Jindo - Sea parting

This past weekend was Easter weekend. On Friday I went to a Good Friday service at church and we watched some videos and sang some songs. It was very quiet and meditative. After that I met up with Dallas and we watched the Hunger Games with Mike and Britney. On our way to the theater, we stopped in a store downtown and Dallas bought a shirt. He also changed clothes in the middle of the store. He somehow left his phone there, which we didn't find out until after the movie at midnight - when the store was closed. We also had to leave early the next day, so Mike ended up going to the store for him and finding the phone.

On Saturday morning we got up and met up with people at church to ride a bus to Jindo for the sea parting festival. Once a year in Jindo in Jeollanam-do Province, the seas part and you can walk to a nearby island. It's due to the difference in high and low tides and you end up with about a 50m wide "road" that's about 2.8km long. Not sure if it happens Easter weekend every year, but it seemed to fit in with the theme.

The festival itself was kind of lame. The food wasn't very good (although Dallas loved these chicken things) and there wasn't a lot to do in terms of activities. But it was a beautiful day and we were at the beach. There were about 30 people in the group, but we sectioned off very quickly and Dallas and I stayed by ourselves most of the day. 

Parade thing - these guys played for like 4 hours

Dallas eating chicken

We got there 4 hours before the sea parting, so the beach started off pretty empty

Dallas likes to take random pictures. Sometimes they come out decent.

Climbing on rocks. He also likes to pose, which is fun for me because he will do some ridiculous things.

We took lots of pictures on the rocks, walked around, then climbed up to the top of a hill and I napped/laid on a bench while he read the second book of the Hunger Games series. From the top we could see the sea starting to part. We stayed there for a bit, then went back down to the bottom, where we met up with some more people. 

Sea beginning to part at the opposite side

The middle opening up

Then we ended up separating again for the actual walk in the sea. It was really cool and an experience I won't forget. The water was pretty cold, but not the coldest I've been in, and it was slippery, but I didn't fall. There were random crabs, starfish and lots of people picking up clams and seaweed.

The line in the background is the first set of people crossing. There were hundreds of people, but honestly it didn't feel that crowded except when we walked down the stairs to the beach.

Our friend Hein dressed up as Moses (he wasn't the only one).

me on the water's edge

Holding a starfish. They were all this grey color with bright orange spots.

Sunset on our way back right before the tides came back in

The tides came in super fast. There was a boat warning people to come back. The also were selling those big boots, but I was fine in flip flops.

Group shot right before we rode the bus home

The bus ride home was long and I slept for a little bit then talked to Dallas when he finished the book. I went home and slept for 10 hours straight without moving. 

Sunday morning I got up and met Dallas and Anna at church. There was a good sermon, one lady made peanut butter eggs and then we went to lunch. After lunch we went shopping at E-mart then Homeplus because Dallas was trying to find plastic eggs for his class. No luck on that. Then we went to dinner and home. Sounds like a lot of eating, but it really wasn't. It was more talking and walking around. It was a long day/weekend, but a lot of fun.

Family and bowling photo round-up

Sometimes I miss my family. And then I find out they are all around Korea so I don't have to: 

Sara clothes shop in Daegu

Barbara clothes shop in Daegu

Ann clothes shop in Jinju

Holly coffee - everywhere

Sorry about the weird formatting on those pictures.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks of bowling. The last 3 weeks have been really good for our group. Dallas got his first turkey, then the next week he got another one plus has the high score of the group with a 177.

Dallas's first turkey

Dallas's second turkey. He didn't want to take the picture, but we made him. It's a requirement after a turkey.

Then Danny, who has joined us a couple of times and is a pretty decent bowler, got a turkey.

Danny adds the appropriate level of awesome-face for a turkey

I already mentioned my high score 161 game, but then after Dallas and Danny got turkeys, I finally got mine too!

Turkey time!!

