My last trip to Busan - Lotte Giants game

So after the whole debacle on Friday afternoon, I met up with Dallas and went to the gym. When we got home, I cleaned up and he helped me organize. Then I got some things together because our friend Eve was coming into town and we decided to have a sleep over and drink wine and vent. We also had planned to go to Busan on Saturday and I wanted to stick with that plan, so I packed for the weekend too.

Eve got to Jinju pretty late, but it gave me enough time to be totally ready when she arrived. Then we all walked to Dallas's apartment carrying tons of stuff. All of us were gross and had a parade of showers, then drank wine out of old Nutella jars while Dallas did my nails. Eve fell asleep pretty quickly and we were getting up early the next day, so we tried to go to sleep early too.

Game day nails - Lotte Giants in their colors of black, white and orange.

The next morning we woke up and got ready to go to Busan. I don't think we got breakfast stuff, but we split an apple on the cab ride to the bus station. I think we both fell asleep on the bus, at least for a little while. We got into town quite quickly, then looked at the subway map to figure out how to get to the stadium. The next thing we did was hit up a coffee shop. We got iced coffees (I know - strange for me but it was actually a chai latte, so it was ok) and breakfast and used wifi to book a motel - although the area indicator was way off - more about that later.

After breakfast, we took the subway to the stadium area to buy tickets. Apparently they didn't go on sale for another 2ish hours, so we attempted to buy them online, but ran into a bunch of hassles and then decided to just wait it out. Dallas wanted a hat, so we looked in the gift shop and saw a couple of cute ones, but figured we'd find a cheaper/better one later. Then we went to some sporting goods stores around the area looking for eye black - the patches you put under your eyes if you're playing outfield - because he wanted those too. Dork. We went to about 4 shops looking for the best ones because they all had some sort of branding on them. Then we went to another coffee shop where we got juices and played sporcle trivia games to kill an hour or so.

After waiting, we went back to the stadium and waited in line for tickets. We were pretty close to the front of the line, but had to wait for maybe 30 minutes before the windows were going to open. While we were waiting, Dallas went and got us water and ice cream and the couple in front of us cracked open some beers, then the tab broke off their can of nuts and the man walked around trying to find something to bang it open. He finally succeeded! The weirdest part about the ticket line was that people can apparently leave something (for example a newspaper or a beer can), walk away, then come back later and claim the spot. This happened in almost every line and I didn't know what to do. One girl behind me got pissed at one guy who clearly cut, but he was older so she couldn't really say anything. But we got decent tickets without too much of a hassle.

Gate to enter the stadium

After we got the tickets, we still had a couple of hours before the game so we walked back to the subway and went to the big Lotte department store. We split some chicken thing and each had a kebab in the food court, then went up a billion escalators to the sports section. He found a hat he liked a lot and even though it was more expensive than the ones we saw earlier, it was really nice and good quality. After lunch and hat purchases, we decided to cab it to our motel since we didn't really know where it was. It was a good thing we did because it was in the middle of nowhere and we never would have found it walking. It was called the Inca (I think) and the lady was really nice and the motel itself was decent, it just wasn't close to a subway stop at all. The bathroom was really nice and big though. We dropped off our stuff, then cabbed back to the stadium to meet Eve. She had other plans earlier in the day in Jinju, but took an afternoon bus to come meet us for the game and to hang out after.

The cab dropped us off right in front of the stadium, which was closer than the subway station we had originally tried to go to, and we walked down to the corner to get Eve. I've talked about Korean baseball before, a long time ago, but to recap if you don't want to read the old post: Korean baseball is sort of like American AAA ball. There are cheerleaders and a group leader who directs things like dancing and cheering and chanting - lots of chanting. The batting team gets to cheer and (especially if you're the home team) the fielding team can randomly chant at certain things - like at the pitcher.

Decked out for the game

Cheerleaders (in their second of three outfits) and the group leader guy in the center.

The best part about the chants, in my opinion, is that quite a few of them are American/British songs that they just changed the words to. For example, some of Lotte's chants are come on feel the noise, I love rock and roll, and their theme song of sorts, which is Glory, Glory if I'm correct. Part of the reason we decided to stick with the plan to go to the game was that a Lotte game was on my Korean bucket list. Giants' fans are really active and get into the game more than fans from other teams and I wanted to see if that was true.

