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.