Buddha's Birthday weekend and the Lotus Lantern Festival...

 I recently had a free weekend which was the perfect opportunity to explore Busan. I really needed clothes, as I could only bring a certain amount of clothing over from South Africa. The majority of what I brought was winter clothes and I also had stocked up on my years supplies – deodorant, toothpaste, hair dye, medication from antibiotics to strepsils. My bathroom cabinet looks like I am ready to open my own mini pharmacy. Because I brought so much stock, I didn’t have enough space for extra clothing and had to leave a lot of my summer clothes behind. The seasons are busy changing and some days are really very nice. It gets up to 23 degrees now, which means that I no longer need to wear my long johns and vests. Until recently I had a pair on every day! What a treat not to wear them anymore. 

I went shopping in Nampo-dong. Nampo – which is an area in Busan – has a very big “international” market. I took bus 1003 to get there and got off at Gudeok-ro (just after Nampo station on the orange subway line). It took me just over an hour to get there from where I live in Jangsan. I managed to find a couple of items that I really liked. I find the clothing in the shops here in general quite hideous, like something that has been revived from the 80’s. Some days I am convinced that all the clothes from the 80’s that didn’t sell back then, managed to find their way on the shelves here. I cannot believe that it sells – but it does! 

Some examples of the shops here

I decided that when I see something that I really like – which happens very rarely – I have to get it. Luckily, I got a couple of essential things, but it came at a cost. As my friend, Gina, always used to say: The problem with her is that everything that she likes in a shop always turns out to be the most expensive item in the shop. She doesn't even have to look at the price tag, it just always turns out that way. I can relate to this...sigh... After my shopping expedition, Susie and I went for lunch at Jagalchi market. Jagalchi market is right next to Nampo and is easily accessible on foot. I loved it! When you come into the market there are rows and rows of stands with live seafood. 

Just some of the items at Jagalchi market

Anything that you can imagine, you will find here alive. There are loads of creepy crawlies from octopus, sea urchins, massive prawns, crayfish, different types of fish and creatures that I have never seen before. You can choose anything in this market and after you have made your choice, you can go upstairs to a restaurant area where they will cook or prepare your creature for you. Most Koreans like their food raw. There is a dish which I want to try one day, where you can order raw octopus tentacles. The tentacles are still moving like worms in your plate. Apparently when you order this, you need to chew it properly or the tentacle might suffocate you as octopus has a lot of suction in their tentacles. It costs 20 000 won (R200) for the octopus meal.

We had nothing of this sort and played it safe by ordering a seafood soup for 30 000 won (R300 for 2). It was delicious, with loads of fresh seafood in it. 

There are also many different side dishes  that comes with the soup.  The soup is definitely enough food for at least 3 people.

Seafood soup

We also got a crab in the soup and never in my life would I have thought to eat crab with chopsticks. It was quite an experience! 

My school had their midterm exams last Tuesday, so the week prior to the exam has been quite a busy one. They use audio with their English exams and I had to voice record all the tests for the grades. It is basically multiple choice questions and they have to listen for the correct answer according to the question on the paper. I also suggested a speaking test for each grade as the type of exam is not enough to do a proper assessment. It was quite interesting and at the same time took quite a long time to complete all the recordings. Korean exams are so different from back home. When I was in school our exams were quite stretched out. Usually over a period of 2 to 3 weeks, but here they finish all their subjects in one day. The stress is a lot higher on the kids here and they need to perform from a young age if they want to go study at a university one day. This is why often many of the kids will attend private academies - called a Hagwon - until late at night every day. School ends at 2:40pm and at 3pm the private lessons start till 10pm or 11pm in the evenings. They have different type of Hagwons from English to art.  I see kids falling asleep in my classes regularly. It’s hard as the oldest kids that I teach are just a mere 11 years old. There is also a lot of pressure on the parents as they feel that they need to live like the Jones’. Their kids need to be in the best Hagwons and all this comes at a cost. Not just money wise, but there is also a lot of pressure on the kids and it means that some of them only get 6 hours sleep a night… 

This past weekend was Buddha's birthday and therefore we got 2 public holidays. Children’s day (5th of May) honors children globally and the children are given gifts from their parents and extended family. All the stores are filled with toys and gifts for children and many parents take their children shopping to choose what they would like. 