Slightly blurry, but I wanted you to see the big finger that Dallas got instead of thunder sticks.

Somehow these weird duck things are the mascots instead of something that resembles a giant. I just...Korea.

Another fun thing about Korean ball games is that you can bring anything you want into the stadium. Before we handed over our tickets, the three of us stopped at a CU and got soju, mixers, cups of ice and I think Eve got a beer. We brought all of that into the game and nobody batted an eye. In fact, they have beer and soju vendors right outside of the stadium, like peanut vendors in the States. Another cultural difference is what you eat. Instead of hotdogs and popcorn, people eat fried chicken and dried squid. We decided to roll with it (in fact, Dallas was super excited about it) and around the 4th inning or so, we bought and shared a box of fried chicken. We did not do the squid. The last fun fact about Lotte is that in the 7th inning, they pass out orange plastic bags. Originally (at least this is what I read somewhere) it was to help with trash pick up, but fans started putting them on their heads. This was one of the things I was waiting for and got probably unnecessarily excited about.

Bag heads!!!

The field at night

We waited until the bottom of the 8th inning before deciding to call it quits and try to beat some of the crowds. We left the stadium and hopped in a cab, who had no idea where to go and ended up calling the motel from the card I had. We got back to our room, took showers and got dressed to go out. While we were getting dressed, Dallas turned on the TV and found Nickelodeon, which was showing iCarly, and he found it hilarious. So I gave him the breakdown of the show, but I don't think he's watched it since. I don't know why, but for some reason we didn't take any pictures that night, which is so not like any of the 3 of us.

We decided to start out and Thursday Party, and once we got there, just ended up staying. We sat next to a group of 3 guys who were probably college aged students. They looked like they kept wanting to start a conversation with us, but were too shy about it or something. One of the guys got pretty tipsy - I think it must have been his birthday. At that point it was our turn to play darts, which was one of the reasons we decided to go to Thursday Party - I like having something to do at bars and they are one of the few that have darts or other games. I kicked butt, which made Dallas sign us up to play again because he doesn't like to lose.

Then, another group of 3 guys sat next to us. These guys looked like maybe they had been to another bar earlier and were much more talkative. We discussed giving fake names if asked, but we ended up telling these guys our real ones. One of them was super into Eve and wouldn't leave her alone. He was also really loud and apparently a bit of a spitter. The other 2 were pretty nice and spoke really decent English. We ended up playing group darts - 2 Koreans and Eve versus me, Dallas and the other Korean. The losing team was supposed to buy and do a shot. This was the weirdest part of the night.

I've talked before about how in Korea there is no such thing as being gay, but that there are 1-tons of gay guys and 2-straight guys touch each other in ways gay guys don't in public in the States. It's very odd. In some ways I like the fact that men can hold hands or hug or whatever and it not be looked down on. In other ways, it's just weird. And I'm not saying that from a gay/straight perspective, but it's just strange to see anyone repeatedly grab someone else's butt. Which is basically what happened. As a way to distract the guys on one team, the guys on the other team would pretty much molest them - butt grabs, running their hands up their legs, touching pecs etc. They didn't touch me or Eve (well Dallas did) but they felt it was ok to touch Dallas and each other. Again, I am not sure why I didn't take pictures of this.

Our team won (woot - 2 wins for me! electronic darts is so much better than real ones :) )and instead of just buying shots for the losers, they bought shots for everyone. I requested anything but tequila. So what did we get? Tequila. Luckily they did bring salt and lemons, but still - yuck. We all took the shot then we were done with drinking. We sat at the bar and talked for a little while longer, which is when we saw another group of guys at the table behind us come in with ice cream cones. It was kind of awesome. Then we went home and watched the very end of Harry Potter and went to sleep.

The next morning, Eve woke up really early. Our room had darkened windows, so it was pretty dark in the room, but she didn't want to wake us up so she sat on the floor and looked at her phone for awhile. I think she was playing Candy Crush. We finally got up, got showered and dressed and headed out to find something to eat for breakfast. We couldn't find a good breakfast spot and ended up going back to the Indian place we had gone to a few months earlier. We split a curry and a pizza and everyone had a lassi. Then we went shopping at Zara and H&M. Well they went shopping and I helped. After H&M, Eve decided to head out since she had to take a train back to Seoul. Dallas and I got coffees and then walked around for a little while, then we decided to go home too. We made it on the bus, then fell asleep again. It makes me kind of sad that I didn't think to take a picture as this was our last bus ride together. Oh well. I don't remember what we did when we got back - I'm sure we had dinner somewhere and/or went to emart or walking or some combination of the above, but I honestly don't know. This is why I need to write posts sooner!

