White Water Rafting, Korean style

Steven, Megan, two Korean friends and I went white water rafting on Wednesday. We took buses for two hours to reach our destination. After a light lunch, we were lifejacked, helmeted and paddled, we were ready. I was a little nervous about falling out of the boat when going through the rapids, turns out I didnt have much to worry about. The "rapids" were barely waves in the river, the scariest part was almost hitting rocks. But, we had an amazing time! It rained all day so it wasn't hot and actually being in the water was warmer than wet on the boat. Our guide was awesome (and cute!) and we were his first foreign rafters. I'm sure we left a grand impression! We were in the water almost as much as rafting, our guide thought it was really funny to push us in the water or play games which ended with all of us in the water. We also stopped to jump off some rocks. My fear of heights almost got me, but I sucked it up and jumped about 10 feet off a rock! The area that we rafted was beautiful, mountains on all sides and covered in a light fog from the rain. For a minute it almost looked like West Virginia, until a Korean house or temple peeked through. I dont know if this trip prepared me for rapids at home, but I definitely want to give it a try!
Today we are going to see Inception and maybe to the beach tomorrow!

things i miss vs things i love in SK

Things I Miss
A dryer- my clothes are starting to stretch at the neck
A regular shower- i'ts hard to stand in a corner sideways in 8" of space and wash my hair.
Target
People who speak english, not all people, but important people, like the guy cutting sophie's nails and the pharmacist.
Cheese
A soft bed
An oven
Shopping for clothes/shoes. I dont necessarily need anything, it's just that now I dont even have the option. Shoes only go up to a size 8!
A couch. I could buy one but I dont really have space and it's a lot of money to spend.
Having a variety of restaurants to choose from. I mean, there are tons of Korean restaurants, but I don't care for their food. And even sometimes when I point to a picture on the menu, my food comes out looking nothing like what I ordered.
The trunk of my car- carrying more than two big bags of groceries home is next to impossible.
Dirty streets- Changwon is quite dirty, trash gets picked up every day so there are always tons of trash bags lining the streets in the downtown area
Fish smells everywhere

Things I love
NOT DRIVING!! It's so much easier to take a detour or pop in and get a coffee without having to cross traffic and park. And I dont have to pay for gas or insurance or parking.
Coffee shops on every corner
Living in a bubble- I dont overhear any conversations, I dont worry if people are staring at me or laughing at me. I am free to do basically whatever I want in public
Being close to the beach!
Taxis that get me across town for $4
Buses that get me to the next town for $3
Super cheap food- seriously, super cheap.
Having a mountain I can climb about a 1/4 mile from my house
Wide sidewalks perfect for walking Sophie
Fresh fruit and vegetables on every corner
Getting complimentary items when you purchase something. Tonight I bought a beer at dinner and got a small plate of carrots and cucumbers.
Getting away with stuff because I'm a foreigner. Someone can yell in my face for walking in front of their car but I can't understand so I can smile and walk away.
Most Korean kids- they are curious about me and watch carefully everything I do
Meeting other foreigners from all over the world who have traveled all over the world.
Everyday is an adventure!

clever blog title

Beach at Busan

Cooking food outside in an ally where people are walking and shopping. Pretty gross!

Woman sleeping at the beach in Busan.

I haven't written in awhile because I was having trouble with the internet, but it seems to be fixed now. Thursday my school started intensive courses. The classes are 11:30-1 for 19 days. I have a speaking intensive course with 8 lower level students. The class is very intense, the workbook is full of activities and it takes the full 90 minutes to get through a lesson. That doesn't leave much time for games but the kids don't seem to mind too much as long as they get candy! My middle school classes are going much better than the first few weeks so I am happy about that too. I'm still enjoying teaching and I very much like MOST of the children, some are awful, but I guess you'll have that! I am working now 11 am to 10 pm with an hour break and breaks between classes, but it is tiring an it is going to be a long three weeks. Luckily next week we are only working Monday and Tuesday. There's been some talk of going white water rafting next Saturday, I hope it works out!

I received my cell phone bill this week, it was about $40. I went to the store to pay it and they charged me only $18! I'm not sure why, but I didn't complain. I went to buy a few supplies for my kids, some colored pencils and some glue and the guy told me it was 4200 won, but then he looked at me and dropped the price to 3200 won! I guess sometimes it pays to be a foreigner.

I've noticed that older people have no shame in stopping in their tracks to stare at me, it is still quite strange. The kids that stare at me usually at least say hello and ask me where I am from.

Steven, Megan and I went to the beach and did some shopping in Busan on Saturday. The beach was filled to the max with people, most of them in full clothing. We did run across some old ladies buried up to their faces in sand and then a hat on their heads! The picture is above because I cannot figure out how to put pictures in the middle of the text. The first picture shows how crowded the beach is. It's so weird to me that people come to the beach just to sit under an umbrella in full clothing all day. The other picture is the Busan market area. It's just a bunch of allyways with knock-offs and touristy items. But then down one street there are women cooking and serving food. People just pull up a stool and eat, it seems pretty unsanitary to me but lots of people were doing it!

