Busan Fireworks 2007 Part 3 Finale

These are the last videos of the fireworks... The first one shows "snow" falling off of the bridge. This was one of the best things, it was just amazing to see... The show was just over 45mins long!!! There are no words or pictures to describe it.

Busan Fireworks 2007 Part 2

There were 80,000 fireworks in total according to one site. And over 1.3 million spectators were expected. At one point the music became soft, and as well the fireworks. I wish I had taken some still photos of the fireoworks, as there were so many at once, photos would have been perfect. But I was watching what I was seeing rather than trying to record good images.

Busan Fireworks 2007 Part 1

These are videos from the Busan Fireworks Festival 2007. It is the 3rd annual showing. The show lasted for an hour and was spectacular. I have never seen anything so beautiful. I went with my friend Misoog. There were many police officers who formed blockades on some of the roads that were too busy, so we had to make a few detours. Pain in the butt. However, these detours led us directly in front of the bridge, we got there JUST as the show started but we couldnt see much. Then we saw that there was a special area and wanted to know if we could still buy tickets for it. The guy near us said the tickets were free but that you had to get them online. Then the guy saw me and said that foreigners could go in, but not Misoog. So we go to the gateway and the guy sees me and we say in english we heard foreigners can go in without a ticket, and he says, yes. So we go into the special area and get to sit down.

Weekend of August 10, Fun in the Sun Pt 2

*** please note I am adding Korean to some of my blog entries when I have a chance to be on a Korean computer :) the Korean will be in {} after the english transliteration or word ie: horse {말 mal} or jjimjjilbang {찜찔방}

On Friday Min {민} came to visit me. I also got a call from Darren.

***SIDE NOTE: Darren is Canadian and married to a Korean (my friend Misoog)and they coincidently live in the Lotte Castle apts ( the ones where I live), about 1 minute walking away from me, and I see them occasionally. But before that… I had been getting emails from a guy named Cameron and was going to meet him and his friend Kris on a Friday evening. On the Thursday previous I had been walking home from Yoga when a foreigner comes up to me and asks if my name is Cecilia and if I live in Lotte Castle. I was shocked and said yes. He then explained to me that his friend Cameron had told him about me. So he was on his way to the bakery and I walked with him. He then invited me to his house where I met his wife, who I think is quite pretty might I add here, and she can paint wooo well, she does watercolors, and he told me that he was actually having Cameron and Kris over for a few drinks and snacks and that I was invited. So I went home and got showered and changed, and was supposed to show up at the house as a surprise. But somehow I happened to arrive at the same time as Cameron, Kris, and their Korean friend (who, had originally wanted Cecilia as her English name, but a friend of hers took it before she did). Anyways, we chatted and drank and ate.

~Darren and Misoog {미숙}~

Back to the call from Darren. He said it was Kris’ birthday. So I told Min that I wanted to see them for a bit since it was a birthday and such, so when I was walking down to meet Min I ran into Kris and Cameron going the opposite way, I was supposed to meet them at Cameron’s house but they were going to Darren’… So Min and I went to the E-Mart (which is kind of like superstore, department style, or like a 2 floor walmart or something, kind of like that but it has an entire grocery store in it, along with all the clothes, office supplies, refrigerators, electronics, sports and toys), and then took a taxi back up the hill (it’s a big hill and it was soo soo soo hot and humid, and taxi’s are really cheap… a 10 minute ride is about $2) to Darren’s. Min had brought cake, I made chocolates (oooh really good ones with caramel in them). And we ate and chatted, and drank a little. Then we went to a few foreign bars (I hate foreign bars) for a little more drinking (Koreans love to drink and the foreigners here love that)…

~Cameron on the left and Kris on the right~

~me and Alan, this guy that Dave (previous foreign friend who moved to Seoul) had introduced me to, I have bumped into this guy so many times, its weird, cause I hardly ever go to a foreign bar, but every time I go, he is there~

The next day, obviously after me sleeping in late :D, Min and I went to a jjimjjilbang {찜찔방} in Haeundae. It was a VERY hot day. Ok.

