Week 7: Hungry? Got Turtle?

***Warning! If you have a weak or sensitive stomach, you may want to either close your eyes *now* or brace yourself! All of the pictures are EDIBLE FOODS in South Korea!!!***

Sunday exploration was to Jagalchi Market, the biggest Fish (and every other sea creature) Market in South Korea.

It’s the times like these I am thankful I am a vegetarian.

Since when did people enjoy pricking their mouths? I was afraid of my toes touching Sea Urchins in the Hawaii waters, let alone the thought of sticking it in my mouth!

Crave some alien octopus?…

…or do you prefer their alien mothers?

We were taught not to play with sharp objects. But how about a little Sting Ray action in your mouth!?

Animal Right should exist even for carnivores…while it’s living it should not be without its “oxygen” (sufficient water). This disappoints…

This is also Korean “seafood.” No comment–Imma offend somebody.

This juxtaposition is a classic representation of oh-so-many dichotomies in Korea. On the right is raw, stenching, fermented dolphin intestines; however, on the left lies an assortment of herbal, natural remedies.

Was *this* close to buying myself a bullfrog friend…unfortunately, I can’t save all the bullfrogs from my neighbors creative taste buds.

God knew what He was talking about when He wrote Leviticus Chapter 11!!!

LIVE octopus is readily avail at a fish market. The cruelty in cooking these sea creatures, however, is sickening. Octopus is fried ALIVE. More over, it is a Korean delicacy to eat live octopus…with the tentacles still in motion as it makes their way down ones throat!

Thanks, but I’ll stick to eating THESE fish. 🙂

Bet you were squirmish? Me too. Just hope you didn’t throw up your breakfast, though! If so, “told you so!”

Week 6: A Tour Through My “One-Room”

A pictures worth a thousand words…and in some cases, more interesting (for ex., when describing an apartment). So, without further ado, welcome to my apartment. Mi casa es su casa! En serio! 🙂 TQM!!!! FIBI

This is Korea. Please take off your shoes before entering ;p

Sorry about the socks drying out on the counter…the wash machine doubles over as a dryer but didn’t work this past time so not only did everything come out soaking wet, a ton of my clothes are now stained blue from my new RL towel! grrrrr.

This is where I spend most my time at home. The chair on the left is where i do my morning meditation (bible reading); I also eat breakfast overlooking the mountain tops (you may have to zoom in to see them…if the smog isn’t overwhelming it =/). In the evenings I love me some good house music or chill out music to listen to while I try to stay updated with ppl (that, or “refresh” my wifi internet countless times trying to connect with my loved ones!!!! grrrrr lolz)

The kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom loft view all in one. The phone on the wall is pretty handy; instead of shouting through the door, I can talk to whoever is outside if I don’t know them. And what’s better than the peephole is the security camera next to the phone. It turns on as soon as someone rings the doorbell. Pretty high tech, eh? 🙂

…and by now I know you’re thinking something about how empty or little my apt is or how much of a neat freak I am. THANK YOU! That’s a super compliment to me and I love my apt as-is!!

My downtime area. On the R is self explanatory and the cozy little matress I made on the L side is where I do my morning push-ups and stretches, and also where–for the past week since I started overtime–crash out hard for 20 mins and actually fall asleep (!) during my break.

Love love LOVE high rise ceilings!!! In fact, this apartment set-up is actually VERY similar to my dream house. You know I gotta keep things simple (and safe).

What I stare out a few hours every night while trying to get the internet working, grrr. See the compu–“server not found” again. On the R lower corner it just says “internet connection found.” BTW everyone always asks, so “no, it is not a korean cell phone. It’s my American cell phone and doesn’t work here…I just use it for an alarm clock.”

The building across the street from my apt. Between my building complex and the one across the street, one could live self (and building) suffiently for the rest of life. This building in the photo has (from top to bottom): A golf academy (surprised a golf ball hasn’t came flying through my window yet), an English academy…wait, make that two, a flute academy, a DVD store, TONS of bars (Koreans are known for drinking Soju like fish), karaoke (nori-bong’s the name in Korean), a hair salon, a bank, restaurants, and of course, botiques incl. USALL, that blasts it’s music from 10am-10pm. Fortunately, they play hip hop every once in a while (and I get super excited). Other days the same 3 Korean pop hits play on repeat all day (usually Sundays, my day off). On the other hand, when I slip out and start humming a pop song, my students think I’m really cool. “Oh Teacher! That’s ‘x’ song! You know this song!?!?”

