated 21 tunnels that have been suspected to exist, but haven't been found. Crazy! Since Seoul is so close to the border, most tunnels have been aimed towards the city, and one tunnel in particular was big and wide enough to fit over 10,000 soldiers in one hour. Seoul, by the way, holds 45% of all the population in Korea, which is why it's such a huge target for the North Koreans. Once you have Seoul, you have the entire country, which is exactly what happened during the war, by the way.
In its entirety, the only reason why the DMZ tour was so amazing was because it was the DMZ. The tour itself wasn't spectacular, and mostly gave me information that I had already learned through reading my Lonely Planet. It was still a life changing experience, mostly because I suspect that the DMZ won't exist forever, and I was lucky enough to go when it did exist.
The trip to Seoul, after the whole passport debacle, turned into a really great vacation. It just goes to show that no matter where you are, if you're with the right person, you're going to have a blast, no matter what.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Busan / Pusan Part Deux
A wonderful friend of mine (Jamie) suggested that instead of detailing every single incident that happened, I chronicle the meaningful things instead. I suppose that sounds easy enough, except that I find a lot of things meaningful and often have difficulty deciphering what is the MOST meaningful incident that has happened to me. At any rate, I need to continue my blog because I'm falling depressingly behind and I HAVE to catch up. Hopefully, by the end of this week, I'll be all caught up with my adventures. It's so cold outside that I want to lie in bed all day anyway, so I might as well be doing something productive other than watching my shows. On a side note, I just spent the last 10 minutes googling which word I should use: lie, lay, lain, or laid. Why? Because I care.
Day Two in Busan was just as amazing as Day One except that we were more rushed. We both agreed that staying another night in Busan would be ridiculous because we didn't have a room booked and we didn't want to spend any more money. So we bought a train ticket for 7:00 pm which meant we had about five hours to sight see. There were a lot of things on our list that we simply didn't have time for, so we narrowed it down to three places: Beomeosa Temple, the fish market (Busan has the largest fish market in all of Korea) and the art museum. Of course, the three places were on opposite ends of the Busan Subway, so we chose to go to the temple first and then would go wherever after that.
Temples are always peaceful, but are generally the same sort of thing. You ride some form of transportation up a mountain, get off said transportation, gasp at the beauty surrounding you, then hike up a bunch of stairs, go through a bunch of stereotypical "Asian" buildings and BAM. That's a temple for you. Needless to say, yes, the temple was beautiful and yes, I enjoyed myself. Case closed.
Jamie and I had toyed around with doing a temple stay but because it was so last minute, we weren't able to book any stays. I was extremely apprehensive about doing a temple stay because you wake up at 3:30 in the morning, do a bunch of chores, do 108 prostrations while putting beads on a piece of string, do some more various chores, eat "like a monk" and then go to bed around 10:00 pm at night, only to wake back up at 3:30 the next morning. The idea of a temple stay sounds awesome, but it consists of three of the things I hate most in this world: getting up early in the morning, doing chores and eating tiny, vegetarian portions. Perhaps some day I'll work up the courage to do a temple stay.
After visiting the temple, Jamie was intent on getting post cards for her friends and family back home. We figured that an art museum would have post cards, because, well, it's a museum and museums have gift shops. We took another expensive taxi to the art museum because it would have taken too long to take the subway. We got to the museum, looked around the gift shop (but didn't buy anything. Well, except for a muffin) and left. Going to an art museum, but not looking around goes against everything I stand for, but we simply didn't have enough time. After the museum, we went to Home Plus (or was it E-Mart?) and bought a couple things like stickers, a converter (that didn't work) and a little set of drawers for my makeup. We hopped back on the subway so we could catch our train on time.
We really almost missed our train. It was literally one of those movie moments where the characters are running through the station to catch their train. We ran through the train station and made it to our train seats, albeit slightly sweaty and very out of breath.
And that concludes Busan!
To sum up:
More to come later! Next: Seoul!
Day Two in Busan was just as amazing as Day One except that we were more rushed. We both agreed that staying another night in Busan would be ridiculous because we didn't have a room booked and we didn't want to spend any more money. So we bought a train ticket for 7:00 pm which meant we had about five hours to sight see. There were a lot of things on our list that we simply didn't have time for, so we narrowed it down to three places: Beomeosa Temple, the fish market (Busan has the largest fish market in all of Korea) and the art museum. Of course, the three places were on opposite ends of the Busan Subway, so we chose to go to the temple first and then would go wherever after that.
