Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone! I never imagined myself ever celebrating Christmas in Busan, South Korea when I was growing up but here I am. Thankfully, I made many wonderful friends to share my memories with. This entire weekend was great because it was fun, warm feelings all around, and a marathon of eating delicious food.

Christmas Eve lunch was with Veanna and Yana. We got fried chicken from a nearby restaurant and Veanna made salad. We ate lunch, played Crazy 8 Countdown, listened to random music on Veanna’s laptop and shared many laughs (mostly about Yana and Victoria). Best part was when Yana got scared when a Christmas card fell from the window sill onto her head so she jumped up screaming. Veanna and I couldn’t stop laughing for 10 minutes! I brought avocados from Costco as Christmas gifts (that’s what they wanted apparently) and I also brought Belgium chocolates because I know how much they love desserts. Veanna got me Cebu dried mangoes and Yana got me Tim Tams. They know me so well. Christmas Eve dinner was with Elizabeth, John and Ann at Nampo Dong’s Indian restaurant called Bombay. First of all, Nampo Dong was packed with thousands of people. The subway was packed with people that it reminded me of a can of sardines. I even had to wait for 2 subways before I could get on because of the massive line up. Regardless, the trip was well worth the hassle of getting there and back through the traffic and crowds. I was able to spend quality time with good company and eating delicious Indian dishes. I got John and Ann chocolates and they got me dried mangoes from the brand “Nature’s Sensation”. I came home and talked to my friends and cousins from Canada on MagicTalk. I was able to wish them Merry Christmas. It was 3am by the time I went to sleep. I woke up at 9am because there was a knock on the door. A Korean lady was inspecting the gas services in the building. I cannot believe they were doing this on Christmas Day! Oh, well. I guess I had to wake up early in order to get myself to starve again because I was still full from Saturday’s crazy food adventures.

On Christmas day, I talked to my parents and my god-daughter through MagicTalk. I wished them Merry Christmas. Then I wasted time on Facebook and on Yahoo Sports checking NFL scores! It was a great Christmas already when I see that my Patriots defeated the Dolphins and clinched the AFC East Title and a 1st round bye in the playoffs. Sadly the Detroit Lions clinched the playoffs as well. This is the first time since 1999 but they’ll be one and done. Anyways, I went over to Steven’s place around 2pm to enjoy the amazing food he created all day. We had biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, chicken gravy-soup-like dish, and apple pie! We as in me, Steven, Brian, Dharma, Andrew and Erin, and we were in a food coma at the end. We ate so much that we couldn’t move for few hours. Thank goodness the event started at 2pm because we didn’t leave until 7pm. All we did was eat, eat and eat more. Then again, that’s how my entire Christmas weekend has been. I am not going to complain though. I love food and I love trying something different.

Overall, this Christmas was wonderful! Something I have never done before and I am not sure if I ever will get another opportunity like this but I am glad that I met so many wonderful people in Busan. It’s nice to share these memories from fellow teachers from all over the world.

Festivities

My weekend felt so short! Okay, I shall explain in details what I mean by that statement.

Saturday: I had to go to the school because it was the School Festival. The students performed to many songs, did a lot skits and played instruments. It was like a talent show but 10 times better than anything I was ever part of. Students, teachers, and even the parents took part in the event. Four students danced to Miss A's Good Bye Baby song. Step for step, they were spot on. Oh, I had to perform with 8 other "young" teachers (who all happen to be females) to a Korean song. I don't even know the song but the steps were super easy, although it involved too many jumps and it was a lot of fun. I was obviously the youngest at the age of 24. I was the only male and I was the only foreigner. The students really liked it and clapped throughout the 4 minutes of the song. I was wearing black dress pants, white shirt, a red and blue tie, white gloves, and danced in socks. It was a great experience for me and I really enjoyed the 2 weeks of practice for this special school event. The moms danced to T-ara's Roly Poly song to perfection! They even had the little costumes and accessories like the music video. Overall, it was just fantastic! Around 3pm I met up with Kristin, Steven, and Warren to discuss our winter vacation plans to Palawan, Philippines. That's when we found out that the country was hit with heavy rains and there were severe damages to many places, including Palawan. We are hoping that in the next month or so, the weather cooperates and the infrastructures are restored. I can only wait and see what happens by January 21st.

At 7pm, we headed to Barbie's Day (a Buffet restaurant) to celebrate Candice's birthday! Her mom was still in town and we enjoyed a massive feast. Then we had cupcakes that her mom decided to bake for all of us! Enjoyable evening with awesome people. The waitress kept giving us smiles throughout the time we were there so we decided to give her a cupcake, along with the owner who let us be loud as we wanted to. Usually, Koreans don't like it when 12 foreigners are being so loud when laughing and talking. However, this owner was great. I am even thinking about having my quarter-century birthday here!