Even though I live in the “suburbs” of Busan, I live right in the city center of Hwamyeong-dong nevertheless, and that makes me ecstatic and a very happy woman. You’re looking at one of the the main street intersections in Hwamyeong. Every weekend, late night I see some pretty interesting things go down (hence, all the Koreans [and foreigners for that matter] who drink Soju like fish). One time I saw a huge brawl and one young guy coming at the other guy with a karate kick that looked like it came from a Bruce Lee movie. My reaction was pretty bad, though. I thought, “this is weak. They are taking WAY to long just running around in circles. In New York they would have taken care of business already…and split before the cops came!” LOLZ when the police came, it was really surprising to see everyone just stand there…in the US everyone would have dipped out by then!

AND if that wasn’t enough, here is the link to hear and receive my narrated, walking house video tour:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/video/3082972690061072271EooDSU

So, this is my apartment. Hope you feel comfortable here…you’re welcome here wheneverz! (Umm, that message is for my loved ones….if you are a creeper who happened to come across this….sorry, not interested!) Until next week, Chao!

Korea Week 5: In the Nude!

Korea is full of dichotomies, one of which is in regards to showing skin. It’s perfectly fine to wear a super short mini skirt, but if one wears a tank top that exposes the shoulders, she’s sleezy. On the beach Koreans lie in the sand, covered head to toe. However, Ginjil-bong’s–where one strips down to only a pearly white smile–are the norm in South Korea. In fact, Busan has the largest Gingil bong in all of South Korea and potentially the whole world.

A JimJil bang is a place you go to get naked and cleanse your body of toxins. However, this process takes place in a room full of naked Korean, the same gender as yourself. After showering, you take a dip into a hot tub and soak for a long period. Yesterday I had my first jimjil-bang experience. I was blown away when I walked in! Before sat dozens of naked women sitting on a stool–bathing and scrubbing themselves to get all the dead skin off their bodies. As I soaked in a barley tea hot tub, families began arriving. It was amazing to see teenagers running around naked playing volleyball in the cold tub…one kid even brought an inflatable blow up ring as she played in the hot tub. Thinking about it, though, I remembered there aren’t really any pools in Busan (Korea) and so a jimjil-bang is the closest thing they have to a public pool. Hence the reason naked adolescence ran around and played in the spas.

There were two cold tubs–one the temp of a cold pool and one ice cold. There were 4 hot tubs (at this specific jimjil-bang across, which is conveniently across the street from my house)–2 were regular spas of different temps and 2 were tea spas Green and barley tea. While sitting in one of the saunas my skin began to peel off. To help along the process, I put different body parts on this swirling exfoliating machine…the only problem is I got a bit carried away with the massage sensation on my upper back (seems like my upper back has permanent knots). Having never experienced a radical sensation like this on my back, I leaned hard against this machine. After having exfoliated all the dead skin layers away, I realized the whole machine cover came off. the under workings of this gadget were rubbing away at my fresh skin! Unfortunately, I currently have a huge rug burn looking scab on my back and when anything touches it (the water from the shower, the bed), it hurts like heck! Oh well, lesson learned. I’ll just buy the hand held exfoliation scrub next time. Afterwards, my friend Jackie and I got dressed and met up with our friend, Marc, in the family room. The three of us chilled in the Ice Room, meditated in the hot rock room, and sweat out our toxins in a few saunas of varying temperatures.

Jimjil-bangs are quite liberating. Nervous before hand, but “loving the skin I’m in” afterwards. Content and very clean we walked out of the jimjil-bang. As soon as the outside air hit our skin we could feel the difference in how clean our skin was. I already know during the winter I’m going to be jimjil-bang hopping, exfoliating and cleansing my body of toxins while refreshing my mind and spirits.