Even though it was kind of sad because it was my last trip, it was a good weekend and it took my mind off of everything that was going on. It was also one more thing that I got to cross of the bucket list - I left with only 2 things left, so I can't feel too bad about that. I'm glad I got to spend some time with Eve and do a final shopping trip with Dallas (well in Korea, I know we will go again once he gets home).

Return to Song Jeong and Cindy's last trip to Jinju

On Thursday the 15th Korea has a national holiday. Not sure which one, but I think it's basically the equivalent of Labor day. That Wednesday evening, Cindy and her boyfriend Torin bused in from Daegu. Cindy was going back to the US on the 26th, so this was her last trip to Jinju and the last time I would see her.


We made plans to have dinner at a horse meat restaurant near GNU because our friend Cody was coming with us and he said it's really good. Plus I wanted to try something new. She ended up getting to Jinju earlier than expected and I got on a long bus over to GNU, then got lost, so I didn't get to the place until after they had almost finished eating the horse. Luckily they saved a piece for me so I got to try it - it tasted very similar to beef, so I'd try it again. They had also ordered duck, so I shared some of that with them and we took a farewell shot of soju.

After eating, we decided to do some pre-bar drinking. Lots of Koreans go to convenience stores, buy beer or soju, then sit at plastic picnic tables in front of the store and drink. We decided to emulate Koreans. They have these non-alcoholic drinks in a bag like blue lemonade, peach tea and blueberry. These bags come with a plastic cup of ice. naturally, we buy those, a bottle of soju and tada - drinks! Cody, Cindy, Torin and I sat out front of the CU talking and drinking for maybe an hour. Torin loves sunflower seeds and had just bought a huge bag of them. The funny part was that he kept them in what looked like a makeup pouch and carried it around with him. We had a whole discussion on the proper way to eat them and the best flavors etc. Then Dallas came a joined us and then Kylie and some of her friends ran into us and joined the group too. We stayed for maybe another hour, then moved to Urban Drink.

Sitting in the lovely lighting outside of a CU

At Urban, we chatted for a little while, then decided to play some games. I think we played Never Have I Ever first and I can't remember if it was Dallas or Cody who lost. Then we played a game where you say an actor/actress/character/famous person's name and the next person has to say another person whose first name starts with the first letter of the previous person's last night. For example, person one says "Angelina Jolie" then person two can say "Jason Bateman". We played a version where we started with this specific baseball player's name (but I can't remember it - I know it started with an "h") and if you went around and ended with him, you got to give someone a shot. I won but I split the shot with Dallas because I sort of made him lose. At that point everyone was tired, so we decided to go home. Dallas and I were going to the beach the next day and invited Cindy and Torin, but they decided to stay in Jinju and just relax. So I said goodbye to both of them. It was sad seeing Cindy off, but we'll stay in touch I hope.

Us at Urban

Torin could never get a good picture for some reason.

The next morning Dallas and I met up just after 10 to get a bus to Namhae. We were both pretty tired, but I don't think either of us had hangovers. Dallas ate a salad and we split a bagel and waters on the bus. The driver was pretty speedy and both of us got headaches. We made the transfer to the next bus without too much of a hassle except that I had to pee and there was no toilet paper in the bathrooms and I forgot to put some in my backpack. I decided to hold it. We often take a picture or 2 on the bus ride to places, but for some reason we took like 2 dozen this day.

Making some sort of weird gangster sign?

I had to scratch my head and he took the picture and really liked it.

Once we got to the beach we did our typical routine of umbrella, mat and tubes. Then Dallas went to change and I started putting on sunscreen - after the obligatory toes in the sand picture. We stayed in the water for a long time, but there weren't as many waves a last time, so it wasn't quite as fun. It was also more crowded in the water itself this time. 

