Jinha Beach

Although I knew that Ulsan has beaches that are nice and swimable, they always seemed so far away and hard to get to, so I never went. Emily and her friends went to Jinha Beach in Ulsan last weekend, however, and I found out how simple it is to get to at least this one. There's a bus that actually goes right by my house (although we all met on the other side of the park this time) and takes not too long to get there. It was a nice half hour ride there from the park, but ended up being a full hour back to my house with the extra distance and late afternoon traffic. Still, it's closer than Haeundae and only costs a buck to take this bus.

The beach was pretty empty, since the weather wasn't really hot that day. Here are some shots of the beach:



I walked over to this little island. The water at the time was no higher than knee deep. It was pretty rocky and kind of dirty over there, so I just checked it out for a few minutes. I noticed the water was a little deeper when I came back, so I'm glad I didn't stay long.

The few people who were at the beach that day were doing sports that involve wind, sails, and the ocean:

It was EXTREMELY WINDY. Here's the third in my series of Alia Holding up Her Beach Clothing to Show You How Windy It Is:

In fact, it was SO windy that I didn't enjoy myself much. The sand was stinging my skin, so I had to put my pants and shirt back on, and everything was getting either blown away or covered in sand the whole time. It wasn't hot enough to go swimming (for me; Emily went), and I was pretty much sitting there listening to the rest of the group (who were camping there that night) talk about stuff and fume and seethe at nature. I left after about three hours; I had to go, anyway, to get ready for a date.

Despite not having a good time, it was good to get outside and find out another good place to go in Ulsan. I probably won't get to go to the beach for swimming anymore this year, since next weekend I'm going to Japan, and after that it will probably have cooled down. But I'll know for next summer, and I'll have a lot more beach time then than I have the last couple summers (or frankly, the last like, ten or fifteen summers)

My Latest Apartment

Here's m'kitchen:



It's a real room this time, that isn't a kitchen-in-a-hallway, or a kitcheonette, like the last two times. This kitchen is almost a square. The fridge is wicked wide. Maybe I'll add a pic of the inside.


Here's the foyer and bathroom:

I DON'T like the bathroom. It's so small that it's always wet from the shower, and the stupid idiots put the towel rack directly across from the shower head, so I had to hang my own hook in there to keep my towel from getting wet while I shower. The floor is also flat right by the drain, so water puddles right there and never dries up, even if most the the rest of the floor is dryish. The sink is also flat, so the water sits there and makes the sink all bacteriaey.

Four-corner living room photo action:

Notice the empty spot below for another wall hanging. The scroll exists, but is lost somewhere in Heather's house, along with a couple decorative fans and my damn umbrella. I'm holding out hope I'll find them eventually.

You can see two coat racks in two of the above pictures. They came already on the wall. I'm not really a fan, but they've come in useful for my hats and jackets and belts and bathrobe.

Here's the infamous DRUM washer on my smaller-than-usual balcony:

My balcony looks out onto the entrance to Diagon

Alley:

I like the apartment, except for a few things that bug me, like the bathroom, and the fact that I had to set the living room up so my back faces the tv when I'm sitting at the desk. It makes it hard to watch a movie and blog at the same time, for example. I might just start using the laptop on the bed, though. But I can't watch a movie when I'm cooking or doing dishes. Watching movies is very important to me. I've been listening to music whilst in the kitchen lately, though, and music is also important, so I guess it's okay.

I do wish my place wasn't in the boondocks, though. I'll post some pictures of the immediate area as soon as I have time during the day to take the camera out there.

O-Man Won

Remember how I used to say/complain how the highest bill in Korea was the 10,000 won note, which, relatively speaking, is equivalent to about ten dollars? Well, not anymore, baby. Czech this out:

This bill made its debut on June 23, making it the first new issuance of currency in Korea in 73 years (when the 10k bill was introduced), according to Korea.net. It took a year to design it. The chick on the one side is the famous Korean writer, calligrapher, and artist Shim Saimdang (1504-1551), and is the first woman to be pictured on Korean money. The other side shows the image of a famous painting she did of some grapes and branches. I see it, but it looks more like a ship to me. Shin Saimdang's son, a famous Confucian scholar, is on the 5,000 won note.

I'm not sure how good your monitor's color is, but you're right to notice how similar the colors of the FIVE thousand won bill and the FIFTY thousand won bill are. Coincidence? I sense a scam here. At least the pictures are drastically different, and the sizes, though less noticeable, also vary among all the bills.

Hair

Well, it's happened before, but I figured I'd share this time. Any time I go to the hairdressers here, they give me a Vulcan haircut, then make it worse by turning it into a Speed Racer helmet, framing my head. It's terrible. Even when I bring a picture of what I want, this is what it turns out like:

Maybe someday they'll get it right.

Hiking by PNU

This weekend I spent in Busan again. I had a date, tee hee. There's not much to tell in terms of new and fun activities, but we did go hiking near Pusan National University. Yes, Busan=Pusan. Due to the nature of that particular letter in Korean being neither a b or a p, the romanization can vary.

It was a little difficult for me. I didn't do much leg exercise, even walking, this summer, so I'm a bit out of practice at the hiking. I was disappointed. Next time I'll be better.
We were crossing a gorge and I saw what at first looked like a well (it was actually a fire pit), and I was like, Oh, The Ring! So we took this photo with my phone (I was pissed I forgot my camera at home):
















If only I had long black hair.

It took us something like two hours to get to the top, though I'm not sure, since I didn't check our start time. Anyway, good exercise and a nice day. I was wearing jeans, though. I was totally unprepared and roasting.