Korea Week 4: My Kids in Korea! :P

http://blog.willamette.edu/people/pkeever/journal/

(This website is still very new to me. for now I will just give the link to my old blog site–it’s now expired [I cant log in] since I graduated college over a year ago. The university deleted my password/access…)

Korea Week 3: Spring Update 2008

Spring Update 2008/Primavera 2008
1. ENGLISH
Reside and work in Busan, South Korea
It’s official: I am full-time ESL Teacher
I don’t speak Korean, but learn at the rate of 2 words per week. (End of the year=112 words )
My address:
Phoebe Keever*
Royal Palace #806, Hwamyeong-dong
#2272-1, Buk-Gu
Busan, South Korea
If you ever want to take a vacation, my door is open 🙂 Btw Debbie, military hops are FREE
ESPANOL (tmb los detalles estan debajo del ingles)
Vivo y trababjo en Busan, Corea del Sur
Soy maestra de ingles. Trabajo a full–40+ horas cada semana
Todavia no hablo el koreano pero ‘toy aca un ano (hasta mayo 2009)
Mi direccion:
Phoebe Keever*
Royal Palace #806, Hwamyeong-dong
#2272-1, Buk-Gu
Busan, South Korea
Cuando seas, mi puerta esta abierta.

SPRING BREAK / LAS VACACIONES DE PRIMAVERA
Liz and I were gonna hit up NYC for Spring break, but the reasoably priced plane tix were sold out and the prices were rediculous. Instead, we headed to Las Vegas for the third time in one year. Las Vegas always hooks us up It’s nice living the V.I.P. life for a quick second.
I gotta admit I’m bummed not to be in Vegas this memorial day weekend b/c some of the best house DJ’s are gonna be there RIGHT NOW: Roger Sanchez, Danny Tenaglia, DJ Tiesto, Erick Morillo, Victor Calderone, Cedric Gervais, Deep Dish, Eddie Halliwell…Too bad none of them plan to spin in S Korea; they are all about the US and Europe (and a bit of Buenos Aires, gotta rep one of my homes 😉
About NYC: I decided a few months ago that after all my travels subside(unless something better presents itself), I will settle in and make my home in NYC. 🙂
/
Mi amiga y yo fuimos a Las Vegas–la tercera vez dentro de un ano Pero Vegas nos trata bien asi que nos encantamos festejar alla. Este fin de semana van a ver unos de los mejores dj’s alla en Vegas (si te gusta la musica electronica): Roger Sanchez, Danny Tenaglia, DJ Tiesto, Erick Morillo, y Victor Calderone, sobre otros..Q lastima q no pasan por Corea sino europa, eeuu, y BsAs.
Al principio queremos irnos a NYC, pero los pasajes estan carisimos Pero ta bien porque decide unos meses atras que–en el futuro–vivire en NYC. Me encanta esta ciudad

WHY KOREA ? WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS? / PORQUE COREA DEL SUR? CUALES SON LAS METAS?
May 6th or so I again left the US, this time heading for Korea. After my year-long vacation (yes, I know many people are currently cringing with envy at my looooong vacation…sorry) I needed to put my degree to use and teaching English in Asia was calling after me.
I really want to take this year to focus on myself, becoming a more wholesome woman so I can be a better worker, friend, daughter, sister, and ultimately, wife.
This is a year of growth. I hope, pray, and plan to grow in my career, financially, emotionally and mentally, and most important: spiritually. Taking myself out of the busyness and all-to-comfortable world of the USA, I hope this challenging year in Korea will spur growth.
/
Sali de los EEUU el 6 de Mayo. Estuve de vacacciones un ano. Ya es el tiempo para empezar el trabajo. Pero este ano mi meta es enforcar en mi misma. Digamos, enfocarme en la carerra, la plata, prestar atte a mis emociones y lo mas importante: mi relacion con Dios. Con esto, puedo ser una persona mejor para todas las personas q me importan.