Flower toes and blue water

Contemplative

We got out of the water around 1ish and ate pb&js for lunch, then walked for a bit. Then we resunscreened and went back in the water. This time a bunch of redish-brown algae was there in full force and while everyone tried to avoid it, you often got stuck in the middle of it. It didn't feel too weird, but it had a strong fishy smell to it. We swam around and chilled for a little while, then Dallas went back up to the umbrella and left his tube and brought back his phone with a waterproof pouch. We had been meaning to do this for a long time and finally bought another pouch because we kept forgetting the one we had already. He came back and we did "Ariel" shots - the ones where you put your head in the water and flip your hair back to make a water arc. We took quite a few and while none of them are going to be how-to's, they weren't awful. We do need to work on making nice faces instead of looking like we're drowning though.

Ignore the weird bathsuit/sports bra combo - the only one I had doesn't fit. The hair looks good though. Which is amazing considering I don't have hair.

Half a heart. If his face looked better, this could have been really good.

D might get mad at me for posting this one - I think it looks like a Cool Water cologne ad.

Then Dallas had me jump on tubes and laughed at me the whole time. There are multiple shots of this too, but I am still not self-confident enough to put some of those online. So you get this one.

Jump...and fall.

Relaxing in the water.

After the Ariel shots and tube jumping, we decided to call it a day, even though it was early afternoon. Dallas had a bit of a headache and was hungry and just wanted to be out of the sun. We showered at the public restroom again, but this time there were hardly any people. I did have a whole wall of showers to myself, but then 2 sisters - probably middle school age - came in and took the shower directly next to me, because of course. I got dressed and met Dallas downstairs. One problem was that I forgot a belt and my shorts kept falling off of me. It was not fun.


We stopped off at a store and got some drinks and checked where to get the bus. The man told us right across the street, so we sat for a few minutes, then he came back and told us it was up the hill (like last time). So we walked up the hill but decided to stand at a different spot this time. We misjudged where to be exactly and ended up running for the bus when it stopped a little earlier than where we were. The driver waited for us and was nice though.

While we were waiting for the bus and when we first got on, we played 20 questions but it had to be a Disney character. I won both rounds because I guessed his (Raja) and he didn't guess mine (Sleepy). We also played the actor game from the night before and Dallas won that one. When we got back to Jinju, we went to my apartment and I changed pants to ones that sort of fit. We left our bags and went to dinner - I think we had solangtang but I can't remember. Then we got take-out coffees and walked around downtown for a little while. Then we went into the arcade under/next to Lotte cinema. We played some shooter games - I got higher scores but died more often, air hockey and then Super Smash Brothers - which I am awful at. Then we sort of played pool but had to stop because it was closing. It was fun and it sucks that we just figured out that it was there - at least the basement level part. As always it was a fun day with Dallas. It sucked that I had to go to school the next day...and the next day of school sucked harder, but at least we had one more good beach day before the summer ended.

What's happening?

Hi everyone.
Did you think I forgot you? I didn't. Things here (and by here I mean in my life) have been rather hectic in the last 3 weeks. So. I will blog most of the events from the last 3 weeks, but this one sort of explains the lack of posting and puts the other ones in context.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the last 2 weeks of July and first 2 weeks of August were "intensive course" for my school. Well on the last day (Friday) of the semester, my boss called me into the back room to talk after my class at around 3. The following week we had vacation Monday - Wednesday, so I assumed he was going to tell me about the schedule for Thursday's classes. I was mistaken.

Without going into all the details - mainly because I told him that I wouldn't smear his name etc. and because I'm over explaining it - he told me that he was changing the format of the school and that they didn't need a foreign teacher anymore and so today was my last day. He had bought me a plane ticket for the 30th, I had to be out of my apartment by the 22nd and we would meet later next week to talk about bills etc.

I was in shock at that point, went home, met with a friend, cried a little, called the Labor Board and went back to school where I had a 2ish hour long "conversation" with my boss about getting some form of compensation and other details. It didn't start off well, but it ended alright and we've been able to remain civil and professional. Although I still can't say I'm happy about the way everything happened.

After the first day, I basically let go of the anger but was just sad. I was not ready to leave Korea - I still have things on my bucket list and I had plans already in place through early November. I was also not ready to leave the people. I knew some would go before me (like Ilani who left last weekend and Cindy who left a few days before I did) but I should have had more time with most of them - my IEC family, Krista & Kyeong He, lots of other people and Dallas.

