Lantern Festival in Jinju

Hello to all my family and friends,

So last weekend I went over to Jinju, where one of my friends live.  They were having a Lantern festival! I got to the city around sunset and this is what greeted me:

We had dinner and I got my own personal tour of Jinju, courtesy of my friend Jackie.

 After walking around the town a little bit, it finally got dark and they started lighting up the lanterns. So this is what the festival actually looked like: (left)

If you notice in the water there are smaller floating lanterns that you can send off yourself. They are supposed to symbolize your hopes and dreams. Very cool and fun idea.
Jackie and I met up with a couple more friends and then we hung out on the riverside for about an hour thinking there would be fireworks. Apparently there are none on the last day.

 So we went through a few tunnels that were made of lanterns. It gave off a really cool light and it was fun just to walk through. After the initial lantern tunnel (right) we came upon another lantern tunnel but this one was filled with handmade personalized lanterns.

 Aren't they cool! I took a lot of fun pictures here and then my camera gave out on me. It just stopped working and would only start again after I swore at it, beat it and removed the battery. Such a fickle machine.

 While we were walking around looking at all the lanterns. We saw a really cool dragon one and it also was moving and blowing smoke. So I removed my battery and started taking pictures again. And while I was taking pictures this little boy came up to the fence and started acting like he was defending us from the evil dragon. He was so cute and he posed and everything. Check out the brave knight: ------>


He even had a stick and everything :)

 

 

 We kept exploring the festival and crossed the river twice. That was fun because you got to walk on the equivalent of barrels. So the whole experience was quite whobbly. We finally got over to the castle grounds right after shooting off some hand fireworks. (Very fun, and all the Koreans watched us and laughed because we were crazy foreigners afraid of our own fireworks). Anyways there were some fun lanterns on the castle grounds and I even found some that represented the animals of the Chinese calendar.

 There was an area as well where you could write your hopes and dreams on a little piece of fabric and then glue it onto a lantern. We came right as they were closing down so we were really lucky that they allowed us to do one more. There were so many of these 'dream' papers on the large lanterns that some were hung like dreadlocks off the heads and any raised area. Pretty cool but that kinda made the lanterns unrecognizable. It was still fun.

We finished our exploration of the castle around 11:45pm and I was a little concerned about getting a bus because we ran into a couple of foreigners who told us good luck trying to get out of Jinju. It was the last night of the festival and everyone was there. I got to the terminal and when I first got to the counter the ticket person just waved me away. I tried to figure out what he was trying to tell me and as I was looking at the boards to find my city a drunk guy came up to 'help'. Well I said my city and he told me to follow him. He proceeded to yell at the ticket person, he grabbed my 10, 000 won mark and tried to get me a ticket. Well the ticket person came out and told me that there was a bus outside which took cash only, no ticket. The drunk guy was still yelling at the ticket man through the window and he still had my money. So while he was distracted I slipped the money from his grasp and shuffled away, as the drunk guy kept yelling obscenities. I found the right bus and was able to get home around one thirty in the morning. Kinda crazy but I'm happy nothing bad happened, like me getting utterly lost.

It was a blast, the whole weekend. And good news, I went into a Sony shop and let them take my camera. Hopefully they will be able to fix it. Thankfully, I kept the receipt so they said that it will be free. Unless they can't fix it, but it will still be free. Well thats all for now.
Find your adventure, everyone!

Occasionally Boring... not this week

This last week was the BIFF or Busan International film festival. The only reason it is international is that it includes china or at least that is the only other nation I saw represented there. Granted, I only stayed for about half an hour.

 

Here is me with Alisa

 

Alisa, Hannah, Jinny, Me :)

 Oh Busan :)

I went with the girls from work and we stood around waiting to see a famous actress that I didn't know. And after we took a few quick shots of her, we left and just started taking pictures of ourselves next to posters. My camera is having a tantrum and decided to stop working again... so pictures are limited. (I am going to a sony place next week).

