As I write on this last day of June 2013, I am amazed we are already half way through the year! My how time flies. And I've been so blessed to do so many amazing things. Friday I signed my renewal contract, so I will be teaching in Korea for another year! I am happy I will be in this great place for another year, and I'm really hoping to see as much as I can and develop the friendships I have while I am here. It's been a while since I've posted, so here's what I've been up to:
Kimchi Making
I was taking Korean classes with the YMCA (we finished Monday, so now I have two of my weekdays free again!!), and they offered a cultural cooking experience. Our choices were 잔 (jan- Korean pancake), 국수 (gooksu- a noodle soup) and 김치 (kimchi- the famous side dish). I figured I had to go with kimchi, because it is just too quintessentially Korean! We made the most common cabbage kimchi and a radish kimchi. It turned out well, but didn't really have time to ferment, so the flavors weren't as cohesive as kimchis given enough time to be prepared properly. It was a great experience, and I loved getting my (gloved) hands dirty in the fiery red mess.
Haeundae Sand Festival
After cooking up some kimchi, I headed to Busan with my friend Katt for the sand festival. We got into the city pretty late, so we didn't get to see the sand masterpieces until the next day. But we did go out for a drink and a failed attempt at clubbing. Two of the three clubs we tried to go to (after a quick internet via phone to find out what was around) were shut down and the other was too much of a lounge. We were pretty disappointed. But it was probably a good thing, because we got back to our hostel early and got a good night's rest, which was important for our first adventure of the morning...
Busan Aquarium Shark Dive
We went to the Busan Aquarium to dive with the sharks! It was such an incredible experience. We were suited up with scuba equipment, which in itself was exciting for me, because I hadn't done any sort of diving since my certification. Then headed into the tank with the sharks. Sadly we weren't able to actually swim around; we basically just walked along the bottom of the tank. But it was still amazing! The sharks were a bit intimidating, especially when they swam straight toward you, but they were so awesome to watch. Some were very curious, probably searching for food, which they equate with divers in their tank. Two of the sharks got so close to me that they brushed my leg. It was excellent! We also were able to see some groupers, which are huge fish. Fish bigger than most of the sharks, and fish that have eaten some of the sharks. I was more intimidated by those guys! And we were also able to check out some porpoises, which were so cute and playful. They were in a different tank, so we didn't get to really swim with them, but it was still good fun to watch them. My heart was beating quite rapidly the whole time for a mixture of fear, excitement and adrenaline.
We were also a source of entertainment for the crowds outside of the tanks. I think they might have been more excited to see us walking around than they were to see the animals. We did a little Gangnam Style rendition for them and waved to the smiling groups peering in. It was fun to see the children's faces light up when we acknowledged them. I shared some "high fives" with them as well.
After diving we checked out the aquarium, which was not the most impressive. Then we headed to the sand festival. I was hoping for some epic sculptures crafted from sand, but the works of art were more like giant drawings carved onto mountains of sand. It was still pretty impressive, but not quite what I expected.
Headed to Oedo
Oedo Botanical Garden
Last weekend I joined an excellent trip to Geoje and Oedo islands. They were both incredibly beautiful! It was quite a long drive, and we had a "bathroom" (smoke) break nearly every 20 minutes, but it was a lovely drive to the island. The first day we didn't get much beach time in, but were able to check out the gorgeous cliffs that plummeted into the ocean. And we headed to Oedo for its botanical garden. It was a really lovely little spot. We were allotted a decent amount of time in each place, but I could have stayed even longer to just soak in the views!
But my favorite part of the trip by far was dinner. We had a proper barbecue. And oh my goodness it was delicious! The organizers of the trip were from South Africa, and several attendees were South African as well. So those men took over the barbecue and cooked up scrumptious steaks, pork chops and lamb chops. And we had a delicious potato salad and green salad. And then we ended with a fabulous creation by South Africans... basically it was a grilled cheese sandwich, but a magical one. Two slices of bread house cheese, onions and tomatoes. Then a light spread of butter on the outside of the bread, and let it toast up on the grill until the cheese is ooey gooey melty. It was so good! I will definitely have to add some onions and tomatoes to my grilled cheese sandwiches more often. Just thinking about the meal makes me want to eat it all over again. Seriously the highlight of the trip!
The next day, we headed to a few sandy beaches, and I just enjoyed looking at the vast water stretch to the horizon. It was incredibly beautiful! At our second beach, we did a zip line across the ocean. My previous experience with zip lines is that they are a bit thrilling. However, this one moved fairly slow and was more about the view. It was also quite short. But it was a fun new adventure to zip line over an ocean, so I'm happy I was able to do it! Overall it was a nice trip.
Today, well Saturday, I didn't do too much except get a pedicure and prep for my visitor... Shanna is coming to Korea for a bit over a week, and she lands in a little over 12 hours! I am so incredibly excited to see her. It is going to be too much fun hanging out. Glorious!
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