So I've been home for 3 days now. Trying to adjust back into life in the US (which isn't that hard to do) and looking for a job (which is that hard to do). I've joined a gym and finished reading a book. I've done a handful of applications and watched Jeopardy. I still haven't had a diet coke.

Like I said, I will update with posts from my last few Korean adventures. I will probably randomly update this with things going on here too, but I'm not totally sure about that at this point. We'll see. So for now, if any of you know of a job opening, or want to hire me or give me a car or a diet coke, please email me or post a comment :)

Sun Cheon - Eco Geo Garden Expo

Two Saturdays ago my friend Jess and I decided to take an adventure. We went to SunCheon for a project called Eco Geo that I had seen on a water bottle. It was a garden expo and we really didn't know much about it except that we wanted to try it out and that it would have flowers.

I met her over by GNU and we took a cab to the train station nearby because we didn't know exactly where it was. She told the cab driver the name of the station then went "chuga chuga" like the American sound for a train. The cab driver laughed and pantomimed that that is the sound for brushing your teeth. The sound for a train is "chick chick bok" or something like that. When we got to the station, the ticket guy was really nice and told us to have fun and exactly where to go in the station. The train was fun because we usually travel by bus here. The AC on the train was nice and we chatted for the hour and a half ride. When we got off the train they had a trick art display at the bottom of the escalator. A man was there and we asked him to take a picture of us. Then Jess asked if he wanted her to take a picture of him. He then pulled me over into the picture with him. It was very strange.

Riding the train! The one there was pretty empty but the one home was filled with middle school boys who must have been on some sort of field trip.

Jess catching a fake train in India?

Us and Marilyn.

After the pictures, we found an information desk and the woman there was also really helpful and nice. She told us where to go to get the bus to the expo. We found the bus and asked the driver who was really funny and then when we was explaining things in Korean, he said there were foreigners on the bus and asked someone to explain things to us. A nice lady across the aisle told us which stop to get off on and where to buy tickets. So far our day was awesome!

It was sort of hard to miss this bus.

When we got there, the tickets were a bit higher than we had expected and both of us said we were glad that other friends didn't come with us. It was also really really hot. We started off in a garden area that was in a huge greenhouse type thing. They had like backyard gardens from different countries set up. It was cool except they all had these little paths and benches, but you couldn't walk in or sit on any of them, so it was weird.

In front of the gate

Flowers have feelings and feel pain you know.

Me and a waterfall

The most sexual coconut (according to the sign). The nuts look like ladies' butts and the stems look like male parts.

Hawaiian garden? I like the chandelier made from wine bottles.

After that we walked toward the water and got sprayed with a mister fan. We also got some waters and carried those around with us because we had both already started sweating. We sat down and made a plan to go to a hedge maze, walk around the different country gardens and go to the wetlands area. I wanted to see the wetlands because I had seen a picture online and they looked really pretty. We started up to the maze and on the way stopped off to take a picture with our heads in police officer bodies. The man who took our picture tried to be all professional about it and we were just like - click it! Then he caught up to us again and asked if we were German. We said no, but then decided that if anyone asked again that we'd be German for the day. No one else asked.

I am a Korean police man

Hills with twisty walking paths and the central pond

We found a rose garden and the maze was next to it. The maze was slightly disappointing in that we made it to the center and out again in less than 10 minutes. It wasn't that complicated.

Giant wire cats in the rose garden because why not?

This is what the maze looked like

This rabbit was in the center of the maze. He wanted to hold hands, so I obliged.

After the maze we decided to cross the bridge over the center pond instead of going around. We also took jumping pictures (a typical Korean pose) while on the bridge. Jess loves to take jumpers, but says her face always looks crazy.

My ups aren't so good - this is about as high off the ground as I go.

Jess got some more air

We were both super sweaty at that point and stopped to get some more waters and Jess got a slushie. We sat under an umbrella for maybe 10 minutes then continued to the Dutch garden - complete with windmill and fake wooden shoes!

Wooden shoes! I was so distracted by these that I didn't even think to take a picture where it looks like I am turning the windmill.