[ Pictures will be added here after I receive them. ]

Sunday: I woke up at 10:15am even though I went to bed around 1am because I was busy watching the movie - The Tourist (which sucked in my opinion considering in had Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie). I set my alarm for 2pm but I woke up super early. I think I am getting used to waking up before 11am now. I guessing having a full-time work that requires me to wake up at 7am really does help with my notorious sleeping pattern. Anyways, I just decided to watch another movie. So I watched The Informant! Let's just say, I wasn't too impressed with the movie at all. I thought there would be a bit more action and a bit more diversity. Instead, it was just Matt Damon in every scene. It kind of got boring.

Well, around 3:45pm, I headed to Jangsan area to have dinner with Jeongeun, Elizabeth, Vince, John, and Ann! Jeongeun decided to invite us over so she can cook some dakjjim for all of us! She even made desserts too. She was more than happy to cook! She's the best Korean chef I know! After we talked for few hours, we decided to go out for more desserts. Around 9:15pm, I decided to come home because I have work the next day, sadly.
Overall, this weekend passed by really quick and the next weekend is Christmas Eve and Christmas! I can't wait!

Fuzzy Feelings

This weekend brought me further into the Christmas spirits! I am starting to enjoy the Christmas songs from cafes, streets and the restaurants. On Saturday I saw the Christmas lights at Nampo and enjoyed some fish for lunch with Steven, Candices, and Mincer's mom, who is visiting from South Africa. She decided to bring a little treat for me! She knew how much I loved mangoes so she brought dried mangoes! It was very sweet of her to do that for me. I never met her until that day and she already knows my favourite fruit and one of my weaknesses! We enjoyed some BBQ fish, clams, and sashimi for lunch as well.



After lunch, Steven, Candice Myburgh and I walked around while Candice and her mom visited the Busan Tower. As you already know, I visited the tower twice before so I didn't want to go again. After Nampo, Candice, her mom, and I decided to have dinner at this buffet place! It was a wonderful place near Busan Station. It was only 13,000 won per person and we could all the chicken, shrimp, duck, and other meat as we wanted to. Plus the vegetables, drinks (lemonade and persimmon punch), and ice cream were available too!

On Sunday I went to Jeongeun's potluck event! I brought my spicy mango chicken and shrimp curry! It was finished within the first 15 minutes of dinner. Thank goodness we had so much other food. Nav was there, and this was the first time I saw him in over a month. I usually don't go to the same places as he does (bars and clubs), and we live far away too. I live near Seomyeon, and he lives in Jangsan, which is 45 minutes subway ride away. It was nice seeing him again and he brought pizzas for everyone. Thank goodness one of them was chicken so I was able to take couple of slices. I saw Trecia, John, Ann, and Elizabeth as well! It was a fun evening and I hope to have more Christmas get togethers in the next two weeks.

Music To Your Seoul

I just had one of the better weekends of my stay in Korea! I went to Seoul for the YG Family Concert (K-Pop)! The concert was at 2pm on Sunday but I decided to go on Saturday for some sight seeing. I took the 9:30am KTX so that I can arrive in Seoul around 12 noon. As soon as I arrived, I was starving so I decided to go to a Thai restaurant called Little Elephant. Amazing lunch. I loved it a lot. Around 1:30pm, I met up with Samantha and Noelia at the Hello Kitty Cafe for some desserts. Just check out the inside of this cafe! Pink overload. I almost went blind.

After having desserts, we went to Dongdaemun Market for some shopping. I ended up buying random souvenir gifts for friends back home in Canada. I saw a lot of neat stuff but I didn't feel like spending a lot of money on clothes. Maybe another time. Around 4pm we met up with JK (my EPIK orientation leader). All four of us headed to Myeongdong! We walked around the busy streets and took random pictures. We also had snacks from a store called "REDMANGO"! Yes, ladies and gentlemen. A store that has my favourite colour and my favourite fruit! Clearly I was super excited to go inside and try out the food. After that we walked around some more and took more pictures.

Around 7pm we all headed towards Anguk station except for Samantha who had to go back to Hyehwa area (that's where my hostel was located at too). However the rest of us met up with Kukovica and her husband Joe for some bimbimbap. It was nice seeing Kukovica because we were Teacher's College classmates. We both loved playing badminton against each other and she went to same school for our 1st practicum. What a small world. We met in a boring place like Windsor, Ontario and now in city where the population is over 14 million and so many things to do in Seoul. When dinner concluded, we said our farewells. JK, Kukovica and Joe left, so it was just me and Noelia. We decided to go back to Hyehwa area. As soon as we arrived to Hyehwa station, we called Samantha to see if she is able to rejoin us. She said she would be able to. That gave me and Noeila some time to get some mango smoothies from Mango Six! I was feeling a bit sick due to lack of sleep. The mango smoothie was exactly what I needed. Samantha rejoined us and told us that she was hungry so we went to a chicken restaurant. We had more food. By now, I was stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey and I was super full. I think I had like 7 meals on Saturday alone. I went to my hostel place, applied some Vicks to my forehead, nose, throat, and chest. Fell asleep immediately and had a peaceful 10 hours of rest. I felt 100% better the next day because my own medication of mango smoothie, Vicks and 10+ hour of sleep did the trick. My own unique way of getting better.