Temples are always peaceful, but are generally the same sort of thing. You ride some form of transportation up a mountain, get off said transportation, gasp at the beauty surrounding you, then hike up a bunch of stairs, go through a bunch of stereotypical "Asian" buildings and BAM. That's a temple for you. Needless to say, yes, the temple was beautiful and yes, I enjoyed myself. Case closed.
Beomeosa Temple
Posing
Jamie and I had toyed around with doing a temple stay but because it was so last minute, we weren't able to book any stays. I was extremely apprehensive about doing a temple stay because you wake up at 3:30 in the morning, do a bunch of chores, do 108 prostrations while putting beads on a piece of string, do some more various chores, eat "like a monk" and then go to bed around 10:00 pm at night, only to wake back up at 3:30 the next morning. The idea of a temple stay sounds awesome, but it consists of three of the things I hate most in this world: getting up early in the morning, doing chores and eating tiny, vegetarian portions. Perhaps some day I'll work up the courage to do a temple stay.
Prostrating
After visiting the temple, Jamie was intent on getting post cards for her friends and family back home. We figured that an art museum would have post cards, because, well, it's a museum and museums have gift shops. We took another expensive taxi to the art museum because it would have taken too long to take the subway. We got to the museum, looked around the gift shop (but didn't buy anything. Well, except for a muffin) and left. Going to an art museum, but not looking around goes against everything I stand for, but we simply didn't have enough time. After the museum, we went to Home Plus (or was it E-Mart?) and bought a couple things like stickers, a converter (that didn't work) and a little set of drawers for my makeup. We hopped back on the subway so we could catch our train on time.
We really almost missed our train. It was literally one of those movie moments where the characters are running through the station to catch their train. We ran through the train station and made it to our train seats, albeit slightly sweaty and very out of breath.
And that concludes Busan!
To sum up:
- I love Busan.
- I love Jamie.
- I want to go back to Busan.
More to come later! Next: Seoul!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Busan / Pusan
As most of you know, my friend Jamie (from Illinois) came to visit me here in Korea. I honestly didn't expect her to come (because let's face it, getting here is expensive), but when she booked her ticket, well, I was convinced. And so excited! I was actually going to have a friend here in Korea for TWO whole weeks! And what a fun two weeks we had. On the day of her arrival, I had to go to the E-Mart to buy a Korean mattress so one of us (me) could sleep somewhat comfortably on the floor. I was extremely stressed about her getting to Daejeon because there really was no way for me to contact her if she got off the bus at the wrong stop. Luckily, everything went well and we had a movie-worthy reunion on the side of the street. After Jamie dropped off her stuff at my apartment, we decided to take a walk to hopefully reduce the ridiculous swelling in her ankles.
Anyway, Saturday rolled around and off we were to Busan on the KTX. On our way to the station we stopped at this delicious toast place that's right next to the station. We had a really good breakfast, and as you can see, we were in very high spirits before we left for Busan. Yay for toast! It takes about two hours to travel to Busan by KTX, but due to our particularly enthralling discussion about religion, the time flew and we were there before we knew it (we also happened to be sitting next to two soldiers, but that's of no importance :D ).
To be honest, it really isn't that hard for a city to impress me. If there are beaches and mountains, I'm good to go. Anyway, Jamie and I spent about an hour on the beach taking pictures and playing in the (freezing) water. We stopped to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant, where I (OF COURSE) had pho. Mmmmmm. We walked along the coast for another few hours (where I saw people PLAYING VOLLEYBALL) and came upon an amusement park where we rode a few rides. It was more a carnival than an amusement park, only because the park was run down, the rides were terrifying (because you literally feared for your life) and there were only five rides. It was still fun and totally worth the 10,000 W we paid to ride the rides though.
On a side note, I apologize if my blogging isn't nearly as enthralling as it used to be. I try to be fun and witty, but all that really ends up happening is that I feel like I'm doing a homework assignment, so I'm not nearly as motivated to write anymore. I'm working on it though; I want to keep everyone updated through exciting narrative. Be patient!
Okay, where was I?
After the amusement park, we decided to hop back on the bus to go to Haeundae Beach (which everyone kept talking about like it was the place to go). After much confusion with directions and walking in the wrong direction for 15 minutes, we made our way back to the bus stop and got back on the bus. Haeundae Beach really wasn't that spectacular. I mean, yes, it was a beach and I always love beaches, but the other beach was much more exciting. I think the area is more appealing to Westerners because there are a lot of American restaurants like Bennigans, Outback Steakhouse (YUM), TGI Fridays, Baskin Robins and every single bar/pub that you can think of serving every kind of alcohol that you can dream up. We did find this fascinating little outdoor market though where vendors would be squatting on the street butchering every kind of animal/insect imagineable. There were sliced pig heads, worms, ants, bees, fish, chicken feet...whenever Jamie gives me her pictures, I'll happily post the pictures that she took of the grossness that lined the streets of Busan. It makes me shudder to think about the bees though. GROSS.