WHAT’S KOREA LIKE? / COMO ES KOREA?
You could say I am ‘settled in’ after 3 weeks of living in Hwam-yeong (my region of Busan, the second biggest city in S Korea). Last Friday I FINALLY figured out how to open my wash machine and yesterday pushed buttons until the load of laundry started. Even though the first load lasted FOUR HOURS..mission: accomplished.
Busan reminds me of a dramatic version of Portland. The city is 4x bigger with 4million ppl and the houses and buildings go right up to the middle of the mountains. There is a big river going through the city and there is some great fresh fish (well, Ptown is famous for its Salmon).
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/Pusan
/
Me siento bien aca despues de unas 3 semanas. Vivo en una region q se llama Hwamyeong, Busan. La ciudad de Busan es la segunda ciudad mas grande en el sur de Corea. Busan me
recuerda de Portland, Oregon por las montanas y la natureleza en general. Tmb el pescado es fresco y rico (como el Salmon de Portland).

AND TEACHING/YOUR SCHEUDLE? / Y EL TRABAJO/EL HORARIO?
9AM-6:35PM I’m on the grind teaching10 classes per day: incl. all of kindergarten (6 classses per day), 4-45min classes with Elementary school, and lesson plans.
In Korea, Kinders are ages 4-7; Elementary school are ages 9-13.
Next week I hope to add an adult English speaking class from 7-8PM.
Literally my 3rd real day on the job was Teacher Appreciation Day. Teaching is a highly respected and sought after job here in Korea; the children (and their parents) showered me with all kinds of gifts and homemade cards ranging from cakes, cookies, and flowers to all kinds of expensive, fancy toiletries like lotions, sunscreen, specialty soaps, etc…I felt so loved by my students ❤
/
Enseno unos 10 clases, 0900-1835 horas. Tengo 6 clases de kinder (edades 4-7), y 4 clases de la primaria (edades 9-13). Ojala la semana q viene agregare otra clase para los adultos, trabajando 1900-2000horas.
El 3 dia del trabajo fue el dia de la maestra. Me sentia tan especial. Mis estudiantes me llevaron dulces y flores y todo tipo de cremas/ jabones/ etc. Q ternos q son ❤

Much love to my loved ones. In addition to the weekly blog, I try to keep y’all up to date wtih pictures as well on webshots (website below). However, still don’t have my own camera (plan to buy next paycheck, though :). Until next time for the Summer update, chaooooooooooo

Korea Week 2: Humbling Subway Experience

Week Two: Seomyong, Busan, S. Korea
Listening to: Head Kandi Mix, Café del Mar (AKA by moi as “I like London in the Rain”)
Date: Sunday May 17th

Humbling Foreign Experiences

Basic things: eating, brushing teeth, using the restroom, transporting oneself, speaking. Since coming to S. Korea, my communication has dwindled down to animal noises and hand gestures. Even sampling foods at the store has became a mystery to be uncovered as these foods are foreign by American standards–slimy gooey ‘things’ that can’t even be stabbed by the sampling toothpick (never did figure out if it was eel or onion…). Thankfully I haven’t had to buy a new tube of toothpaste; I’ll need to pray before I attempt to use hand gestures to communicate “I need the original toothpaste, my gums are too sensitive for Whitening toothpaste.” Then there’s using the restroom: squatting toilets are *not* a thing of the past in South Korea….but lets not even go there. Just remember to always bring your own supply of T.P. (Toilet Paper) and hand sanitizer. However, what really humbled me (yet again) was riding the subway for the first time…

“Se-om-yooooong” I slowly pronounced to myself while checking the spelling to that of my big, fold-out map of Busan. Concluding the stop was the ‘green’ line, 219, I headed off for church on the Sabbath yesterday, 9:30am. ‘One hour should be sufficient transportation time to get to church,’ I thought to myself.

Flabbergasted and upset to find out the ticket machine was all written in Korean characters, I turned to the man beside me for help.
“Se-om-yoooong,” I again pronounced slowly, ensuring I avoided a wrong pronunciation. He pushed the box on the screen that corresponded with Seomyong. Looking up at the screen, I was now doubly upset to find out the fare is 1300 Won, unlike the 1000 Won I expected and had already put in my man-made pockets.
The same who pushed the corresponding button to my destination spot was now beside me making sure I completed the transaction correctly. Digging for 300Won worth of coins in my purse, I came up with the same value–maybe even a little bit more–in US cents. Realizing I had already used all my Won coins, I tried to exchange my 25cent quarter and 10cent dime for his 300Won. Finally, the transaction was complete and I grabbed the little yellow subway stub, my 35cents still in hand. Before I could stand upright to say Kam-sa-hamnida (Thank you), this mystery man disappeared into the crowd.

