I am still alive, I promise.

Anyong Hasseo!

I've come to realize that I'm absolute horrid at blogging. Really I suck. So, sorry for that, I'll try to do better. That said that means that this is going to be a rather long winded post, since the last time I wrote here was early March.

So let's get my bearings, kay?

Shark Diving

Mountain Hiking

Slow Walking

Life in Korea

Okay let's get started!

On St. Pat's weekend I went with some friends up to Busan, which is a great city that I absolutely love. With Sandy white beaches, bustling and crowded streets, busy night life, Busan is like Seoul and Gwangju mixed together, huge and cosmopolitan, but still with a friendliness to it. I think if I decide to stay another year I might look at moving there.

The first load of us met at the bus station at 6:30 and made the trek to Busan, we made it without incident and after some gesturing at maps, cell phone dictionaries and charades we convinced the cab driver that we wanted to go to the Aquarium.

We got to Busan's aquarium with some extra time and decided to go for an oh so healthy breakfast of Lotteria. Lotteria is like Korea's answer to McDonald's, but not as good. Which is probably why McDonald's is here to, As you can see, the trip was already starting to wear us out.

In his defence Blair was sick.

After my nutritious brunch of cheese sticks and a chicken sandwich we went for our orientation and class at the aquarium, I won't go into huge details, we watched videos, found out how hard it is to squirm into a wet suit, were taught the basics of scuba diving, and then... we got to go swimming!

So yeah, I swam with Sharks, it was indescribably amazing.

After that we went out for supper, it was delicious, went downtown that night and enjoyed Busans' nightlife, We hit up an Irish Bar (It was St Paddy's weekend) and then a rock and roll bar. The latter was actually closed and re-opened for the four of us that were left, it was pretty cool. The next day Marion, Brad, Joanne and I spent the day exploring Busan's markets, streets and beaches. You know I actually lost my wallet in a cab Saturday night on this trip, and I still think it was one of my best weekends in Korea.

The next big event was my first major Hike in Korea. a bunch of us met at Meudung Mountain and made the climb up, We took one of the shorter routes, only about 10 KM and made it to the top of the mountain in about 2 hours, I think. We also stopped at my first temple in Korea along the way.

Life got a little quieter after that, which is not to say it wasn't fun or interesting, but a little more low key. More on that in a bit.

Last weekend I went with about 44 other foreigners to Shin-Ji Island, for what we found out on the way was a festival. We weren't quite sure what to expect actually but when someone says that they'd like to take pictures of foreigners and will pay for you to go, and feed you, you take them up on the offer.

Well it turns out the Festival was Korea's first Annual "Slow Walking Festival." It was explained to us that Koreans rush through life and they wanted to take a day to "slow down" The immediate reaction of every foreigner was "You people think you need to walk slower!?

We arrived, saw some neat traditional demonstrations as a man painted/mopped a sign for the festival, listened to some speeches and then we hit the beach. What followed was a day of carousing and lounging on the sand and wading in the water. It was a lot of fun. On the way Back we realized that our bus, was a Noreah Bus.

Let me explain:

a Bus is a large vehicle made to transport a large group of people in relative comfort. Which is by the way, much more comfortable in Korea.

A Noreah Bang is private Kareokee room for you and your friends.

a Noreah Bus combines the two.

We sang and danced in the aisle and over seats and made fools of ourselves the whole way home. it was great!

The thing is, and this is something that I've come to realize, is that as cool as all this stuff is, its the friendships that make Korea so great. I've done alot more than I've written about today, But a lot of it is small, but at the same time it's worth every minute spent. Zak summed it up best when we were all on the beach in Shin-Ji, making speeches and he said "Here's to being millions of miles from your home, and still among friends." So from cocktail parties to baseball games, to exploring the parks in the city, Being among this culture and with these people has shown me just how much fun life should be, and it's great!

So from the other side of the world, I'll see you guys later. Life is as good as you make so make it the best! I promise I'll write again soon.

Jamie