Weekend Adventures

It's Sunday afternoon in Busan. No work, no plans for today, so I found myself at Starbucks to get my coffee fix in addition to getting out of the stuffy love hotel that I currently call home. This week has flown by, kinda. The fact that I'm working full time, with a regular schedule throws me off. Having worked in only food service jobs since I was 17 encouraged my ability to stay flexible and unwillingly work every weekend and holiday. So, having a free weekend confuses me...

Yesterday I joined my fellow co-worker and resident of the love hotel, Christina, to a day of window shopping in the PNU district. PNU is the Pusan National University. The area is packed with shops, great food finds and tons of young Korean college students. The vibe reminds me a bit of the ave, but in much close of quarters. After sleeping in, Christina and myself ventured out and hopped on the subway. Using the map of the subway, we sketched out our journey and headed towards PNU. After 3 transfers and about 30 minutes on the underground, we arrived. The streets were filled with chatty young professionals and families making deals with vendors and gathering around the many food carts that were on every corner. After our long quest, Christina and myself decided we were hungry, so we found a tiny little Korean restaurant. We sat down, and ate our Bibimibop. Super tasty! After filling our stomachs, we headed to the streets. Shoes are the thing in Korea. Just walking down the street you will encounter several young women sporting the highest, cutest heels. Koreans are small, especially the women, so they insist on wearing 4 inch heels everyday; also, I swear, all Koreans believe they are in a fashion show all the time. I have never seen so many people dressed so well in such a small area before in my life. With that said, I have large feet in Korea. In America, I am average (I wear an 8 1/2... not too big) but in Korea, I have hobbit feet. So, as Christina looked for shoes (she wears a size 5 in the U.S.) I jealously looked on. For $35 dollars, she bought 3 pairs of lovely shoes. Such a great buy! Although I cannot fit into Korean shoes, I can fit into accessories. I was so happy when I purchased a warm AND fashionable hat in PNU. It's great and it fits perfectly!

After our ventures in PNU, Christina and I rested for a bit before grabbing dinner at Haeundae Beach and then heading to meet up with co-workers for Soju and Makju (alcohol and beer). We drank and ate Bulgolgi (Korean beef, which, by the way, is delicious) in a Soju tent. These things are everywhere in Korea. It's basically a plastic tent that fits 5-6 tables and serves alcohol with freshly grilled kabobs of meat, vegetables and spicy things. Alcohol is super cheap and the tent keeps the cold wind out. (A bottle of Soju goes for about $1.20 and a bottle of beer for about $1.00. No wonder why drinking is so prevalent in Korea, it's so cheap to do!) After our Soju tent conversations, we headed to the other University district to check out the bar scene. An 8,000 Won taxi ride later, we arrived and headed to a bar called Kino-Eye. I walked in, and immediately felt like I was in America. A very, very Western bar, there were only about 10 Koreans present, 5 of them were bar-tending. The rest- expats, most likely teachers. It was wild, I felt awkward being in Korea and being surrounded by all white people. It was fun, the music was loud, the drinks were very cheap and I didn't have to worry about my failing attempts at speaking Korean.

We left the bar around 2 am, all of us being exhausted and heading back to Haeundae. I fell asleep very quickly, the tylenol p.m. may be to blame. And today, I am semi-rested. I hate my bed at the hotel. It's round and hard, and I feel awkward sleeping on it! I'm sick and completely congested, so I'm trying to take it as easy as possible today. Keeping warm and drinking plenty of liquids. The temperature sure has dropped. Last week the average high was in the mid-high 70's. And right now its about 48 degrees. UGH.

Cheers till next time!