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Published: March 30th 2011
Busan
My good friend Bryan who came down from Seoul.The past few months have been full of exciting weekends! There really is never a dull day living in Korea, but these weekends have been especially fun!!
The first exciting weekend was October 22-24 when I headed to Busan for the International Fireworks Festival. It was a best of both worlds experience for me, because my good friends Bryan and Jason came down from Seoul to meet me and my Geojedo friends came up on Saturday, so I got to hangout with all of my good friends. Saturday was the day of the event, so we headed to Gwangali Beach in Busan, where the fireworks were being held. Now, first of all, 4th of July is my favorite holiday because I love fireworks, so I was excited for this display to say the least. I always make sure to head to as many fireworks shows as possible each July when I'm in the states, but this fireworks show blew them all away! It was a full hour and a half of non-stop, full force fireworks. At one point, my favorite part, they sent up fireworks that were in the shape of a bird and these birds flew all around the
Busan
Colorful fireworks! rest of the fireworks that were going off. Then, all of a sudden the birds turned bright, fire engine red and began to emit a trail of white sparkles as they flew through the sky. They eventually faded in color and blew up!! They must've flown around for a good 5 minutes before blowing up into a firework. It was one of the coolest things I've seen in a very long time! After the fireworks ended, we made our way to a bar called Thursday Party and enjoyed the rest of our evening in the big city. It was an amazing fireworks show with great friends and a weekend to be well remembered!
The next weekend was Halloween!! My friend Marlize organized a big Halloween scavenger hunt for everyone who wanted to attend on Geoje. Now, I don't consider myself a naturally crafty person, but my costume turned out amazing! I decided to go as a jellyfish. With the simple combination of a clear umbrella, red shiny streamers, red glow sticks, tons of packing tape and a vibrating toothbrush for a stinger, I was off! The scavenger hunt was a blast. We had about 8 groups with 8-10 people
Busan
Crazy amount of fireworks!! in them each and it was a race to both complete all of our tasks properly and get to the bar first. Our group had a little too much fun, forgetting about the race. I believe we got to the bar 3rd, but forgot to tell them we'd arrived and didn't get a number, leaving us in 5th! But it was all in good fun and we had a big night out with lots of creative costumes all around. Post Halloween, we had a vote for best costume and my jellyfish won!! We'd all thrown in about $5 for the event, so my prize was a $50 gift certificate to our local mall, for lack of a better description. Anyway, I spent it all on food!
Two weeks later and it was time for a trip to the DMZ! Korea is the only divided country in the world. After the Korean War (June 1950 – July 1953), South Korea and North Korea established a border that cut the Korean peninsula roughly in half. Stretching for 2km on either side of this border is the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The Demilitarized Zone runs 155 miles across the Korean Peninsula from East
Busan
Geojedo friends: Ciara, Claire and Alex to West. Despite the fact that this is the most heavily armed border in the world, it is extremely rare that any hostilities take place here, as the DMZ is a buffer zone ceasing all military and hostile actions. The DMZ is a huge tourist attraction and an experience I did not want to miss while living in South Korea. A group of us Geoje Islanders headed up to Seoul on Friday night after work and stayed at a little hostel in the city, ready to wake early for our day at the DMZ.
We headed to our meeting spot, boarded a bus and began heading North along a highway lined with barbed wire. First, we went to Imjingak or the Freedom Bridge. Imjingak is located just 7kms from the Military Demarcation Line and was used to exchange prisoners after the Korean war. Mangbaedan, which stands opposite of Imjingak, is famous as the place where defected North Koreans visit and perform ancestral rites by bowing toward their homeland every New Years Day and Chuseok (Thanksgiving). In front of Imjingak, is the Gyeongui Train Line, which connects the two Koreas and was destroyed during the Korean Conflict in 1950. It
Halloween
My scavenger hunt group! has been under construction since 2000.
Next, we headed to the Military Demarcation Line, which runs through the middle of the Demilitarized Zone or DMZ. Things got very strict at this point, with rules about when it was okay to take photos, point at things and even talk. We were instructed to make no attempt at communication with North Korean soldiers, as a wave could be taken as drawing a weapon and be returned with gunfire and something as simple as a smile could be twisted into some sort of propaganda. We made our way to Panmunjom, which is the 'truce village' that straddles the border of North and South Korea, in the middle of the DMZ and the place that communication between the two Koreas takes place. We had the opportunity to enter a tiny powder blue building, in the middle of which there is a long table, with a line of microphones running down the middle, denoting the North and South borderline. So, in this little one story building, I was able to cross the internationally recognized borderline into North Korea! It was an odd and interesting feeling. We took some photos, during the quick 5-minute photo
Halloween
Jellyfish! taking session we were allotted, then filed back out to the South Korean side. Our guide told us stories of North Koreans who take a similar tour and a few who have made a break for it, trying to reach the South Korean side and, believe it or not, vice versa.
With my camera on full zoom, I snapped some photos of a very young looking North Korean soldier standing guard on the opposite side of the courtyard, then headed back to the bus for the remainder of our tour, which led us past the "Bridge of No Return" and then on to the tourist shop of course! It was an eerie and sad, yet intriguing day and well worth the visit.
Our tour bus returned us to Seoul, where I unloaded some of my stuff on my friends, who were headed back to the hostel, then made my way to the subway station to head to a nearby concert hall, where I had discovered the band, The Flaming Lips, were putting on a show. It was nearing 7pm by this time and I was moving as fast as I could to get to the venue, in hopes
Halloween
Beneath the tentacles! of tickets still being available. I made it there with time to spare and got a ticket no problem, then met up with a friend of a friend. My Geojedo friend, Marlize, had a friend going to the concert, Jane. So, I'd never met Jane before, but it's always good to have a concert buddy anyway. We found each other quickly, bought some concert beers and headed in. The show was AMAZING!! They put on a show for all the senses and I am so happy that I splurged and went. Afterwards, Jane, a few of her friends and I headed back to another area of Seoul to meet up with all of my Geojedo buddies for a night out on the town. My weekend in Seoul was packed and I had an amazing trip to say the least!
One week later and it was time for Thanksgiving. It is always weird celebrating holidays away from home, because holidays are about family. Luckily for me, I have a home away from home and a family away from family here in Korea. My good friends Holly and Ryan organized a big pot luck dinner for all of our friends. We
DMZ
Mangbaedan had an immense amount of food and an array of traditions brought together under one little Korean apartment roof. The best part was that a few of my friends were aware of my love of Cranberry sauce and despite looking everywhere, we couldn't find any, but then my friend Candice whipped up some homemade cranberry sauce!!! Then, another friend ended up coming across a can of it, so my Thanksgiving away from home was as complete as could be, plus I had lots of leftovers!!
The next celebration came the first weekend in December, when we gathered for a Murder Mystery Dinner party in celebration of Hanukkah. My character, Felicity Dwyer, was a valley girl from California who believed everyone else was there to serve her and if they weren't as high fashion as she was, then they were not worth her time! I re-watched the movie, Clueless, in preparation, donned some knee-highs, a short skirt and loads of makeup, then with nose in the air, entered the party in character. It was an amazing evening of drama, fried food, a menorah lighting ceremony, murder and needless to say, interesting interactions!! I wasn't the murderer and I didn't guess
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For peace and unification... correctly who was, but I had a great time trying!!
The past few months were busy with a whirlwind of exciting weekends and Christmas is still to come!
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I LOVED your blog Kailie , It looks like your 4 Mo. behind. To much time in the water, you know I'm very proud of the things your doing, even though I worry about you. Be safe, I love you, Dad