***SIDE NOTE again : A jjimjjillbang {찜찔방} (have I explained this before? Oh well here we go again) can vary but basically its like a spa, without the services. Makes no sense? Well… the better ones have a floor for a swimming pool, a floor for a gym and weight room, a public bath (everyone naked together- well, girls/guys separated- and there are various temperatures of pools), some sort of food service, and my favorite part the hot rooms. Hot rooms are small rooms that are made of different materials which keeps each room a different temperature. The materials include adobe, charcoal, amethyst, salt, stone, ice, etc. Another part of a jjimjjilbang {찜찔방} is that they have sleeping rooms, where you can just go to rest, sleep, read, watch tv. Some jjimjjilbangs {찜찔방} also have spa services such as massage, nails, various oriental treatments, and facials. They can also have an indoor golf range, kids playrooms, PC and video games rooms, areas for reading with a large assortment (small library size) of comic books and graphic novels. They are open every day, all hours of the day. Many people go and spend the night there.

Hot day. So many people were at the beach in Haeundae.

***SIDE NOTE: Beaches in Korea are done kind of differently than in North America. There are tons of these beach umbrellas that cover a large portion of the beach, but they do not belong to the people going to the beach. During the summer season the government designates a certain area and umbrella sellers use that area to rent out umbrella space as well as chairs. These umbrella sellers then pay the government for using the space on the beach.

So I don’t think this beach business is that fun. But thats ok, I found a great alternative. As I was beginning to say I went with Min to this jjimjjilbang {찜찔방} in Haeundae. Before we went to the jjimjjilbang {찜찔방} we walked to the beach to see the water. It was crazy, sooo many people! Anyways, just as we get to the beach the lifeguards announce that everyone has to get out of the water. The waves were getting quite harsh and at a certain point they kick the people out of the ocean. Haha. So we left and went to the jjimjjilbang. This is a special one. Its called Vesta Spa. It has two pools on the roof as well as plenty of space to tan. The pools are small, one is cool, just exactly the right temperature for a hot day, and the other is warm like bath water, but not too hot. The pools overlook Haeundae beach. So while Im up on the roof with VERY few people there, I can look down at all the silly people at the beach getting all sandy and uncomfortable, and being all squished with sooo many people. It was great. It was so perfect, almost like being in the Dominican… Just lovely. So finally we leave and stop off at a chicken place called Mexican Chicken – wait, no its not Mexican, it tastes nothing like Mexican anything, for some reason they just call it Mexican Chicken. Anyways, I like the chicken {닭 dak}there. Boneless and with a spicy sweet sauce. We take the chicken outside under some trees and watch people.

~roof of the jjimjjilbang~

~me reading in the cool pool on top of the jjimjjilbang~

~Min and I in the warm pool~

Then we get end up on a free shuttle to a stadium for horse {말} races. Min said they had a small festival going on. As soon as we got there tho, everyone was leaving the race track. They cancelled the last races because one of the jockeys had fallen off of his horse and was trampled to death. It turns out that this did not happen at the stadium we were at, but at one of the other ones in Korea. The little festival still went on. It wasn’t a very exciting festival, but there were some stations for kids to make things, but being me, I had to make something. So we went and I made a tea light jelly candle!!! It smells like super sweet candy tho :p but it was fun to make. So we walked around, then sat down and finished eating the rest of the chicken {닭}from earlier.

~a lighted archway at the stadium, at the far end is where the race tracks are~

~these lights on the trees were so cool, they canged colors and kind of made the tree look like it was on fire~

We left after this and went to wait for Min’s friend Red (see Aug 4 entry about Red). Red’s family owns a motel {모텔 motel}(motels are totally different than in North America, they are more like hotels, very nice and neat and clean, usually quite nice looking, often better than a Holiday Inn, and are very cheap) and Red works there as well. So he had to do some room cleaning before we could go for late dinner. Waited hours. I was very hungry, and if you know me, you prolly know that I get bitchy if I don’t eat regularly and sometimes I get sick. Well we waited forever… I still don’t understand why we didn’t just go to the place and then Red could show up when he was done. Anyways… When he finally came down we went to the restaurant. I brought my book with me, I was very pissy. Anyways, I was planning not to drink, I just didn’t feel like it. But there were these older ladies (ajumma {아줌마}in Korean) and in typical Korean (and Min) fashion, Min starts sharing our galbi {갈비}with them (galbi {갈비}is a kind of beef that is sort of bbq’d, sort of… I will try to get a picture). So Min is talking to the women and Red and I are eating and talking. The women kept offering soju {소주} to us, and were somewhat excited about a foreigner, telling me about how they have a daughter who is away to Austrailia. So we eat and drink and chat with them.

