Jinju Floating Lantern Festival

As I mentioned in my last post, this past month has been chock full of festivals. The first one I went to was the Jinju floating lantern festival at the beginning of October. I was supposed to go on a all expenses paid trip by the school board but that unfortunately was canceled last minute. Instead, I ended up going with my friend Denise and her co-teacher on the bus the next day.

Jinju is located just west of Busan. The tradition of the floating lanterns dates back to 1592 and the Japanese invasion of Korea. During a battle between Japanese and Korean soldiers around Jinju Fortress, the Korean army communicated with both flying lanterns into the air and floating them along the river.

On the river were hundreds of colour floating lanterns that can in all shapes and sizes. There were lanterns of everything from people playing sports to animals and buildings. There were walkways under arches with thousands of glowing lanterns and you could even make and float your own down the river.

After we arrived we went to a traditional Korean restaurant for bulgogi (marinated grilled beef) and bibimbap (rice, vegetables and meat mixed with hot pepper paste) that is famous for their food. Post eating and amusing the local children with our Western-ness, we headed down to the river to check out the floating lanterns. Unfortunately the weather caught up with us and decided to downpour for the next few hours. I wish I could have taken more pictures but holding my umbrella and adjusting my camera proved too difficult. Jostling with crazy crowds of people who all seemed to hold their umbrellas level with my head, we walked around and saw the lanterns and watched some traditional Korean fan dancers before heading home.

I'll post about the other festivals really soon. It has been quite a month!

 

Around Town!

Yet again, I've been neglectful of my blog and have not posted anything in a couple weeks. For this post, I'd thought that I would share with you a little about my wanderings around town.

Busan is a fantastic city and there is quite a bit to do. Just wandering around and exploring where I live and other parts of the city has been great. The city is so vibrant, with the ocean smells (among others), the busy traffic, and the hustle and bustle of everyone and everything. There are markets big and small, selling everything from giant king crab and live eels to socks and power tools.

Wandering around passed many a night when I first arrived and is still a great way to spend time. Below are a few pictures of random wanderings I've taken.

Haeundae Beach at night

Jagalchi Fish Market

Nampo-dong

 

Busan Tower

 Busan Tower is one of the few places you could consider a tourist trap in the city. It's a 120m tower that is perched on a 70m hilltop down by the city's commercial port. On a nice day, it offers stunning views of the city.

The View

The View

The View

The View

The View

Geumjeongsan

Over seventy percent of Korea is mountainous and Busan is definitely no exception! Criss-crossing the city are a number of mountains which makes for difficult travel but great hiking. Korean's are serious about their hiking, flocking to the hills in full gear being a mainstay for many people. Hiking here however is much different. About halfway up or at the top of some hills are comical looking workout machines generally filled with older people getting a good workout on their way up or down. At the top you can eat pajeon (potato seafood pancake) and drink maekgolli (a grainy rice wine) before stumbling down the mountain. This definitely makes hiking a much more interesting event!

 

Geumjeongsan

Geumjeongsan

Jangseung, Korean traditional totem poles

 

On Yeongdo, an island off of the southern coast of Busan is a park called Taejongdae. All within a few kilometres are several Buddhist temples, shear cliffs that drop hundreds of feet into the sea, a lighthouse on a cliff, and a hilarious tram to take you to all the sites.

Yeongdo Lighthouse

Buddhist Statues

Yeongdo Lighthouse

Cliffs of Taejongdae

Cliffs of Taejongdae

Yeoungdo Lighthouse

Cliffs of Taejongdae

 So that should give you a bit more of an idea of what I've been up to in Korea. October has been a busy month and I've managed to hit a different festival each weekend. After this weekend and the last festival, I'll post again letting you know all about them!

My Apartment

Hey Everyone,

I was having some issues with my old account so I decided to change the address and most my posts over. So this will be my new blog account and should stay as such. Sorry for any confusion!

I know it has been a couple weeks since my last entry. I will try to be a little more frequent in my postings from now on.

Things have been going well here in Korea. I've been meeting some cool people, exploring Busan, and having a good time at work. I spent the last week up in Seoul for training as a part of EPIK (English Program in Korea), the national public school foreign teacher program. It was really good but it is nice to be back in Busan.

A couple weeks ago I hurt my finger playing volleyball, apparently tearing some ligaments. The doctor I saw said it would be at least 3-6 weeks of my finger being in a splint but at least now I can say that Korea has a pretty good health care system. In and out in 1.5 hours on a really busy day after a 3 day national holiday. He also called the injury 'massive collateral damage to the ligaments' which just sounds awesome!

For this post I thought I would share a bit about my apartment and where I'm living. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am in an area called Haeundae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haeundae-gu,_Busan), more specifically, Haeundae New Town, which is quite close to the beach. There are tonnes of restaurants, shops, bars, as well as foreigners in this area. I am really close to the subway and in a relatively new apartment building.

My apartment is essentially a bachelor studio. It is small but has everything in it that I need. Below are some pictures:

The Bedroom

The Bedroom/Lounge

The Lounge

The Bathroom (with a shower door, which is relatively rare here I'm told)

The Bathroom (2)

Kitchen

Kitchen/Entry Way

Kitchen/Entry Way (2)

The View

The View (2)

I hope that gives you a better clue about where I'm living. As I said, it's not big but it has everything I need.

I'll be posting more soon about what I've been up to since I've been here!

Cheers,

John

First Post!

Hi Everyone,

So I've been in Korea for almost two weeks now and what a blur it has been! After not sleeping for over 48 hours when first arriving, most of my nights have been pretty busy getting my apartment set up and exploring Busan. My apartment is in an area of Busan called Jangsan which is very close to Haeundae Beach (see photo). I have to take a bus for 30 minutes to get to my school, which is on the side of a mountain essentially.

Haeundae Beach

Everything has been going really well so far. My co-teachers have been very welcoming and have shown be quite a bit of Busan. The school's facilities are fairly new and the students are great. I'm greeted by dozens of kids screaming "Hello!" as soon as I get to school every day. Teaching is pretty fun as the primary goal for me is to get them speaking, not to worry about book work. Here are a few photos of the school.

My office

The view from my office

The classroom

 There is so much to see and do in Busan and I've done a fair amount of exploring already. I am only 15-20 minute walk from the beach and the public transportation is great for getting anywhere else. A lot of the people I've met have been really friendly and have helped me to figure everything out. I'm trying to learn some Korean phrases but so far have only managed "Hello" and "Thank you". In a week the school is closed for five days for Chuseuk, which is like Thanksgiving. This will give me a great chance to really see some of the sites around town.

Market

Hope everyone back home is doing well and I will try to post something again soon!

John