Here are some views from the top:

Then we went to Haeundae Beach--my fourth time since I've been back. It was about 4:00 when we got there, so it was nice and roomy on the beach. Problem was, the clasp on my bathing suit busted last time I was there, so I needed a new bathing suit. I assumed the most popular beach in Korea would have someone smart enough to be selling bathing suits at one of the many shops near the beach, but no such luck. I was shocked. I did see some one-piece bathing suits at one store, like five suits, but they all were terrible.

I ended up getting some cheap flowered shorts and wearing my t-shirt with them in the water. I pity guys who have to wear shorts as swimwear and can't fathom anyone who would wear a t-shirt in the water voluntarily. It feels terrible. We also forgot to bring a towel, so it was a little rough drying off.

Good times, though. Good times.

Blog Contest

Well, the results of the blog contest were emailed to me today. I didn't win. B000000-urns. BOOOOOOO-urns. I can't say it enough.

Thanks for reading, though.

A Day in Busan

My first excursion with the work this year was to a baseball game in Busan. A bunch of the teachers went, plus Mingyu and his family, and the brother and friends of one teacher. Once we all got together there were 15 of us. Jeez, man.

We were to meet at the Geongeoptap Rotary entrance to the park. Now that I live in a new apartment, this is apparently a 40-minute walk. I talked to Grace, the head Korean teacher, about where to meet, and she said she was picking up Moriah at her apartment. I suggested that I go there and catch a ride with them, since I'm only three blocks away, but for some reason she was not too keen on that, despite the fact that she was driving both of us plus Leon to Busan, anyway. I don't think she was considering how far I would have to walk to get to the meeting point or that I'd at least have to pay to take the bus there. I was kind of pissed about that whole situation.

Anyway, 11 of us met there at 11:00 (Mingyu and fam would meet us later) and headed off to Busan in three cars. Then I found out that the game didn't start until 5, and I had a "What? WHAT?" moment. But unbeknownst to me, the plan had been to go to a restaurant and spend the afternoon in Busan before attending the game.

The restaurant was called Hugsiru (I think that's the appropriate romanization...) and each party got a private hut outdoors in which to eat, keeping the large glassless window (with shutters) and the door open for a nice breeze and view. We had duck cooked three different ways: cooked inside a squash, roasted with bean and rice stuffing, and cooked in some unexplained way and put in slices on a platter. It was awesome. I especially loved the duck. And the squash. All the other perfunctory side dishes were fine. I didn't like the stuffing much. But I liked the squash. And the duck.

The restaurant had some a little garden/greenhouse/animal cruelty area next door. There were two bear cubs:

If you can hear that motor sound in the background, that's not a motor. That's the sound the bears were making:

And a bird that says "anyeonghaseyo" (the standard greeting). I swear I thought it was a kid doing a funny voice when I heard it from across the garden. Didn't get any video, though. Sorry.

Here's the greenhouse:

And there's this little model of a traditional Korean village. I love models.

Monkey, monkey, monkey. And baby monkey:

You can see it charge the cage at the end. Both the adults did this to me a few minutes later, much more violently, because the baby was trying to eat an electrical outlet hanging off the cage, and I was taking it away. Sorry, parents. Just trying to help.

All the twittering you hear in the background is most of my group and maybe some others involved in the opening of the door of the bear cage. I guess it was unlocked. Someone in my group was doing it. Moriah was watching next to me and she said the bear kind of got out, but I guess it didn't run away and they got it back in. Boy, that's dumb. DON'T TRY THAT AT HOME, KIDS. Or anywhere.

Nice bird:

Nice bunny:

After eating we had a group meeting in the street on what to do next. We ended up at Haeundae Beach, which kind of disappointed me, since I hadn't brought my bathing suit. It sucks going to the beach and not swimming. But I rolled up my pantlegs and waded a bit, as everyone else who was with me (except Grace and Stella periodically) formed a straight line along the shore and watched me creepily. Then I sat on the sand and they watched other people creepily. Leon suggested Grace and I made a sand castle, but I don't work well with others, so I made one myself. I wanted to do more stuff with it, like make watchtowers and stuff, but then everyone wanted to leave, so this was all I got:

Finally, we went to the baseball game: the Lotte Giants (the Busan team) vs. the Seoul Heroes. I say "finally" only to indicate it was the last thing we did, not any impatience on my part. I once spent the first three innings of an LA Dodgers game thinking the teams were warming up, that game is so boring.

Anyway, Korean baseball is less boring, but only because the fans are so avid. Although the stadium (and the field, haha) seems smaller than in the US, I think more people show. It looked like there were only a few dozen seats empty, and everyone was really glad to be there. I'm relieved that the place was so packed: the traffic getting to the stadium was murder.

See how many people showed up?

Hear how HAPPY everyone is!




The group was slightly separated. I sat with Moriah in the front row of our section, behind third base. It was a good view. The beer is super cheap there, though the price changes vendor to vendor, I found out. The first beer we got was 1500 won apiece, and the next was 2000 won, but a 12 oz can of beer for under two bucks is a great deal. There were no hot dogs, but fried chicken abounded, and everyone in the group got some when those of us with Grace finally arrived.

There was a lot of fun with people getting caught on camera and being put on the big screen. Some people kissed, some danced, some laughed and pointed, others hid. Typical sports camera behavior. A guy set it up so he could propose at the game, too. That was cute. The cheerleaders were dancing on a platform across the stadium from us, and the shots were unfortunately too tight. We lost the general effect of the choreography and sometimes would catch one of the girls making a mistake while she was the only one in the shot.

The Giants won, 4-3, to the joy of the audience. Then we went home. It was a long day.