The usual crew - Lindi, Jon, Dallas, me, Mike and Ally

Cindy's birthday in Daegu

Last weekend was Cindy's birthday. She had a somewhat week long celebration. Her actual birthday was on Wednesday and her co-workers bought her a cake. Then she had a mini-party on Friday and someone else got her another one. Then another guy got her a third one on Saturday for her party. She loves cake so that was good for her!

Cindy's 3 cakes

 Dallas and I went up early Saturday morning (9:40 bus) so that I could drop off a box at her new apartment. She lives about 30 minutes outside of the city. I warned her not to get too drunk Friday night because I was coming on Saturday and she needed to be up for another night of partying. She tried, but failed. When we got to her apartment she started getting sick. But she didn't want to just ditch us, so we took a cab downtown. We had to pull over for her once and luckily the cab driver was really nice about it and actually thought it was kind of funny. He even pulled out a plastic bag and handed it to her when she got back in. We went and had lunch, but she still couldn't keep anything down so she went home right after that.

Dallas and I stayed in the downtown area and shopped. He got lots of things - shoes, a sweater, a really nice suit jacket. I got a purse (a nice one for cheap, but not fancy name brand) and more socks. We met up with a friend of his from orientation (public schools get that, I didn't) and walked around and shopped a bit more. Then we rented a motel room and dropped off our stuff. We went Cindy around 8 and went to dinner at a BBQ place. It was good, but slightly awkward because I expected lots more Jinju people to be there. A whole bunch bailed because there was a charity event in Jinju that weekend, plus others had mandatory school training.

Dallas and I left dinner early and met up with his friends again and got some drinks. It was one of their friend's birthdays too so we celebrated a bit with him.

Let's get drink y'all!

This was randomly up in the bar, so I thought I'd give a shout-out to my family and take a pic

You can write post-its and put them on the wall. Try to find ours.

We then went downstairs to a club and danced and drank for awhile. Someone (seriously, it wasn't me) turned the setting on my camera and I didn't notice until much later, so all the pictures I had all night were black or so bright you can see faces. It made me sad. We club hopped for the next couple of hours. During this time Dallas bought cotton candy and got it all over his face, I bought us 'couple' phone charms, I bought a kebab for Cindy and he ate it, I somehow cut my arm and lost my sweatshirt, Cindy switched shoes with her friend and Dallas called them adjuma (grandma) shoes, and Cindy and I traded many misspelled texts. At the end of the night we met back up with her to say good-bye, then we went home and slept.

After some editing, this was the only decent shot from her birthday of us

Couple phone charms. They lasted for a day before we took them off.

The next morning we got up and met Cindy for brunch. She was late, so while we waited for her, Dallas got his haircut. Then we walked around for a little while. We had brunch at a place called "Christos" and we split eggs Benedict, which were ok. Some of Cindy's other friends joined us towards the end, but we left so that I could go to the Hello Kitty Cafe. I've never been a huge Hello Kitty fan, but Cindy is. This place was just one of those Korean places I needed to see (even though HK is Japanese). Everything down to the toilet paper was Hello Kitty.

Outside the cafe

Back wall of the cafe

Cindy and Dallas at our table

Man's bathroom

Woman's bathroom. Some kid (who was old enough to know better) totally snaked me in line. I was mad because I really had to pee.

Pretty sure she's giving you the finger

My latte with a profile view of Hello Kitty. Dallas' was different, but I haven't stolen his pictures yet.

The back wall of another room

After Hello Kitty, we stopped for take-out kebabs for the bus ride home, then caught the bus back to Jinju. We were close to the last people on the bus and got separated. I sat next to a nun who immediately started to pray the rosary and kept on for the next 20 minutes or so. I fell asleep for a little bit, but not for long and then we were back home. I don't really remember if I did anything else, but I don't think so. Cindy is fully recovered and she had a blast, so the trip was definitely worth it!