Thankful, yet frustrated by my inabilities to function independently, I headed towards the subway gate. Again I was helpless. This time, I did not know which subway gate to go through; none of the overhead names said “Seomyong.” Standing in the middle of the walkway as people bumped in to me right and left, I just took the chance and went through the gate most people went through (the opposite direction only has two stops until the end).

Now in transit towards the SDA church in Seomyong, worry came over me as I lost tracked of how many stops it had been since my district of Hwam-yeong. This complete lack of comprehension was unacceptable and my began to tighten when I looked towards the front of my subway box to find the scroll box had the stops in American numerals at varying points. Phew, I was able to keep track of which stops the subway was at as well as get off at 219, exit Seomyong.
“Get off at Seomyong and find Milliore, Walk 100 M down, find building with bank on bottom. SDA church is on the 6th floor.” Those were all my directions my boss kindly obtained for me.

Before I could find ‘Milliore,’ the game was finding the way to get above-ground. “Way Out” with an arrow sign, in English, I felt like I was actually going to see the ray of sunshine when I ‘got out.’ To my disgust, ‘way out’ led to another subway line, which would not lead me out of the Seomyong exit. Walking back and forth, up and down stairs, finally I saw the light…and it was good.

Asking directions is always acceptable and not too embarrassing–usually. Seeing the street cleaner being accosted by a woman in transit, I concluded street cleaners are US equivalent to gas-station attendants; they must have all the right answers for the directionally challenged. After waiting my turn, I asked, this time attempting more than an animal noise, ‘Milliore?’ A slew of Korean speech came out and he rubbed his belly; maybe he was working his genie magic. Showing him the directions my boss wrote me, I pointed to ‘Milliore’ with Korean spelling. A few grunts later, the street cleaner gave me directions….very, very passionately. With each passing sentence, his voice got louder and louder; a huge group of men sitting among their circle of friends all turned toward the action. Realizing (probably by my dear-in-headlight look) I spoke zero Korean, he made hand gestures for me to cross the street and then walk down a certain street for a little while until I reached Milliore. Sufficiently embarrassed–but again thankful–I began walking away from him so I could find the crosswalk; my short legs didn’t take me far enough way, fast enough. The street cleaner again yelled out something; he really did not want me to get lost. As I stared at him, bewildered, he began to ‘paint me a picture’ in the ground with his short, Asian -style broom. He made a huge ‘X’ in the ground with his broom as he was yelling the directions, the posse of men and all the passer-biers now stopped to stare at the awkward situation between passionate street-cleaner vs. deer-in-headlights foreigner.

Quickly walking to get to church on time, but more so to get away from the previously described scene, I scanned the huge street for a crosswalk. Eventually, I correctly decided I would have to walk underground and into the subway in order to cross the street to get to the other side (all of a sudden “Why did the chicken cross the road?” jokes seem more complex than I ever realized). “Hello,” some kind of Korean promoter said to me as she handed me something squishy that had the appearance of church on it (the clasped hands and cross gave it away). I decided her one English word was exponentially greater than the street cleaner, so I again broke out the directions with ‘Milliore’ written in Korean. After enough deer-in-headlight looks given to the Christian woman, she put her bag of witnessing material down and gestured, ‘lets go.’ The Christian woman was literally leading the way to church. Some scripture of Jesus us the way to the light came into my head as I humbly followed the Christian woman through the ins and outs of the underground world.

When we got to Milliore she pointed out the building and the sign with SDA written on the side and said “you OK?” Once I had literally been led to just outside the church building, she said “you remember.” The Christian woman was saying that now I would always remember the path to get to church. Amazed at how God had literally humbled me to the point I could not rely on myself and did not know my way, combined with the fact that I was literally led to church, led me to (almost) tears (I didn’t want to have runny makeup while meeting people for the first time).