Anyways, after we experienced the full array of poster backgrounds and exhausted our options of posses we could do infront of them.... we did what the only real other activity you can do in Busan which was shopping.
We hit an underground mall. That was fun, I found a really cool backpack and earrings. I thought I had done well and was leaving with the girls when they all stopped and said that we had to stop at a particular shop. This just so happened to be an underwear store. Well, I'm supportive so I go in. I look at some possible bra and panty sets and one of the girls tell me that they can find my size in anything. Still supportive yet trying to dogde the awkwardness of telling anyone your size, I tell them I don't know my size. For everyone to know: DON'T tell a group of fashion fanatic girls that you don't know your size. They will find out for you, even to the point of taking out a measuring tape and measuring you in front of a bunch of strangers and everyone else outside the very large window of the shop. Then they will proceed to discuss your size in a language you can only guess at. Awkward but entertaining to say the least.

On Sunday I was asked to tag along with some friends to explore Goeje (port town). Despite my misgivings I went along. The evening was fun and I got to see the ocean for real and the above shot. It looked like a castle across the see but actually it was a boat construction site. Really cool!

Thats all this week, next weekend is conference. We are a week behind because the Koreans wait for the translation so I'll be watching that next sunday.

Oh funny story this last sunday:
I was walking up the steps to get to enter the church building and the Bishop was there to meet me. He pointed at me and said 'YOU!' His english isn't that spectacular but I'm supportive and so I patiently waited to find out the rest of his sentence. He continued 'you...date....' I nodded thinking he was going to ask me about a time for something. 'You...date... need... single no' At this point I just started laughing and nodded and tried to reassure him that I was ...kinda... trying...er not; but I at least I smiled at his show of concern for my singleness. The whole situation just made me laugh and thankfully I was able to quickly escape to the chapel. Oh good times.

Welp that's all for this week...till next time

Chuseok and Bloody Cotton candy

Happy Chuseok everyone!

So Chuseok is the equivalent to Thanksgiving for Americans but it happens in the beginning of October as opposed to November. I got a few days off which was nice except for the fact that traveling was a living nightmare so I didn't even try it but I did have a little bit of an adventure.

I began the holiday with a few of my coworkers. We drove out to Busan, one of my coworkers has a car which makes for a nice ride, if you enjoy k-pop. We also left Masan at midnight. Still not sure if that was the best of ideas but there you go. Takes an hour to get to busan and by the time we got there all the bars were filled....darn ( -_-) So we walked around the beach for a while and enjoyed the lights that were on the bridge across the water way. Finally after about an hour a bar had room for us at.. the.. bar... weird, anyways I got a wonderful Pineapple Sunrise (non-alcohol) and my friends drank to their hearts content. While at this bar I was hit on by a number of Korean guys, most of them couldn't speak that much english and I was even grabbed off my bench and danced with a few of them. Well, they grabbed me off the bench, I stood there and they danced around me for a few seconds before I figured a way to escape and at the first chance I got I ran for it. Terrifying to say the least.

We left the bar around four in the morning and went to a ramien spot where I tried to pass out on the bench, unsuccessful. But it did encourage the others to think that we need a place to sleep for a bit. We tried to find a place but everything was too expensive, so we all got the bright idea to just sleep in the car. They left the music (k-pop) on the whole time....so you can say I had a rough time sleeping. Around seven the driver was sober enough to drive home.
All in all, I really enjoyed the experience. It was fun to be out late and everything was exciting but I am not sure I would do it again, maybe.

The rest of Chuseuk, I was invited to a few dinners by families from the ward and that was really nice. I didn't feel like doing too much though, so I went out and bought a puzzle which I finished in about two days (I'm rounding up). Finally after not doing anything for two days I felt guilty enough to go out and search for adventure.
I called up a friend and she and I went to Busan together. We went to the aquarium and walked along the coastline. It was really nice to get out.
I think the best story from that trip was the bloody cotton candy. There was a small theme park next to beach in Busan and while we were checking it out we ran into a cotton candy maker. It was a fairly good price, and you guys know how much I like cotton candy! So we ordered two, the first one was mine and it was good. Then as the guy was making my friend's, he hurt himself pretty bad. but he kept making the candy! Well, I've got a video of it so you check it out:

well the video didn't work so I will post it on facebook later

Here is an after shot though :)

Crazy huh? Well we had a good laugh over it and it is a good thing my friend had such a good humor about it. I would have been a little more concerned. Yeah, icky.

Busan for a last Hurrah

So my co-foreign teacher decided to get on with his life and follow his dream; he went out and got a real job with a gaming company. You can only imagine the extent of my jealousy. Anyways, this last weekend was his last weekend here before he moved on to Paris, France. (yeah, jealous). And it was decided to that we would explore Busan, for a last hurrah.