A bunny in e-mart on children's day

One of my 6th graders got a cellphone from her parents. My violin teacher also gave all her students (which includes me) a packet of sweets to celebrate this day. The following day was Buddha’s birthday (6th of May). It is celebrated according to the Lunisolar calendar in Korea. It is quite pretty to see as the whole month the streets and temples have been decorated with thousands of lotus lanterns. These added public holidays made it a super long weekend and a very short week. 

A friend (Zana, which I met on facebook) came to visit. Yes, I realise that this can be very dodgy, but it wasn't. It felt right in the moment. We shared a bed as my flat is quite small, and it felt like I have known her for years. There was plenty of space as I have a super single bed. Back home we would call this a 3 quarter bed, but I made this discovery when I was trying to find an extra pair of fitted sheets and I just couldn't see my size anywhere. With the help of my co-teacher, Ms. Moon, who informed me that in Korea it is called a super single bed. I was shocked to see how much one pair of fitted sheets cost (50 000 won or R500 for one pair) so I decided to ask my family to post me some along with some normal tea(black tea), which I am not able to find anywhere here. 

Zana, came through on Saturday as she lives in a very small town north of Wonju and about 6 hours from Busan, she only arrived the evening. I went to fetch her at the bus station, but because Busan has 4 bus stations, I got confused between Nampo and Nopo and was on my way to Nampo which is in the opposite side from Nopo in Busan. Luckily, I realised it just in time and managed to change direction. Nampo is on the orange subway line in the south of Busan and Nopo is also on the orange line but in the opposite direction in the north of Busan an hour from Nampo. Both Nampo and Nopo is over an hour from where I am in the east of Busan. It is not the distance that makes it far, as Nampo is just a mere 17km as the crow flies from my flat. Because of the many mountains in Busan, it makes it difficult to travel.  Busan is built around these mountains, which makes the city quite stretched out. On the way home, we decided to go to Spaland inside Shinsegae which is the world’s largest department store. Shinsegae is on the green subway line at Centum city station and you can access the department store directly from the subway. They have so many things in there. A Golf range, an ice rink, a SPA(but not like you think) a floor of restaurants, loads of clothing and a lot more. At SPA land (which is on the first floor) it cost 10 000 won, which is R100 for 4 hours. It includes a change of clothes, 2 hand towels, and a couple of lockers. One for your shoes and one for your clothes and bags. At first when we walked into the ladies changing room I got the shock of my life. I didn’t expect to see so many Korean women all shapes and sizes but naked and they were parading around with no shame what so ever! We tried to cover up with the baby hand towel that was hardly big enough to cover my thigh never mind my whole body. Korean woman are also surprisingly bushy! With that aside I haven’t laughed this much in a long time, as the SPA turned out to be rather peculiar. 

The funny outfit and the very small hand towel

First of all, the so called saunas were not a sauna as we know it. There was no steam and the different rooms were decorated quite extravagantly, from pyramid shaped rooms to retro looking rooms. But what made this experience so funny is that each room, just had a different temperature, from 37.7 degrees to 63.4 degrees. It literally felt like some places in Africa. The Koreans would just go in there to get hot and change rooms. There were also other items, which you could choose to pay extra for. You could get a massage, but the cheapest one is 120 000 won (R1200). Or you could go in to an oxygen capsule. Like something you would see in sci-fi movies. It cost 15 000 won (R150) for 20 minutes of pure oxygen. There are also lounges for watching TV in a lazy boy. Or you could go into a private DVD room. There is also a communal bath. Going to the spa is seen as a family event for Koreans. As South Africans would often Braai (BBQ) as a family event, they go to a public bath and it is absolutely normal. Koreans believe in the importance of going to public baths at least once a month. Both my co-teachers ask me regularly if I go to a public bath to get scrubbed. Koreans don’t see us being properly clean if you don’t go to a public bath for a scrubbing at least once a month. According to my understanding, they scrub one another. After my big shock of walking into the changing room I think I might give that a miss, as I might be stared at, especially by the ajumas (older ladies) out of curiosity more than anything else. It will be hard not to stare back, though one should not dare stare as it is not acceptable for doing so. It might be awkward if I happen to run into my school kids there. Just for the record, the ladies have their own public bath and it is separated from the men’s. 