~Red on the left and Min on the right - I dont know why they are laughing~

~the ajummas and me~

August 4th-Fun in the Sun Pt.1

There is a website, pusanweb.com, that has various information about Busan. It has calendars with festival information, movie reviews, forums and places for listing ads of various sorts. Now, most of the people that I know do not live in Busan, they live in Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Ulsan, etc. So I had posted two ads, one for looking for more tutoring work and another looking for people in Busan to chat with and such. ANYWAYS, from the people who contacted me, one had been a regular to the pusanweb site. This is Min. I liked this photo, I think its in Aussie.

They were planning on having a beach party in Busan, but not at one of the popular beaches, Haeundae, Gwanganli, but to somewhere that is a little more out of the way and popular with locals. We were supposed to have a beach party. So I went to where I was supposed to meet people, right on time might I add, and of course, being on “Korean time” I had to wait for a little bit. Min shows up (the guy who had invited me) and we go with his friend (nicknamed Marine Boy cause he was in the Korean marines) to pick up a tent (?) and food for BBQ. We finally get to the beach, and its not really a beach, but a rocky shore… hmmm. Not like over the mountain in the valley… Kind of like at Peggy’s Cove, but the rocks aren’t smoothed out from the waves (im talking about the part of Peggy’s Cove down by the water, where the rocks are uneven and you have to like, climb over them). Anyways, so there were a good number of people there but they were decently spread out. Everyone had little tents set up, for changing or keeping stuff, one group of girls said they were staying overnight. So as soon as the tent was up I changed and we went to the water. It was sooo cold. The waves were fun tho. But lots of salty water in my eyes. Lots of tiny fish but you couldn’t feel them. But I could feel the seaweed and I yelped every time it touched me or I touched a seaweedy rock, of course I did. The water was sooo cold. By the time we had gotten to the “beach” the sun had gone in, so it was hot and muggy but not sunny hot for swimming. Once I got out, I was out btut he boys kept going back to swim. Marine Boy (they say marine more like Ma-rin) is like a fish :)

This pic is who I was with, some of Min's family and some of Marine's family.

So then out comes the little bbq, and the boys start to cook the meat, most people like bigger pieces of meat but they cut it little for me :) soo sweet :) So we eat meat, and mushrooms, and weird sausages. Sharing the meat with anyone who happens to walk by. And we drink the bottle of Dominican rum that I brought from.. ta-da! the Dominican Republic. Very good.

Min, me, & Marine eating... oooh look at me with the chopsticks, everyone in Korea is always surprised that I can use then- and use them well!

The second pictureis one of the ladies Min stopped and offered meat to. And Rum. She was funny. She owns a traditional Korean restaurant near this place.

Another friend shows up for a little bit. But barely says anything to me, and doesnstay very long…

Then another friend comes. This friend, who apparently now, we are calling Red or Marlboro Man (??) and they start talking and apparently arguing. Min says they are just talking about highschool stuff, girl this & that, etc. But the “innocent” arguing ends up making Marine Boy leave. Not impressed. So we hang out there some more, Red brings a cool battery lighty things. And when we start to clean up, he makes me like the statue of liberty or something, I get to hold the light, that was my job :P it was very dark by this time.

(oh, by this point I have already changed out of the swimsuit into red fitted tee and short black skirt that my mum bought me)

we go to a bar, have a little soju and chicken I think… maybe pork… and Red says he is sleepy (he was out drinking all day with work people I think) So Min and I drink for a bit and eat the chicken stuff.
Very nice day.
Ok now I have the pics. Yay. I cant find the ones I took of the shore tho. I will check my camera after Jeju Island!!! and post if I find them :p

Cirque Du Soleil

You all must be so excited. I know. I suck. But anyways. Here's the new update.