Our plan was to get to the Nampo Dong market, which was supposed to be the largest market in the southern area of Korea; then get over to Centum City (the largest Department Store in Korea), and then end up at Haeundai Beach (best concentration of foreign resaurants). Naturally plans never really go through perfectly. o_O

First we left early and got their before noon with all the energy and determination of all great adventurers. We found the subway just fine and started looking for our stop on the map. While looking we were approached by a Korean guy whose english wasn't bad. He kindly pointed out what stop we needed to go to after we explained where we wanted to go. I thought I said Nampo, he thought I said Nopo. (Two very different places.)

Well, thirteen stops later we got off at the Nopo Dong stop and started looking for the famous 'huge' market. We did find a market but it wasn't that big and we were the only foreigners there. It felt like a black market really, there was a lady who waved us away when we tried to take pictures of her caged chickens and ducks. Probably because there were about thirty chickens and ducks in one cage.

 
After a while we figured that where we were wasn't really the area we needed to be or wanted to be. So we started exploring the area more and more to find the 'huge' market. We walked all around the station and even called a couple friends. Joel wanted to keep walking around but I knew we had to ask someone or we would be walking around for nothing. I found a tourist counter and the lady helped us realize our big mistake. The stop we wanted was in the opposite direction we originally came from. So we had to take the subway back and Joel was getting to the point where he didn't care. But we were stalwart and got to the market.

This place was huge! It was a few city blocks long and a few wide. Picture yourself in a small town of small markets and booth stacked up against each other. Shops everywhere and the free places filled with people  with tables and wares ready to smile and nod to whatever you say as long as your buying. It was intense and they had socks galore! I ended up buying like a dozen, they were cheep too! We spent a pretty good time there.

The rest of the day went as planned, ending the evening meeting up with the rest of the guys at Haundai beach. We had a burger all together and then I left them to catch a bus back to Masan. 


This last thursday, we had a party for Joel where we all went out and had sangipsa and then headed to a Noribong. Sangipsa is like roasted meat that you roast yourself at your table and a Noribong is basically like a Karaoke bar but you have your own room. Yes they even got me up to humiliate myself and sing, thankfully all of them were drinking.

That's all for this week, next week we have a five day break and I still have no plans to fill the time. I am sure I figure something out.

till next week

True Typhoon

Hey everyone!

So I finally got my wish! I experience a true typhoon/ hurricane!

Typhoon Sanben hit South Korea this last monday and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the streets outside had been flooded with water. And like any responsible logical and danger sensitive adult, I went out into it. :)

My friend Joel, who also lives in the same building as I do texted me while I was hanging halfway out my window (watching people getting blown this way and that, and cars backing up to get away from the really bad streets). Joel said he was going out because he needed food, so I quickly checked my fridge and decided I needed juice, you can't live without juice. So I met him at the entrance of our building. I was ready in shorts and a waterproof bag and my camera in hand. Joel showed up with his umbrella, that thing didn't last more than a minute in the wind. Heck! We were drench after the first few steps. While we were crossing the streets the water got all the way up to my thighs, it was intense. I think I scared Joel a little, because I was laughing and having the time of my life out there in the torrential rain.

The store owner wasn't too happy to see us, but we got what we 'needed' and met a friend on the way back. At least I wasn't as crazy as this friend, his plan was get to the beach. He ended up falling half way into an uncovered manwhole, scrapped up his leg pretty bad. I think his main concern would be bacteria and filth.

I mentioned before that I brought my camera with me before. Well, apparantly a camera and a typhoon (you know flooding water and rain everywhere) isn't a good mix. After the last picture of Joel in thigh deep water, my camera decided to die.

"You lost another camera?" said my friend David at work the next day. I think that sums up a little of my feelings there. But good news everyone! Rice really does work! My camera was put into intensive care for about three days. Thankfully, he was able to pull through. So no, I didn't lose another camera, HAH! And I got great pictures, so it was worth the risk.

When I got home I immediately took a shower, the streets on normal days are filthy; I can only imagine how dirty that water was. After cleaning up, I got about four texts from my coworkers telling me to stay inside and be safe, hah.

