Everland

Last weekend (and by that I mean 2 weekends ago) I went to see Jeff. He just got back from the States and I had Monday off for Korean liberation day. I got up super early and made it to the bus station at 6:01 for the 6:10 bus. Unfortunately, the bus left at 6:00 and I had to wait until the 7:00 bus. That sucked. Luckily I had an Ipod and my Nook.

When Jeff picked me up it started to rain. We decided to run back by his house and drop off my stuff. Then we went to look at some furniture in a warehouse because Jeff wanted to buy a really nice marble topped bar. We had to follow this really nice couple to their warehouse in the middle of nowhere. We walked around and looked at some of the other furniture which was cool, but Jeff didn't really want an entire Asian theme for his future house. They did have a lovely rocking chair, but it seemed expensive. They also had some really cool stackable shelf things. He bought the bar and they are fixing it and restaining a part of the top, so he should get it next week I think. It's fun driving around with Jeff usually, but when it rains in the summer it kind of sucks because the Galloper doesn't have a/c so you either sweat or get rained on.

After picking out the bar, we decided to go to Everland. It's a large amusement park in Suwon (about 45 minutes from Jeff's house). A co-worker of Jeff's had just been there and was telling him about the animal park part of it, so that's what made us excited about the trip. When we got there it took us a bit to figure out where to park, then we took a shuttle bus to the main entrance. We got there around 4 and the park closed at 11 I think.

Every few months they change the "theme" of the park. In summer it's "Summer Splash". We opted not to go on the ride that could get us wet. This is also weird since they have a sister park next door that's a water park called Caribean Bay.

I was the only person over the age of 5 to wait in line to have my picture taken with this bear. Worth it.

We headed to the animal section first. To get there, we took a ski lift/cable car called "Human Sky". Then we walked around the animal section and saw a bunch of different ones. First, you get to 2 polar bears who were swimming in a pool. I had never seen polar bears swim before, so it was pretty neat. Also one of them just walked along the bottom of the pond.

Here's the human sky. The Korean safety standards on this made us a bit nervous about future rides, although not enough to prevent us from going on them.

Then we saw some lions and a tiger just lounging. Next we went to a small anmals section with kangaroos and squirrels and other random animals. Then we went on a safari ride. This was the ride Jeff's co-worker was telling us about. You get in a big bus and they drive you through some different "African" animal areas. First, you drive through lions. I think they said there were around 12 lions. They just chill on the side of the road as you drive past. Then you see giraffes, camels, zebras and one elephant who was doing a crazy dance thing (it wasn't told to do it, it was just acting weird). Then you go back out through white tigers and a liger. Last you drive through some different kinds of bears. There were lots of bears. The bears are slightly trained and when the bus stops, they stand up and wave or clap or something and get cookies thrown at them. We were in the back of the bus, so we couldn't see that very well, but you could still see it ok. There was an optional ride where you can take a jeep through that same area, but you get out to feed the giraffes and you get closer to all the animals and can feed the lions with tongs (maybe). It cost and extra $150 dollars though, so we decided not to do it.

Lions just chilling

The buses looked like tigers. Ours was orange, but they also had some white ones.

Giraffes eating. One of their giraffes is on its way to breaking a world record. Not sure what's the record is for, but they asked us to support him in his endeavor.

White tigers

Bear standing and waiting for treats. I never really noticed until this year that bears' feet are flat when they stand. They couldn't join the army unless they got a waiver.

For some reason, as you keep walking though the animal "land" it randomly turns into a German/Alpine theme. There are some cafes and an arcade in this area, then you get to the T-express - a wooden rollercoaster. It was a pretty decent ride and one of the best rollercoasters I've been on - lots of bumps and steep parts. Then we walked back out through the animal area again and went to Monkey Valley.

It was a whole monkey village with all kinds of different monkeys. Jeff and I probably spent close to an hour there looking at all of them and laughing. There were swimming moneys from Japan (I think) which were awesome. And these orange monkeys that did flips for treats. They also had an orangutan mom and baby which were super cute - how people can't believe in evolution after watching them baffles me. Then we saw a chimp, who made friends with Jeff. It was actually pretty amazing. The big male chimp saw Jeff walk over, he got up from his little hammock and walked right in front of him and sat down on a stump. Then Jeff made faces at him and he made faces back.

Baby orangutan. Cutest thing. He (she?) just kept grabbing its mom's hand/foot and trying to climb on her

Jeff testing his strength. This was one of the few times he let me take his picture. I've mentioned this before, but this was a time I wish Holly was with us because they had all kinds of weird statues around the park for photo oppurtunities and Holly would have sat on everyone. Jeff, on the other hand? None. He let me take his picture with a picture of a monkey.

Golden monkeys. The "dad" is the big one. I think the "mom" is the one facing us and look how cute that baby is! There were 5 in the pen and one of the others did flips for treats. The mom here stood on a log for some bananas, but no flips.