We made a quick stop at Baskin Robins (don't judge) where I had walnut flavored ice cream (delicious) and...well, I forgot what Jamie had. I was much more focused on the magic that was in my cone. We hopped back on the bus to head back to Busan Station so we could take the night bus that departed from the station. We both fell asleep on the bus as it made its way back to the station. It was glorious. Once we arrived back at the station, we had some time to kill. We wandered around Chinatown for a little while until Jamie gave me the brilliant idea that I should buy a back pack. All day, I was carrying my stupid messenger bag full of useless crap that I didn't end up using anyway. Jamie, by the way, is a brilliant haggler. I was so shy and apprehensive, so I made her haggle for me and I ended up buying a back pack for 20,000 W. She saved me 15,000 W! I've always been the type of person that would go to a vendor, ask how much it is, then buy it. No haggling for me. But no. She made me go to five different stalls (who all happened to sell the same backpack) so we could find out how much we should ask for the backpack. Anyway, she was brilliant.
Even after buying the backpack, we still had some time to kill, so we bought some street food for a snack: hodduk and chicken terriyaki on a stick. Jamie and I were both completely enamored with the hodduk. It's this Korean pancake that's filled with syrupy goodness. Ugh, it was amazing. And it was cheap! Only 500 W (that equals about 50 cents). Outside of Busan Station, there was this performance happening. Girls dressed in hanboks (traditional Korean dress) would dance around for about 15 minutes with bells or drums. It was really exciting for me because I had never seen that before AND we just happened upon it. I feel in love with Busan at that point. There we were, just sitting outside among the other Koreans and Westerners, all watching and enjoying the same thing. There weren't any language barriers or cultural barriers at that point...we all just existed together. It was amazing.
After the performance, it was time for us to get on the night city tour bus, except that all the seats were booked. So we moved on to Plan B. We took the subway back to the Gwangalli beach so we could find some dinner. We delayed dinner once we got there because we wanted to take some night pictures with the bridge. We walked out on the beach and there were couples everywhere, all cuddling and looking at the Gwangan Bridge: some had fireworks, some were content to simply be next to each other. As a romantic, I was absolutely enamored with the scene in front of me: couples staring at the bridge while the moon's light glittered on the waves that were softly crashing on the shore. It was straight out of a romance novel, except that I didn't care that I didn't have anyone to cuddle with or that I was single.
After Jamie and I took a significant amount of pictures, we decided to find somewhere to eat. I told Jamie to choose where to eat since I'm generally not a picky eater, so off we were to find a restaurant. Jamie took a little longer than I would have liked to pick a restaurant, so by the time we got to the chosen place, I was starving and a little cranky. It turned out, however, that the "restaurant" she chose was, in fact, NOT a restaurant, but a pesky tea house. We sat down anyway because the people who owned the place were so nice and ordered some tea that did nothing to calm my shaky hands due to lack of food. Jamie, always somewhat abrasive, asked them if they had any food (which, I knew they didn't), but they actually cooked us some food. Neither of us are big fans of sea weed, mostly because it's gross, but we ate what they cooked us anyway because it was such a sweet gesture.
While we were eating, it started to pour outside. We, of course, didn't have an umbrella, but the couple GAVE one to us. My faith in the goodness of people was again renewed that night because the Korean couple didn't have to make us dinner or give us an umbrella or help us navigate to the jimjaebang, but they did. Why? I have no idea. They simply wanted to help us. Why can't I be surrounded by these kinds of people?
Anyway, we walked through the pouring rain until we found a taxi (this took a while) that would take us to the Vesta Spa where we were going to spend the night (after we bathed of course). It was Jamie's first experience at at jimjaebang, and my second, so we were a little apprehensive about the naked thing, especially since we both knew we'd be stared at a whole lot. Yes, people did stare, but not only did they stare, they also got out of every pool that Jamie and I would enter. It was almost insulting, especially since we were naked, but I'll clarify that not everyone got out of the pools, only most of them. That fact didn't make me feel much better though. I felt like some American parasite that smelled nasty. And did I mention I was also naked? I felt so vulnerable!