Sunday came and I decided to take my friend to Gamcheon Cultural Village as it is just so worth to see and I think that if you are new in Busan you just have to go there. We took bus 1001 which stops just outside of my apartment in Jangsan. I prefer to take buses as it is sometimes quicker than the subway, depending on the traffic. Often the routes are more direct and instead of travelling underground you get to see parts of the city which otherwise you will never get to see. We got off at Geojeong stop, which also have a subway station on the orange line, so it is also possible to get the subway there. We walked for 2 minutes down Saha-ro road to another bus stop where we got the local village bus(Bus 1).  We were on the bus for 13 minutes and it took us an hour and 20 minutes in total to travel to Gamcheon village from Jangsan.

When we arrived at Gamcheon Village we bought pancakes at the entrance of the village. The man who makes them recognised me from 2 weeks before and insisted on a photo with him.

He was so happy to see me. I will have to go back there, even if it is just for his yummy nutella and strawberry pancakes. Because I have been to Gamcheon before, I managed to take her on a tour and she got all the stamps in less than an hour. When I went the first time, it took us 4 hours to get them all. It was quite fun to do the tour on steroids. 

A couple of fun photos at Gamcheon

We had lunch in the village and then headed to Samkwangsa temple. 

We took the village bus (Bus 1) from Gamcheon village to the bus stop at Saha-ro and got onto the subway from Geojeong station to Seomyeon station. Seomyeon station is the transfer station where the orange and green lines meet. We took exit 9 and crossed the road to the fountain where we waited for the village bus (Bus 15).

In front of the fountain where the village bus 15 stops.

This bus stops at the temple as it is the last stop on the route. Samkwangsa Temple is the second largest temple in Busan. This is the temple where the Lotus Lantern Festival for Buddha’s birthday was held. It was beautiful. We decided to go while it was still light and was so worth it. I really enjoyed seeing the transition from light to dark when the thousands of lanterns came on. It was so beautiful. 

I was surprised that there weren’t so many people, I expected it to be crowded. The one wing of the temple we went up to the 5th floor and the view from there over the lantern-lit temple and the part of the city surrounding the temple, was just breathtakingly beautiful. 

The festival was scaled down because of the ferry accident and I just cannot imagine what it would look like normally. 

On Monday, which was also children's day,  we decided to do a hike. We met up with a couple of friends in Busan and hiked from my apartment to Dalmaji-gil. 

View from the platfrom in Dalmaji-gil

Next to the view point platform in the forest, there is a little hidden trail that goes down to the train tracks. We hiked along the train track next to the coast via the lighthouses to Song Jung beach.

All South Africans! From the left: Susie, Me, Tarryn, Nadia and Zana

Tieing a ribbon for the victims on the ferry that sank.

Front: Nadia, Susie, Me and Zana

Song Jung beach

We wanted to go to the water temple, but couldn’t get a bus as they were so overcrowded that they didn’t stop along the way to pick up new passengers. We should have seen this as a sign not to go to the temple, but we didn’t and went to the temple anyway. We also couldn’t get a taxi as all the taxis that passed us already had passengers in them. So instead we hiked the 2.1km to the temple. We hiked about 8km that day from Jangsan to Haedong Yonggung Temple which is also called the Water Temple. We took a couple of pictures and just walked out as the temple was so busy that it wasn’t worth it. It was sad not to have seen the whole temple, but I will just have to go back there. It is just 1.7km as the crow flies from my school. What makes this temple so beautiful is that it is situated right next to the ocean and the view that is overlooking the water is just so beautiful.