Busan with Dallas and the rest of the weekend

So, it's been so long that I'm not even sure what I should update. I will post some more of the things that happened between my last (worthless) post and this one, but I wanted to actually write this down before I forgot.

This weekend Dallas and I went to Busan. It was my last (although they gave me a bonus free visit for April) armpit thing and he hadn't been there yet. We got up early and caught the 8:30 bus to Busan, hopped on the subway and arrived on time for my 11am appointment.

Cute Korean kids that looked at us for 15 minutes on the subway

Before we made it to the clinic, Dallas had to stop and eat something. We ended up at the Krispie Kreme and I saw these Toblerone donuts and had to take a picture for Holly. I didn't eat one though because the thought kinda made me sick.

Lots of donuts!

Usually I'm in and out of there within 15 minutes (including coffee and bathroom visits). This time they didn't even see me until 11:30, although they put me in the back waiting room so I was separated from Dallas and didn't have anyone to talk to. He was fine because they were showing "Alice in Wonderland" on the TV in the waiting room. Then the ice packs weren't cold enough so my armpits didn't get numb enough so the treatment actually hurt this go round. Next time I will be sure to ask for super cold packs!

After that we had a snack in the department store and walked around and did a little bit of shopping. On our way out we saw this bizarre statue and had to take a picture.

That can't be anything other than a butt right?

Then we headed to Haeundae. It was a nice day but soooo windy. I had a clip for my hair, but it was still all over the place and I looked like a crazy person. We walked along the boardwalk and some lady asked to take Dallas's picture.

Us on the beach - the hair is only slightly crazy here

Then an older man called us over to the foot baths (seen here in summer with mom umm if you scroll a bit). The water was really warm and felt nice.

Dallas and I brought the average age down by about 20 years.

That's what my hair actually looked like all day. The water was really warm and it felt nice to rub your feet on the rocks.

This is the guy who called us over. He and Dallas are now foot friends! (This picture was the old man's idea)

After foot bathing, we walked along the sand for a bit, then up the same path I did with mom last year to the lighthouse. It was windy the whole way and somewhat crowded. The swing bridge did not make me happy because kids (and Dallas) were jumping on it, so I just ran.

Dallas on the beach

Over looking the beach. Dallas made me go on the rocks, then he slipped. He was fine.

After the park we shared a salad at TGI Fridays then went to Shinsegae Mall which is the largest mall somewhere (one person told me the world but I don't really believe it and also there isn't any info in my guide book about it. Then again it's new.) We went to a book store and walked around then called it a day.

On a giant chair in the lobby where the TGIFs was

Entrance to the mall (which is located directly off the subway)

On the bus ride home we ran into Dan and his girlfriend Mina. It was funny because I had texted Dan earlier to ask where the mall was and he told me he was there, but then we kept missing each other. The bus ride home was funny because the guy drove kind of crazy and we actually popped out of our seats once over a bump.

Later that night we went to a benefit for the Vagina Monologues event at the end of April (it benefits the Jinju YWCA) at Jam Bar. There were jello shots and baked goods for sale and some local people played guitar and then the "Gay Sexxyz" played for around 30 minutes. It was fun but smokey. One funny part was that my friend Josh was showing me where to buy some of the stuff when a guy from out of town stopped us, introduced himself then asked me to introduce my husband (Josh). We just looked at each other and laughed.

Today I went to Korean class, had coffee with some people from class and went to church. I skipped lunch with church because I had told Anna I would have dinner with her later that night. Around 6, Dallas and I met up with Anna and went to Zio Rico's. We all had salads then split a pizza and risotto. Then we went to Wine Bar and were the only people there. Dallas and Anna split a bottle of wine and I had a beer and we had a soul searching session then threw popcorn at each other.

Us outside Zio's

Anna and I in the weird curtained off back room at Wine Bar.

Good times. I went back to Dallas's apartment and graded essays while he did lesson plans. Now I'm writing this. Overall very nice and relaxing weekend.