I've been here a while but this post will just be about my recent trip to Seoul.

I went to Seoul to see Cirque Du Soleil. If you dont know what that is, I am ashamed. Cirque Du Soleil was started the year I was born (coincidence? I think NOT!) and has exploded internationally with permanent shows in various locations worldwide. I went to see it. I've been wanting to see it for ages, but of course never really had the opportunity. Some of you might know that in order for me to go to Korea I have to make up an itinerary. I had to list places that I want to go every month, in detail, explaining how I would get there and everything. Well. When I was looking for places to go or see or do, I found out that Cirque Du Soleil was playing. Now, that show they were doing was called Quidam. Which I wasnt too excited for, but the show could have been about anything and I still would have gone.

***Note: Although not yet mentioned in any part of my blog as I suck and I havent posted, Kenny (actually He has I think 5 different names... thats a story I will tell when I write an engtry about that situation) is someone I was seeing before I went back home. And I went to see him in Seoul as he JUST moved there to take some course. The way they do school here confuses me. Everyone is always doing some kind of course for some reason. ***

Kenny and I were supposed to go up at the the same time but since he was supposed to start his class on the 1st of June he went on Thursday and I left Friday Morning. Anyways. I go to Seoul. Easy easy now! Walk down the street (in my very pretty pink lily halter style dress and white sandles) and get blisters from the damn shoes (in a 5 minutes walk- no less), I take the 1/2 hr subway ride to Busan Station, where the train leaves from, and as usual I get there in perfect time. I purchase my ticket (48,000 won) with 20 minutes to spare, buy some snacks and go get on the train. I slept for most of the way. 3hrs later I arrive in Seoul and Kenny has flowers for me! Korea does flowers differently than in Canada... We give single flowers wrapped or a bouquet usally also wrapped. In Korea, very common are these sticks under 2 ft long. The stick/stem is wrapped in a paper tightly, like how you'd wrap a cylindrical gift. On one end are the flowers. But they put a whole bunch of lace and ribbon and other fluffy stuff under it. He then tries to figure out how ti get me to a bank, which by the time we finally got to one, we had to leave in order to make it to the circus on time.

So we go to the circus. OMG I am so excited. The frustration from trying to find a bank melts away. I get some kind of icecream brioche (which wasnt really a brioche but it was good anyways) and Kenny gets a cheese dog. Strange snacks for something like this type of event. I was disappointed, and always am, in the number of people who dress far too casually for an event. The amount of work that the people pu into these things, it seems disrespectful. I've always thought this and therefore I always dress up for musicals, plays, etc. AND if you know what Cirque Du Soleil is, you KNOW its NOT a circus. But saying circus is just the easiest way to explain. Anyways. we get in. The seats are pretty good. We had to purchase tickets that were the second cheapest because the others were sold out. But because we went to the afternoon show (4pm) we got a discount. The show cost 61,000 won.

The show was amazing. My favorite part, by far, was the statues. I had seen this on TV but it was nothing like in real life.

That girl kicks total ass. AND she didnt even look muscular! yes! Easily one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. My other favorite was the ropes/ribbons. A woman did the ribbons part in the first 1/2 of the show and in the second 1/2 the ropes part was added in. These have a highlight of having the performers wrap the rope/ribbon around themselves and then drop from the top of the tent (Cirque Du Soleil performs in a big top tent, yellow and blue stripes) to about 2 feet off of the floor. Another part of the show had a mime ask for volunteers. This happened twice. The first time he had a girl come up on the stage and pretended they were on a date in his car. It was really funny when he was offended that she "walked through" the car to sit on the chair, rather than use the "car's door". This continued on, and she was actually pretty good about it, bouncing around in her sear as if they were listening to really good music. The second time, they had a few Koreans act out this 'movie'. They have an old man come on stage with the "Act One" board scratch his bum and belly (which he was very animated about doing). One guy was in love with the girl. He stomps out his cigarette and mimes his love for her. She acts all sexy like, wiggling her hips (being Korean she barely did anything) and beckoning him. Another guy looks in through thr front door, he brought flowers for her. When he sees them kiss (the first guys dips the girl, no, they dont know each other, and makes it really look like they are kissing) he throws a tantrum on the floor and jumps on the flowers. He then pulls out a gun and shoots the first guy. In a dramatic death the first guy moves his hands like his guts are spurting out. He then proceeds to thread out all of his intestines and then uses then to jump rope before dying. The girl goes over, drinks a potion and dies. End scene.