It really wasn't that bad. I mostly stuck up my nose in the air like the proud American that I was and just kept hopping from pool to pool. As Jamie and I were sitting in the pool that blasted missles of water on our back, we noticed some very intense massages happening across the bath house. There were these older woman wearing panties and a bra, or nothing at all, slapping, scrubbing and what looked like abusing these woman lying on the massage tables. We were, to say the least, intrigued, so we wandered over to the tables and tried to communicate how much we wanted to pay for the massages. Remember, I had Jamie with me, and she always haggles down the price, so we ended up paying 30,000 W usually 50,000 W) to get a massage, shampoo and condition, cucumber mask and scrub down. I was so excited because I was thinking, "Yes! I can't wait to be pampered! This is going to be awesome!"
I had gotten a massage once before and it was amazing...I actually dosed off while the woman was massaging me. There was nice classical music playing and it was just really peaceful and nice.
At the jimjaebang...not so much. Keep in mind that the women massaging us were half naked (mine at least had panties and a bra on - Jamie's only had panties on, haha) and had these scubber pads on their hands just scrubbing EVERY INCH of my body. It felt like they were ripping off my skin. It wasn't peaceful. It wasn't even pleasant. It mostly hurt, since I was slightly sunburned as well.
We were so lubed with baby oil that every time they would yell "SIDE" and bang the table, we'd both almost slide off the table in our attempt to turn onto our side. I felt like a beached, naked whale. Once they put the cucumber mask on my face, I coudn't stop giggling. Then I'd turn my head to look at Jamie (who was laying on her belly) and I could see Jamie's massager's breasts hitting Jamie in the head as the woman was bending over Jamie's head to scrub her back. It was absolutely hilarious. And if I wasn't in so much pain, I probably would have enjoyed myself immensely. After everything was finished, I didn't feel refreshed or relaxed, but my skin was softer than a baby's bottom. Those women work hard for their money. Seriously.
Anyway, after the...interesting massage, Jamie and I went to put on our XXL uniforms and made our way out to the area that we'd be sleeping in. We were both exhausted after an extremely long day, and because we had very little sleep from the night before. So we were ready to SLEEP. Yet...when we went into the sleeping area, there was absolutely NO space left. There weren't any mattresses or pillows or even ROOM to put the mattresses and pillows that we didn't have. It was almost 2:00 AM and we had just figured out that we didn't have a place to sleep. I wanted to sceam "I TOLD YOU SO!" but I kept my cool and calmly discussed our options with Jamie.
A. We could sleep in the noisy, uncomfortable spa.
B. We could look in our Lonely Planet and see what places we could find.
C. Go sleep out on a park bench.
Plan C was out, since it was still pouring outside. Plan A looked like it'd be a disaster, so we went with Plan B. We changed our clothes and went out to the reception area and asked the woman to call a taxi for us. She said she'd call and then told us five minutes later (after not that much effort of calling a cab) that there weren't any taxis left because it was raining. I wanted to scream some profanity at her, but I again kept my cool and told Jamie that we'd just walk around outside until we found a taxi. Thank God for the angelic couple from earlier, because if we hadn't have had the umbrella they'd given us, we would have been completely screwed. So there we were, walking around in the pouring rain, both trying to fit under this small umbrella, at 2:30 AM with no cars in sight. It was a completely pathetic moment until we heard a honk behind us and there was a blessed taxi. (The taxis have a habit of honking at you to see if you want a ride or not. Usually it's annoying, but in this instance, it was heaven.) So we got into the taxi and pointed at a hotel that we'd found in our LP. Of course, the taxi driver didn't speak much English, but since everyone in Korea wants to help, he called a friend of his that spoke English and handed Jamie the phone. Long story short, we figured out where we needed to go and the taxi driver took the longest way EVER to get us back to Busan Station. The taxi fare was almost 30,000 W. Jamie wanted to punch him, but with much restraint from me, she only slammed the door really hard. I was still in cool, calm, collect mode, so I just gave him the money and got the hell out of the cab.
We were able to get a room at the tourist hotel for 50,000 W. Needless to say, if we had booked a room before we got there, we would have saved a lot of money. We almost spent 100,000 W because of bad planning. Lesson learned. No more laid back, cool Trisha.
We got up to our bedroom and instantly fell asleep. Actually, Jamie fell asleep instantly, in the middle of me baring my soul to her. But again, that's neither here nor there. As usual, it took me a little while to fall asleep, but once I did, I was down for the count for almost ten hours.
This whole blog was just ONE day in Busan. It felt like the longest day of my life, but it was one of the BEST days of my life. I love Busan. I love Jamie. It was just an all around fabulous day.