I was born in the chinese year of the rat

The view from the temple

After the temple we went to the dog café in Jangsan, then emart where I bought new bedding. Our final stop was Gwangali beach where we sat to look at the beautifully lit up diamond bridge. We had supper and called it a night. Zana left early on Tuesday and I just caught up on my beauty sleep.

I am happy that this is only a 3 day week and am looking forward to this coming weekend.

Spring time in Busan

*I added hyperlinks in my blog and when you click on them it will take you to those links.
*Lots of photos further down.

Before I start, I would just like to give my condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in the sinking of the ferry last week.  If you haven't heard about the terrible accident, read here and then here.   It happened in between Jindo and Mokpo, where I went a couple of weeks ago for the sea parting festival.   My school cancelled the upcoming hike with the teachers and the sports day. Most of the upcoming festivals in Korea has been cancelled due to the mourning of the nation. 

Another week has passed. I cannot believe how fast time in Korea is flying, every time I blink my eyes another week has flown by.  I am currently in my 8^th week of teaching in Busan. I have been in Korea for two months now, but it is still early days and I think too early to say if I like it or not. I love working with the children. 

Batman in my third grade class!

They are getting used to me now and are beginning to hang around after the lessons to ask me questions with their limited English. Some days they sing to me from the movie frozen “Elsa, do you wana build a snow man...” Click here if you are unfamiliar with the song.  I made the mistake to associate my name with the main character in Frozen as I thought it would be easier for them. Little did I know how big the Frozen obsession was and that the connotation would stick – for life it seems.

One girl asked me today if I like Exo (a K-pop band) or if I like PSY (another K-pop band) See the link here.   They seem to love their K-pop hits! K-pop is pop music, but with a Korean twist and is quite comical sometimes. A teacher asked me this week if I will pop with her. Like Abba she said. Haha… I do recommend that you do a search on youtube: click here => Korean K-pop. I am sure we are all familiar with the song Gangnam Style <=click here by PSY. But I never knew that it was a Korean band nor that Gangnam is a place in Korea. How ignorant of me...

Some kids are getting used to me and others well, they are terrified of me.  One day last week, I was early for school and as I walked into my school, there was a friendly neighbourhood cat. I gave it some attention and moved along. As I was almost at the entrance of the school I turned around to see if the cat was still following me. I saw that one of my shy 4^th graders has stopped in the middle of the path. She was looking at the cat in a frozen position, not knowing what to do. I could see that she was terrified of the cat. I approached her and wanted to say don’t worry it will be ok. I intended to help her get passed the cat, but when she looked up and saw that I was approaching her she ran almost over the cat just to get away from me. She is more terrified of me than the cat. It was quite funny in the moment, but I do feel very sorry for her. Even in class she almost crawls under the desk every time I come near her to help her with her work and she sits right in the front row, as her English is not that great and the weaker students sits in the front next to a stronger student to help them. I find that this works really well. I have a reward system, if I see a stronger student helping a weaker student, the stronger student will get a sticker and a reward after ten stickers. They will also get a sticker if I see that they really are trying to speak English.

A Video clip of the class clowns - grade 5.

I sat with a bunch of 5^th graders the other day and they can’t speak English. It was so nice to see that they tried their very best to communicate with me. They started to play a game with me while using the key phrases which I taught them. It was quite rewarding as I could see that they understood what we did in class. One lesson is taught over 4 or 5 periods of 40 minutes each and in a lesson they would practise and learn 2 or 3 key expressions which are stretched out over 4 or 5 periods. There are plenty of opportunities to give them enough practice. I try to encourage them to speak and will help them with their pronunciation.

