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Published: December 21st 2008
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4th place, not so bad!
4/5ths of the Wondergirls, our prize winning costume! It's been about 3 1/2 months since I moved to South Korea and I think it's safe to say that I've gotten over the "oooh-ing and ahhh-ing" phase. As winter approaches (there were actually about 5 miniscule snowflakes blowing around on Friday and it caused quite a commotion as all the kids were drawn to the windows) things have finally settled down a bit. I hope this entry serves as a sort of snapshot of my life in Busan.
Halloween was an interesting occasion because Koreans, of course, don't celebrate (though the kids wish they did!) A few friends and I decided that the most appropriate thing to do would be to dress as "the Wondergirls," a hugely popular Korean girl group that song both the "So Hot" song and "Nobody," the latter being the song that inspired my nickname from my students. After buying the black wigs, neon pink tights that will never again be worn, and giant pink shades (which will be worn again) we set out for the PNU area (near the Pusan Nat'l Univ. campus) where there are many Westerner-friendly bars to sponsor things like pub crawls and in this case, a Halloween costume contest. First
There goes the sun...
Winter sunset over the East Sea prize being a ticket to Thailand, we couldn't refuse, so we struck our best Wondergirls pose and hoped for the best. As fate would have it, a month later we took 4th prize which entitled us to a keg party at the bar of our choosing. It was truly a miracle that that little keg provided cold Korean Cass for more than 30 people on a cold December night!
I've also been busy planning my winter vacations which with the unpredictable Thailand situation, was no easy task. After booking a couple flights and the hotel rooms, I had a small panic attack when I learned that one and then both of the Bangkok airports had been closed due to protesters. I anxiously monitored the situation, checking MSN and CNN multiple times a day for the latest updates and just as I was ready to cancel my trip, this past Thursday the protesters vacated the airports after the Prime Minister stepped down. Over 100,000 tourists had been stranded in the airports for a week since all flights in and out had been canceled. Luckily, things are back on track for Thailand and I am getting more and more excited as
Merry Christmas!
Bringing Christmas to Busan! we get closer to the holidays! Beijing for Chinese New Year's will be amazing but China brings an entirely different set of issues with it, namely visas.
Thanksgiving in Korea was also an experience! Turkey is a completely foreign food to the people here, I discovered after a quick survey of my co-workers. The only turkey available was in a Costco in a city an hour away by bus and cost the U.S. equivalent of $50. Even if we were able to get to the bird, there is the other problem that most people here don't have ovens. When I first moved here and noticed there was no oven in my apartment, I asked my co-teacher what would happen if I needed to bake something. "Like what?" she responded. When I mentioned that I my want to bake cookies during the holidays for example, she told me Koreans don't bake. When I asked what they did if they wanted chocolate chip cookies, she told me they buy them at the store. O.K. So you can see the challenges facing us here when it comes time for Turkey Day. Instead, I decided to have a potluck at my apartment since
This little piggy went to market!
Glad I saw this AFTER I ate lunch here! I was feeling particularly festive after putting up my Christmas tree and putting together a Holiday compilation on my iPod. As you might expect, rarely do things go to plan and we ended up having wine, mashed potatoes, pecan pie, banana nut bread, and...pizza! It's sad but true! I spent my first Thanksgiving without turkey but at least it was spent in a cozy apartment with good music and good company! Since somehow I was still not feeling completely in the holiday spirit (can't imagine why?) I decided to deck the halls so to speak, and made several trips to the store to purchase everything from more Christmas lights to string around the pad, to garland, faux snow, tinsel, Santa doorknob hangers, and "Merry Christmas" sign for the door, and even a snowman platter to display the cinnamon candles and the candy dish! I have now officially taken up residence in the North Pole! I love coming home to light the tree and listen to Dean Martin sing about cold winter nights...I've brought the holidays to Busan!
I'm trying to still get out to see the Korean sights but lately it has been difficult as we've all settled in
Busan does Christmas!
Nampo-dong lights up! and are trying to prepare for Christmas. I did have one noteworthy experience when my co-teacher and I went out to lunch one day after observing a class at another school. She took me to this soup restaurant in a market and I'm glad I was with someone who knew what to order. This was the kind of place that if I'd wandered in on my own, I would have had to guess at what to order. Well, I had the tastiest pork and rice soup, a little spicy but delicious! The interesting thing was as we were leaving I waited outside where the restaurant also had a little storefront so passersby could buy pig products. By now I'm used to seeing pig feet on display and the black mystery sausages are a pretty familiar sight too but what I was not prepared for was the tray of pig faces! Not heads but the actual faces withthe snouts ad teeth were sitting right there on display! I was shocked! I tried to imagine what the possible use for these could be? Soup maybe? When my co-teacher came out I asked her and she explained that when new stores or buisness
Winter in Taejongdae
Among the pebbles on the beach... open, they often buy pig faces and place them on the ground and they all pray for good luck and prosperity for their new buisness. Now this is the most surprising part...people then stick money into the pig's nose! She said it was just a tradition, but I'd be scared to even touch a dead pig face let alone stick money up it's nose! Kind of makes you wonder where the money you have in your wallet has been!
Christmas shopping wasn't quite the same without snow and lights but I did stop into a few Western shops just to hear some Christmas jingles playing on the overhead speakers. At one point, as I was picking out gifts in a tiny shop down a little alley, I looked up to see Jesse Jackson Jr. speaking about the Rod Blagojevich situation on the little t.v. that had been fastened up in the corner so the shopkeeper had some company. He was really paying any attention to the story but I couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that here I was, completely on the other side of the world, in a itsy-bitsy shop down a dark Busan alley and I couldn't escape the news from back home! I did get to make another trip over to the cliffs at Taejongdae and it was nice because this time I walked up to the top of the light house and also walked down to the pebble beach, something I'd not done on my previous visit. I think I've found my new "secret" spot in Busan...kind of funny how all of my "secret" spots involve the water. Due to even more complications with the Thailand trip, I will now be spending Christmas on an airplane but my next entry should be from Thailand! I wish everyone back home a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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chicken
non-member comment
you have a nose for money!
hey peep, thanks for the always entertaining blog update! oops, i just realized that my comment title implied that i was calling you a pig...! far from it, peep!! good photos: i love the one of all the holiday light in downtown busan. plus, you sure have a lot of presents under your tree: you must have been an especially good girl this year...! ;-) ~ciao4niao, chicken