In other news, my dad participated in two events at the Ohio Senior Olympics yesterday and came in first place in both the 100 m and 200 m dash! Congratulations to my dad!!

Weekend

Friday I had to go to the hospital to get blood taken and pee in a cup. I had a mini-anxiety attack and started to cry a bit just because it was a quite informal process and the hospital was dirty, dingy and unsanitary. There was a box full of bloody bandages! It was awful. Hopefully I will never have to visit another hospital here. Friday night I had my first bottle of Soju. Soju is the drink of Korea and it's basically watered down vodka. It's not terrible, but it's not good either. I drank a lot of it and was quite drunk and ended up staying out till about 4 am, but I had no hangover! I think the next time I go out, I will drink Soju again. Saturday we went to Busan to go to the beach. The beach is probably the best place to people watch, I have seen the most ridiculous things. The Koreans don't wear bathing suits (usually). They were all their clothes, shirts, jeans, shoes. But some Koreans wear teeny tiny speedos. And some wear boxers and a top hat. Anyway, we went to this giant department store and I left my phone in the bathroom there. We got on the subway to go home and one stop in I realized I had left it. We had to go back which meant buying more subway tickets, so instead we jumped the turnstiles. I got back to the bathroom, but the phone was gone. I went to ask the information desk but they didnt really understand and I left there with no hope of my phone showing up. Well maybe about 10 minutes after I had left, someone found my phone and called the last person I had called, my co-teacher Steven. Steven ended up having to go all the way to Busan to get my phone for me! It was much more complicated and drawn out, but it's too much to write.
Tonight we went for "bbq" at the New Zealand BBQ place. It was spicy, as is most Korean food, and we were served baked potatoes with whip cream on them! No butter, just whip cream, so weird.

today

Today I felt like a grown up. I don't often feel like a grown up, just an overgrown kid. But today, today I felt it. I think it was being around 14-16 year olds for a few hours. They are so awkward and anti-social and have little confidence. The boys and girls won't even acknowledg each other. It forces me to be loud and outgoing in class. I feared I would be awkward and outwardly uncomfortable in front on the kids, but instead my confidence soared! Who knew I just needed to be in front of them for that fear to fly out the window? So today's a good day, a grown up kind of day.
PS. Sophie still acts like a baby.

Visa run to Japan

Clouds and sunset on the way home, might have been my favorite part of the trip.

Outside a temple in the city.

Giant buddha!

I spent last Monday and Tuesday in Fukouka, Japan getting a new visa. I was nervous about going there by myself, but everything turned out fine. Some nice men on the subway helped me find my stop and I was able to walk to the Korean consulate from the subway. Of course it was closed for lunch when I got there but I met a Canadian who was also waiting so we walked around together for a bit. There wasn't too much to see where we were, just a giant baseball stadium, giant Hilton, shopping, and a great view of the coast and mountains. The guy I met helped me find a hotel downtown, which was fantastic. So I was left to explore. Unfortunately it rained a lot almost all day Monday. I did go out at night and check out the downtown area which was sadly very American. LOTS of shopping, Apple, Eddie Bauer, GAP, it was very disappointing. I did run across one random temple slapped in the middle of a shopping mecca. Noone was there and I couldn't go inside, but I walked the grounds. Japan is incredibly clean, there were tons of people everywhere, but the sidewalks were spotless, Korea is kind of dirty, so that was a nice change. Also, the public transportation is amazing. The buses and subway were fairly easy to navigate once I got the hang of it, and they are cheap too.

Tuesday I got up and went back to the consulate to pick up my visa, thankfully the rain had stopped. My plane wasn't until 7:30, so I decided to get a map and do some exploring. I had read that the biggest wooden buddha was in Fukouka, so that was my mission. I found a big green space on the map that had four temples in what looked to be a giant park! So I set out to find it. It was a disappointing adventure. The temples were NOT in park, but surrounded by giant buidings that hid them. I walked in circles until I finally stumbled upon one. It was deserted so I could only walk the grounds. I continued on to another templed, deserted and locked, another- deserted and locked! I was kind of mad now so I climbed up onto some rocks so I could see over a fence into the gardens at least. and I am pretty sure I did some major trespassing into a private buddhist cemetery. Oh well, I didnt get caught. I was so defeated that started to walk back to the subway to go to the airport early. Just as I was putting away my map, I looked over and saw yet another temple tucked between two giant buildings...could it be, giant buddha?! YES! I finally found it! I ran up the steps and whipped out my camera and got one shot before I was yelled at by the workers, "no pictures!" HA, I got one! It was worth all the frustration, it was amazing. And I am glad I stole a picture, I deserved it!

Japan was ok, but not a place I would ever go again probably. Maybe I would like to visit Tokyo,but it's expensive and I definitely don't like it as much as South Korea. I'm grateful I got a free trip there, but I'm so glad to be home in SK!