Jeff's bff making faces

We left the animals and went over to the rides section. For some reason, only the T-express is in a seperate area. You have to walk a little ways to get to all the other rides, but they are basically in the same spot. They had some pretty decent rides, inlcuding the Hurricane, which is like a pirate ship ride that swings back and forth, but also spins in a circle and a big swing thing that flips upside down and rotates so it feels like you might crash into the ground. Their upside rollercoaster was a bit of a disappointment though. We rode all the rides except for the ferris wheel and merry-go-round. Then we tried to find something to eat for dinner, but there weren't any good places (they had like 7 restaurants) open, so I got a hot dog and we decided to go to a place near Jeff's house for dinner.

I forgot to mention that a seperate "goal" of Jeff's was to stop at just about every snack stand and order something. He wanted to "eat his way through the park". He had churros (actually pretty decent, I had one too), a chicken kebab thing, an ice cream cone (which was weird because he usually doesn't eat those), a pizza roll and a drink. I had bites of all but the chicken which annoyed Jeff because he told me to just get my own. But I only wanted a bite (so he let me).

The place we had dinner was a combo Korean and Italian restaurant. It wasn't "fusion" because they didn't do any combo things, they just had Korean food and Italian food. The place also has a giant hockey player in front of it. In case you weren't sure what the store was, they put him out there to clear up the confusion. Because nothing says "Italian food" like a hockey player.

Then we got home and skyped Holly, Ann and Stacey (and sort of my mom - she had issues with skype and her phone, although it has worked in the past). They wanted to be online with me while I opened a scrapbook they made from the beach. It was really sweet of them and I liked looking at all pictures.

Then Jeff and I watched/listened to stories and went to sleep. We really didn't do anything on Sunday except Jeff made baked ziti and I did laundry. Jeff had to go to Seoul on Sunday night, so I stayed at his place alone and cleaned a bit and took a bath - first one in 6 months! I had to walk for like 20 minutes dragging my bag on Monday to find a cab to take me to the bus station, but I eventually found one. The trip home was easy and I'm getting the hang of how to get to Jeff's place just in time for him to leave.

July Round Up (well and part of August)

I haven't really done anything super spectacular lately to deserve it's own post, which is part of the reason you haven't been getting any (although yes, I still need to do a Seoul one and one for mudfest - still waiting on pictures for that one). So here are some things that I've done in the last few weeks that weren't really interesting enough to get their own post:

The Jinju Musical Fountain:
There is a fountain pretty close to me that does a colored light show with music. It's pretty cheesy, but it looks really nice and I've been trying to see it for awhile but the hours and days keep changing for some reason. It just to run all summer, then only weekends and now I think it's only on Sunday at 8pm. So here are a couple of pictures and a short video. They had a mix of Korean and American (or English) songs, although I didn't recognize some of the English ones.

Sumsung Buffet - Round 2:
I've talked about Samsung Family Buffet before, but a couple of weeks ago I went with a large crowd (there were 12 of us). I was actually somewhat annoyed at the whole thing because this guy was supposed to make a reservation for us (although it would have only been for 6-8 since that's who was initially invited) but he waited until the last minute (although we repeatedly told him not to) and we ended up waiting for over an hour before we could get seated. Anyhoo, this time I waited in line to get meat and boy was it worth it. It was some of the best steak and mushrooms ever. Plus, it's fun to see him cook it.

They also had some different and new foods to try. The reccomended food this time was not good because it had fish cake hidden inside it, but I did try some other salads that weren't there or I didn't have room for last time. They also had pig cakes, which tasted a little like French toast, but needed to be filled with either syrup or jam because they were a bit dry. Still a fun night especially since some of the people are people I don't hang out with often, but really like being around.

Pig cake

Cindy was amazed with this cheese wheel and asked me to take a picture. Then she got yelled at for holding the spoon like that because it could cut the cheese (hee hee).

Dinner with Cindy:
Two weekends ago Liezle went to Jeju island because she had a few days off of work. So Cindy and I had a girls' night. We went shopping (I bought rock, paper, scissors earrings and a couple of other small things), had dinner at an Italian place (Pasta Buono, where we have since eaten 2 more times) where they have free fountain drinks, although we only saw that as we were leaving, had chocolate patbingsu at a super cute place where they don't speak English but we pointed a lot (plus they gave us an extra scoop for free). They also give you warm toast and whipped cream and you're supposed to spread the cream on the toast. Then we saw Captain America, which we both enjoyed. I like Cindy a lot and it's sometimes fun just to hang out with her alone and not with other people, so it was a very fun night.