And just because, here are some soldier pictures we took :)
Okay, so they don't look that swollen, but trust me, they were swollen. And the walk didn't help that much. Anyway, we went to this Chinese restaurant because we were both hungry and had my favorite dish - jajangmyeung, which also happens to be the only dish I really know how to say in Korean, so it worked out well for us.
Jamie got to Daejeon on Thursday night, so we made plans to go somewhere on the weekend. We were going to go to Seoul, but decided it'd be easier to travel to Busan for the weekend. We asked Paddy about accommodations and he told us that we could just stay in a love motel because they're everywhere in Busan. A love motel, by the way, is a place where people go to have sex, in case you hadn't figured that out already. They even charge by the hour. The whole going-to-a-new-city-without-hotel-reservations completely went against everything that I learned about traveling, but because I was trying to be more laid-back, I went with it. To compromise, Jamie and I made plans to stay at a jimjaebang, mostly because it's cheap (like 8,000 W). I felt only slightly better about our sleeping situation, though.
Anyway, Saturday rolled around and off we were to Busan on the KTX. On our way to the station we stopped at this delicious toast place that's right next to the station. We had a really good breakfast, and as you can see, we were in very high spirits before we left for Busan. Yay for toast! It takes about two hours to travel to Busan by KTX, but due to our particularly enthralling discussion about religion, the time flew and we were there before we knew it (we also happened to be sitting next to two soldiers, but that's of no importance :D ).
On Friday, while I was teaching, Jamie researched the things she wanted to do in Busan. She found this city bus tour that would allow us to get on and off the bus whenever we wanted. I had done this with Katherine in Rome (except in Rome, Katherine and I barely got off the bus. But that's neither here nor there), so I knew that it'd be a pretty good way to see the entire city. So, once we got off the train, we went to the tourist center and asked about the city bus tour. We found it pretty easily and then we were off to Gwangalli beach.
Busan is gorgeous.
Of course I had to play in the water!
And my photo shoot.
Yippee!
Beautiful Busan.
To be honest, it really isn't that hard for a city to impress me. If there are beaches and mountains, I'm good to go. Anyway, Jamie and I spent about an hour on the beach taking pictures and playing in the (freezing) water. We stopped to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant, where I (OF COURSE) had pho. Mmmmmm. We walked along the coast for another few hours (where I saw people PLAYING VOLLEYBALL) and came upon an amusement park where we rode a few rides. It was more a carnival than an amusement park, only because the park was run down, the rides were terrifying (because you literally feared for your life) and there were only five rides. It was still fun and totally worth the 10,000 W we paid to ride the rides though. On a side note, I apologize if my blogging isn't nearly as enthralling as it used to be. I try to be fun and witty, but all that really ends up happening is that I feel like I'm doing a homework assignment, so I'm not nearly as motivated to write anymore. I'm working on it though; I want to keep everyone updated through exciting narrative. Be patient!
Okay, where was I?
After the amusement park, we decided to hop back on the bus to go to Haeundae Beach (which everyone kept talking about like it was the place to go). After much confusion with directions and walking in the wrong direction for 15 minutes, we made our way back to the bus stop and got back on the bus. Haeundae Beach really wasn't that spectacular. I mean, yes, it was a beach and I always love beaches, but the other beach was much more exciting. I think the area is more appealing to Westerners because there are a lot of American restaurants like Bennigans, Outback Steakhouse (YUM), TGI Fridays, Baskin Robins and every single bar/pub that you can think of serving every kind of alcohol that you can dream up. We did find this fascinating little outdoor market though where vendors would be squatting on the street butchering every kind of animal/insect imagineable. There were sliced pig heads, worms, ants, bees, fish, chicken feet...whenever Jamie gives me her pictures, I'll happily post the pictures that she took of the grossness that lined the streets of Busan. It makes me shudder to think about the bees though. GROSS.
We made a quick stop at Baskin Robins (don't judge) where I had walnut flavored ice cream (delicious) and...well, I forgot what Jamie had. I was much more focused on the magic that was in my cone. We hopped back on the bus to head back to Busan Station so we could take the night bus that departed from the station. We both fell asleep on the bus as it made its way back to the station. It was glorious. Once we arrived back at the station, we had some time to kill. We wandered around Chinatown for a little while until Jamie gave me the brilliant idea that I should buy a back pack. All day, I was carrying my stupid messenger bag full of useless crap that I didn't end up using anyway. Jamie, by the way, is a brilliant haggler. I was so shy and apprehensive, so I made her haggle for me and I ended up buying a back pack for 20,000 W. She saved me 15,000 W! I've always been the type of person that would go to a vendor, ask how much it is, then buy it. No haggling for me. But no. She made me go to five different stalls (who all happened to sell the same backpack) so we could find out how much we should ask for the backpack. Anyway, she was brilliant.
