The title of this blog includes the lovely Korean kids' version of "Rock, Paper, Scissors"...I couldn't help but chuckle Hey you can't blame the kids. All the English words on TV and in their K-POP songs are usually badly pronounced. Merrr. It's just killer to try and unteach!
I went to Busan (Korea's beach city...like a California beach with hills and the possibility of cold winters) for Chuseok. Chuseok is the Korean version of Thanksgiving. My students gently reminded me of the fact that I have no family here to be with for Thanksgiving. Thanks kids. Whats a guy to do? Go on vacay of course.
So I'm getting used to these bullet trains. Spoiled? No...but I think I'm just "turning Korean". Everyone here is still so friendly. Some chick even shared her choco-straws with me!
I'll call the guy the Grape Chew Guy. I first met him and his friend and both of their girlfriends on the way to Daegu Stadium to see the opening ceremony of the track and field championships. I heard them speaking English and found myself walking beside them and chuckling at some of the jokes. Before you know it was having a full-out conversation with them. Nice guys. He offered me some of these grape chews (kinda like Now and Laters but packed with Vitamin C) because they were his favorite candy...and now Im hooked.
Soon after my glorious Dunkin Donut breakfast to start my vacation, I just happened to run into him and his friend in the train station on our way to Busan for Chuseok vacations. He was buying grape chews at the convenience store. We chatted for a bit. And then we were off. PS. Dunkin Donuts has bizarre flavors here because of the Korean market. They even have a Camembert Cheese filled one????????? havent tried it yet!
Two days later I was staring at sharks in an underwater tunnel. I had debated going scuba-diving for $150 in the tank...but then I thought against it. I had already splurged on my traditional Korean drum named a "Janggu"....I had to buy it...I never bought a Djembe in Africa...anyway, I'll go scuba-diving when I actually do it in the ocean. Anywho, at the end of the tunnel there's a shark's jaw for picture posing. And sure enough, who was standing in the middle of the mouth....THE GRAPE CHEW GUY! Him and his friends joked about me stalking them. It was a tad bit awkward. Three times means luck right?
But then on the WAY to class a week later.......I ran into the GRAPE CHEW GUY again. I finally asked him his name (Tom) and we are now fb offish, maybe I'll see him and his other friends around sometime. Man I kinda envy the built in friends the EPIK public school teachers have.
Before i forget...I filed a claim with BofA for possible credit fraud because a charge I didn't recognize. Then I realized...hell..I did spend that. I've been spending like a NASDAQ trader and it didnt slow down in Busan thats for sure. But in my defense, this charge was because I signed up for an intensive Korean class!! I really am starting to learn.
I went hunting for a Korean drum when I read about them in a guide book. I bought it for $130. They had to get a guy on a scooter to get it from the warehouse. I got the VIP treatment while I waited, free drinks, cool conversations with the owner from Guam who spoke good English. I will learn to play it...one-a-these days. I also went on a hunt for a cross for collection I've got going...no beans though. I've a got a year to find one!
Dear Korean salespeople,
While in the market, yelling at me from a distance "HEYYY YOU BUY BIG SIZE HERE C'MON BIG SIZE YOU BUY".....does not entice me to come to your store....it just pisses me off and motivates me to go to the gym.
"Cool" English T-shirt contest winner "Club Wanna Dik"......it's so en vouge here to know English
To go along with the T-shirt thing. I also saw the "COLLEGE" t-shirt from the movie "Animal House" I even used to have one of those back in high-school...oh what the world thinks about America......
I met a lot of cool new people while in Busan. It was sad to see the empty beds at the end of the weekend. It's depressing when you realize that those nights are often flashes of light that never happen again. You will most likely never see these people again...ever....live it up?
I might go see the people I met. I have some of their info because they live in Korea. But for those cool travelers...I will probably never see you again. I don't think I could run a hostel. I get attached easily. Maybe I wont go visit those people. Maybe I'll just let those nights be crazy nights and let them be. You know, not try and re-create the magic! :)
Had a great time the first night at the Irish pub. I even helped a drunk Korean chick into a chair on the street. She was stumbling. Good deed for the night. "oh no baby gurrrl" OH. And you know youre in a foreigner bar when they call "last call" at 2am....seriously....I haven't heard of a place like that since I got here!