Lava Cakes:
Now that I am in summer session, I have earlier hours. One day last week I met up with Cindy and Liezle (who has an early schedule 3 days a week) and had dinner at the gimbap place. After that we went and had lava cakes. This is just what the foreigners call them. On the menu I think it says chocolate fondue pot or something. It's chocolate cake with melty chocolate in the center - basically not cooked all the way through I think. They are very good. We shared 2 and it was more than enough. Sorry the picture is blurry, but you get the idea.

Jinju weekend: bars & zoo edition

Friday: Dinner with lots of people:
Last Friday we had dinner at Pasta Buono again, but added about 5 more people. Then we met up with another group at 700 beer for a Korean girl's birthday. We stayed there for awhile and then I went home (along with a small handful of people) while some others went singing. I still have to do that.

Saturday morning: Lunch with Liezle & Cindy:
We had lunch at a different pasta place (Basta Pasta) on Saturday because Cindy was leaving for Thailand and Bali on Sunday (one of the bitches I mentioned in a previous post who has lots of vacation - public schools get at least 2 weeks in summer and winter. So far this summer, I've had a Wednesday). Then we had coffee and sat and talked for a couple of hours. Cindy left to finish packing and to get a bus to the airport.

Saturday afternoon: Zoo with Liezle
After Cindy left us, we tried to figure out something to do. We wanted to find the lake park, but the few people we tried to call for directions either couldn't help us or didn't answer. So we decided to take the bus up to the lake and see if we could find it ourselves. This didn't happen. Plus it was really hot and humid and we were both sweaty just standing at the map near the bus stop. So we decided to go to the zoo. Liezle hadn't been, and I didn't mind going again since it's only $1 (technically free to Jinju residents, but I like giving some extra money to feed these guys...or shave them). It was a good time - not as crowded with kinders as it was when I went with mom and we went into the petting zoo area where a goat tried to test me. It's still a bit sad since the pens are pretty small, but it's not awful. The Moon bears were playful though:

The dog and the lion were at least together on Saturday, although they were not playing. Maybe I'll see it one day.

Meerkats in the "petting" zoo. If you look behind this guy, there is a mom on top of some babies. She hid them before I could get the camera, but they were super tiny.

Saturday night: Bars
Liezle's friend Vera came up and met us on Saturday night at a coffee shop where we went after the zoo and met another friend named Nick. We sat around talking and trying to learn reflexology from Korean GQ (Nick is Korean and tried to teach us the body parts) and then decided to go play pool. We played for awhile and Nick is the only one who is any good (although I won cutthroat - or a version of it) so it lasted awhile. After pool we met up with a big group of foreigners in Wine Bar (the one in the wall in the middle of the stairs in the underground mall) where a bunch of people got really drunk. I didn't. After that, we went to Ruby's (really small dive bar) where people got even drunker. I still didn't. I ended up leaving shortly after 2. I found out the next day that the group went to a noraebang (karoke room) until 6:30, so I was super glad that I decided to leave when I did.

Sunday: Rainy movie day
It was rainy on Sunday and most of my friends were hung over, so I stayed home and watched Thor and Limitless.

Overall weekend assessment: Not bad, but nothing super.

Mexican soda, I get road rash and how I blame my brother

Sorry it's been so long. Sometimes you think it's just been a day or two and then your Wii yells at you for not checking in in a week - whoops. So, what's been going on here? Not much. Jeff was out of town, friends were out of town, more friends are on vacation now (Thailand, Bali, Laos, Jeju, home to name a few places - bitches) so I've been kinda blah as I mentioned in my last post.

I'm actually enjoying the current work schedule even though I teach extra classes everyday (8 a day instead of 3, 6 or 7). The kids are a bit calmer and everything seems to flow. Plus I'm done at 5:30 everyday which means I can walk home in the daylight. This is nice because now I can go to dinner with people and I don't sleep all day. This is bad because I can't sleep all day.

Here are some things my kids did last week:
One girl, Sharon, who is actually one of my favorites, along with her brother Daniel, for some reason decided to talk about Mexican soda. This happened because we were talking about kinds of restaurants and O'Taco is one of the newer places in Jinju and the only Mexican place. So then she drew the picture in the top right corner - Mexican soda - and gave it to me. Then they were all laughing because I said I would use her picture the next time I went to Samsung buffet and ask people where the Mexican soda was. This got her on a whole Mexican kick and she proceeded to draw the following pictures during class. Notice the 2 random chickens in the top right. It's been a week and she still uses Mexican soda in her homework somehow every night.

I included the close up of this because it was actually pretty detailed for a post-it note. A guy on a donkey with a sombrero - Mexican cider (it's like 7-up and tonic combined).

