I had the opportunity to visit Busan for the international fireworks festival. Although the weather was rainy, it was the most impressive fireworks show I have ever seen, beating out Disney and any 4th of July back home. I traveled with some good friends, and we spent the night out on the town.
Busan is a coastal city, somewhat larger than Daegu. With the festival, the crowds were MASSIVE. Millions of people stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the pouring rain for about 50 city blocks along Gwangalli beach and the surrounding avenues to watch the worlds most massive fireworks display. I rode on a subway that was literally stuffed full of people by the coachman.
After the fireworks cleared some, my travel buddies and I donned our halloween costumes and went out on the town for some cocktails and dancing. We ended the night soaked and exhausted, so we checked in to a 24 hour spa for some serious r&r. The price? about 6 dollars US :) I got to have a hot bath and a steamy shave. The ladies paid about 10$ but they got full massage and facial pampering. The next morning we caught the KTX (high speed train) back to Daegu.
This is another one of my coteachers. Her name is ImSun, and she likes to be called Sunny. She is a wonderful young woman in her early 30's with a husband and a daughter. She has a marvelous sense of humor. Her assistance is invaluable with navigating and learning to speak Korean :) EunMi also. These two are like my older sisters. In fact, I call them each 누나 sounds like "New Nah" and means a man's older sister.
During a cultural field trip to a city called Gyeongju, I got to snap this wonderful photo at a Buddhist temple. The courtyards are very quiet and serene, and inside the buildings I was able to learn a whole lot about the teachings of Buddha. At this particular temple, there is a 4000-year-old bronze statue representing the Buddha of compassion. His bodily form on earth is the Dali Llama
On the same field trip, I visited a cultural center in Gyeongju where we learned different aspects of traditional Korean culture and history all the way back to the Silla dynasty (about 5000 years ago). Fellow English teachers and myself got to make traditional Korean soap, try using a Gayageum and other traditional Korean musical instruments, and visit the burial tombs of ancient kings. We also made our own kites. After making the paper structure, the creator writes his or her wishes on the kite. When we went to the beach to raise our wishes to the heavens, we found an old man with this SUPERKITE. It flies with about 150 panels that reach maybe 400 ft into the sky. I told him he should use one kite and just wish for more wishes.
This photo is from the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (mentioned in a former post). Hosted in Duryu Park, it was a hybrid between a fashion show, a concert, an art show, and a graffiti bash. It was quite an experience.
I've been playing in a foreigner's soccer league. I play with a pub team called 'Sydney Street.' These are my teammates. We aren't the best, but we certainly aren't the worst. This photo came from our weekend travel game in Gupo. The entire squad couldn't make it to the game, so more photos to come.
The second weekend in October, I had the chance to visit my friend Yongsung in Seoul. I rode the KTX up for the weekend. He and I went to college together at the Ohio State University, and he showed me a wonderful time in Seoul. Interesting anecdote: Koreans are VERY sensitive to changes in the temperature. While the weather to me seemed nice and comfortable (about 60 F or 15 C), the manager of the bar was handing out blankets to the patrons. Anyways, we spent most of the evening in Itaewon, the foreigner district of Seoul.
The next night I met with some friends from Daegu to go to an electronic music dance festival. Global Gathering hosted DJ's and musicians from all over the globe, and by the end of the evening we were sore from dancing all night. Thankfully, Yongsung let me crash at his place. After a hot shower, I hit the soft bed and was out like a light. I'll post the link to the festival below if anyone is interested.
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