Sixth floor: should be simple enough to climb the stairs and arrive safely: yes to the latter half of that statement and nay on the first half. Beyond a pounding heart from the stair climb, I was thoroughly upset when the sixth floor door was locked and no one heard my knocks. Not about to give up after coming so far I got on the fourth floor and then hopped on the elevator going two floors up.

To my disbelief, the elevator skipped the sixth floor and kept going up until it reached floor twelve where a young woman waited to descend. The only thing that made sense was floor six bolton did not light up when I pushed it. Assuming the wiring was a little loose, I pushed down hard on the sixth floor button. Certainly, the young woman must have thought I was very anxious and impatient to get to floor ‘six’, judging by the changing color of my thumb from pressing the button down hard. “Center one” the young woman said with what English she knew. We both got off and I headed for the main elevators (I had hopped on a side/back elevator).

“Aha Nothing is stopping me from getting to church now ” I again thought. They say “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” for a reason….even when they are that close to hatching. Once in the elevator, another distraught woman came on. Eventually we made it to the sixth floor and both paced around the hallway trying to find where the worship was held or what classroom the Sabbath study was being held in.

All of a sudden, a miracle happened: I heard fluent English. The weight had been lifted off my shoulders as Megan, a Korean woman married to an Aussie man, directed me to Sabbath school class for English-speaking foreigners and practicing Koreans. Taking my seat at 10:40am, I remembered the meditation read the night before about church as a functioning body. I smiled to myself at the humbling subway experience. Then, after feeling out my role in this functioning body I began speaking in Sabbath school, giving my perspective on the issue at hand–something I had never done before. Again, I smiled at the miracle of being led to church and quietly smiled from that glimmer of hope that mission: accomplished. After some struggles here and there in Korea, it would eventually all sort itself out and I will, indeed, find my way.

Korea Week 1: Take a Hike!

Week One: May 10th(PDX time)
Local: Busan, S. Korea
Music Playing: Jack Johnson

Take a Hike

Ever since the plane was coming in for landing, I have been fascinated with the landscape of Busan, South Korea. From my one-room (studio) apartment, the mountain peaks over Hwamyeong district city center buildings. Morning, noon, and night I sit right by the window observing all there is to see, and appreciating all the nature in this city.

Yesterday–Saturday–I decided to spend the Sabbath out by the river; it’s only a half mile away, tops. Taking off on my first adventure since I arrived Wednesday morning (due to a plane cancellation NW airlines put all the passengers in the Narita Hilton Hotel, Tokyo, Japan :), I walked towards the river. Along the way I passed numerous restaurants (it’s impossible to not pass by a restaurant in Hwamyeong), the KTX (fast) train station, and apartment ‘city. Eventually, I came to a tunnel that could get me that much more closer to the river. It didn’t seem like many people crossed through the tunnel, if only foreigners (because of the English graffiti ‘LOVE’ along the tunnels walls). As soon as I was in sunlight again and on the other side of the tunnel, it’s as if I was transported to another location; signs of the city were non-existant and third-world country was what came to mind.

Mountain upon mountain top, agricultural field upon field, dry, desolate space. It’s all that could be seen either way, besides the bridge in the distance. However, because I was on the same level ground as the river, it could not be seen. So, in hopes of coming to the edge of the river, I kept walking. Along the way in this ‘world,’ little, weathered Korean woman passed me; of course, not without darting me a suspicious look. Sporatically next to greenhouses, lied blackhouses, because of the black, mesh tarp material covering the whole space that would be walls and roof. After passing enough ‘black’ houses, I came to assume this is where these agricultural workers reside. Eventually, seeing the river was not super priority but instead getting out of people’s yards where I didn’t get the invitation.