I love him :)
One of the performances
After the performance, it was time for us to get on the night city tour bus, except that all the seats were booked. So we moved on to Plan B. We took the subway back to the Gwangalli beach so we could find some dinner. We delayed dinner once we got there because we wanted to take some night pictures with the bridge. We walked out on the beach and there were couples everywhere, all cuddling and looking at the Gwangan Bridge: some had fireworks, some were content to simply be next to each other. As a romantic, I was absolutely enamored with the scene in front of me: couples staring at the bridge while the moon's light glittered on the waves that were softly crashing on the shore. It was straight out of a romance novel, except that I didn't care that I didn't have anyone to cuddle with or that I was single.
The bridge at night
After Jamie and I took a significant amount of pictures, we decided to find somewhere to eat. I told Jamie to choose where to eat since I'm generally not a picky eater, so off we were to find a restaurant. Jamie took a little longer than I would have liked to pick a restaurant, so by the time we got to the chosen place, I was starving and a little cranky. It turned out, however, that the "restaurant" she chose was, in fact, NOT a restaurant, but a pesky tea house. We sat down anyway because the people who owned the place were so nice and ordered some tea that did nothing to calm my shaky hands due to lack of food. Jamie, always somewhat abrasive, asked them if they had any food (which, I knew they didn't), but they actually cooked us some food. Neither of us are big fans of sea weed, mostly because it's gross, but we ate what they cooked us anyway because it was such a sweet gesture.
The fabulous couple
While we were eating, it started to pour outside. We, of course, didn't have an umbrella, but the couple GAVE one to us. My faith in the goodness of people was again renewed that night because the Korean couple didn't have to make us dinner or give us an umbrella or help us navigate to the jimjaebang, but they did. Why? I have no idea. They simply wanted to help us. Why can't I be surrounded by these kinds of people?
Anyway, we walked through the pouring rain until we found a taxi (this took a while) that would take us to the Vesta Spa where we were going to spend the night (after we bathed of course). It was Jamie's first experience at at jimjaebang, and my second, so we were a little apprehensive about the naked thing, especially since we both knew we'd be stared at a whole lot. Yes, people did stare, but not only did they stare, they also got out of every pool that Jamie and I would enter. It was almost insulting, especially since we were naked, but I'll clarify that not everyone got out of the pools, only most of them. That fact didn't make me feel much better though. I felt like some American parasite that smelled nasty. And did I mention I was also naked? I felt so vulnerable!
It really wasn't that bad. I mostly stuck up my nose in the air like the proud American that I was and just kept hopping from pool to pool. As Jamie and I were sitting in the pool that blasted missles of water on our back, we noticed some very intense massages happening across the bath house. There were these older woman wearing panties and a bra, or nothing at all, slapping, scrubbing and what looked like abusing these woman lying on the massage tables. We were, to say the least, intrigued, so we wandered over to the tables and tried to communicate how much we wanted to pay for the massages. Remember, I had Jamie with me, and she always haggles down the price, so we ended up paying 30,000 W usually 50,000 W) to get a massage, shampoo and condition, cucumber mask and scrub down. I was so excited because I was thinking, "Yes! I can't wait to be pampered! This is going to be awesome!"
I had gotten a massage once before and it was amazing...I actually dosed off while the woman was massaging me. There was nice classical music playing and it was just really peaceful and nice.
At the jimjaebang...not so much. Keep in mind that the women massaging us were half naked (mine at least had panties and a bra on - Jamie's only had panties on, haha) and had these scubber pads on their hands just scrubbing EVERY INCH of my body. It felt like they were ripping off my skin. It wasn't peaceful. It wasn't even pleasant. It mostly hurt, since I was slightly sunburned as well.
We were so lubed with baby oil that every time they would yell "SIDE" and bang the table, we'd both almost slide off the table in our attempt to turn onto our side. I felt like a beached, naked whale. Once they put the cucumber mask on my face, I coudn't stop giggling. Then I'd turn my head to look at Jamie (who was laying on her belly) and I could see Jamie's massager's breasts hitting Jamie in the head as the woman was bending over Jamie's head to scrub her back. It was absolutely hilarious. And if I wasn't in so much pain, I probably would have enjoyed myself immensely. After everything was finished, I didn't feel refreshed or relaxed, but my skin was softer than a baby's bottom. Those women work hard for their money. Seriously.
