soju remember the weekend?

       

Pig heads at the market, name plates at the International section of Busan, Jessie & Jane (they are both in their 30s!) - Every single person here literally throws a peace sign up in their pictures. Peace, man. I can't even complain. But yes, that is a stereotype deemed as accurate. On a side note.. did you know that only Korea, China, and Japan use chopsticks as their main utensil? Everywhere else in Asia, it is common to use forks. Ya learn something new everyday.

The picture on the far right - there was an entire strip of fortune tellers! You get one tarot card shuffle for about 3-4 bucks. Pretty neat. Jane got her fortune read and it was much longer than I'd expect for the price. I went to a palm reader once in Salem and that shit was like $35. I would have got my fortune read today but I wouldn't have any idea what the lady would have been saying, so I passed.

I FOUND THE BEACH! I was just hopping on and hopping off the subway and then I saw the word "beach" so naturally I tried to find it. I walked for about 35 minutes before I finally found it. It was truly a moment of euphoria. It was beautiful. The area near the beach is super cute too. There are a lot of shops and bars and statues. There are two other beaches in the area, according to the sign I found. I'll have to discover those areas one day soon. Being near a beach is truly a gift. I feel bad for people who don't have one that's easily accessible. The statues were cool and there was this one thing (pictured above) that said Happy New Year and it lit up at night. Along the light strings were little notes that people pinned up, I'm assuming resolutions. It was adorable.

Just some pictures of the city of Busan. The picture on the far right is of drip coffee. First of all, Koreans drink loads of instant coffee and if you go into one of the hundreds of coffee shops, anything besides an Americano is kind of pricey. Also, my Starbucks card doesn't work here. I need to write Starbucks an e-mail and complain because I'm only one star away from being a gold member! Psh. Anyways, I went out to lunch with two of my Korean co-workers where I had my very first Korean BBQ.. which was beyond delicious mind you. They kept bringing us mad side dishes. I loved it. Above the restaurant was a cafe where they had a huge display of drip coffee in the process. I thought it was really cool. Each container has a flag next to it, depending on what country the coffee came from. Little things like this easily put a smile on my face. I loved the atmosphere.

The cutest little salad dressings I ever did see - one is kiwi flavored!

Friday: My weekend began! I walked about two miles around Yangsan to discover... not much at all. There's a little river here where people seem to jog around but there really isn't all that much here if you're not downtown. I went to E-mart. E-mart is probably their biggest grocery store here but it also has clothes and other stuff. I'd compare it to a Wal-mart. It was so crowded though. That's one thing I really don't like is that no matter where you go, it's always crowded. It's not just that.. Koreans are flippin' RUDE. People will knock you out of their way, push, shove, what have you. I'm trying so hard not to spazz out on one of them. Like sheesh, calm it down. No need to push me. No one says excuse me. It's just really annoying. But I started just pushing back. Whatevs. I found a bunch of fun snacks; salt and seaweed pringles! Haven't tried 'em yet but they sound good. Also, there's these little stick things I see everywhere and they are dipped in chocolate or something. I found oreo ones, so I bought them. AMAZINGGGGGG. My suitcase will be filled with these when I go home. I didn't do much after shopping. My roommate went home so I celebrated by making myself a mimosa, blasting my music, and dancing around my apartment. I had a blast, all by myself.

Fun floor of the subway station

Just 1 section of the variety of headbands

Saturday: I headed to the subway to Busan to meet up with my co-workers. The subway stations here are awesome. Most of them have a level between the actual subway and the ground. Here you'll find an underground shopping plaza. Dozens of clothing shops, food joints, shoes, jewelery, etc. Things here are extremely cheap. You can find fun colored socks and super cute earrings for only a dollar. It's definitely a fun place to explore. Koreans are very stylish. The stores here, I'd say, have a better variety than your typical stores at home. Definitely a perk. While I was riding the subway, I finished my book "The Happiness Project." It's a book about this lady who made resolutions to better her lifestyle every month, thus making her happier. I loved it. And having read this, I want to kind of implement my own resolutions to maybe make myself a better person while I'm here. One thing being not to get grumpy when people push you into or out of the train. The days are long but the years are short, the author says. And that couldn't be put any better way. It's a book that I think everyone should give a go. Anyways, I met up with my co-workers, ate lunch.. shabing, shabang. Afterward, I did some real exploring. I found a market or two, but I aborted that mission pronto because it was fifteen times more crowded than your normal "crowded." This is the day I found the beach. I ate some more Korean BBQ with a man who spoke English that I randomly met that day. This time, on the outer part of the grill.. they put scrambled egg and some kind of sauce in it. It was different to see them put an egg in there but delicious, nonetheless. We drank Soju and beer, which is really popular

here. They call it "so-may". Wasn't too bad but boy does it creep up on ya! I also wanted to mention that Koreans find it rude if you tip them. Now, that's my kind of place. But also, at restaurants, there are buttons on the table and if you need service, you just hit the button. How much better is this?! America needs to get on that ASAP. Nobody likes the waitress interrupting your conversation to ask you how the food she didn't cook is before you even get to take a bite. Like faaa-real. Anywho, we went to a Karaoke bar. I don't know if they are all the same but this particular one you have your own room where you and your party get microphones, books to choose songs from, snacks, beer, and couches! It was really neat. They had sooooo many English songs but unfortunately didn't have Journey - Don't Stop Believin' (which I would think would be the most popular karaoke song of ever) but I sang Weezer - Say It Ain't So. It was incredibly hilarious and fun. I left after and apparently fell asleep on the subway home because some guy woke me up and I was at the very last stop, which fortunately for me, is in my city. Imagine if I got stuck in the middle of nowhere? Ha.

Sunday: Another subway ride to Busan to meet up with Jessie (my hotel roommate) and her friend, Jane! We did a lot of walking around and Jane was familiar with the

area so she showed us all the
good spots. Lots of markets. Lots of shopping areas. It was fun. This is where we discovered the street of fortune tellers. There were also a lot of street vendors selling typical things you'd find at a fair - french fries, kabobs, fruit kabobs, etc. It was fun. We eventually ventured up about four escalators to discover a super cool park, statues, and a tower. The Busan Tower. It only cost about 4 bucks to get access to the observatory and mannnnn, was it the highlight of my day. It was so beautiful! Being up so high and looking down on the city is one of my favorite things in the world. The view was absolutely astonishing. I'd compare it to the Griffith Observatory in California! You could even see the beach, which made it way better. Also outside of the tower, in the little area with all of the statues.. there was one of the walls that couples put locks on with a note about how they're going to stay together forever and blah blah. I've never seen one of those walls and have always wanted to. So, that was fun. What's funny is that I saw a sign for a tsunami getaway area here. Makes sense, since we were up so high. But when I was at the beach the day before, tsunamis crosses my mind. I feel like Asia is a commonplace for that to happen. Glad I know where I can find safety!

Let's end with something interesting - it is very common to see people wearing masks. You know, the ones that look like surgeon masks that probably protect them from germs. Even children will come to school with the masks! They sell hello kitty ones and other fun ones. I guess this is just part of their custom. The floors in my apartment are also heated, which is another common thing here. I guess it makes sense - you do need to take your shoes off before going inside. Heated floors is a must in my future Californian home.

And I'm out. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend like myself! (Oh PS: I learned so many new Korean words this weekend! Woohooo!)

This was cool. It was a list of the countries and their populations. India is above America, which I thought was interesting.

 

Super PS: I think my English is deteriorating. I need to find English friends so I can speak in full sentences. I have to cut out a lot of words so people can understand me.