A little sea air

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We needed a break. From this city. From "reality", whatever the hell that means. And man, did we get it. It was nice to see Ty. ALways nice to have a little slice of home. But it was a weird trip. A lot of stories I have heard a thousand times suddenly defamiliarized me to where I came from. Are they really that bad? I love Erin, she is amazing. And there's nobody I would have wanted to go on that kind of weird weekend with more than her. But there were moments when I wanted Ty to just stop telling the stories. She doesn't have to know my friends are like that. What will she think of me?
Funny how it was what SHE thought of me that I was the most worried about, and not anyone else on our Busan adventure.

The aquarium is beautiful. Not like Sea World in the 63 building, though there is always a little bit of anger that gets dug up seeing anything of that nature in this country. Animals are not on the top of their consideration list. But there wa a corner of the glass tunnel where I sat for what felt like hours, watching the sharks swimming all around me inches from my skin. I want to get my PADI. That is next on my list...or somewhere on it anyway.

And ligthing fireworks on the beach at five in the morning when none of us thought we would make it past 10 was awesome too. Thankfully, Ty felt a little "generous" and put the fireworks lady's kids through college. Lots of lights...lots of good times. Thankfully too, the rain left us an unbelievable day on SUnday. Nothing like spending the day with your toes n the sand. Might be my ultimate feeling of contentment.

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Photos

Ty and the birds
Ty was the first to suggest that feeding the crazy mob og seagulls with his bare hands was a sane idea

Jeff follwing suit
Why do boys have to do stupid things in groups. Those birds were terrifying. Erin and I literally had to hit the deck...face down in the sand to avoid them colliding right into us

The duo
OK, so if I had the balls I would have gotten in on the action too...

Piranhas
I was hesitant about the Busan Aquarium after our 63 Building experience. As it turns out, the aquarium is beautiful, and a significantly better experience than Seoul- though it is never totally untainted here. They let you pick up and fondle live starfish.

Lantern Fish
The glowing eerie looking fish are actually paintings on the wall. The tank was totally dark, only tiny little floating lights (the ones attached to front of the head of the little guys, like in Finding Nemo) were visible. We had to take a picture with thte flash to see what it was really like in there. Apparently they panit the pictures on the back of the tank to scare the crap out of you when you take a picture- "HOLY CRAP guys, look how cool these fish are....oh....wait....they're not real"

Big Puffy Gold Fish
Thi little guy caused Jeff some serious anxiety. The tank was circular- you could view the fish from any side- but as Jeff tried to keep up with him to get a shot of him head on, the fish continued to swim away. After a few minutes of frustrated chasing around the glass, like a dog after its tail, I think he gave up

Ty and Erin at beer time
We found a little "patio" bar with it's own fresh fish market in which to pass the time while it dumped rain a few feet from our chairs. At first it was kind of romantic to sit outside in the early spring with the waves crashing and the smell of ocean air..but then our fingers started turning purple and our feet went numb. We tried to wait it out, but it was relentless. That walk back to the hotel was not such a pleasant one

Jeff at beer time
I think every picture I have of him is a dramatic profile...

The view from afar
The night before (and by that I mean 5 a.m. the "night" before) we were on that beach, shooting fireworks and freezing our wet asses off in the sand. Wish I had some photo documentation of that...but alas, just the memory

Erin and the hill
Apparently flip flops are not meant for hiking the hills

Happy to be here
Away from the Yellow Dust that is Seoul

Mermaid
Not exactly oriental, but beautiful douced in ocean mist

Garbage Picking
Everyone makes a living somehow

A pondering profile
Ok ok I posed...but Erin made me (lol)

Jeff laughing
Yet another sideways glance