I heard about the dog and cat cafes in Korea. It is a coffee shop that has dogs for the public to cuddle. I asked Min-Jung, my co-teacher,  if there is one in Jangsan (the area I live in) and she looked it up. And there is one. She has never been to this one and she couldn’t tell me what kind of cafe this was. So I thought option 1: It could be a cafe where you drink coffee and play with the dogs. Option 2: Go there to take your own dogs for some doggy interaction time (almost like a park) or option 3 which is a very likely possibility - a cafe where you can order different kinds of dog dishes. I was a bit sceptical, knowing that option 3 could very well be a reality. Min-Jung took me there after school and I loved it!

Having coffee with three dogs on my lap.

A bedlington terrier

It turned out to be option 1. There were all kinds of dogs from sausage dogs, poodles to bedlington terriers. They were so cuddly and friendly. This is definitely where I will go to get my doggy fix! Back home, I used to sleep with at least 3 sausage dogs (which I call my "wurms" or worms) in my bed every night. I do miss my cuddles, but at least I have more space for myself now, even though technically my bed is smaller here than back home. I’m strange I know... :) 

Jinhae Cherryblossom Festival

A couple of weekends ago, I went to the cherryblossom Festival in Jinhae! It was spectacular! My friend, Caroline and I decided to go very early on Saturday morning to avoid the crowds. Because this is such a famous festival I knew it would get very busy! So we decided to leave home at 6 am to be there at 8 am. We arrived there, but neither of us did our research for where to go once we were there. When we arrived we started our adventurous exploring and eventually stumbled upon a beautiful walkway with a stream in the middle. 

They call this bridge the romance bridge.

The blossoms were breathtakingly beautiful. I was so sad that we had a windy storm the day before and most of the petals blew off. But even so it was still worth going. I am thankful that we left earlier as we managed to get photos without too many people crowding the photo!

The beautiful reflection of the blossoms in the water.

The white in the distance is Cherryblossoms...

I am totally in love with Korea’s spring time! We had lunch at the festival which was very interesting as I noticed that in many Korean dishes they would mix beef, chicken or pork with seafood in the same dish. It is quite weird, but you do get use to it.

Caroline and I shared a meal of homemade noodles, beef and seafood..

Yummy octopus!

I also went to a beautiful field in Busan. The field was covered in a yellow blanket of tiny flowers that had a sweet scent! It was so beautiful!

I went with church friends and we did a jacket and personality swop...

I decided that it is time for me to explore Busan. I downloaded tripadvisor’s app on my phone and I just love it! It tells me about all the attractions in my area. I found one on there and saw that Dalmaji-gil is just over a kilometre from my house. So one day after work,(it was my early day - I only work until 4 on Tuesdays and Fridays, because I start at 8), I decided to walk there. What a treasure it was! Chido and I were the only people in this pine tree forest, and I absolutely loved the feel of nature! 

The forest walk

The forest next to the ocean

Chido's family sent her a package from South Africa and added this packet of tea for me!! I havent been able to find black tea yet.

There was also a beautiful view of Haeundae Beach and the forest walk right next to the ocean!

The view of Haeundae beach from Dalmaji-gil

I like Busan as it has the best of both worlds, nature – mountains, rivers, the ocean - as well as the city – Click here=>the biggest department store in the world and a wide variety of interesting food western as well as local! I feel very lucky to be placed here! 

This past weekend, I went to visit one of my south african friends here in Busan. Susie lives just over an hour from me in Hadan. I stayed over at her place on Friday night and we decided to explore on Saturday.  We used the trip advisor app to see what sights are close to her place.    We saw that Gamcheon Cultural village are only 4 km from her.  So we decided to go there and we took the bus.  The village is breathtakingly beautiful!

When we arrived at the village, we bought a map for only 2000 won (R20) and you have to collect 9 stamps from different sights in the village.  It was so much fun!!  We collected all 9 stamps and got 2 postcards for free.

Gamcheon village started as a refugee camp in the 1950's just after the Korean/Japanese war.  

Gamcheon village today.

There has been several art projects in the village as a community development project. 

There are still families living there.  I highly recommend a visit to Gamcheon cultural village! We got very nice coffee and pancakes with nutalla and strawberries there for 3000 (R30). 

I loved every moment!