On Sunday, I woke up around 10am, had breakfast with Noelia at Dunkin Donuts, and took a taxi to Olympic Park where the YG Concert was held at. I met up with Lara and her friends Savana, Tim, and Danielle! They were all K-Pop fans like me! It was nice to talk to other foreigners who appreciate the same taste of music as I do. The foreigners I usually meet only like bands, metal, rap, and nothing to do with K-Pop or Bollywood. It was a nice change of scenery. The concert itself was amazing! I loved all 3 hours and 45 minutes of it. I wish I was able to see more concerts like this at least once a month! I am planning to go to another concert sometime in March or April as well. We'll see how everything goes. Oh, I arrived at Seoul station around 7pm, had dinner at KFC, and took the 8pm KTX train back to Busan. I arrived in Busan around 11pm, got home around 11:40pm. Fell asleep around 5am because I was still excited about the whole weekend, uploaded all of the pictures to Facebook and checked all of my e-mails. I woke up 2 hours later for work. I shared my K-Pop stories with my students and they loved it! Some were jealous but most of them were excited to hear about G-Dragon, Minzy, and 2NE1. Anyways, the rest of the week is basically me catching up on sleep and thank goodness Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the final examinations for the students so I had no classes to teach. I was able to get all of my lesson planning done until January 1st. Time for me to finish this blog before it turns into a novel. See you next time.

Chicken & Movie Overload

Apologizes for not posting a blog in few weeks. I will combine both of the week's blog into one.

Last Saturday was my house warming party where I invited some of my friends who I met in Busan! The party's theme was chicken so I decided to call it the "Chicken Extravaganza"! It was a potluck so everyone brought in a chicken dish to share. I made two different styles of chicken curry. One was the traditional Sri Lankan spicy chicken and potatoes curry, and the other one was the Rated R Chicken Curry, which basically grilled chicken with milk and some spices (not too spicy compared to the traditional one). Everyone enjoyed chatting and mingling with each other. It was my first time hosting a party and inviting people over to my place. Overall a great an event. On Sunday I decided to just relax at home, and then go enjoy dinner at a Thai restaurant with Ann and John. Those two are always finding great cuisines in Busan. We decided to make it a weekly Sunday adventure. Friday, November 25th was my 5 month's anniversary in Korea! It was also my payday! I decided to splurge a bit and had Yakitoriya for the first time. Steven and I went to Nampo Dong had a fantastic dinner but it was also expensive. You can see what I had from the pictures.
After I met up with Steven and discussed our winter vacation plans to Philippines I met up with Warren at Centum City. We went and watched the movie, "Real Steel" with that Wolverine actor! It was a good movie but the kid in the movie was super annoying and acted if he was a spoiled brat and no manners, in my opinion. Oh, at Nampo I also came across Reeses Peanut Butter Cups! First time I have seen it in Korea! On Saturday I met up with Yana, Veanna, and Mickey. We were supposed to go to Namhae to check out the German village. However, we changed our plans. We went to an Indian restaurant for lunch buffet, shopped at an outlet mall, played "Signal" at coffee shops and finally watched a movie. This time it was not my choice. I went and watched "Breaking Dawn Part 1" with bunch of hardcore Twilight EdWARTS fans. I was the only one who didn't read the book and didn't understand why they liked EdWART so much. I thought the werewolf saved the day on numerous occasions in the movie but he was treated so badly by the lame vampires. Jacob even had to leave his own pack to protect that horrible actress, Bella-face. Either way, the movie was better than I expected. I thought it would be all talking and random awkward moments. However, there was action when the werewolves were about to go at it with Jacob.

Anyways, tonight I went and met up with Ann and John to enjoy our Sunday food adventure near Busan Station. This was my first time exploring this part of the city. It's apparently where Chinatown exists and also other ethnic cuisines. I will be coming here often because of all the neat things they have here. Today though, I tried Filipino food for the first time. I wanted to try it before my winter vacation to Philippines.

I came home, relaxed, imputed the speaking test results on a marking sheet and did some laundry. Overall, the last few weeks have kept me occupied with work. I am liking it in Busan a lot!

G-Star & Temple Visit

It has been a busy week so far with work but I still managed to enjoy my weekend! On Saturday I went to a gaming expo called G-Star, which is the largest gathering of gamers in Asia! There were a lot of games to play, demos to check out, and news about upcoming games. Prizes were won too! Two Korean boys walked away with iPad 2s! Other prizes included awesome looking headsets, high-tech mouses (mice?), mouse pads and there were more but I can't remember at the moment.

On Sunday, I visited a famous temple in Korea! It's apparently one of the three important temples in the country. This particular one was located in Busan! I didn't have to travel far to experience something cultural and significant to Koreans. I also tried their famous "black bean sauce noodles". From the name of the dish I wasn't too sure if it would taste good but after trying it, it was quite delicious.



I have decided that every weekend I want to try and visit more places in Korea before I have to come back to Canada. Of course, I don't want to go by myself because that would be boring so I am just happy that I have met more adventurous and curious people like I am.