Back to Busan

Hi! This past Friday was Buddha's Birthday, which meant that we didn't have school. Of course my friends and I (and apparently every other foreigner in Korea) decided to turn our 3-day weekend into a mini spring break vacay.

Thursday night Sara, Anna, Rebecca, and I jumped on the 9:20 KTX to Busan. We arrived around midnight, and cabbed over to Haeundae Beach. We went to the love motel we stayed at during our initial visit and rented out a cheap room for the night. The night was still young, so we went out to a bar we must've made quite an impression at on our first visit, because Sara and Rebecca's picture is still on the wall and they remembered us and bought us drinks.

Friday morning we checked out and dragged all of our stuff to the beach to meet up with John and Q. And wow...the beach was exactly like spring break. It felt like Panama City, only we were missing a Wisco flag, red cups, and fake IDs. It was a beautiful day and the beach was packed with vacationing weigooks (Korean word for foreigners). I wish I could have understood the Korean conversations around me, they must have been so confused. Wanting a tan? Playing football? And volleyball? Blaring music? In a way though, I think it was a good thing. I feel like when Koreans see weigooks in isolation, they think we are so bizarre...but seeing huge groups of us all together, they can see that the way we act, talk, and dress is our normal.

Haeundae Beach

We checked into our hotel (the amazing Novotel right on the beach!) at 2, and then went to lunch. We went to TGI Fridays...nothing special but it was the first time I've had it since I left America last year, and I was pretty excited. After lunch we went back to the beach until the sunset and then went up to our room to get ready for the night. We went out to a bar to meet up with some friends, and then to the club that was in the downstairs part of our hotel. It was so much fun, but we got tired early (relatively speaking) and were in our hotel by 2am. We're getting old, I know.

Lunchtime view of Haeundae Beach

Novotel on Haeundae

Anna, Reebs, Sara, and me watching the sunset on Haeundae

Hotel view

Saturday we woke up to lots of rain...we were so disappointed because we wanted another good beach day, but no such luck. We went to a lunch/brunch buffet across from our hotel, and then chilled in our hotel room for most of the day. After grabbing dinner, we got ready for our last night out. We went to one bar that was FULL of foreigners and was totally out of control...girls slut dancing on the pool tables, boys swinging from the ceiling with their shirts off...it felt like home and it was awesome. After that we went to a club that was a little bit more low key which was a great way to end the night.

Me and Rebecca enjoying the hotel on our rainy day

Sara, Q, John, and me at Rock 'n' Roll Bar

U2 Bar with Sara

Sunday we had bought tickets to leave on a 2pm train because we wanted extra beach time, but of course it was still POURING rain outside...so I called the front desk to ask for a late check out. By the time we cleaned up the room which we successfully trashed (we do it to every hotel somehow), it was time to leave for the train station. We had tickets in first class for our return trip because the regular class was sold out. The extra money was definitely worth it because we each had tons of space to ourselves. We were definitely in recovery after we had been three-day weekend warriors. There was a little girl sitting in the seat in front of me, maybe 2 or 3 years old. She kept running back to my seat to say hello and give me candy (only to take it all back 15 seconds later). She was sooo adorable. We arrived at Seoul Station at 5, ate dinner quick, and then went our separate ways. It was such a great getaway and EVERYONE was there, so it was even more memorable.

This week is a full week of work...standard usual business. North Korea is starting to get a little crazy. I'm not convinced that tensions will rise to the point of a full-scale war, although we should all be careful not to forget that the two countries are technically, legally, still at war with each other. The US has of course pledged to support SK and I think that will be a huge deterrent for the North when it comes to any sort of a military action. South Korea is imposing economic sanctions, and restricting trade. With North Korea having such scarce resources, I definitely think it will have a negative impact on them, but I do also worry about how they will react. South Korea is also considering putting up Cold War-style propaganda speakers along the DMZ, and the North says they will shoot the speakers down, to which the soldiers in the South have been instructed to retaliate. I think for most of us, its just business as usual around here...but I have to admit that it does make me a little nervous living so close to the danger zone. These rising tensions, though, have happened in the past and I think its just part of the roller coaster relationship on this divided peninsula. In the meantime, I've registered with the US Embassy here so if anything major does go down...they'll be sure to contact me and get me out of here right away. Hopefully things will cool down soon.

Bangkok has been a hotspot lately for conflict as well. I think the media has blown it out of proportion quite a bit, but things did get pretty bad there for awhile. I've been asked a lot about what exactly the conflict is over. To be honest I don't know much, but my general knowledge (which I hope is correct??) is that several years ago the military staged a coup, and ousted the Prime Minister. People in his party won the subsequent elections, but it was found they committed election fraud. They then declared the current Prime Minister to be the winner, and red shirts have been opposed ever since. They want new elections and have been demonstrating, and protesting and it has turned violent. It makes me sad to see such a great city with such wonderful people going through such a difficult time. I hope that once things are settled there, it won't deter people from continuing to visit. The islands are safe, though, since the protesting and violence is all in the government centered areas in Bangkok.

This weekend should be (hopefully) pretty low key, since we don't have any holidays or major plans. Weather is looking good though, so I'm sure we'll find something entertaining to do. Here's your K-Pop song for the week. Here is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Hyori Lee. It sort of feels like a strange combination of all of Lady Gaga's videos, but the song is still fun. That's all for now...bye!

"I like it in the city when two worlds collide. You get the people and the government, everybody taking different sides. Shows that we ain't gonna stand shit, shows that we are united, shows that we ain't gonna take it. Memories are fresh. The people I've met are the wonders of my world." -- Adele, "Hometown Glory"