Maybe it is true about what they say about the Japanese and their teeth. A friend here told me the difference between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean:
Chinese: dirty, usually tanner, whining difficult language, round heads and faces.
Japanese: extremely fat or extremely thin. Angular fish-like features and jagged jacked up teeth. My Korean friend even went as far as pulling out her cell-phone translator : They have "snaggle-tooth" she said! :)
Korean: square-eyed clean and usually the tallest.
This is completely biased. I've seen so many nasty dirty Korean people people they don't believe in dumpsters here. They just have signs and trash piles.. But hey...they were right about the jagged teeth. I met a Japanese guy (with cool 'Tokyo' style Burkenstocks) with JACKED TEETH. Im not judging, just stating facts. "I quit my job and started traveling" says the Japanese guy...I guess it's universal
The two other guys from Tokyo I met were named Yogi and Kimmy.....priceless. They didnt even make it to the bar with the rest of the hostel-mates....It started like this:
Yogi: "I would like to go out with you guys when you do"
Me: "Sure man" *beer bottles clanging on the table
Yogi: "Wait. No go out? Drink now?"
Me: "Huh? Oh. Of course. You stretch before you workout don't you?"
You can guess the rest. I never saw them in the morning.
One of my hostel-mates and I were joking how the most feminine guys here end up with the hottest Korean girls on their arms. He just said " you can be yourself in Korea....rolling my pants up? I would never get away with that" I guess I can rock the man-bag free of ridicule. When you think about it, it's quite practical and doesn't mean your pockets are always stuffed.
Every traveler in the hostel agreed to one motto. At the end of your life, no one wants to wish that they:
Had more sex
Spent more money
Traveled more places
OK then.
I went out with a girl from Hong Kong and a German girl one night. The club wasn't exactly poppin' on a Monday night but you make the best of it. We did have fun laughing at the many demonstrations of what I like to call the "Korean Pump" dance move. It consists of jerking your neck and upper body to the beat in a way that looks like you're a CPR dummy. Oh. Trust. I WILL KNOW HOW TO DANCE LIKE A KOREAN after my year is done. We all watched when the German girl decided to go swimming on the beach at 2 AM later that night. That's the first time in awhile I didn't feel like "carpe-diem-ing" it in a long time. I honestly didn't feel like showering again!! Before my afro were to hit the cheap hostel pillow an hour later.
I did manage to eat eel while I was in Busan since they are known for their crazy sea food. Originally I wanted to try a restaurant that served the same blowfish that Homer Simpson tried and then was told he had "24 hours" to live. Great. But my hostel-host told me I should work up to the weird stuff. Yup as if watching a headless skinned water snake covered in sauce squirm on your plate before you turn up the burner and it stops twitching isn't weird enough. But the living baby octopus is my next conquest...and the blowfish....babysteps Seth
The biggest Jimjilbang "naked spa and bathhouse" in Asia is in Busan apparently. I went searching for it and found "spa city"...It was a big ole temple of well-being...more like a bunch steamy smelly building crammed into a tiny sector in the shadow of a hill on the edge of town....Im sure it's relaxing for a hefty price. At least there's a natural spring there. I will go when I've got some fun cash lying around.
Leaving spa city I was late and almost missed my train back to Daegu. On the way I spotted a HELLO KITTY DODGE VIPER!!!!! Sadly this isn't it...just a Ferrari, nbd, I found on the internet. I didn't have my camera ready to take a pic of it....hot damn. The things in life you miss.
I finally hit the train station with literally 3 minutes to spare....And plopped down into the seat across from mine because my actual ticketed seat was next to someone and I wanted to spare myself the embarrassment of squeezing past her and sweating on her looking like an over-fed burro while trying to unburden myself with my new drum and my two traveling bags. I pressed my nose against the window and stared into the 300 kph black blurr of a window and enjoyed the air conditioning on my face. I still fog up windows easily.....
The dog meat market has its own post. I think that alone deserved it
And this was just my vaycay....still have yet to get my actually cam pics and talk about daily life here....pics in the next post.
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