After that, we walked through some tree lined path that had lots of photo spots. While we were on the path, a lady stopped us and told us to fill out postcards and that they'd be mailed anywhere. So we each wrote one to our parents. Who knows if they will get there, but mom, I did send one!

I am an angel :)

Sending my post card with the lady who helped us

Heart within a heart

Sideways heart - Jess kept yelling change and then would take another picture. Some were cute. Others...not so much.

Blowing on some pinwheels made from grass.

Walking on train tracks. When I passed the bar, the guy in the hut yelled at me. It scared me because I didn't see the guy in the hut!

 After the posing, we found what was marked on the map as the wetlands. It was not what I was expecting. It was basically a marsh. We did see some cool rock speakers though. Then we walked back and decided we were about ready to go. We started walking to the opposite exit when I saw some really cute swings. Anyone who knows me, knows I love a swing. Plus these were shaded and in a little secluded area, so we decided to sit down and swing for a bit. This was fun and breezy, but when I stood up, my butt was covered in sweat. I told Jess that it probably looked like I had wet myself. She said, 'It can't be that bad" then I turned around and she went "oh...well maybe people will think that's just what your shorts look like." I appreciated her attempt to make it better. They dried fairly quickly though.

This makes me look like I have a tiny head. Perspective is dumb.

Then we crossed what was called the "Bridge of Dreams". It had all these tiles that kids had drawn. I think they were supposed to draw what their dream job was, because there were lots of teachers and doctors. But then other kids just drew random stuff like animals and Harry Potter. They also had TV stationed at random areas that showed you and then someone at other TV location.  It was kind of neat because we kept getting to the TVs at the same time as another group of people so we kept seeing each other.

There were 2 sides to the bridge and each had 2 walls like this. So there were thousands of these tiles.

Jess and I are in the left TV. Our TV stalkers are in the other one. We never actually saw them, but we looked!

When we decided it was time to go get food and rest because we were both exhausted from the heat, I finally saw the wetlands I saw in the picture - it was the Korean experience and was on the opposite side of where we came in. I was too tired and hot to go over there, but it was pretty from where we were.

We then hopped in a cab, thanked him for the AC, and went back to the bus terminal. We looked all around for some food, but they didn't have much. We settled for a coffee shop and got a really good sandwich and coffees. Then we caught our bus with a few minutes to spare and looked at our pictures and chatted until we made it home. Both of us were almost punch drunk from being so tired/hot. We said goodbye and I caught another bus home. The rest of the day/weekend is in the previous post.

Saturday Night and Sunday

On Saturday morning, I met my friend Jess and the 2 of us went to Sun Cheon for a garden expo. That is another post that is coming soon because Jess took most of the pictures on her camera and she's giving me a CD next week, so that post will be out of order, but it's worth the wait for pictures :)

As background however, just know it was crazy hot on Saturday and the amount of sweat that I was covered in was not pretty. When I split up with Jess once I got back to Jinju, I went home and Dallas was there waiting for me to go to the gym with him. For some reason I thought this was an ok idea - I think the heat made me delusional or something. So we went to the gym and I did the treadmill and some abs for about an hour. Then we went back to my house and got ready to go out.

For some reason Dallas has been wanting to do my hair, so I went ahead and let him. It's not like I can do anything with it. He used product and tried to make my hair curly. It sort of worked. We went to Urban Drink and ate a salad and had a drink and people watched for a couple of hours. It was a very chill night and we chatted for awhile about real life stuff and it was nice. Then we took pictures with this wall art.

My pupils get crazy big

Bar art. We did take a picture making the same face, but it was really dark...and not cute.

The next morning I finally made the Reese's peanut butter cup muffins that my aunt sent me in March. They tasted like cupcakes. So we had cupcakes and coffee for breakfast and then left for church. On the way there, we stopped under the flower arbor so Dallas could take my picture because he said I needed a new profile picture for facebook.

Sharing Korean style

They just opened up a Starbucks next to my house. This is good/bad news.

After church, a big group of us went to Mom's Touch for lunch/dinner. It's sort of like a KFC, but better. I hadn't had fast food of any time for a long time, so Dallas and I opted to go for a baked chicken thing and split it. It was still a little greasy, but better than a fried filet. We stayed and talked and played with babies for a long time. I know it's still 3 months away (yikes!) but I am really going to miss my IEC family when I go back home.