Anyway, after the...interesting massage, Jamie and I went to put on our XXL uniforms and made our way out to the area that we'd be sleeping in. We were both exhausted after an extremely long day, and because we had very little sleep from the night before. So we were ready to SLEEP. Yet...when we went into the sleeping area, there was absolutely NO space left. There weren't any mattresses or pillows or even ROOM to put the mattresses and pillows that we didn't have. It was almost 2:00 AM and we had just figured out that we didn't have a place to sleep. I wanted to sceam "I TOLD YOU SO!" but I kept my cool and calmly discussed our options with Jamie.
A. We could sleep in the noisy, uncomfortable spa.
B. We could look in our Lonely Planet and see what places we could find.
C. Go sleep out on a park bench.
Plan C was out, since it was still pouring outside. Plan A looked like it'd be a disaster, so we went with Plan B. We changed our clothes and went out to the reception area and asked the woman to call a taxi for us. She said she'd call and then told us five minutes later (after not that much effort of calling a cab) that there weren't any taxis left because it was raining. I wanted to scream some profanity at her, but I again kept my cool and told Jamie that we'd just walk around outside until we found a taxi. Thank God for the angelic couple from earlier, because if we hadn't have had the umbrella they'd given us, we would have been completely screwed. So there we were, walking around in the pouring rain, both trying to fit under this small umbrella, at 2:30 AM with no cars in sight. It was a completely pathetic moment until we heard a honk behind us and there was a blessed taxi. (The taxis have a habit of honking at you to see if you want a ride or not. Usually it's annoying, but in this instance, it was heaven.) So we got into the taxi and pointed at a hotel that we'd found in our LP. Of course, the taxi driver didn't speak much English, but since everyone in Korea wants to help, he called a friend of his that spoke English and handed Jamie the phone. Long story short, we figured out where we needed to go and the taxi driver took the longest way EVER to get us back to Busan Station. The taxi fare was almost 30,000 W. Jamie wanted to punch him, but with much restraint from me, she only slammed the door really hard. I was still in cool, calm, collect mode, so I just gave him the money and got the hell out of the cab.
We were able to get a room at the tourist hotel for 50,000 W. Needless to say, if we had booked a room before we got there, we would have saved a lot of money. We almost spent 100,000 W because of bad planning. Lesson learned. No more laid back, cool Trisha.
We got up to our bedroom and instantly fell asleep. Actually, Jamie fell asleep instantly, in the middle of me baring my soul to her. But again, that's neither here nor there. As usual, it took me a little while to fall asleep, but once I did, I was down for the count for almost ten hours.
This whole blog was just ONE day in Busan. It felt like the longest day of my life, but it was one of the BEST days of my life. I love Busan. I love Jamie. It was just an all around fabulous day.
And just because, here are some soldier pictures we took :)
Soldier boy number 1
Soldier boy number 2
As they say in the movies:
To Be Continued...
Monday, October 18, 2010
Seoraksan Part Deux
So our last day in Sokcho was amazing, thanks to Yeon, once again. At the jimjaebang, we arranged to meet her for lunch. So she met us at the bus station and then drove us to the fabulous little restaurant right next to the water. The restaurant was really random. It had statues of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and the Statue of Liberty, then it had a windmill and a fake horse. It was weird. But it was so much fun. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was amazing and the friends and food was fantastic (how was that for descriptive words?). Really, what more could I ask for? Nothing!
The view from our table
Yeon and I posing with the restaurant behind us.
The biggest dog, ever. He smelled REALLY bad, BTW.
Yeon and the Statue of Liberty
The Crew
Dunkas and seafood spaghetti (red and white sauce)!
I love this picture.
We stayed at the restaurant for a couple hours due to our excessive picture taking and English lessons. I taught Yeon our number system, haha. It was a lot of fun though - perhaps teaching English really is my calling.
After the restaurant we went to this bird observatory that was built so you could watch the birds fly south for the winter. I didn't enjoy it all too much, mostly because I was having gastric issues and was in the bathroom for the majority of the time we were there. TMI? Sorry.
The scenery was beautiful though.