So after the show I of course go to the shop, nervous about what the prices will be like. I end up buying a hardcover 'program' which was really just a book of beautiful pictures of the acts and maekup as well as a history of Cirque. 10,000 won. not bad at all. The soft cover version was 6,000. but I figured the extra 4 was worth it. I took pictures of all of the masks that they had on display, as well as a couple of the shirts (they cost 72,000 won) so that I could take the photos to the place that made Sean's shoes. Damn. I need to post about that as well. Ill add a link to my sony website albums for all my Korea pics. So that they can see about making me a copy of the shirt.

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Went to Namdaemoon, which is a wholesale market that is only open at night time. That was soooooo cool. Apparently the women who have shops in Busan go to this market and bring the clothes back to Busan. At one point Kenny spent prolly 1/2 hr on the phone without telling me what was going on, leaving me to wait. After a short while I got fed up and texted that I was leaving for a walk. About 10 minutes later he called me to find out where I was and tried to explain something about someone from his class in his last semester. But of course I didnt listen, and told him that. He apologized, alot. And we finished shopping, I actually found clothes that fit me. And Kenny picked up some runners. Finally went back to the hotel.

Saturday, went out to Burger King because it was close and I was hungry. Of course, it was past the breakfast hour so I had chicken tenders. Much better than in NA. Went to look for the cell phone that I want. But of course. No one has the phone I was in GSM. Damn it. They all say, oh you can get that in NA. for over 600$. boo hiss. Will ask the cell ppl at LG in Busan about it. Then went to the COEX. Which I was told was this huge mall. It was a big mall. But it was only one floor, and nothing like say... the West Edmonton mall. The stores were nice and decent prices mostly. Picked up a new compact, nail polish and this kind of hair conditioning spray.

While we were walking to meet with Kenny's best friend, this girl comes up to me and says "Cecilia?". I had been talking online with people all over Korea, as I love to chat. And one of the people was this girl in Seoul. She had gone to the mall to see Thierry Henry the soccer player from France. She had initially started chatting to me when she saw my pictures posted on a website similar to myspace. She recognized me from pictures she had seen of me. I was told there are 10 million people in Seoul. So the chances that I would run into someone I know was 1 in 10 million, but I did!. We invited her to meet with us for dinner after she saw the soccer player. We went with Kenny's friend to Bennigan's. As we were finishing she came and had risotto and

we all chatted for a long time. People came and ate and left before we finished! She had to get home early because she lives on the other side of Seoul from where we were staying. Her personality is so much like mine. A bit on the dramatic side, loud, talkative, and georgeous. When I spoke with her late Sunday night about the weekend, it turned out that she had gotten to meet Thierry Henry. They chatted and she had a bunch of pics taken.

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So we continue on the subway after saying goodbye and go out drinking and eating. We had some sort of carbonated rum and cold red tea mixture, which was actually really good. Then peach soju, a personal favorite. On Sunday I had wanted to go see Pirates of the Caribbean, but being myself, I didnt wake up til late and didnt have enough time before I had to catch my train to go visit a friend in Daejeon (well, really he's in Jeonju but meeting in Daejeon).