Walking up a steep street without a sidewalk, I knew I was taking a major risk of being hit by an oncoming car. There wasn’t much space. At the top of the street, I stepped aside on the grass and got a beautiful view of the river, mountains, fields, and bridge. For today, that was going to suffice; I wasn’t in the mood to get killed by either an oncoming car or irate property owner. Realizing that highway is what lied ahead, I turned around and backtracked past the blackhouses, greenhouses, field of greens, dogs that mirrored my fear, and past the tunnel filled with love, and back into civilazation with honking horns, impatient drivers who ran-the-red-light-almost-making-me-road-kill, a tinted black car creeping s-l-o-w-l-y behind me as I walked, the postoffice, apparently one of the only parks in the city, and again, past the dozens of restaurants and all safely back to my apartment building.

Staring out the window at the building across the street, I decided the adventures has just began. This time, I was on a mission. The past two times I have woken up, Usher’s “Make Love in the Club” has been serenading my ears. This song is a special Las Vegas memory (no, I did *not* make love in the club just for the record), so it’s pretty much a great way to wake up. =P However, I was intrigued–extra–as to where the music was coming from. She’s, BMW, Sydney Bar, or perhaps HOF, Karoke bar? Additionally, climbing the stairs to explore each floor was the cheapest workout I could find ;-p To my surprise, the clothing store on the first floor was the culprit for the good beats. Nevertheless, the 9-floor treck was quite an adventure in itself. Not done with the explorations, I trecked my own building to find out what lurked on these 8-floors. It’s as if each building in my district of Busan, Hwamyeong, could pass for it’s own little city. My building, nicknamed as the ‘dunkin doughnuts’ building, has numerous restaurants and bars, café internet, a bookstore, a spa or ‘get trim’ kind of shop, possibly a “specialty massage” store, a Karoke bar, clothing stores, and one-room apartments.

The next day, Sunday, was spent trying to get out the door to hike up the nearby mountain. I was incessant on getting a fab view of the river and no mean-mug or stink-eye was gonna stop me. You know how I get: “I’m on a mission…” but I’m also slow getting out the door. Hours after distracting myself with dysfunctional internet, great house beats and dancing all around the house happy-as-can-be, I grabbed my backpack full of water and headed for the mountain.

Before even hitting the trail, I stopped, completely winded, and drank some H20. When an entrance to mountain trails came into view, it was shocking to see the amount of hikers. It was as if there was some sacred Sunday hike: no speaking, fully clothed (and then there’s me in a tee-shirt–it could have been much more awkward had I worn shorts and a sports bra )–even gloved After stepping off the trail numerous times for embarrassment of countless senior citizens seemingly effortlessly climbing up the mountain, the view I was hoping for came into view: Hwamyeong district of Busan surrounded by green, lush mountains and the beautiful river running through the middle.

To my surprise, I was pleased to found an unusual ‘thing’ in the middle of the mountain: an outdoor gym fully equipped with the bench press, elliptical machine, parallel bars, waist-widdler, ab machine, and hula-hoop. This explained why all these hikers wore gloves, to avoid getting callus’ from lifting; that, or for picking leafy greens for medicines or soups. Now as much as I love finding good deals and ways to save money, I was impressed with the outdoor gym; however, after such a hike that left me winded I decided that was work-out enough and the outdoor gym would have to wait.

Heading back to my one-room, the lion was growling to get some food in it’s cage. So instead of quickening my pace to get home, I visited my now-favorite store: Lotte mart, or should I say, “Sample Central.” By the time I got to the food section I was hungry Trying not to stick out (impossible, Koreans make up around 99%) or look too ghetto (also impossible after the hike, my hair looked like madussa) I walked down and up every single isle trying every non-meat sample, saying the one Korean word I knew: Kam Sa Hamnida (Thank you). I’m sure the promoters figured out I didn’t understand a lick of what they were saying when my response to their ‘today, you can buy this wonderful product for the low price of 10,000KRW. It’s a good deal, don’t you think,’ was the standard, ‘Thank You.’ Fortunately, they were all good humored about the situation, especially the super-nice promoter who gave me, along with the two children beside me, second servings under-the-table.

After enough random squishy seafoods, speckled drinks, and anchovy heads, it was time to go home. Climbing the stairs past the floors of bars, restaurants, Karoke that was still occupied around 4pm, and someone’s crazy party night that landed on the stairs, I was finally back in my own-room, overlooking the mountain tops whilst listening to random beats from the store below.