Yeon looking very stylish and svelte
After the bird observatory, Yeon (who was driving us around in her mother's car) took us on this drive around Sokcho's rural area. We ended up at this traditional village which for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called. It was in Korean too, which makes my life more difficult. How dare they give a Korean village a Korean name! Anyway, the majority of the time we were there we were taking tons of pictures and walking around. Keep in mind that this day was the second day of PAIN. Oh. My. Gosh. My legs weren't experiencing typical soreness, no way. It wasn't the kind of soreness where you actually enjoy it because you felt like you did something productive for your muscles.
This was simply PAIN. Every step I took made me look like I had some genetic leg disorder which rendered me incapable of walking. Stretching didn't do me any good. Sitting didn't do me any good either because the second I would stand up my muscles would freak out and go rogue on me. They couldn't do ANYTHING. And sitting down to use the restroom (which, if you know me, is A LOT) was horrendous. I felt like I almost broke my toilet on several different occasions because I would plop down on it so hard that the whole toilet and floor would shake. It was just bad all around.
(Several days after this painful soreness, I finally did some research and figured out that I had, in fact, strained my muscles. I injured my poor muscles due to my ill-advised hike to the peak. It took almost two weeks for my legs to return to normal. I had to take the elevator at work because I walked up and down the stairs so slowly it was actually faster to take the elevator up and down one floor. Pathetic.)
Anyway, back to the Korean Village. There isn't that much to note here except that the weather was beautiful and even though Yeon and I struggled to have a conversation (in which we would both get VERY excited once we figured out what the other was trying to say), her company was the best.
The traditional houses behind us
Remember how sore I was? This was painful.
Beautiful meadow of flowers (I was thinking about getting stung the whole time).
We got pamphlets!
After the village, we had to get back to the bus station because we had an approximately five hour bus ride back to Daejeon. So Yeon drove us back to the station and we said our goodbyes. Yeon, who like I said before, is the sweetest person I've ever met. Do you also remember that she makes jewelry? Well the last day in Sokcho, she was wearing this necklace that she made and at the bus station she GAVE IT TO ME. I couldn't believe it. It was her going away gift.
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| The heart shaped necklace she gave me.
Okay, it's self reflection time. Meeting Yeon changed my life. There. I said it. Yeon was just one of those people who does things for people because that's the kind of person she is. She doesn't do it to gain anything. She's the type of person who does things for people just to make their day a little easier, to make their smile come more quickly or to make their life a little more blessed because they can finally admit that there really are good people in the world. I'm a touch jaded. Most of the people I've met are out to do what THEY want to do and who cares what anyone else wants. Or. They only do nice things for you because they get things in return. I want to be surrounded by Yeons. I know now I don't have to settle because not everyone in the world is a big D-bag (if you don't know what a D-bag is, don't ask) who only thinks about themselves. For the last few years, I've been surrounded by D-bags who only associate themselves with me because I'm the type of person who gives freely and without question. I live to make people happy and the only time that's a character flaw is when people take advantage of it.
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It's difficult to explain how much this trip affected me. I simply feel too much. And a person who feels too much always has issues sorting out all their feelings. Everything I type "feelings" or "I feel," I feel (haha) so cheesy! But I'm a girl and full of estrogen, so I can feel all I want.
Another issue during the trip was the whole "left behind" situation. I was the third wheel the whole trip. Totally. I constantly felt left out. I was already incredibly sensitive because I practically hiked up the stupid mountain by myself. Another obvious third wheel moment was the bus ride home. I was putting my luggage underneath the bus and asked them to save a seat for me since they were getting on the bus (and leaving me behind...). So when I got on the bus the seat that they had saved me was a single window seat, while they were sitting several rows back, together. Lovely. Perfect.
So, on the ride home I was super depressed, exhausted and was crying. Thank God it was dark and the majority of the people on the bus were asleep. I tried to nap, but was simply too exhausted to nap. Don't you hate that? When we got off the bus in Daejeon, it was very awkward and silent because I guess they didn't realize they were giving me the shaft the entire trip.
I have two kinds of upset.
- I act like a child and cry.
- I shut down and have absolutely no emotion.
(On a side note, I talked to Maria and Daniel about my feelings (there's that word again) and everything is fine between all of us now. In fact, Maria and I are getting along great).
In my defense, it was a VERY long, tiring vacation, but in the end I know it was worth it. So, in case you didn't get why this trip changed my life, here's a countdown.
- I proved to myself that I am mentally strong.
- I realized that not everyone is a D-bag.
- I accepted that I need to give myself more credit for my successes.
- I also accepted that I'm too hard on myself.
- I need to give my self-esteem some TLC (tender, loving care)
- I am worthy enough to be surrounded by Yeons.
- I'm an amazing gal.
So that concludes Seoraksan. Bye bye!
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