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Published: September 25th 2010
Fountain
Mum - this is the fountain on the way to work!Dear Blog Readers,
…Mafia Man, Casanova, the three engineers and a personal trainer are teaching us Korean under a tarpaulin on the side of the street in Busan whilst Laura, drunk from soju and beer, is being fed somebody else’s fish dipped in some sauce from the woman who has just cooked us it! Joanna, Claire, Laura and I pose the simplest of Korean questions to our new friends, “norrebang?”, which is met with an uproar of approval… So where do I begin from last week’s blog? After our awkward meeting on Friday afternoon, we went out for a drink with Betty and Chris at a local bar. The next sentence would probably send shock waves ringing throughout all the bars and pubs in England since on a Friday night, in this small bar in Boeun, all of the draught beer on tap had ran out! The landlady didn’t seem to fussed and she brought us out some bottles so all was resolved. I can imagine uproar, and potentially, rioting, if such a thing occurred in some of the pubs back at home!
On Saturday, Laura and I had arranged for a day out with our co-teachers Yunhee,
Ice Cream
Ice Cream with the co-teachers - Eun-bi, Yunhee, Sunny and me! Eun-bi and Sunny. Unfortunately, they have to work every other Saturday so we met them just after lunch at school and we drove into Cheongju for some lunch. This continued to more shopping which has resulted in the first (of, what I believe over the course of the year will be, many) catastrophes which is Laura’s purchase of three-quarter length jeggings. Horrendous. I bought some sunglasses and was disappointed to find out that I could buy actual prescription glasses here for about £10 - so maybe I shouldn’t have bloody gone to Specsavers!
We then had a wander around Cheongju and got some ice cream. Yunhee’s new iPhone suddenly began to connect to the network. However, the dedication of the woman for a good time is unbelievable - not even the distraction of a new iPhone stopped her suggesting going to the arcade! And so we did! Korean arcades are a lot busier than the ones at home so we had to queue, yes, queue for a game on Time Crisis - I know what I am about to write will severely disappoint my brothers - but Yunhee and Sunny were unbelievably good at Time Crisis and put me to
shame! Sunny nearly completed it in one go! We then went around the corner and in the same arcade were individual norrebang booths! And we had to queue to get into one of these too! Having squeezed into one of them, we were treated to the crucification of Wonderwall, One Night Only, and a really catchy Korean song called Sweet Little Kitty or something (that was the only English in the entire song!). After such frivolities, only a drink at a bar will suffice with some Korean style nachos before heading home after a great day out!
We had a chilled out day on Sunday and did a bit of shopping in Boeun after a lazy morning. In the evening, we risked going out for some food with Betty, Chris and Angela in Boeun. Chris’s Korean culinary knowledge has been brilliant whilst we’ve been here and every food he has suggested has been great so we were treated to another superb dish at a local restaurant. The heaven’s opened and we had forgotten our umbrellas but luckily we were able to borrow one for the way home. Hopefully this was the last of the tropical weather that has plagued
Norrebang
Laura not taking the norrebang too seriously this time... the country over the past month as the weather since has been beautifully sunny with clear blue skies!
On Monday I teach at Wonnam. The student who normally gets the bus with me wasn’t there so I had to brave getting the bus on my own! Luckily everything went smoothly and my lessons were fine. My co-teacher, Jinny, had brought her 13 year old son into the school because his school was closed for Chuseok. He recovered from the socially suicidal event and even attended my English class! His English was impressive and the lessons went down well, and to top it off, the school closed at lunchtime for Chuseok!
Chuseok is a national holiday in Korea and it is like a harvest festival but also focuses on the family and remembering ancestors. This year, it fell on Wednesday 22nd September and each day either side of Chuseok is also a holiday. Consequently, many schools, ours included, had Friday off as well. Many Koreans travel to their hometowns - often in the countryside - to spend time with their families and friends. It is one of the only times of the year where separated families from the North
Arcade
Busting some moves on Time Crisis and South of Korea are allowed to see each other. We were warned how roads are blocked with traffic with people moving and travelling to their hometowns but we decided to brave the traffic and booked a hotel in Busan for the Chuseok holiday.
