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Published: August 26th 2012
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Dunkin Donuts
Korean style. At Seoul train station in South Korea. #banana doughnut I'm in South Korea for another six months, so I'm excited to tell you all about the crazy (and surprisingly normal) things I've experienced while living here as an English teacher from America.
Recently, you may have heard that my BFF, Brooke, came all the way from Albuquerque, NM to see me in South Korea! It was interesting to see all of her reactions to some of the same things that were once new to me.
We missed the train back to my apartment, so we stayed in Seoul the very first night she was here. She got to check out the crazy-complex (yet, usable) subway system and found, to her great relief, that there are Dunkin Donuts' everwhere! She had one banana-shaped doughnut that tasted like green apple! I prefer the red bean paste, myself ^^
The next day, she came with me to school. My students were so shy, but they definitely opened up toward the end of class. lol After the horrors of teaching, we headed to Daegu for some therapeutic shopping. Brooke fell in love with all of the super-cute boutiques that line the subway station. Hundreds of decently-priced and fashion-forward shoes and clothes
Noraebang (karaoke)
with *makgeolli* (Korean liquor) to choose from! lol I should become a spokesperson for them or something. Daegu, you owe me money!
And on that note... the next day, we headed to Busan - the city by the sea. It was amazing! We sang karaoke in a noraebang (Korean-style singing room), drank berry-flavored makgeolli (Korean liquor), got Thai massages, went swimming/sun-bathing on Busan's most popular beach, and ate samgyeopsal (three-layered pork) for dinner. My fellow teachers and friends, CJ and Mai, came, too!
The only downside was that the hostel I picked didn't have air conditioning. The website said it did! It was in the high 80s and 90s all weekend, and the humidity was above 90%. Needless to say, while we were walking around Busan, it felt like a real sauna. So, we slept in a small room with 8 people and no air conditioner, no windows open (it was hard to open them, and they only opened a crack), and a couple of small fans that didn't help anything. I was pissed, but hostelworld said that "facilities air conditioned" doesn't necessarily mean that the *room* will be. Never using that website again!
Anyway, the hostel owner was super nice,
despite my being snappy because I was hot and tired. She walked us to the restaurant where we had samgyeopsal (so we wouldn't get lost), and she let Brooke, Mai and myself upgrade to a room with A/C for the next night, though poor CJ had to endure a night. The Thai massage more than balanced out that one bad part of the trip, though, so I'm still in love with Busan right now. Brooke got the cutest Snoopy towel on the beach, CJ and Mai dived right in the water, and I dug my toes in the sand and soaked up some rays.
On the way back home to Yeongcheon, Brooke and I stopped in GyeongJu to meet the music teacher from my school. Gyeongju is the former capitol of the Shilla empire, so it's filled with history and is even called an outdoor museum. Our school's music teacher lives there, so she invited us to her home. We ate some watermelon (which was a real treat, because watermelons run like $20 here!), then went hiking in a nearby national park. It was a two-hour hike! We saw some awesome Buddha statues, though, one of which is well-preserved
Granny Buddha
at Gyeongju National Park. at a whopping 1500 years old (known as the "Granny Buddha").
Brooke also learned that people used to be buried in above-ground tombs that look like large mounds. We saw quite a few of them on our hike. After hiking, we powered up with some delicious duck bulgogi and bimbimbap. Well, I thought it was delicious. Hey, seaweed isn't for everyone. As always, I struggled to properly hold the heavy, flat, iron Korean chopsticks, and the music teacher attempted (without much success) to help.
On Monday, we went to Seoul! Adam, our friend from Trinity U., met up with us on the train there. We had beef bulgogi with onions for dinner, and did a little more shopping at the street boutiques. Adam headed out, and we got our nails did. It wasn't the best salon I've ever been to (had to argue just to pick out my own color), but live and learn! lol #FirstWorldProblems On a positive note, we did find cocktails in a bag! We sipped and shopped for a while before we headed to the night markets in Dongdaemun for even more shopping lol
Tuesday, we went to a Korean musical named NANTA.
Where the King Slept
with four women around him. At Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, South Korea. It's pretty famous, and we found out why! The performers do crazy things like throw food at the audience, and perform traditional Korean-style music under the guise of cooking. Knives became drumsticks, and it was pretty funny, to boot. Afterward, we met up with another Trinity friend, Hailey! She found a great beef bulgogi place (where we got to cook the food on our own). We did a little catching up over coffee after, and then we all headed out.
We woke up "early" (ie. before noon) on Brooke's last day here so we could go to Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul. It was awesome! There were people dressed up like gate guardians (they guard the entrance to temples), and we learned a little about Korean history from a tour guide. Brooke's reaction to, "This is where the king slept. Four women slept in the rooms around him" was, "Why can't it ever be a woman with four men sleeping around her?" lol Love this girl!
We walked around and took pictures until it was time to meet her friend, Melanie, in Itaewon for lunch. We had Thai and shared stories about our experiences living here. It was great
Gate Guard
At Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, South Korea to meet a new English-speaker who lives here lol
Then, I dropped Brooke off at the airport where we ran around trying to find where she could check in. Incheon airport can be a bit confusing, and it is massive, but we figured it out and she caught her plane *whew* I had a hot dog for dinner (there are hotdog places everwhere here!), and then caught the midnight train home.
That was my amazing week with Brooke in a nutshell. It's nice to share my experiences again, so I just may go back into blogging mode this summer ^_^
P.S. Scroll down to check out the rest of the pictures from this awesome Korean road trip!
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