Also work was canceled. Which was really nice, though by the time I would normally go to work the weather was back to normal and the water was gone. It is still nice to only have a four day week though.

Apart from the typhoon, this week was a good week. I went shopping with one of my Korean co-workers on Saturday in an underground mall. That was pretty awesome.

Well, everyone stay safe and don't go out into potentially dangerous storms unless you bring your camera.

No Water

So I think Big Brother exists in South Korea. Yesterday I was woken up to a loud speaker in my ceiling. It was a woman's voice and as far as I know she was saying the world was about to end. Along with her insistent voice they added a loud buzzer to make sure their was no possible way for you to sleep any longer. I immediately checked outside to make sure it wasn't a evacuation drill and seeing that no one was rushing toward the stairs I shrugged and went about my business. Well it turns out that the in-home announcement was about the water was shut off. And I really needed to take a shower. :(
So I had an extra bottle of drinking water and therefore took my first shower with bottled water. I felt fresh and clean, like a mountain stream!
What really bothered me is that I have a speaker in my room that allowes the 'higher-ups' to wake me whenever they decide and there is also a light as well that I have no control over which has turned on randomly throughout the time I have been here too. I tell you it is a conspiracy.... I wonder if they have cameras too? hmm, note to self stop walking around in my underwear. ;) (like you wouldn't do it if you lived alone too!)

Anyways, this last week was a stresser for sure but despite how it turned out I was quite proud that I survived it. This last weekend, I was part of a talent show, I had a talk to give during sacrament meeting and I got to teach a lesson in my Young Womens group. A lot to prepare for, but I did it and though the talent show was an epic fail in performance on my part the rest of it went really well.

The talent show, I was kindly forced to dance a choreographed dance with the other single adults in my ward. We had practiced a lot except for the 'couples' dance that I was also elected for, I got to the church early to practice it with my partner. Well my partner didn't show up until like an hour before the show started and he decided to practice another dance with the young men. In other words we got to the stage, I knew what to do but he didn't and so it was a huge flop but I didn't really care, I am just happy it is over. The other dances went well and some of them were really fun. The missionaries dressed in traditional Korean style dress, one a man and the other in girl cloths and they sang this song that was two old couples argueing. It was hilarious. I'd have pictures but one of the elders needed an SD card so I lent him mine and he hasn't returned it yet.  So pictures to come :)

Besides that my talk went well and the lesson was a success as well.
This week as well, I hung out with a more variety of people. I went to a mexican..well korean/mexican resaurant and that was tasty. I also hung out with my fellow english teachers who are the koreans and that was fun:

The center is Jinny and the right side is Hannah. Super sweet girls :)

That is all for now! Have a great week everyone and go find some adventures!

Typhoons!!!

Amazing I got this far, but I've hit the half-way point... well technically that was about a week ago. Anyways YAY for 6 months!

This week we had a typhoon, and when I say this week I mean last week, like last tuesday. I was so excited, I thought it would be cool to see a typhoon which is a hurricane basically with a different name. This one inparticular before it came everyone said it is one of the most powerful to hit us in like ten years. The last one of the same magnitude killed seven people, so naturally I was rearing for a fearsome storm that would scare me out of my witts and then give me a good story afterwards.

I took pictures of people's preparation for Bolaven (typhoons name) below:

So people taped up the windows.

And there were sandbags everywhere.


Multiple people told me not to go out the night before. ( Like I go out and stuff past 12 on daily basis )


Well. Bolaven hit around three in the morning and I was sure it would wake me but it didn't. And so I woke up to just a windy day, where I've experienced worse in Rexburg Idaho. Total disappointment! I was so excited and then the stupid storm couldn't muster enough power to wake me up. Maybe I really can sleep through anything.

I was able to take a picture of the aftermath, though really I think there was another problem with this roof and the typhoon just gave the extra push to make it collapse.

In the end I don't think that the Typhoon merited the hype that everyone gave it. There was another typhoon that hit this week but it was a weaker one, so it was just a day with sprinkling of rain and a little wind. Sheesh! Come to Washington, I can show you what a real rainstorm is like or come to Rexburg, there are great examples of wind there. Whatever, disappointing.

Besides that, I have been coned into doing a couple of dances for the Ward talent show and I have  a talk this coming sunday. So there is a lot on my plate right now but I thought I should update everyone before the week is out.

Everyone, smile more.