We left early on Tuesday to get to Daejeon to get a connecting bus down to Busan. The bus from Daejeon to Busan normally takes just over 3hrs - however, accounting for the “phenomenal traffic delays” and “gridlocked Seoul to Busan - could take all day to travel”, we thought 6 hours would be a reasonable travel time expectation. You can imagine our surprise when we arrived at our destination in 2hrs45mins - 15 minutes earlier than it would normally take! We were also surprised at the quality of our ‘love motel’! These motels are basically for students to take their girlfriends too - it is not uncommon for Koreans to stay with their parents until they are around 30. They are incredibly cheap, clean and the facilities are great - each room has a huge TV and bed - take a look at the photos!
On Wednesday, we met up with our friends
from the EPIK Orientation - Claire and Joanna - at Hundae beach. Unfortunately, the weather was against us and it was chucking it down with rain - there was only one place we could go under such circumstances - the aquarium. The Busan Acquarium was great - it contained all the things you would naturally expect at such an establishment - fish and water. It included the nation’s longest underwater tunnel and we also experienced a Korean 3D ride! At the one in the Science Museum in London, the so-called “ride” basically tilts you up and down at a snail’s pace and the ‘third dimension’ effect of the ride is negligible. However, in Korea, we were subjected to violent shaking and the most unbelievable 3D effects - I even needed to hold on to the side to stop myself falling over the side - we were about 5m off the ground too!
After the Acquarium, we went to a really good restaurant before getting the subway back to Seomyeon which is where Laura and I were staying. We stopped off at a café before going to a
pojang-macha. This literally means covered wagon and it is a food and
Le Cirque
Great t-shirt + incorrect French grammar = no purchase. drinks cart covered in tarpaulin surrounded by benches where people come and go for food and drink and talking to the locals or the women who run their stall. Our stall owner was a woman full of character and would do impressions of each of the things we were about to eat so we knew what they were! A Korean couple came and joined us whilst we were mid-way through our second course before a group of lads came at the end. We had some great banter and chatted - they insisted one of them was part of the Mafia and one of them was a Casanova. We then went to norrebang with them after we’d finished eating and they were so kind that they even paid for it! The generosity of the people here is overwhelming and it was a really great night to finish off our very own Chuseok!
What better than to spend the morning after at the World’s Largest Department Store, and specifically, the largest spa in Asia. This was our first spa experience and it was amazing! We had foot baths, sauna rooms, ice rooms, and ultimately, the baths themselves. In Korean spas, it
is unusual not to be completely naked in the baths! So we strutted our stuff and had the most bizarre experience ever. I was sat chatting to old Koreans whilst having a shave and skipping from the 80 degree Finnish sauna to the 20 degree ice bath followed by getting drenched by a cold shower which consisted of an old bucket and a piece of rope that you pulled on when you were under it. It was brilliant! Laura, Joanna and Claire certainly became much more acquainted friends after the experience! We then had a delicious beef stew lunch called Sogogi-gook-bob and then we went to the Hundae beach. Joanna met one of her high school friends who they haven’t seen for 8 years so they had plenty of catching up to do!
On Friday we had a lazy morning and said bye to Joanna and Claire before going to Downtown Busan where we scaled to the top of Busan Tower and overlooked to the city. It wasn’t too busy and the views were spectacular. We caught the bus back to Daejeon and stayed in another classy love motel for only £20 for the night! Bargain!
We are
now in the process of buying a new lamp, and potentially, a keyboard for the flat! A day full of lesson plans awaits us!
Tink and Laura
PS: Last week’s title was, “I am from England!”
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Tink's mum
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Water features
Thanks for the photo of the local fountain! The spa sounds fantastic! I'm very envious!