 My younger class had to invent a sport for homework and write about it and draw a picture. Only one student actually understood the idea. The others just wrote about any sport. Here are some of the pictures. try to guess what they are:

Today I decided it was a nice day, so I would ride my bike and try to find the lake park that I've been looking for (albeit not often) for the last couple of months. I talked to Jeff right before I left and he was making disparaging comments about white lightening. He also said, "I thought you had flat tires". I was unaware of this and while I found this to be true while walking my bike to the elevator, I was determined to ride anyways. Bad idea #1. I actually managed to go for about 20 minutes before taking 1 to many bumps to the nether regions (flat tires is no bueno for bumps especially when your bike is already too short and has no shocks) and turning around. While I was making my u-turn an old lady yelled at me for letting my shorts ride up. It wasn't obscene or anything - I don't own shorts that short - but come on lady give me a break. I made it all the way to the corner in front of my apartment without incident. At the corner I ran into problems. A car was zipping around the corner, a kid on a scooter was coming across the intersection and a man with a bike pulling a cart of boxes was coming down the hill. I slowed (bad idea #2 but I'm not an aggressive driver/biker/skiier etc.) and tried to thread the needle as all were stopped (bad idea #3). This led to excessive leaning, which when my tires are properly inflated, isn't a big deal, but when you're 2 inches lower to the groun, this means your foot hits the pedal and your bike tips over...in the middle of the road. In front of all the aforementioned people. And your stuff spills out of the basket and you have to pick it up as fast as your can while people are staring at you. And then you walk the bike the next 10 feet to your apartment. And your knees look like this:

 

All the red is still there a few hours later. And the flash of my camera was actually nice enough to add some color to my bright white legs, so it actually looks better in the pictures than in real life because the color contrast isn't quite so extreme. Luckily that was all - no face damage and while lots of stuff fell out of my bag, nothing was lost. Except my pride. But let's face it, when it comes to sports of any type, I don't have much of that to lose, so no biggie. Plus it's all Jeff's fault anyway.

***Quiz answers for sports: 1- swimming (not coffins as I originally thought) 2- jump rope 3- the one who invented a game - head ball. It's like soccer but you can only use your head. Well someone throws the ball at your head first, then you have to use your head.

Movie weekend review

The past week was the first time I've really had homesickness here. True there are things that I've missed since day one (DIET COKE) but you kind of get used to that. Last week was my family's beach week and this year more than usual went along. My family goes all out on things and this year was no exception what with family feud, the usual bocce and baggo tournaments and 50s night. I was able to Skype with them several times and I know they missed me even though I got the comments "do you shower" from my mother and "I can smell you from over here" from my brother. However they showed their love by having a "life-sized" head of me on a stick which was included in pictures (and one time put in the freezer), but it's not the same as being there. I don't think it would have bothered me as much if Jeff and a few others weren't there, but it felt like it was just me who was missing.

So to combat my homesickness, I decided to have a movie marathon weekend. This decision was aided by the fact that most of my friends were out of town for various reasons (rock festival, vacation, bday party etc.). On Friday night Cindy and I saw:
Captian America: It's called "The first avenger" here and the guy got confused when Cindy first asked for tickets. It was pretty good. I don't know a whole lot about Captain America's story, but he had the shield and the motorcycle and stuff got blown up, so you know, all good for me.
Over Saturday and Sunday (and a few days during the week) I watched the following:
He's just not that into you - I hadn't seen it before and I actually quite enjoyed it, although it felt a wee bit predictable in that even the "honest" guy eventually falls to the happy ending stereotype.
Bridesmaids - very good movie. Someone told me it was like the "hangover" for girls, and while I disagree (because the Hangover was hilarious) this movie had some really funny scenes plus some touching ones. And Kristin Wigg didn't annoy me as she often does on SNL.
Bad Teacher - not that good, but there were a couple of funny parts (like dodgeball and pretty much any scene with Jason Segel). Cameron Diaz was a bit lame and Justin Timberlake's character was just creepy.
Horrible Bosses - somewhat disappointing because of the great cast list, but Kevin Spacey was awesome as usual and again there were some funny parts. Charlie Day stole it for me because he's just like he is on It's Always Sunny but as little more normal (and clean).
Red Riding Hood - stupid but the 2 main guys are pretty hot and now I will watch movie that they're in
Hanna - very good, also creepy because what child knows how to kill people like that. Eric Bana is lovely as always and Cate Blanchett was disturbing as the CIA agent. Chemical Brothers soundtrack added to the movie made all the running much more enjoyable.
How do you know - again predictable, but I like everyone in the cast - Paul Rudd, Reese Witherspoon and Owen Wilson, so it held my attention ok. I definetly like the banter b/t Rudd and Witherspoon the best.
I am Number Four - this was probably actually one that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. It was fast paced, with enough cool special effects and backstory mixed together that I didn't feel super confused or bored. Plus the main guy is again, pretty hot.

So all in all it was a pretty worthless weekend although I did catch up on some sleep and got a bunch of movies that I eventually wanted to see out of the way. I need weekends like this every once and awhile, and the timing on this one was pretty good.