Meeting up was difficult. It seems Korean men like to make things difficult, whereas the women (at least those that I know), are much more simple about figuring things out, all easy, no big hassles. strange, I know. I wont go on about it but for some reason figuring the trains was difficult. But anyways, I got there and he (Paul in english, 이 동 열 --Lee Dong-Yul --in Korean, remember last name is first here and do you see Yul? like last year's hot Korean lawyer survivor winner) met me. (I think this is new that blogger is allowing Korean letters) Anyways. We went to see Pirates 3 even tho he saw it before. I said we should see something else but he said he really liked it so it was ok, plus he knew how much I wanted to see it. Before the movie had a weird smoothie. It was like yogurt mixed with shaved ice with the raspberry (of course) stuff on it. After it melted a little and became more like a smoothie it was pretyt good. Very very very good movie. I know it was like 3h but it didnt seem like that. After the movie went to get my train ticket to go back to Busan and we ate hotdogs. Now, not like hotdogs at home, this is why I mentioned the hotdogs in the first place. Like a cross between a hotdog, sausage (the skin was like a sausage), and pepperoni stick (the meaty ones, not the dry ones that I prefer). Anyways. Its by Steffdog or something...Anyways. mine was rolled like those pillsbury hotdog roll things, but was totally filled with, drum roll please, cheese sauce. Which I adore in case you didnt know. I could drink the stuff. Last time I went to the theatre with Kenny when I bought my nachos he asked the guy for extra cheese sauce (I didnt know he did this. I asked him to order cause I dont really always like to say things in Korean, esp when its an english word that they pronounce different. like cheese, so I paid and omg soooo much cheese) I could have died! Anyways. Paul said sorry for such a silly meal but I was excited by the cheese sauce and said so! There was so much. Dripping everywhere. A bit messy, but fun :)

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I took the train back to Busan, got in at around 11pm. Very Very good weekend.

Alright then, I know I havent written anything in a long while so there's no sense in writing a novel about everything that has happened. So maybe I can give you a short version of somethings.

Eunice, the woman I work for, introduced me to someone in her class and all during February I spent much time with him. This would be Dae Jeong. Around this time I also ran into a woman who lives downstairs. I had met her previously in October and this time when I spoke with her she asked to invite me for lunch the next day to meet her daughter, Yuna.

The month of February is a month off for students, so I spent most of my spare time with Yuna and Dae Jeong. For the most part with Dae Jeong we just watched movies, ate, drank, and walked around. Yuna helped me get a bus pass and we also mostly just ate and chatted. In Korea it seems everyone eats out all of the time because its incredibly cheap to eat out. I dont think I ever paid more than 11$ and usually it was just 4$. Yuna and I also went to Gyeongju which is another city near Busan that is extremely popular for its historical sites, making it perfect for foreigners and Korean tourists alike. I will add a link for pictures.

A week before I left Korea I went out to have a bit to drink with my Canadian friend Dave. I had met him accidently through Dae Jeong. Dae Jeong had told me about this Canadian guy who sometimes went to this bar that he (Dae Jeong) liked to go to. So one night when we had gone there (the bar's name is Cuba and its kind of a foreigners bar except that not many foreigners go there, it just seems that everyone who goes there can speak English) we ran into Dave. Since then I was hanging out with him. Anyways. As I was saying, on this particular night when I had gone out with Dave for a bit to eat and drink. He had invited one of his friends to meet up with us and his friend Chris came with his Korean friend who goes by Kennan in English. So I end up chatting with Kennan for quite some time and he says that he's supposed to go meet up with a couple of his friends soon. I convince him to have them meet us at the bar where we are and they come. So now at the bar is me, Dave, Chris, Kennan, and Kennan's 3 friends (English names Kenny, Irene, and ??). We all drink for a bit more and then head out to a foreigner bar (as you may have noted from previous posts I dont really do the foreigner bar or foreign friends thing but this night was really fun and anyways, I just go along with other people). Anyways, I hit it off with Kenny and end up spending most of the following week with him before I left to go home. He even went with me to Seoul all the way to the airport to see me off :) This picture here is Kenny with his dog (yes thats a pure bred Husky), General (I cant remember the Korean word for it). The dog lives at a separate property which is maybe a 10 minute drive from where I live. Kenny visits and plays with the dog everyday. While all of Korea is surrounded by mountains this location has houses rather that tall apartment and business buildings. All winding roads and absolutely beautiful views. When I go back during the day I will try to get a couple pix.